first, as we have related, was built by Tarquin, and dedicated by
Horatius. This was destroyed by fire in the civil wars. The second was
built by Sulla, but the name of Catulus appears as its dedicator, for
Sulla died before it was completed. This again was burned during the
civil tumults in the time of Vitellius, and Vespasian built a third,
which had nearly the same fortune as the others, except that he saw it
completed, and did not see it shortly afterwards destroyed, being thus
more fortunate than Tarquin in seeing the completion, and than Sulla in
seeing the dedication of his work. When Vespasian died the Capitol was
burned. The fourth and present temple was built and dedicated by
Domitian. It is said that Tarquin spent forty thousand pounds of silver
in building the foundations; but there is no private citizen in Rome at
the present day who could bear the expense of gilding the existing
temple, which cost more than twelve thousand talents. Its columns are of
Pentelic marble, exquisitely proportioned, which I myself saw at Athens;
but at Rome they were again cut and polished, by which process they did
not gain so much in gloss as they lost in symmetry, for they now appear
too slender. However, if any one who wonders at the expense of the
temple in the Capitol were to see the splendour of any one portico,
hall, or chamber in the house of Domitian, he would certainly be led to
parody that line of Epicharmus upon an extravagant fellow,
"Not good-natured, but possessed with the disease of giving,"
and would say that Domitian was not pious or admirable, but possessed
with the disease of building, and turned everything into bricks and
mortar, just as it is said Midas turned things into gold. So much for
this.
XVI. Tarquin, after the great battle in which his son was slain by
Brutus, took refuge at Clusium and begged Lars Porsena, the most
powerful king in Italy, to assist him. He was thought to be an
honourable and ambitious man, and promised his aid. First he sent an
embassy to Rome, ordering them to receive Tarquin; and when the Romans
refused to obey, he declared war against them, and telling them at what
place and time he would attack them, marched against them with a great
army. At Rome, Poplicola, though absent, was chosen consul for the
second time, and with him, Titus Lucretius. He returned to Rome, and by
way of putting a slight upon Porsena, went and founded the city of
Sigliuria, while his army was close at hand. He built the walls of this
place at a vast expense, and sent away seven hundred colonists to it, as
if the war with which he was menaced was a very unimportant matter. But,
nevertheless, Porsena made a sharp assault upon the walls of Rome, drove
away the garrison, and very nearly entered the town. Poplicola
forestalled him by sallying from one of the gates, and fought by the
banks of the Tiber against overwhelming numbers until he was severely
wounded and had to be carried out of the battle. As the same fate befell
his colleague Lucretius, the Romans lost heart and endeavoured to save
themselves by flight into the town. As the enemy also began to push
across the wooden bridge, Rome was in danger of being taken. But
Horatius, surnamed Cocles, and with him two of the noblest citizens,
named Herminius and Lartius, held the wooden bridge against them. This
Horatius was surnamed Cocles because he had lost an eye in the wars, or
as some say because of the flatness of his nose, which made his eyes and
eyebrows seem to meet, having nothing to separate them, and therefore
the people meaning to call him Cyclops, by a mistake of pronunciation,
named him Cocles. This man stood at the end of the bridge and kept off
the enemy until his friends behind had cut down the bridge. Then he
plunged into the river in his armour and swam to the other bank, though
wounded by an Etruscan spear in the thigh. Poplicola, in admiration of
his valour, at once proposed and passed a decree that every Roman should
give him the price of one day's provisions. Moreover, he gave him as
much land as he could plough in one day. And a brazen statue of him was
placed in the temple of Vulcan, by which honourable allusion was made to
the lameness caused by his wound.
