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Title: Dio's Rome, Vol VI.
An Historical Narrative Originally Composed In Greek During The
Reigns Of Septimius Severus, Geta And Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus
And Alexander Severus
Author: Cassius Dio
Release Date: April 16, 2004 [EBook #12061]
Language: English
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DIO'S ROME
AN
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
ORIGINALLY COMPOSED IN GREEK
DURING THE REIGNS OF
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, GETA
AND CARACALLA, MACRINUS,
ELAGABALUS AND ALEXANDER SEVERUS:
AND
NOW PRESENTED IN ENGLISH FORM
BY
HERBERT BALDWIN FOSTER,
A.B. (Harvard), Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins),
Acting Professor of Greek in Lehigh University
SIXTH VOLUME
I. Books 77-80 (A.D. 211-229).
II. Fragments of Books 1-21 (Melber's Arrangement).
III. Glossary of Latin Terms.
IV. General Index.
1905
PAFRAETS BOOK COMPANY
TROY NEW YORK
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
77
Antoninus begins his reign by having various persons assassinated,
among them his brother Geta (chapters 1-3).
Cruelty of Antoninus toward Papinianus, Cilo, and others (chapters
4-6).
Antoninus as emulator of Alexander of Macedon (chapters 7, 8).
His levies and extravagance (chapters 9-11).
His treachery toward Abgarus of Osrhoene, toward the Armenian king,
the Parthian king, and the Germans (chapters 12, 13).
The Cenni conquer Antoninus in battle (chapter 14).
He strives to drive out his disease of mind by consulting spirits and
oracles (chapter 15).
Slaughter of vestals, insults to the senate, demise of others contrary
to his mother's wishes (chapters 16-18).
Antoninus's Parthian war (chapters 19-21).
Massacres of Alexandrians caused by Antoninus (chapters 22-24).
DURATION OF TIME.
Q. Epidius Rufus Lollianus Gentianus, Pomponius Bassus (A.D. 211 = a.
u. 964 = First of Antoninus, from Feb. 4th).
C. Iulius Asper (II), C. Iulius Asper. (A.D. 212 = a.u. 965 = Second
of Antoninus.)
Antoninus Aug. (IV), D. Coelius Balbinus (II). (A.D. 213 = a.u. 966 =
Third of Antoninus.)
Silius Messala, Sabinus. (A.D. 214 = a.u. 967 = Fourth of Antoninus.)
Lætus (II), Cerealis. (A.D. 215 = a.u. 968 = Fifth of Antoninus.)
C. Attius Sabinus (II), Cornelius Annullinus. (A.D. 216 = a.u. 969 =
Sixth of Antoninus.)
(_BOOK 78, BOISSEVAIN_.)
[Sidenote: A.D. 211 (_a.u._ 964)] [Sidenote:--1--] After this Antoninus
secured the entire power. Nominally he ruled with his brother, but in
reality alone and at once. With the enemy he came to terms, withdrew
from their country, and abandoned the forts. But his own people he
either dismissed (as Papinianus the prefect) or else killed (as Euodus,
his nurse, Castor, and his wife Plautilla, and the latter's brother
Plautius). In Rome itself he also executed a man who was renowned for no
other reason than his profession, which made him very conspicuous. This
was Euprepes, the charioteer; he killed him when the man dared to show
enthusiasm for a cause that the emperor opposed. So Euprepes died in
old age after having been crowned in an endless number of horse-races.
He had won seven hundred and eighty-two of them,--a record equaled by
none other.
Antoninus had first had the desire to murder his brother while his
father was still alive, but had been unable to do so at that time
because of Severus, or later, on the road, because of the legions. The
men felt very kindly toward the younger son, especially because in
appearance he was the very image of his father. But when Antoninus
arrived in Rome, he got rid of this rival also. The two pretended to
love and commend each other, but their actions proved quite the reverse
to be true, and anybody could see that some catastrophe would result
from their relations. This fact was recognized even prior to their
reaching Rome. When it had been voted by the senate to sacrifice in
behalf of their harmony both to the other gods and to Harmony herself,
the assistants made ready a victim to be sacrificed to Harmony and the
consul arrived to do the slaughtering; yet he could not find them, nor
could the assistants find the consul. They spent nearly the whole night
looking for each other, so that the sacrifice could not be performed on
that occasion. The next day two wolves climbed the Capitol, but were
chased away from that region: one of them was next encountered somewhere
in the Forum, and the other was later slain outside the pomerium. This
is the story about those two animals.
[Sidenote:--2---] It was Antoninus's wish to murder his brother at the
Saturnalia, but he was not able to carry out his intention. The danger
had already grown too evident to be concealed. As a consequence, there
were many violent meetings between the two,--both feeling that they were
being plotted against,--and many precautionary measures were taken on
both sides. As many soldiers and athletes, abroad and at home, day and
night, were guarding Geta, Antoninus persuaded his mother to send for
him and his brother and have them come along to her house with a view to
being reconciled. Geta without distrust went in with him. When they were
well inside, some centurions suborned by Antoninus rushed in a body.
Geta on seeing them had run to his mother, and as he hung upon her neck
and clung to her bosom and breasts he was cut down, bewailing his fate
and crying out: "Mother that bore me, mother that bore me, help! I am
slain!!"
[Sidenote: A.D. 212 (_a.u._ 965)] Tricked in this way, she beheld her son
perishing by most unholy violence in her very lap, and, as it were,
received his death into her womb whence she had borne him. She was all
covered with blood, so that she made no account of the wound she had
received in her hand. She might neither mourn nor weep for her son,
although, untimely he had met so miserable an end (he was only
twenty-two years and nine months old): on the contrary, she was
compelled to rejoice and laugh as though enjoying some great piece of
luck. All her words, gestures, and changes of color were watched with
the utmost narrowness. She alone, Augusta, wife of the emperor, mother
of emperors, was not permitted to shed tears even in private over so
great a calamity.
[Sidenote:--3--] Antoninus, although it was evening, took possession of
the legions after bawling all the way along the road that he had been
the object of a plot and was in danger. On entering the fortifications,
he exclaimed: "Rejoice, fellow-soldiers, for now I have a chance to
benefit you!" Before they heard the whole story he had stopped their
mouths with so many and so great promises that they could neither think
nor speak anything decent. "I am one of you," he said, "it is on your
account alone that I care to live, that so I may afford you much
happiness. All the treasuries are yours." Indeed, he said this also: "I
pray if possible to live with you, but if not, at any rate to die with
you. I do not fear death in any form, and it is my desire to end my days
in warfare. There should a man die, or nowhere!"
To the senate on the following day he made various remarks and after
rising from his seat he went towards the door and said: "Listen to a
great announcement from me. That the whole world may be glad, let all
the exiles, who have been condemned on any complaint whatever in any way
whatever, be restored to full rights." Thus did he empty the islands of
exiles and grant pardon to the worst condemned criminals, but before
long he had the isles full again.
[Sidenote:--4--] The Cæsarians and the soldiers that had been with Geta
were suddenly put to death to the number of twenty thousand, men and
women alike, wherever in the palace any of them happened to be.
Antoninus slew also various distinguished men, among them Papinianus.
¶While the Pretorians accused Papianus (_sic_) and Patruinus
[Footnote: This is Valerius Patruinus.] for certain actions,
Antoninus allowed the complainants to kill them, and added the
following remark: "I hold sway for your advantage and not for my
own; therefore, I defer to you both as accusers and as judges."
He rebuked the murderer of Papinianus for using an axe instead of a
sword to give the finishing stroke.
He had also desired to deprive of life Cilo, his nurse and benefactor,
who had served as prefect of the city during his father's reign, whom he
had also often called father. The soldiers sent against him plundered
his silver plate, his robes, his money, and everything else that
belonged to him. Cilo himself they conducted along the Sacred Way,
making the palace their destination, where they prepared to give him his
quietus. He had low slippers [Footnote: Reading [Greek: blahytast] in the
place of the MS. [Greek: chlhapast]. This emendation is favored by Cobet
(Mnemosyne, N.S., X, p. 211) and Naber (Mnemosyne, N.S., XVI, p. 113).]
on his feet, since he had chanced to be in the bath when apprehended,
and wore an abbreviated tunic. The men rent his clothing open and
disfigured his face, so that the people and the soldiers stationed in
the city made clamorous objections. Therefore Antoninus, out of respect
and fear for them, met the party, and, shielding Cilo with his cavalry
cloak,--he was wearing military garb,--cried out: "Insult not my father!
Strike not my nurse!" The tribune charged with slaying him and the
soldiers in his contingent lost their lives, nominally for making plots
but really for not having killed their victim.
[Sidenote:--5--] [But Antoninus was so anxious to appear to love Cilo
that he declared: "Those who have plotted against him have plotted
against me." Commended for this by the bystanders, he proceeded: "Call
me neither Hercules nor the name of any other god;" not that he was
unwilling to be termed a god, but because he wished to do nothing worthy
of a god. He was naturally capricious in all matters, and would bestow
great honors upon people and then suddenly disgrace them, quite without
reason. He would save those who least deserved it and punish those whom
one would never have expected.
Julianus Asper was a man by no means contemptible, on account of his
education and good sense as well. He exalted him, together with his
sons, and after Asper had walked the streets surrounded by I don't know
how many fasces he without warning insulted him outrageously and
dismissed him to his native place [Footnote: I.e., Tusculum.] with abuse
and in mighty trepidation. Lætus, too, he would have disgraced or even
killed, had this man not been extremely sick. So the emperor before the
soldiers called his sickness "wicked," because it did not allow him to
display wickedness in one more case.
Again he made way with Thrasea Priscus, a person second to none in
family or intelligence.
Many others also, previously friends of his, he put to death.]
[Sidenote:--6--]
"Nay, I could not recite nor give the names all over"
[Footnote: From Homer's Iliad, II, verse 488.] of the distinguished men
whom he killed without any right. Dio, because the slain were very well
known in those days, even makes a list of them. For me it suffices to
say that he crushed the life out of everybody he chose, without
exception,
"whether the man was guilty or whether he was not ";
[Footnote: From Homer's Iliad, XV, verse 137.] and that he simply
mutilated Rome, by rendering it bereft of excellent men. [Antoninus was
allied to three races. And he possessed not a single one of their good
points, but included in himself all their vices. The lightness, the
cowardice, and recklessness of Gaul were his, the roughness and cruelty
of Africa, the abominations of Syria (whence he was on his mother's
side).] Veering from slaughter to sports, he pursued his murderous
course no less in the latter. Of course one would pay no attention to
an elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, and hippotigris being killed in the
theatre, but he took equal pleasure in having gladiators shed the
greatest amount of one another's blood. One of them, Bato, he forced
to fight three successive men on the same day, and then, when Bato
met death at the hands of the last, he honored him with a conspicuous
burial.
