Domitius Ahenobarbus, the son of Cneius, who deserted to Cæsar just
before the battle of Actium. This Lucius had by Antonia a son, Cn.
Domitius Ahenobarbus, who married Agrippina, the daughter of Cæsar
Germanicus. Agrippina's son, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, was adopted by the
emperor Claudius after his marriage with Agrippina, and Lucius then took
the name of Nero Claudius Cæsar Drusus. As the emperor Nero his infamy
is imperishable.
The younger Antonia, the daughter of Octavia and Antonius, married
Drusus, the second son of Tiberius Claudius Nero. Tiberius had divorced
his wife Livia in order that Cæsar Octavianus might become her husband.
The virtues of Antonia are recorded by Plutarch and others: her beauty
is testified by her handsome face on a medal.
The expression of Plutarch that Caius, by whom he means Caius Caligula,
"ruled with distinction," has caused the commentators some difficulty,
and they have proposed to read [Greek: epimanôs], "like a madman" in
place of [Greek: epiphanôs], "with distinction." Perhaps
Plutarch's meaning may be something like what I have given, and he may
allude to the commencement of Caligula's reign, which gave good hopes,
as Suetonius shows. Some would get over the difficulty by giving to
[Greek: epiphanôs] a different meaning from the common meaning. See
Kaltwasser's note.
A portrait of Antonius (see Notes to Brutus, c. 52) would be an idle
impertinence. He is portrayed clear and distinct in this inimitable Life
of Plutarch.
Here ends the Tragedy of Antonius and Cleopatra; and after it begins the
Monarchy, as Plutarch would call it, or the sole rule of Augustus. See
the Preface to the First Volume.
[481] Of Athens.
[482] The various stories about Plato's slavery are discussed in Grote's
'History of Greece,' part ii. ch. 53.
[483] Aristomache and Arete.
[484] Periodical northerly winds or monsoons.
[485] The ceremony of the libations seems to correspond to our "grace
after meat." See vol. i. Life of Perikles, ch. 7.
[486] Grote paraphrases this passage as follows:--"A little squadron was
prepared, of no more than five merchantmen, two of them vessels of
thirty oars, &c." On consulting Liddell and Scott's Lexicon, s.v.
[Greek: triakontoros], I find a reference to Thuc. iv. 9; where a
Messenian pirate triaconter is spoken of, and for further information
the reader is referred to the article "[Greek: pentêkontoros] (sc.
[Greek: naus]), [Greek: hê], a ship of burden with fifty oars," Pind.
P. 4. 436, Eur. I.T. 1124, Thuc. i., 14, &c. But none of these passages
bear out the sense of a "vessel of burden." The passage in Pindar merely
states that the snake which Jason slew was as big or bigger than a
[Greek: pentêkontoros]. Herod, ii. 163, distinctly says "not ships of
burden, but penteconters." In Eur. I.T. 1124, the chorus merely remark
that Iphigenia will be borne home by a penteconter, while Thucydides (i.
14) explicitly states that, many generations after the Trojan war, the
chief navies of Greece consisted of but few triremes, and chiefly of
"penteconters or of long ships equipped like them." From these passages
I am inclined to think that the true meaning of the passage is the
literal one, that the soldiers were placed on board of two transports,
that the two triaconters, or thirty-oared galleys, were ships of war and
acted as convoy to them, and that the small vessel was intended for Dion
and his friends to escape in if necessary. In Dem. Zen. a [Greek:
pentêkontoros] undoubtedly is spoken of as a merchant vessel; but this
does not prove that there were no war penteconters in Dion's time.
[487] Kerkina and Kerkinitis, two low islands off the north coast of
Africa, in the mouth of the Lesser Syrtis, united by a bridge and
possessing a fine harbour. 'Dictionary of Antiquities.'
[488] The Greek word is [Greek: kontos], which is singularly near in
sound to the East Anglian "quant."
[489] This seems to be the universally accepted emendation of the
unmeaning words in the original text. Grote remarks "The statue and
sacred ground of Apollo Temenites was the most remarkable feature in
this portion of Syracuse, and would naturally be selected to furnish a
name for the gate." 'Hist. of Greece,' part ii. ch. lxxxiv. note.
