LIFE OF SULLA.

I. Lucius Cornelius Sulla,[162] by birth, belonged to the Patricians,

whom we may consider as corresponding to the Eupatridæ. Among his

ancestors is enumerated Rufinus,[163] who became consul; but is less

noted for attaining this honour than for the infamy which befell him.

He was detected in possessing above ten pounds' weight of silver

plate, which amount the law did not permit, and he was ejected from

the Senate. His immediate descendants continued in a mean condition,

and Sulla himself was brought up with no great paternal property. When

he was a young man he lived in lodgings, for which he paid some

moderate sum, which he was afterwards reproached with, when he was

prospering beyond his deserts, as some thought. It was after the

Libyan expedition, when he was assuming airs of importance and a

haughty tone, that a man of high rank and character said to him, How

can you be an honest man who are now so rich, and yet your father left

you nothing? For though the Romans no longer remained true to their

former integrity and purity of morals, but had declined from the old

standard, and let in luxury and expense among them, they still

considered it equally a matter of reproach for a man to have wasted

the property that he once had, and not to remain as poor as his

ancestors. Subsequently when Sulla was in the possession of power and

was putting many to death, a man of the class of Libertini, who was

suspected of concealing a proscribed person, and for this offence was

going to be thrown down the Tarpeian rock, reproached Sulla with the

fact that they had lived together for some time in one house; that he

had paid two thousand sestertii for his lodgings, which were in the

upper part of the house, and Sulla three thousand for the lower rooms;

and, consequently, that between their fortunes there was only the

difference of a thousand sestertii, which is equivalent to two hundred

and fifty Attic drachmæ. This is what is recorded of Sulla's early

condition.

II. As for his person, we may judge of it by his statues, except his

eyes and complexion. His eyes were an uncommonly pure and piercing

blue, which the colour of his face rendered still more terrific,

being spotted with rough red blotches, interspersed with the white;

from which circumstance, it is said, he got his name Sulla, which had

reference to his complexion; and one of the Athenian satirists[164] in

derision made the following verse in allusion to it:

"Sulla is a mulberry besprinkled with meal."

It is not out of place to avail ourselves of such traits of a man who

is said to have had so strong a natural love of buffoonery, that when

he was still young and of no repute, he spent his time and indulged

himself among mimi[165] and jesters; and when he was at the head of

the state, he daily got together from the scena and the theatre the

lewdest persons, with whom he would drink and enter into a contest of

coarse witticisms, in which he had no regard to his age, and, besides

degrading the dignity of his office, he neglected many matters that

required attention. It was not Sulla's habit when he was at table to

trouble himself about anything serious, but though he was energetic

and rather morose at other times, he underwent a complete change as

soon as he went into company and was seated at an entertainment, for

he was then exceedingly complaisant to singers of mimi and dancers,

and easy of access and affable. This habit of relaxation seems to have

produced in him the vice of being exceedingly addicted to women and

that passion for enjoyment which stuck to him to his old age. In his

youth he was for a long time attached to one Metrobius,[166] an

actor. The following incident also happened to him:--He formed an

attachment to a woman named Nicopolis, who was of mean condition, but

rich, and from long familiarity and the favour which he found on

account of his youth, he came to be considered as a lover, and when

the woman died she left him her heir. He also succeeded to the

inheritance of his step-mother, who loved him as her own son; and in

this way he acquired a moderate fortune.

III. On being appointed Quæstor to Marius in his first consulship, he

sailed with him to Libya, to prosecute the war against Jugurtha.[167]

In this campaign he showed himself a man of merit, and by availing

himself of a favourable opportunity he made a friend of Bocchus, king

of the Numidians. Some ambassadors of Bocchus who had escaped from

Numidian robbers were hospitably received by Sulla, and sent back with

presents and a safe conduct. Now Bocchus happened for some time to

have disliked his son-in-law Jugurtha, whom he was also afraid of; and

as Jugurtha had been defeated by the Romans and had fled to Bocchus,

he formed a design to make him his prisoner and deliver him to his

enemies; but as he wished Sulla to be the agent rather than himself,

he invited Sulla to come and see him. Sulla communicated the message

to Marius, and, taking a few soldiers with him, ventured on the

hazardous enterprise of putting himself in the hands of a barbarian

who never kept his faith even with his friends, and this for the

purpose of having another man betrayed to him. Bocchus, having got

both of them in his power, was under the necessity of being

treacherous to one of them, and after great fluctuations in his

resolution, he finally carried into effect his original perfidious

design, and surrendered Jugurtha to Sulla. Marius enjoyed the triumph

for the capture of Jugurtha, but the honour of the success was given

to Sulla through dislike of Marius, which caused Marius some

uneasiness; for Sulla was naturally of an arrogant disposition, and as

this was the first occasion, on which he had been raised from a mean

condition and obscurity to be of some note among his fellow-citizens,

and had tasted the sweets of distinction, he carried his pride so far

as to have a seal-ring cut, on which the occurrence was represented,

and he wore it constantly. The subject represented was Bocchus

surrendering and Sulla receiving the surrender of Jugurtha.

IV. Though Marius was annoyed at this, yet as he still thought Sulla

beneath his jealousy, he employed him in his campaigns--in his second

consulship in the capacity of legate, and in his third consulship as

tribune;[168] and by his instrumentality Marius effected many

important objects. In his capacity of legate Sulla took Copillius,

king of the Tectosages;[169] and when he was a tribune he persuaded

the powerful and populous nation of the Marsi[170] to become friends

and allies to Rome. But now perceiving that Marius was jealous of him,

and was no longer willing to give him the opportunity of

distinguishing himself, but opposed his further rise, Sulla attached

himself to Catulus, the colleague of Marius, who was an honest man,

but inactive as a soldier. Sulla being entrusted by Catulus with all

matters of the greatest moment, thus attained both influence and

reputation. In his military operations he reduced a large part of the

Alpine barbarians; and on one occasion, when there was a scarcity of

provisions in the camp, he undertook to supply the want, which he did

so effectually that the soldiers of Catulus had not only abundance for

themselves, but were enabled to relieve the army of Marius. This, as

Sulla himself says, greatly annoyed Marius. Now this enmity, so slight

and childish in its foundation and origin, was continued through

civil war and the inveterate animosity of faction, till it resulted in

the establishment of a tyranny and the complete overthrow of the

constitution; which shows that Euripides[171] was a wise man and well

acquainted with the diseases incident to states, when he warned

against ambition, as the most dangerous and the worst of dæmons to

those who are governed by her.

V. Sulla now thought that his military reputation entitled him to

aspire to a political career, and accordingly as soon as the campaign

was ended he began to seek the favour of the people, and became a

candidate for the prætorship; but he was disappointed in his

expectations. He attributed his failure to the populace, for he says

that they knew he was a friend of Bocchus, and if he filled the office

of ædile before that of prætor, they expected to have brilliant

hunting exhibitions and fights of Libyan[172] wild beasts, and that

therefore they elected others to the prætorship, with the view of

forcing him to serve as ædile. But that Sulla does not state the real

cause of his failure appears evident from what followed. In the next

year he obtained the prætorship, having gained the votes of the

people, partly by solicitation and partly by bribery. It was in

allusion to this, and during his prætorship when he was threatening

Cæsar[173] to use his own authority against him, that Cæsar replied

with a laugh, You are right in considering your authority as your own,

for you bought it. After the expiration of his prætorship he was sent

to Cappadocia, for the purpose, as it was given out, of restoring

Ariobarzanes[174] to his power, but in reality to check

Mithridates,[175] who was very active and was acquiring new territory

and dominion as extensive as what he already had. Sulla took with him

no large force of his own, but meeting with zealous co-operation on

the part of the allies, he slaughtered a great number of the

Cappadocians, and on another occasion a still greater number of

Armenians who had come to the relief of the Cappadocians, drove out

Gordius, and declared Ariobarzanes king. While he was staying near the

Euphrates, the Parthian general Orobazus, a commander of King

Arsaces,[176] had an interview with him, which was the first occasion

on which the two nations met; and this also may be considered as one

of the very fortunate events in Sulla's successful career, that he was

the first Roman to whom the Parthians addressed themselves in their

request for an alliance and friendship with Rome. Sulla is said to

have had three chairs placed, one for Ariobarzanes, another for

Orobazus, and a third for himself, on which he took his seat between

the two, while the business was transacted. The king of the Parthians

is said to have put Orobazus to death for submitting to this

indignity; as to Sulla, some commended him for his haughty treatment

of the barbarians, while others blamed him for his arrogance and

ill-timed pride. It is said there was a man among the attendants of

Orobazus, a Chaldæan,[177] who examined the countenance of Sulla and

observed the movements of his mind and body, not as an idle spectator,

but studying his character according to the principles of his art, and

he declared that of necessity that man must become the first of men,

and he wondered that he could endure not to be the first already. On

his return to Rome Censorinus[178] instituted proceedings against

Sulla on the charge of having received large sums of money, contrary

to express law, from a king who was a friend and ally of the Romans.

Censorinus did not bring the matter to a trial, but gave up the

prosecution.

VI. His quarrel with Marius was kindled anew by fresh matter supplied

by the ostentation of King Bocchus, who, with the view of flattering

the Roman people and pleasing Sulla, dedicated in the Capitol some

figures bearing trophies, and by the side of them placed a gilded

figure of Jugurtha being surrendered by himself to Sulla. Marius was

highly incensed and attempted to take the figures down, while others

were ready to support Sulla, and the city was all but in a flame

through the two factions, when the Social War which had long

smouldered burst forth in a blaze upon Rome and stopped the civil

discord. In this most serious war, which was attended with many

variations of fortune, and brought on the Romans the greatest misery

and the most formidable dangers, Marius by his inability to accomplish

anything of importance showed that military excellence requires bodily

vigour and strength: but Sulla by his great exploits obtained among

his own citizens the reputation of a great commander, among his

friends the reputation of the very greatest, and among his enemies too

the reputation of the most fortunate of generals. Sulla did not behave

like Timotheus[179] the son of Konon, whose success was attributed by

his enemies to fortune, and they had paintings made in which he was

represented asleep while Fortune was throwing a net over the cities,

all which he took in a very boorish way, and got into a passion with

his enemies, as if they were thus attempting to deprive him of the

honour due to his exploits; and on one occasion, returning from a

successful expedition, he said to the people, "Well, Fortune has had

no share in this campaign, at least, Athenians." Now, as the story

goes, Fortune[180] showed her spite to Timotheus in return for his

arrogance, and he never did anything great afterwards, but failing in

all his undertakings and becoming odious to the people, he was at last

banished from the city. But Sulla by gladly accepting such

felicitations on his prosperity and such admiration, and even

contributing to strengthen these notions and to invest them with

somewhat of a sacred character, made all his exploits depend on

Fortune; whether it was that he did this for the sake of display, or

because he really had such opinions of the deity. Indeed he has

recorded in his memoirs, that the actions which he resolved upon

without deliberation, and on the spur of the moment, turned out more

successfully than those which appeared to have been best considered.

