CH. 1.
14. =Sertōrius=: Quintus Sertorius, a Sabine by birth, served under
Marius in the war against the Teutones. Before the battle of Aquae
Sextiae he entered the camp of the enemy in disguise. In 83 B.C. he
went to Spain and became the leader of the Lusitanians. For several
years he waged war successfully against the Romans. Finally he was
assassinated by one of his officers who was jealous of his power. _The
Story of the Romans_, p. 165; Creighton, p. 69.
PAGE 52.
CH. 2.
5. =levia proelia=: ‘skirmishes.’
=Rhodopam prōvinciam=: a small division of Thrace.
CH. 3.
10. =P. Servīlius=: Publius Servilius Vatia was consul in 79 B.C.
The next year he was sent to clear the sea of pirates. He waged war
successfully against them, conquered Cilicia and organized it as a
province. He took a leading part in the public affairs.
=ex cōnsule= ＝ _prōcōnsule_; a late expression; cf. our expression
‘ex-president.’
CH. 5.
20. =M. Aemilius Lepidus=: Lepidus and Catullus were consuls in the
year after the death of Sulla. They quarreled over some trifling
matter. In 77 B.C. Lepidus marched to Rome with an army. He was met by
Pompey near the Mulvian Bridge and defeated. Shortly afterwards he died
in Sardinia.
23. =Metellī=: Genitive, depending on _triumphus_ supplied from
_triumphī_ above.
CH. 6.
25. =annō urbis conditae=: a variation for the usual expression _ab
urbe conditā_. The year is conceived of as belonging to the city. Cf.
_annō ā conditā urbe_, Bk. III, 10; _annō … ab urbe conditā_, Bk. IV,
22.
PAGE 53.
1. =Nīcomēdēs=: Nicomedes III, surnamed Philopater, was the son and
successor of Nicomedes II mentioned in Bk. IV, Chs. 8, 20. He had been
aided by the Romans, and was encouraged by them to encroach on the
territories of Mithradates. Having no children, he left his kingdom to
the Romans.
2. =Mithradātēs=: see note on Bk. V, 5.
4. =apud Chalcēdōna=: the defeat was both by land and sea.
7. =Lūcullus=: Lucius Licinius Lucullus fought in the Civil war on
the side of Sulla, was praetor in 77 B.C., and consul in 74 B.C. For
eight years he carried on the war against Mithradates with success;
but on account of the mutinous spirit of his soldiers and the jealousy
of certain Romans, he was unable to bring the war to a close. On his
return to Rome he gave himself up to a life of indolence and luxury. He
died in 57 B.C.
10. =Bȳzantium=: the city of Byzantium was founded by the Megarians
in 658 B.C., and was a place of great importance. Constantinople was
founded on the same site by the Emperor Constantine the Great in 330
A.D. It remained the capital of the Roman Empire of the East until its
capture by the Turks in 1453.
13. =centum ferē mīlia=: sc. _hominum_.
CH. 7.
17. =novum bellum=: see _The Story of the Romans_, p. 167; Creighton,
p. 70.
18. =Spartacō=: Spartacus was a Thracian by birth, and had been taken
prisoner and sold to a trainer of gladiators. His character has been
maligned by the Roman writers. “Accident made Spartacus a shepherd, a
freebooter, and a gladiator; nature formed him a hero.”
19. =ludō=: ‘the gladiatorial school.’ The gladiators were mostly
slaves, and were the property of the individuals who trained them and
leased them for the games. This school belonged to Lentulus.
20. =paene nōn levius=: ‘not much lighter.’
22. =armātōrum=: many slaves joined them.
23. =victī sunt in Āpūliā=: they were conquered on the river Silarus,
which flows between Lucania and Campania. Spartacus was slain in the
battle.
CH. 8.
27. =duo=: nominative masculine, agreeing with _Lūcullī_.
PAGE 54.
7. =Mithradātēs fugātus est=: if the Roman soldiers had been able to
restrain their eagerness for plunder and had followed Mithradates
rapidly, he would have been captured.
10. =Tigrāne=: Tigranes, king of Armenia, was the son-in-law of
Mithradates. Although at first he refused to aid Mithradates, later
the insolence of Lucullus’ envoys caused him to change his policy and
take a hand in the war.
CH. 9.
13. =hostem fugātum=: ‘the enemy who had fled.’ Often it is best to
translate a participle by a clause.
14. =Tigrānocertam=: the capital of Tigranes.
16. =clībanāriīs=: this is the only place in Eutropius where this word
is found. It is post-classical, and is used by only two writers besides
Eutropius.