[490] The main street of Achradina is spoken of by Cicero as broad,
straight and long; which was unusual in an ancient Greek city. See
Grote. ad. loc.
[491] The citadel of Syracuse was built upon the island of Ortygia, and
was therefore easily cut off by a ditch and palisade across the narrow
isthmus by which it was connected with the mainland.
[492] "He offered them what in modern times would be called a
constitution." Grote.
[493] On this passage Grote has the following note:--"Plutarch states
that Herakleides brought only seven triremes. But the force stated by
Diodorus (twenty triremes, three transports and 1500 soldiers) appears
more probable. It is difficult otherwise to explain the number of ships
which the Syracusans presently appear as possessing. Moreover, the great
importance which Herakleides steps into, as opposed to Dion, is more
easily accounted for."
[494] The Syracusan cavalry was celebrated, and "the knights" here and
elsewhere no doubt means Syracusan citizens, though at first this
passage looks as if strangers were meant. See ch. 44, where the knights
and leading citizens are mentioned together.
[495] I conceive that the "atrium" or "cavædium" of the house, that is,
the interior peristyle or court surrounded with columns, is meant, and
that Dion, sitting on one side of this room, saw the apparition behind
the columns on the other. An outside portico was a very unusual
appendage to a Greek house, and Dion's house is said to have been
especially simple and unpretending, whereas nearly all houses were built
with an inner court or "patio," with its roof supported by columns, and
into which the other rooms of the house opened.
[496] L. Junius Brutus, consul B.C. 509, was a Patrician, and his race
was extinct in his two sons (Liv. ii. 1-4; Drumann, _Junii_, p. 1; Dion
Cassius, xliv. 12; Dionys. Hal. _Antiq. Rom._ v. 18).
[497] Servilia, the wife of M. Junius Brutus, the father of this Brutus,
was the daughter of Livia, who was the sister of M. Livius Drusus,
tribunus plebis B.C. 91. Livia married for her first husband M. Cato, by
whom she had M. Cato Uticensis; for her second husband she had Q.
Servilius Cæpio, by whom she became the mother of Servilia. M. Junius
Brutus, the father of this Brutus, was the first husband of Servilia,
who had by her second husband, D. Junius Silanus, two daughters. Her son
Brutus was born in the autumn of B.C. 85. He was adopted by his uncle Q.
Servilius Cæpio, whence he is sometimes called Cæpio, and Q. Cæpio
Brutus on coins, public monuments, and in decrees (Drumann, _Junii_).
[498] Ahala was Magister Equitum to L. Quinctius Cincinnatus. The story
belongs to B.C. 439; and it is told by Livius, iv. 13, 14. The true name
of Mallius Spurius is Spurius Mælius.
[499] This passage is obscure in the original. The parentage of M.
Junius Brutus, the father of this Brutus, does not appear to be
ascertained.
[500] See the Life of Lucullus, c. 42.
[501] See the Life of Cicero, c. 4. Cicero mentions Ariston, which is
probably the true name, in his Tusculanæ Quæstiones, v. 8.
[502] Nothing more is known of him.
[503] The original is obscure. See Sintenis, note; and Schæfer, note.
Kaltwasser follows the reading [Greek: pros tas exodous], which he
translates "für den Kriegsdienst."
[504] See the Life of the Younger Cato, c. 35, &c.
[505] Coræs explains the original ([Greek: scholastês]) to mean "one who
is engaged about learning and philosophy."
[506] The father of this Brutus was of the faction of Marius, and
tribunus plebis B.C. 83. After Sulla's return he lost all power, and
after Sulla's death Pompeius (B.C. 77) marched against Brutus, who shut
himself up in Mutina (Modena). A mutiny among his troops compelled him
to open the gates, and Pompeius ordered him to be put to death, contrary
to the promise which he had given (Life of Pompeius, c. 16).
The allusion at the beginning of this chapter is to the outbreak between
Pompeius and Cæsar, B.C. 49.