And again, from the passage in which he says that he was made more for

fortune than for war, he appears to attribute more to fortune than to

his merit, and to consider himself completely as the creature of the

dæmon;[181] nay, he cites as a proof of good fortune due to the

favour of the gods his harmony with Metellus, a man of the same rank

with himself, and his father-in-law, for he expected that Metellus

would cause him a good deal of trouble, whereas he was a most

accommodating colleague.[182] Further, in his memoirs which he

dedicated to Lucullus, he advises him to think nothing so safe as what

the dæmon enjoins during the night. When he was leaving the city with

his troops for the Social War, as he tells us in his memoirs, a great

chasm opened in the earth near Laverna,[183] from which a quantity of

fire burst forth, and a bright flame rose like a column to the skies.

The diviners said that a brave man, of an appearance different from

and superior to ordinary men, would obtain the command and relieve the

city from its present troubles, Sulla says this man was himself, for

the golden colour of his hair was a peculiarity in his personal

appearance, and that he had no diffidence about bearing testimony to

his own merits after so many illustrious exploits. So much as to his

religious opinions. As to the other parts of his character, he was

irregular and inconsistent: he would take away much, and give more; he

would confer honours without any good reason, and do a grievous wrong

with just as little reason; he courted those whose assistance he

wanted, and behaved with arrogance to those who wanted his aid; so

that one could not tell whether he had naturally more haughtiness or

subserviency. For as to his inconsistency in punishing, sometimes

inflicting death for the slightest matters, and at others quietly

bearing the greatest wrongs, his ready reconciliations with his deadly

enemies, and his prosecution of slight and trifling offences with

death and confiscation of property--all this may be explained on the

supposition that he was naturally of a violent and vindictive temper,

but sometimes moderated his passion upon calculations of interest.

During this Social War his soldiers killed with sticks and stones a

man of Prætorian rank, who was his legatus, Albinus[184] by name, an

outrage which Sulla overlooked, and made no inquiry about: he went so

far as to say, with apparent seriousness, that the soldiers would

bestir themselves the more in the war and make amends for their fault

by their courage. As to any blame that was imputed to him, he cared

not for it; but having already formed the design of overthrowing the

power of Marius and of getting himself appointed to the command

against Mithridates, as the Social War was now considered at an end,

he endeavoured to ingratiate himself with his army. On coming to Rome

he was elected consul with Quintus Pompeius[185] for his colleague,

being now fifty years of age, and he formed a distinguished

matrimonial alliance with Cæcilia,[186] the daughter of Metellus,[187]

the chief Pontifex. This gave occasion to the populace to assail him

with satirical songs; and many of the highest class were displeased at

the marriage, as if they did not think him worthy of such a wife, whom

they had judged to be worthy of the consulship, as Titus Livius[188]

remarks. Cæcilia was not the only wife that Sulla had. When he was a

very young man he married Ilia, who bore him a daughter; his second

wife was Ælia; and his third wife was Clœlia, whom he divorced on the

ground of barrenness, yet in a manner honourable to the lady, with an

ample testimony to her virtues and with presents. But as he married

Metella a few days after, it was believed that his alleged ground of

divorce was merely a pretext. However, he always paid great respect to

Metella, which induced the Romans, when they wished to recall from

exile the partisans of Marius, and Sulla refused his assent, to apply

to Metella to intercede for them. After the capture of Athens also, it

was supposed that he treated the citizens with more severity, because

they had cast aspersions upon Metella from their walls. But of this

hereafter.

VII. Sulla looked on the consulship as only a small matter compared

with what he expected to attain: the great object of his desires was

the command in the war against Mithridates. But he had a rival in

Marius, who was moved by an insane love of distinction and by

ambition, passions which never grow old in a man, for though he was

now unwieldy and had done no service in the late campaigns by reason

of his age, he still longed for the command in a distant war beyond

the seas. While Sulla was with the army completing some matters that

still remained to be finished, Marius kept at home and hatched that

most pestilent faction which did more mischief to Rome than all her

wars; and indeed the deity[189] showed by signs what was coming. Fire

spontaneously blazed from the wooden shafts which supported the

military standards, and was quenched with difficulty; and three crows

brought their young into the public road, and after devouring them,

carried the fragments back to their nest. The mice in a temple gnawed

the gold which was kept there, and the keeper of the temple caught one

of the mice, a female, in a trap, which produced in the trap five

young ones, and devoured three of them. But what was chief of all,

from a cloudless and clear sky there came the sound of a trumpet, so

shrill and mournful, that by reason of the greatness thereof men were

beside themselves and crouched for fear. The Tuscan seers interpreted

this to portend the commencement of a new period, and a general

change. They say that there are in all eight periods, which differ in

mode of life and habits altogether from one another, and to each

period is assigned by the deity a certain number of years determined

by the revolution of a great year. When a period is completed, the

commencement of another is indicated by some wondrous sign on the

earth or from the heavens, so as to make it immediately evident to

those who attend to such matters and have studied them, that men are

now adopting other habits and modes of life, and are less or more an

object of care to the gods than the men of former periods. They say,

in the change from one period to another there are great alterations,

and that the art of the seer at one time is held in high repute, and

is successful in its predictions, when the deity gives clear and

manifest signs, but that in the course of another period the art falls

into a low condition, being for the most part conjectural, and

attempting to know the future by equivocal and misty signs. Now this

is what the Tuscan wise men said, who are supposed to know more of

such things than anybody else. While the senate was communicating on

these omens with the seers, in the temple of Bellona,[190] a sparrow

flew in before the whole body with a grasshopper in his mouth, part of

which he dropped, and the rest he carried off with him out of the

place. From this the interpreters of omens apprehended faction and

divisions between the landholders on the one side and the city folk

and the merchant class on the other, for the latter were loud and

noisy like a grasshopper, but the owners of land kept quiet on their

estates.

VIII. Now Marius contrived to gain over the tribune Sulpicius,[191] a

man without rival in any kind of villainy, and so one need not inquire

whom he surpassed in wickedness, but only wherein he surpassed

himself. For in him were combined cruelty, audacity, and

rapaciousness, without any consideration of shame or of any crime,

inasmuch as he sold the Roman citizenship to libertini[192] and

resident aliens, and publicly received the money at a table in the

Forum. He maintained three thousand men armed with daggers, and also a

number of young men of the equestrian class always about him, and

ready for anything, whom he called the Opposition Senate. He caused a

law to be passed that no Senator should contract debt[193] to the

amount of more than two thousand drachmæ, and yet at his death he left

behind him a debt of three millions. This man being let loose

upon the people by Marius, and putting everything into a state of

confusion by violence and force of arms, framed various pernicious

laws, and among them that which gave to Marius the command in the

Mithridatic war. The consuls accordingly declared a cessation[194] of

all public business; but while they were holding a meeting of the

people near the temple of Castor and Pollux, Sulpicius with his rabble

attacked them, and among many others massacred the youthful son of

Pompeius in the Forum; Pompeius only escaped by hiding himself. Sulla

was pursued into the house of Marius, from which he was compelled to

come out and repeal the edict for the cessation of public business;

and it was for this reason that Sulpicius, though he deprived Pompeius

of his office, did not take the consulship from Sulla, but, merely

transferred the command of the Mithridatic war to Marius, and sent

some tribunes forthwith to Nola to take the army and lead it to

Marius.

IX. But Sulla made his escape to the camp before the tribunes arrived,

and the soldiers hearing of what had passed, stoned them to death;

upon which the partisans of Marius murdered the friends of Sulla who

were in the city, and seized their property. This caused many persons

to betake themselves to flight, some going to the city from the camp,

and others from the camp to the city. The Senate was not its own

master, but was compelled to obey the orders of Marius and Sulpicius;

and on hearing that Sulla was marching upon Rome, they sent to him two

of the prætors, Brutus and Servilius, to forbid him to advance any

further. The prætors, who assumed a bold tone before Sulla, narrowly

escaped being murdered; as it was, the soldiers broke their fasces,

stripped them of their senatorial dress, and sent them back with every

insult. It caused dejection in the city to see the prætors return

without their insignia of office, and to hear them report that the

commotion could not be checked, and was past all remedy. Now the

partisans of Marius were making their preparations, while Sulla with

his colleague and six complete legions was moving from Nola; he saw

that the army was ready to march right to the city, but he had some

hesitation himself, and feared the risk.[195] However upon Sulla

making a sacrifice, the seer Postumius, after inspecting the signs,

stretched out his hands to Sulla and urged him to put him in chains

and keep him a prisoner till the battle took place, declaring that if

everything did not speedily turn out well, he was ready to be put to

death. It is said also that Sulla in his sleep had a vision of the

goddess, whose worship the Romans had learned from the Cappadocians,

whatever her name may be, Selene,[196] Athena, or Enyo. Sulla dreamed

that the goddess stood by him and put a thunderbolt into his hand, and

as she named each of his enemies bade him dart the bolt at them, which

he did, and his enemies were struck to the ground and destroyed. Being

encouraged by the dream, which he communicated to his colleague, at

daybreak Sulla led his forces against Rome. When he was near

Picinæ[197] he was met by a deputation which entreated him not to

march forthwith against the city, for all justice would be done

pursuant to a resolution of the Senate. Sulla consented to encamp

there, and ordered the officers to measure out the ground for the

encampment, according to the usual practice, and the deputation went

away trusting to his promise. But as soon as they were gone, Sulla

sent Lucius Bacillus and Caius Mummius, who seized the gate and that

part of the walls which surrounds the Esquiline hill, and Sulla set

out to join them with all speed. Bacillus and his soldiers broke into

the city and attempted to gain possession of it, but the people in

large numbers, being unarmed, mounted the house-tops, and by pelting

the soldiers with tiles and stones stopped their further progress, and

drove them back to the wall. In the mean time Sulla had come up, and

seeing how matters stood, he called out that the houses must be fired,

and taking a flaming torch, he was the first to advance: he also

ordered the bowmen to shoot firebrands, and to aim at the roofs; in

which he acted without any rational consideration, giving way to

passion, and surrendering the direction of his enterprize to revenge,

for he saw before him only his enemies, and without thought or pity

for his friends and kinsmen, would force his way into Rome with the

help of flames, which know no distinction between the guilty and the

innocent. While this was going on, Marius, who had been driven as far

as the temple of Earth,[198] invited the slaves to join him by

offering them their freedom, but being overpowered by his enemies who

pressed on him, he left the city.