XVII. As Porsena pressed the siege, the Romans suffered from famine, and
another separate army of Etruscans invaded their territory. But
Poplicola, who was now consul for the third time, though he thought it
his chief duty to remain stedfast and hold out the city against Porsena,
did nevertheless sally out and attack these men, routing them with a
loss of five thousand. Now as to the legend of Mucius, it is told in
many different ways, but I will relate it as it seems most probable that
it happened. He was a man of great courage, and very daring in war, who,
meaning to assassinate Porsena, stole into the camp in an Etruscan dress
and speaking the Etruscan language. When he arrived at the raised
platform on which the king was sitting, he did not exactly know which
was he, and being afraid to ask, he drew his sword and killed the man
who of all the party looked most as if he were the king. Hereupon, he
was seized and questioned. A fire was burning close by in a brazier
which had been brought for Porsena to offer sacrifice. Mucius held his
right hand over this, and while the flesh was being consumed looked at
Porsena cheerfully and calmly, until he in astonishment acquitted him
and restored him his sword, which Mucius took with his left hand. On
account of this he is said to have been named _Scaevola_, which means
left-handed. He then said that though he did not fear Porsena, he was
conquered by his generosity, and out of kindness would tell him what
torture would have failed to extort: "Three hundred young Romans
like-minded with myself are at present concealed in your camp. I was
chosen by lot to make the first attempt, and am not grieved that I
failed to kill a man of honour, who ought to be a friend rather than an
enemy to the Romans." Porsena, hearing this, believed it to be true, and
became much more inclined to make peace, not, I imagine, so much for
fear of the three hundred, as out of admiration for the spirit and
valour of the Romans. This Mucius is called Scaevola by all writers, but
Athenodorus, the son of Sandon, in his book which is dedicated to
Octavia, the sister of Caesar Augustus, says that he was also named
Posthumus.
XVIII. Poplicola, who did not think Porsena so terrible as an enemy as
he would be valuable as a friend and ally, was willing that he should
decide the quarrel between the Romans and Tarquin, and often proposed
that he should do so, feeling sure that he would discover him to be a
wretch who had been most deservedly dethroned. But Tarquin roughly
answered that he would submit his claims to no judge, and least of all
to Porsena, who had been his ally and now seemed inclined to desert him.
Porsena was angered at this, and, as his son Aruns also pleaded hard for
the Romans, put an end to the war upon condition that they should give
up the portion of Etruscan territory which they had seized, restore
their prisoners, and receive back their deserters. Upon this, ten youths
of the noblest families were given as hostages, and as many maidens,
among whom was Valeria, the daughter of Poplicola.
XIX. While these negotiations were going on, and Porsena, through his
confidence in the good faith of the Romans, had relaxed the discipline
of his camp, these Roman maidens came down to bathe in the river at a
place where a bank, in the form of a crescent, makes the water smooth
and undisturbed. As they saw no guards, nor any one passing except in
boats, they determined to swim across, although the stream was strong
and deep. Some say that one of them, by name Cloelia, rode on a horse
across the river, encouraging the others as they swam. When they had got
safe across they went to Poplicola, but he was displeased with them
because it made him seem more faithless than Porsena, and he feared lest
this daring feat of the maidens might be suspected of being a
preconcerted plot of the Romans. For these reasons he sent them back to
Porsena. Now Tarquin and his party, foreseeing that this would be done,
laid an ambush on the further bank and attacked those who were
escorting the girls with superior numbers. Still they made a stout
defence, and meanwhile Valeria, the daughter of Poplicola, made her way
through the combatants and escaped, and three slaves who also got away
took care of her. The others were mixed up with the fight, and were in
considerable danger, when Aruns, Porsena's son, came to the rescue, put
the enemy to the rout, and saved the Romans. When the girls were brought
before Porsena, he asked which it was that had conceived the attempt to
escape and encouraged the others. Being told that it was Cloelia, he
smiled kindly upon her, and presented her with one of his own horses,
splendidly caparisoned. This is relied upon by those who say that it was
Cloelia alone who rode on horseback over the river, as proving their
case. Others say that it was not because she used a horse, but to honour
her manly spirit that the Etruscan king made her this present. A statue
of her, on horseback, stands in the Sacred Way as you go up to the
Palatine Hill, which by some is said not to be a statue of Cloelia, but
of Valeria.
Porsena, after making peace with the Romans, among many other instances
of generosity, ordered his army to carry back nothing but their arms
when they retired, leaving the entrenched camp full of food and property
of every kind for the Romans. For this reason, at the present day,
whenever there is a sale of any public property, especially that which
is taken in war, proclamation is always made, "Porsena's goods for
sale," so that the Romans have never forgotten the kindness which they
received from him. A brazen statue of him used to stand near the senate
house, of plain and oldfashioned workmanship.
