deeds of the Romans, tell the story of this Marcus Coriolanus. This
Marcus, as he was formerly called and later Gnæus, had along with
these the name of Coriolanus. When the Romans were warring against the
city of Coriolanus [_sic_], and had all turned to flight at full
speed, the man himself turned toward the hostile city and finding it
open alone set fire to it. As the flames rose brilliantly he mounted
his horse and with great force fell upon the rear of the barbarians,
who were bringing headlong flight upon the Romans. They wheeled about
and when they saw the fire consuming the city, thinking it was sacked
they fled in another direction. He, having saved the Romans and sacked
the city, which we have already said was called Coriolanus, received,
in addition to his former names Marcus and Gnæus, the title of
Coriolanus, from the rout. But (the usual treatment that jealousy
accords to benefactors) after a little in the course of reflections
they fine the man. The man excessively afflicted with most just wrath
leaves his wife, his mother, and his country, and goes to the Corioli,
and they receive the man. Then after that they arrayed themselves
against the Romans. And had not his spouse and mother at the breaking
out of that war run and torn apart their tunics and stood about him
naked,--Veturia and Volumnia were their names,--and checked him with
difficulty from the battle against the Romans, Rome would have made a
resolve to honor benefactors. But brought to a halt by the prayers of
his mother and of his spouse he stopped the war against the Romans,
and he himself leaving behind the Corioli and the Romans hurried to
another land, smitten by sorrow. (Tzetzes, Hist. 6, 527-560. Cp.
Haupt, _Hermes_, XIV.)
5. I pass over mention of the noble Marcus Coriolanus, and with Marcus
himself also Marcus Corvinus; of whom the one, having sacked unaided a
city named Coriolanus and burned it down, although the entire army of
the Romans had been routed, was called Coriolanus, though otherwise
termed Marcus. (Tzetzes, Hist. 3, 856-861.)
[Frag. XVIII]
[Sidenote: B.C. 486 (_a.u._ 268)] Cassius after benefiting the Romans
was put to death by that very people. So that thereby it is made plain
that there is no element deserving confidence in multitudes. On the
contrary they destroy men who are altogether devoted to them no less
than men guilty of the greatest wrongs. With respect to the interest of
the moment on various occasions they deem those great who are the cause
of benefits to them, but when they have profited to the full by such
men's services they no longer regard them as having any nearer claims
than bitterest foes. For Cassius, although he indulged them, they killed
because of the very matters on which he prided himself: and it is
manifest that he perished through envy and not as a result of some
injustice committed. (Mai, p.150.)
[Frag. XIX]
1. For the men from time to time in power when they became unable to
restrain them by any other method stirred up purposely wars after wars
in order that they might be kept busy attending to those conflicts and
not disturb themselves about the land. (Mai, ib. Zonaras 7, 17.)
2. At any rate they were so inflamed with rage by each of the two as
to promise with an oath victory to their generals: with regard to the
immediate attack they thought themselves actually lords of fortune.
(Mai, p.150.)
3. ¶It is natural for the majority of the human race to quarrel with
any opposing force even beyond what is to its own advantage and upon
those who yield to bestow a benefit in turn even beyond its power.
(Mai, p.151.)
[Frag. XX]
[Sidenote: B.C. 477 (_a.u._ 277)] 1. ¶The Fabii, who on the basis of
birth and wealth made pretensions equal with the noblest, very quickly
indeed saw that they were dejected. For when persons involve themselves
in many undertakings that are at the same time hard to manage, they can
discover no device for confronting the multitude and array of dangers,
and give up as hopeless quite easy projects: after which their sober
judgments and, contrary to what one would expect, their very opinions
cause them to lose heart and they voluntarily abandon matters in hand
with the idea that their labor will be but vain; finally they surrender
themselves to unforseen dispensations of Heaven and await whatever
Chance may bring. (Mai, p.151. Zonaras 7,17.)
2. ¶The Fabii, three hundred and six in number, were killed, by the
Etruscans. Thus the arrogance which arises from confidence in valor is
ofttimes ruined by its very boldness, and the boastfulness which comes
from good fortune runs mad and suffers a complete reverse. (Mai, ib.
Zonaras 7, 17.)