X. Sulla assembled the Senate, who condemned[199] to death Marius and

a few others, among whom was the tribune Sulpicius. Sulpicius was put

to death, being betrayed by a slave, to whom Sulla gave his freedom,

and then ordered him to be thrown down the Tarpeian rock: he set a

price on the head of Marius, which was neither a generous nor a

politic measure, as Marius had shortly before let Sulla off safe when

Sulla put himself into his power by going to the house of Marius. Now

if Marius had not let Sulla go, but had given him up to Sulpicius to

be put to death, he might have secured the supreme power; but he

spared Sulla; and yet a few days after, when Sulla had the same

opportunity, Marius did not obtain from him a like return. The conduct

of Sulla offended the Senate, though they durst not show it; but the

dislike of the people and their dissatisfaction were made apparent to

him by their acts. They contemptuously rejected Nonius, the son of

Sulla's sister, and Servius, who were candidates for offices, and

elected those whose elevation they thought would be most disagreeable

to Sulla. But Sulla pretended to be pleased at this, and to view it as

a proof that the people, by doing what they liked, were really

indebted to him for their liberty; and for the purpose of diminishing

his general unpopularity he managed the election of Lucius

Cinna,[200] who was of the opposite faction, to the consulship, having

first bound him by solemn imprecations and oaths to favour his

measures. Cinna ascended the Capitol with a stone in his hand and took

the oath; then pronouncing an imprecation on himself, that, if he did

not keep faithful to Sulla, he might be cast out of the city as the

stone from his hand, he hurled it to the ground in the presence of a

large number of persons. But as soon as Cinna had received the

consulship, he attempted to disturb the present settlement of affairs,

and prepared to institute a process against Sulla, and induced

Virginius, one of the tribunes, to be the accuser; but Sulla,[201]

without caring for him or the court, set out with his army against

Mithridates.

XI. It is said that about the time when Sulla was conducting his

armament from Italy, many omens occurred to Mithridates, who was

staying in Pergamum, and that a Victory, bearing a crown, which the

people of Pergamum were letting down upon him by some machinery from

above, was broken in pieces just as it was touching his head, and the

crown falling upon the theatre, came to the ground and was destroyed,

which made the spectators shudder and greatly dispirited Mithridates,

though his affairs were then going on favourably beyond all

expectation. For he had taken Asia[202] from the Romans, and Bithynia

and Cappadocia from their kings, and had fixed himself at Pergamum,

where he was distributing wealth and provinces and kingdoms among his

friends; one of his sons also held without any opposition the ancient

dominions in Pontus, and the Bosporus[203] as far as the uninhabited

regions beyond the Mæotis; Ariarathes[204] occupied Thrace and

Macedonia with a large army; and his generals with their forces were

subduing other places. Archelaus,[205] the greatest of his generals,

was master of all the sea with his navy, and was subjugating the

Cyclades[206] and all the other islands east of Malea, and had already

taken Eubœa, while with his army, advancing from Athens as his

starting-point, he was gaining over all the nations of Greece as far

north as Thessaly, and had only sustained a slight check near

Chæroneia. For there he was met by Bruttius Sura,[207] a legatus of

Sentius, prætor of Macedonia, and a man of signal courage and

prudence. Archelaus was sweeping through Bœotia like a torrent, when

he was vigorously opposed by Sura, who, after fighting three battles

near Chæroneia, repulsed him and drove him back to the coast. On

receiving orders from Lucius Lucullus[208] to make room for Sulla, who

was coming, and to allow him to carry on the war, for which he had

received his commission, Sura immediately left Bœotia and went back to

Sentius, though he had succeeded beyond his expectations, and Greece

was well disposed to change sides on account of his great merit.

However, these exploits of Bruttius were very brilliant.

XII. Now all the rest of the Grecian cities immediately sent

deputations to Sulla and invited him to enter; but against Athens,

which was compelled by the tyrant Aristion[209] to be on the king's

side, he directed all his energies; he also hemmed in and blockaded

the Peiræus,[210] employing every variety of engine and every mode of

attack. If he had waited a short time, he might have taken the Upper

City without danger, for through want of provisions it was reduced by

famine to extreme necessity; but anxious to return to Rome, and

fearing a new revolution there, at great risk fighting many battles

and at great cost he urged on the war, wherein, besides the rest of

the expenditure, the labour about the military engines required ten

thousand pair of mules to be daily employed on this service. As wood

began to fail, owing to many of the works being destroyed by their own

weight, and burnt by the incessant fires thrown by the enemy, Sulla

laid his hands on the several groves and levelled the trees in the

Academia,[211] which was the best wooded of the suburbs, and those in

the Lycæum. And as he wanted money also for the war, he violated the

sacred depositaries of Greece, sending for the finest and most costly

of the offerings dedicated in Epidaurus[212] and Olympia. He wrote

also to the Amphiktyons[213] to Delphi, saying that it would be better

for the treasures of the god to be brought to him, for he would either

have them in safer keeping, or, if he used them, he would replace

them; and he sent one of his friends, Kaphis, a Phokian, to receive

all the things after they were first weighed. Kaphis went to Delphi,

but he was afraid to touch the sacred things, and in the presence of

the Amphiktyons he deeply lamented the task that was imposed on him.

Upon some of them saying that they heard the lute in the shrine send

forth a sound, Kaphis either believing what they said or wishing to

inspire Sulla with some religious fear, sent him this information. But

Sulla replied in a scoffing tone, he wondered Kaphis did not

understand that such music was a sign of pleasure and not of anger,

and he bade him take courage and seize the property, as the deity was

quite willing, and in fact offered it. Now all the things were

secretly sent off unobserved by most of the Greeks; but the silver

jar, one of the royal presents which still remained, could not be

carried away by the beasts of burden owing to its weight and size, and

the Amphiktyons were accordingly obliged to cut it in pieces; and this

led them to reflect that Titus Flamininus,[214] and Manius Acilius,

and also Æmilius Paulus--Acilius, who drove Antiochus out of Greece;

and the two others, who totally defeated the kings of Macedonia--not

only refrained from touching the Greek temples, but even gave them

presents and showed them great honour and respect. These generals,

however, were legally appointed to command troops consisting of

well-disciplined soldiers, who had been taught to obey their leaders

without a murmur: and the commanders themselves were men of kingly

souls, and moderate in their living and satisfied with a small fixed

expenditure, and they thought it baser to attempt to win the soldiers'

favour than to fear their enemies. But the generals at this time, as

they acquired their rank by violence and not by merit, and had more

occasion to employ arms against one another than against the enemies

of Rome, were compelled to act the demagogue while they were in

command; and by purchasing the services of the soldiers by the money

which they expended to gratify them, they made the Roman state a thing

for bargain and sale, and themselves the slaves of the vilest wretches

in order that they might domineer over honest men. This is what drove

Marius into exile, and then brought him back to oppose Sulla; this

made Cinna the murderer of Octavius,[215] and Fimbria[216] the

murderer of Flaccus. And Sulla mainly laid the foundation of all this

by his profusion and expenditure upon his own soldiers, the object of

which was to corrupt and gain over to his side the soldiers of other

commanders; so that his attempts to seduce the troops of others and

the extravagance by which his own soldiers were corrupted, made money

always necessary to him; and most particularly during the siege of

Athens.

XIII. Now Sulla was seized with a violent and irresistible desire to

take Athens, whether it was that he was ambitious to contend against a

city which retained only the shadow of its former glory, or that he

was moved by passion to revenge the scoffs and jeers with which the

tyrant Aristion irritated him and his wife Metella, by continually

taunting them from the wall and insulting them. This Aristion was a

compound of lewdness and cruelty, who combined in himself all the

worst of the vices and passions of Mithridates, and now had brought as

it were a mortal disease in its last extremities upon a city which had

come safe out of so many wars and escaped from so many tyrannies and

civil commotions. For now when a medimnus[217] of wheat was selling

for a thousand drachmæ in the Upper City, and men were obliged to eat

the parthenium[218] that grew about the Acropolis, and shoes and

oil-flasks, he was drinking all day long and amusing himself with

revels and pyrrhic dances, and making jokes at the enemy: he let the

sacred light of the goddess go out for want of oil; when the

hierophant sent to ask for the twelfth part of a medimnus of wheat, he

sent her as much pepper; and when the members of the Senate and the

priests entreated him to have pity on the city and come to terms with

Sulla, he dispersed them by ordering the archers to fire on them. At

last being persuaded with great difficulty, he sent two or three of

his boon companions to treat of peace; but instead of making any

reasonable proposals, the men began to make a pompous harangue about

Theseus and Eumolpus, and the Persian wars, on which Sulla said, "Be

gone, my good fellows, with your fine talk. I was not sent to Athens

by the Romans to learn a lesson, but to compel rebels to submit."