[Sidenote:--7--] He had Alexander on the brain to such an extent that he
used certain weapons and cups which purported to have belonged to the
great conqueror, and furthermore he set up many representations of him
both among the legions and in Rome itself. He organized a phalanx,
sixteen thousand men, of Macedonians alone, named it "Alexander's
phalanx," and equipped it with the arms which warriors had used in his
day. These were: a helmet of raw oxhide, a three-ply linen breastplate,
a bronze shield, long pike, short spear, high boots, sword. Not even
this, however, satisfied him, but he called his hero "The Eastern
Augustus." Once he wrote to the senate that Alexander had come on earth
again in, the body of the Augustus, [Footnote: Antoninus meant
himself.] so that when he had finished his own brief existence he might
enjoy a larger life in the emperor's person. The so-called Aristotelian
philosophers he hated bitterly, wishing even to burn their books, and he
abolished the common messes they had in Alexandria and all the other
privileges they enjoyed: his grievance, as stated, was the tradition
that Aristotle had been an accomplice in the death of Alexander.
This was the way he behaved in those matters. And, by Jupiter, he took
around with him numbers of elephants, that in this respect, too, he
might seem to be imitating Alexander, or rather, perhaps, Dionysus.
[Sidenote:--8--] On Alexander's account he was fond of all the
Macedonians. Once after praising a Macedonian tribune because the latter
had shown agility in jumping upon his horse, he enquired of him first:
"From what country are you?" Then, learning that he was a Macedonian, he
pursued: "What is your name?" Having thereupon heard that it was
Antigonus, he further questioned: "How was your father called?" When
the father's name was found to be Philip, he declared: "I have all my
desire." He straightway bestowed upon him the whole series of exalted
military honors and before a great while appointed him one of the
senators with the rank of an ex-prætor.
There was another man who had no connection with Macedonia, but had
committed many dreadful crimes, and for this reason was tried before him
in an appealed case. His name proved to be Alexander, and when the
orator accusing him said repeatedly "the bloodthirsty Alexander, the
god-detested Alexander," the emperor became angry, as if he were
personally slandered, and spoke out: "If Alexander doesn't suit you, you
may regard yourself as dismissed."
[Sidenote:--9--] Now this great Alexandrophile, Antoninus, [kept many
men about him, alleging reasons after reasons, all fictitious, and wars
upon wars. He had also this most frightful characteristic, that he was
fond of spending money not only upon the soldiers but for all other
projects with one sole end in view,--to] strip, despoil and grind down
all mankind, and the senators by no means least. [In the first place,
there were gold crowns that he kept demanding, on the constant pretext
that he had conquered some enemy or other (I am not speaking about the
actual manufacture of the crowns,--for what does that amount to?--but
the great sums of money constantly being given under that name by the
cities, for the "crowning" (as it is called) of their emperors). Then
there was the provisions which we were all the time levying in great
abundance from all quarters, sometimes seizing them without compensation
and sometimes spending a little something on them: all this supply he
presented or else peddled to the soldiers. And the gifts, which he
demanded from wealthy individuals and from states. And the taxes, both
the new ones which he published and the ten per cent. tax that he
instituted in place of the twenty per cent. to apply to the emancipation
of slaves, to bequests left to any one, and to all gifts; for he
abolished in such cases the right of succession and exemption from taxes
which had been accorded to those closely related to persons deceased.
This accounts for his giving the title of Romans to all the men in his
empire. Nominally it was to honor them, but his real purpose was to get
an increased income by such means, since foreigners did not have to pay
most of those taxes. But aside from all these] we were also compelled to
build at our own expense all sorts of dwellings for him whenever he took
a trip from Rome, and costly lodgings in the middle of even the very
shortest journeys. Yet not only did he never live in them but he had no
idea of so much as looking at a single one. Moreover, without receiving
any appropriation from him we constructed hunting-theatres and
race-courses at every point where he wintered or expected to winter.
They were all torn down without delay and apparently the sole purpose of
their being called into existence was to impoverish us.
[Sidenote:--10--] The emperor himself kept spending the money upon the
soldiers (as we said) and upon beasts and horses. He was forever
killing great collections of wild beasts, of horses, and also of
domestic animals, forcing us to contribute the majority of them, though
now and then he bought a few. One day he slew a hundred boars at once
with his own hands. He raced also in chariots, and then he would wear
the Blue costume. In all undertakings he was exceedingly hot-headed and
exceedingly fickle, and besides this he possessed the rascality of his
mother and of the Syrians, to which race she belonged. He would put up
some kind of freedman or other wealthy person as director of games
merely that in this occupation, too, the man might spend money. From
below he would make gestures of subservience to the audience with his
whip and would beg for gold pieces like one of the lowliest citizens. He
said that he used the same methods of chariot-driving as the Sun god,
and he took pride in the fact. Accordingly, during the whole extent of
his reign the whole earth, so far as it yielded obedience to him, was
plundered. Hence the Romans once at a horse-race uttered this among
other cries: "We are destroying the living in order to bury the dead."
The emperor would often say: "No man need have money but me, and I want
it to bestow it on the soldiers." Once when Julia chided him for his
great outlays upon them and said: "No longer is any resource, either
just or unjust, left to us," he replied, exhibiting his sword: "Cheer
up, mother: for, as long as we have this, money is not going to fail
us."
[Sidenote:--11--] To those who flattered him, however, he distributed
possessions and money.
¶Julius Paulus [Footnote: Undoubtedly a mistake for the _Julius
Paulinus_ subsequently mentioned.] was a man of consular rank,
who was a great chatterer and joker and would not refrain from
aiming his shafts of wit at the very emperors: therefore Severus
had him taken into custody, though without constraints. When he
still continued, even under guard, to make the sovereigns the
objects of his jests, Severus sent for him and swore that he
would cut off his head. But the man replied: "Yes, you can cut it
off, but as long as I have it, neither you nor I can restrain
it," and so Severus laughed and released him.
He granted to Julius Paulinus twenty-five myriads because the man, who
was a jester, had been led, though involuntarily, to make a joke upon
him. Paulinus had said that he actually resembled a man getting angry,
for somehow he was always assuming a fierce expression. [Footnote: None
of the editors, any more than the casual reader, has been able to find
anything of a sidesplitting nature in this joke. The trouble is, of
course, that the utterance sounds like a plain statement of fact.
Caracalla's natural disposition was harsh and irritable. Some have
changed the word "man" to "Pan (in anger)", but without gaining very
much. I offer for what it is worth the suggestion that a well-known
truth, especially in the case of personal characteristics, may sound
very amusing when pronounced in a quizzical or semi-ironical fashion by
a person possessing sufficient _vis comica_. Thus we may conceive
Paulinus, a professional jester, on meeting Antoninus to have blurted
out in a tone of mock surprise: "Why, anybody would really think you are
angry. You look so cross all the time!" There would then be a point in
the jest, but the point would lie not in the words but in the voice and
features of the speaker. Apart from this explanation of the possible
humor of the remark an excerpt of Peter Patricius (Exc. Vat. 143) gives
us to understand that it would be taken as a compliment by Antoninus
from the mouth of a person to whom he was accustomed to accord some
liberties, since Antoninus made a point of maintaining at all times this
character of harshness and abruptness.]--Antoninus made no account of
anything excellent: he never learned anything of the kind, as he himself
admitted. So it was that he showed a contempt for us, who possessed
something approaching education. Severus, to be sure, had trained him in
all pursuits, bar none, that tended to inculcate virtue, whether
physical or mental, so that even after he became emperor he went to
teachers and studied philosophy most of the day. He also took oil
rubbings without water and rode horseback to a distance of seven hundred
and fifty stades. Moreover, he practiced swimming even in rough water.
In consequence of this, Antoninus was, as you might say, strong, but he
paid no heed to culture, since he had never even heard the name of it.
Still, his language was not bad, nor did he lack judgment, but he showed
in almost everything a keen appreciation and talked very readily. For
through his authority and recklessness and his habit of saying right out
without reflection anything at all that occurred to him, and not being
ashamed to air his thoughts, he often stumbled upon some felicitous
expression. [But the same Antoninus made many mistakes through his
headstrong opinions. It was not enough for him to know everything: he
wanted to be the only one who knew anything. It was not enough for him
to have all power: he would be the only one with any power. Hence it
was that he employed no counselor and was jealous of such men as knew
something worth while. He never loved a single person and he hated all
those who excelled in anything; and most did he hate those whom he
affected most to love. Many of these he destroyed in some way or other.
Of course he had many men murdered openly, but others he would send to
provinces not suited to them, fatal to their physical condition, having
an unwholesome climate; thus, while pretending to honor them
excessively, he quietly got rid of them, exposing such as he did not
like to excessive heat or cold. Hence, though he spared some in so far
as not to put them to death, yet he subjected them to such hardships
that the stain [Footnote: This is very likely an incorrect translation of
an incorrect reading. The various editors of Dio have a few substitutes
to propose, but as all the interpretations seem to me extremely
lumbering I have turned the MS. [Greek] chêlidoysthai (taken as a
passive) in a way that may be not quite beyond the bounds of
possibility. The noun [Greek] chêlhist like the English "stain," often
passes from its original sense of "blemish" to that of the consequent
"disgrace."] of murder still rested on him.
The above describes him in general terms.
[Sidenote: A.D. 213(?)] [Sidenote:--12--] Now we shall state what sort
of person he showed himself in war. [Abgarus, king of the Osrhoeni, when
he had once got control of the kindred tribes, inflicted the most
outrageous treatment upon his superiors. Nominally he was compelling
them to change to Roman customs, but in fact he was making the most of
his authority over them in an unjustifiable way.] He tricked the king of
the Osrhoeni, Abgarus, inducing him to visit him as a friend, and then
arrested and imprisoned him. This left Osrhoene without a ruler and he
subdued it.
The king of the Armenians had a dispute with his own children and
Antoninus summoned him in a friendly letter with the avowed purpose of
making peace between them: he treated these princes in the same fashion
as he had Abgarus. The Armenians, however, instead of yielding to him
had recourse to arms and not one of them thereafter would trust him in
the slightest particular. Thus he was brought by experience to
understand how great the penalty is for an emperor's practicing deceit
toward friends. [The same ruler assumed the utmost credit for the fact
that at the death of Vologæsus, king of the Parthians, his children
proceeded to fight about the sovereignty; what was purely accidental he
pretended had come about through his own connivance. He ever took
vehement delight in the actions and dissensions of the brothers and
generally in the mutual slaughter of foreign potentates.] He did not
hesitate, either, to write to the senate regarding the rulers of the
Parthians (who were brothers and at variance) that the brothers' quarrel
would work great harm to the Parthian state. Just as if barbarian
governments could be destroyed by such procedure and yet the Roman state
had been preserved! Just as if it had not been, on the contrary, almost
utterly overthrown! It was not merely that the great sums of blood money
given under such conditions to the soldiers for his brother's murder
served to demoralize mankind: in addition, vast numbers of citizens had
information laid against them,--not only those who had sent the brother
letters or had brought him presents [Footnote: Reading [Greek:
dôrophorhêsantest] (Reimar) for the MS. [Greek: doruphoraesantes].] when
he was still Cæsar or again after he had become emperor, but all the
rest who had never had any dealings with him. If anybody even so much as
wrote the name of Geta, or spoke it, that was the end of him then and
there. Hence the poets no longer used it even in comedies. [Footnote:
Geta was a common name for slaves in Latin comedy. It came into Rome
through Greek channels and was originally merely the national adjective
applied to a tribe of northern barbarians.] The property, too, of all
those in whose wills the name was found written was confiscated.
