[Footnote 315: The complete name of Lucullus was L. Licinius Lucullus.
The Licinii were a Plebeian Gens, to which belonged the Luculli,
Crassi, Murænæ, and others. Lucius Licinius Lucullus, the grandfather
of Plutarch's Lucullus, was the son of L. Licinius Lucullus, who was
curule ædile B.C. 202, and the first who gave nobility to his family.
This grandfather of Lucullus was consul B.C. 151 with P. Postumius
Albinus. He conquered the Vaccæi, Cantabri, and other nations of
Spain, hitherto unknown to the Romans. Appian (_Iberica_, c. 52) gives
an instance of his cruelty and perfidy in his Spanish wars. L.
Licinius Lucullus, the father, was prætor B.C. 103. In B.C. 102 he
went to take the command against the slaves who were in rebellion in
Sicily under Athenion. He conducted the war ill, and on his return he
was prosecuted for peculation and convicted. His punishment was exile.
It is not known what the offence was that Servilius was charged with.]
[Footnote 316: This Metellus was the conqueror of Jugurtha; he was
consul B.C. 109. See the Life of Marius, c. 7. His sister Cæcilia was
the wife of L. Licinius Lucullus, the father of Plutarch's Lucullus;
she was also the mother of Marcus the brother of Lucius Lucullus.]
[Footnote 317: See Life of Sulla, c. 6.]
[Footnote 318: This line is also quoted by Plutarch in his Treatise
'De Sera Numinis Vindicta,' c. 10.]
[Footnote 319: I should have translated the Greek word ([Greek:
dikologos] δικολόγος) "orator." Jurist in Plutarch is [Greek:
nomodeiktês] νομοδείκτης (Plutarch, _Tib. Gracchus_, c. 9) or [Greek:
nomikos] νομικός. Quintus Hortensius Ortalus, the orator, was a friend
and rival of Cicero, who often speaks of him. He began his career as a
pleader in the courts at the age of nineteen, and continued his
practice for forty-four years. (_Brutus_, c. 64, and the note in H.
Meyer's edition.)]
[Footnote 320: L. Cornelius Sisenna, a man of patrician family, was
prætor, B.C. 119, and in the next year he was governor of Sicily. He
and Hortensius defended C. Verres against Cicero. He wrote the history
of the Marsic war and of the war of Sulla in Italy, which he continued
to the death of Sulla. The historical work of Sallustius began where
that of Sisenna ended. Cicero (_De Legg_. i. 2) says that Sisenna was
the best historical writer that had then appeared at Rome. He wrote
other works also, and he translated into Latin the lewd stories of
Aristides the Milesian (Plutarch, _Crassus_, c. 32; Ovidius,
_Tristia_, ii. v. 443).
See Cicero, _Brutus_, c. 64, and the notes in Meyer's edition; Krause,
_Vitæ et Frag. Vet. Histor. Roman._ p. 299.]
[Footnote 321: It appears from this that the History of the Marsic war
by Lucullus was extant in the time of Plutarch. Cicero (_Ad Attic_. i.
19) mentions this Greek history of Lucullus.]
[Footnote 322: This Marcus was adopted by M. Terentius Varro, whence
after his adoption he was called M. Terentius Varro Lucullus. The
curule ædileship of the two brothers belongs to the year B.C. 79, and
the event is here placed, after Plutarch's fashion, not in the proper
place in his biography, but the story is told incidentally as a
characteristic of Lucullus. I have expressed myself ambiguously at the
end of this chapter. It should be "that Lucullus in his absence was
elected ædile with his brother." (Cicero, _Academ. Prior_. ii. 1.)]
[Footnote 323: See Life of Sulla, c. 13, &c.]
[Footnote 324: Drumann (_Geschichte Roms_, Licinii Luculli, p. 121, n.
80) observes that this winter expedition of Lucullus was "not after
the capture of Athens, as Plutarch, Lucullus, c. 2," states, and he
refers to Appian (_Mithridat._ c. 33). But Plutarch's account is not
what Drumann represents it to be. This expedition was in the winter of
B.C. 87 and 86. Ælian (_Var. Hist._ ii. 42) tells a similar story of
Plato and the Arcadians, and Diogenes Lærtius (iii. 17) has a like
story about Plato and the Arcadians and Thebans.]
[Footnote 325: This can only be Ptolemæus VIII., sometimes called
Soter II. and Lathyrus, who was restored to his kingdom B.C. 89-8. The
difficulty that Kaltwasser raises about Lathyrus being in Cyprus at
this time is removed by the fact that he had returned from Cyprus. As
to Plutarch calling him a "young man," that is a mistake; or Plutarch
may have confounded him with his younger brother Alexander.]
[Footnote 326: Plutarch is alluding to the Pyramids, and to the great
temples of Memphis.]
[Footnote 327: Pitane was one of the old Greek towns of Æolis,
situated on the coast at the mouth of the Evenus, and opposite to the
island of Lesbos, now Mytilene.]
[Footnote 328: See Life of Sulla, c. 12.]
[Footnote 329: See Life of Sulla, c. 21.]
[Footnote 330: This was the consul L. Valerius Flaccus. See the Life
of Sulla, c. 20.]
[Footnote 331: Lektum is a promontory of the Troad, which is that
district of Asia Minor that took its name from the old town of Troja
or Troia, and lay in the angle between the Hellespont (the
Dardanelles), and the Ægean or Archipelago. It is fully described by
Strabo, lib. xiii.]
[Footnote 332: Kaltwasser has translated this passage differently from
his predecessors: "turned his ship aside by a quick movement and made
all his men crowd to the stern." But his version is probably wrong.
The expression [Greek: epi prumnan ôsasthai] ἐπὶ πρύμναν ώασθαι is
perhaps equivalent to [Greek: prumnon krouesthai] πρύμνον κρούεσθαι.
(Thucydides, i. 50.)]
[Footnote 333: See Life of Sulla, c. 24, 25.]
[Footnote 334: It is conjectured by Leopoldus that there is an error
here, and that the name should be Manius, and that Manius Aquilius is
meant, whom, together with others, the Mitylenæans gave up in chains
to Mithridates. (Vell. Paterc. ii. 18.)]
