[Footnote 51: When Plutarch wrote, the system of naming persons among
the Romans had undergone some changes, or at least the old fashion was
not strictly observed, and this will explain his remark at the end of
the chapter. A Roman had usually three names, as Caius Julius Cæsar.
The first name, which was called the Prænomen, denoted the individual:
the most common names of this class were Quintus, Caius, Marcus,
Lucius, and so on. The second name denoted the gens, and was called
the Gentile name, as Cornelius, Julius, Licinius, Mucius, Sempronius,
and so on. The same gens often contained different families; thus
there were Licinii Crassi, Licinii Luculli, and so on. This third name
was called the Cognomen, and was given to the founder of the family or
to some member of the gens in respect of some personal peculiarity or
other accidental circumstance, as Scipio, Cicero, Crassus, Lucullus,
Gracchus. A fourth name, or Agnomen, was sometimes added, as in the
case of Publius Cornelius Scipio, the elder, who received the name of
Africanus from his conquest of Africa. This agnomen might be the third
name, when there was no cognomen, as in the case of Lucius Mummius,
who received the name of Achaicus because he overthrew the Achæan
League in that war, of which the concluding event was the destruction
of Corinth, which belonged to the League. Poseidonius means that the
prænomen (Quintus, Marcus, &c.) was more used in speaking of or to an
individual; but in Plutarch's time the cognomen or agnomen was most
used. We speak of the three Cæsars, Vespasianus and his two sons Titus
and Domitianus, yet the gentile name of all of them was Flavius. The
complete names of the first two were Titus Flavius Vespasianus, and of
the third Titus Flavius Domitianus.
Women had usually one name, derived from their gens; thus all the
women of the Cornelii, Julii, Licinii, were called Cornelia, Julia,
Licinia; and if there were several daughters in a family, they were
distinguished by the names First, Second, and so on. If there were two
daughters only, they were called respectively Major and Minor. Sulla
called one of his daughters Fausta. (See Cicero, _Ad Div._ viii. 7,
Paula Valeria; and the note of P. Manutius.)]
[Footnote 52: Some understand the word ([Greek: eikon] εἰκών) to mean
a bust here. The word is used in both senses, and also to signify a
picture. When the statue of Tiberius Gracchus the father is spoken of
(Caius Gracchus, c. 10), Plutarch uses a different word ([Greek:
andrias] ὰνδρίας). Plutarch speaks of Ravenna as in Gaul, which he
calls Galatia; but though Ravenna was within the limits of Cisalpine
Gaul, the name of Italy had been extended to the whole Peninsula south
of the Alps about B.C. 44.]
[Footnote 53: Literally "shows:" they might be plays or they might be
other amusements.]
[Footnote 54: This is probably a corrupt name. The territory of
Arpinum, now Arpino, was in the Volscian mountains. Arpinum was also
the birth-place of Cicero. Juvenal in his rhetorical fashion (_Sat_.
viii. 245) represents the young Marius as earning his bread by working
at the plough as a servant and afterwards entering the army as a
common soldier.]
[Footnote 55: Lucius Aurelius Cotta and Lucius Cæcilius Metellus were
consuls B.C. 119, in which year Marius was tribune. The law which
Marius proposed had for its object to make the Pontes narrower. The
Pontes were the passages through which the voters went into the Septa
or inclosures where they voted. After passing through the pontes they
received the voting tablets at the entrance of the septa. The object
of the law of Marius was to diminish the crowd and pressure by letting
fewer persons come in at a time. Cicero speaks of this law of Marius
(_De Legibus_, iii. 17). As the law had reference to elections and its
object was among other things to prevent bribery, Plutarch's remark is
unintelligible: the text is corrupt, or he has made a mistake.]
[Footnote 56: The higher magistrates of Rome, the curule ædiles,
prætors, consuls, censors, and dictator had a chair of office called a
Sella Curulis, or Curule seat, which Plutarch correctly describes as a
chair with curved feet (See the cut in Smith's _Dictionary of
Antiquities_, "Sella Curulis"). The name Curule is derived from
Currus, a chariot, as the old writers say, and as is proved by the
expression Curulis Triumphus, a Curule Triumph, which is opposed to an
Ovatio, in which the triumphing general went on foot in the
procession.
The Plebeian Ædiles were first elected B.C. 494, at the same time as
the Plebeian tribunes. They had various functions, such as the general
superintendence of buildings, the supply of water, the care of the
streets and pavements, and other like matters. Their duties mainly
belonged to the department of police, under which was included the
superintendence of the markets, and of buying and selling. The
Plebeian Ædiles were originally two in number.
The Curule Ædiles were first elected B.C. 365 and only from the
Patricians, but afterwards the office was accessible to the Plebeians.
The functions of the Plebeian Ædiles seem to have been performed by
all the Ædiles indifferently after B.C. 368, though the Curule Ædiles
alone had the power of making Edicts (edicta), which power was founded
on their general superintendence of all buying and selling, and many
of their rules had reference to the buying and selling of slaves
(_Dig._ 21, tit. 1). The Curule Ædiles only had the superintendence of
some of the greater festivals, on which occasions they went to great
expense to gratify the people and buy popularity as a means of further
promotion. (See Sulla, c. 5.)]