19. =Nisibīn=: he was directing his march to Artaxata, but the mutiny
of his soldiers caused him to turn aside to Nisibis, the capital of
Mesopotamia, and take up his winter quarters there.
20. =hī=: his lieutenants, Fannius and Triarius. They had been defeated
at Cabira and Zela.
22. =neglegenter … agentēs=: ‘conducting themselves carelessly and
greedily.’
24. =bellum renovātum est=: the Romans were now exactly where they were
at the breaking out of the war, Pontus and Cappadocia were overrun by
Mithradates, and the results of eight years’ warfare were lost.
PAGE 55.
CH. 11.
12. =bellum Crēticum=: the war was in reality directed against the
pirates who made Crete their headquarters.
CH. 12.
20. =Cn. Pompēiō=: by the Gabinian law Pompey was invested with
absolute authority, both by sea and by land, as far as fifty miles into
the interior, over the whole eastern Mediterranean for three years.
=quod … cōnfēcit=: in the space of forty days he had swept the whole
western tract of the Mediterranean Sea, and had driven the enemy into
the opposite quarter. He drove the pirates from the sea, and compelled
them to take refuge in their strongholds in the Cilician coast. These
he speedily surrounded and captured. He burnt over 1300 of their
vessels, and destroyed all their hostile magazines and arsenals. In
ninety days he had terminated the contest.
22. =eī … Tigrānēn=: by the Manilian law the authority he had already
wielded against the pirates was extended over all the East.
24. =nocturnō proeliō=: Mithradates at first attempted to procure
peace, but Pompey would hear of nothing but unconditional surrender. He
started to retire slowly but was pursued by Pompey, and was overtaken
in a narrow pass on the Lycus, where the city of Nicopolis was
afterward built. Mithradates escaped with a few horsemen and fled to
Tigranes, who refused to receive him.
=quadrāgintā mīlia=: cf. _centum ferē mīlia_, Ch. 6.
27. =Pharnacis=: Pompey had been active in fostering intrigues in the
family of Mithradates. He had caused Pharnaces to revolt and to ally
himself with the Romans, and had proclaimed him king at Panticapaeum.
PAGE 56.
2. =venēnum hausit=: Pharnaces was about to hand him over to the
Romans. The story is that he was so inured to poisons that he was
compelled to end his life with a sword.
CH. 13.
7. =ab Artaxatā=: Pompey was following him, and was planning to capture
his capital city.
11. =Syria=, =Phoenīcē=: also Galatia, Cappadocia, and a part of
Cilicia which Lucullus had taken away from him, Pompey refused to
return.
12. =Sophānēnē=: Pompey made the son of Tigranes the king of Sophanene.
14. =commōvisset=: Subjunctive, giving the reason of the Romans.
CH. 14.
22. =Syriam=: Syria was disturbed by fierce internal dissensions.
To put an end to the anarchy that existed there, Pompey resolved to
annex it. He drove from the throne Antiochus Asiaticus, who had been
acknowledged by the senate and by Lucullus.
PAGE 57.
2. =Iūdaeam=: the Jews alone refused to obey his orders, and sustained
a siege of three months at Jerusalem. Although Rome had no business to
interfere with the affairs in this part of the East, yet the government
she gave to the provinces, formed from the conquered territory, was
stable and just in the main, and was welcome after the state of anarchy
that had prevailed.
CH. 15.
7. =L. Sergius Catilīna=: Catiline was a member of a patrician family.
By his dissolute habits and his luxury he had squandered all his
property and had run into debt. The only relief was to secure the
consulship, that at the expiration of his term of office he might
be sent to govern some province, from the plunder of which he might
acquire another fortune to be spent in riotous living. Failing to
secure the consulship, he determined to overthrow the state. He formed
a band of dissolute nobles, collected arms in various places, stationed
an armed force at Faesulae in Etruria, and made all preparations for an
outbreak as soon as the time was ripe. Meanwhile Cicero had ascertained
all Catiline’s plans by the aid of the mistress of one of the
conspirators. Desiring to drive Catiline to some overt act, he assailed
him in the senate on the 8th of November. The oration he delivered has
been preserved. Catiline hastened from the city to the armed force at
Faesulae. The conspirators who were left in the city were soon caught
in a treasonable act, and were arrested and strangled in prison by
order of the senate. Afterwards Cicero was accused of having put Roman
citizens to death without a trial, and was condemned to exile for a
time. Creighton, p. 73.
12. =Catilīna ipse=: it was not until March of the next year (62 B.C.)
that Catiline was surrounded, while attempting to escape into Gaul, and
slain.