[507] P. Sextius was governor of Cilicia. In the text of Plutarch
Sicilia stands erroneously in place of Cilicia: this is probably an
error of the copyists, who often confound these names (see Life of
Pompeius, c. 61; Cicero, _Ad Attic._ viii. 14; ix. 7).
[508] Brutus was a great reader and a busy writer. Drumann (_Junii_, p.
37) gives a sketch of his literary activity. Such a trifle as an epitome
of Polybius was probably only intended as a mere occupation to pass the
time. The loss of it is not a matter of regret, any further than so far
as it might have supplied some deficiencies in the present text of
Polybius. Bacon (Advancement of Learning) describes epitomes thus: "As
for the corruptions and moths of history, which are epitomes, the use of
them deserveth to be banished, as all men of sound judgment have
confessed; as those that have fretted and corroded the sound bodies of
many excellent histories, and wrought them into base and unprofitable
dregs."
[509] The story of Cæsar receiving this note is told in the Life of
Cato, c. 24. Cæsar was born on the 12th July, B.C. 100, which is a
sufficient answer to the scandalous tale of his being the father of
Brutus. That he may have had an adulterous commerce with Servilia in and
before B.C. 63, the year of Catiline's conspiracy, is probable enough.
[510] This was C. Cassius Longinus, who accompanied Crassus in his
Parthian campaign (Life of Crassus, c. 18, &c.). After Cato had retired
to Africa, Cassius made his peace with Cæsar (Dion Cassius, xlii. 13).
[511] Kaltwasser has adopted the correction of Moses du Soul, and has
translated the passage "in Nikaea für den König Deiotarus." The anecdote
appears to refer clearly to king Deiotarus, as appears from Cicero's
Letters to Atticus (xiv. 1). See Drumann's note, _Junii_, p. 25, note
83. Coræs would read [Greek: Galatôn] for [Greek: Libyôn].
[512] This was the north part of Italy. Cæsar set out for his African
campaign in B.C. 47. Brutus held Gallia in the year B.C. 46. See
Drumann, _Junii_, p. 26, note 91, on the administration of Gallia by
Brutus.
[513] Plutarch here alludes to the office of Prætor Urbanus, who, during
the year of his office, was the chief person for the administration of
justice. The number of prætors at this time was ten (Dion Cassius, xlii.
51), to which number they were increased from eight by Cæsar in B.C. 47.
The Prætor Urbanus still held the first rank. The motive of Cæsar may
have been, as Dion Cassius says, to oblige his dependents by giving them
office and rank. Brutus was Prætor Urbanus in B.C. 44, the year of
Cæsar's assassination.
[514] This anecdote is told in Cæsar's Life, c. 62.
[515] Q. Fufius Calenus was sent by Cæsar before the battle of Pharsalus
to Greece (Life of Cæsar, c. 43). Megara made strong resistance to
Calenus, and was treated with severity. Dion Cassius (xlii. 14) says
nothing about the lions.
[516] See the Life of Sulla, c. 34, and note to c. 37; and the Life of
Cæsar, c. 53, note.
[517] See the Life of Cæsar, c. 61, and Dion Cassius, xliv. 3, &c.
[518] His name was Quintus. Ligarius fought against Cæsar at the battle
of Thapsus B.C. 46. He was taken prisoner and banished. He was
prosecuted by Q. Delius Tubero for his conduct in Africa, and defended
by Cicero in an extant speech. Ligarius obtained a pardon from Cæsar,
and he repaid the dictator, like many others, by aiding in his murder.
It seems pretty certain that he lost his life in the proscriptions of
the Triumviri (Appian, _Civil Wars_, iv, 22, 23).
[519] Compare the Life of the Younger Cato, c. 65, 73; and as to
Favonius, the same life.
[520] Q. Antistius Labeo was one of the hearers of Servius Sulpicius
(Dig. i. tit. 2, s. 2, § 44), and himself a jurist, and the father of a
more distinguished jurist, Antistius Labeo, who lived under Augustus. He
was at the battle of Philippi, and after the defeat he killed himself,
and was buried in a grave in his tent, which he had dug for the purpose
(Appian, _Civil Wars_, iv. 135).