[Footnote 57: At this time there were six Prætors. The Prætor Urbanus
or City Prætor was sometimes simply called Prætor and had the chief
administration of justice in Rome. The Prætor Peregrinus also resided
in Rome and had the superintendence in matters in dispute between
Roman citizens and aliens (peregrini). The other Prætors had provinces
allotted to them to administer; and after the expiration of their year
of office, the prætors generally received the administration of a
Province with the title of Proprætor. It appears (c. 5) that Marius
either stayed at Rome during his prætorship or had some Province in
Italy. As to the meaning of the Roman word Province, see Caius
Gracchus, c. 19, note.]
[Footnote 58: Bribery at elections among the Romans was called
Ambitus, which literally signifies "a going about;" it then came to
signify canvassing, solicitation, the giving and promising of money
for votes, and all the means for accomplishing this end, in which the
recurrence of elections at Rome annually made candidates very expert.
The first law specially directed against the giving of money
(largitiones) was the Lex Cornelia Bæbia, B.C. 182; and there were
many subsequent enactments, but all failed to accomplish their object.
The Lex Bæbia incapacitated him who gave a bribe to obtain office from
filling any office for ten years.]
[Footnote 59: His alleged intemperance consisted in not being able to
endure thirst on such an occasion. His real offence was his conduct
which made him suspected of acting as an agent of Marius in the
election. It was one of the duties of the Censors, when revising the
lists of Equites and Senators, to erase the names of those whom they
considered unworthy of the rank, and this without giving any reason
for it.]
[Footnote 60: The words Patron and Client are now used by us, but,
like many other Roman terms, not in the original or proper sense.
Dominus and Servus, Master and Slave, were terms placed in opposition
to one another, like Patron and Client, Patronus and Cliens. A master
who manumitted his slave became his Patronus, a kind of father (for
Patronus is derived from Pater, father): the slave was called the
Patron's Libertus, freedman; and all Liberti were included in the
class Libertini. Libertinus is another example of a word which we use
(libertine), though not in the Roman sense. But the old Roman relation
of Patron and Client was not this. Originally the heads of
distinguished families had a number of retainers or followers who were
called their Clients, a word which perhaps originally meant those who
were bound to hear and to obey a common head. It was a tradition that
when Atta Claudius, the head of the great Claudian Gens, who were
Sabines, was admitted among the Roman Patricians, he brought with him
a large body of clients to whom land was given north of the Anio, now
the Teverone. (Livius, 2, c. 16; Suetonius, _Tiberius_, c. 1.) The
precise relation of the early clients to their leaders is one of the
most difficult questions in Roman History, and much too extensive to
be discussed here. It was the Patron's duty to protect his clients and
to give them his aid and advice in all matters that required it: the
clients owed to the Patron respect and obedience and many duties which
are tolerably well ascertained. Long after the strictness of the old
relation had been relaxed, the name continued and some of the duties,
as we see in this sentence of Marius, where the Patron claimed to be
exempted from giving evidence against his client. In the last periods
of the Republic and under the Empire, Patron was sometimes simply used
as Protector, adviser, defender, and Client to express one who looked
up to another as his friend and adviser, particularly in all matters
where his legal rights were concerned. Great men under the later
Republic sometimes became the Patrons of particular states or cities,
and looked after their interests at Rome. We have adopted the word
Client in the sense of one who goes to an attorney or solicitor for
his legal advice, but with us the client pays for the advice, and the
attorney is not called his patron. A modern patron is one who
patronises, protects, gives his countenance to an individual, or to
some association of individuals, but frequently he merely gives his
countenance or his name, that being as much as can be asked from him
or as much as he will give.
The Clients must be distinguished from the Plebs in the early history
of Rome, though there can be no doubt that part of the Plebeian body
was gradually formed out of clients.]
[Footnote 61: Robbery and piracy were in like manner reckoned
honourable occupations by the old Greeks (Thucydides, i. 5). These old
robbers made no distinction between robbery and war: plunder was their
object, and labour they hated. So says Herodotus (v. 6). A Thracian
considered it a disgrace to till the ground; to live by plunder was
the mark of a gentleman. When people can live by plunder, there must
be somebody worth plundering. One object of modern civilisation is to
protect him who labours from the aggression of him who does not.]
[Footnote 62: This fact renders it doubtful if Marius was of such mean
birth as it is said. He married Julia, the sister of C. Julius Cæsar.
This Cæsar was the father of C. Julius Cæsar, the dictator, who was
consequently the nephew of Caius Marius.]
[Footnote 63: See _Penny Cyclopædia_, "Veins, Diseases of." Cicero
(_Tusculan. Quæst._ 2. c. 22) alludes to this story of the surgical
operation. He uses the word Varices.]
[Footnote 64: Q. Cæcilius Metellus was consul B.C. 109 with M. Junius
Silanus. He obtained the Agnomen of Numidicus for his services in the
Jugurthine war.]
[Footnote 65: Legatus is a participle from the verb Lego, which
signifies to assign anything to a person to do; hence legatus is one
to whom something is delegated. The Roman word Legatus had various
senses. Here the word legatus, which is the word that Plutarch
intends, is a superior officer who holds command under a Consul,
Prætor, Proconsul, Proprætor.]
