[Footnote 162: Many distinguished families belonged to the Cornelii,
as the Scipiones, Lentuli, Dolabellæ, and others. The Patricians were
the old Roman noble families, whom Plutarch compares with the Athenian
Eupatridæ, or men of noble family, who formed in the older periods of
Athenian history the first class in the State.
The origin of the word Sulla is uncertain. This Sulla was not the
first who bore it. P. Cornelius Rufinus, Prætor B.C. 212, the
grandfather of this Sulla, also bore the name. The various conjectures
on the origin of the name Sulla are given by Drumann, _Geschichte
Roms_, ii. p. 426. The name should be written Sulla, not Sylla. The
coins have always Sulla or Sula. (Rasche, _Lex Rei Numariæ_; Eckhel,
_Doctrina Num. Vet._ v. 189.) L. Cornelius Sulla was the son of L.
Cornelius Sulla, and born B.C. 138.]
[Footnote 163: P. Cornelius Rufinus was consul B.C. 290. He was also
Dictator, but in what year is uncertain. He was ejected from the
Senate by the Censor C. Fabricius B.C. 275 for violating one of the
sumptuary laws of Rome, or those which limited expense. The story is
mentioned by Gellius (iv. 8; xvii. 21). Plutarch has translated the
Latin word Libræ by the Greek Litræ.
The Romans made many enactments for limiting expense in dress,
entertainments, funerals (Sulla, c. 35), amount of debt to be
incurred, and so forth, all of which were unavailing. The notion of
regulating private expenditure was not peculiar to the Romans among
the states of antiquity; and our own legislation, which in its absurd
as well as its best parts has generally some parallel in that of the
Romans, contains many instances of sumptuary laws, which prescribed
what kind of dress, and of what quality, should be worn by particular
classes, and so forth. The English Sumptuary Statutes relating to
Apparel commenced with the 37th of Edward III. This statute, after
declaring that the outrageous and excessive apparel of divers people
against their estate and degree is the destruction and impoverishment
of the land, prescribes the apparel of the various classes into which
it distributes the people; but it goes no higher than knights. The
clothing of the women and children is also regulated. The next
statute, 3rd of Edward IV., is very minute. This kind of
statute-making went on at intervals to the 1st of Philip & Mary, when
an Act was passed for the Reformation of Excessive Apparel. These
Apparel Statutes were repealed by the 1st of James I.]
[Footnote 164: This word does not convey the exact notion, but it is
sufficient. The original is Gephyrists ([Greek: gephyristai]
γεφυρισταί). There was, they say, a bridge (Gephyra) on the road
between Athens and Eleusis, from which, during the sacred processions
to Eleusis, the people (or, as some authorities say, the women) were
allowed the liberty of joking and saying what they pleased; and hence
the name of such free speakers, Bridgers, Bridge-folk. (See Casaubon's
note on Strabo, p. 400.) Hence the word came to signify generally
abusive people. Sulla did not forget these insults when he took Athens
(c. 13). Plutarch alludes to this also in his Treatise on Garrulity,
c. 7.]
[Footnote 165: Mimus is a name given by the Romans both to an actor
and to a kind of dramatic performance, which probably resembled a
coarse farce, and was often represented in private houses. Its
distinguishing character was a want of decency. The word Mimus is of
Greek origin, and probably derived its name from the amount of
gestures and action used in these performances. The Greeks also had
their Mimi.]
[Footnote 166: This passage is apparently corrupt. But the general
meaning is tolerably clear. (See Sulla, c. 36.)]
[Footnote 167: See Marius, c. 10.]
[Footnote 168: Tribunus Militum, a military tribune. Plutarch
translates the term by Chiliarchus, a commander of a thousand. At this
time there were six tribunes to a Roman legion.]
[Footnote 169: The Tectosages were a Celtic people who lived at the
foot of the Pyrenees west of Narbo (Narbonne).]
[Footnote 170: Mannert (_Geographie der Griechen und Römer_, Pt. iii.
p. 216) wishes to establish that these Marsi were a German nation, who
lived on both sides of the Lippe and extended to the Rhine, and not
the warlike nation of the Marsi who inhabited the central Apennines
south-east of Rome. This is the remark of Mannert as quoted by
Kaltwasser; but I do not find it in the second edition of Mannert (Pt.
iii. 168), where he is treating of the German Marsi.]
[Footnote 171: The passage is in the _Phœnissæ_ of Euripides, v. 531
&c.:
Why seek the most pernicious of all dæmons,
Ambition, O my son? Not so; unjust the goddess,
And houses many, many prosperous states
She enters and she quits, but ruins all.
]
[Footnote 172: The exhibition of wild animals in the Roman games was
now become a fashion. In the latter part of the Republic it was
carried to an enormous extent: the elephant, the rhinocerous, the
lion, and other wild animals, were brought from Africa to Rome for
these occasions. When Sulla was prætor B.C. 93, he exhibited one
hundred lions in the Circus, which were let loose and shot with arrows
by archers whom King Bocchus sent for the purpose. (Plinius, _N.H._
viii. 16, Seneca, _De Brevitate Vitæ_, c. 13.) There was an old decree
of the Senate which prohibited the importation of African wild beasts,
but it was repealed by a measure proposed by the tribune Cn. Aufidius
so far as to render the importation legal for the games of the Circus.
Plutarch speaks of Sulla as immediately canvassing for the prætorship
after his return to Rome. The dates show that at least several years
elapsed before he succeeded.]
[Footnote 173: Probably Sextus Julius Cæsar, consul B.C. 91, and the
uncle of the Dictator, C. Julius Cæsar.]
[Footnote 174: Ariobarzanes I. called Philoromæus, or a lover of the
Romans, was elected king of Cappadocia B.C. 93, but he was soon
expelled by Tigranes, king of Armenia, the son-in-law of Mithridates.
Ariobarzanes applied for help to the Romans, and he was restored by
Sulla B.C. 92. He was driven out several times after, and again
restored by the Romans.]
[Footnote 175: The name is written Mithradates on the Greek coins. The
word Mithradates occurs in various shapes in the Greek writers; and it
was a common name among the Medes and Persians. The first part of the
name (Mithra) is probably the Persian name Mitra or Mithra, the Sun.
This Mithridates is Mithradates the Sixth, king of Pontus in Asia, who
succeeded his father Mithridates V. B.C. 120, when he was about eleven
years of age. He was a man of ability, well instructed in the learning
of the Greeks, and a great linguist: it is said that he could speak
twenty-two languages. He had already got possession of Colchis on the
Black Sea, and placed one of his sons on the throne of Cappadocia. He
had also strengthened himself by marrying his daughter to Tigranes
king of Armenia. Other events in his life are noticed in various parts
of the Lives of Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompeius. (See _Penny
Cyclopædia_, "Mithridates VI.")]
[Footnote 176: This name was common to a series of Armenian, and to a
series of Parthian kings. One Arsaces is considered to be the founder
of the dynasty of the Parthian kings, which dynasty the Greeks and
Romans call that of the Arsacidæ. This Arsaces is reckoned the ninth
in the series, and was the son and successor of Arsaces the Eighth. He
is placed in the series of Parthian kings as Arsaces IX. Mithridates
II. (On the series of Parthian Arsacidæ, see "Arsaces," in _Biograph.
Dictionary_ of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.)
From the time of this interview of Sulla to a late period under the
Roman Empire, the Romans and Parthians were sometimes friends, oftener
enemies. No name occurs so frequently among the Roman writers of the
Augustan period as that of the Parthians, the most formidable enemy
that the Romans encountered in Asia, and who stopped their victorious
progress in the East.]
[Footnote 177: The MSS. have "a native of Chalkis" ([Greek:
Chalkideus] Χαλκιδεύς), a manifest blunder, which has long since been
corrected.]
[Footnote 178: Censorinus was a family name of the Marcii. This
appears to be C. Censorinus, whom Cicero (_Brutus_, c. 67) speaks of
as moderately versed in Greek Literature. He lost his life in the wars
of Sulla B.C. 81.]
[Footnote 179: Timotheus distinguished himself during the period of
the decline of the power of Athens. In the year B.C. 357 he and
Iphicrates were sent with a fleet to reduce to obedience the Athenian
subject states and especially the island of Samos. The expedition was
unsuccessful, and Timotheus and other generals were brought to trial
on their return home. Timotheus was convicted, and sentenced to pay a
heavy fine, but as he was unable to pay it, he withdrew to Chalkis in
Eubœa, where he died B.C. 354. (_Penny Cyclopædia_, art. "Timotheus.")
This story of the painting is told by Ælianus, _Var. Hist._ xiii. 43.]