[Footnote 335: This is a place on the coast of the mainland, and east
of Pitane.]
[Footnote 336: Lucullus was consul B.C. 74, with M. Aurelius Cotta for
his colleague.]
[Footnote 337: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 20, and the Life of
Sertorius, c. 21.]
[Footnote 338: P. Cornelius Cethegus originally belonged to the party
of Marius, and he accompanied the younger Marius in his flight to
Africa B.C. 88 (Life of Marius, c. 40). He returned to Rome B.C. 87,
and in the year B.C. 83 he attached himself to Sulla after his return
from Asia and was pardoned. After Sulla's death he had great influence
at Rome, though he never was consul. Cicero (_Brutus_, c. 48), speaks
of him as thoroughly acquainted with all the public business and as
having great weight in the Senate.]
[Footnote 339: He is commemorated by Cicero (_Brutus_, c. 62) as a man
well fitted for speaking in noisy assemblies. He was a tribune in the
year of the consulship of Lucullus.]
[Footnote 340: This was L. Octavius, who was consul with C. Aurelius
Cotta B.C. 75.]
[Footnote 341: Q. Cæcilius Metellus Pius. See the Life of Sertorius.]
[Footnote 342: This is the closed sea that lies between the two
channels, by one of which, the Thracian Bosporus or the channel of
Constantinople, it is connected with the Euxine or Black Sea, and by
the other, the Hellespontus or Dardanelles, it is connected with the
Ægean Sea or the Archipelago. This is now the Sea of Marmora. Part of
the southern and eastern coast belonged to Bithynia. The city of
Kyzikus was within the Propontis.]
[Footnote 343: See the Life of Sulla, c. 25.]
[Footnote 344: The sophists of Plutarch's time were rhetoricians, who
affected to declaim on any subject, which they set off with words and
phrases and little more. One of the noted masters of this art,
Aristides of Bithynia, might have been known to Plutarch, though he
was younger than Plutarch. Many of his unsubstantial declamations are
extant. Plutarch in his Life of Lucullus, c. 22, has mentioned another
of this class.]
[Footnote 345: The Romans carried on a thriving trade in this way in
the provinces. In Cicero's period we find that many men of rank did
not scruple to enrich themselves in this manner; and they were
unsparing creditors.]
[Footnote 346: The word ([Greek: telônai] τελώναι) which I have
elsewhere translated by the Roman word Publicani, means the men who
farmed the taxes in the provences. The Publicani at this period
belonged to the order of the Equites. A number of them associated
themselves in a partnership (societas) for the farming of the taxes of
some particular province. These associations had their agents in the
provinces and a chief manager (magister) at Rome. The collection of
the taxes gave employment to a great number of persons; and thus the
Publicani had at their disposal numerous places in the provinces,
which gave them great influence at Rome. (Cicero, _Pro Cn. Plancio_,
c. 19.) The taxes were taken at some sum that was agreed upon; and we
find an instance mentioned by Cicero (_Ad Attic._ i. 17) in which
their competition or their greediness led them to give too much and to
call on the Senate to cancel the bargain. The Romans at this time
derived little revenue from Italy, and the large expenditure had to be
supplied out of the revenue raised in the provinces and collected by
the Publicani. The Publicani thus represented the monied interest of
modern times, and the state sometimes required their assistance to
provide the necessary supplies.
It seems probable that the Publicani who farmed the taxes of a
province, underlet them to others; which would be one cause of
oppression. These Collectors ([Greek: telônai] τελώναι) are called
Publicans in the English version of the New Testament, where they are
no doubt very justly coupled with sinners.]
[Footnote 347: Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 71) states that
Mithridates invaded Bithynia, for King Nikomedes had just died
childless and left his kingdom to the Romans. Cotta fled before him
and took refuge in Chalkedon, a city situated on the Asiatic side of
the Thracian Bosporus opposite to the site of Constantinople. The
consul would not go out to meet the enemy, but his admiral Nudus with
some troops occupied the strongest position in the plain. However, he
was defeated by Mithridates and with difficulty got again into the
city. In the confusion about the gates the Romans lost three thousand
men. Mithridates also broke through the chain that was thrown across
the harbour and burnt four ships and towed the other sixty off. His
whole loss was only twenty men.]
[Footnote 348: See the Life of Sulla, c. 11. Mithridates was much
dissatisfied with the terms of the peace that had been brought about
by Archelaus, who fearing for his life went over to Murena, who was
left by Sulla in the command in Asia. At the instigation of Archelaus,
Murena attacked and plundered Comana in Cappadocia, which belonged to
Mithridates, and contained a temple of great sanctity and wealth.
Mithridates in vain complained to Murena, and then sent an embassy to
Rome. Appian considers this conduct of Murena as the commencement of
the Second Mithridatic War, B.C. 83. The Third commenced B.C. 74 with
the league of Mithridates and Sertorius. (Appian, _Mithridat_. 64-68;
Life of Sertorius, c. 24.)]
[Footnote 349: Kyzikus. The ruins of this ancient city, now Bal Kiz,
that is Palæa Kyzikus, lie near to the east of the sandy isthmus which
now connects the peninsula of Kyzikus with the mainland. Hamilton
(_Researches in Asia Minor_, &c., London, 1842, ii. 102), says that
"the loose and rubbly character of the buildings of Kyzikus little
accords with the celebrity of its architects; and although some appear
to have been cased with marble, none of them give an idea of the solid
grandeur of the genuine Greek style." Yet Strabo (p. 575) describes
this city as among the first of Asia. In his time the present
peninsula was an island, which was connected with the mainland by two
bridges: the city was near the bridges, and had two harbours that
could be closed. Under the Romans in Strabo's time, Kyzikus was a Free
City (_Libera Civitas_).]
[Footnote 350: This range is described by Strabo as opposite to
Kyzikus, on the mainland. Kaltwasser states that Strabo called the
Adrasteia of Plutarch by the name Dindymus; but this is a mistake, in
which he is not singular. Dindymus was a solitary hill, and on the
peninsula near the town of Kyzikus.]