[Many of his acts were committed with a view to getting money. And he
exhibited his hatred for his dead brother by abolishing the honor paid
to his birthday, by getting angry at the stones which had supported his
images, and by melting up the coinage that displayed his features. Not
even this sufficed him, but more than ever from this time he began his
practice of unholy rites and often forced others to share his pollution
by making a kind of annual offering to his brother's Manes.]
[Sidenote: A.D. 213 (_a.u._ 966)] [Sidenote:--13--] Though
holding such views and behaving in such a way with regard to the
latter's murder he took delight in the dissension of the
barbarian brothers, on the ground that the Parthians would suffer
some great injury as a result of it.
[The Celtic nations, however, afforded him neither pleasure nor any
pretence of cleverness or courage but proved him to be nothing more nor
less than a cheat, a simpleton, and an arrant coward. Antoninus made a
campaign among the Alamanni and wherever he saw a spot suitable for
habitation he would order: "There let a fort be erected: there let a
city be built." To those spots he applied names relating to himself, yet
the local designations did not get changed; for some of the people were
unaware of the new appellations and others thought he was joking.
Consequently he came to entertain a contempt for them and would not keep
his hands off this tribe even; but, whereas he had been saying that he
had come as an ally, he accorded them treatment to be expected of a most
implacable foe. He called a meeting of their men of military age under
promise that they were to receive pay, and then at a given signal,--his
raising aloft his own shield,--he had them surrounded and cut down; he
also sent cavalry around and arrested all others not present.
¶Antoninus commended in the senate by means of a letter Pandion, a
fellow who had previously been an understudy of charioteers but in the
war against the Alamanni drove his chariot for him and in this capacity
was his comrade and fellow soldier. And he asserted that he had been
saved by this man from a portentous danger and was not ashamed to evince
greater gratitude to him than to the soldiers, whom in their turn he
regarded as our superiors.[Footnote: There is a gap of a word or two
here (Dindorf text), filled by reading [Greek: hêlen hechôn] (with
Boissevain).]
¶Some of the most distinguished men whom Antoninus slew he ordered to be
cast out unburied.
¶He made a search for the tomb of Sulla and repaired it, and reared a
cenotaph to Mesomedes, who had written a compilation of citharoedic
modes. He honored the latter because he was himself learning to sing to
the zither and the former because he was emulating his cruelty.]
Still, in cases of necessity and urgent campaigns, he was simple and
frugal, toiling with painstaking care in menial offices as much as the
rest. He trudged beside the soldiers and ran beside them, not taking a
bath nor changing his clothing, but helping them in every labor and
choosing absolutely the same food as they had. Often he would send to
distinguished champions on the enemy's side and challenge them to single
combat. The details of generalship in which he certainly ought to have
been most versed he managed least well, as if he thought that victory
lay in the performance of those services mentioned and not in this
science of commanding.
[Sidenote:--14--] He conducted war also against a certain Celtic tribe
of Cenni. These warriors are said to have assailed the Romans with the
utmost fierceness, using their mouths to pull from their flesh the
missiles with which the Osrhoeni wounded them, that they might give
their hands no respite in slaughtering the foe. Nevertheless even they,
after selling the name of defeat at a high figure, made an agreement
with him to go into Germany on condition of being spared. Their women
[and those of the Alamanni] all who were captured [would not, in truth,
await a servile doom, but] when Antoninus asked them whether they
desired to be sold or slain, chose the latter alternative. Afterward, as
they were offered for sale, they all killed themselves and some of their
children as well. [Many also of the people dwelling close to the ocean
itself, near the mouth of the Albis, sent envoys to him and asked his
friendship, when their real concern was to get money. For after he had
done as they desired, they would frequently attack him, threatening to
begin a war; and with all such he came to terms. Even though his offer
was contrary to their principles, yet when they saw the gold pieces they
were captivated. To them he gave true gold pieces, but the silver and
gold money with which he provided the Romans was alloyed.] He
manufactured the one of lead with a silver plating and the other of
bronze with a gold plating.
[Sidenote:--15--] [The same ruler published some of his devices
directly, pretending that they were excellent and worthy of
commendation, however base their actual character. Other intentions he
rather unwillingly made known through the very precautions which he took
to conceal them, as, for example, in the case of the money. He plundered
the whole land and the whole sea and left nothing whatever unharmed. The
chants of the enemy made Antoninus frenzied and beside himself, hearing
which some of the Alamanni asserted that they had used charms to put him
out of his mind.] He was sick in body, partly with ordinary and partly
with private diseases, and was sick also in mind, suffering from
distressing visions; and often he thought he was being pursued by his
father and his brother, armed with swords. Therefore he called up
spirits to find some remedy against them, among others the spirit of his
father and of Commodus. But not one would speak a word to him except
Commodus. [Geta, so they say, attended Severus, though unsummoned. Yet
not even he offered any suggestion to relieve the emperor, but on the
contrary terrified him the more.] This is what he said:
"Draw nearer judgment, which the gods demand of thee [Footnote:
Emended (by Fabricius and Reiske) from a corruption in the MS.]
for Severus,"
then something else, and finally--
"having in secret places a disease hard to heal."
[For letting these facts become public many suffered unseemly outrage.
But to Antoninus not one of the gods gave any response pertaining to the
healing of either his body or his mind, although he showered attention
upon all the most distinguished shrines. This showed in the clearest
light that they regarded not his offerings, nor his sacrifices, but only
his purposes and his deeds. He got no aid from Apollo Grannus [Footnote:
Grannus was really a Celtic god, merely identified with Apollo. He was
honored most in Germany and Dacia (also known in Rhætia, Noricum), and,
inasmuch as many inscriptions bearing his name have been found near the
Danube, it may probably be conjectured that he had a temple of some
importance in that vicinity. For further details see Pauly, II, p. 46;
Roscher, I, col. 1738.] nor Asclepius nor Serapis, in spite of his many
supplications and his unwearying persistence. Even when abroad he sent
to them prayers and sacrifices and votive offerings and many runners
traveled to them daily, carrying things of the sort. He also went
himself, hoping to prevail by appearing in person, and he performed all
the usual practices of devotees, but he obtained nothing that would
contribute to health.
[Sidenote:--16--] While declaring that he was the most scrupulous of all
mankind, he ran to an excess of blood-guiltiness,] killing four of the
vestal virgins, one of whom--so far as he was able--he had forcibly
outraged. For latterly all his sexual power had disappeared, as a result
of which it was reported that he satisfied his vileness in a different
way; and associated with him were others of similar inclinations, who
not only admitted that they were given to such practices but maintained
that they did so for the sake of their ruler's welfare.
A young knight carried a coin with his image into a brothel and people
informed against him.[Footnote: Conjecture, on the basis of Reiske and
Bekker.] For this he was at the time imprisoned to await execution, but
later was released, as the emperor died before he did.] This maiden of
whom I speak was named Clodia Læta. She, crying out loudly, "Antoninus
himself knows that I am a virgin, [he himself knows that I am pure,]"
was buried alive. [Three others shared her sentence. Two of them,
Aurelia Severa and Pomponia Rufina, met a similar death, but Cannutia
Crescentina threw herself from the top of the house.
And in the case of adulterers he did the same. For though he showed
himself the most adulterous of men (so far, at least, as he was
physically able) he both detested others who bore the same charge and
killed them contrary to established laws.--Though displeased at all good
men, he affected to honor some few of them after their death.--
¶Antoninus censured and rebuked them all because they asked nothing of
him. And he said, in the presence of all: "It is evident from the fact
that you ask nothing of me that you lack confidence in me. And if you
lack confidence, you are suspicious of me; and if you are suspicious of
me, you fear me; and if you fear me, you hate me." He made this an
excuse for severe measures.
¶Antoninus being about to cause Cornificia to take leave of earth bade
her (as a token of honor) choose what death she wished to die. She,
after many lamentations, inspired by the memory of her father, Marcus,
her grandfather, Antoninus, and her brother, Commodus, ended with this
speech: "Pining, unhappy soul of mine, shut in a vile body, make forth,
be free, show them that you are Marcus's daughter, whether they will or
no!" Then she laid aside all the adornment in which she was arrayed,
and having composed her limbs in seemly fashion severed her veins and
died.
[Sidenote: A.D. 214 (_a.u._ 967)] Next, Antoninus arrived in Thrace,
paying no further heed to Dacia. Having crossed the Hellespont, not
without danger, he did honor to Achilles with sacrifices and races, in
armor, about the tomb, in which he as well as the soldiers participated.
For this he gave them money, assuring them that they had won a great
success and had in very truth captured that famous Ilium of old, and he
set up a bronze statue of Achilles himself.] ¶Antoninus by arriving at
Pergamum, while there was some dispute about it, [Footnote: The sense of
these words is not clear. Boissevain conjectures that there may have
been some who doubted whether an emperor so diseased would ever live to
reach Mysia.] seemed to bring to fulfillment the following verse,
according to some oracle:
"O'er the Telephian land shall prowl the Ausonian beast."
He took a lasting delight and pride in the fact that he was called
"beast," and his victims fell in heaps. The man who had composed the
verse used to laugh and say that he was in very truth himself the
verse-maker (thereby indicating that no one may die contrary to the will
of fate, but that the common saying is true, which declares that liars
and deceivers are never believed, even if they tell the truth).
[Sidenote:--17--] He held court but little or not at all. Most of his
leisure he devoted to meddlesomeness as much as anything. People from
all quarters brought him word of all the most insignificant occurrences.
For this reason he gave orders that the soldiers who kept their eyes and
ears wide open for these details should be liable to punishment by no
one save himself. This enactment, too, produced no good result, but we
had a new set of tyrants in them. But the thing that was especially
unseemly and most unworthy, both of the senate and of the Roman
people,--we had a eunuch to domineer over us. He was a native of Spain,
by name Sempronius Rufus, and his occupation that of a sorcerer and
juggler (for which he had been confined on an island by Severus). This
fellow was destined to pay the penalty for his conduct, as were also the
rest who laid information against others. As for Antoninus, he would
send word that he should hold court or transact any other public
business directly after dawn; but he kept putting us off till noon and
often till evening, and would not even admit us to the ante-chamber, so
that we had to stand about outside somewhere. Usually at a late hour he
decided that he would not even exchange greetings with us that day.
Meanwhile he was largely engaged in gratifying his inquisitiveness, as I
said, or was driving chariots, killing beasts, fighting as a gladiator,
drinking, enjoying the consequent big head, mixing great bowls (beside
their other food) for the soldiers that kept guard over him within, and
sending round cups of wine (this last before our very face and eyes). At
the conclusion of all this, once in a while he would hold court.
[Sidenote: A.D. 214-215] [Sidenote:--18--] That was his behavior while
in winter-quarters at Nicomedea. He also trained the Macedonian phalanx.
He constructed two very large engines for the Armenian and for the
Parthian war, so that he could take them to pieces and carry them over
on boats into Syria. For the rest, he was staining himself with more
blood and transgressing laws and using up money. Neither in these
matters nor in any others did he heed his mother, who gave him much
excellent advice. This in spite of the fact that he entrusted to her the
management of the books and letters both, save the very important ones,
and that he inscribed her name with many praises in his letters to the
senate, mentioning it in the same connection as his own and that of his
armies, i.e., with a statement that she was _safe_. Need it be mentioned
that she greeted publicly all the foremost men, just as her son did? But
she continued more and more her study of philosophy with these persons.