XIV. In the mean time, as the story goes, some soldiers in the

Keramicus[219] overheard certain old men talking to one another, and

abusing the tyrant for not guarding the approach to the wall about the

Heptachalkum, which was the only part, they said, where it was

practicable and easy for the enemy to get over; and the soldiers

reported to Sulla what they heard. Sulla did not neglect the

intelligence, but he went to the spot by night, and seeing that it was

practicable, he set about the thing forthwith. He says in his Memoirs

that the first man who mounted the wall was Marcus Teius,[220] who,

finding a soldier in his way, struck him a violent blow on the helmet,

which broke his sword; still Marcus did not retreat, but kept his

ground. The city then was taken from this quarter, as the old

Athenians said it might be. Sulla having destroyed and levelled that

part of the wall which lies between the Peiræic and the Sacred[221]

Gate, about midnight entered the city, striking terror with the sound

of trumpets and horns, and the shouts and cries of the soldiers, who

had his full licence to plunder and kill, and made their way through

the streets with naked swords. The slain were not counted, but the

number is even now measured by the space over which the blood flowed.

For besides those who were slaughtered in the other parts of the city,

the blood of those who fell about the Agora[222] covered all the

Keramicus within Dipylum: many say that it even flowed through the

gates and deluged the suburbs. But though the number of those who

perished by the sword was so great, as many killed themselves for

sorrow and regret at the overthrow of their native city. For all the

most honest citizens were driven to despair, expecting in Sulla

neither humanity nor moderation. But, however, when Meidias and

Kalliphon, who were exiles, fell down at his knees with entreaties,

and the Senators who were in his army urged him to save the city,

being now sated with vengeance and passing some encomiums upon the

ancient Athenians, he said he would pardon the many for the sake of

the few, and the living for the sake of the dead. Sulla states in his

Memoirs, that he took Athens on the Calends of March,[223] which day

nearly coincides with the new moon of Anthesterion, in which month it

happens that the Athenians perform many ceremonies in commemoration of

the great damage and loss occasioned by the heavy rain, for they

suppose that the deluge happened pretty nearly about that time. When

the city was taken the tyrant retreated to the Acropolis, where he was

besieged by Curio, who was commissioned for this purpose: after he had

held out for some time, Aristion was compelled to surrender for want

of water; his surrender was immediately followed by a token from the

deity, for on the very day and hour on which Curio took the tyrant

from the Acropolis, the clouds gathered in the clear sky, and a

violent shower descended which filled the Acropolis with water. Sulla

soon took the Peiræus also, and burnt the greater part of it,

including the arsenal of Philo,[224] which was a wonderful work.

XV. In the mean time Taxiles, the general of Mithridates, coming down

from Thrace and Macedonia with one hundred thousand foot, ten thousand

horse, and ninety scythe-bearing four-horse chariots, summoned

Archelaus, who was still lying with his ships near Munychia,[225] and

was neither inclined to give up the sea nor ready to engage with the

Romans: his plan was to protract the war and to cut off the supplies

of the enemy. But Sulla was as quick as Archelaus, and moved into

Bœotia from a niggardly region, which even in time of peace could not

have maintained his troops. Most people thought that he had made a

false calculation in leaving Attica, which is a rough country and ill

adapted for the movements of cavalry, to throw himself into the

champaign and open tracts of Bœotia, when he knew that the strength of

the barbarians lay in their chariots and cavalry. But in his flight

from famine and scarcity, as I have already observed, he was compelled

to seek the hazard of a battle. Besides, he was alarmed for

Hortensius,[226] a skilful general and a man ambitious of distinction,

who was conducting a force from Thessaly to Sulla, and had to pass

through the straits where the enemy was waiting for him. For all these

reasons Sulla moved into Bœotia. But Kaphis, who was from my town,

evading the barbarians by taking a different route from what they

expected, led Hortensius over Parnassus, close by Tithora, which was

not at that time so large a city as it is now, but only a fort on a

steep rock scarped all round, to which place in time of old the

Phokians who fled from Xerxes escaped with their property and were

there in safety. Hortensius having encamped there during the day

repelled the attacks of the enemy, and at night descending to

Patronis, through a difficult path joined Sulla, who met him with his

forces.

XVI. Having united their forces, Sulla and Hortensius occupied an

elevation rising out of the midst of the plains of Elateia,[227] which

was fertile and extensive, and had water at its base: it is called

Philobœotus, and its natural qualities and position are most highly

commended by Sulla. When they were encamped, the weakness of the Roman

force was apparent to the enemy; for the cavalry did not exceed

fifteen hundred, and the infantry was below fifteen thousand.

Accordingly the rest of the generals, against the wish of Archelaus,

drew out their forces in order of battle, and filled the plain with

horses, chariots, shields, and bucklers; and the heavens could not

contain the shouts and cries of so many nations putting themselves in

battle array. At the same time the pomp and costly splendour of the

troops were not without effect nor their use in causing alarm; but the

glittering of the arms, which were curiously ornamented with gold and

silver, and the colour of the Median and Scythian dresses mingled with

the brightness of the brass and steel, produced a firelike and

formidable appearance as the masses moved like waves and changed their

places, so that the Romans hid themselves behind their ramparts, and

Sulla, being unable by any words to remove their fear, and not

choosing to urge men to a battle who were disposed to run away, kept

quiet and had to endure the insulting boasts and ridicule of the

barbarians. But this turned out most favourable to the Romans; for the

enemy despising them, neglected to preserve discipline, and indeed,

owing to the number of commanders, the army was not generally inclined

to obey orders; a few kept to their post within their ramparts, but

the greater part, tempted by the hope of booty and plunder, were

dispersed many days' journey from the camp. It is said that they

destroyed the city of Panopeus, and plundered Lebadeia, and robbed the

oracular shrine without any order from a general. Sulla, who could not

endure to see the cities destroyed before his eyes and was greatly

irritated, no longer allowed his soldiers to be inactive, but leading

them to the Kephisus, he compelled them to divert the stream from its

course and to dig ditches, allowing no man any cessation and punishing

most severely all who gave in, his object being to tire his soldiers

with labour and to induce them to seek danger as a release from it.

And it happened as he wished. For on the third day of this labour, as

Sulla was passing by, they entreated him with loud shouts to lead them

against the enemy. He replied, that they said this not because they

wished to fight, but because they disliked labour; but if they really

were disposed to fight, he bade them move forthwith with their arms to

yonder place, pointing out to them what was formerly the Acropolis of

the Parapotamii,[228] but the city was then destroyed and there

remained only a rocky precipitous hill, separated from Mount Hedylium

by the space occupied by the river Assus, which falling into the

Kephisus at the base of the Hedylium and thus becoming a more rapid

stream, makes the Acropolis a safe place for encampment. Sulla also

wished to seize the height, as he saw the Chalkaspides[229] of the

enemy pressing on towards it, and as his soldiers exerted themselves

vigorously, he succeeded in occupying the place. Archelaus, being

repelled from this point, advanced towards Chæroneia, upon which the

men of Chæroneia who were in Sulla's army entreating him not to let

their city fall into the hands of the enemy, he sent Gabinius[230] a

tribune, with one legion, and permitted the men of Chæroneia to go

also, who, though they had the best intention, could not reach the

place before Gabinius: so brave a man he was, and more active in

bringing aid than even those who prayed for it. Juba[231] says it was

not Gabinius who was sent, but Ericius. However this may be, our

city[232] had a narrow escape.

XVII. From Lebadeia[233] and the oracle of Trophonius favourable omens

and predictions of victory were sent to the Romans, about which the

people of the country have a good deal to say. But Sulla, in the tenth

book of his Memoirs, writes, that Quintus Titius, a man of some note

among those who had mercantile affairs in Greece, came to him

immediately after the victory in Chæroneia, to report that Trophonius

foretold a second battle and victory there in a short time. After

Titius, a soldier in his army, named Salvenius, brought an answer from

the god, as to what would be the result of affairs in Italy. Both

reported the same as to the vision[234] of the god: they said, that

in beauty and stature he was like the Olympian Jupiter. After crossing

the Assus and advancing to the foot of Hedylium, Sulla encamped near

Archelaus, who had thrown up a strong intrenchment between Mounts

Akontium and Hedylium, at a place called the Assia. The spot on which

he encamped is called Archelaus from his name up to the present day.

After the interval of one day Sulla left Murena[235] with one legion

and two cohorts, to annoy the enemy if he should attempt to form in

order of battle; he himself sacrificed on the banks of the Kephisus,

and the victims being favourable, he advanced towards Chæroneia with

the object of again effecting a junction with the forces there, and

examining the place called Thurium, which was occupied by the enemy.

This is a rough summit and a conical-shaped hill, named Orthopagus;

and under it is the stream of the Morius and a temple of the Thurian

Apollo. The deity has this name from Thuro, the mother of Chæron, who

is said to have been the founder of Chæroneia. Some say that the cow

which was given by the Pythian Apollo as a guide to Kadmus[236]

appeared there, and that the place was so called from her; for the

Phœnicians call the cow Thor. As Sulla was approaching Chæroneia, the

tribune who was stationed in the city led out the soldiers under arms,

and met him with a chaplet of bay. No sooner had Sulla received the

chaplet, and after saluting the soldiers, encouraged them to the

approaching battle, than two Chæroneians (Homoloichus and Anaxidamos)

presented themselves to him and undertook to drive the enemy from

Thurium if he would give them a few soldiers. They said there was a

path unknown to the barbarians, leading from the place called

Petrachus by the Museum[237] to the highest point of Thurium, and that

by taking this direction they could, without difficulty, fall on the

enemy and either roll stones down upon them from above or drive them

into the plain. As Gabinius bore testimony to the courage and fidelity

of the men, Sulla bade them make the attempt; and in the mean time he

formed his line and distributed his cavalry on each flank, himself

taking the right and giving Murena the command on the left. The legati

Galba[238] and Hortensius, with some reserved cohorts in the rear,

occupied the neighbouring heights, to prevent the army from being

attacked on the flank, for it was observed that the enemy were placing

a strong body of cavalry and light infantry on their wings, with the

view of adapting that part of their battle to ready and easy

manœuvres, their design being to extend their line and to surround the

Romans.