[Footnote 351: This is a small lake near the coast of the Propontis,
at the back of which and more inland are two larger lakes, called
respectively by ancient geographers, Miletopolitis (now Moniyas) and
Apollonias (now Abullionte). The lake Daskylitis is not marked in the
map which accompanies Hamilton's work.]
[Footnote 352: Persephassa, or Persephone, whom the Romans call
Proserpina, was the patron goddess of Kyzikus. Compare Appian
(_Mithridat. War_, c. 75).]
[Footnote 353: What he was I don't know. Kaltwasser translates the
word ([Greek: grammatistê] γραμματιστῇ) "the public schoolmaster;" but
he is inclined to take Reiske's conjecture [Greek: grammatei]
γραμματεῖ because the grammateus was an important functionary in the
Greek towns, and a "public schoolmaster" is not mentioned as an
ordinary personage at this period. But Kaltwasser has not observed
that [Greek: grammatistês] γραμματιστής signifies a clerk or secretary
in various passages (Herodotus, iii. 123, 128; vii. 100). If [Greek:
grammatistês] γραμματιστής could only signify a schoolmaster, it would
be necessary to alter the reading. One cannot suppose that the goddess
would reveal herself to a schoolmaster; or that a schoolmaster could
venture to announce that he had received the honour of such a
communication. When Romulus after his sudden disappearance again
appeared to assure the anxious citizens, Julius Proculus was selected
by him as the person to whom he showed himself; or Julius Proculus was
one of the few who could claim to have the story of such an appearance
believed. (Liv. i. 16.)]
[Footnote 354: I have kept the Greek word ([Greek: stêlê] στήλη), for
no English word exactly expresses the thing. It was a stone placed
upright, with an inscription on a flat surface, the summit of which
sometimes ended with an ornamental finish. There are several in the
British Museum.]
[Footnote 355: This river enters Lake Apollonias on the south side of
the lake, and issues from the north side of the lake, whence it flows
in a general north direction into the Propontis. Apollonia, now
commonly called Abullionte, though the Greeks still call it by its
ancient name, is situated on a small island which is on the east side
of Lake Apollonias and is now connected with the mainland by a wooden
bridge. If the battle was fought on the river, the women must have
gone a considerable distance for their plunder. (Hamilton,
_Researches_, &c. ii. 88, &c.)]
[Footnote 356: Kaltwasser remarks that Livius (37, c. 40) mentions
camels as being in the army of Antiochus. The passage of Sallustius
must have been in his Roman History.]
[Footnote 357: This river is to the west of Kyzikus and enters the
Propontis by a general north course. On the banks of this river
Alexander won his first victory in his Persian Campaign. (Arrian,
_Anab._ i. 14.) Appian, in his account of the defeat of the army of
Mithridates (_Mithridat. War_, c. 76) places it on the Æsepus, a river
which lies between Kyzikus and the Granikus, and also flows into the
Propontis. He also adds that the Æsepus was then at its greatest
flood, which contributed to the loss of Mithridutes. But it appears
from Appian that the remnant of the army of Mithridates crossed the
Granikus also, for they reached Lampsakus.]
[Footnote 358: The Troad is a district, but Plutarch expresses himself
as if he meant a town. It appears that Lucullus was near Ilium. The
Achæan harbour, or harbour of the Achæans, is near the promontory
Sigeium.]
[Footnote 359: Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 77) simply says that
Lucullus ordered Varius (the Marius of Plutarch) to be put to death.]
[Footnote 360: This town was at the eastern extremity of the long
inlet of the Propontis, called the Gulf of Astakus. Mithridates
according to Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 76) fled in his ships from
Kyzikus to Parium, which is near the western extremity of the
Propontis and west of the Granikus. From Parium he sailed to
Nikomedia, a fact omitted by Plutarch, which explains the other fact,
which he does mention, of Voconius being ordered to Nikomedia to look
after the king.]
[Footnote 361: This island lies in the Archipelago off the coast of
Thrace. It was noted for certain religious rites in honour of the gods
called Kabeiri. (Strabo, p. 472.)]
[Footnote 362: This place was on the coast of Bithynia. Appian (c. 78)
says that Mithridates landed at Sinope (Sinab), a large town
considerably east of Heraklea, on the coast of the Black Sea; and that
from Sinope he went along the coast to Amisus. See c. 23.]
[Footnote 363: This notion is common in the Greek writers; the gods
brought misfortune on those whose prosperity was excessive, and
visited them with punishment for arrogant speaking and boasting. Among
instances of those whose prosperity at last brought calamity on them
was Polykrates, tyrant of Samos (Herodotus, iii. 125); a notorious
instance of the danger of prosperity. See vol. i. Life of Camillus,
ch. 37, note.]
[Footnote 364: Artemis was so called from a town Priapus, which is on
the south coast of the Propontis, and is placed in the maps a little
west of the outlet of the Granikus. Strabo (p. 587) says that the
Granikus flows between the Æsepus and Priapus; and that some say that
Priapus was a Milesian colony, others a colony of Kyzikus. It derived
its name from the god Priapus, who was in great repute here and in
Lampsakus. The soldiers of Mithridates seem to have committed the
excesses spoken of by Plutarch in their march through Priapus to
Lampsakus.
The word for wooden statue is [Greek: xoanon] ξόανον which is
sometimes simply translated statue. I am not aware that it is ever
used by Pausanias, who often uses the word, in any other sense than
that of a statue of wood.]
[Footnote 365: The Thermodon is a river of Asia Minor which flows
through the plain of Themiskyra into the Black Sea. There is now a
small town, Thermeh, on the left bank of the river. Plutarch might be
supposed to be speaking of a town Themiskyra, and so some persons have
understood him; but perhaps incorrectly, for no town Themiskyra is
mentioned by any other writer.]
[Footnote 366: Amisus, now Samsun, is on the coast of the Black Sea,
between the Halys, Kizil Ermak, and the Iris, Yechil Ermak. The ruins
of the old town are about a mile and a half N.N.W. of the modern town.