He kept declaring that he needed nothing beyond necessities, and gave
himself airs over the fact that he could get along with the cheapest
kind of living. Yet there was nothing on earth or in the sea or in the
air that we did not keep furnishing him privately and publicly. [Of
these articles he used extremely few for the benefit of the friends with
him (for he no longer cared to dine with us), but the most of them he
consumed with his freedmen. Such was his delight in magicians and
jugglers that he commended and honored Apollonius [Footnote: The famous
Apollonius of Tyana.] of Cappadocia, who had flourished in Domitian's
reign and was a thoroughgoing juggler and magician; and he erected a
heroum to his memory.
[Sidenote: A.D. 215 (_a.u._ 968)] [Sidenote:--19--] The pretext for his
campaign against the Parthians was that Vologæsus had not acceded to his
request for the extradition of Tiridates and a certain Antiochus with
him. Antiochus was a Cilician and pretended at first to be a philosopher
of the cynic school. In this way he was of very great assistance to the
soldiers in warfare. He strengthened them against the despair caused by
the excessive cold, for he threw himself into the snow and rolled in it;
and as a result he obtained money and honors from Severus himself and
from Antoninus. Elated at this, he attached himself to Tiridates and in
his company deserted to the Parthian prince.
[Sidenote:--20--] [Antoninus surely maligned himself in asserting that
he had overcome by slyness the audacity, rapacity and faithlessness of
the Celtæ, against which arms were of no avail. The same man commended
Fabricius Luscinus because he had refused to let Pyrrhus be
treacherously murdered by his friend.--He took pride in having put
enmity between the Vandili and Marcomani, who were friends, and in
having executed Gaiobomarus, the accused king of the Quadi. And since
one of the latter's associates, under accusation at the same time with
him, hanged himself before execution, Antoninus delivered his corpse to
the barbarians to be wounded, that the man might be regarded as having
been killed in pursuance of a sentence instead of dying voluntarily
(which was deemed a creditable act among them).
He killed Cæcilius Æmilianus, governor of Bætica, on suspicion that he
had asked an oracular reply from Hercules at Gades.]
[Sidenote:--19--] Before leaving Nicomedea the emperor held a
gladiatorial contest there in honor of his birthday, for not even on
that day did he refrain from slaughter. Here it is said that a
combatant, being defeated, begged for his life, whereupon Antoninus
said: "Go and ask your adversary. I am not empowered to spare you."
[Sidenote: A.D. 216 (_a.u._ 969)] And so the wretch, who would probably
have been allowed by his antagonist to go, if the above words had not
been spoken, lost his life. The victor did not dare release him for fear
of appearing more humane than the emperor.
[Sidenote:--20--] For all that, while so engaged and steeped in the
luxury of Antioch even to the point of keeping his chin wholly bare, he
gave utterance to laments, as if he were in the midst of great toils and
dangers. And he reproved the senate, saying for one thing that they were
slothful, did not understand readily, and did not give their votes
separately. Finally he wrote: "I know that my behavior doesn't please
you. But the reason for my having arms and soldiers alike is to enable
me to disregard anything that is said about me."
[Sidenote:--21--] When the Parthian monarch in fear surrendered both
Tiridates and Antiochus, he disbanded the expedition at once. But he
despatched Theocritus with an army into Armenian territory and suffered
defeat amounting to a severe reverse at the hands of the inhabitants.
Theocritus was of servile origin and had been brought up in the
orchestra; [he was the man who had taught Antoninus dancing and had been
a favorite of Saoterus, and through the influence thus acquired he had
been introduced to the theatre at Rome. But, as he was disliked there,
he was driven out of Rome and went to Lugdunum, where he delighted the
people, who were rather provincial. And, from a slave and dancer, he
came to be an army leader and prefect.] He advanced to such power in the
household of Antoninus that both the prefects were as nothing compared
to him. Likewise Epagathus, himself also a Cæsarian, had equal influence
with him and committed equal transgressions. Thus Theocritus, who kept
traveling back and forth in the interest of securing provisions and
selling them at retail, proved the death of many persons because of his
authority and for other reasons. One victim was Titianus Flavius. The
latter, while procurator in Alexandria, offended him in some way,
whereupon Theocritus, leaping from his seat, drew his sword. At that
Titianus remarked: "This, too, you have done like a dancer." Hence the
other in a rage ordered him to be killed.
[Sidenote:--22--] Now Antoninus, in spite of his declaration that he
cherished an overwhelming love for Alexander, all but destroyed utterly
the whole population of Alexander's city. Hearing that he was spoken
against and ridiculed by them for various reasons, and not least of all
for murdering his brother, he set out for Alexandria, concealing his
wrath and pretending to long to see them. But when he reached the
suburbs whither the leading citizens had come with certain mystic and
sacred symbols, he greeted them as if he intended to entertain them at a
banquet and then put them to death. After this he arrayed his whole
force in armor and marched into the city; he had sent previous notice to
all the people there to remain at home and had occupied all the streets
and in addition all the roofs in advance. And, to pass over the details
of the calamities that then befell the wretched city, he slaughtered so
many individuals that he dared not even speak about the number of them,
but wrote the senate that it was of no interest how many of them or who
had died, for they all deserved to suffer this fate. Of the property,
part was plundered and part destroyed.
[Sidenote:--23--] With the people perished also many foreigners, and
not a few who had accompanied Antoninus were destroyed for want of
identification. As the city was large and persons were being murdered
all over it by night and by day, it was impossible to distinguish
anybody, no matter how much one might wish it. They simply expired as
chance directed and their bodies were straightway cast into deep
trenches to keep the rest from being aware of the extent of the
disaster.--That was the fate of the natives. The foreigners were all
driven out except the merchants, and even they had all their wares
plundered. Also some shrines were despoiled. In the midst of most of
these atrocities Antoninus was present and looked on and personally took
a hand, but sometimes he issued orders to others from the temple of
Serapis. He lived in this god's precinct even during the nights and days
that witnessed the shedding of Egyptian blood. [And he sent word to the
senate that he was observing purity during the days when he was in
reality sacrificing there domestic beasts and human beings at the same
time to the god.] Yet why should I have spoken of this, when he actually
dared to devote to the god the sword with which he had killed his
brother?
Next he abolished the spectacles and the public messes of the
Alexandrians and ordered Alexandria to be broken up [Footnote: The
reading is [Greek: dioikisthaenai].] into villages, with a wall fully
garrisoned bisecting the city, that the inhabitants might no longer
visit one another with security. Such was the treatment accorded unhappy
Alexandria by the _Ausonian Beast_, as the tag of the oracle about him
called him; and he said he liked the title and was glad to be
distinguished by the honorific appellation of "Beast." Never mind how
many persons he murdered on the pretext that they had fulfilled the
oracle.
[Sidenote:--24--] [The same man gave prizes to the soldiers for their
campaign, allowing those stationed in the pretorian guard to get some
six thousand two hundred and fifty [Footnote: The common reading is
"twelve hundred and fifty," but since it seems incredible that the
Pretorians should have obtained less, instead of more, than the ordinary
soldiers, Lange with much reason proposed the change carried out
above,--a change which requires the insertion (or restitution) of but
one Greek numeral-letter that might easily have been overlooked by some
copyist.] and the rest five thousand [lacuna]
[That model of temperance (as he was wont to put it), the rebuker of
licentiousness in others, at the consummation of a most vile and at the
same time most dangerous outrage, appeared, in truth, to be indignant;
but by not giving that indignation sufficient free play and further by
allowing the youths to do what no one had ever yet dared to propose, he
greatly corrupted the latter, who had imitated the habits of women of
the demi-monde and of professional male buffoons.]
[On the occasion of the Culenian [Footnote: Nobody knows what the
Culenian games were; Valois guesses that they may have been an
Alexandrian festival. The text of this whole chapter is in a very ragged
condition, and should not be held too strictly accountable in the matter
of sense or cohesion.] spectacle severe censure was passed, not only
upon those who there carried on their accustomed pursuits, but also upon
the spectators.]
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
78
Antoninus's treacherous campaign against Artabanus, the Parthian
(chapters 1-3).
Antoninus's death (chapters 4-6). Foreshadowings of his death, and
the abuse heaped upon him dead (chapters 7-10).
About Macrinus Augustus, and his excellencies and faults (chapters
11-15).
His letters and commands to the senate, and other official acts
(chapters 16-22).
Death of Julia Augusta (chapters 23, 24).
Inauspicious signs: peace arranged with Artabanus after submitting to
a defeat (chapters 25-27).
Uprising of the soldiers: Pseudantoninus is proclaimed as emperor by
the soldiers (chapters 28-31).
How Macrinus, conquered in battle, took to flight and was cut down
after the capture of his son (chapters 32-41).
DURATION OF TIME.
C. Attius Sabinus (II), Cornelius Annullinus (A.D. 216 = a.u. 969 =
Sixth of Antoninus.)
C. Bruttius Præsens, T. Messius Extricatus (II). (A.D. 217 = a.u.
970 = Seventh of Antoninus, from Feb. 4th to April 8th.)
M. Opellius Macrinus Aug., Q.M. Coclatinus Adventus. (A.D. 218 = a.u.
971. The first year of Macrinus ends April 11th and his second year
is abruptly terminated June 8th.)
_(BOOK 79, BOISSEVAIN.)_
[Sidenote: A.D. 216 (_a.u._ 969)] [Sidenote:--1--] The next thing was a
campaign against the Parthians and the pretext that was used was that
Artabanus had refused to view favorably his wooing and give him his
daughter in marriage. (But he knew well enough that, while pretending to
want to marry her, he in fact was anxious to detach the Parthian
kingdom.) So he damaged a large section of the country around Media by
means of a sudden incursion, sacked many citadels, won over Arbela, dug
open the royal tombs of the Parthians, and flung the bones about. The
Parthians would not engage him at close quarters, and therefore I have
had nothing of especial interest to record concerning the doings of that
expedition except, perhaps, one anecdote. Two soldiers who had seized a
skin of wine came to him, each claiming the booty as entirely his own.
Being bidden by him to divide the wine equally they drew their swords
and cut the wine skin in two, apparently expecting each to get a half
with the wine in it. They so dreaded their emperor that they troubled
him even with such details and showed such scrupulousness as to lose
both wineskin and wine.
Now the barbarians took refuge in the mountains and across the Tigris in
order to perfect their preparations. But Antoninus suppressed this fact
and, assuming that he had utterly vanquished a foe whom he had not even
seen, he displayed becoming pride; and, as he himself wrote, he was
particularly gratified because a lion ran down from the mountains and
fought on his side.
[Sidenote:--2--] Not only in other ways did he live unnaturally and
transgress laws, but in his very campaigns [[lacuna] but truth; [Footnote:
Here begins the parchment codex, Vaticanus 1288. See Volume I, page 8.]
for I have run across the book written by him about it. He understood so
well how he stood with all the senators that, in spite of many protests,
their slaves and freedmen and intimate friends were arrested by him and
were asked under torture whether "so-and-so loves me" or "so-and-so
hates me." For the charts of the stars under which any of his foremost
courtiers had been born gave evidence, he said, as to who was friendly
to him and who was hostile. And on this basis he honored many persons
and destroyed many others.