XVIII. In the mean time the Chæroneians, whom Sulla had placed under

the command of Ericius, went round Thurium without being perceived,

and all at once showed themselves to the enemy, who immediately

falling into great confusion, took to flight and sustained

considerable loss, but chiefly from themselves; for as they did not

stand their ground, but ran down the hill, they got entangled among

their own spears and shoved one another down the rocks, while the

Chæroneians pressing upon them from above, wounded them in the parts

which were unprotected; and there fell of the enemy to the number of

three thousand. Part of those who got safe to the foot of the hill,

being met by Murena, whose troops were already in order of battle, had

their retreat cut off and were destroyed: the rest forced their way to

the army of Archelaus, and, falling upon the line in disorder, caused

a general alarm and confusion, and some loss of time to the generals;

and this did them no small harm, for Sulla promptly led his forces

against the enemy while they were still in disorder, and by quickly

traversing the interval between the two lines, deprived the

scythe-bearing chariots[239] of all opportunity of being effective.

The efficacy of the chariots depends mainly on the space they

traverse, by which they acquire velocity and momentum; but when the

space is small their attack is ineffectual and feeble, just like

missiles that have not been propelled with due force. Now this

happened to the barbarians. The first chariots were driven on without

any vigour, and came feebly against the ranks of the Romans, who

easily pushed them aside, and, clapping their hands and laughing,

called for more, as the people do in the horse-races of the

Circus.[240] Upon this the infantry joined battle; the barbarians

pushed forward their long spears and endeavoured by locking their

shields to maintain their ranks in line: the Romans hurled their

javelins, and then drawing their swords, endeavoured to beat aside the

spears, that they might forthwith close with the enemy; for they were

irritated at seeing drawn up in front of the enemy fifteen thousand

slaves, whom the king's generals had invited from the cities by a

proclamation of freedom, and enrolled among the hoplitæ.[241] A Roman

centurion is said to have remarked, that slaves had only freedom of

speech at the Saturnalia,[242] so far as he knew. Now, owing to the

depth of the ranks of these slaves and their close order, it was some

time before they could be made to give way before the heavy-armed

Roman soldiers, and they also fought with more courage than one

expects from a slave; but the missiles from the slings and the light

javelins which were showered upon them unsparingly by the Romans in

the rear, at last made them turn and put them into complete confusion.

XIX. While Archelaus was extending his right wing, in order to

surround the Romans, Hortensius made his cohorts advance at a run,

with the intention of taking the enemy in the flank; but as Archelaus

suddenly wheeled round with his two thousand horsemen, Hortensius was

overpowered by numbers and retreated towards the mountain region,

being gradually separated from the main body of the army and in danger

of being completely hemmed in by the barbarians. Sulla, who was on the

right wing, which was not yet engaged in the action, hearing of the

danger of Hortensius, hastened to relieve him. Archelaus conjecturing

from the dust raised by Sulla's troops how the matter was, left

Hortensius, and wheeling round moved towards the position which Sulla

had quitted (the right), expecting to find the soldiers there without

their general, and to defeat them. At the same time Taxiles led the

Chalkaspides against Murena; and now the shouts being raised from both

armies and re-echoed by the mountains, Sulla halted and hesitated to

which quarter he should move. Having determined to maintain his own

original position, he sent Hortensius with four cohorts to support

Murena, and ordering the fifth to follow him, he hurried to the right

wing, which unaided was bravely resisting Archelaus; but as soon as

Sulla appeared, the Romans completely broke the line of Archelaus, and

pursued the barbarians in disorderly flight to the river and Mount

Akontium. However, Sulla did not leave Murena alone in his dangerous

position, but hastened to help him. Seeing, however, that the Romans

were victorious here also, he joined in the pursuit. Now many of the

barbarians were cut down in the plain, but the greatest number were

destroyed in the attempt to regain their entrenchments, and only ten

thousand out of so large a host made their escape to Chalkis.[243]

Sulla says in his Memoirs, that he missed only fourteen of his own

soldiers, and that ten of them showed themselves in the evening; in

commemoration of which he inscribed on the trophies, Mars and

Victory, and Venus, to signify that he had gained the victory no less

through good fortune than skill and courage. One of these trophies,

which commemorates the victory in the plain, stands where the soldiers

of Archelaus first gave ground in the flight to the Molus:[244] the

other is placed on the summit of Thurium, to commemorate the surprise

of the barbarians, with a Greek inscription in honour of the courage

of Homoloichus and Anaxidamus. Sulla celebrated the festival for the

victory in Thebes at the fountain of Oedipus, where he erected a

stage. The judges were Greeks invited from the other cities of Greece;

for Sulla could not be reconciled to the Thebans; and he took from

them half of their lands, which he dedicated to the Pythian Apollo and

Olympian Jupiter; and from the revenue of these lands he ordered the

sums of money which he had taken from them to be repaid to the

deities.

XX. After the battle Sulla received intelligence that Flaccus,[245]

who belonged to the opposite faction, was chosen consul, and was

crossing the Ionian[246] sea with a force which was said to be

designed against Mithridates, but was in fact directed against

himself; and accordingly he advanced towards Thessalia to meet

Flaccus. He had advanced to the neighbourhood of Meliteia,[247] when

reports from all sides reached him that the country in his rear was

ravaged by another army of Mithridates as numerous as that which he

had dispersed. Dorylaus had landed at Chalkis with a large navy, on

board of which he brought eighty thousand men of the best trained and

disciplined troops of Mithridates, and he immediately advanced into

Bœotia and occupied the country, being eager to draw Sulla to an

engagement, and paying no regard to Archelaus, who dissuaded him from

fighting: he even said publicly that so many thousands could never

have been destroyed if there had not been treachery. However, Sulla,

who quickly returned to Bœotia, showed Dorylaus that Archelaus was a

prudent man and had formed a very just estimate of the courage of the

Romans; for after a slight skirmish with Sulla near Tilphossium,[248]

Dorylaus was himself the first among those who were not for deciding

the matter by a battle, but thought it best to prolong the war till

the Romans should be exhausted by want of supplies. However, Archelaus

was somewhat encouraged by the position of their encampment near

Orchomenus, which was very favourable for battle to an army which had

the superiority in cavalry; for of all the plains in Bœotia noted for

their beauty and extent, this, which commences at the city of

Orchomenus, is the only one which spreads without interruption and

without any trees, and it reaches to the marshes in which the river

Melas[249] is lost. The Melas rises close to Orchomenus, and is the

only river of Greece that is a copious and navigable stream at its

source; it also increases like the Nile about the summer solstice, and

the same plants grow on its banks; but they produce no fruit and do

not attain any large size. Its course however is short, for the larger

part of the water is soon lost in obscure marshes overgrown with

shrubs: a small part joins the Kephisus somewhere about the point

where the lake is said to produce the reed that is adapted for making

musical pipes.

XXI. The two armies being encamped near one another, Archelaus kept

quiet, but Sulla began to dig trenches on both sides with the view,

if possible, of cutting off the enemy from the hard ground and those

parts which were favourable to cavalry and driving them into the

marshes. However, the barbarians would not endure this, and as soon as

their generals allowed them to attack the Romans, they rushed forward

with so much vigour and force, that not only were the men dispersed

who were working at the trenches, but the greater part of the Roman

troops that were drawn up for their protection were involved in the

fight. Upon this Sulla leapt down from his horse, and snatching up a

standard, made his way through the fugitives towards the enemy, crying

out, "For my part, Romans, it is fit I should die here; as for you,

when you are asked where you deserted your Imperator, remember to say

it was in Orchomenus." These words made the soldiers rally, and two

cohorts came to their support from the right wing, which Sulla led

against the enemy and put them to flight. He then led his soldiers

back a short distance, and after allowing them to take some food, he

began again to work at the trenches which were designed to enclose the

enemy's camp. The barbarians made another attack in better order than

before; in which Diogenes, the son of the wife of Archelaus, fell

fighting bravely on the right wing; and the bowmen being hard pressed

by the Romans and having no means of retreat, took their arrows

altogether in their hands, and using them like swords, struck at the

Romans, but, at last they were driven back to their camp, where they

spent a wretched night owing to their wounds and great losses. As soon

as day dawned Sulla again led his soldiers up to the enemy's

encampment and again commenced working at the ditches. The enemy came

out in a great force, but Sulla put them to flight, and as no one

stood his ground after they were thrown into disorder, Sulla stormed

the camp. The swamps and the lake were filled with the blood and

bodies of those who fell, and even to the present day many barbarian

bows, helmets, and pieces of iron cuirasses and swords are found

buried in the marshes, though it is near two hundred[250] years since

the battle. Such, according to the historians, was the battle about

Chæroneia and near Orchomenus.

XXII. Cinna and Carbo[251] were now conducting themselves towards the

chief men at Rome in an illegal and violent manner, and many flying

from their tyranny resorted to the camp of Sulla as a harbour of

refuge, so that in a short time a kind of Senate was formed about him.

Metella also, who had with difficulty escaped with her children, came

and reported that his house and farms were burnt by his enemies, and

she entreated him to go to the assistance of his friends at Rome.

Sulla was perplexed what to do: he could not endure the thoughts of

neglecting his country in her present oppressed condition, nor did he

see how he could leave so great an undertaking as the Mithridatic war

imperfect. In the meantime there came to him a merchant of Delos,[252]

named Archelaus, who secretly brought from Archelaus, the king's

general, hopes of peace and certain proposals. Sulla was so well

pleased that he was eager for an interview with Archelaus, and they

met at Delium on the sea-coast, where the temple of Apollo is.

Archelaus, who began the conference, urged Sulla to give up Asia and

the Pontus, and to sail to Rome to prosecute the war against his

enemies, and he offered him money, ships, and troops on behalf of the

king. Sulla in reply advised Archelaus not to trouble himself any

further about Mithridates, but to assume the kingly title himself and

to become an ally of Rome, and to give up the ships of Mithridates. As

Archelaus professed his detestation of such treachery, Sulla said,

"You then, Archelaus, who are a Cappadocian, and the slave of a

barbarian king, or, if you please, his friend--you refuse to do a base

deed for so splendid a reward, and yet venture to talk about treachery

to me who am a Roman general, and am Sulla, as if you were not that

Archelaus who fled from Chæroneia with a few men out of your one

hundred and twenty thousand, and were hid for two days in the

marshes[253] of Orchomenus, and left Bœotia with all the roads made

impassable by the heaps of dead?" Upon this Archelaus changed his

tone, and humbling himself, entreated Sulla to give up the war and to

come to terms with Mithridates. Sulla accepted the proposal, and peace

was made on the following terms:--Mithridates was to give up Asia[254]

and Paphlagonia, and to surrender Bithynia to Nikomedes, and

Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes, to pay down to the Romans two thousand

talents, and to give them seventy ships fitted with brass and

completely equipped; Sulla was to confirm Mithridates in the rest of

his possessions and to recognise him as an ally of the Romans.