[Footnote 66: The story of Turpillius is told by Sallustius
(_Jugurthine War_, 66), who speaks of his execution, but says nothing
of his innocence being afterwards established. The Romans had in their
armies a body of engineers called Fabri, and the director of the body
was called Præfectus Fabrorum. Vaga, which Sallustius calls Vacoa, was
one of the chief towns in Numidia.]
[Footnote 67: Sallustius, who tells the same story pretty nearly in
the same way (_Jugurth. War_, c. 64), says that the son of Metellus
was about twenty. The insult was not one to be forgiven by a man like
Marius, to be told that it would be soon enough for him to be consul
three-and-twenty years hence. This son is Q. Cæcilius Metellus Pius
who afterwards fought against Sertorius in Spain.]
[Footnote 68: The Latin word which Plutarch has translated is
Imagines. These Imagines were busts of wax, marble, or metal, which
the Romans of family placed in the entrance of their houses. They
corresponded to a set of family portraits, but they were the portraits
of men who had enjoyed the high offices of the State. These Imagines
were carried in procession at funerals. Polybius (vi. 53) has a
discourse on this subject, which is worth reading. Marius, who was a
Novus Homo, a new man, had no family busts to show.]
[Footnote 69: Lucius Calpurnius Bestia was consul B.C. 111, and
Spurius Postumius Albinus B.C. 110. They successively conducted the
war against Jugurtha without success. Sallustius (_Jugurth. War_, c.
85) has put a long speech in the mouth of Marius on this occasion,
which Plutarch appears to have used.]
[Footnote 70: Though much has been said on the subject, there is
nothing worth adding to what Plutarch tells. He gives the various
opinions that he had collected.]
[Footnote 71: This passage of the Celtic Galli into Italy is mentioned
by Livius (5, c. 34) and referred by him to the reign of Tarquinius
Priscus. This is the first invasion of Italy from the French side of
the Alps that is recorded, and it has often been repeated.]
[Footnote 72: The modern Sea of Azoff.]
[Footnote 73: The Greek is [Greek: phugê] φυγη, which hardly admits of
explanation, though Coræs has explained it. I have followed Kaltwasser
in adopting Reiske's conjecture of [Greek: phulê] φύλη.]
[Footnote 74: It is stated by Mannert (_Geographie der Griechen und
Römer_, Pt. iii. 410), that the term Hercynian forest was not always
used by the ancients to denote the same wooded tract. At this time a
great part of Germany was probably covered with forest. Cæsar (_Gallic
War_, vi. 24) describes it as extending from the country of the
Helvetii (who lived near the lake of Geneva) apparently in a general
east or north-east direction, but his description is not clear. He
says that the forest had been traversed in its length for sixty days
without an end being come to.]
[Footnote 75: Plutarch's description is literally translated; it shows
that there was a confused notion of the long days and nights in the
arctic regions. Herodotus (iv. 25) and Tacitus in his _Agricola_ have
some vague talk of the like kind.]
[Footnote 76: The passage in Homer is in the 11th Book, v. 14, &c.
This Book is entitled Necyia [Greek: nekyia] νέκυια, which is the word
that Plutarch uses; it literally signifies an offering or sacrifice by
which the shades of the dead are called up from the lower world to
answer questions that are put to them.]
[Footnote 77: In B.C. 113 the Romans first heard of the approach of
the Cimbri and Teutones. Cn. Papirius Carbo, one of the consuls of
this year, was defeated by them in Illyricum (part of Stiria), but
they did not cross the Alps. In B.C. 109 the consul M. Junius Silanus
was defeated by the Cimbri, who demanded of the Roman Senate lands to
settle in: the demand was refused. In B.C. 107 the consul L. Cassius
Longinus fell in battle against the Galli Tigurini, who inhabited a
part of Switzerland, and his army was sent under the yoke. This was
while his colleague Marius was carrying on the campaign against
Jugurtha in Africa. In B.C. 105 Cn. Manlius Maximus, the consul, and
Q. Servilius Cæpio, proconsul, who had been consul in B.C. 106, were
defeated by the Cimbri with immense slaughter, and lost both their
camps. The name of Manlius is written Mallius in the Fasti Consulares,
ed. Baiter.]
[Footnote 78: Scipio Africanus the younger was elected consul B.C. 147
when he was thirty-seven years of age, the law as to age being for
that occasion not enforced. There was an old Plebiscitum (law passed
in the Comitia Tributa) which enacted that no man should hold the same
magistracy without an interval of ten full years. (Livius. 7, c. 42;
10, c. 13). The first instance of the law being suspended was in the
case of Q. Fabius Maximus. One of Sulla's laws re-enacted or confirmed
the old law.]
[Footnote 79: This canal of Marius is mentioned by Strabo (p. 183) and
other ancient writers. The eastern branch of the Rhone runs from
Arelate (Arles) to the sea, and the canal of Marius probably commenced
in this branch about twenty Roman miles below Arles (which did not
then exist), and entered the sea between the mouth of this branch and
Maritima, now Martigues. The length of the canal of Marius might be
about twelve Roman miles. Marseilles is east of Martigues. (D'Anville.