[521] See the Life of Cæsar, c. 64, and the note.
The signs of Cæsar's death are mentioned in the Life of Cæsar, c. 63.
[522] Brutus was first married to Claudia, a daughter of Appius
Claudius, consul B.C. 54. It was probably in B.C. 55, and after Cato's
death, that he put away Claudia, for which he was blamed (Cic. _Ad
Attic._ xiii. 9), and married Porcia, the daughter of Cato, and widow of
M. Calpurnius Bibulus, the colleague of Cæsar in the consulship B.C. 59.
As to the affair of the wound, compare Dion Cassius (xliv. 13 &c.).
[523] This was the great architectural work of Pompeius (Life of
Pompeius, c. 40, note).
[524] The same story is told by Appian (_Civil Wars_, ii. 115).
[525] The circumstances of Cæsar's death are told in his Life, c. 66;
where it is incorrectly said that Brutus Albinus engaged Antonius in
conversation. To the authorities referred to in the note to c. 66 of the
Life of Cæsar, add Cicero, _Philipp._ ii. 14, which is referred to by
Kaltwasser.
[526] L. Munatius Plancus, who had received favours from Cæsar, and the
province of Transalpine Gaul, with the exception of Narbonensis and
Belgica B.C. 44.
As to the arrangement about the provinces after Cæsar's death, see the
Life of Antonius, c. 14.
[527] Compare the Life of Cæsar, c. 68, and the note.
[528] The allusion is to P. Clodius, who fell in a brawl with T. Annius
Milo B.C. 52. See the Life of Cicero, c. 52.
[529] Compare the Life of Cæsar, c. 68.
[530] Now Porto d'Anzo, on the coast of Latium, thirty miles from Rome.
It is now a poor place, with numerous remains of former buildings
(Westphal, _Die Römische Kampagne_, and his two maps).
[531] These were the Ludi Apollinares (Dion, xlvii. 20), which Brutus
had to superintend as Prætor Urbanus. The day of celebration was the
fourth of Quintilis or Julius. The games were superintended by L.
Antonius, the brother of Marcus, and the colleague of Brutus.
[532] Compare the Life of Cicero, c. 43, and notes; and the Life of
Antonius, c. 16.
[533] Complaints like these, of the conduct of Cicero, appear in the
sixteenth and seventeenth letters of the book which is entitled 'M.
Tullii Epistolarum ad Brutum Liber Singularis;' but the genuineness of
these letters is very doubtful. Plutarch himself (_Brutus_, 53) did not
fully believe in the genuineness of all the letters attributed to
Brutus.
[534] Elea, the Romans called this place Velia. It was on the coast of
Lucania, in the modern province of Basilicata in the kingdom of Naples;
and the remains are near Castella a mare della Brucca. Velia is often
mentioned by Cicero, who set sail from thence when he intended to go to
Greece (Life of Cicero, c. 43).
[535] The passages in Homer are, _Iliad_, vi. 429 and 491, the parting
of Hector and Andromache. The old stories of Greece furnished the
painter with excellent subjects, and the simplicity with which they
treated them may be inferred from Plutarch's description. The poet was
here the real painter. The artist merely gave a sensuous form to the
poet's conception. The parting of Hector and Andromache is the subject
of one of Schiller's early poems.
[536] Dion Cassius (xlvii. 20) describes the reception of Brutus at
Athens. The Athenians ordered bronze statues of Brutus and Cassius to be
set up by the side of the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who had
liberated Athens from the tyranny of the Peisistratidæ.
[537] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 75. Cicero's son Marcus was attending
the lectures of Cratippus B.C. 44, and also, as it appears, up to the
time when Brutus came to Athens. Horace, who was now at Athens, also
joined the side of Brutus, and was present at the battle of Philippi.
[538] A town near the southern point of Euboea. The Roman commander who
gave up the money, was the Quæstor M. Appuleius (Cicero, _Philipp._ x.
11). Plutarch in the next chapter calls him Antistius.
[539] These are the dying words of Patroclus (_Iliad_, xvi. 849). Apollo
is Leto's son.