[Sidenote: A.D. 217 (_a.u._ 970)] [Sidenote:--3--] When the Parthians and
the Medes, greatly enraged at the treatment they had received, equipped
a large body of troops, he fell into an ecstasy of terror. He was very
bold in threats and very reckless in daring, but very cowardly in
following a slow course involving danger, and very weak in hard labor.
He could no longer bear either great heat or armor, and consequently
wore sleeved tunics made in such a shape as more or less to resemble
breastplates. Thus having the appearance of armor without its weight he
could be safe from plots and also arouse admiration. He often used these
garments when not in battle. He wore also a cavalry cloak, now all
purple, now purple with white threads, and again of white with purple
threads, and also red. In Syria and in Mesopotamia he used Celtic
clothing and shoes. He furthermore invented a costume of his own by
cutting out cloth and stitching it up, barbaric fashion, into a kind of
cloak. He himself wore it very constantly, so that it led to his being
called Caracalla, [Footnote: A word of Celtic origin, signifying a long,
ulster-like tunic plus a hood. This was a Gallic dress.] and he
prescribed it by preference as the dress for the soldiers. The
barbarians saw what sort of person he was and also heard that his men
were enervated through their previous luxury; for, to give an instance
of their behavior, the Romans passed the winter in houses, making use of
everything belonging to their entertainers as if it were their own.
[They further perceived that their opponents had become so physically
worn and so dejected in spirit by their toils and by the hardships which
they were now undergoing that they no longer heeded the presents which
they kept receiving from their commander.] Elated, therefore, to think
that they should find them rather helpers than foes, they made ready to
attack. [Footnote: The last five words are a conjecture of Bekker's.]
[Sidenote:--4--] Antoninus made preparations in his turn, but it did not
fall to his lot to enter upon the war: he was struck down in the midst
of his soldiers, whom he most honored and in whom he reposed vast
confidence. A seer in Africa had declared (in such a way that it became
noised abroad) that both Macrinus the prefect and his son Diadumenianus
[Footnote: His full name was M. Opellius Diadumenianus.] must reign.
Macrinus, sent to Rome, had revealed this to Flavius Maternianus, who at
the time commanded the soldiers in the city, and he had at once sent
word to Antoninus. It happened that this letter was diverted to Antioch
and came to [his mother] Julia, since she had been given orders to read
over everything that arrived and thus prevent a mass of unimportant
letters being sent to him while in a hostile country. Another letter
written by Ulpius Julianus, who then had charge of appraisements, went
by other carriers straight to Macrinus and informed him of the state of
the case. It was in this way that the letter to the emperor suffered a
delay and the despatch to his rival came to the attention of the latter
in good season. Now Macrinus, becoming afraid that he might be put to
death by Antoninus on account of all this, especially since a certain
Egyptian Serapio had told the prince to his face that Macrinus should
succeed him, did not find it well to delay.--Serapio had first been
thrown to a lion for his pains, but when he merely held out his hand, as
is reported, and the animal did not touch him, he was slain. He might
have escaped even this fate (or so he declared) by calling upon certain
spirits, if he had lived one day longer.
[Sidenote:--5--] Macrinus came to no harm but hastened his preparations,
having a presentiment that otherwise he should perish, especially since
Antoninus had suddenly, one day before [Footnote: "One day before" is a
conjecture of Bekker's. (The birthday of Antoninus seems to have been on
the sixth of April.)] his birthday, removed those of Macrinus's
companions that were in the latter's company, alleging one reason in one
case and another in another with the general pretext of doing them
honor. Not but [lacuna] expecting that it was fated for him to get it
he had also made a name which owed its origin to this fact. Accordingly,
he suborned two tribunes stationed in the pretorian guard, Nemesianus
and Apollinarius, brothers belonging to the Aurelian gens, and Julius
Martialius, who was enrolled among the evocati and had a private grudge
against Antoninus for not giving him the post of centurion on request.
Thus he made his plot, and it was carried out as follows. On the eighth
of April, when the emperor had set out from Edessa to Carrhæ and had
dismounted from his horse to go and ease himself, Martialius approached
as if he wanted to say something to him and struck him smartly with a
small knife. The assassin at once fled and would have escaped detection,
had he thrown away the sword. The weapon led to his being recognized by
one of the Scythians on the staff of Antoninus, and he was brought down
with a javelin. As for Martialius [lacuna] the military tribunes pretending
to come to the rescue slew [lacuna]
[This Scythian attended him, not merely to be an ally of his, but as
keeping guard over him to a certain extent. [Sidenote:--6--] For he
maintained Scythians and Celtæ about him, free and slaves alike, whom he
had taken away from children and wives and had equipped with arms; and
he affected to place more dependence upon them than upon the soldiers.
To illustrate, he kept honoring them with posts as centurions, and he
called them "lions." Moreover, he would often converse with emissaries
sent from the very provinces, and in the presence of no one else but the
interpreters would urge them, in case any catastrophe befell him, to
invade Italy and march upon Rome, assuring them that it was very easy to
capture. And to prevent any inkling of his talk spreading to our ears he
would immediately put to death the interpreters. For all that, we did
ascertain it later from the barbarians themselves: and the matter of the
poisons we learned from Macrinus.] It seemed that he partly sent for and
partly bought quantities of all kinds of poisons from the inhabitants of
Upper Asia, spending altogether seven hundred and fifty myriads upon
them, in order that he might secretly kill in different ways great
numbers of men,--in fine, whomsoever he would. They were subsequently
discovered in the royal apartments and were all consumed by fire. [At
this time the soldiers, both for this reason and, beyond other
considerations, because they were vexed at having the barbarians
preferred to themselves, were not altogether so enthusiastic over their
leader as of yore and did not aid him when he became the victim of a
plot.] Such was the end that he met after a life of twenty-nine years
[and four days (for he had been born on the fourth of April)], and after
a reign of six years, two months, and two days.
[Sidenote:--7--] There are many things at this point, too, in the story
that occur to excite my surprise. When he was about to start from
Antioch on his last journey, his father confronted him in a vision, girt
with a sword and saying: "As you killed your brother, so will I smite
you unto death;" and the soothsayers told him to beware of that day,
using so direct a form of speech as this: "The gates of the victim's
liver are shut." After this he went out through some door, paying no
heed to the fact that the lion, which he was wont to call "Rapier," and
had for a table companion and bedfellow, knocked him down as he went
out, and, moreover, tore some of his clothing. He kept many other lions
besides and always had some of them around him, but this one he would
often caress even publicly. It was thus that these events occurred.
And a little before his death, as I have heard, a great fire suddenly
fastened upon the entire interior of the temple of Serapis in
Alexandria, and did no other harm whatever save only to destroy that
sword with which he had slain his brother. [Later, when it stopped, many
stars shone out.] In Rome, too, [a spirit wearing the likeness of a man
led an ass up the Capitol and later up the Palatine, seeking, as he
said, its master and stating that Antoninus was dead and Jupiter
reigned. Arrested for his behavior, he was sent by Maternianus to
Antoninus, and he declared: "I depart, as you bid, but I shall face not
this emperor but another." Afterwards on coming to Capua he vanished.
[Sidenote:--8--] This took place while the prince was still alive.] At
the horse-race [held in memory of Severus's reign] the statue of Mars,
while being carried in procession, fell down. This perhaps would not
arouse such great wonder, but listen to the greatest marvel of all. The
Green faction had been defeated, whereupon, catching sight of a jackdaw,
which was screeching very loud on the tip of a javelin, they all gazed
at him and all of a sudden, as if by previous arrangement, cried out:
"Hail Martialius, Martialius hail, long it is since we beheld thee!" It
was not that the jackdaw was ever so called, but through him they were
greeting, apparently under some divine inspiration, Martialius, the
assassin of Antoninus. To some, indeed, Antoninus seemed to have
foretold his own end, inasmuch as in the last letter that he sent to the
senate he had said: "Cease praying that I may reign a hundred years."
The petition mentioned had always been uttered from the beginning of his
sovereignty and this was the first and only time that he found fault
with it. Thus, while his words were simply meant to chide them for
offering a prayer impossible of accomplishment, he was really indicating
that he should no longer rule for any length of time. And when certain
persons had once called attention to this fact, it also came to my mind
that when he was giving us a banquet in Nicomedea at the Saturnalia and
had talked a good deal, as was usual at a symposium, then on our rising
to go he had addressed me and said: "With great acumen and truth, Dio,
has Euripides remarked that
"'Neath divers forms the spirit world is lurking,
Much passing hope the gods are ever working.
Oft disappointment strikes down sure ambition:
The unthought chance God brings to full fruition.
This story leaves things in just that condition.'"
[Footnote: Lines that occur at the end of several of Euripides's
dramas.]
At the time this quotation seemed to have been mere nonsense, but when
not long after he perished the fact that this was the last speech he
uttered to me was thought to infuse into it a certain truly oracular
significance with regard to what was to befall him. Similar importance
was attached to the utterance of Jupiter called Belus, [Footnote: The
same as Baal.] a god revered in Apamea [Footnote: This is the Apamea on
the Orontes, built by Seleucus Nicator.] of Syria. He, years before,
when Severus was still a private citizen, had spoken to him these
verses:
"Touching eyes and head, like Zeus, whose delight is in thunder,
Like unto Ares in waist, and in chest resembling Poseidon."
[Footnote: From Homer's Iliad, II, verses 478-9.]
And later, after his accession as emperor, the god had made this
response to an enquiry: "Thy house shall perish utterly in blood."
[Footnote: Adapted from Euripides, Phoenician Maidens, verse 20.]
[Sidenote:--9--] [Accordingly the body of Antoninus was then burned, and
his bones, brought secretly by night into Rome, were deposited in the
mausoleum of the Antonines. All the senators and private individuals,
men and women, without exception entertained so violent a hatred of him
that all their words and actions relating to him were such as would
befit the downfall of a most implacable foe. He was not officially
disgraced, because the soldiers did not get from Macrinus the state of
peace which they had hoped to secure by a change. Deprived of the
profits which they were wont to receive from Antoninus, they began to
long for him again. Indeed, their wishes subsequently prevailed to the
extent of having him enrolled among the heroes: of course this was voted
by the senate.]
[Sidenote: A.D. 217, _a.u._ 970] In general, abundant ill was
consistently spoken of him by everybody. They would no longer term him
Antoninus, but [some called him Bassianus, [Footnote: He was originally
Septimius Bassianus, named after his maternal grandfather.] his old
name, others] Caracalla, as I have mentioned, [Footnote: In chapter 3.]
[others] also Tarautas, from the appellation of a gladiator who was [in
appearance] very small and very ugly and [in spirit very audacious and]
very bloodthirsty.
[Sidenote:--10--] Now his affairs, however one may name him, were in
this state. As for me, even before he came to the throne, it was
foretold me in a way by his father that I should write this account.
Just after his death methought I saw in a great plain the whole power of
Rome arrayed in arms, and it seemed as if Severus were sitting [on a
knoll there and] on a lofty tribunal conversing with them. And, seeing
me standing by to hear what was said, he spoke out: "Come hither, Dio,
to this spot; approach nearer, that you may both ascertain accurately
and write a history of all that is said and done."--Such was the life
and the overthrow of Tarautas. [After him there perished also those who
had shared in the plot against him, some at once and others before a
great while. His intimate companions and the Cæsarians likewise
perished. He had been, as it were, coupled with a spirit of murder that
operated equally against enemies and against friends.]