[Footnote 180: The original has "the dæmon" ([Greek: daimonion]
δαιμόνιον), which is Fortune, as the context shows. It is not very
easy to unravel all the ancient notions about Fortune, Nemesis, and
the like personifications. The opinion that the deity, or the dæmon,
looks with an envious eye on a man's prosperity and in the end pays
him off with some equivalent loss, is very common in the Greek
writers. One instance of it occurs in the letter of Amasis, the
cunning King of Egypt, to Polykrates the tyrant of Samos. (Herodotus,
iii. 40.) The Egyptian King tells Polykrates plainly that his great
good luck would certainly draw upon him some heavy calamity, for "the
dæmon ([Greek: to theion] τὸ θεῖον) is envious;" and so it was, for
Polykrates died a wretched death. Timotheus, according to Plutarch,
provoked Fortune by his arrogance.]
[Footnote 181: This word ([Greek: daimôn] δαίμων) often occurs in
Plutarch. In order to understand it, we must first banish from our
minds the modern notions attached to the word Dæmon. A little further,
Sulla speaks of what the dæmon ([Greek: to daimonion] το δαιμόνιον)
enjoins during the night. People in ancient times attached great
importance to dreams, because they were considered as a medium by
which the gods communicated with men. There is great difficulty in
translating an ancient writer on account of the terms used in speaking
of superhuman powers.
Apuleius, who lived in the second century of our æra and was
consequently nearly a contemporary of Plutarch, has explained this
doctrine of dæmons in his treatise _On the God of Sokrates_. "Moreover
there are certain divine middle powers, situated in this interval
between the highest ether and earth, which is in the lowest place,
through whom our desires and deserts pass to the gods. These are
called by a Greek name dæmons, who being placed between the
terrestrial and celestial inhabitants, transmit prayers from the one
and gifts from the other. They likewise carry supplications from the
one and auxiliaries from the other as certain interpreters and
saluters of both. Through these same dæmons, as Plato says in the
_Banquet_, all denunciations, the various miracles of enchanters, and
all the species of presages, are directed. Prefects, from among the
number of these, providentially attend to everything, according to the
province assigned to each; either by the formation of dreams, or
causing the fissures in entrails, or governing the flight of some
birds, and instructing the song of others, or by inspiring prophets,
or hurling thunder, or producing the coruscations of lightning in the
clouds, or causing other things to take place from which we obtain a
knowledge of future events. And it is requisite to think that all
these particulars are effected by the will, the power, and authority
of the celestial gods, but by the compliance, operations, and
ministrant offices of dæmons."--T. Taylor's Translation: he adds, "For
a copious account of dæmons, their nature, and different orders, see
the notes on the First Alkibiades in vol. i. of my Plato, and also my
translation of Iamblichus on the Mysteries." A little further on
Apuleius says: "It is not fit that the supernal gods should descend to
things of this kind. This is the province of the intermediate gods,
who dwell in the regions of the air, which border on the earth, and
yet are no less conversant with the confines of the heavens; just as
in every part of the world there are animals adapted to the several
parts, the volant being in the air and the gradient on the earth."
As to the expression "the god" ([Greek: ho theos] ὁ θεός), which often
occurs in Greek writers, Taylor observes (note _a_.) "According to
Plato one thing is a god simply, another on account of union, another
through participation, another through contact, and another through
similitude. For of super-essential natures, each is primarily a god;
of intellectual natures, each is a god according to union; and of
divine souls, each is a god according to contact with the gods; and
the souls of men are allotted this appellation through similitude." He
therefore concludes that Apuleius was justified in calling the dæmon
of Sokrates a god; and that this was the opinion of Sokrates appears,
as he says, from the First Alkibiades, where Sokrates says, "I have
long been of opinion that the god did not as yet direct me to hold any
conversation with you."
Apuleius further says, "There is another species of dæmons, more
sublime and venerable, not less numerous, but far superior in dignity,
who, being always liberated from the bonds and conjunction of the
body, preside over certain powers. In the number of these are Sleep
and Love, who possess powers of a different nature; Love, of exciting
to wakefulness, but Sleep of lulling to rest. From this more sublime
order of dæmons, Plato asserts that a peculiar dæmon is allotted to
every man who is a witness and a guardian of his conduct in life, who,
without being visible to any one, is always present, and who is an
arbitrator not only of his deeds, but also of his thoughts. But when,
life being finished, the soul returns [to the judges of its conduct],
then the dæmon who presided over it, immediately seizes and leads it
as his charge to judgment, and is there present with it while it
pleads its cause. There, this dæmon reprehends it, if it has acted on
any false pretence; solemnly confirms what it says, if it asserts
anything that is true; and conformably to its testimony passes
sentence. All you therefore who hear this divine opinion of Plato, as
interpreted by me, so form your minds to whatever you may do, or to
whatever may be the subject of your meditation, that you may know
there is nothing concealed from those guardians either within the mind
or external to it; but that the dæmon who presides over you
inquisitively participates of all that concerns you, sees all things,
understands all things, and in the place of conscience dwells in the
most profound recesses of the mind. For he of whom I speak is a
perfect guardian, a singular prefect, a domestic speculator, a proper
curator, an intimate inspector, an assiduous observer, an inseparable
arbiter, a reprobator of what is evil, an approver of what is good;
and if he is legitimately attended to, sedulously known, and
religiously worshipped, in the way in which he was reverenced by
Sokrates with justice and innocence, will be a predicter of things
uncertain, a premonitor in things dubious, a defender in things
dangerous, and an assistant in want. He will also be able, by dreams,
by tokens, and perhaps also manifestly, when the occasion demands it,
to avert from you evil, increase your good, raise your depressed,
support your falling, illuminate your obscure, govern your prosperous,
and correct your adverse circumstances. It is not therefore wonderful,
if Sokrates, who was a man exceedingly perfect, and also wise by the
testimony of Apollo, should know and worship this his god; and that
hence, this his keeper, and nearly, as I may say, his equal, his
associate and domestic, should repel from him everything which ought
to be repelled, foresee what ought to be noticed, and pre-admonish him
of what ought to be foreknown by him, in those cases in which, human
wisdom being no longer of any use, he was in want not of counsel but
of presage, in order that when he was vacillating through doubt, he
might be rendered firm through divination. For there are many things,
concerning the development of which even wise men betake themselves to
diviners and oracles." I have adopted Taylor's translation of this
eloquent passage, because he was well acquainted with the theological
systems of antiquity. The whole passage is a useful comment on this
chapter of Plutarch and many other passages in him, and may help to
rectify some erroneous notions which people maintain of the
philosophical systems of antiquity, people who, as Bishop Butler
expresses it, "take for granted that they are acquainted with
everything." The passage about conscience contains, as Taylor
observes, a dogma which is only to be found implicitly maintained in
the Scholia of Olympiodorus on the First Alkibiades of Plato.
Olympiodorus says that we shall not err if we call "the allotted dæmon
conscience;" on which subject he has some further remarks. This
doctrine of the sameness of conscience and the internal dæmon seems to
be that of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus (ii. 13): "It is sufficient to
attend only to the dæmon within us and to reverence it duly," and he
goes on to explain wherein this reverence consists. In another passage
(ii. 17) he says that philosophy consists "in keeping the dæmon within
us free from violence and harm, superior to pleasures and pains, doing
nothing without a purpose, and yet without any falsehood or
simulation, without caring whether another is doing so or not;
further, taking what happens and what is our lot as coming from the
same origin from which itself came; and finally, waiting for death
with a tranquil mind, as nothing else than the separation of the
elements of which every living being is composed. And if there is
nothing to fear in the elemental parts constantly changing one into
another, why should a man have any apprehension about the change and
dissolution of the whole? for it is according to Nature, and nothing
is bad that is according to Nature." Bishop Butler remarks (Preface to
his _Sermons_): "The practical reason of insisting so much upon the
natural authority of the principle of reflection or conscience is,
that it seems in a great measure overlooked by many who are by no
means the worst sort of men. It is thought sufficient to abstain from
gross wickedness, and to be humane and kind to such as happen to come
in their way. Whereas, in reality, the very constitution of our nature
requires, that we bring our whole conduct before this superior
faculty; wait its determination; enforce upon ourselves its authority;
and make it the business of our lives, as it is absolutely the whole
business of a moral agent, to conform ourselves to it. This is the
true meaning of that ancient precept, _reverence thyself_."
This note does not apply to any particular case, when dæmons are
mentioned by Plutarch, but to all cases where he speaks of dæmons,
divination, dreams, and other signs.]
[Footnote 182: Quintus Cæcilius Metellus Pius, the son of Metellus
Numidicus, was consul with Sulla in his second consulship B.C. 80.]
[Footnote 183: The place is unknown, unless it be the place near the
altar of Laverna, the goddess of thieves, which was near the Porta
Lavernalis, as Varro says (_Ling. Lat._ v. 163). Horatius (1 _Ep._
xvi. 60) represents the rogue as putting up a prayer "to the Fair
Laverna," that he may appear to be what he is not, an honest man, and
that night and darkness may kindly cover his sins. The phænomenon
which Sulla describes appears to have been of a volcanic character;
and if so, it is the most recent on record within the volcanic region
of the Seven Hills.]
[Footnote 184: Apparently Aulus Postumius Albinus, who was consul with
Marcus Antonius B.C. 99. Valerius Maximus tells the story (ix. 8, 3).]