[540] See the Life of Cicero, c. 43, note; and Dion Cassius (xlvii. 29,
&c.).
[541] A town in Thessalia.
[542] Q. Hortensius Hortalus, the son of the orator Hortensius, who held
the province of Macedonia (B.C. 44), in which Brutus was to succeed him.
He was put to death by M. Antonius after the battle of Philippi (c. 28).
[543] This may be an error of Plutarch's copyists. His name was P.
Vatinius (Dion Cassius, xlvii. 21).
[544] The Greek soldiers suffered in this way in their retreat from
Babylonia over the table-land of Armenia (Xenophon, _Anabasis_, iv. 5,
7). This bulimy is a different thing from that which modern writers call
by that name, and which they describe as a "canine appetite, insatiable
desire for food." The nature of the appetite is exemplified by the
instance of a man eating in one day four pounds of raw cow's udder, ten
pounds of raw beef, two pounds of candles, and drinking five bottles of
porter (Penny Cyclopædia, art. Bulimia). The subject of Bulimia is
discussed by Plutarch (_Symposiaca_, b. vi. Qu. 8).
[545] Now Butrinto, was on the main land in the north part of the
channel which divides Corcyra (Corfu) from the continent. It was made a
Colonia by the Romans after their occupation of Epirus. Atticus, the
friend of Cicero, had land in the neighbourhood of Buthrotum.
As to the events mentioned at the end of this chapter, compare Dion
Cassius, xlvii. 21-23.
[546] Compare Dion Cassius, xlvii. 22.
[547] This was Decimus Brutus Albinus, who fell into the hands of the
soldiers of M. Antonius in North Italy, and was put to death by order of
Antonius B.C. 43. Compare Dion Cassius (xlvi. 53), and the note of
Reimarus.
[548] Brutus passed over into Asia probably about the middle of B.C. 43,
while the proscriptions were going on at Rome. As to Cyzicus, see the
Life of Lucullus, c. 9.
[549] Cassius was now in Syria, whence he designed to march to Egypt to
punish Cleopatra for the assistance which she had given to Dolabella.
[550] The Mediterranean, for which the Romans had no name.
[551] Xanthus stood on a river of the same name, about ten miles from
the mouth. The river is now called Etchen-Chai. Xanthus is first
mentioned by Herodotus (i. 176), who describes its destruction by the
Persian general Harpagus, to which Plutarch afterwards (c. 31) alludes.
Numerous remains have been recently discovered there by Fellowes, and
some of them are now in the British Museum (Penny Cyclop. art. Xanthian
Marbles, and the references in that article).
The last sentence of this chapter is very confused in the original.
[552] Compare the Life of Pompeius, c. 77, 80.
[553] Brutus and Cassius met at Sardis in the early part of B.C. 42.
[554] The passage to which Plutarch refers is _Iliad_, i. 259. The
character of Favonius is well known from the Lives of Pompeius and Cato
the Younger.
[555] Kaltwasser has a note on the Roman practice of an invited guest
taking his shadows (umbræ) with him. Horace alludes to the practice (i.
Ep. 5, 28),
----"locus est et pluribus umbris."
Plutarch discusses the etiquette as to umbræ in his Symposiaca (book
vii. Qu. 6).
[556] The Romans reclined at table. They placed couches on three sides
of the table and left the fourth open. The central couch or sofa (lectus
medius) was the first place. The other sofas at the adjoining two sides
were respectively lectus summus and imus.
[557] Nothing further seems to be known of him. The name Pella is
probably corrupt. The consequence of his condemnation was Infamia, as to
the meaning of which term: see Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities,
Infamia. This interview between Brutus and Cassius forms one of the
finest scenes in Shakespeare's play of Julius Cæsar.
[558] The reading here is probably corrupt. See the note of Sintenis.
[559] The ghost story is told also in the Life of Cæsar, c. 69.
[560] Cassius was one of the Romans who had embraced the doctrines of
Epicurus, modified somewhat by the Roman character. Cicero in a letter
to Cassius (_Ad Diversos_, xv. 16) rallies him about his opinions; and
Cassius (xv. 19) in reply defends them. Cicero says to Cassius, that he
hopes he will tell him whether it is in his power, as soon as he chooses
to think of Cassius, to have his spectrum ([Greek: eidôlon]) present,
before him, and whether, if he should begin to think of the island
Britannia, the image (spectrum) of Britannia will fly to his mind.