[Sidenote:--11--] Macrinus, by race a Moor from Cæsarea, came from most
obscure parents [so that with considerable justice he was likened to the
ass that was led to the Palatine by the apparition]. For one thing his
left ear had been bored, according to the custom [generally] in vogue
among the Moors. His affability was even more striking. As to duties,
his comprehension of them was not so accurate as his performance of them
was faithful. [Thus it was, thanks to the advocacy of a friend's cause,
that he became known to Plautianus, and at first he took the position of
manager of the latter's property; subsequently he ran a risk of
perishing together with his employer, but was unexpectedly saved by the
intercession of Cilo and was given charge of the vehicles of Severus
that passed back and forth along the Flaminian Way.] From Antoninus
[after securing some titles of a short-lived procuratorship] he obtained
an appointment as prefect and administered the affairs of this
responsible position excellently and with entire justice, [so far as he
was free to act independently. This, then, was his general character and
these the steps of his advancement. Even during the life of Tarautas he
was led, in the way that I have described, to harbor in his mind the
hope of empire;] and at his death [he did not, to be sure, either that
day or the two following days occupy the office, in order to avoid the
imputation of having killed him with such intentions: but for that space
of time the Roman state remained completely bereft of a ruler possessing
authority, though without the people's knowing it. He communicated with
the soldiers in every direction,--that is to say, the ones who were in
Mesopotamia on account of the war but instead of being in one body were
scattered all about; and he won their allegiance through the agency of
his [Footnote: Reading [Greek: ohi] (Dindorf) instead of [Greek: hos].]
friends], among his various offers being a suggestion that they might
secure a respite from the war, which was an especial cause of
dissatisfaction to them: and so on the fourth day [the anniversary of
Severus's birthday] he was chosen emperor by them [after making a show
of resistance].
[Sidenote:--12--] [He delivered an address full of good points and held
out hopes of many advantages to the rest of mankind as well. Those who
had been doomed to some life punishment for an act of impiety, of the
kind that is so named with reference to attitude toward emperors, were
absolved from their sentence; and complaints of that nature which were
pending were dismissed. He rescinded the measures enacted by Caracalla
relating to inheritances and emancipations and, by asseverating that it
was a sacrilege to kill a senator, he succeeded in his appeal for the
pardon of Aurelianus, whose surrender was demanded by the soldiers
because he had proved most obnoxious to them in many previous campaigns.
Not for long, however, was it in his power to behave as an honest man
[lacuna] and Aurelianus [lacuna] soldiers [lacuna] this man [lacuna] by
him [lacuna] absolute power [lacuna] wrath [lacuna] and two hundred and
fifty denarii [lacuna] there had been public notice of giving more
[lacuna] fearing that [lacuna] Aurelianus, the only one then present not
only of ex-consuls but of those who were senators at all [lacuna] by aid
of money [lacuna] upon him [lacuna] glad to divert the blame for
Caracalla's death [lacuna] and about the [lacuna] them [lacuna] the
[lacuna] the [lacuna] great masses both of furniture and of property of
the emperors. But as not even this on account of the soldiers sufficed
for the [lacuna] of senators [lacuna] kill [lacuna] no one, but putting
some under guard [lacuna] of the knights and the freedmen and the
Cæsarians and [lacuna] causing those who erred in even the slightest
respect to be punished, so that to all [lacuna] of them [lacuna] the
procuratorships and the excessive expenditures and the majority of the
burdens recently laid upon them by Tarautas [lacuna] of the games
[lacuna] multitude [lacuna], gathering the presents which had
unnecessarily been bestowed upon any persons, and he forbade any silver
image of him being made over five pounds in weight, or any golden image
of over three. Greatest of all, the hire of those serving in the
pretorian guard [lacuna] to that appointed [lacuna] by Severus [lacuna]
[Sidenote:--13--] Though in truth he was praised by some for this (and
not without reason), still he incurred (on the part of the sensible) a
censure that quite counterbalanced it. The adverse sentiment in question
was due to the fact that he enrolled certain persons in the ranks of
ex-consuls and immediately assigned them to governorships of provinces.
Yet he refused the following year to have the reputation of being consul
twice because he had the honors of ex-consul: this was a practice begun
during the reign of Severus and followed also by the latter's son. This
procedure, however, both in his own case and in that of Adventus was
lawful enough, but he showed great folly in sending Marcius Agrippa
first into Pannonia and later into Dacia to govern. The previous
officials of the districts mentioned,--Sabinus and Castinus,--he
summoned at once to his side, pretending that he wanted their company,
but really because he feared their surpassing spirit and their
friendship for Caracalla. It was in this way that he came to despatch
Agrippa to Dacia and Deccius Triccianus [Footnote: _Ælius Deccius
Triccianus_.] to Pannonia. The former had been a slave acting as master
of wardrobe for some woman and for this cause [Footnote: It is hard to
see why, unless in the age of Severus slaves were forbidden to have
charge of women's attire.] had been tried by Severus, although at the
time he was attached to the fiscus; he had then been driven out to an
island for betraying some interest, was subsequently restored, together
with the rest, by Tarautas, had taken charge of his decisions and
letters, and finally had been degraded to the position of senator, with
ex-consular rank, because he had admitted overgrown lads into the army.
Triccianus served in the rank and file of the Pannonian contingent, had
once been porter to the governor of that country, and was at this time
commanding the Alban legion.
[Sidenote:--14--] These were some of the grounds that led many persons
to find fault with him. Another was his elevation of Adventus. Adventus
had drawn pay as one of the spies and detectives, had left his position
there and served among the letter-carriers, had later been appointed
cubicularius, and still later was advanced to a position as procurator.
Now although old age prevented him from seeing, lack of education from
reading, and want of experience from being able to accomplish anything,
the emperor made him senator, fellow-consul, and prefect of the city.
This upstart had dared to say to the soldiers after the death of
Caracalla: "The sovereignty properly belongs to me, since I am elder
than Macrinus: but inasmuch as I am extremely old, I make way for him."
His behavior was regarded as nonsensical, as was also that of Macrinus,
in granting the greatest dignity of the senate to such a man, who could
not when consul carry on a plain conversation with anybody in the
senate, and consequently on the day of elections pretended to be sick.
Hence, before long Macrinus assigned the direction of the city to Marius
Maximus in his stead. It looked as if he had made him præfectus urbi
with the sole purpose of polluting the senate-house. And this pollution
took place not only in virtue of the fact that he had served in the
mercenary force and had performed the duties belonging to executioners,
scouts, and centurions, but in that he had secured control of the city
prior to fulfilling the demands of the consulship. In other words, he
became city prefect before senator. Macrinus connived at his promotion
with the definite intention of blinding the public in regard to his own
record, which would have shown that he had seized the imperial office
while yet a knight.
[Sidenote:--15--] Besides these not unmerited censures that some passed
upon him, he also attracted adverse criticism for designating as
prefects Ulpius Julianus and Julianus Nestor, who possessed no
particular excellence and had not been tested in many undertakings, but
had become quite notorious for rascality in Caracalla's reign; for,
being at the head of the late prince's messengers [Footnote: Mommsen
thinks that by this expression Dio probably means the position of
_princeps peregrinorum_.] they had been of great assistance to him in
his unholy meddling. However, only a few citizens took account of these
details, which did not tend wholly to encourage them. The majority of
individuals, in view of their having recently got rid of Tarautas, which
was more than they could have hoped, and comparing the new ruler in the
few indications afforded with the old, and in view of all the other
considerations and expectations, did not deem it fitting to condemn him
so soon. And for this reason they mourned him exceedingly when he was
killed, though they would certainly have felt hatred for him had he
lived longer.]
For he began to live rather more luxuriously and he took official notice
of those who reproved him. His putting Maternianus and Datus out of the
way was not reasonable,--for what wrong had they done in being attentive
to their emperor?--but it was not unlike human nature, since he had been
involved in great danger. But he made a mistake in venting his wrath
upon the rest, who were suspected of disliking his low birth and his
unexpected attempt upon the sovereign power. He ought to have done
precisely the opposite; realizing what he had been at the outset and
what his position then was, he should not have been supercilious, but
should have behaved moderately, cultivated the genius of his household,
and encouraged men by good deeds and a display of excellence unchanged
by circumstances.
[Sidenote:--16--] These things [lacuna] in regard to him [lacuna] have
been said by me [lacuna] in detail [lacuna] of any [lacuna] just as
[lacuna] nominally throughout his entire reign [lacuna] of all [lacuna]
of it [lacuna] that he said in conversation with the soldiers [lacuna]
it was proved [lacuna] and he dared to utter not a few laudations of
himself and to send still more of them in letters, saying among other
things: "I have been quite sure that you also would agree with the
legions, since I enjoy the consciousness of having conferred many
benefits upon the commonwealth." He subscribed himself in the letter as
Cæsar and emperor and Severus, adding to the name of Macrinus the titles
of Pious, and Fortunate, and Augustus, and Proconsul, of course without
awaiting any vote on our part. He sent the letter without being ignorant
that he was, on his own responsibility, assuming so many and great
designations nor [lacuna] name [lacuna] of Pretorians as formerly some
[lacuna] not but what [lacuna] so wrote [lacuna] in the beginning
[lacuna] war chiefly [lacuna] of barbarians [lacuna] near [lacuna] in
the letter he used simply the same terms as the emperors before
Caracalla, and this he did the whole year through [lacuna] memoranda
found among the soldiers. Thus [lacuna] of things accustomed to be said
with a view to flattery and not inspired by truthfulness they became so
suspicious as to ask that they be made public, and he sent them to us,
and the quæstor read them aloud, as he did other similar documents in
their turn. And a certain prætor, as the senate was then in session and
none of the quæstors was present, also read an epistle once composed by
Macrinus himself.
[Sidenote:--17--] The first letter having been read, appropriate
measures were passed with reference to both Macrinus and his son. He was
designated Patrician, and Princeps Iuventutis, and Cæsar. He accepted
everything save the horse-race voted in honor of the beginning of his
reign; from this he begged to be excused, saying that the event had been
sufficiently honored by the spectacle on the birthday of Severus. Of
Tarautas he made no mention at this time, in the way of either honor or
dishonor, save only that he called him Emperor. He ventured to term him
neither Hero nor Foe, and, as I conjecture, it was because the deeds of
his predecessor and the hatred of much of mankind made him shrink from
the former epithet, and the thought of the soldiers restrained him from
the latter. Some suspected that it was because he wanted the disgracing
to be the act of the senate and the people rather than his own,
especially since he was in the midst of the legions. He did say that
Tarautas by his wrongdoing had been chiefly responsible for the war and
had terribly burdened the public treasury by increasing the money given
to the barbarians, inasmuch as it was of equal amount with the pay of
the soldiers under arms. No one dared, however, to give utterance
publicly to any such statement against him and vote that he was an
enemy, for fear of immediate annihilation at the hands of the soldiers
in the City. Still, they abused him in their own fashion and heaped
insults upon him as much as they could, going over the list of his
bloody deeds, with the name of each victim, and ranging him alongside
all the evil tyrants that had ever held sway over them.