_Notice de la Gaule Ancienne_.)]
[Footnote 80: The movements of the barbarians are not clearly stated.
It appears from what follows that the Cimbri entered Italy on the
north-east over the Noric Alps, for their march brought them to the
banks of the Adige. Florus says that they came by the defiles of
Tridentum (Trento). The Teutones, if they marched through the Ligurian
country along the sea to meet Marius, who was near Marseilles, must
have come along the Riviera of Genoa.]
[Footnote 81: Plutarch calls her a Syrian. Martha may have been a
Syrian name, as well as a Jewish name. Syrians and Jews flocked to
Rome in great numbers under the later Republic and the Empire, and got
their living in various ways not always reputable. The Jews at Rome
used to cause disturbances in the popular assemblies in Cicero's time.
(Cic. _Pro Flacco_, c. 28.) Jews and Syrians are often mentioned
together by the Roman writers. The Jews at Rome were greatly troubled
at the assassination of the Dictator Cæsar, and they crowded round the
place where the body was burnt for nights in succession. Cæsar had
rather favoured the nation for their services in the Alexandrine War.
(Suetonius, _Cæsar_, c. 84, and Casaubon's note.)]
[Footnote 82: He wrote on Natural History; among other things, a
History of Birds, from which this story is probably taken. There is
evidently an error in the text [Greek: êspazonto tous stratiotas]
ἠσπάζοντο τοὺς στρατιοτάς. I have adopted Reiske's emendation.]
[Footnote 83: Pessinus was in Galatia, properly a part of Phrygia, and
the seat of the temple of Cybele, the Mother of the Gods or the Great
Mother. In the second Punic War the Romans sent ambassadors to
Pessinus, and got permission to convey to Rome the Great Mother of the
Gods, who was a sacred stone. The Sibylline Books had declared that
when a foreign enemy was in Italy, he could be driven out, if the
Idæan mother, for Cybele was so called also, was brought to Rome. The
goddess was received at Rome (B.C. 203) with great respect, and placed
in the temple of Victory. (Livius, 29, c. 10, &c.) Plutarch does not
explain how the goddess now happened to be in Asia and Rome at the
same time, for there is no account of her leaving Rome after she was
taken there. The annual celebration called Megalesia, that is, the
festival of the Great Mother, was instituted at Rome in honour of the
goddess, and celebrated in the spring. (Herodianus, i. 32, &c.) It was
a tradition that the stone fell from the skies at Pessinus. There was
another great stone in Syria (Herodianus, v. 5), in the temple of the
Sun, which was worshipped: the stone was round in the lower part, and
gradually tapered upwards; the colour was black, and the people Aida
that it fell from heaven. It is probable that these stones were
ærolites, the falling of which is often recorded in ancient writers,
and now established beyond all doubt by repeated observation in modern
times. (See _Penny Cyclopædia_, "Ærolites.") There is a large specimen
in the British Museum. The immediate cause of the Romans sending for
the Great Mother was a heavy shower of stones at Rome, an occurrence
which in those days was very common. One might have supposed that one
of the Roman ærolites would have answered as well as the stone of
Pessinus, but the stone of Pessinus had the advantage of being
consecrated by time and coming from a distance, and it was probably a
large stone. Cf. Plut. Lys. ch. 12.]
[Footnote 84: This is Aix, about eighteen Roman miles north of
Marseilles. Places which were noted for warm springs or medicinal
springs were called by the Romans Aquæ, Waters, with some addition to
the name. The colony of Aquæ Sextiæ was founded by C. Sextius Calvinus
B.C. 120, after defeating the Salyes or Saluvii, in whose country it
was. The springs of Aix fell off in repute even in ancient times, and
they have no great name now; the water is of a moderate temperature.
Other modern towns have derived their name from the same word Aquæ,
which is probably the same as the Celtic word Ac or Acq. There is an
Aix in Savoy, and Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) in the Rhine Province of
Prussia. Sometimes the Aquæ took a name from a deity. In France there
were the Aquæ Bormonis, the waters of the God Bormo
(Bourbonnes-les-Bains): in England, Aquæ Sulis, the Waters of the
Goddess Sulis, which by an error became Solis in our books, as if they
were called the waters of the Sun. The inscriptions found at Bath name
the goddess Sulia.]
[Footnote 85: Plutarch means to say that the Ambrones and Ligurians
were of one stock, and some writers conclude that they were both
Celts. This may be so or it may not, for evidence is wanting. Of all
the absurd parade of learning under which ancient history has been
buried by modern critics, the weightiest and the most worthless part
is that which labours to discover the relationship of people of whom
we have only little, and that little often conflicting, evidence.]
[Footnote 86: The Lar according to D'Anville, not the Arc.]
[Footnote 87: Statements of numbers killed are not worth much, even in
any modern engagements. Velleius (ii. 12) makes the number of
barbarians who fell in both battles above 150,000.]
[Footnote 88: The Romans called it Massilia; now Marseilles. It was an
old Greek colony of the Phokæans. Strabo (p. 183) says that the people
of Massilia aided the Romans in these battles and that Marius made
them a present of the cut which he had formed from the Rhone to the
sea, which the Massilians turned to profit by levying a toll on those
who used it.]