[Footnote 185: This was Sulla'a first consulship, B.C. 88. If he was
now fifty, he was born B.C. 138. His colleague was Quintus Pompeius
Rufus, who was killed in this same year at the instigation or at least
with the approbation of Cn. Pompeius Strabo, the father of Pompeius
Magnus. (Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 63.)]
[Footnote 186: Cæcilia Metella was the fourth wife of Sulla. The other
three are mentioned in this chapter. Ilia is perhaps a mistake for
Julia. Sulla's fifth and last wife was Valeria, c. 35.]
[Footnote 187: Drumann (_Geschichte Roms_, Cæcilii) has shown that
Plutarch is mistaken in supposing Cæcilia to be the daughter of
Metellus Pius, who was consul with Sulla B.C. 80. She was the daughter
of L. Metellus Dalmaticus, who was the brother of Metellus Numidicus
and the uncle of Metellus Pius. Her first husband was M. Scaurus,
consul B.C. 115, by whom she had several children, and among them the
Scaurus whom Cicero defended. Metella had children by Sulla also. (See
c. 36, notes.)]
[Footnote 188: The historian of Rome. These events belonged to the
seventy-seventh book of Livius, which is lost. The Epitome shows what
this book contained.]
[Footnote 189: This word occurs three times in this chapter. In the
first instance, the word is _the dæmonium_; in the second it is _the
god_ ([Greek: ho theos] ὁ θεός); in the third, it is _the dæmonium_
again.]
[Footnote 190: The Senate often met in the temple of Duellona or
Bellona, the goddess of War. Duellona and Bellona are the same.
Compare the Bacchanalian Inscription, and Livius (28, c. 9, &c.).
The last sentence of this chapter is corrupt, and the precise meaning
is uncertain.]
[Footnote 191: See Marius, c. 35.]
[Footnote 192: A man might be manumitted so as either to have the
complete citizenship or not. If Plutarch's account is true, the
citizenship was sold to those libertini who were of the class
Dediticii or Latini. (Gaius, i. 12, &c.)]
[Footnote 193: See the note on the Sumptuary Laws, c. 1.]
[Footnote 194: Plutarch here uses the same word ([Greek: apraxiai]
ἀπράξιαι) which I have elsewhere translated by the Roman word
Justitium. (Marius, c. 35.)]
[Footnote 195: Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 57) says that all Sulla's
officers left him, when he was going to march to Rome, except one
quæstor. They would not serve against their country.]
[Footnote 196: That is Moon, Athena (Minerva), and Enyo (Bellona). It
is difficult to conjecture what Cappadocian goddess Plutarch means, if
it be not the Great Mother. (Marius, c. 17.)]
[Footnote 197: The place is unknown. There are some discrepancies
between the narrative of these transactions in Plutarch and Appian.
Appian's is probably the better (i. 58, &c.). The reading Pictæ has
been suggested. (Strabo, p. 237.)]
[Footnote 198: The Roman word is Tellus. (Livius, 2, c. 41.) The
temple was built on the ground occupied by the house of Spurius
Cassius, which was pulled down after his condemnation. (Livius, 2, c.
41.)]
[Footnote 199: Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 60) mentions the names of
twelve persons who were proscribed. The attempt to rouse the slaves to
rebellion was one of the grounds of this condemnation, and a valid
ground.]
[Footnote 200: L. Cornelius Cinna and Cn. Octavius were consuls B.C.
87. the year in which Sulla left Italy to fight with Mithridates.
Apuleius (_On the God of Sokrates_) thus alludes to the kind of oath
which Cinna took--"Shall I swear by Jupiter, holding a stone in my
hand, after the most ancient manner of the Romans? But if the opinion
of Plato is true, that God never mingles himself with man, a stone
will hear me more easily than Jupiter. This however is not true: for
Plato will answer for his opinion by my voice. I do not, says he,
assert that the gods are separated and alienated from us, so as to
think that not even our prayers reach them; for I do not remove them
from an attention to, but only from a contact with human affairs."]
[Footnote 201: Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 63, 64) gives another reason.
Sulla was alarmed at the assassination of his colleague Quintus
Pompeius Rufus, and left Rome by night for Capua, whence he set out
for Greece.]
[Footnote 202: This was the country on the west coast of Asia Minor,
of which the Romans had formed the province of Asia. Mithridates took
advantage of the Romans being busied at home with domestic troubles to
advance his interests in Asia, where he was well received by the
people, who were disgusted with the conduct of the Roman governors. He
had defeated the Roman generals L. Cassius, Manius Aquilius, and Q.
Oppius. (Appian, _Mithridatic War_, c. 17, &c.) He also ordered all
the Romans and Italians who were in Asia, with their wives and
children, to be murdered on one day; which was done.]
[Footnote 203: The kingdom of Bosporus was a long narrow slip on the
south-east coast of the peninsula now called the Crimea or Taurida.
The name Bosporus was properly applied to the long narrow channel, now
called the Straits of Kaffa or Yenikalé, which unites the Black Sea
and the Mæotis or Sea of Azoff. Bosporus was also a name of
Pantikapæum, one of the chief towns of the Bosporus. There was a
series of Greek kings of the Bosporus, extending from B.C. 430 to B.C.
304, whose names are known; and there may have been others. In the
time of Demosthenes, in the fourth century before the Christian æra,
the Athenians imported annually a large quantity of corn from the
Bosporus. This was the country that now belonged to Mithridates.
(_Penny Cyclopædia_, article "Bosporus.")]
[Footnote 204: Kaltwasser conjectures that the son who is first
mentioned was Mithridates, and he remarks that Appian (_Mithridatic
War_, c. 64) calls him also Mithridates. But in place of the name
Ariarathes, he reads Aciarathes, whom he makes to be the same as the
Arcathias of Appian (c. 35). Ariarathes however was a son of
Mithridates (_Mithridatic War_, 15); and according to Appian, it was a
son Mithridates who held Pontus and the Bosporus. Ariarathes and
Arcathias assisted their father in the war in Asia.]
[Footnote 205: This Archelaus was a native of Cappadocia, and probably
of Greek stock. His name often occurs afterwards. (See "Archelaus,"
_Biograph. Dict._ of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.)]
[Footnote 206: The promontory of Malea, now Cape St. Angelo, is the
most south-eastern point of the Peloponnesus. The expression of
Plutarch is, "all the islands situated within Malea," by which he
means all the islands of the Archipelago which are east of Malea,
including the Cyclades, or the group which lies in somewhat of a
circular form round the small rocky island of Delos.]
[Footnote 207: His name is Brettius in the MSS. of Plutarch. His Roman
name is Bruttius, as Appian (_Mithridat. War_, i. 29) writes it. He
took the island of Skiathus, where the enemy deposited their plunder;
he hanged the slaves that he found there, and cut off the hands of the
freemen. Cæsar, when he was in Gaul, cut off the hands of all the
persons who had assisted in the defence of Uxellodunum against the
Romans, according to the author of the eighth book of the _Gallic War_
(viii. 44).]
[Footnote 208: See the Life of Lucullus.]
[Footnote 209: He is called Athenion by Athenæus. His father was an
Athenian citizen; his mother was an Egyptian woman. His political
career began with his being sent by the Athenians on an embassy to
Mithridates, and he ultimately persuaded the Athenians to join the
king. This is the account of Posidonius as quoted by Athenæus (v. 211,
&c. ed. Casaub.) Appian (_Mithridatic War_, 28, &c.) gives an account
of his making himself a tyrant in Athens, which is somewhat different.
He appears to have established himself in B.C. 88; and his power only
lasted till B.C. 86. This Aristion was a philosopher, which gives
occasion to some curious remarks by Appian (_Mithridatic War_, c. 28),
who says, speaking of his enormities: "and all this he did though he
was a follower of the Epicurean philosophy. But it was not Aristion
only at Athens, nor yet Kritias before him, and all who were
philosophers with Kritias and tyrants at the same time; but in Italy
also, those who were Pythagoreans, and in Greece the Seven Sages as
they are called, as many of them as engaged in public affairs,--all
were chiefs and tyrants more cruel than tyrants who were not
philosophers. So that one may doubt as to other philosophers, and have
some suspicion, whether it was for virtue's sake, or merely to console
them for their poverty and having nothing to do with political
matters, that they adopted philosophy. There are now many philosophers
in a private station and poor who consequently wrap themselves up in
philosophy out of necessity, and bitterly abuse those who are rich or
in power; and thereby do not so much get a reputation for despising
wealth and power as being envious of them. But those whom they abuse
act much more wisely in despising them." There was at least one
exception to these philosophers, Marcus Antoninus, who was the head of
the Roman State, and required in his exalted station all the comfort
that philosophy could give.]
[Footnote 210: The Peiræus, one of the chief ports of Athens, is often
used to express the maritime city generally and the lower city, as
opposed to Athens, which was called the Upper City. The two cities
were united by the Long Walls, about four miles in length.]