XX. After this the Sabines invaded the country. Marcus Valerius,
Poplicola's brother, and Posthumius Tubertus were then consuls, and
Marcus, acting by the advice of Poplicola, who was present, won two
great battles, in the second of which he slew thirteen thousand of the
enemy without the Romans losing a man. He was rewarded for this, in
addition to his triumph, by having a house built for him upon the
Palatine Hill at the public expense. And whereas all other street doors
open inwards, the doors of that house were made to open outwards, as a
perpetual memorial of the honour paid him by the people, who thus made
way for him. It is said that all the doors in Greece used once to open
this way, arguing from the comedies, in which those who are coming out
of a house always knock at the door, to warn those who are passing or
standing near not to be struck by the leaves of the door, as they open.
XXI. Next year Poplicola was consul for the fourth time. There was an
expectation of a war against the Latins and Sabines combined.
Moreover the city seemed to have displeased the gods; for all the
pregnant women were delivered prematurely, and of imperfectly formed
children. Poplicola, after appeasing the gods below according to the
injunctions of the Sibylline books, re-established certain games in
accordance with an oracle, brought the city into a more hopeful state of
mind, and began to consider what he had to fear from earthly foes, for
the enemy's army was large and formidable. There was one Appius Clausus,
a Sabine, of great wealth and remarkable personal strength, and a
virtuous and eloquent man, who, like all great men, was the object of
envy and ill-will to many. He was accused by his enemies of having put
an end to the war, because he wished to increase the power of Rome, in
order to enable him the more easily to triumph over the liberties of his
own country, and make himself king of it. Perceiving that the populace
eagerly listened to these tales, and that he was an object of dislike to
the war party and the army, he began to fear impeachment: so, having
numerous followers, besides his personal friends and relatives, he was
able to divide the state into two parties. This caused great delay in
the Sabines' preparations for attacking the Romans, and Poplicola,
feeling it to be his duty not merely to watch but to assist Clausus,
sent envoys, who spoke to him as follows: "Poplicola feels that you are
a man of honour, who would be unwilling to take vengeance upon your
countrymen, although you have been shamefully treated by them. But if
you choose to put yourself in safety by leaving your country and a
people that hates you, he will receive you, both in his public and his
private capacity, in a manner worthy of your own high character and of
the dignity of Rome." After much deliberation, Clausus decided that he
could not do better than accept this offer, and assembled all his
friends. They in their turn influenced many others, so that he was able
to transplant to Rome five thousand of the most peaceful and respectable
families of the Sabine nation. Poplicola, who had notice of their
arrival, welcomed them kindly and graciously. He made them all citizens
of Rome, and gave each of them two acres of land along the river Anio.
He gave Clausus twenty-five acres, and enrolled him among the Senators.
Clausus afterwards became one of the first men in Rome for wisdom and
power, and his descendants, the Claudian family, was one of the most
illustrious in history.
XXII. Though the disputes of the Sabines were settled by this migration,
yet their popular orators would not let them rest, but vehemently urged
that they ought not to let Appius, a deserter and an enemy, prevail upon
them to let the Romans go unpunished--a thing which he could not
persuade them to do when he was present among them. They proceeded to
Fidenae with a great army and encamped there, and laid two thousand men
in ambush before Rome, in wooded and broken ground, meaning in the
morning to send out a few horsemen to plunder ostentatiously. These men
were ordered to ride up close to Rome, and then to retire till their
pursuers were drawn into the snare. Poplicola heard of this plan the
same day from deserters, and quickly made all necessary arrangements. At
evening he sent Postumius Balbus, his son-in-law, with three thousand
men to occupy the tops of the hills under which the Sabine ambush was
placed. His colleague, Lucretius, was ordered to take the
swiftest-footed and noblest youth of the city, and pursue the plundering
horsemen, while he himself with the rest of the forces made a circuitous
march and outflanked the enemy. It chanced that a thick mist came on
about dawn, in the midst of which Postumius charged down from the hills
upon the men in ambush with a loud shout, while Lucretius sent his men
to attack the cavalry, and Poplicola fell upon the enemy's camp. The
Sabines were routed in every quarter, and even when fighting no longer
were cut down by the Romans, their rash confidence proving ruinous to
them. Each party thought that the others must be safe, and did not care
to stay and fight where they were, but those who were in the camp ran to
those in the ambush, and those in the ambush towards the camp, each of
them meeting those with whom they hoped to take refuge, and finding that
those who they had hoped would help them needed help themselves. The
Sabines would have been all put to the sword, had not the neighbouring
city of Fidenae afforded them a refuge, especially for the men from the
camp. Such as could not reach Fidenae were either put to death or taken
prisoners.