[Sidenote:--18--] At the same time the public demanded that the
horse-race given on his birthday be abolished, that absolutely all the
statues, both gold and silver, erected [Footnote: Supplying, with Reiske,
[Greek: hidruthentas].] in his honor be melted down, and that those who
had served with him in any capacity as informers be made known and
punished with the utmost speed. For great numbers, not only slaves and
freedmen and soldiers and Cæsarians, but likewise knights and senators
and numerous very distinguished women, were believed to have given
secret hints during his reign and to have blackmailed various persons.
And although they did not attach to Antoninus the name of Enemy, they
did keep vociferating that Martialius (on account of the similarity of
his name to that of Mars, as they pretended,) ought to be honored with
enconiums and with statues for worship. They also showed for the moment
no indication of annoyance at Macrinus], the reason being that they were
so overwhelmed by joy on account of the death of Tarautas as not to have
leisure to think anything about his humble origin, and they were glad to
accept him as emperor. They were less concerned about whose slaves they
should be next than about whose yoke they had shaken off, and were
impressed with the idea that any chance comer who might present himself
would be preferable to their former master. [All the unusual
expenditures were rehearsed that had been made, not only by the Roman
Treasury but privately for any persons and on the part of any foreign
nations as a result of the former sovereign's direction: and thus the
overthrow of those charged with carrying out the enactments made by him
and the hope that in the future nothing similar would be done inclined
people to be satisfied with the existing arrangement.
[Sidenote:--19--] However, they soon learned that Aurelianus was dead
and that Diadumenianus, son of Macrinus, had been appointed Cæsar. This
last was nominally the act of the soldiers, through whose ranks he
passed when summoned from Antioch to meet his father, but really it was
accomplished by Macrinus. People further learned that their ruler had
assumed the name of Antoninus. (He had done this to win the favor of the
soldiers, partly to avoid seeming to dishonor his predecessor's memory
entirely, especially in view of the fact that he had secretly thrown
down some of the statues offered to him in Rome by Alexander and set on
pedestals by Antoninus himself: and again he wanted to get an excuse for
promising them seven hundred and fifty denarii more.) So persons began
to think differently and reflected that previously they had held him in
no esteem. Taking account, furthermore, of all the additional ignoble
manifestations on his part that they suspected and thought likely, they
began to be ashamed and did not [lacuna] Caracalla any more than
[lacuna] things pertaining to him differently [lacuna] by deprecating
the [lacuna] of Severus [lacuna] of Antoninus [lacuna] they displayed
[lacuna] and hero and what befitted his reign, not to be sure [lacuna]
and wholly the judgments of all men in Rome [lacuna] underwent a change
[lacuna] senate [lacuna] to him [lacuna] me [lacuna] however, when all
were questioned man by man regarding his honors, both others answered
ambiguously and [lacuna] Saturninus [lacuna] in a way attributing
[lacuna] prætors [lacuna] that it was not permissible for him to put any
vote about anything, in order that they might avoid the consul's
jealousy. This procedure was contrary to precedent, for it was not
lawful that there should take place in the senate-chamber an inquiry
into any matter, except at the command of the emperor.
[Sidenote:--20--] The crowd, because they could obscure their identity
at the contest and by their numbers, gained the greater boldness, raised
a loud cry at the horse-race on the birthday of Diadumenianus, which
fell on the fourteenth of September: they uttered many lamentations,
asserting that they alone of all mankind were destitute of a leader,
destitute of a king; and they invoked the name of Jupiter, declaring
that he alone should be their leader and uttering aloud these words: "As
a master thou wert angry, as a father take pity on us." Nor would they
pay any heed at first to either the equestrian or the senatorial order
[lacuna] and commending the emperor and the Cæsar to the extent of
[lacuna] in Greek saying: "Ah, what a glorious day is to-day! What noble
kings!" and desiring that the others also should share their opinion.
But they stretched out their arms toward the sky and exclaimed:
"[lacuna]. this is the Roman Augustus: having him we have all!" So true
it is that among mankind respect is a distinct characteristic of the
better element and contempt a characteristic of the worse. For these two
now regarded Macrinus and Diadumenianus as henceforth absolutely
non-existent and trampled upon their claims as though they were already
dead. This was one great reason why his soldiers despised him, and paid
no heed to what was done to win their favor. Another still more
important cause lay in the frequent and extraordinary insolence shown
toward him by the Pergamenians, who were deprived of what they had
formerly received from Tarautas; and for this conduct he imposed upon
them public sentence of loss of citizenship. [Sidenote:--21--] The
attitude of the soldiers is straightway to be described. At this time
Macrinus neither sent to the senate, as they were demanding, nor
published otherwise any document of the informers, saying either truly
or falsely (to avoid a great disturbance) that none such had been found
in the royal residence. For Tarautas had either destroyed the majority
of those containing any accusation or had returned them to the senders
themselves, as I have stated, [Footnote: The passage to which Dio refers
is lost.] to the end that no proof of his baseness should be left. But
he did reveal the names of three senators whom, from what he had himself
discovered, he deemed to be especially deserving of hatred. These were
Manilius and Julius, and moreover Sulpicius Arrhenianus, who had
blackmailed, among others, Bassus, the son of Pomponius, whose
lieutenant he had been when Bassus was governor of Moesia. These men
were banished to islands, as the emperor expressly forbade their being
put to death. "We would avoid,"--he wrote--these were his very
words,--"ourselves appearing to do the things for which we censure
them."--And Lucius Priscillianus [whose name was presented by the senate
itself,] was as much renowned for his insulting behavior as he was for
his killing of wild beasts. [He fought them at Tusculum every now and
then, and contended with so many each time that he bore the scars of
their bites.] Once he, unassisted, joined battle with a bear and
panther, a lioness and lion at once, but far more numerous were the men,
both knights and senators, whom he destroyed as a result of his
slanders. [For both of these achievements] he was greatly honored by
Caracalla [was enrolled among the ex-prætors and became (contrary to
precedent) governor of Achæa. He incurred the violent hatred of the
senate, was summoned for trial] and was confined upon an island. These
men, then, came to their end as described.
[Sidenote:--22--] And Flaccus was entrusted also with the dispensation
of food stuffs,--an office which Manilius had formerly held,--for he had
secured [Footnote: Reading [Greek: eilaephos] (Reimar).] it (with the
added ratification of Macrinus) as a reward of his information against
him; and he was subsequently made superintendent of the distribution of
dole which took place at the games given by the major prætors, save
those celebrated in honor of Flora [lacuna] moreover the iuridici
possessing authority in Italy had to stop rendering decisions outside
the traditional limits set by Marcus. [Footnote: The text of the early
part of this chapter may be characterized as "jagged." The sentences
lack clearness and the relation of the individual words is not always
certain. The reader may be interested to see a translation of
Hirschfeld's interpretation of the section, taken from his book entitled
_Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete der Roemischen Verwaltungsgeschichte_
(pp. 117-120).
a [Flaccus]--It is here a question of a high senatorial office, which
can only be the _præfectura alimentorum_.
b [The iuridici]--Perhaps the person entrusted with the execution of
this ruling was C. Octavius Sabinus, who had the title of _electus ad
corrigendum statum Italiæ_.
c [The orphans]--Probably during the latter portion of Caracalla's
reign, as also under Commodus, the funds for food had been available
either not at all or at irregular intervals, and therefore the
restitution of district prefects was determined upon.
From these Food Prefects for a particular district those officials must
be distinguished who bear the general title of _præfectus alimentorum_
without any local limitation, and show a marked difference from the rest
in that they are invariably of consular rank, whereas the position of
district prefect, like that of curator of roads, was usually held by a
candidate that had only passed the prætorship. The inscriptions of these
_consular_ prefects begin not earlier than the end of the reign of
Marcus Aurelius, perhaps not till Commodus, and extend to the time of
Macrinus, while during this whole time (a period, that is, of about
forty years) all trace of the district prefects vanishes. Under these
circumstances the conclusion seems to me inevitable that towards the end
of the second century (probably from the first years of Marcus Aurelius
on) the district prefecture was abolished and the administration was
centralized in Rome under a consular _præfectus alimentorum_, whose
authority extended over the whole of Italy.
Now very probably it was the introduction under Marcus Aurelius of the
_iuridici_ which occasioned this change, even if not immediately, and
that these duties of distribution, as well as other administrative
functions, were placed in their hands; one thing that would seem to
recommend this view particularly is that their position in general
tended to make them official examiners of the affairs of the
_municipia_. When, in addition, we have evidence that Macrinus in the
year 217 reduced the authority of the _iundici_ to the limits originally
imposed by Marcus Aurelius and that further the same emperor instituted
certain rulings for the amelioration of food distribution; when,
moreover, we consider in connection with this the coincidence of the
disappearance of the _consular food prefects_ for Italy on the one hand
and the reappearance of the _pretorial district prefects_ on the other,
it will not appear overbold to suppose that Macrinus, in the course of
the reform affecting the _iuridici_, also detached from them the right
to supervise foods, restored it to the curators of roads (as in the
original arrangement) and abolished the central bureau in Rome.]--A
certain Domitius Florus had formerly had charge of the senate records
and ought to have been next appointed ædile, but before entering upon
office had been deprived of all hope on account of Plautianus; he now
had recourse to sedulous office-seeking, recovered his lost standing and
was appointed tribune. Anicius Faustus was sent into Asia to govern in
place of Asper. The latter had at first obtained very great honor from
Macrinus, who thought he could settle affairs in Asia: afterwards, when
he was already _en route_ and was approaching the province (Macrinus had
not accorded a favorable reception to the petition forwarded to
Caracalla and delivered to him, in which the inhabitants begged that
Asper be not sent them as proconsul), the emperor offered him a terrible
affront in rejecting him. It was reported to the prince that Asper had
made some improper remarks, and moreover he affected to think that old
age and disease constituted a second reason for relieving him of his
duties, and therefore he delivered Asia into the keeping of Faustus, a
man who had been overlooked in the order of allotment by Severus. As the
time for him to govern turned out to be short, Macrinus bade him hold
the office for the following year in place of Aufidius Fronto. To the
latter he would entrust neither Africa (which he had drawn by lot),
because the Africans begged that he be not allowed to come, nor yet
Asia, though he had first transferred him thither. As a fitting
recognition, however, Macrinus proposed that twenty-five myriads be
given him to stay at home. Fronto, however, would not accept that,
saying that he wanted not money but a position of authority, and
accordingly later he received the province from Sardanapalus.
Besides these events aid was extended to the orphans, whose hopes of
support were small, from the [lacuna] age of childhood to military
years. [Footnote: See note 2c, page 58.]