3. For whom (plur.) the Romans grieved, both in private and with
public demonstrations, to a greater degree than the number of the lost
would seem to warrant. That number was not small, especially since it
was composed entirely of patricians, but they further felt, when they
stopped to consider the reputation and the resolute spirit of these
men that all their strength had perished. For this reason they
inscribed among the accursed days that one on which they had been
destroyed and put under the ban the gates through which they had
marched out, so that no magistrate might pass through them. And they
condemned Titus Menenius the prætor,--it was in his year that the
disaster took place,--when he was later accused before the people of
not having assisted the unfortunates and of having been subsequently
defeated in battle. (Valesius, p.578.)
[Frag. XXI]
1. ¶The patricians openly took scarcely any retaliatory measures,
except in a few cases, where they adjured some one of the gods, but
secretly slaughtered a number of the boldest spirits. Nine tribunes on
one occasion were delivered to the flames by the populace. This did
not, however, restrain the rest: on the contrary, those who in turn
held the tribuneship after that occurrence were rather filled with
hope in the matter of their own quarrels than with fear as a result of
the fate of their predecessors. Hence, so far from being calmed, they
were even the more emboldened by those very proceedings. For they put
forward the torture of the former tribunes as a justification of the
vengeance they would take really in their own behalf; and they got
great pleasure out of the idea that they might possibly, contrary to
expectation, survive without harm. The consequence was that some of
the patricians, being unable to accomplish anything in the other way,
transferred themselves to the ranks of the populace: they thought its
humble condition far preferable, considered in the light of their
desire for the tribunician power, to the weakness of their own
ornamental titles,--especially so because many held the office a
second and third and even greater number of times in succession,
although there was a prohibition against any one's taking the position
twice. (Mai, p. 152. Zonaras 7, 17.)
2. ¶ The populace was incited to this course by the patricians
themselves. For the policy which the latter pursued with an eye to
their own advantage, that of always having some wars in readiness for
them, so that the people might be compelled by the dangers from
without to practice moderation,--this policy, I say, only rendered the
people bolder. By refusing to go on a campaign unless they obtained
in each instance the objects of their striving and by contending
listlessly whenever they did take the field, they accomplished all
that they desired. Meanwhile, as a matter of fact, not a few of the
neighboring tribes, relying on the dissension of their foes more than
on their own power, kept revolting. (Mai, ib. Zonaras 7, 17.)
[Frag. XXII]
1. ¶The Æqui after capturing Tusculum and conquering Marcus [Footnote:
Other accounts give his name as _Lucius_ or _Quintus_.] Minucius became
so proud that, in the case of the Roman ambassadors whom the latter
people sent to chide them regarding the seizure of the place, they made
no answer at all to the censure but after designating by the mouth of
their general, Cloelius Gracchus, a certain oak, bade them speak to it,
if they desired aught. (Ursinus, p.373. Zonaras 7, 17.)
2. That the Romans on learning that Minucius with some followers had
been intercepted in a low-lying, bushy place elected as dictator
against the enemy Lucius Quintius, in spite of the fact that he was a
poor man and at the time was engaged in tilling with his own hands the
little piece of ground which was his sole possession: for in general
he was the peer in valor of the foremost and was distinguished by his
wise moderation; though he did let his hair grow in curls, from which
practice he received the nickname of Cincinnatus. (Valesius, p.578.
Zonaras 7, 17.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 449 (_a.u._ 305)] 2. ¶Affairs of state and camp alike
were thrown into confusion. For the men under arms in their zealous
eagerness that no success should attend those who held the power
voluntarily surrendered both public and private interests. The other
side, too, took no pleasure in the death of their own members at the
hands of opponents, but themselves likewise destroyed in some convenient
manner many of the most active persons who espoused the cause of the
populace. As a result no small contention arose between them. (Mai,
p.153. Zonaras, 7, 18.)
3. For they [Footnote: This must mean the "military tribunes with
consular powers."]reached such a pitch of emulation and next of jealous
rivalry of one another that they no longer, as the custom had been, all
held office as one body, but each of them individually in turn; and the
consequence was by no means beneficial. Since each one of them had in
view his own profit and not the public weal and was more willing that
the State should be injured, if it so happened, than that his colleagues
should obtain credit, many unfortunate occurrences took place. (Mai,
ib.)