[Footnote 89: A Greek lyric poet who lived in the seventh century B.C.
His fragments have often been collected.]
[Footnote 90: This was an old Roman fashion. (Livius, 1, c. 37; 41, c.
16.)]
[Footnote 91: Plutarch often uses the word Fortune [Greek: tuchê]
τύcη, the meaning of which may be collected from the passages in which
it occurs. Nemesis [Greek: Nemesis] Νέμεσις is a Greek goddess, first
mentioned by Hesiod, and often mentioned by the Greek Tragoedians. She
is the enemy of excessive prosperity and its attendant excessive pride
and arrogance; she humbles those who have been elevated too high,
tames their pride and checks their prosperous career. Nemesis had a
temple and statue at Rhamnus in Attica.]
[Footnote 92: The Roman Athesis, the Italian Adige, the German Etsch.
The extravagance of this chapter of Plutarch is remarkable.]
[Footnote 93: The Eagle, Aquila, was the Roman standard in use at this
time. Formerly the Romans had five symbols for their standards, the
eagle, wolf, minotaur, horse, and wild boar, all of which were
appropriated to respective divisions of the army. Marius in this
Cimbrian war did away with all of them except the eagle. (Plinius,
_N.H_. x. 4.)]
[Footnote 94: The Sequani were a Gallic people who were separated from
the Helvetii by the range of the Jura, on the west side of which their
territory extended from the Rhine to the Rhone and the Saone. (Florus
iii. 3) mentions Teutobocus as the name of a king who was taken by the
Romans and appeared in the triumph of Marius; he was a man of such
prodigious stature that he towered above his own trophies which were
carried in the procession.]
[Footnote 95: The object of this contrivance is explained by Plutarch,
and it is clear enough. There is no reason then to imagine another
purpose in the design, as some do, which moreover involves an
absurdity.]
[Footnote 96: Near Vercelli in Piemont on the Sesia, a branch of the
Po, which the Greeks generally call Eridanus, and the Romans, Padus.
The plain of Vercelli, in which the battle was fought, is called by
Velleius (ii. 12) Raudii campi. The situation of the Raudii campi can
only be inferred from Plutarch. Some geographers place them north of
Milan.]
[Footnote 97: Plutarch pays no attention to the movements of an army,
and his battles are confused. He had perhaps no great turn for
studying military movements, and their minute details did not come
within his plans.]
[Footnote 98: Plutarch alludes to Sulla's memoirs in twenty-two books,
which, he frequently refers to. Catulus wrote a history of the war and
of his consulship, which Cicero (_Brutus_, c. 35) compares as to style
with Xenophon. It appears from Plutarch's remark that he had not seen
the work of Catulus.]
[Footnote 99: [Greek: Dibolia] Διβολία is the reading that I have
followed. I have given the meaning here and in the first part of the
next chapter as well as I can.]
[Footnote 100: This was the Roman expression for dedicating something
to a sacred purpose. After the victory Catulus consecrated a temple at
Rome "To the Fortune of this Day."]
[Footnote 101: Sextilis, the sixth month of the Roman year when the
year began in March, was called Augustus in honour of Augustus Cæsar,
as Quintilis or the fifth month was called Julius in honour of the
Dictator Cæsar.]
[Footnote 102: Reiske would make the ambassadors to be from Panormus
(Palermo) in Sicily.]
[Footnote 103: Marius was now Consul. Catulus was only Proconsul. He
was consul the year before.]
[Footnote 104: The allusion is to Romulus, and M. Furius Camillus, who
saved Rome in the Gallic invasion B.C. 300.]
[Footnote 105: L. Appuleius Saturninus was tribune in the year B.C.
100, in the sixth consulship of Marius. He was put to death in the
same year (c. 30), though his death is not mentioned there by
Plutarch.
C. Servilius Glaucia was prætor in this year. He lost his life at the
same time with Saturninus. This Servilius was a great favourite with
the people. He proposed and carried a law De Pecuniis Repetundis, or
on mal-administration in a public office, some fragments of which are
preserved on a bronze tablet, and have been commented on by Klenze,
Berlin, 1825, 4to.]
[Footnote 106: Rutilius Rufus was consul B.C. 105. He was accused of
malversation in his proconsulship of Asia, B.C. 99, convicted by the
judices, who at that time were taken from the Equites, and retired to
Smyrna, where he spent the rest of his days. He wrote his own Memoirs
in Latin, and a history of Rome in Greek. He was an honest man,
according to all testimony, and innocent of the offence for which he
was convicted. (Compare Tacitus, _Agricola_, 1; and C. Gracchus,
notes, c. 5.)]
[Footnote 107: The consulships of M. Valerius Corvus were comprised
between B.C. 348 and B.C. 299 (See Livius, 8, c. 26.)]
[Footnote 108: He was murdered at the instigation of Saturninus and
Glaucia as he was leaving the place of assembly. He fled into an inn
or tavern to escape, but he was followed by the rabble and killed.
(Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 28.)]