[Footnote 211: The Academia, one of the suburbs of Athens, was planted
with trees, among others with the olive. It was on the north-west side
of the city. In the Academia there was a Gymnasium, or exercise place,
and here also Plato delivered his lectures; whence the name Academy
passed into use as a term for a University (in the sense of a place of
learning) in the Middle Ages, and has now other significations. The
Lycæum was another similar place on the east side of Athens.]
[Footnote 212: This was Epidaurus on the east coast of Argolis in the
Peloponnesus, which contained a temple of Æsculapius, the god of
healing. Olympia on the Alpheius, in Elis, contained the great temple
of Jupiter and immense wealth, which was accumulated by the offerings
of many ages. This and other temples were also used as places of
deposit for the preservation of valuable property. Pausanias (v. 21,
vi. 19, and in other passages) has spoken at great length of the
treasures of Olympia. These rich deposits were a tempting booty to
those who were in want of money and were strong enough to seize it. At
the commencement of the Peloponnesian war (B.C. 431) it was proposed
that the Peloponnesian allies should raise a fleet by borrowing money
from the deposits at Olympia and Delphi (Thucydides, i. 121), a scheme
which the Athenians, their enemies, appear to have looked upon as a
mode of borrowing of which repayment would form no part. (i. 143.
[Greek: eite kai kinêsantes] είτε καὶ κινήσαντες, &c.). Many of the
rich churches in Italy were plundered by the French during their
occupation of Italy in the Revolutionary wars; their search after
valuables extended to very minute matters. The rich stores of the Holy
House of the Virgin at Loreto were nearly exhausted by Pope Pius VI.
in 1796 to satisfy the demands of the French. It is said that there is
a new store got together for the next invader.]
[Footnote 213: The history of this ancient body cannot be given with
any accuracy except in detail. (See the article "Amphictyons," _Penny
Cyclopædia_.) The "royal presents" were the gifts of Crœsus, king of
Lydia (in the sixth century B.C.) the most munificent of all the
donors to the temple. Among his other presents Herodotus (i. 51)
mentions four of these silver casks or jars, and he uses the same word
that Plutarch does. The other three had probably been taken by some
previous plunderer. In the Sacred war (B.C. 357) the Phokians under
Philomelus took a large part of the valuable things at Delphi for the
purpose of paying their troops. (Diodorus, xvi. 30.)]
[Footnote 214: Flamininus, whose life Plutarch has written under the
name of Flaminius, defeated Philip V. king of Macedonia B.C. 197.
Manius Acilius Glabrio, who was consul B.C. 191, defeated in that year
Antiochus III. king of Syria, commonly called the Great, at Thermopylæ
in Greece. Antiochus afterwards withdrew into Asia. Æmilius Paulus
defeated Perseus, the last king of Macedonia, at Pydna B.C. 168, upon
which Macedonia was reduced into the form of a Roman Province (Livius,
45, c. 18.). Plutarch has written the Life of Paulus Æmilius.]
[Footnote 215: See the Life of Marius, c. 42.]
[Footnote 216: See c. 20, 21. C. Flavius Fimbria was the legatus of
the consul L. Valerius Flaccus. Cicero (_Brutus_, 66) calls him a
madman.]
[Footnote 217: The Medimnus was a dry measure, reckoned at 11 gallons
7.1456 pints English. It was equivalent to six Roman modii. (Smith's
_Dictionary of Antiquities_.)]
[Footnote 218: This plant may have had its name from the virgin
(parthenos) goddess Athene, whom the Romans call Minerva. Plinius
(_N.H. 22_, c. 20) has described it. It is identified with the modern
feverfew by Smith in Rees' _Cyclopædia_,--a plant of the chamomile
kind; rather unpleasant for food, as one might conjecture. The
oil-flasks were of coarse leather. In Herodotus (ix. 118) we read of a
besieged people eating their bedcords, which we may assume to have
been strips of hides, or leather at least.]
[Footnote 219: For all matters relating to the topography of Rome and
Athens, the reader must consult a plan: nothing else can explain the
text. The gate called Dipylum or Double-Gate was the passage from the
Keramicus within the walls to the Keramicus outside of the walls on
the north-west side of Athens.]
[Footnote 220: Teius is not a Roman name. It is conjectured that it
should be Ateius.]
[Footnote 221: The road from Athens to Eleusis was called the Sacred
(Pausanius, i. 36): it led to the sacred city of Eleusis. The space
between the Peiræic gate and the Sacred is that part of the wall which
lay between the roads from Athens to the Piræus and Eleusis
respectively.]
[Footnote 222: A Greek Agora corresponds to a Roman Forum.]
[Footnote 223: The description of the capture of Athens is given by
Appian. (_Mithridatic War_, c. 30.) Plutarch here alludes to the
deluge in the time of Deucalion, which is often mentioned by the Greek
and Roman writers. In the time of Pausanias (i. 18), in the second
century of our æra, they still showed at Athens the hole through which
the waters of the deluge ran off. A map of the Topography of Athens
has been published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge. Leake's _Topography of Athens_, K.O. Müller, in Ersch und
Gruber, _Encyclop._ art. "Attika," p. 223, and P.W. Forchhammer,
_Topographie von Athen_, 1841, should be consulted.]
[Footnote 224: See Strabo, p. 395.]
[Footnote 225: One of the ports of the maritime town of Athens. The
events mentioned in this chapter should be compared with Appian
(_Mithridat. War_, c. 41).]
[Footnote 226: His name was Lucius, and he was probably a brother of
the great Hortensius. L. Hortensius had to pass through a difficult
country to reach Bœotia. His route lay through the straits of
Thermopylæ; but he probably took some other line, and he was conducted
by Kaphis over the heights of the great mountain mass of Parnassus.
Kaphis appears to be the person of the same name who has been
mentioned before (c. 12), though he is there called a Phokian. In this
chapter Plutarch calls him a Chæroneian. Tithora or Tithorea was in
the time of Herodotus (viii. 32) the name of that summit of Parnassus
to which the Phokians of the neighbouring town of Neon fled from the
soldiers of Xerxes B.C. 480. Pausanias (x. 32) remarks that the city
Neon must have taken the name of Tithorea after the time of Herodotus.
But Plutarch means to say that the Tithora of which he speaks was the
place to which the Phokians fled; and therefore Neon, the place from
which they fled, cannot be Tithora, according to Plutarch; and the
description of Tithorea by Herodotus, though very brief, agrees with
the description of Plutarch. Pausanias places Tithorea eighty stadia
from Delphi.]
[Footnote 227: Elateia was an important position in Phokis and near
the river Kephisus. It was situated near the north-western extremity
of the great Bœotian plain, and commanded the entrance into that plain
from the mountainous country to the north-west. The Kephisus takes a
south-east course past Elateia, Panopeus, Chæronea, and Orchomenus,
and near Orchomenus it enters the Lake Kopais. Bœotia is a high
table-land surrounded by mountains, and all the drainage of the plain
of which those of Elateia and Orchomenus are part is received in the
basin of the lake, which has no outlet.]
[Footnote 228: This city was burnt by Xerxes in his invasion of Greece
B.C. 480. (Herodotus, viii. 33.) Pausanias (x. 33) says that it was
not rebuilt by the Bœotians and Athenians: in another passage (x. 3)
he says it was destroyed by Philip after the close of the Sacred or
Phokian war B.C. 346; and therefore it had been rebuilt by somebody.]
[Footnote 229: The soldiers who had shields of brass.]
[Footnote 230: This was Aulus Gabinius, who was sent by Sulla B.C. 81
with orders to L. Licinius Murena to put an end to the war with
Mithridates. Ericius is not a Roman name: perhaps it should be
Hirtius.]
[Footnote 231: This is Juba II., king of Mauritania, who married
Cleopatra, one of the children of Marcus Antonius by Cleopatra, queen
of Egypt. Juba was a scholar and an author: he is often quoted, by
Strabo, Plinius (_Nat Hist._), and other writers.]
[Footnote 232: "Our city" will explain why Plutarch has described the
campaign in the plains of Bœotia at such length. Plutarch's battles
are none of the best; and he has done well in making them generally
short.]
[Footnote 233: The cave of Trophonius was at Lebadeia in Bœotia.
Pausanias (ix. 39) has given a full account of the singular ceremonies
used on consulting the deity.]
[Footnote 234: The word is [Greek: omphês] ὀμφῆς, literally "voice,"
which has caused a difficulty to the translators; but the reading is
probably right.]
[Footnote 235: This was Lucius Licinius Murena, who conducted the war
against Mithridates in Asia B.C. 83 as Proprætor. He was the father of
the Lucius Murena in whose defence we have an extant oration of
Cicero.]
[Footnote 236: The old story is well told by Ovidius (_Metamorphoses,_
iii. 14, &c.)]
[Footnote 237: A temple of the Muses.]
[Footnote 238: Kaltwasser has followed the reading "Gallus" in his
version, though, as he remarks in a note, this man is called Galba by
Appian (_Mithridat. War_, 43), and he is coupled with Hortensius, just
as in Plutarch.]