4. ¶Democracy consists not in all winning absolutely the same prizes,
but in every man's obtaining his deserts. [Footnote: Seemingly an excerpt
from a speech of one of the optimates, though possibly a remark by Dio
himself.] (Mai, p.154.)
[Frag. XXIII]
1[lacuna]. to have happened as the law of triumphs enjoins, about which
Dio Cocceianus writes. And if it seems to you an irksome thing to delve
into books of ancient writers, at all events I will explain cursorily,
as best I may, the entertainments pertaining to the triumph. They cause
the celebrator of the triumph to ascend a car, smear his face with earth
of Sinope or cinnabar (representing blood) to screen his blushes, fasten
armlets on his arms, and put a laurel wreath and a branch of laurel in
his right hand. Upon his head they also place a crown of some kind of
wood having inscribed upon it his exploits or his experiences. A public
slave, standing in the back part of the chariot holds up the crown,
saying in his ear: "See also what comes after." Bells and a whip dangle
from the pole of the chariot. Next he runs thrice about the place in a
circle, mounts the stairs on his knees and there lays aside the
garlands. After that he departs home, accompanied by musicians. (Tzetzes
Epist. 107, p. 86.)
[Therefore the following words of Zonaras (7, 21) correspond nearly
with those of Dio, concerning the popular anger against Camillus on
account of his triumph (according to Plutarch's Camillus, Chap.
7).--Editor]
The celebration of the triumphal festivities, which they called
_thriambos_, was of somewhat the following nature. When any great
success, worthy of a triumph, had been gained, the general was
immediately saluted as imperator by the soldiers, and he would bind
twigs of laurel upon the rods and deliver them to the runners to
carry, who announced the victory to the city. On arriving home he
would assemble the senate and ask to have the triumph voted him. And
if he obtained a vote from the senate and from the people, his title
of imperator was confirmed. If he still held the office in the course
of which he happened to be victorious, he continued to enjoy it while
celebrating the festival; but if the term of his office had expired,
he received some other name connected with it, since it was forbidden
a private individual to hold a triumph. Arrayed in the triumphal dress
he took armlets, and with a laurel crown upon his head and holding a
branch in his right hand he called together the people. After praising
his comrades of the campaign he presented some both publicly and
privately with money: he honored them also with decorations, and upon
some he bestowed armlets and spears without the iron; crowns, too, he
gave to some of gold and to others of silver, bearing the name of each
man and the representation of his particular feat. For example, either
a man had been first to mount a wall and the crown bore the figure of
a wall, or he had captured some point by storm, and a likeness of that
particular place had been made. A man might have won a battle at sea
and the crown had been adorned with ships, or one might have won a
cavalry fight and some equestrian figure had been represented. He who
had rescued a citizen from battle or other peril, or from a siege, had
the greatest praise and would receive a crown fashioned of oak, which
was esteemed as far more honorable than all, both the silver and the
gold. And these rewards would be given not only to men singly, as each
had shown his prowess, but were also bestowed upon cohorts and whole
armies. Much of the spoils was likewise assigned to the sharers in the
campaign. Some have been known to extend their distributions even to
the entire populace and have gone to expense for the festival and
obtained public appropriations: if anything was left over, they would
spend it for temples, porticos or for some public work.
After these ceremonies the triumphator ascended his chariot. Now the
chariot did not resemble one used in games or in war, but had been
made in the shape of a round tower. And he would not be alone in the
chariot, but if he had children or relatives he would make the girls
and the infant male children get up beside him in it and place those
who were grown upon the horses, outriggers as well as the yoke-pair.
If these were many, they would accompany the procession on chargers,
riding along beside the triumphator. None of the rest rode, but all
went on foot wearing laurel wreaths. A public servant, however, rode
also upon the chariot itself holding over him the crown made of
precious stones set in gold and kept saying to him "Look behind!", the
"behind" meaning naturally "Look ahead at the ensuing years of life,
and do not be elated or puffed up by your present fortune." Both a
bell and a whip were fastened to the chariot, signifying that it was
possible for him to meet misfortune as well, to the extent of being
disgraced or condemned to death. It was customary for those who had
been condemned to die for any offence to wear a bell, to the end that
no one should approach them as they walked along and so be affected
with pollution.