[Footnote 109: The law related to the lands which the Cimbri had taken
from the Gauls in Cisalpine Gaul, and which the Romans now claimed as
theirs because they had taken them from the Cimbri. Appian (_Civil
Wars_, i. 29, &c.) gives the history of the events in this chapter.]
[Footnote 110: Appian's account is clearer than Plutarch's. He says
that Metellus withdrew before the passing; of the enactment by which
he was banished. This was the usual formula by which a person was put
under a ban, and it was called the Interdiction of "fire and water,"
to which sometimes "house" is added, as in this case. The complete
expression was probably fire, water, and house. Cicero had the same
penalty imposed on him, but he withdrew from Rome, like Metellus,
before the enactment was carried. There is no extant Life of Metellus
Numidicus by Plutarch.]
[Footnote 111: The story of the death of Saturninus and Glaucia is
told by Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 32). These men committed another
murder before they were taken off. They set men upon Memmius, who was
the competitor of Glaucia for the consulship, and Memmius was killed
with clubs in the open day while the voting was going on. The Senate
made a decree that Marius should put down these disturbers, but he
acted unwillingly and slowly. The supply of water, according to
Appian, was cut off by others, before Marius began to move. These
turbulent times are spoken of by Cicero in his oration for C.
Rabirius, c. 11. Marius put the men who surrendered into the
Senate-house, but the people pulled the tiles off the roof and pelted
the prisoners with the tiles till they died.]
[Footnote 112: The return of Metellus was mainly due to the exertions
of his son, who thence obtained the name of Pius. He was restored B.C.
99 by an enactment (lex) which was necessary in order to do away with
the effect of the Interdict. Cicero was restored in like manner. One
Publius Furius, a tribune, the son of a man who had once been a slave,
successfully opposed the return of Metellus during his year of office.
In the next year Furius was out of office, and Caius Canuleius, a
tribune, prosecuted him for his conduct before the people (populi
judicium), who had not patience enough to listen to his defence; they
tore him in pieces in the Forum. Metellus was detained a whole day at
the gates of Rome with receiving the congratulations of his friends on
his return. (Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 33.)]
[Footnote 113: See the Life of Sulla.]
[Footnote 114: The Social, called also the Marsic, war, from the
warlike nation of the Marsi who were active in it, commenced B.C. 91
and was not completely ended till B.C. 88. The immediate cause of the
Social war, or the war of the Italian Allies (Socii) of the Romans,
was the rejection of a measure proposed by the tribune M. Livius
Drusus, which was to give to the Italian allies the rights of Roman
citizens. The Allies were subject States of Rome, which supplied the
Romans with men and money for their wars and contributed to their
victories. They claimed to have the political rights of Romans as a
compensation for their burdens; and they succeeded in the end. The war
was at first unfavourable to the Romans. In the consulship of L.
Julius Cæsar, B.C. 90, a Lex Julia was proposed which gave the Roman
citizenship to all the Italians who had continued faithful to Rome, if
they chose to accept it. A Lex Plautia Papiria of the following year
extended the Lex Julia and gave the Roman citizenship to all the
allies except the Samnites and Lucanians. Sulla finished the war. (See
Life of Sulla.)]
[Footnote 115: The MSS. of Plutarch vary in this name. His true name
was Pompædius Silo: he was the leader of the Marsi. He fell in battle
against Metellus Pius.]
[Footnote 116: Publius Sulpicius Rufus was tribune B.C. 88 in the
first consulship of Sulla. Cicero had heard many of the speeches of
Sulpicius. "He was," says Cicero, "of all the orators that ever I
heard, the most dignified, and if one may use the expression, the most
tragic: his voice was powerful, sweet, and clear; his gesture and
every movement graceful; and yet he seemed as if he were trained for
the Forum and not for the stage; his language was rapid and flowery,
and yet not redundant or diffuse." (Brutus, c. 55.) Yet this great
orator was no writer, and Cicero had heard him say that he was not
accustomed to write and could not write. The fact of his inability to
write is sufficiently explained by the fact that he did not try.
Cicero has made Sulpicius one of the speakers in his Book on the
Orator, where (iii. 3) he admits that he was a rash man. (See _Penny
Cyclopædia_, "P. Sulpicius Rufus," by the author of this note; and as
to his end, see Sulla, c. 10.)]
[Footnote 117: Baiæ on the north side of the Bay of Naples, and near
Puteoli (Pozzuoli), was a favourite residence of the wealthy Romans,
who came for pleasure and to use the warm baths. The promontory of
Misenum is near Baiæ.]
[Footnote 118: Plutarch means drachmæ. (See Tiberius Gracchus, c. 2.)]
[Footnote 119: The history of this affair is given somewhat more
clearly by Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 55). Marius gave the Italians who
had lately obtained the franchise, hopes that they would be
distributed among the other tribes, and thus they would have a
preponderance, for they were more numerous than the old citizens.
Sulpicius accordingly proposed a law to this effect, which was
followed by a great disturbance, upon which the consuls Pompeius and
Sulla proclaimed a Justitium such as was usual on festivals. A
Justitium signifies a stopping of all legal proceedings: during a
Justitium nothing could be done; and the consuls adopted this measure
to prevent the proposed law of Sulpicius from being carried. Appian
says that Sulpicius carried this law, and the tribes in which the new
citizens now had the majority appointed Marius to the command in the
war against Mithridates. But Sulla and Pompeius afterwards got all the
laws of Sulpicius repealed on the ground of being earned by
unconstitutional means. (Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 59).]