[Footnote 239: This clumsy military contrivance must generally have
been a failure. These chariots were useless in the battle between
Cyrus and his brother Artaxerxes B.C. 401. (Xenophon, _Anabasis_, i.
8.) Appian (_Mithridatic War_, c. 42) mentions sixty of these chariots
as being driven against the Romans, who opened their ranks to make way
for them: the chariots were surrounded by the Roman soldiers in the
rear and destroyed.]
[Footnote 240: A Circus was a Roman racecourse. The chief circus was
the Circus Maximus, which was used also for hunts of wild beasts. See
the article "Circus" in Smith's _Dictionary of Antiquities_.]
[Footnote 241: I have kept the Greek word ([Greek: hoplitês] ὁπλίτης),
which means a soldier who was equipped with defensive armour for close
fighting.]
[Footnote 242: The Saturnalia were a kind of Carnival at Rome in the
month of December, when people indulged themselves in feasting and
revelry, and the slaves had the license of doing for a time what they
pleased, and acting as if they were freemen. The original "freedom of
speech" may mean a little more than these words convey. The point of
the centurion's remark, like many other jokes of antiquity, seems
rather blunt. He simply meant to express surprise at seeing slaves in
an army serving as soldiers--they whose only freedom, so far as he
knew, was to have a little license once a year at the Saturnalia.]
[Footnote 243: A town in Eubœa on the strait of the Euripus which
separates the island of Eubœa from the mainland. The smallness of the
Roman loss is incredible. Appian considerately add one to the number,
and makes it fifteen (_Mithridatic War_, c. 42, &c.) Sulla was a
braggart, though he was brave.]
[Footnote 244: This stream is called Morius (c. 17). Pausanias, who
made his tour through Greece in the first half of the second century
of our æra, saw the trophies (ix. 40).]
[Footnote 245: L. Valerius Flaccus was elected consul B.C. 86 in the
place of C. Marius, who died at the beginning of the year.]
[Footnote 246: The name given by the Greeks and Romans to that part of
the Mediterranean which lay between Dyrrachium (Durazzo) and the
opposite coast of Italy. Thucydides (i. 24) makes the Ionian Sea
commence about Epidamnus (which was the old name of Dyrrachium), and
probably he extended the name to all the Adriatic or modern Gulf of
Venice.]
[Footnote 247: A town in Phthiotis, a district which is included in
Thessalia in the larger sense of that term. It was on the river
Enipeus, a branch of the Peneus. (Strabo, p. 452.) Thucydides (iv. 78)
means the same place, when he speaks of Meliteia in Achæa.]
[Footnote 248: A mountain in Bœotia and a spring (Tilphussa) about
fifty stadia from Haliartus. (Pausanias, ix. 33.) Haliartus is on the
south side of the Lake Kopais.]
[Footnote 249: Orchomenus, one of the oldest towns in Bœotia and in
Greece, is situated near the point where the Kephisus enters the great
Lake. Plutarch speaks again of the Melas in the Life of Pelopidas (c.
16). Pausanias (ix. 88) says that the Melas rises seven stadia from
Orchomenus, and enters the lake Kephisus, otherwise called Kepais.]
[Footnote 250: If we assume that it was exactly two hundred years,
Plutarch wrote this passage about A.D. 114, in the reign of Trajanus.
This battle was fought B.C. 86. Hadrianus became emperor A.D. 117.
(See Preface, p. xiv.)]
[Footnote 251: Cn. Papirius Carbo was the colleague of Cinna in the
consulship B.C. 85 and 84.]
[Footnote 252: A Deliac merchant This might be a merchant of Delium,
the small town in Bœotia, on the Euripus, where Sulla and Archelaus
met. But Delos, a small rocky island, one of the Cyclades, is probably
meant Delos was at this time a great slave-market. (Strabo, p. 668.)]
[Footnote 253: Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 50) says that Archelaus
hid himself in a marsh, and afterwards made his escape to Chalkis.
Sulla's arrogance is well characterized by his speech. The
Cappadocians were considered a mean and servile people, and their
character became proverbial.]
[Footnote 254: The Roman Province of Asia. Compare Appian (_Mithridat.
War_, c. 54, 55) as to the terms of the peace.]
[Footnote 255: The death of Aristion is mentioned by Appian
(_Mithridat. War_, c. 39); but he does not speak of the poisoning.]
[Footnote 256: Mædike appears to be the right name. Thucydides (ii.
98) calls the people Mædi: they were a Thracian people. Compare Strabo
(p. 316). Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 55) speaks of this expedition
as directed aguinst the Sinti, who wore neighbours of the Mædi, and
other nations which bordered on Macedonia, and annoyed it by their
predatory incursions. Sulla thus kept his soldiers employed, which was
the practice of all prudent Roman commanders, and enriched them with
booty at the same time.]
[Footnote 257: This is the old town called Krenides, or the Little
Springs, which King Philippus, the father of Alexander the Great,
restored and gave his name to. It was near Amphipolis on the river
Strymon. (See Life of Brutus, c. 38.)]
[Footnote 258: The Troad is the north-west angle of Asia Minor, which
borders on the Hellespont and the Ægean Sea (the Archipelago). The
name of the district, Troas in Greek, is from the old town of Troja.
Strabo (lib. xiii.) gives a particular description of this tract.
The narrative of this affair in Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 56, &c.)
differs in some respects from that of Plutarch, and this may be
observed of many other events in this war. Appian is perhaps the
better authority for the bare historical facts; but so far as concerns
the conduct and character of Sulla on this and other occasions,
Plutarch has painted the man true to the life.
Sulla left L. Lucullus behind him to collect the money. (See Life of
Lucullus, c. 4.) The story of Fimbria in Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c.
69, 70) differs from that of Plutarch in some respects, but it is near
enough to show that though these two writers apparently followed
different authorities, Plutarch has given the facts substantially
correct.
When Sulla was within two stadia of Fimbria, he sent him orders to
give up the army, which he was illegally commanding. Fimbria sent back
an insulting message to the effect that Sulla also had no right to the
command which he held. While Sulla was throwing up his intrenchments,
and many of Fimbria's soldiers were openly leaving him, Fimbria
summoned those who still remained to a meeting, and urged them to stay
with him. Upon the soldiers saying that they would not fight against
their fellow-citizens, Fimbria tore his dress, and began to intreat
them severally. But the soldiers turned a deaf ear to him, and the
desertions became still more numerous, on which Fimbria went round to
the tents of the officers, and bribing some of them, he called another
meeting, and commanded the soldiers to take the oath to him. As those
who were hired by him called out that he ought to summon the men by
name to take the oath, he called by the crier those who had received
favours from him, and he called Nonius first who had been his partner
in everything. Nonius refused to take the oath, and Fimbria drew his
sword and threatened to kill him, but as there was a general shout, he
became alarmed and desisted. However he induced a slave by money and
the promise of his freedom to go to Sulla as a deserter, and to
attempt his life. The man as he came near the act was alarmed, and
this gave rise to suspicion, which led to his being seized, and he
confessed. The army of Sulla, full of indignation and contempt,
surrounded the camp of Fimbria, and abused him, calling him Athenion,
which was the name of the fellow who put himself at the head of the
rebel runaway slaves in Sicily, and was a king for a few days. Fimbria
now despairing came to the rampart, and invited Sulla to a conference.
But Sulla sent Rutilius; and this first of all annoyed Fimbria, as he
was not honoured with a meeting, which is granted even to enemies. On
his asking for pardon for any error that he might have committed,
being still a young man, Rutilius promised that Sulla would allow him
to pass safe to the coast, if he would sail away from Asia, of which
Sulla was proconsul. Fimbria replied that he had better means than
that, and going to Pergamum and entering the temple of Æsculapius, he
pierced himself with his sword. As the wound was not mortal, he bade
his slave plunge the sword into his body. The slave killed his master,
and then killed himself on the body. Thus died Fimbria, who had done
much mischief to Asia after Mithridates. Sulla allowed Fimbria's
freedmen to bury their master; adding that he would not imitate Cinna
and Marius, who had condemned many persons to death at Rome, and also
refused to allow their bodies to be buried. The army of Fimbria now
came over to Sulla, and was received by him and united with his own.
Sulla also commissioned Curio to restore Nicomedes to Bithynia and
Ariobarzanes to Cappadocia, and he wrote to the Senate about all these
matters, pretending that he did not know that he had been declared an
enemy.]
[Footnote 259: Thyateira was a town in Lydia about 45 miles from
Pergamum.]