XXIII. The Romans, accustomed as they are to refer all great success to
the intervention of Heaven, thought that the whole glory of this
achievement was due to the general. The first thing heard was the
victorious soldiers declaring that Poplicola had delivered up the enemy
to them blind and lame, and all but in chains, for them to slaughter at
their ease. The people were enriched by the plunder and the sale of the
prisoners for slaves. Poplicola enjoyed a triumph, and previously
delivering over the administration of the city to the two succeeding
consuls, died shortly afterwards, having attained to the highest pitch
of glory that man can reach. The people, as if they had done nothing
during his life to honour him as he deserved, and were now for the first
time to show their gratitude, decreed him a public funeral, and moreover
that every person should contribute the coin called _quadrans_, to show
him respect. The women also made a common agreement to wear mourning for
him for a whole year. He was buried by a decree of the people within the
city near the place called Velia, and all his family were given the
privilege of burial there. At the present day not one of the family is
actually buried there, but the corpse is carried thither, and laid down,
while some one places a lighted torch under it for a moment, after which
it is carried away. By this ceremony they claim the right, although they
forego it, and bury the corpse outside the city.
COMPARISON OF SOLON AND POPLICOLA.
I. It is a point peculiar to this comparison, and which does not occur
in any of the other Lives which I have written, that in turn one
imitates and the other bears witness to his fellow's deeds. Observe, for
instance, Solon's definition of happiness before Croesus, how much
better it suits Poplicola than Tellus. He says that Tellus was fortunate
because of his good luck, his virtue, and his noble children; but yet he
makes no mention of him or of his children in his poetry, and he never
was a man of any renown, or held any high office.
Now Poplicola's virtues made him the most powerful and glorious of the
Romans during his life, and six hundred years after his death the very
noblest families of Rome, those named Publicola and Messala and
Valerius, are proud to trace their descent from him, even at the present
day. Tellus, it is true, died like a brave man fighting in the ranks,
but Poplicola slew his enemies, which is much better than being killed
oneself, and made his country victorious by skill as a general and a
statesman, and, after triumphing and enjoying honours of every kind,
died the death which Solon thought so enviable. Besides, Solon, in his
answer to Mimnermus about the time of life, has written the verses:
"To me may favouring Heaven send,
That all my friends may mourn my end,"
in which he bears witness to the good fortune of Poplicola; for he, when
he died, was mourned not only by all his friends and relations but by
the whole city, in which thousands wept for him, while all the women
wore mourning for him as if he were a son or father of them all that
they had lost.
Solon says in his poems,
"I long for wealth, but not procured
By means unholy."
Now Poplicola not only possessed wealth honourably acquired, but also
was able to spend it, much to his credit, in relieving the needy. Thus
if Solon was the wisest, Poplicola was certainly the most fortunate of
men; for what Solon prayed for as the greatest blessing, Poplicola
possessed and enjoyed to the end of his days.
II. Thus has Solon done honour to Poplicola; and he again honoured Solon
by regarding him as the best model a man could follow in establishing a
free constitution: for he took away the excessive power and dignity of
the consuls and made them inoffensive to the people, and indeed made use
of many of Solon's own laws; as he empowered the people to elect their
own consuls, and gave defendants a right of appeal to the people from
other courts, just as Solon had done. He did not, like Solon, make two
senates, but he increased the existing one to nearly double its number.