[Footnote 120: This act is sufficient to stamp Marius with infamy; and
it is not the only time that he did it. Octavius, an honest man,
refused to arm the slave against his master. (Marius, c. 42). The last
British governor of Virginia closed his inglorious career by the same
unsuccessful act of cowardice. (November, 1775). "In November Lord
Dunmore proclaimed martial law in the colony, and executed his
long-threatened plan of giving freedom to all slaves who could bear
arms and would flock to his standard. But these measures, though
partially annoying, had the effect of irritating and rousing the
people rather than breaking their spirit." (Tucker's _Life of
Jefferson_, vol. i. p. 78). Before the middle of the next year Dunmore
made his escape from Virginia, after setting fire to the town of
Norfolk.]
[Footnote 121: The site of this place is unknown. Cramer (_Ancient
Italy_, ii. 31) says that the place is only mentioned by Dionysius
(ii. 37).]
[Footnote 122: Appian calls this Marius the adopted son of Caius
Marius.]
[Footnote 123: The port of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber.]
[Footnote 124: Circeii is a promontory which contains a solitary
elevation, now Monte Circello. Terracina or Anxur is about twelve
miles east of it, and the Pomptine marshes lie between. This tract is
now very thinly inhabited, being used for pasturage, and it was
apparently in the same state in the time of Marius. Yet this desolate
tract where a house is now rarely seen was once full of Latin towns,
in the earlier period of Rome.]
[Footnote 125: This is the older Greek poet of the name. It is unknown
when he lived, but he belongs to a period earlier than that of
authentic history. Aristotle (_Hist. of Animals_, vi. 5) quotes this
line, and in Bekker's edition the last word is [Greek: alegizei]
ἀλεγίζει, which I have translated. Sintenis reads [Greek: alubazei]
ἀλυβάζει, and Kaltwasser says that [Greek: alegizei] ἀλεγίζει cannot
have the meaning which I and others have given to it.]
[Footnote 126: Minturnæ is near the mouth of the Liris, now the
Garigliano, and in a swampy district. The lower course of the
Garigliano is through a flat, marshy, unhealthy region. If Marius
landed near Circeii he could not well have passed Teracina without
being seen. It in probable therefore that he landed south of
Terracina.]
[Footnote 127: Ænaria, now Ischia, is forty miles south of the mouth
of the Liris.]
[Footnote 128: Marius and his adherents had been declared enemies to
the State; and in the declaration it was not forgotten that Marius had
attempted to excite the slaves to rebellion. The head of Sulpicius was
already stuck up in the Forum (Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 60; Velleius,
ii. 19).]
[Footnote 129: A divorce at Rome was effected by the husband or wife
giving a written notice. In the time of Cicero, at least, either party
might effect the divorce. If the divorce was owing to the adultery of
the wife, the husband was entitled to retain a part of the
marriage-portion; a sixth, according to Ulpian (_Frag._ vi.). The
marriage-portion or Dos (which Plutarch translates by the Greek word
[Greek: phernê] φέρνη) was that property which on the occasion of a
woman's marriage was transferred to the husband by the woman or by
another, for the purpose of enabling the husband to bear the
additional burden of a wife and family. All the woman's property which
did not become dos, remained her own, except in one of the forms of
marriage (conventio in manum), when, pursuant to the nature of the
union by which the wife came into her husband's power and assumed
towards him the relation of a daughter, all her property became her
husband's; as is distinctly asserted by Cicero (_Topica_, 4; compare
Ulpian, _Frag_. xix. 18). As the dos was given to the husband for a
particular purpose, it was consistent that it should be returned when
the marriage was dissolved. The means of recovering the dos was by
action. The liability to restore the dos would be one check on the
husband lightly separating from his wife. When Cicero's brother
Quintus divorced his wife Pomponia, he had a good deal of trouble in
finding means to return her portion. (Cicero, _Ad Attic._ xiv. 13).
The law of dos comprised a great number of rules, and is a difficult
subject. Rein (Das _Römische Privatrecht_, p. 204) has given a sketch
of the Roman Law of Divorce that is useful to scholars; and he has in
another place (p. 193, &c.) treated of the Law of Dos. It is difficult
to avoid, error in stating anything briefly on the subject of Divorce
and Dos.]
[Footnote 130: Plutarch does not say what the copper coins were; nor
is it important. The penalty was merely nominal, but it was
accompanied by what the Romans called Infamia. Fannia showed on this
occasion that she was a better woman than Marius took her to be.
Tinnius is perhaps not a Roman name. There are many errors in proper
names in Plutarch's text. Perhaps the true reading is Titinius. (See
the note of Sintenis).]
[Footnote 131: All or nearly all of the Italian cities had a municipal
constitution. The chief magistrates were generally two, and called
Duumviri. The Council was called the Decuriones or Senate.]