[Footnote 260: The original is simply "after being initiated;" but the
Eleusinian mysteries are meant. The city of Eleusis was in Attica, and
the sacred rites were those of Ceres and Proserpine (Demeter and
Persephone). Those only who were duly initiated could partake in these
ceremonies. An intruder ran the risk of being put to death. Livius
(31, c. 14) tells a story of two Akarnanian youths who were not
initiated, and during the time of the Initia, as he calls them,
entered the temple of Ceres with the rest of the crowd, knowing
nothing of the nature of the ceremonies. Their language and some
questions that they put, betrayed them, and they were conducted to the
superintendents of the temple; and though it was clear that they had
erred entirely through ignorance, they were put to death as if they
had committed an abominable crime. Toleration was no part of the
religious system of Antiquity; that is, nothing was permitted which
was opposed to any religious institution, though there was toleration
for a great variety. Many illustrious persons were initiated in the
Eleusinian mysteries, which were maintained until Christianity became
the general religion of the Empire. Marcus Aurelius, when he visited
Athens, was initiated. The ceremonial of the temple may be collected
to a certain extent from the ancient writers, but no one has yet
succeeded in divining what were the peculiar doctrines of this place.]
[Footnote 261: Much has been written about this story, which cannot be
literally true. The writings of Aristotle were not unknown to his
immediate followers. If there is any truth in this story as told by
Plutarch and Strabo (p. 608) it must refer to the original manuscripts
of Aristotle. Part of the text of Plutarch is here manifestly corrupt.
The subject has been examined by several writers. See art.
"Aristotle," _Biog. Dict._ of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge, and Blakesley, _Life of Aristotle_, Cambridge 1839.]
[Footnote 262: This is Strabo the Geographer, but the passage is not
in the Geography, and probably was in an historical work [Greek:
Hupomnæmata historika] Ὑπομνήατα ἱστορικά, Strabo, p. 13) which he
wrote, and which is cited by Plutarch in his Life of Lucullus, c. 28.]
[Footnote 263: These warm springs, which still exist, are on the west
coast of Eubœa, opposite to the mainland. They were much resorted to
in Plutarch's time, as appears from his Symposium (iv. Probl. 4). The
place is named Galepsus in Wyttenbach's edition, but in a note the
editor admits that the true name is Ædepsus. Demetrius Calatianus
(quoted by Strabo, p. 60), who had recorded all the earthquakes in
Greece, says that the hot springs at Thermopylæ and at Ædepsus once
ceased to flow for three days owing to an earthquake, and those of
Ædepsus, when they flowed again, broke out in a fresh place. The hot
springs near Cape Therma in Eubœa are supposed to be those of Ædepsus.
They are more copious than the springs of Thermopylæ on the opposite
mainland, but of the same kind. "The water rushes down in a copious
stream into the sea, the vapour from which is visible at a
considerable distance." (_Penny Cyclopædia_, art. "Eubœa.")]
[Footnote 264: Halæae should probably be written Halæ. It was near the
Euripus, within Bœotia and on the borders of Phokia. (Pansaunias, ix.
24.)]
[Footnote 265: The usual passage from Italy to Greece and Greece to
Italy was between Brundisium and Dyrrachium. Compare Appian, _Civil
Wars_, c. 79.]
[Footnote 266: This phenomenon is mentioned by Strabo (p. 316), Dion
Cassius (41, c. 45), and Ælian (_Various History_, 13, c. 16). I do
not know if this spot has been examined by any modern traveller. It is
a matter of some interest to ascertain how long a phenomenon of this
kind has lasted. The pitch-springs of Zante (Zakynthus), which
Herodotus visited and describes (iv. 195), still produce the native
pitch. Strabo, who had not seen the Nymphæum, describes it thus after
the account of Poseidonius: "In the territory of Apollonia is a place
called the Nymphæum; it is a rock which sends forth fire, and at the
base of it are springs of warm asphaltus, the asphaltic earth, as it
appears, being in a state of combustion: and there is a mine of it
near on a hill. Whatever is cut out, is filled up again in course of
time, as the earth which is thrown into the excavations changes into
asphaltus, as Poseidonius says." We cannot conclude from this confused
description what the real nature of the phenomenon was. Probably the
asphaltus or bitumen was occasionally set on fire by the neighbouring
people. (See the art. "Asphaltum," _Penny Cyclopædia_.)]
[Footnote 267: The Cohors was the tenth part of a Roman Legion. Appian
(_Civil Wars_, i. 82) says that on this occasion the opponents of
Sulla made their cohorts contain 500 men each, so that a legion would
contain 5000 men. According to this estimate there were 90,000 men
under arms in Italy to oppose Sulla, who had five legions of Italian
soldiers, six thousand cavalry and some men from Peloponnesus and
Macedonia; in all forty thousand men. (Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 79.)
Appian says that he had 1,600 ships.]
[Footnote 268: This passage is explained by the cut p. 287 in Smith's
_Dict. of Antiquities_, art. "Corona."]
[Footnote 269: Caius Junius Norbanus and L. Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus
were now consuls B.C. 83.]
[Footnote 270: Silvium is a town in Apulia on the Appian road, on the
Apennines. As to the burning of the Capitol, see Appian, _Civil Wars_,
i. 86.]
[Footnote 271: Fidentia was in North Italy not far from Placentia
(Piacenza): it is now Borgo San Donnino. Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 92)
speaks of this battle near Placentia, which Lucullus gained over some
of Carbo's troops, not over Carbo himself, as is stated by some modern
writers. Carbo was now in Central Italy.]
[Footnote 272: Sulla, with Metellus Pius, who had joined him (Appian,
_Civil Wars_, i. 80), met L. Scipio near Teanum in Campania. Sertorius
was with Scipio. The circumstances are told by Appian (_Civil Wars_,
i. 86) as usual with more minuteness and very clearly. The main story
is correct in Plutarch.]
[Footnote 273: Signia, now Segni, is in the Volscian mountains, 35
miles south-east of Rome. It was a Roman colony as old us the reign of
Tarquinius Superbus, according to Livius (1, 55). This battle was
fought B.C. 82, when Cn. Papinus Carbo was consul for the third time
with the younger Marius. It appears that Sulla's progress towards Rome
was not very rapid. Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 87) places the battle at
Sacriportus, the situation of which is unknown.]
[Footnote 274: Cn. Cornelius Dolabella was consul B.C. 81. He was
afterwards Proconsul of Macedonia, and had a triumph for his victories
over the Thracians and other barbarian tribes. C. Julius Cæsar, when a
young man (Cæsar, c. 4), prosecuted B.C. 77 Dolabella for
mal-administration in his province. Dolabella was acquitted.]
[Footnote 275: Præneste, now Palestrina. This strong town was about 20
miles E. by S. of Rome near the source of the Trerus, now the Sacco, a
branch of the Liris, the modern Garigliano.]
[Footnote 276: A Roman historian of the age of Augustus, who wrote
Annals, of which there were twenty-two books.]
[Footnote 277: These were Cn. Pompeius Magnus, who afterwards was the
great opponent of C. Julius Cæsar; his Life is written by Plutarch: M.
Licinius Crassus, called Dives or the Rich, whose Life is written by
Plutarch; Quintus Metellus Pius, the son of Metellus Numidicus; and P.
Servilius Vatia Isauricus, whom Sulla made consul B.C. 79, when he
declined the office himself.]
[Footnote 278: Carbo lost courage and ran away. He got safe to the
African coast, whence, with many men of rank, he made his way to
Sicily, and thence to the small island of Cossyra. Cn. Pompeius sent
men to seize him, who caught Carbo and his company: Carbo's followers
were immediately put to death pursuant to the orders of Pompeius.
Carbo was brought to Pompeius, and placed at his feet in chains; and
after Pompeius had insulted him who had thrice been consul by
pronouncing an harangue over him, Carbo was put to death, and his head
was sent to Sulla. (Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 96.) The statement of
Plutarch (_Pompeius_, c. 10) agrees with that of Appian. These and
other acts of Pompeius should be remembered by those who are inclined
to pity his fate. He was probably under a necessity to put Carbo to
death pursuant to the orders of his muster Sulla, but the insult might
have been spared.]
[Footnote 279: It is uncertain who he was. See Drumann, _Geschichte
Roms_, ii. Claudii No. 26.]
[Footnote 280: See c. 33. Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 93) gives a
different account of this affair before the Colline gate, but agrees
with Plutarch in stating that Sulla's right wing was successful and
the left was defeated. He says that Telesinus fell in the battle.]
[Footnote 281: Antemnæ was a few miles from Rome, near the junction of
the Tiber and the Anio (Teverone).]
[Footnote 282: Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 93) briefly mentions this
massacre. It took place in the Circus Flaminius, which was near the
temple of Bellona.