XXIII. These terms being settled, Sulla retraced his steps and marched

through Thessaly and Macedonia to the Hellespont in company with

Archelaus, whom he treated with great respect. Archelaus fell

dangerously ill at Larissa, on which Sulla stopped his march and paid

as much attention to him as if he had been one of his own officers and

fellow-generals. This gave rise to some suspicion that the battle of

Chæroneia was not fairly fought, which was strengthened by the fact

that Sulla restored all the friends of Mithridates whom he had taken

prisoners, except Aristion[255] the tyrant, who was an enemy of

Archelaus, and whom he caused to be poisoned: but the most convincing

proof of all was Sulla's giving the Cappadocian ten thousand plethra

of land in Eubœa, and the title of friend and ally of the Romans.

However, Sulla makes his apology about these matters in his Memoirs.

Ambassadors from Mithridates now arrived, and were ready to accede to

all the terms agreed on, except that the king would not consent to

give up Paphlagonia, and as to the ships he dissented altogether; on

which Sulla in a passion exclaimed, "What say ye? Mithridates claims

to keep Paphlagonia, and refuses to abide by the agreement about the

ships; I thought he would have been thankful if I left him his right

hand, which has destroyed so many Romans. However, he will soon speak

another language when I have crossed over to Asia. At present let him

stay in Pergamum and there direct the conduct of a campaign which he

has not seen." The ambassadors were so much alarmed that they said

nothing, but Archelaus implored Sulla and tried to soften his anger,

clinging to his hands with tears in his eyes. At last he prevailed on

Sulla to let him go to Mithridates, and he promised to effect a peace

on Sulla's own terms, or to kill himself. Sulla accordingly sent

Archelaus to Mithridates, and in the mean time he invaded Mædike,[256]

and having ravaged the greater part of it, returned to Macedonia and

found Archelaus at Philippi,[257] who reported that all was

favourable, but that Mithridates much wished to have an interview with

him. Mithridates was mainly induced to this by the circumstance that

Fimbria, after murdering the consul Flaccus, who belonged to the

opposite faction, and defeating the generals of Mithridates, was

advancing against the king himself. It was fear of Fimbria that made

Mithridates more inclined to make a friend of Sulla.

XXIV. Accordingly they met at Dardanus[258] in the Troad: Mithridates

had there two hundred rowing-ships, twenty thousand heavy-armed

soldiers, six thousand horsemen, and many of his scythe-bearing

chariots: Sulla had four cohorts and two hundred horsemen. Mithridates

advanced to meet Sulla and held out his hand, on which Sulla asked him

if he would put an end to the war on the terms agreed to by Archelaus.

As the king made no reply, Sulla said, "Well, those who sue must speak

first; conquerors may remain silent." Mithridates began an apology, in

which he partly imputed the origin of the war to the deities, and

partly threw the blame on the Romans; but Sulla cut him short by

saying, that he had long ago been told, and now he knew by his own

experience, that Mithridates was a most skilful speaker, inasmuch as

he had no difficulty in finding words to justify acts which were so

base and so contrary to all right. Sulla went on to recapitulate all

that Mithridates had done, reproaching him in bitter terms, and he

then asked him again, if he would abide by the agreement of Archelaus.

Mithridates said that he would; on which Sulla embraced him, threw his

arms round him and kissed him; he then brought forward the kings

Ariobarzanes and Nikomedes, and reconciled Mithridates to them. After

surrendering to Sulla seventy ships and five hundred bowmen,

Mithridates sailed off to the Pontus. Sulla perceived that his

soldiers were dissatisfied at the settlement of the war: they thought

it a shame that the greatest enemy of the Romans, who had contrived

the massacre of one hundred and fifty thousand Romans in Asia in one

day, should be seen sailing off with the wealth and the spoils of

Asia, which he had been plundering and levying contributions on for

four years; Sulla apologised to the soldiers by saying that he should

not be able to oppose both Fimbria and Mithridates, if they were

united against him.

XXV. From Dardanus Sulla marched against Fimbria, who was encamped

near Thyateira,[259] and halting there, began to throw up his

intrenchments. Fimbria's men coming out of their camp in their jackets

embraced the soldiers of Sulla, and began to assist them zealously in

their works. Fimbria seeing that his soldiers had deserted him, and

fearing Sulla's unforgiving temper, committed suicide in the camp.

Sulla now levied a contribution on Asia to the amount of twenty

thousand talents: and he reduced individuals to beggary by the

violence and exactions which he permitted to the soldiers who were

quartered in their houses. He issued an order that the master of a

house should daily supply the soldier who was quartered on him with

four tetradrachmæ, and with dinner for himself and as many of his

friends as he chose to invite; a centurion was to receive fifty

drachmæ daily, and to be supplied with two garments, one to wear in

the house and the other when he went abroad.

XXVI. Sulla set sail from Ephesus with all his ships, and on the third

day anchored in the Peiræus. After being initiated into the

Eleusinian[260] mysteries, he appropriated to himself the library of

Apellikon[261] of Teos, which contained most of the writings of

Aristotle and Theophrastus. The works of these two philosophers were

not then well known to people in general. It is said that when the

library was brought to Rome, Tyrannio the grammarian arranged most of

the books, and that Andronikus of Rhodes having procured copies from

Tyrannio, published them, and made the tables which are now in use. It

appears that the older Peripatetics were indeed well-instructed men,

and devoted to letters, but they did not possess many of the writings

of Aristotle and Theophrastus, nor yet correct copies, owing to the

circumstances that the books came into the hands of the heirs of

Neleus of Skepsis, to whom Theophrastus bequeathed them, and that they

were ignorant persons, who never troubled themselves about such

matters. While Sulla was staying at Athens, he was seized with a

numbness in his feet, accompanied with a feeling of heaviness, which

Strabo[262] calls "a stammering of gout." Accordingly he crossed the

sea to Ædepsus[263]; where he used the warm springs, at the same time

indulging in relaxation and spending all his time in the company of

actors. As he was walking about on the seashore, some fishermen

presented him with some very fine fish; Sulla was much pleased with

the present, but on hearing that the men belonged to Halæae,[264] he

said, What, is there an Halæan still alive? For it happened, that

while pursuing his enemies after the victory at Orchomenus, he

destroyed at once three Bœotian cities, Anthedon, Larymna, and Halæae.

The men were struck speechless with fear, but Sulla with a smile bade

them go away in good heart, for the intercessors they had brought were

no mean ones, and not to be despised. Upon this the Halæans say they

took courage and again occupied their city.

XXVlI. Sulla went through Thessaly and Macedonia to the sea-coast,

where he made preparations to cross from Dyrrachium[265] to Brundisium

with twelve hundred ships. Near to Dyrrachium is Apollonia, and near

to Apollonia is the Nymphæum,[266] a sacred spot, where perpetual

streams of fire rise in various places out of a green grassy valley.

It is said that a sleeping satyr was caught there, such a one as

sculptors and painters represent, and was brought to Sulla and

questioned by many interpreters as to who he was; but he spoke with

difficulty, and what he did utter was unintelligible, and something

like a compound of the neighing of a horse and the bleating of a goat;

upon which Sulla, who was startled at the monster, ordered him to be

removed. Sulla was now about to take his soldiers over the sea, but he

feared that when they landed in Italy they would disperse to their

several cities; however, the soldiers voluntarily took an oath to

abide by him, and not to do any damage in Italy from set design;

seeing also that he required much money, they all contributed

something from what they had, each according to his means. However,

Sulla would not receive the contribution, but after commending their

zeal and encouraging them he proceeded to cross the sea, as he

expresses it in his Memoirs, to oppose fifteen hostile commanders at

the head of four hundred and fifty cohorts.[267] The deity gave him

sure prognostics of success; for upon his sacrificing immediately on

landing in Italy near Tarentum, the liver of the animal was found to

have on it the figure of a crown[268] of bay with two ribands attached

to it. A short time also before he crossed the sea, two large he-goats

were seen in Campania near Mount Hephæus, in the daytime, fighting,

and in all respects acting like men engaged in a contest. But it was

only a vision, and it gradually rose up from the ground and dispersed

in the air in various directions like dark phantoms, and finally

disappeared. No long time after, in this very spot, when the younger

Marius and the consul Norbanus[269] came upon him at the head of a

large force, Sulla, without having time to form his battle or to

dispose his companies, but merely availing himself of the spirit that

animated all his men, and their impetuous courage, put to flight his

opponents, and shut Norbanus up in Capua with the loss of seven

thousand of his soldiers. It was this success, as some say, which

prevented his soldiers from dispersing to their several cities, and

encouraged them to stay with Sulla and to despise their opponents,

though many times more numerous than themselves. At Silvium,[270] as

Sulla says, a slave of one Pontius, moved by a divine impulse, met him

and declared that he brought from Bellona assurance of superiority in

war and victory, but that if he did not make haste the Capitol would

be burnt; and this is said to have happened on the very day which the

man foretold, being the day before the Nones of Quintilis, which we

now call July. Further, Marcus Lucullus, one of Sulla's commanders,

was opposed at Fidentia[271] with sixteen cohorts to fifty of the

enemy, and though he had confidence in the spirit of his men, he was

discouraged because a greater part of them were unarmed. While he was

considering and hesitating what to do, a gentle breeze blowing from

the adjoining plain, which was covered with grass, carried many of the

flowers to the army of Lucullus, and spontaneously strewed them about,

so that they rested and fell on the men's shields and helmets, which

seemed to their opponents to be crowned with chaplets. Thus

encouraged, the soldiers of Lucullus engaged, and gained a victory,

with the loss to the opposite party of eighteen thousand men and their

camp. This Lucullus was the brother of the Lucullus who afterwards

defeated Mithridates and Tigranes.