"The pier which defended the ancient harbour may be distinctly traced,
running out about 300 yards to the S.E., but chiefly under water. It
consists of large blocks of a volcanic conglomerate, some of which
measure nineteen feet by six or eight, and ten feet in thickness;
whilst a little farther north another wall extends E.N.E. to a natural
reef of rocks." (Hamilton, _Researches in Asia Minor_, &c. i. 290.)]
[Footnote 367: These tribes were in the neighbourhood of the
Thermodon. They were encountered by the Ten Thousand in their retreat
(_Anab._ v. 5). The Chaldæans, whom Xenophon names Chalybes, were
neighbours of the Tibareni: but he also speaks of another tribe of the
same name (iv. 5, &c.) who lived on the borders of Armenia.]
[Footnote 368: The great mountain region between the Black Sea and the
Caspian.]
[Footnote 369: The position of Kabeira is uncertain. Strabo (p. 556)
says that it is about 150 stadia south of the Paryadres range; but he
does not say that it is on the Lykus. It may be collected from the
following chapter of Plutarch that it was near the Lykus. Pompeius
made Kabeira a city and named it Diopolis. A woman named Pythodoris
added to it and called it Sebaste, that is, in Latin, Augusta, and it
was her royal residence at the time when Strabo wrote.]
[Footnote 370: The reign of Tigranes in Armenia began about B.C. 96.
Little is known of his early history. He become King of Syria about
B.C. 83, and thus he supplanted the kings, the descendants of
Seleukus. He lost Syria after his defeat by Lucullus, B.C. 69; and he
was finally reduced to the limits of his native kingdom by Pompeius,
B.C. 66. (See the Life of Pompeius, c. 23.)]
[Footnote 371: Some writers read Dardarii. The Dandarii are mentioned
by Strabo (p. 495) as one of the tribes on the Mæotis or Sea of Azoff.
Mithridates held the parts on the Bosporus. Appian (_Mithridat. War_,
c. 79) has this story of Olthakus, whom he names Olkades, but he calls
him a Scythian.]
[Footnote 372: The strange panic that seized Mithridates is also
described by Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 81). He fled to Comana and
thence to Tigranes.]
[Footnote 373: _Phernakia_ or Pharnakia, as it is generally read, is a
town in Pontus on the coast of the Black Sea. It is generally assumed
that Pharnakia was the same as Kerasus mentioned by Xenophon in the
Retreat of the Ten Thousand, and the place being now called Kerasunt
seems to establish this. Arrian in his Periplus of the Euxine states
that it was originally named Kerasus. A difficulty is raised on this
point because Xenophon says that the Greeks reached Kerasus in three
days from Trebizond, and the country is difficult. Hamilton observes
(i. 250): "Considering the distance and the difficult nature of the
ground, over a great part of which the army must have marched in
single file, Xenophon and his 10,000 men would hardly have arrived
there in ten days." But it is more probable that there is an error in
the "three" days, either an error of Xenophon or of the MSS., than
that the site of Phernakia should have got the name of Kerasunt though
Kerasus was not there. "The town of Kerasunt, which represents the
Pharnakia of antiquity, is situated on the extremity of a rocky
promontory connected with the main by a low wooded isthmus of a
pleasing and picturesque appearance.--The Hellenic walls are
constructed in the best isodomous style. Commencing near the beach on
the west, they continue in an easterly direction over the hill,
forming the limits of the present town. Near the gateway they are
upwards of twenty feet high, and form the foundation of the Agha's
konak; a small mosque has also been raised upon the ruins of a square
tower; the blocks of stone, a dark green volcanic breccia, are of
gigantic size." (Hamilton, _Researches_, &c. i. 262, &c.)]
[Footnote 374: Appian (c. 82) calls him Bacchus; he tells the same
story. These Greek women of western Asia were much in request among
the Asiatic kings. (Compare Life of Crassus, c. 32). Cyrus the younger
had two Greek women with him when he fell at Cunaxa, and one of them
was a Milesian. (Xenophon, _Anab._ i. 10.)]
[Footnote 375: I have kept the Greek word. The description shows what
it was. The diadem was a mark of royal rank among the Asiatic nations.
Aurelian is said to have been the first Roman Emperor who adopted the
diadem, which appears on some of his coins. (Rasche, _Lex. Rei
Numariæ_.)]
[Footnote 376: The site of this place is unknown. Mithridates (Appian,
_Mithridat. War_, c. 115) kept his valuables here.]
[Footnote 377: See the Life of Sulla, c. 14. L. Mummius after
defeating the army of the Achæan confederation totally destroyed
Corinth B.C. 146.]
[Footnote 378: Strabo (p. 547) quotes Theopompus, who says that the
Milesians were the original founders of Amisus, and that after the
Athenian colonization it was called Peiræus. King Mithridates Eupator
(the opponent of Lucullus) added to the city. It was a flourishing
place when Strabo was writing his Geography.]
[Footnote 379: See the Life of Sulla, c. 14.]
[Footnote 380: See the Life of Sulla, c. 26. Tyrannio is often
mentioned by Cicero. He arranged Cicero's library (_Ad Attic._ iv. 4
and 8), and he was employed as a teacher in Cicero's house (_Ad Quint.
Frat._ ii. 4).
In alluding to Tyrannio being manumitted, Plutarch means to say that
by the act of manumission it was declared that Tyrannio had been made
a slave, and the act of manumission gave Murena the patronal rights
over him. This Murena was the son of the Murena who is mentioned in
Plutarch's Life of Sulla (c. 17). Cicero defended him against a charge
of Ambitus or bribery at his election for the consulship, and in his
oration, which is extant, he speaks highly of him. This Murena was
Consul B.C. 62, the year after Cicero was Consul.]
[Footnote 381: This passage is very obscure. Some critics think that
Plutarch is speaking of torture. But it is more likely that he is
speaking of the debtors being in attendance at the courts and waiting
under the open sky at all seasons till the suits about the debts were
settled.]
[Footnote 382: This is the Centesimæ usuræ of the Romans, which was at
this time the usual rate. It was one per cent. per month, or twelve
per cent. per annum. Cæsar (Life of Cæsar, c. 12) made a like
settlement between debtor and creditor in Spain.]