CH. 16.
16. =nūlla … fuit=: in this triumph was displayed a list of 800
vessels, 1000 fortresses, and 300 cities captured, 39 cities repeopled,
and 20,000 talents of gold brought to the treasury. “The great
conqueror had now celebrated his third triumph. His first had been
for victories in Africa, his second for the overthrow of Sertorius in
Europe; he had now completed the illustrious cycle by inscribing on the
list the name of Asia. Each section of the globe had succumbed to his
prowess.”
CH. 17.
23. =C. Iūlius Caesar=: Gaius Julius Caesar was born July 12, 100 B.C.
He was of a patrician family, but from the first sided with the popular
party. Many stories of his early youth are told. He became pontifex
maximus, military tribune, and quaestor in succession. At this period
he was noted chiefly as a dissolute debtor and a demagogue. In 62
B.C. he was elected praetor, and the next year went as propraetor to
govern the province of Further Spain. In 60 B.C. he returned to Rome
and formed a political coalition with Pompey and Crassus, known as
the ‘First Triumvirate.’ In 59 B.C. he was elected consul, and, after
the expiration of his year of office, entered on the governorship of
Gaul and Illyricum for the period of five years. This was afterwards
extended for another period of the same length. While governor of
the province he conquered the Helvetians and a wandering band of the
Germans who had come over into Gaul, crushed a revolt of the Nervii,
defeated the Veneti and the Aquitani, and twice invaded Germany and
Britain. It was Caesar’s intention to stand for the consulship a second
time as soon as his term of office as governor of Gaul should expire.
Pompey, meanwhile, had become jealous of Caesar’s power and had gone
over to the senatorial party. A measure was passed by the senate
declaring Caesar to be an outlaw unless he should disband his army
and come to Rome a private citizen before a certain date. On Caesar’s
refusal to do this, he was declared a public enemy, and preparations
for war were made. Caesar advanced to Rome. Pompey fled to Greece,
where he was defeated the following year at Pharsalus, and afterwards
was murdered in Egypt. At the battle of Thapsus in Africa, 46 B.C.,
Caesar defeated the remaining leaders of the party, Cato and Scipio.
This was the end of the war. He returned to Rome and was made imperator
and perpetual dictator. He inaugurated several important reforms, among
them a reform in the calendar. He formed many other plans which his
death prevented him from executing. Finally, when it was thought that
he was aiming at the kingly power, a conspiracy was formed, and he was
assassinated on the fifteenth day of March, 44 B.C.
“While other illustrious men have been reputed great for their
excellence in some one department of intellect, the concurrent voice of
antiquity has declared that Caesar was great in all. ‘He had genius,’
says Cicero, ‘understanding, memory, taste, reflection, industry, and
exactness.’” _The Story of the Romans_, p. 176; Creighton, p. 74; _The
Roman Triumvirates_, Ch. 5.
=imperāvit=: ‘was emperor’; a late meaning.
PAGE 58.
1. =dēcrēta est=: for the number and gender see H. 395, 1 (439, 1); M.
174, 2, 178, 2; A. & G. 187, _a_; G. 285-6; B. 235, A, 2, B, 2, _b_, B.
2. =Helvētiōs … Sequanī=: Eutropius, following the custom of his day,
unites the Helvetians and Sequanians. In Caesar’s time they were
quite distinct. The Helvetians lived in what is now Switzerland; the
Sequanians were west of the Jura mountains along the Rhone.
7. =Britannīs=: twice he invaded Britain. The first time it was a mere
reconnoissance. His conquest was only partial.
11. =quadringentiēs=: sc. _centēna mīlia sestertium_; about $1,640,000.
=Germānōs=: twice Caesar crossed the Rhine, but only for the purpose
of impressing the Germans with the power of his forces. He fought no
battles there, but he inflicted terrible defeats on two German bands
that had come over into Gaul.
CH. 18.
17. =M. Licinius Crassus=: there was no cause for war against the
Parthians, but Crassus was anxious to make himself popular by winning
military renown.
18. =circā Carrās=: the overthrow at Carrae was one of the gravest
disasters ever sustained by the Roman arms: 20,000 were slain and
10,000 were carried into captivity. The Romans who were made prisoners
were treated with indulgence by the Parthians and were allowed to
settle in the land of their conquerors. Creighton, p. 77.
PAGE 59.
CH. 19.
4. =alterum cōnsulātum=: this he demanded in accordance with the
agreement formed between Pompey, Crassus, and himself. He was now
eligible for a second consulship, as ten years had passed since he was
consul for the first time.