Lucretius expounded the Epicurean doctrines in his poem De Rerum Natura.
In his fourth book he treats of images (simulacra):
"Quæritur in primis quare quod quoique libido
Venerit, extemplo mens cogitet ejus id ipsum.
Anne voluntatem nostram simulacra tuentur,
Et simulac volumus, nobis occurrit imago?"--iv. 781, &c.
The things on which the mind has been engaged in waking hours, recur as
images during sleep:
"Et quo quisque fere studio defunctus adhæret,
Aut quibus in rebus multum sumus ante moratei
Atque in ea ratione fuit contenta magis mens,
In somnis eadem plerumque videmur obire:
Causidicei causas agere et componere leges,
Induperatores pugnare ac proelia obire," &c.--iv. 963.
He has observed in a previous passage, that numerous images of things
wander about in all directions, that they are of a subtile nature, and
are easily united when they meet; they are of a much more subtile nature
than the things which affect the sight, for they penetrate through the
pores of bodies, and inwardly move the subtile nature of the mind. He
then adds:
"Centauros itaque et Scyllarum membra videmus,
Cerbereasque canum fauceis simulacraque eorum
Quorum morte obita tellus amplectitur ossa."--iv. 734, &c.
The doctrine which Lucretius inculcated as to the deities, admitted
their existence, but denied that they concerned themselves about mundane
affairs; and they had nothing to do with the creation of the world. It
is one of the main purposes of the poem to free men from all religious
belief, and to show the misery and absurdities that it breeds.
A belief in dæmons would be inconsistent with such doctrines; and as to
the gods, Cassius means to say, that though he did not believe in their
existence, he almost wished that there were gods to aid their righteous
cause.
As to the opinions of Cassius, compare the Life of Cæsar, c. 66.
[561] C. Norbanus Flaccus and L. Decidius Saxa, two legates of Antonius,
who had been sent forward with eight legions, and had occupied Philippi.
The town of Philippi lay near the mountain-range of Pangæus and
Symbolum, which was the name of a place at which Pangæus joins another
mountain, that stretches up into the interior. Symbolum was between
Neapolis (new city) and Philippi. Neapolis was on the coast opposite to
Thasus: Philippi was in the mountain region, and was built on a hill;
west of it was a plain which extended to the Strymon (Appian, _Civil
Wars_, iv. 1205; Dion Cassius. xlvii. 35). Philippi was originally
called Krenides, or the Springs, then Datus, and lastly Philippi by King
Philippus, of Macedonia, who fortified it. Appian's description of the
position of Philippi is very clear.
[562] A lustration was a solemn ceremony of purification, which was
performed on various occasions, and before a battle: see Livy, xxix. 47.
The omens which preceded the battle are recorded by Dion Cassius, xlvii.
49.
[563] M. Valerius Messala Corvinus, of a distinguished Roman family, was
a son of Messala who was consul B.C. 53. After the battle of Philippi he
attached himself to M. Antonius, whom he deserted to join Octavianus
Cæsar. He fought on Cæsar's side at the battle of Actium (c. 53). He
died somewhere between B.C. 3 and A.D. 3. Messala was a poet and an
historian. His history of the Civil Wars, after the death of the
Dictator Cæsar, was used by Plutarch.
[564] See the note of Sintenis, who proposes to read [Greek: keklêmenos]
for [Greek: keklêmenon], to prevent any ambiguity, such as Kaltwasser
discovered in the passage. It was the birthday of Cassius (Appian,
_Civil Wars_, iv, 113).
[565] Plutarch here quotes the Memoirs of Cæsar. It is of no great
importance who saw the dream, and perhaps there was no dream at all.
Cæsar wished to have an excuse for being out of the way of danger. Dion
Cassius (xlvii. 41) says that it was Cæsar's physician who had the
dream, but he does not mention his name. See the notes of Reimarus.