[Footnote 383: P. Appius Clodius or Claudius belonged to the Patrician
Gens of the Claudii. He was a clever, unprincipled fellow, and the
bitter enemy of Cicero, whom during his tribunate he caused to be
banished. There is more about him in the Life of Cæsar, c. 10. He was
killed by T. Annius Milo.
This wife of Lucullus, named Clodia, had several sisters of the same
name, as usual among the Romans. (Life of Marius, c. 1.) The sister
who married Q. Metellus Celer, is accused of poisoning him.]
[Footnote 384: A name formed like Alexandreia from Antiochus, the name
by which most of the Greek kings of Syria were designated. Antiocheia,
now Antakia, was on the Orontes, the chief river of Syria, and near
the small place Daphne, which was much resorted to as a place of
pleasure by the people of Antiocheia. (Strabo, p. 749.)]
[Footnote 385: This was a country on the upper part of the Tigris. It
probably contains the same element as the modern Kurdistan.]
[Footnote 386: The Skenite Arabians are the nomadic Arabs who live in
tents. Strabo (p. 747) speaks of them thus: "The parts of Mesopotamia
which are towards the south and at some distance from the mountains,
and are waterless and sterile, are occupied by the Skenite Arabs, who
are robbers and shepherds, and readily remove to other parts when the
pastures fail and booty is scarce," &c.]
[Footnote 387: The embassy of Appius to Tigranes was in B.C. 71. See
c. 14, notes.]
[Footnote 388: Compare Appian, _Mithridat. War_, c. 82.]
[Footnote 389: He is often mentioned by Cicero, _De Orat._ ii. 88, 90;
and elsewhere. He was celebrated for his powerful memory, and he is
said to have perfected a certain artificial system which was began by
Simonides.]
[Footnote 390: Though Amphikrates intended to say that Seleukeia was
small, it was in fact a large city. This Seleukeia on the Tigris was
built by Seleukus Nikator. It was about 300 stadia or 36 miles from
Babylon, which declined after the foundation of Seleukeia. In Strabo's
time, Babylon was nearly deserted and Seleukeia was a large city.]
[Footnote 391: Bacchides, according to Strabo, commanded in the city.
Sinope is described by Strabo (p. 545) as one of the chief towns of
Asia in his day. It was a Milesian colony. It was the birth-place of
this Mithridates, surnamed Eupator, who made it his capital. It was
situated on an isthmus which joined the mainland to the Chersonesus
(peninsula) which is mentioned by Plutarch in this chapter. There were
harbours and stations for ships on each side of the isthmus. The
present condition of the town is described by Hamilton (_Researches_,
i. 306, &c.): "The population and prosperity of Sinope are not such as
might be expected in a place affording such a safe harbour between
Constantinople and Trebizond. I observed also a general appearance of
poverty and privation throughout the peninsula."
In Strabo's time Sinope had received a Roman colony, and the colonists
had part of the city and of the territory. The word Colonia in Greek
([Greek: koloneia] κολονεια) appears on a sarcophagus which was seen
by Hamilton in a small village near Sinope.]
[Footnote 392: Sthenis was a native of Olynthus and a contemporary of
Alexander the Great. He is mentioned by Plinius (34, c. 19) and by
Pausanias (vi. 17). Strabo says that Lucullus left everything to the
Sinopians except the statue of Autolykus and a sphere, the work of
Billarus, which he carried to Rome.]
[Footnote 393: This is the word which the Greeks use for a peninsula.
Plutarch here means the Chersonesus, on the isthmus of which Sinope
was built. Hamilton says that "the peninsula extends about five miles
from east to west and strictly coincides with the description given of
it by Polybius (iv. 50)."]
[Footnote 394: Socius et Amicus: this was the title which the Romans
condescended to give to a king who behaved towards them with due
respect and submission. (Livius, 31, c. 11.)]
[Footnote 395: Lucullus appears to have crossed the Euphrates at a
more northern point than Zeugma, where the river was crossed by
Crassus. Sophene is a district on the east side of the river between
the mountain range called Masius and the range called Antitaurus: the
capital or royal residence was Carcathiocerta. (Strabo, p. 527.)]
[Footnote 396: The great mountain range to which this name was given
by the ancient geographers commences according to Strabo (p. 651) on
the south-east coast of Lycia. The name Taurus was not very exactly
defined, but it comprehended the mountain region which runs eastward
from the point above mentioned in a general parallel direction to the
south coast of Asia Minor; and the name was extended to the high lands
of Armenia east of the Euphrates. Its eastern limit was very vaguely
conceived, as we may collect from Strabo (p. 519).]
[Footnote 397: This is the Greek word which I have sometimes kept.
Plutarch means the soldiers of the Roman legion.]
[Footnote 398: This termination Certa or Cirta is common to many
Asiatic towns (See chapter 21). It is probably the same termination as
in the Persian Parsagarda; and signified town or inclosure. The site
of Tigranocerta is not certain. There appears to be no reason for
identifying it with Sert except the resemblance of name. St. Martin
contends that Amida on the east bank of the Tigris, occupied the site
of Tigranocerta. The modern Diyarbeker is on the west bank of the
Tigris opposite to Amida. (_London Geog. Journal_, viii. 77). Appian
(_Mithridat. War_, c. 84) speaks of the foundation of Tigranocerta.]
[Footnote 399: The Adiabeni occupied a tract that was apparently a
part of the old Assyria on the east side of the Tigris. The element
_diab_ perhaps exists in the Zab, one of the rivers which flow in the
Tigris.]
[Footnote 400: The same name occurs in the Life of Sulla, c. 15. See
Life of Alexander, c. 59, note.]
[Footnote 401: This is the river now generally called the Aras, which
flows into the Caspian on the south-west side. Before it enters the
sea, it is joined by the Cyrus, now the Cur.]
[Footnote 402: See the Life of Sertorius, c. 3. The rout of this large
army of Tigranes is described by Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 85). The
day was the 6th of October, and the year B.C. 69. The loss that is
reported in some of these ancient battles seems hardly credible; but
it is explained here. There was in fact no battle: the enemy were
struck with a panic and fled. An immense multitude if seized with
alarm requires no enemy to kill them. The loss of life that may occur
in a frightened crowd is enormous.]