Plutarch here starts a question which suggests itself to all men who
have had any experience. It is a common remark that a man who has been
raised from a low degree to a high station, or has become rich from
being poor, is no longer the same man. Nobody expects those whom he
has known in the same station as himself to behave themselves in the
same way when they are exalted above it. Nobody expects a man who has
got power to be the same man that he was in an humble station. Any man
who has lived a reasonable time in the world and had extensive
conversation with it knows this to be true. But is the man changed, or
are his latent qualities only made apparent by his changed
circumstances? The truth seems to be that latent qualities are
developed by opportunity. All men have the latent capacities of pride,
arrogance, tyranny, and cruelty. Cruelty perhaps requires the most
opportunities for its development; and these opportunities are power,
fear, and opposition to his will. It has been well observed, that all
men are capable of crime, but different circumstances are necessary to
develop this capacity in different men. All have their price; and some
may be bought cheap. He who is above the temptation of money may yield
to other temptations. The possession of power is the greatest
temptation of all, as it offers the greatest opportunities for the
development of any latent disposition; and every man has a point or
two in which he is open to the insidious attacks of opportunity. In
matters political, the main thing is to know, from the indications
that a man gives when he has not power, what he will be when he has
power: in the ordinary intercourse of life, the main thing is to judge
of the character of those with whom we deal by compulsion or choice,
to know how far we can trust what they say, how far their future
conduct may be predicted from present indications. But to show what
these indications are, belongs, as Plutarch says, to another inquiry
than the present. The general rule of old was Distrust, which the
crafty Sicilian, as Cicero (_Ad Attic._ i. 19) calls Epicharmus, was
always whispering in his ear. Epicharmus has well expressed his maxim
in a single line:
[Greek: Naphe kai memnas' apistein: arthra tauta ton phrenon.]
Νᾶφε καὶ μέμνας' ἀπιστεῖν: άρθρα ταῦτα τῶν φρενῶν.
Wakeful be thou and distrustful: sinews these are to the mind.
This is the rule for the timid, and for them a safe one. But he who is
always suspicious must not expect to be trusted himself; and when the
bold command, he must be content to obey.]
[Footnote 283: This is not a Roman name. The nearest name to it is
Aufidius. But it is conjectured that one Fufidius is meant here (see
the note of Sintenis), and also in the Life of Sertorius (c. 26, 27).
This is probably the Fufidius (Florus, iii. 21, where the name is
written incorrectly Furfidius in some editions) who said, that "Some
should be left alive that there might be persons to domineer over."]
[Footnote 284: A Proscriptio was a notice set up in some public place.
This Proscription of Sulla was the first instance of the kind, but it
was repeated at a later time. The first list of the proscribed,
according to Appian (_Civil Wars_, i, 55), contained forty senators
and about sixteen hundred equites. Sulla prefaced his proscription by
an address to the people, in which he promised to mend their
condition. Paterculus (ii. 28) states that the proscription was to the
following effect:--That the property of the proscribed should be sold,
that their children should be deprived of all title to their property,
and should be ineligible to public offices; and further, that the sons
of Senators should bear the burdens incident to their order and lose
all their rights. This will explain the word Infamy, which is used a
little below. Infamia among the Romans was not a punishment, but it
was a consequence of conviction for certain offences; and this
consequence was a civil disability; the person who became Infamis lost
his vote, and was ineligible to the great public offices. He also
sustained some disabilities in his private rights. Sulla therefore put
the children of the proscribed in the same condition as if they had
been found guilty of certain offences.
The consequence of these measures of Sulla was a great change of
property all through Italy. Cities which had favoured the opposite
faction were punished by the loss of their fortifications and heavy
requisitions, such as the French army in the Revolutionary wars levied
in Italy. Sulla settled the soldiers of twenty-three legions in the
Italian towns as so many garrisons, and he gave them lands and houses
by taking them from their owners. These were the men who stuck to
Sulla while he lived, and attempted to maintain his acts after his
death, for their title could only be defended by supporting his
measures. These are "the men of Sulla," as Cicero sometimes calls
them, whose lands were purchased by murder, and who, as he says
(_Contra Rullum_, ii. 26), were in such odium that their title could
not have stood a single attack of a true and courageous tribune.]
[Footnote 285: Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 94) states that Sulla made all
the people in Præneste come out into the plain unarmed, that he picked
out those who had served him, who were very few, and these he spared.
The rest he divided into three bodies, Romans, Samnites, and
Prænestines: he told the Romans that they deserved to die, but he
pardoned them; the rest were massacred, with the exception of the
women and young children.]
[Footnote 286: L. Sergius Catilina, who formed a conspiracy in the
consulship of M. Tullius Cicero B.C. 63. (Life of Cicero.)]
[Footnote 287: Cn. Marius Gratidianus, the son of M. Gratidius of
Arpinum. He was adopted by one of the Marii; by the brother of Caius
Marius, as some conjecture.]
[Footnote 288: A vessel of stone or metal placed at the entrance of a
temple that those who entered might wash their hands in it, or perhaps
merely dip in a finger.]
[Footnote 289: Plutarch's expression is "he proclaimed himself
Dictator," but this expression is not to be taken literally, nor is it
to be supposed that Plutarch meant it to be taken literally. Sulla was
appointed in proper form, though he did in fact usurp the power, and
under the title of dictator was more than king. (Appian, _Civil Wars_,
i. 98.) The terms of Sulla's election were that he should hold the
office as long as he pleased; the disgrace of this compulsory election
was veiled under the declaration that Sulla was appointed to draw up
legislative measures and to settle affairs. Paterculus (ii. 28)
mentions the 120 years as having elapsed since the time of a previous
dictatorship, which was the year after Hannibal left Italy B.C. 202.
As Sulla was elected Dictator in B.C. 81, Plutarch's statement is
correct. (On the functions of the Dictator see Life of Cæsar, c. 37.)]
[Footnote 290: Manius Acilius Glabrio, who was prætor B.C. 70 during
the proceedings against Verres. He was the son of the M. Acilius
Glabrio who got a law passed on mal-administration in offices
(repetundæ), and the grandson of the Glabrio who defeated King
Antiochus near Thermopylæ. (See c. 12.)]
[Footnote 291: This murder is told more circumstantially by Appian
(_Civil Wars_, i. 101), who has added something that Plutarch should
not have omitted. After saying to the people that Lucretius had been
put to death by his order, Sulla told them a tale: "The lice were very
troublesome to a clown, as he was ploughing. Twice he stopped his
ploughing and purged his jacket. But he was still bitten, and in order
that he might not be hindered in his work, he burnt the jacket; and I
advise those who have been twice humbled not to make fire necessary
the third time."]
[Footnote 292: Plinius (_H.N._ 33, c. 5) speaks of this triumph: it
lasted two days. In the first day Sulla exhibited in the procession
15,000 pounds weight of gold and 115,000 pounds of silver, the produce
of his foreign victories: on the second, 13,000 pounds weight of gold
and 6000 pounds of silver which the younger Marius had carried off to
Præneste after the conflagration of the Capitol and from the robbery
of the other Roman temples.]
[Footnote 293: The term Felix appears on the coins of Sulla.
Epaphroditus signifies a favourite of Aphrodite or Venus. (Eckhel,
_Doctrina Num. Vet._ v. 190.) Eckhel infers from the guttus and lituus
on one of Sulla's coins that he was an Augur.]
[Footnote 294: Sulla abdicated the dictatorship B.C. 79 in the
consulship of P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus and Appius Claudius
Pulcher. Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 103, &c.) speaks of the abdication.
He made no attempt to secure to his family the power that he had
acquired. It may be that he had no desire to perpetuate the power in
his family; and it is certain that this could not have been
accomplished. Sulla had only one son, and he was now a child. But it
is certainly a striking trait in this man's character that he
descended to a private station from the possession of unlimited power,
and after, as Appian observes, having caused the death of more than
one hundred thousand men in his Italian wars, besides ninety senators,
fifteen consuls, and two thousand six hundred equites, not to mention
those who were banished and whose property was confiscated, and the
many Italian cities whose fortifications he had destroyed and whose
lands and privileges he had taken away. Sulla's character was a
compound of arrogance, self-confidence, and contempt of all mankind,
which have seldom been united. But his ruling character was love of
sensual pleasures. He was weary of his life of turmoil, and he
returned to his property in the neighbourhood of Cumæ on the pleasant
shore of Campania, where he spent his time on the sea, in fishing, and
in sensual enjoyments. But he had nothing to fear; there were in Italy
one hundred and twenty thousand men who had served under him, to whom
he had given money and land; there was a great number of persons at
Rome who had shared in his cruelties and the profits of them, and
whose safely consisted in maintaining the safety of their leader.
Besides this, he had manumitted above ten thousand vigorous men, once
the slaves of masters who had been murdered by his orders, and made
them Roman citizens under the name of Cornelii. These men were always
in readiness to execute his orders. With these precautions, this
blood-stained man retired to enjoy the sensual gratifications that he
had indulged in from his youth upwards, glorying in his happy fortune
and despising all mankind. No attempt to assassinate him is recorded,
nor any apprehension of his on that score. He lived and died Sulla the
Fortunate.]
[Footnote 295: M. Æmilius Lepidus and Q. Lutatius Catulus were consuls
B.C. 78, the year of Sulla's death. Lepidus attempted to overthrow
Sulla's constitution after Sulla's death. He was driven from Rome by
Q. Catulus and Cn. Pompeius Magnus, and died B.C. 77 in Sardinia. This
Lepidus was the father of M. Lepidus the associate of Cæsar Octavianus
and M. Antonius in the triumvirate. (See the Life of M. Antonius.)
Catulus was the son of Lutatius Catulus who was once the colleague of
C. Marius in the consulship. He has received great praise from Cicero.
Sallustius calls him a defender of the aristocratical party, and C.