XXVIII. Sulla, perceiving that he was still surrounded by many hostile

camps and large forces, treacherously invited Scipio[272] one of the

consuls, to come to terms. Scipio accepted the proposal, which was

followed by many meetings and conferences, but Sulla continually threw

impediments and pretexts in the way of a final agreement, and in the

mean time he corrupted Scipio's soldiers by means of his own men, who

were as practised in all kinds of deceit and fraud as their commander.

Going within the intrenchments of Scipio and mingling with his

soldiers, they gained over some by giving them, money, others by

promises, and the rest by flattery and persuasion. At last Sulla with

twenty cohorts approached the camp of Scipio, and his soldiers saluted

those of Scipio, who returned the salute and came over to them.

Scipio, thus deserted, was taken prisoner in his tent, but set at

liberty; and Sulla with the twenty cohorts, like so many tame birds,

having entrapped forty of the enemy, led them all back to his camp. On

this occasion, it is said, Carbo observed that he had to contend in

Sulla both with a lion and a fox, but the fox gave him most trouble.

After this, in the neighbourhood of Signia,[273] Marius at the head of

eighty-four cohorts challenged Sulla to battle; and Sulla was very

ready for the contest on that day, for he happened to have had a

vision in his sleep of this sort:--He dreamed that the elder Marius,

who had long been dead, was advising his son to beware of the

following day, as it would bring him heavy misfortune. This was the

reason that Sulla was eager to fight, and he sent for Dolabella,[274]

who was encamped at some distance. But as the enemy occupied the roads

and cut off the communications, the soldiers of Sulla were wearied

with fighting and working at the roads at the same time; and it

happened that much rain also fell, and added to the fatigue of their

labour. Upon this, the centurions coming up to Sulla, begged him to

defer the battle, and pointed out to him that the soldiers were

exhausted by fatigue and were lying on the ground with their shields

under them. Sulla consented unwillingly, and gave orders for the army

to halt there; but while they were beginning to throw up their rampart

and dig their trenches, Marius advanced against them confidently at

the head of his troops, expecting to disperse them in their state of

disorder and confusion. Now the dæmon made good the words that Sulla

heard in his dream; for his soldiers, transported with indignation and

stopping their work, fixed their spears in the ground close to the

trenches, and drawing their swords with a loud shout, were forthwith

at close quarters with the enemy. The soldiers of Marius did not stand

their ground long, and there was a great slaughter of them in their

flight. Marius, who fled to Præneste,[275] found the gates closed, but

a rope being let down from the walls, he fastened himself to it, and

was drawn up into the city. Some historians say, and Fenestella[276]

among them, that Marius saw nothing of the battle, but that being

exhausted by want of sleep and fatigue he lay down on the ground in

the shade, and as soon as the signal was given for battle, fell

asleep, and that he was roused with difficulty when the flight began.

Sulla says that he lost only twenty-three men in this battle, and that

he killed of the enemy twenty thousand, and took eight thousand alive.

He was equally successful everywhere else through his generals

Pompeius,[277] Crassus, Metellus, Servilius; for without sustaining

any but the most trifling loss, they destroyed the great armies of

their opponents, and at last Carbo,[278] who was the main support of

the opposite party, stole away from his troops by night and sailed to

Libya.

XXIX. In the last struggle, however, like a fresh combatant attacking

an exhausted athlete, Telesinus the Samnite was very near tripping up

Sulla and laying him prostrate at the gates of Rome. Telesinus was

hastening with Lamponius the Lucanian and a strong force to Præneste,

in order to rescue Marius, who was besieged; but finding that Sulla in

his front and Pompeius in his rear were coming against him, and that

he could neither advance nor retreat, like a brave and experienced man

he broke up his encampment by night and marched with all his force

against Rome. And indeed he was very near surprising the city, which

was unguarded; however, halting about ten stadia from the Colline

gate, he passed the night there, full of confidence and elated with

hope, as he had got the advantage over so many great generals. At

daybreak the most distinguished young men came out on horseback to

oppose him, but many of them fell, and among them Claudius

Appius,[279] a man of noble rank and good character. This naturally

caused confusion in the city, and there were women shrieking and

people hurrying in all directions, in expectation that the city was

going to be stormed, when Balbus appeared first, coming at full speed

from Sulla with seven hundred horsemen. Balbus just halted long enough

to allow his men to dry the sweat from their horses: then bridling

them again, they advanced quickly and engaged with the enemy. In the

mean time Sulla also appeared, and ordering the advanced ranks to take

some refreshment, he began to put them in order of battle. Dolabella

and Torquatus earnestly entreated him to pause, and not to put all to

the hazard with his exhausted soldiers; they said, the contest was not

with Carbo and Marius, but with Samnites and Lucanians, the most

deadly and warlike enemies of Rome: but Sulla, without paying any

regard to them, ordered the trumpets to sound the charge, though it

was now about the tenth hour. The battle began, and was fiercer than

any that was fought in this campaign. The right wing, where Crassus

commanded, was completely successful; but the left was hard pressed,

and in a dangerous plight, when Sulla came to its support mounted on a

very spirited and fleet white horse, by which he was easily

distinguished from the rest, and two of the enemy's soldiers, fixing

their javelins, prepared to aim at him, Sulla did not see them, but

his groom whipped the horse, which just carried his rider so far out

of the reach of the spears that they passed close to the horse's tail,

and stuck in the ground. It is said that Sulla always carried about

with him in his bosom, in battle, a small golden figure of Apollo,

which he got from Delphi, and that he then kissed it, and said, "O

Pythian Apollo, after raising the fortunate Sulla Cornelius in so many

contests to glory and renown, wilt thou throw him prostrate here, at

the gates of his native city, and so bring him to perish most ignobly

with his fellow-citizens?" After this address to the god it is said

that Sulla entreated some, and threatened and laid hold of others; but

at last, the left wing being completely broken, he was mingled with

the fugitives and made his escape to the camp with the loss of many of

his friends and men of note. Not a few of the citizens also, who had

come to see the fight, were killed and trampled down, so that it was

thought all was over with the city, and the blockade of Marius was all

but raised, for many of the fugitives made their way to Præneste, and

urged Ofella Lucretius,[280] who had been appointed to conduct the

siege, to break up his quarters with speed, as Sulla was killed, and

Rome in the possession of the enemy.

XXX. It was now far on in the night when men came to Sulla's camp from

Crassus to get something to eat for him and his soldiers, for after

putting the enemy to flight they had pursued them to Antemnæ,[281] and

there encamped. Upon this intelligence, and that most of the enemy

were killed, Sulla came to Antemnæ at daybreak. Here three thousand

soldiers sent to him to propose to surrender, and Sulla promised them

their lives if they would punish the rest of his enemies before they

joined him. Trusting to his promise, these men attacked their

comrades, and a great number on both sides were cut to pieces.

However, Sulla got together the soldiers who had offered to surrender

and those who had survived the massacre, to the number of six

thousand, in the Circus,[282] and at the same time he summoned the

Senate to the temple of Bellona. As soon as he began to speak, the

men who were appointed to do the work began to cut down the six

thousand men. A cry naturally arose from so many men being butchered

in a narrow space, and the Senators were startled; but Sulla

preserving the same unmoved expression of countenance, bade them

attend to what he was saying, and not trouble themselves about what

was going on outside; it was only some villains who were being

punished by his orders. This made even the dullest Roman see that

there was merely an exchange of tyrants, not a total change. Now

Marius was always cruel, and he grew more so, and the possession of

power did not change his disposition. But Sulla at first used his

fortune with moderation and like a citizen of a free state, and he got

the reputation of being a leader who, though attached to the

aristocratical party, still regarded the interests of the people;

besides this, he was from his youth fond of mirth, and so soft to pity

as to be easily moved to tears. It was not without reason, then, that

his subsequent conduct fixed on the possession of great power the

imputation that it does not let men's tempers abide by their original

habits, but makes them violent, vain, and inhuman. Now whether

fortune really produces an alteration and change in a man's natural

disposition, or whether, when he gets to power, his bad qualities

hitherto concealed are merely unveiled, is a matter that belongs to

another subject than the present.

XXXI. Sulla now began to make blood flow, and he filled the city with

deaths without number or limit; many persons were murdered on grounds

of private enmity, who had never had anything to do with Sulla, but he

consented to their death to please his adherents. At last a young man,

Caius Metellus, had the boldness to ask Sulla in the Senate-house,

when there would be an end to these miseries, and how far he would

proceed before they could hope to see them stop. "We are not

deprecating," he said, "your vengeance against those whom you have

determined to put out of the way, but we entreat you to relieve from

uncertainty those whom you have determined to spare." Sulla replied,

that he had not yet determined whom he would spare. "Tell us then,"

said Metellus, "whom you intend to punish." Sulla said that he would.

Some say that it was not Metellus, but Afidius,[283] one of Sulla's

flatterers, who made use of the last expression. Sulla immediately

proscribed eighty persons without communicating with any magistrate.

As this caused a general murmur, he let one day pass, and then

proscribed two hundred and twenty more, and again on the third day as

many. In an harangue to the people, he said, with reference to these

measures, that he had proscribed all he could think of, and as to

those who now escaped his memory, he would proscribe them at some

future time. It was part of the proscription[284] that every man who

received and protected a proscribed person should be put to death for

his humanity; and there was no exception for brothers, children, or

parents. The reward for killing a proscribed person was two talents,

whether it was a slave who killed his master or a son who killed his

father. But what was considered most unjust of all, he affixed infamy

on the sons and grandsons of the proscribed and confiscated their

property. The proscriptions were not confined to Rome; they extended

to every city of Italy: neither temple nor hospitable hearth nor

father's house was free from murder, but husbands were butchered in

the arms of their wives, and children in the embrace of their mothers.

The number of those who were massacred through revenge and hatred was

nothing compared with those who were murdered for their property. It

occurred even to the assassins to observe that the ruin of such a one

was due to his large house, another man owed his death to his orchard,

and another again to his warm baths. Quintus Aurelius, a man who

never meddled with public affairs, and though he was no further

concerned about all these calamities except so far as he sympathised

with the sufferings of others, happened to come to the Forum and there

he read the names of the proscribed. Finding his own name among them,

he exclaimed, Alas! wretch that I am; 'tis my farm at Alba that is my

persecutor. He had not gone far before he was murdered by some one who

was in search of him.