[Footnote 403: See chapter 42.]
[Footnote 404: See Life of Sulla, c. 26, Notes.]
[Footnote 405: This part of Livius is lost; but it belonged to the
ninety-eighth book, as we see from the Epitome.]
[Footnote 406: The capture is described by Appian (_Mithridat. War_,
c, 86), and by Dion Cassius (35, c. 2).]
[Footnote 407: Compare Appian, c. 87, and Dion Cassius (35, c. 3).
Sallustius in the fourth book of his History has given a long letter,
which we may presume to be his own composition, from Mithridates to
Arsakes, this Parthian king, in which he urges him to fight against
the Romans. (_Fragmenta Hist._ ed. Corte.)]
[Footnote 408: Lucullus was marching northward, and he had to ascend
from the lower country to the high lands of Armenia, where the seasons
are much later than in the lower country. He expected to find the corn
ripe. Nothing precise as to his route can be collected from Plutarch.
He states that Lucullus came to the Arsanias, a river which he must
cross before he could reach Artaxata. Strabo (p. 528) describes
Artaxata as situated on a peninsula formed by the Araxes (Aras) and
surrounded by the stream, except at the isthmus which joined it to the
mainland; the isthmus was defended by a ditch and rampart. The ruins
called Takt Tiridate, the Throne of Tiridates, which have been
supposed to represent Artaxata, are twenty miles from the river, and
the place where they stand owed its strength solely to the
fortifications. Below the junction of the Zengue and Aras, which unite
near Erivan, "the river (Aras) winds very much, and at least twenty
positions nearly surrounded by the river presented themselves."
Colonel Monteith, who makes this remark (_London Geog. Journal_, iii.
47), found no ruins on the banks of the river which answered to the
description of Artaxata; for what he describes as near the remains of
a Greek or Roman bridge over the Aras do not correspond to the
description of Strabo. The remains of Artaxata, if they exist, must be
looked for on some of the numerous positions which are nearly
surrounded by the river.
The Arsanias is described by Plinius (_Hist. Nat_. v. 24) as flowing
into the Euphrates, and, it appears, into the Murad or eastern branch
which rises at no great distance S.W. of Ararat. It is probable that
Lucullus entered Armenia by some of the passes west of Lake Van; but
his route can hardly be conjectured.]
[Footnote 409: The Mardi were a nation that lived south of the Caspian
and bordered on the Hyrkani. As to the Iberians of Asia, see the Life
of Tiberius Gracchus, c. 7, Notes. It is incorrectly stated there that
Lucullus invaded the country of the Iberians.]
[Footnote 410: This word is probably corrupted. See the note of
Sintenis. The simplest correction is "Atropateni."]
[Footnote 411: Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 87) gives a very confused
account of this campaign. It is briefly described by Dion Cassius (35,
c. 5).]
[Footnote 412: This is the modern Nisibin in 37° N. lat. on the
Jakhjakhah, the ancient Mygdonius. The Mygdonius is a branch of the
Chaborras, which flows into the Euphrates. Nisibin is now a small
place with "about a hundred well-built houses, and a dozen shops kept
by Christians" (Forbes, _London Geog. Journal_, ix. 241). Two tall
columns of marble and the church of St. James, which is built from
fragments of Nisibis, are the only remains of a city which is often
mentioned in the ancient history of the East.
The town is mentioned by Tacitus (_Annal._ xv. 35) under the name of
Nisibis, and he places it thirty-nine Roman miles from Tigranocerta.
Nisibis is also the name in Ammianus Marcellinus. Dion Cassius (36, c.
6, 7) describes the siege and capture of Nisibis. This event belongs
to the year B.C. 68.]
[Footnote 413: Compare Dion Cassius (36, c. 16) as to the behaviour of
Lucullus. He was too strict a disciplinarian for soldiers who were
accustomed to licence; and he did not even attempt to win the love of
his men by kindness. The mutinous army that he could not control was
quiet and obedient to Pompeius.]
[Footnote 414: This is the same person who is mentioned in c. 5. The
Roman name is Quinctius, which is corrupted in the MSS. of Plutarch.
This Lucius was tribune of the Plebs B.C. 74, the year of the
consulship of Lucullus. In this chapter Plutarch calls him one of the
Prætors ([Greek: hena ton stratêgon] ἑνα τῶν στρατηγῶν), which
Kaltwasser has translated "one of the tribunes of the people."]
[Footnote 415: This, I think, is the sense of the passage, to which
Reiske gives a very different meaning. I have given the same meaning
that Kaltwasser and Coræs have. See the note in Schæfer's edition.]
[Footnote 416: Manius Acilius Glabrio, consul B.C. 67, was first
appointed to succeed Lucullus; but Pompeius contrived to get the
command given to himself B.C. 66. "Plutarch, who refers elsewhere to
the appointment of Glabrio (_Pomp._ c. 30) has not here (c. 33, 34)
sufficiently distinguished it from that of Pompey, which he has
anticipated. For Pompey was not appointed till the following year"
(Clinton, _Fasti Hellen._).]
[Footnote 417: Compare Dion Cassius, 35, c. 10, &c.; and Appian, c.
88, &c.]
[Footnote 418: When a country was conquered and it was intended to
make of it a Roman province, commissioners were sent out, usually
Senators, to assist the general in organizing the provincial
government. Compare Livius, 45, c. 17.]
[Footnote 419: Pompeius was appointed by a Lex Manilia, in favour of
which Cicero spoke in an oration, which is still extant, Pro Lege
Manilia. See the Life of Pompeius, c. 30.]
[Footnote 420: This is the Greek [Greek: daphnê] δάφνη, and the Roman
Laurus, which is incorrectly translated "laurel."]
[Footnote 421: Compare Life of Pompeius, c. 31, Dion Cassius, 36, c.
29. and Velleius Patercules, ii. 33.]
[Footnote 422: The Caspian Lake was sometimes so called from the
Hyrkani, who occupied the country on the south-east side of this great
lake.]