His grounds for the appointment of quaestors was to give the consul
leisure for more important matters, if he was an honest man; and if he
was a bad man, to remove the opportunity of fraud which he would have
had if he were supreme over the state and the treasury at once. In
hatred of tyrants Poplicola exceeded Solon, for he fixed the penalty for
a man who might be proved to be attempting to make himself king, whereas
the Roman allowed any one to kill him without trial. And while Solon
justly prided himself upon his having been offered the opportunity to
make himself despot, with the full consent of his fellow-countrymen, and
yet having refused it, Poplicola deserves even greater credit for having
been placed in an office of almost despotic power, and having made it
more popular, not using the privileges with which he was entrusted.
Indeed Solon seems to have been the first to perceive that a people
"Obeys its rulers best,
When not too free, yet not too much opprest."
III. The relief of debtors was a device peculiar to Solon, which, more
than anything else confirmed the liberty of the citizens. For laws to
establish equality are of no use if poor men are prevented from enjoying
it because of their debts; and in the states which appear to be the most
free, men become mere slaves to the rich, and conduct the whole business
of the state at their dictation. It should be especially noted that
although an abolition of debt would naturally produce a civil war, yet
this measure of Solon's, like an unusual but powerful dose of medicine,
actually put an end to the existing condition of internal strife; for
the well-known probity of Solon's character outweighed the discredit of
the means to which he resorted. In fact Solon began his public life with
greater glory than Poplicola, for he was the leading spirit, and
followed no man, but entirely single handed effected the most important
reforms; while Poplicola was more enviable and fortunate at the close of
his career.
Solon himself saw his own constitution overthrown, while that of
Poplicola preserved order in the city down to the time of the civil
wars; and the reason was that Solon, as soon as he had enacted his laws,
went on his travels, leaving them written on wooden tablets, defenceless
against all assailants; whereas Poplicola remained at home, acted as
consul, and by his statesmanship ensured the success and permanence of
the new constitution. Moreover, Solon could not stop Peisistratus,
although he perceived his designs, but was forced to see a despotism
established; while Poplicola destroyed a monarchy which had existed for
many years, showing equal virtue with Solon, but greater good fortune
and power to enable him to carry out his intentions.
IV. With regard to warlike achievements, Daimachus of Plataea will not
even admit that Solon made the campaign against the Megarians, which we
have related; but Poplicola both by strategy and personal valour won
many great battles. As a statesman, Solon seems to have acted somewhat
childishly in pretending that he was mad, in order to make his speech
about Salamis, while Poplicola ran the very greatest risks in driving
out the tyrant and crushing the conspiracy. He was especially
responsible for the chief criminals being put to death, and thus not
only drove the Tarquins out of the city, but cut off and destroyed
their hopes of return. And while he showed such vigour in enterprises
that required spirit and courage, he was equally admirable in peaceful
negotiations and the arts of persuasion; for he skilfully won over the
formidable Porsena to be the friend instead of the enemy of Rome.
Still we may be reminded that Solon stirred up the Athenians to capture
Salamis, which they had given up to the Megarians, while Poplicola
withdrew the Romans from a country which they had conquered. We must,
however, consider the circumstances under which these events took place.
A subtle politician deals with every thing so as to turn it to the
greatest advantage, and will often lose a part in order to save the
whole, and by sacrificing some small advantage gain another more
important one, as did Poplicola on that occasion; for he, by withdrawing
from a foreign country, preserved his own, gained the enemy's camp for
the Romans, who before were only too glad to save their city from ruin,
and at last, by converting his enemy into an arbitrator and winning his
cause, obtained all the fruits of victory: for Porsena put an end to the
war, and left behind him all his war material to show his respect for
the noble character of the consul.
LIFE OF THEMISTOKLES.
I. Themistokles came of a family too obscure to entitle him to
distinction. His father, Neokles, was a middle-class Athenian citizen,
of the township of Phrearri and the tribe Leontis. He was base born on
his mother's side, as the epigram tells us:
"My name's Abrotonon from Thrace,
I boast not old Athenian race;
Yet, humble though my lineage be,
Themistokles was born of me."