XXXII. In the mean time Marius killed himself to avoid being taken.

Sulla now went to Præneste,[285] and he began by examining the case of

each individual before he punished him; but having no time for this

inquiry, he had all the people brought to one spot, to the number of

twelve thousand, and ordered them to be massacred, with the exception

of one man, an old friend of his, whom he offered to pardon. But the

man nobly declared he would never owe his safety to the destroyer of

his country, and mingling with the rest of the citizens he was cut

down together with them. The affair of Lucius Catilina[286] was

perhaps the most monstrous of all. Lucius had murdered his brother

before the termination of the war, and he asked Sulla to proscribe him

among the rest as if he were still alive; which was done. To show his

gratitude, Catilina killed one Marcus Marius,[287] who belonged to the

opposite faction, and after bringing his head to Sulla, who was then

sitting in the Forum, he went to the temple of Apollo, which was close

by, and washed his hands in the sacred font.[288]

XXXIII. Besides the massacres, there were other things to cause

dissatisfaction. Sulla had himself proclaimed Dictator,[289] and thus

revived this office after an interval of one hundred and twenty years.

An act of indemnity was also passed for all that he had done; for the

future it was enacted that he should have power of life and death, and

should confiscate property, distribute lands, found colonies, destroy

them, take away kingdoms and give them to whom he pleased. The sales

of confiscated property were conducted by him from his tribunal in

such an arrogant and tyrannical manner, that his mode of dealing with

the produce of the sales was more intolerable than the seizure of the

property: he gave away to handsome women, players on the lyre, mimi

and worthless libertini, the lands of whole nations and the revenues

of cities; to some men he gave wives, who were compelled to marry

against their will. Wishing to form an alliance with Pompeius Magnus,

he made him put away his wife; and he took Æmilia, who was the

daughter of Scaurus and of his own wife Metella, from her husband

Manius Glabrio.[290] though she was then with child, and married her

to Pompeius. Æmilia died in the house of Pompeius in childbirth.

Lucretius Ofella,[291] who had taken Præneste, became a candidate for

the consulship, and canvassed for it. Sulla at first attempted to stop

him; but on Lucretius entering the Forum supported by a large party,

Sulla sent one of his centurions to kill Lucretius, himself the while

sitting on his tribunal in the temple of Castor and Pollux, and

looking down upon the murder. The bystanders seized the centurion and

brought him before the tribunal; but Sulla bidding them stop their

noise, declared that he had ordered the centurion to kill Lucretius,

and they must let him go.

XXXIV. The triumph[292] of Sulla was magnificent for the splendour and

rarity of the regal spoils; but the exiles formed a greater ornament

to it and a noble spectacle. The most illustrious and wealthy of the

citizens followed in the procession with chaplets on their heads,

calling Sulla their saviour and father, inasmuch as through him they

were restored to their country, their children, and their wives. When

the triumph was over, Sulla before the assembled people gave an

account of all the events of his life, mentioning with equal

particularity his good fortune and his great deeds, and in conclusion

he bade them salute him by the name of Eutyches,[293] for this is the

nearest word to express the Latin Felix: and when he wrote to Greeks

or had any business to transact with them, he called himself

Epaphroditus. In our country also, on the trophies of Sulla, there is

the inscription: Lucius Cornelius Sulla Epaphroditus. As Metella bore

him twins, Sulla named the male Faustus, and the female Fausta: for

the Romans apply the name Faustus to what is fortunate and gladsome.

Sulla indeed trusted so far to his good fortune rather than to his

acts, that, though he had put many persons to death, and had made so

many innovations and changes in the state, he laid down the

dictatorship,[294] and allowed the people to have the full control of

the consular elections, without going near them, and all the while

walking about in the Forum, and exposing himself to any one who might

choose to call him to account, just like a private person. Contrary to

Sulla's wish, a bold man, and an enemy of his, was likely to be

elected consul, Marcus Lepidus,[295] not for his own merits, but

because the people wished to please Pompeius, who was earnest in his

support and canvassed for him. Sulla seeing Pompeius going home well

pleased with his victory, called him to him and said: "What a fine

piece of policy is this of yours, young man, for Lepidus to be

proclaimed consul before Catulus, the most violent in preference to

the most honourable of men! It is, however, time for you not to be

asleep, as you have strengthened your rival against yourself." Sulla

said this in a kind of prophetic tone, for Lepidus soon broke out in

great excesses, and was at war with Pompeius.

XXXV. Sulla made an offering of the tenth part of his substance to

Hercules, and feasted the people magnificently: so much greater indeed

was the preparation than what was required, that a great quantity of

provisions was daily thrown into the river, and wine was drunk forty

years old, and even older. In the midst of the entertainment, which

lasted several days, Metella died. As the priests would not allow

Sulla to go to her, or his house to be polluted by a dead body, Sulla

sent Metella a writing of divorce, and ordered her, while still alive,

to be removed from his house to another. So far he observed the custom

strictly through superstition; but the law which limited the cost of

funerals, though he had proposed it himself, he violated by sparing no

expense. He also violated his own laws for diminishing the cost of

entertainments, endeavouring to forget his grief in extravagant

drinking and feasting, and in the company of buffoons. A few months

after his wife's death there was a show of gladiators. As there was

yet no distinction of places,[296] but men and women sat promiscuously

in the theatre, it chanced that a woman seated herself near Sulla who

was very handsome and of good family; she was a daughter of Messala,

and sister of the orator Hortensius: her name was Valeria,[297] and

she had lately separated from her husband. This woman, going behind

Sulla, placed her hand upon him, and pulling a thread out of his

dress, returned to her place. As Sulla looked on her with some

surprise, she said, No mischief, Imperator;[298] I also wish to have a

bit of your good fortune. Sulla was not displeased at her words, and

it was soon plain that he had conceived a passion for the woman; for

he privately sent to ask her name, and made himself acquainted with

her family and her mode of life. After this there were interchanges of

glances, and frequent side-looks, and giving and returning of smiles,

and, finally, treaties and arrangements about marriage, all which on

her part perhaps deserved no censure; but as to Sulla, however chaste

and reputable the woman might be that he married, it was no reputable

or decent matter that induced him to it, for he was caught like a

young man by mere looks and wanton airs, the nature of which is to

excite the most depraved and impure feelings.

XXXVI. Though Sulla married Valeria he still associated with actresses

and female lute-players and dancers, spending his time with them on

beds, and drinking from an early hour of the day. These were the names

of the persons who at this time enjoyed most of his

favour:--Roscius[299] the comedian, Sorix the chief mimus, and

Metrobius who played women's parts[300] in men's dress, and to whom,

though Metrobius was now growing old, Sulla all along continued

strongly attached, and never attempted to conceal it. By this mode of

life he aggravated his disease, which was slight in its origin, and

for some time he was not aware that all his viscera were full of

diseased matter. The flesh, being corrupted by the disease, was

changed into vermin,[301] and though many persons were engaged day

and night in taking the vermin away, what was got rid of was nothing

compared with what came, for all his clothes, and the bath and the

water, and his food, were filled with the matter that flowed from him,

and with the vermin; such was the violence of the disorder. Though he

went into the water several times a day and drenched his body and

cleansed it from filth, it was of no avail, for the disease went on

too quickly, and the quantity of vermin defied all attempts to clear

it away. Among those in very remote times who are said to have died of

the lousy disease was Akastus the son of Pelias; and in more recent

times, Alkman the lyric poet, Pherekydes the theologian, Kallisthenes

of Olynthus, while he was in prison, and Mucius the lawyer. And if one

may mention those who have got a name, not for any good that they did,

but in other ways, Eunus the runaway slave, who began the Servile war

in Sicily, is said to have died of this disease, after he was captured

and carried to Rome.

XXXVII. Sulla foresaw his end, and even in a manner wrote about it,

for he finished the twenty-second book of his Memoirs only two days

before his death. He there says, that the Chaldæans foretold him that

it was his fate to die, after a happy life, at the very height of his

prosperity; he says also that his son, who had died a short time

before Metella, appeared to him in a dream, in a mean dress, and

standing by him, entreated his father to rest from his troubles and to

go with him to join his mother Metella, and live with her in ease and

quiet. Yet he did not give up attending to public matters. Ten days

before his death he restored tranquillity among the people of

Dicæarchia,[302] who were in a state of civil commotion, and he drew

up for them a constitution; and only one day before his death, hearing

that the chief magistrate Granius was a public defaulter and refused

to pay the debt, waiting for Sulla's death, Sulla sent for the man to

his chamber, and surrounding him with his slaves ordered him to be

strangled; but with his shouting and efforts he burst an imposthume

and vomited a quantity of blood. Upon this his strength failed him and

he got through the night with difficulty. He left two infant children

by Metella; Valeria, after his death, brought forth a daughter, whom

they called Postuma,[303] for this is the name that the Romans give to

children who are born after their father's death.

XXXVIII. Now many flocked to Lepidus and combined with him to prevent

the body of Sulla from receiving the usual interment. But Pompeius,

though he had ground of complaint against Sulla, for he was the only

friend whom Sulla had passed over in his will,[304] turning some from

their purpose by his influence and entreaties, and others by threats,

had the body conveyed to Rome, and secured it a safe and honourable

interment. It is said that the women contributed so great a quantity

of aromatics for Sulla's funeral,[305] that without including what was

conveyed in two hundred and ten litters, there was enough to make a

large figure of Sulla, and also to make a lictor out of costly

frankincense and cinnamon. The day was cloudy in the morning, and as

rain was expected they did not bring the body out till the ninth hour.

However, a strong wind came down on the funeral pile and raised a

great flame, and they had just time to collect the ashes as the pile

was sinking and the fire going out, when a heavy rain poured down and

lasted till night; so Sulla's good fortune seemed to follow him to his

funeral, and to stay with him to the last. His monument is in the

Campus Martius. The inscription, which they say he wrote and left

behind him, says in substance, that none of his friends ever did him a

kindness, and none of his enemies ever did him a wrong, without being

fully repaid.