[Footnote 423: See the Life of Crassus.]
[Footnote 424: This Caius Memmius was tribune of the Plebs in the year
B.C. 66, in which year Lucullus returned to Rome. Memmius was not
satisfied with prosecuting M. Lucullus; he revenged himself for his
failure by debauching his wife, to which Cicero alludes in the
following passage (_Ad Attic._ i. 18): "C. Memmius has initiated the
wife of M. Lucullus in his own sacred rites. Menelaus (M. Lucullus)
did not like this, and has divorced his wife. Though that shepherd of
Ida insulted Menelaus only; this Paris of ours has not considered
either that Menelaus or Agamemnon should be free." Cicero is here
alluding to the opposition which Memmius made to the triumph of L.
Lucullus. Memmius was a man of ability, but of dissolute habits. He
was accused of bribery at the consular election, and being convicted,
retired to Athens. Several letters of Cicero to him are still extant.
Lucretius dedicated his poem to Memmius. See the Note of Manutius on
Cicero, _Ad Familiares_, xiii. 1.
Orelli (_Onomastic._ C. Memmius Gemillus) refers to Cicero, _Pro
Balbo_, c. 2, to show that this Memmius was quæstor under Pompeius in
his Spanish campaign. But according to Plutarch, a Memmius fell in
battle in this war (Life of Sertorius, c. 21).]
[Footnote 425: Lucullus triumphed B.C. 63, in the consulship of
Cicero. (Cicero, _Academ. Prior_, ii. 1.)]
[Footnote 426: Servilia was the half sister of M. Porcius Cato the
younger. Livia, the daughter of M. Livius Drusus, who was consul B.C.
112 and the sister of the tribune M. Livius Drusus B.C. 91, was
married to M. Porcius Cato, by whom she became the mother of M.
Porcius Cato the younger, or of Utica. She was divorced from Cato, and
then married Q. Servilius Cæpio, the brother of the Cæpio who was
defeated by the Cimbri. Some critics made Cæpio her first husband. She
had by Cæpio a daughter Servilia, who married L. Lucullus, and another
Servilia, who married M. Junius Brutus and was the mother of M. Junius
Brutus, one of the assassins of C. Julius Cæsar. Plutarch in various
passages clearly distinguishes these two women, though some critics
think there was only one Servilia. Cæsar was a lover of the mother of
Brutus, and he gave her an estate at Naples. (Cicero, _Ad Attic_, xiv.
21.)]
[Footnote 427: This is the word of Plutarch ([Greek: tês
aristokratias] τῆς ἀριστοκρατιᾶς), which he seems to use here like the
Roman "Nobilitas" to express the body of the Nobiles or Optimates, as
they were called by a term which resembled the Greek [Greek: aristoi]
άριστοι. (See Tiberius Gracchus, c. 10, notes.)]
[Footnote 428: The original is made somewhat obscure by the words
[Greek: hôsper ou] ὥσπερ οὐ, which introduce the concluding sentence;
it is not always easy to see in such cases whose is the opinion that
is expressed. Plutarch means to say that Lucullus thought that luxury
was more suitable to his years than war or affairs of state, and that
Pompeius and Crassus differed from him on this point. Compare the Life
of Pompeius, c. 48.]
[Footnote 429: These gardens in the reign of Claudius belonged to
Valerius Asiaticus. Messalina the wife of Claudius, coveted the
gardens, and Valerius, after being charged with various offences was
graciously allowed by the emperor to choose his own way of dying. In
these same gardens Messalina was put to death. (Tacitus, _Ann._ xi. 1.
37.)]
[Footnote 430: There is the tunnel near Naples, called Posilipo, which
is a Roman work, and is described by Strabo (p. 246); but its date is
unknown.]
[Footnote 431: Tubero the Stoic was Q. Ælius Tubero, who was Tribune
of the Plebs B.C. 133 and opposed Tiberius Gracchus. He was also an
opponent of Caius (Cicero, _Brutus_, c. 31, and Meyer's notes). But
this cannot be the contemporary of Lucullus, and Plutarch either means
Q. Ælius Tubero the historian, or he has mistaken the period of Tubero
the Stoic. Ruhnken proposes to read in the text of Plutarch
"historian" for "stoic," but it is better to suppose that Plutarch was
mistaken, about the age of the Stoic. The ownership of good sayings is
seldom undisputed. Velleius Paterculus (ii. 83) attributes this to
Pompeius Magnus. The allusion is to Xerxes the Persian, who dug a
canal through the flat isthmus which connects the rocky peninsula of
Athos with the mainland (Herodotus, vii. 22), which still exists.]
[Footnote 432: There is some corruption in the text; but the general
meaning is clear enough.]
[Footnote 433: This is the story which Q. Horatius Flaccus tells in
his Epistolæ, Lib. i. Ep. 6.]
[Footnote 434: This is one of many like indications in Plutarch of his
good opinion of his countrymen. Compare the life of Crassus, c. 8,
where he is speaking of Spartacus.]
[Footnote 435: Plutarch's allusion would be intelligible to a Greek,
but hardly so to a Roman, unless he was an educated man. A prytaneum
in a Greek city was a building belonging to the community, on the
altar of which was kept the ever-burning fire. In the prytaneum of
Athens, entertainments were given both to foreign ambassadors and to
citizens who had merited the distinction of dining in the prytaneum, a
privilege that was given sometimes for life, and sometimes for a
limited period. As the town-hall of any community is in a manner the
common home of the citizens, so Plutarch compares the house of
Lucullus, which was open to all strangers, with the public hall of a
man's own city.]