Thus arrayed they entered the city, having at the head of the
procession the spoils and trophies and in images the captured forts
displayed, cities and mountains and rivers, lakes, seas,--everything
that they had taken. If one day sufficed for the exhibition of these
things in procession, well and good: otherwise, the celebration was
held during a second and a third. When these adjuncts had gone on
their way the triumphator reached the Roman Forum and after commanding
that some of the captives be led to prison and put to death he rode up
to the Capitol. There, when he had fulfilled certain rites and had
brought offerings and had dined in the buildings on the hill, toward
evening he departed homeward, accompanied by flutes and pipes.
Such were the triumphs in old times. Factions and powerful cliques
attempted very frequently revolutionary movements on those occasions.
All the matters pertaining to the triumphal, the curule chair the
letter contains. What need to write again? How after anointing with
cinnabar or else Sinopian earth the man who held a triumph they put
him on a chariot and placed upon his head a golden crown bearing
plainly marked all he had accomplished: in the man's hand they lay a
laurel sprig; armlets they clasp about his arms: they crown all who
had gained distinction with crowns made out of silver material
inscribed with the feats of daring; and how upon the chariot a public
slave stands behind him holding up the crown and saying in his ear:
"see also what comes after"--all things important the letter contains.
(Tzetzes, Hist. 13, 41-54.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 395 (_a.u._ 359)] 2. ¶ The Romans after fighting many
battles against the Falisci, [Footnote: Perhaps Dio wrote _Fidenates_ or
_Veientes_ (Livy, IV, 32), and _Falisci_ is due to the copyist,
although, to be sure, there were wars with the last named (Livy, IV,
18). Whether the transference of Juno from Veii to Rome (Livy, V, 22) or
the lectisternia just established about this time (Livy, V, 13)
constitutes the topic discussed is a matter respecting which scholars
differ.] and after many sufferings and achievements as well, despised
their ancestral rites and took up with foreign ones in the idea that the
latter would suffice them. Human nature is for some reason accustomed in
trouble to scorn what is usual even though it be divine, and to admire
the untried. Thinking, as men do, that they are not helped by it at the
present, they expect no benefit in the future, but from what is strange
they hope to accomplish whatever they may wish, by means of its novelty.
(Mai, p. 153.)
3. ¶ The Romans, who were besieging the city of the Falisci would have
consumed much time encamped before it, had not an incident of the
following nature occurred. A school teacher of the place who instructed
a number of children of good family, either under the influence of anger
or through hope of gain led them all outside the wall, supposedly for
some different purpose from his real one. They had so great an abundance
of courage that they followed him even then. And he took them to
Camillus, saying that in their persons he surrendered to him the whole
city: for the inhabitants would no longer resist them when those dearest
to them were held prisoners. However, he [Sidenote: B.C. 393 (_a.u._
361)] to accomplish aught; for Camillus, filled with a sense of the
conduct proper for Romans and also of the liability to failure of human
plans, would not agree to take them by treachery: instead, he bound the
traitor's hands behind his back and delivered him to the children
themselves to lead home again.
After this episode the Falisci held out no longer, but in spite of the
fact that they were securely entrenched and had ample resources to
continue the war nevertheless came to terms voluntarily. They felt sure
it would be no ordinary friendship that they would enjoy at the hands of
one, whom, as an enemy even, they had found so just. (Valesius, p. 578.
Cp. Zonaras, 7, 22.)
4. Accordingly Camillus became on this account an object of even
greater jealousy to the citizens, and he was indicted by the tribunes
on the charge of not having benefited the public treasury with the
plunder of the Veii; and before the trial he voluntarily withdrew.
(Valesius, ib. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 22.)
5. In Dio's 7th Book: "When he had ended his term of office they
indicted him and imposed a money fine, not bringing him into danger of
his life." [Footnote: Boissevain believes that this fragment does not
refer to Camillus, and that the number of the Book is possibly a
corruption. He would locate it earlier.](Bekker, Anecd. p. 146, 21.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 393 (_a.u._ 361)]6. To such a degree did not only the
populace nor all those who were somewhat jealous of his reputation
merely, but his best friends and his relatives, too, feel envy toward
him that they did not even attempt to hide it. When he asked some of
them for support in his case, and others to deposit the money for his
release, they refused to assist him in regard to the vote but simply
promised, if he were convicted, to estimate the proper money value and
to help him pay the amount of the fine. This led him to take an oath in
anger that the city should have need of him; and he went over to the
Rutuli before accusation was brought against him. [Footnote: Very likely
the copyist erred here. The sense requires "before sentence was passed
upon him."] (Mai, p. 154. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 22.)