[Footnote 132: This is the island of Gerba in the regency of Tunis,
close to the shore and to the town of Gabs or Cabes. It is now a large
and populous island inhabited by an industrious manufacturing
population. It is about 200 miles south of Tunis, which is near the
site of Carthage. Cercina is a group of smaller islands above 50 miles
north of Meninx, now called the Karkenna islands. These distances show
that Marius must have been rambling about for some time this coast.
(_Penny Cyclopædia_, art. "Tunis.")]
[Footnote 133: Cn. Octavius Nepos and L. Cornelius Cinna were consuls
B.C. 87. Cinna had sworn to maintain the interests of the Senate
(Sulla, c. 10), but when Sulla had left Italy for the Mithridatic war,
Cinna declared himself in favour of the new citizens, and attempted to
carry the measure for incorporating them with the old tribes. It is
said that he received a considerable sum of money for undertaking
this. The parties of Cinna and Octavius armed for the contest which
was expected to take place when this measure was proposed. Octavius
drove his opponents out of the Forum with great slaughter, and Cinna
left the city. He was joined by great numbers of the new citizens and
then formed an army. The Senate passed a decree that Cinna was neither
consul nor a citizen, inasmuch as he had deserted the city, and
offered freedom to the slaves if they would join him. L. Cornelius
Merula, who was elected consul in place of Cinna, was flamen dialis,
or Priest of Jupiter. He put himself to death by opening his veins,
after Marius and Cinna entered Rome. (Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 74).]
[Footnote 134: Now Talamone, on the coast of Tuscany near Orbitello.]
[Footnote 135: Rome had long before this derived supplies of corn from
Sicily and other parts out of Italy. Perhaps this may prove that the
cultivation in the Campagna of Rome and the countries south of
Terracina had not improved with the increase of Rome. But other
countries are better suited for grain than the low lands of this side
of Italy, and so far as concerns the cost of transport, grain might be
brought from Sardinia and Sicily as cheaply as from many parts of
Italy, and cheaper than from the plains of Apulia, which is a good
corn country.]
[Footnote 136: Metellus Pius was now carrying on the war against the
Samnites, who were still in arms. He came to Rome at the invitation of
the Senate. (Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 68.)]
[Footnote 137: The Roman writers often mention the Chaldæans. They
were adventurers from Asia who made their living in the great
superstition market of Rome by foretelling future events. Whether they
were really Chaldæans does not appear. The death of Octavius is told
somewhat differently by Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 71). His head was cut
off and placed on the Rostra, and many other heads also. He was the
first consul whose head was exposed on the Rostra. Other atrocities
are mentioned by Appian, c. 72, &c. It was the fashion in England less
than a hundred years back to place traitors' heads on Temple Bar,
London. "I have been this morning at the Tower, and passed under the
new heads at Temple Bar; where people make a trade of letting
spy-glasses at a halfpenny a look" (Horace Walpole, Letter to George
Montague, Aug. 16, 1746).]
[Footnote 138: Marcus Antonius, sometimes called the Orator, was the
grandfather of Marcus Antonius the Triumvir. His head was fixed on the
Rostra. Cicero, who has left on record a testimony to his great
talents, and deplored his fate (_De Oratore_, iii. 3), had the same
ill-luck from the hands of Antonius the Triumvir. M. Antonius the
orator filled many high posts, and was consul B.C. 99. But his title
to remembrance is his great oratorical skill. Cicero says that
Antonius and his contemporary Lucius Licinius Crassus were the first
Romans who equalled the great orators of Greece. The judicious remarks
of Antonius on the conduct of a cause are preserved by Cicero (_De
Oratore_, ii. 72). Antonius left no writings. (See "Antonius, Marcus,"
in _Biog. Dict._ of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.)]
[Footnote 139: Marius was elected Consul for the seventh time B.C. 86.
His colleague was Cinna. On the death of Marius, Valerius Flaccus was
elected in his place, and sent to Asia. On the death of Flaccus, Carbo
was elected in his place.]
[Footnote 140: One MS. has Licinius, which is the right name. Licinius
was a Senator. (Livius, _Epit_. lib. 80: Dion, _Frag_. 120.)]
[Footnote 141: The same person who is mentioned above (c. 1). He was
of Rhodes and a Stoic. Poseidonius was one of Cicero's teachers, and
survived Cicero's consulship, as we see from a letter of Cicero (_Ad
Attic_. ii. 1), which also shows that he knew how to flatter his old
pupil's vanity. Cicero (_De Natura Deorum_, ii. 38) speaks of a Sphere
of Poseidonius which represented certain phenomena of the sun's and
moon's motions and those of the five stars (planets). Nothing is known
about this embassy.]
[Footnote 142: It is not known who is meant. (See Krause, _Fragment.
Historicorum Romanorun_, p. 139.)]
[Footnote 143: See the note, Sulla (c. 6).]
[Footnote 144: He was a Stoic and the master of Panætius. His age is
determined approximatively by the facts mentioned in the Life of
Tiberius Gracchus (c. 5). (See "Antipater of Tarsus," in _Biog. Dict._
of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.)]
[Footnote 145: See Life of Sulla (c. 28-32). Marius was consul with
Cn. Papirius Carbo, B.C. 82. Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 87) says that
this Marius was the nephew of the distinguished Marius. There seems to
be some confusion about this younger Marius. (See c. 35.)]