[Footnote 436: Plato established his school in the Academia, a grove
near Athens; whence the name of the place, Academia, was used to
signify the opinions of the school of Plato and of those schools which
were derived from his. Speusippus, the nephew of Plato, was his
successor in the Academy, and he was followed by Xenokrates, and other
teachers who belong to the Old Academy, as it is called, among whom
were Polemo, Krates, and Krantor. The New Academy, that is, the
philosophical sect so called, was established by Arcesilaus; who was
succeeded by several teachers of little note. Karneades, a native of
Cyrene, the man mentioned by Plutarch, was he who gave to the New
Academy its chief repute. Philo was not the immediate pupil of
Karneades. He was a native of Larissa, and during the war with
Mithridates he came to Rome, where he delivered lectures. Cicero was
one of his hearers, and often mentions him. Philo according to Cicero
(_Academ._ i. i) denies that there were two Academies. Antiochus, of
Askalon, was a pupil of Philo, but after he had founded a school of
his own he attempted to reconcile the doctrines of the Old Academy
with those of the Peripatetics and Stoics; and he became an opponent
of the New Academy. Antiochus was with Lucullus in Egypt. (Cicero,
_Academ. Prior._ ii. c. 4.) The usual division of the Academy is into
the Old and New; but other divisions also were made. The first and
oldest was the school of Plato, the second or middle was that of
Arkesilaus, and the third was that of Karneades and Kleitomachus. Some
make a fourth, the school of Philo and Charmidas; and a fifth, which
was that of Antiochus. (Sextus Empiricus, _Pyrrh. Hypot._ i. 220.)]
[Footnote 437: This is the Second Book of the Academica Priora, in
which Lucullus, Catulus, Cicero, and Hortensius arr represented as
discussing the doctrines of the Academy in the villa of Hortensius at
Bauli.]
[Footnote 438: Plutarch's word is [Greek: katalêpsis] κατάληψις, the
word that was used by the Academics. Cicero translates [Greek:
katalêpsis] κατάληψις by the Latin word Comprehensio. The doctrine
which Lucullus maintains is that the sensuous perception is true. "If
all perceptions are such, as the New Academy maintained them to be,
that they may be false or cannot be distinguished from what are true,
how, it is asked, can we say of anyone that he has come to a
conclusion or discovered anything?" (_Academ. Prior_, ii. c. 9.) The
doctrine as to the impossibility of knowing anything, as taught by
Karneades, is explained by Sextus Empiricus (_Advers. Mathematicos_,
vii. 159). The doctrine of the incomprehensible nature of things, that
there is nothing certain to be collected either from the sense or the
understanding, that there is no [Greek: katalêpsis] κατάληψις
(comprehensio), comprehension, may be collected from the passages
given in Ritter and Preller, _Historia Philosophiæ Græco-Romanæ_, p.
396, Academic Novi.]
[Footnote 439: Dion Cassius (37, c. 49) states that during the
consulship of Lucius Afranius and Q. Metellus Celer B.C. 60, Pompeius,
who had brought about their election, attempted to carry a law for the
distribution of lauds among his soldiers and the ratification of all
his acts during his command. This is the Agrarian Law which was
proposed by the tribune Flavius, but opposed by the Senate. (Cicero,
_Ad Attic._ i. 19.) Afranius was, if we may trust Cicero, a
contemptible fellow; and Metellus now quarrelled with Pompeius,
because Pompeius had divorced Mucia, the sister of Metellus, as Dion
calls her, for incontinence during his absence. Cicero says that the
divorce was much approved. Mucia was not the sister of Metellus; but
she was probably a kinswoman. The divorce, however, could only have
been considered a slight affair; for Mucia was incontinent, and
divorces were no rare things at Rome. The real ground of the
opposition of Metellus to Pompeius was fear of his assumption of still
further power. From this time Horatius (_Carm._ ii. 1, "Motum ex
Metello Consule civicum") dates the beginning of the Civil Wars of his
period. See Life of Pompeius, c. 46, and of Cato the Younger, c. 31.]
[Footnote 440: It is Brettius in the text of Plutarch, which is
evidently a mistake for Bettius, that is, Vettius. This affair of
Vettius cannot be cleared up. He had been an informer in the matter of
Catiline's conspiracy, and he had attempted to implicate C. Julius
Cæsar in it: which of the two parties caused him to be assassinated is
doubtful. This affair of Vettius is spoken of by Cicero, _Ad Attic._
ii. 24, Dion Cassius, 38, c. 9, Appian, _Civil Wars_, ii. 12. The
history of this affair of Vettius is given by Drumann, _Geschichte
Roms_, ii. 334, P. Clodius.]
[Footnote 441: Kaltwasser translates it "he put himself to death:"
perhaps the words may have either meaning.]
[Footnote 442: See the Life of Cicero, c. 31, and Life of Cato, c. 34.
Cicero was banished B.C. 58, and Cato was sent to Cyprus in the same
year. Lucullus probably did not survive beyond the year B.C. 56. He
was older than Cn. Pompeius Magnus, who was born B.C. 106.
The character of Lucullus may be collected from Plutarch. He was a man
of talent and of taste, a brave soldier, a skilful general and a man
of letters. Cicero in the first chapter of the second book of the
Academica Priora has passed a high eulogium on him. He was fond of
wealth and luxury, but humane and of a mild temper. He was no match
for the cunning of Pompeius, or the daring temper of Cæsar; and he was
not cruel enough to have acted with the decision which the troublesome
times required that he just lived to see. The loss of his History of
the Marsic War is much to be lamented. It is singular that Sulla's
Memoirs which he revised, and his own work, have not been preserved,
for we must suppose that copies of them were abundant; and they were
extant in Plutarch's time.
The history of the campaigns of Lucullus in Asia would have been
interesting. It is worth recording that we are indebted to him for the
cherry, which he brought from Cerasus (Plin. _Hist. Nat._ xv. 30) into
Europe; the name of the fruit still records the place from which it
was brought. As a collector of books, a lover of ornamental gardening
and parks stocked with animals, and a friend to all the arts and
sciences, Lucullus was of all the luxurious Romans the most
magnificent and the most refined. He left a son by Servilia, whose
name was probably Lucius. This son joined the party of Cato and M.
Brutus. After the battle of Philippi B.C. 42, he was overtaken in the
pursuit, and put to death at the command of M. Antonius. No children
of this son are mentioned.
Marcus, the brother of Plutarch's Lucius Licinius, was consul B.C. 73.
It is not known how long he survived his brother, but he died before
the commencement of the second Civil War (Vell. Paterc. ii. 49), that
which broke out between Cæsar and Pompeius B.C. 50.]