[Frag. XXIV]
[Sidenote: B.C. 391 (_a.u._ 363)] 1. ¶ The cause of the Gallic
expedition was this. The Clusini had endured hard treatment in the war
from the Gauls and fled for refuge to the Romans, having considerable
hope that they could obtain certainly some little help in that
quarter, from the fact that they had not taken sides with the people
of Veii, though of the same race. When the Romans failed to vote them
aid, but sent ambassadors to the Gauls and negotiated peace for them,
they came very near accepting it (it was offered them in return for a
part of the land); however, they attacked the barbarians after the
conference and took the Roman envoys into battle along with them. The
Gauls, vexed at seeing them on the opposite side, at first sent men to
Rome, preferring charges against the envoys. Since, however, no
punishment was visited upon the latter, but they were all, on the
contrary, appointed consular tribunes, they were filled with
wrath--being naturally quick to anger--and, as they held the Clusini
in contempt, started for Rome. (Ursinus, p.373. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 23.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 364 (_a.u._ 390)] 2. ¶ The Romans after withstanding
the inroads of the Gauls had no time to recover breath, but went
immediately from their march into battle, just as they were, and lost.
Panic-stricken by the unexpectedness of the invaders' hostile
expedition, by their numbers, their physical dimensions, and their
voices uttering some foreign and terrifying sound they forgot their
training in military science and after that lost possession of their
valor. A good comprehension contributes very largely to bravery, because
when present it confirms the strength of a man's resolution and when
lacking destroys the same more thoroughly by far, than if such a thing
had never existed at all. Many persons without experience often carry
things through by the violence of their spirit, but those who fail of
the discipline which they have learned lose also their strength of
purpose. This caused the defeat of the Romans. (Mai, p.154. Cp. Zonaras,
7, 23.)
3. Coclius Horatius was by race a Roman. He, when on one occasion the
army of the Romans had been routed, so that there was danger of their
opponents occupying Rome, alone withstood them all at the wooden
bridge, while Marcus cut it down behind Minucius. When it had been cut
down, Coclius too crossed the Tiber, having saved himself and Rome by
the cutting of the bridge. Yet, as he swam, he might have been struck
by a spear of the enemy. To him the senate presents lands (as a reward
for his excellent bravery) as much as he could mark out in a day with
cattle fastened to a plow. He was called Coclius in the Roman tongue
because he had lost one of his eyes before he fought. (Tzetzes, Hist.
3, 818-830. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)
[Sidenote: B. C 364 (_a.u._ 390)] 4. ¶ The Romans who were on the
Capitol under siege had no hope of safety unless from heavenly powers.
So scrupulously did they observe the mandates of religion, although in
every extremity of evil, that when it was requisite for one of the
sacred rites to be performed by the pontifices in another part of the
city Cæso [Footnote: Very likely the copyist erred here. The sense
requires "before sentence was passed upon him."] Fabius, who exercised
the office of priest, descended for the purpose from the Capitol after
receiving his charge, as he had been accustomed to do, and passing
through the enemy performed the customary ceremony and returned the same
day. I am led to admire the barbarians on the one hand because either on
account of the gods or his bravery they spared him: and far more do I
feel admiration for the man himself for two reasons, that he dared to
descend alone among the enemy, and that when he might have withdrawn to
some place of safety he refused and instead voluntarily returned up the
Capitol again to a danger that he foresaw: he understood that they
hesitated to abandon the spot which was the only part of their country
they still held but saw at the same time that no matter how much they
desired to escape it was impossible to do so by reason of the multitude
of the besiegers. (Valesius, p.581.)
5. ¶ Camillus, being urged to let the leadership be entrusted to him,
would not allow it because he was an exile and could not take the
position according to time-honored usage. He showed himself so
law-abiding and exact a man that in so great a danger to his native
land he made precedent a matter of earnest thought and did not think
it right to hand down to posterity an example of lawlessness.
(Valesius, p.582. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 23.)