5. =aliquā=: cf. _aliquā_, Bk. I, 3.
=contrādictum est=: lit. ‘it was opposed’ ＝ ‘opposition was made.’
8. =iniūriam=: “the ‘injury’ was in depriving him of his military
command, and leaving him without the security the consulship would have
afforded.” He was willing to disband his army and return to Rome if he
could be elected to the consulship in his absence, or if Pompey would
disband his army.
=ab Arīminō=: he had crossed the small stream known as the Rubicon
which separated his province from Italy. The story is told that as he
crossed the stream he said, ‘The die is cast, let us go where the gods
and the injustice of our enemies call us.’
=mīlitēs congregātōs habēbat=: ‘kept his troops collected.’
CH. 20.
14. =dictātōrem=: with the exception of Sulla there had been no
dictator since the time of the Second Punic War.
15. =exercitūs … superāvit=: at first he met with serious reverses at
Ilerda, but he soon succeeded in compelling the Pompeians to surrender,
and enrolled most of them in his army.
18. =prīmō proeliō=: at Dyrrhacium in Illyria.
20. =nec … superārī=: Indirect Discourse depending on _dīxit_.
22. =Palaeopharsālum=: this battle is generally known as the battle of
Pharsalia.
PAGE 60.
CH. 21.
4. =numquam … neque … neque=: “a general negative may be subdivided by
_neque … neque_, or _aut … aut_.”
7. =pūgnātum tum est=: Pompey would have refused battle, but was
urged on by his followers. The knights and senators who fought in the
Pompeian ranks soon broke and fled. At the first attack Pompey fled
to his camp, where he tried to rally his routed forces, but he was
unsuccessful. Leaping on his horse at the last moment, he escaped
through the rear gate of the camp, nor did he draw rein until he
reached Larissa. Thence he hastened to the coast, where he took ship
for Egypt.
9. =ā rēge Aegyptī=: he was only a nominal king. Egypt was made a
province by Augustus, Bk. VII, 7.
11. =occīdit=: he caused Pompey to be inveigled into a boat, where he
was murdered and his head severed from his body. His corpse was flung
into the surf, where it was picked up later and burned.
12. =quō cōnspectō=: ‘and when Caesar had seen it.’
14. =generī quondam suī=: Pompey had married Julia, the daughter of
Caesar, in 60 B.C. It was her death in 54 B.C. that tended to loosen
the bond existing between them.
CH. 22.
17. =victus=: Caesar conquered the royal forces on the banks of the
Nile.
18. =Alexandrīā=: when Caesar set fire to the royal fleet, the flames
consumed the great library of Alexandria, containing 400,000 volumes.
In this fire some of the greatest literary treasures of antiquity
perished.
=Cleopatrae=: the famous queen who proved to be the ruin of Antony, Bk.
VII, 6, 7.
20. =Pompēiō in auxilium=: Eutropius seldom uses the double Dative; cf.
_Rōmānīs fuisset auxiliō_, Bk. IV, 3.
22. =vīcit aciē=: it was after this battle that Caesar sent to the
senate the famous message _vēnī, vīdī, vīcī_, ‘I came, I saw, I
conquered.’
PAGE 61.
CH. 23.
2. =eī … dictātōrī=: ‘while he was dictator’; _dictātōrī_ is in
apposition with _eī_.
6. =hīc etiam=: ‘he also’; as well as Caesar.
7. =M. Porcius Catō=: he was the great-grandson of the M. Porcius Cato
mentioned in Bk. IV, 23. He is known in history as Cato Uticensis, from
Utica, where he committed suicide. He was famous for the austerity of
his manners and for his studied imitation of the customs of early days.
9. =victor fuit=: in the battle of Thapsus.
CH. 24.
15. =Cn. Pompēius=: he had gone into Spain and had gathered around him
adventurers of all sorts. At first Caesar had sent officers to subdue
the revolt, but finding their efforts unsuccessful, he took command in
person. After encountering great personal danger, he gained a complete
victory. Thirty thousand of the vanquished perished. Gnaeus Pompey
escaped from the field, but was afterward overtaken and slain. Sextus,
the younger son of Pompey, was the only leader of the republican party
left.
PAGE 62.
CH. 25.
1. =honōrēs=: ‘offices’; political honors.
3. =rēgia ac paene tyrannica=: ‘like a king and almost like a usurper.’
Nepos defines a tyrannus as one ‘who is in perpetual power in that
state which enjoyed liberty.’
8. =senātūs diē=: ‘on the day of the senate’; on the day when the
senate met.
9. =cūriam=: Caesar was slain in the Curia in the Campus Martius.