Licinius Macer, as quoted by Sallustius in his History, says that he
was more cruel than Sulla. We cannot trust Cicero's unqualified praise
of this aristocrat nor the censure of Sallustius. What would Cicero's
character be, if we had it from some one who belonged to the party of
Catiline? and what is it as we know it from his own writings?
Insincere, changing with the times, timid, revengeful, and, when he
was under the influence of fear, cruel.]
[Footnote 296: The Greek word ([Greek: theatron] θέατρον) from which
came the Roman Theatrum and our word Theatre, means a place for an
exhibition or spectacle. The Roman word for dramatic representations
is properly Scena. I do not know when the men and women had separate
seats assigned to them in the theatres. A law of the tribune L.
Roscius Otho B.C. 68 fixed the places in the theatres for the
different classes, and it may have assigned separate seats to the
women.]
[Footnote 297: Valeria was the daughter of M. Valerius Messala. She
could not be the sister of Hortensius, for in that case her name would
be Hortensia. The sister of the orator Hortensius married a Valerius
Messala.]
[Footnote 298: Plutarch has translated the Roman word Imperator by the
Greek Autocrator ([Greek: Autokratôr] Αὐτοκράτωρ), "one who has
absolute power;" the title Autocrator under the Empire is the Greek
equivalent of the Roman Imperator, but hardly an equivalent at this
time. (See the Life of Cæsar.)]
[Footnote 299: This was the Quintus Roscius whom Cicero has so often
mentioned and in defence of whom he made a speech which is extant. The
subject of the action against Roscius is not easy to state in a few
words. (See the Argument of P. Manutius, and the Essay of Unterholzner
in Savigny's _Zeitschrift_, &c. i. p. 248.) Roscius is called Comœdus
in the title of Cicero's oration and by Plutarch, but he seems to have
acted tragedy also, as we may collect from some passages in Cicero.
The general name at Rome for an actor was histrio; but the histrio is
also contrasted by Cicero (_Pro Q. Roscio_, c. 10) with the comœdus,
as the inferior compared with the higher professor of the art. Yet
Roscius is sometimes called a histrio. Roscius was a perfect master of
his art, according to Cicero; and his name became proverbial among the
Romans to express a perfect master of any art. (Cicero, _De Oratore_,
i. 28.) Cicero was intimate with Roscius, and learned much from him
that was useful to him as an orator. Roscius wrote a work in which he
compared oratory and acting. His professional gains were immense; and
he had a sharp eye after his own interest, as the speech of Cicero
shows.]
[Footnote 300: The original is [Greek: lusiodos] λυσιοδός, which is
explained by Aristoxenus, quoted by Athenæus (p. 620), as I have
translated it.]
[Footnote 301: Appian does not mention this disease of Sulla, though
other writers do. Appian merely speaks of his dying of fever. Zachariæ
(Life of Sulla) considers the story of his dying of the lousy disease
as a fabrication of Sulla's enemies, and probably of the Athenians
whom he had handled so cruelly. This disease, called Morbus
Pediculosus or Pthiriasis, is not unknown in modern times. Plutarch
has collected instances from ancient times. Akastus belongs to the
mythic period. Alkman lived in the seventh century B.C.: fragments of
his poetry remain. This Pherekydes was what the Greeks called
Theologus, a man who speculated on things appertaining to the nature
of the gods. He is said to have been a teacher of Pythagoras, which
shows that he belongs to an uncertain period. He was not a
Philosopher; his speculations belonged to those cosmogonical dreams
which precede true philosophy, and begin again when philosophy goes to
sleep, as we see in the speculations of the present day. Kallisthenes
is mentioned in Plutarch's Life of Alexander, c. 55. He was thrown
into prison on a charge of conspiring against Alexander. This Mucius
the lawyer ([Greek: nomikos] νομικός), or jurisconsultus, as a Roman
would call him, is the P. Mucius Scævola who was consul in the year in
which Tiberius Gracchus was murdered.
There were two Servile wars in Sicily. Plutarch alludes to the first
which broke out B.C. 134, and is described in the Excerpts from the
thirty-fourth book of Diodorus. Diodorus says that Eunus died of this
disease in prison at Morgantina in Sicily.]
[Footnote 302: This town, also called Puteoli, the modern Pozzuolo,
was near Sulla's residence. It was originally a Greek town; and
afterwards a Roman colonia. Plutarch simply says that Granius "owed a
public debt." Valerius Maximus (ix. 3) states that Granius was a
Princeps of Puteoli and was slow in getting in the money which had
been promised by the Decuriones of Puteoli towards the rebuilding of
the Capitol. Sulla had said that nothing remained to complete his good
fortune, except to see the Capitol dedicated. No wonder that the delay
of Granius irritated such a man.]
[Footnote 303: The Roman words Postumus, Postuma, seem to have been
generally used to signify a child born after the father's death. But
they also signified a child born after the father had made a will. The
word simply means "last." We use the expression "Posthumous child;"
but the meaning of the word is often misunderstood. (On the effect of
the birth of a Postumus on a father's will, see Smith's _Dictionary of
Antiquities_, art. "Heres, Roman.")
Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 101) speaks of Sulla's death. He saw his
death coming and hastened to make his will: he died in his sixtieth
year, the most fortunate man in his end and in everything else, both
in name and estimation; if indeed, the historian wisely adds, a man
should think it good fortune to have obtained all his wishes.
Sulla had the following children:--Cornelia, by Ilia; she married Q.
Pompeius Rufus who was murdered B.C. 88, and she may have died before
her father: Cornelius Sulla, a son by Metella, who died, as Plutarch
has said, before his father: Faustus Cornelius Sulla and Fausta
Cornelia, the twin children by Metella, who were both young when their
father died. Faustus lost his life in Africa, when he was fighting on
the Pompeian side. Fausta's first husband was C. Memmius, from whom
she was divorced. She then married T. Annius Milo B.C. 55, who caught
her in the act of adultery with the historian Sallustius, who was
soundly hided by the husband and not let of till he had paid a sum of
money. Sallustius did not forget this.]
[Footnote 304: It was considered a mark of intentional disrespect or
of disapprobation, when a Roman made no mention of his nearest kin or
friends in his will; and in certain cases, the person who was passed
over could by legal process vindicate the imputation thus thrown on
him. (See the article "Testamentum," in Smith's _Dictionary of
Antiquities_, under the head "Querela Inofficiosi.") Sulla did not
like Cn. Pompeius. The only reason for keeping on terms with him was
that he saw his talents and so wished to ally him to his family. For
the same reason Sulla wished to put C. Julius Cæsar to death (Cæsar.
1): he predicted that he would be the ruin of the aristocratical
party. Sulla made his friend Lucius Lucullus the guardian of his
children and intrusted him with the final correction of his Memoirs.
(See the Life of Lucullus, c. 1).]
[Footnote 305: The description of the funeral in Appian (_Civil Wars_,
i. 105, &c.) is a striking picture. Sulla was buried with more than
regal pomp.
Plutarch's Life of Sulla has been spoken of as not one of his best
performances. But so far as concerns Plutarch's object in writing
these Lives, which was to exhibit character, it is as good as any of
his Lives, and it has great merit. Whether his anecdotes are always
authentic is a difficult matter to determine. Sulla had many enemies,
and it is probable that his character in private life has been made
worse than it was. The acts of his public life are well ascertained.
Plutarch has nearly omitted all mention of him as a Reformer of the
Roman Constitution and as a Legislator. Sulla's enactments were not
like the imperial constitutions of a later day, the mere act of one
who held the sovereign power: they were laws (leges) duly passed by
the popular assembly. Yet they were Sulla's work, and the legislative
body merely gave them the formal sanction. The object of Sulla's
constitutional measures was to give an aristocratical character to the
Roman constitution, to restore it to something of its pristine state,
and to weaken the popular party by curtailing the power of the
tribunes. The whole subject has often been treated, but at the
greatest length by Zachariæ, _Lucius Cornelius Sulla, &c._,
Heidelberg, 1834. Zachariæ has drawn the character of Sulla in an
apologetical tone. I think the character of Sulla is drawn better by
Plutarch, and that he has represented him as near to the life as a
biographer can do. Whatever discrepancies there may he between
Plutarch and other authorities, whatever Plutarch may have omitted
which other authorities give, still he has shown us enough to justify
his delineation of the most prominent man in the Republican Period of
Rome, with the exception of the Dictator Cæsar. But to complete the
view of his intellectual character, a survey of Sulla's legislation is
necessary. Sulla was an educated man: he was not a mere soldier like
Marius; he was not only a general; he was a man of letters, a lover of
the arts, a keen discriminator of men and times, a legislator, and a
statesman. He remodelled and reformed the whole criminal law of the
Romans. His constitutional measures were not permanent, but it may
truly be said that he prepared the way for the temporary usurpation of
Cæsar and the permanent establishment of the Roman State under
Augustus. I propose to treat of the Legislation of Sulla in an
Appendix to a future volume.]