[Sidenote:--23--] Now Julia, the mother of Tarautas, chanced to be in
Antioch, and at the first information of her son's death she was so
affected that she struck herself violently and undertook to starve
herself to death. The presence of this very same man, whom she hated
alive, became the object of her longings now that he had ceased to
exist; yet not because she desired him to live, but because she was
furious at having to return to private life; and this led her to abuse
Macrinus also long and bitterly. Subsequently, as no change was made in
her royal suite or in the guard of Pretorians attending her, and the new
emperor sent her a kind message (not having yet heard what she had
said), she took courage, laid aside her longing for death, and, without
writing him any response, held some negotiations with the soldiers she
had about her, especially [lacuna] and as they were angry with Macrinus
[lacuna] as they had a pleasanter remembrance of her son, how she might
attain the imperial position, rendering herself the peer of Semiramis
and Nitocris, since she came in a way from the same regions as
they; [Footnote: Boissevain's conjecture for the succeeding sentences
(valuable, of course, only as the guess of an expert) is the following:
But when nobody would cooperate with her and letters came from Macrinus
making certain announcements at which, in view of her circumstances, she
felt herself depressed in spirits, she renounced her ambitions out of
fear that she might be deprived of the title of Augusta and be forced to
depart to her native land, and al [lacuna] drea [lacuna] wom [lacuna] ad
[lacuna] eake [lacuna] and mos [lacuna] any one behol [lacuna] she
decided to do just the reverse and submit lest she be forced eventually
to return to Rome and be there compelled by Macrinus to remain at home
for the future for appearing to be opposed to his policy. Afterwards,
however, she was intending to take measures that would enable her to get
away by ship, if possibility still offered, when he ordered her, etc.]
as [lacuna] coöperated [lacuna] and letters [lacuna] of Macrinus
[lacuna] some for which [lacuna] judgment [lacuna] fearing that she
might be deprived of the title of Augusta and to [lacuna] native country
be forced to return [lacuna] to fear [lacuna] go to Rome [lacuna]
Macrinus [lacuna] seeming to do the opposite [lacuna] how [lacuna] might
depart and he ordered her to depart from Antioch with all speed and go
whithersoever she would. [And when she heard what was said in Rome about
her son] she no longer cared to live. The cancer in her breast, which,
for a very long time had remained stationary in its progress, had been
made angry and inflamed by the blow which she struck her chest on
hearing of her son's death; this helped to undermine her constitution
and she made sure of her demise by voluntary starvation.
[Sidenote:--24--][And so this queen, sprung from a family of common
people and raised to a high station, who had lived during her husband's
reign in great unhappiness on account of Plautianus, who had beheld her
younger son butchered in her own lap and had borne ill-will to her elder
son while he lived, finally receiving such tidings of his assassination,
withdrew from power while in the full flush of life and thereafter did
herself to death. Hence a person reviewing her career could not deem
infallibly happy all those who attain great authority; indeed, in no
case unless some true and undefiled pleasure in life belongs to them,
and unswerving, permanent good fortune.--This, then, was the fate of
Julia. Her body was taken to Rome and placed in the tomb of Gaius and
Lucius. Later, however, both her bones and those of Geta were
transferred by her sister Mæsa to the precinct of Antoninus.
[Sidenote:--25--] Nor was Macrinus destined to survive for long,--a fact
of which he doubtless had previous indications. A mule bore a mule in
Rome and a sow had a little pig with four ears and two tongues and eight
feet. A great earthquake occurred, blood flowed from a pipe, and bees
formed honeycombs in the Forum Boarium. The hunting-theatre was smitten
with thunderbolts on the very day of the Vulcanalia [Footnote: August
twenty-third.] and such a blaze ensued that all its upper circumference
and the whole circuit of construction and the ground-level were burned
and thereupon the rest of it caught fire and fell in ruins. No human aid
availed against the conflagration, though every possible stream of water
was directed upon the blaze, nor could the downpour from the sky, which
came in great amount and violence, accomplish anything. The force of
both kinds of water was exhausted by the power of the thunderbolts, and
to a certain extent, at least, the building only received additional
injury; [Footnote: Reading [Greek: prosesineto](Bekker).] wherefore the
gladiatorial spectacle was held in the stadium for many years.
This naturally seemed to foreshow what was to be. There were other fires
besides and imperial possessions were burned especially often during his
reign,--a thing which in itself has always been regarded as of ill omen;
but the fact that it seemed to have overthrown the horse-race of Vulcan
had a direct bearing upon the emperor. This accordingly gave rise to a
feeling that something out of the ordinary was in process of
consummation, and the idea was strengthened by the behavior on that same
day of the Tiber, which rose until it invaded the Forum and the roads
leading to it with such impetus as to sweep away even human beings. And
a woman, as I have heard, grim and gigantic, was seen by some persons
and declared that these disasters were insignificant as compared with
what was destined to befall them.
[Sidenote:--26--] And so it proved, for the evil did not confine itself
to the City alone, but took possession of the whole world under its
dominion, with whose inhabitants the theatre was customarily filled. The
Romans, defeated, gave up their war against the barbarians and likewise
received great detriment from the greed and factional differences of the
soldiers. The progress of both these evils I am now to describe.]
Macrinus, seeing that Artabanus was exceedingly angry at the way he had
been treated and had invaded Mesopotamia with a large force, at first of
his own accord sent him the captives and used friendly language, urging
him to accept peace and laying the blame for the past upon Tarautas. But
the other would not entertain his proposition and furthermore bade him
build up the forts and demolished cities, abandon Mesopotamia entirely
and offer satisfaction in general, but particularly for the damage to
the royal tombs. [For, trusting in the large force that he had gathered
and despising Macrinus as an unworthy emperor, he gave reign to his
wrath and expected that even without the Roman's consent he could
accomplish whatever he wished.] Macrinus had no opportunity to think it
over, but, meeting the enemy already on the way to Nisibis, was defeated
in a battle begun by the soldiers about water, while encamped opposite
each other. And he came very near losing the rampart itself, but some
armor-bearers and baggage-carriers happened along and saved it. In their
confidence, they had started out ahead and made a rush upon the
barbarians; and the unexpectedness of their sally was of advantage to
them, making them appear to be armed soldiers and not mere helpers. But
the [lacuna] both was not present then and [lacuna] the night [lacuna]
the camps [lacuna] and the Romans followed on. The enemy, perceiving the
noise that they made in going out, suspected [lacuna] flight, but seeing
them at a glance [lacuna] the Romans barbarians [lacuna] forced by their
[lacuna] and the flight of Macrinus, they became dejected and were
conquered. And as a result [lacuna] from Mesopotamia especially [lacuna]
they overran Syria [lacuna] he abandoned.
[Sidenote: A.D. 218 (_a.u._ 971)] This took place at the season under
consideration: but in the autumn and winter, during which Macrinus and
Adventus became consuls, they no longer came to blows with each other
but kept up an interchange of envoys and heralds until they had reached
an agreement.
[Sidenote:--27--] For Macrinus, through native cowardice (being a Moor
he was tremendously timorous) and by reason of the soldiers' lack of
discipline, did not dare to begin a war. On the contrary] he expended
for the sake of peace enormous amounts, in the shape of both gifts and
money, to Artabanus himself and to his assistants in the government, so
that the entire outlay came to five thousand myriads. [And the emperor
was not unwilling to effect a reconciliation, both for the reasons
mentioned and because his soldiers were extremely restive,--a condition
due to their having been away from home an unusual length of time, as
well as to the scarcity of food. No supplies were to be had from stores,
since there were no stores ready, nor from the country itself, because
part had been devastated and part was controlled by forts. Macrinus,
however, did not forward an exact account of all their proceedings to
the senate and consequently triumphal sacrifices were voted him and the
name of Parthicus was bestowed. But this he would not accept, being
apparently ashamed to adopt the appellation of an enemy by whom he had
been defeated.
Moreover, the war that had been waged in the regions of the Armenian
king subsided. Tiridates received the diadem sent him by Macrinus, and
got back his mother (whom Tarautas had confined in prison eleven
months), together with the booty captured from Armenia and all the
territory that his father possessed in Cappadocia, with hopes of
obtaining the annual payment often furnished by the Romans. And the
Dacians, after damaging parts of Dacia, held their hands in spite of a
desire for further conflict, and got back the hostages that Caracalla,
under the name of an alliance, had taken from them. This was the course
of these events.
[Sidenote:--28--] But a new war broke upon the heads of the Romans, and
no longer a foreign but a civil strife. It was the soldiers who were
responsible for the outbreak. They were somewhat irritated by their
setbacks, but their behavior was owing still more to the fact that they
would no longer endure any hard work if they could help it, but were
thoroughly out of training in every respect and wanted to have no
emperor that ruled with a firm hand but demanded that they get
everything without stint, and chose to perform no task that was fitting
for them. They were further angered by the cutting off of their pay and
the deprivation of prizes and exemptions (these last among the
privileges of the military), which they had gained from Tarautas, even
though they personally were not destined to be affected by these
measures. Their resolution was definitely strengthened by the delay
which they had undergone in practically one and the same spot while
wintering in Syria on account of the war. It should be stated that
Macrinus seemed to have shown good generalship and to have acted
sensibly in debarring the men in arms from no privilege, but preserving
to them intact all the rights allowed by his predecessor, whereas he
gave notice to such as intended to enlist anew that they would be
enrolled only upon the old schedule published by Severus. He hoped that
these recruits, entering the army a few at a time, would hold aloof from
rebellion, at first through peaceful inclinations and fear and later
through the influence of time and custom, and that by having no
corrupting effect upon the rest they would quiet them.
[Sidenote:--29--] If this had been done after the members of the army
had retired to their individual fortresses and were consequently
scattered, it would have been a correct move. Perhaps some of them would
not have shown indignation, believing that they would really be put at
no disadvantage because temporarily they suffered no loss: and even if
they had been vexed, yet, each body being few in number and subservient
to the commanders sent by the senate, they could have accomplished no
great harm. But, united in Syria, they suspected that they should be
liable to innovations if they separated;--for the time being they could
well believe they were being pampered on account of the demands of war.
And again [lacuna] So the others killed certain soldiers and ravaged
portions of Mesopotamia, and these men butchered not a few of their own
number and also overthrew their emperor; and, what is still worse, they
set up another similar ruler, by whom nothing was done save what was
evil and base. [Sidenote:--30--] It seems to me that this occurrence had
been foreshadowed more clearly, perhaps, than any previous event. A
very distinct eclipse of the sun [had taken place] about that time, [and
the comet-star was seen for a considerable period. And another]
luminary, whose tail extended from the west to the east, for several
nights caused us terrible alarm, so that this verse of Homer's was ever
on our lips:
"Rang the vast welkin with clarion calls, and Zeus heard the tumult."
[Footnote: From Homer's Iliad, XXI, verse 388.]
It was brought about in the following way:
Mæsa, the sister of Julia Augusta, had two daughters, Soæmias and
Mammæa, by her husband Julius, an ex-consul. She had also two male
grandchildren. One was Avitus, the child of Soæmias and Varius
Marcellus, a man of the same race,--he was from Apamea,--who had been
occupied in procuratorships, had been enrolled in the senate, and soon
after died. The other was Bassianus, the child of Mammæa and Gessius
Marcianus, who was himself also a Syrian, from a city called Arca, and
had been assigned to various positions as procurator. Now Mæsa at home
in Emesa her life [lacuna] her sister Julia, with whom she had made her
abode during the entire period of the latter's reign, having perished.
For Avitus, after governing in Asia, sent by Caracalla from Mesopotamia
into Cyprus, was seen to be limited to the position of adviser to some
magistrate who suffered from old age and sickness; and again [lacuna]
him, when [lacuna] he died, one Eutychianus, that had given satisfaction
in games and exercises, and for that reason [lacuna] who [lacuna]
[Sidenote:--31--] [lacuna] upon [lacuna] becoming aware of the strong
dislike of the soldiers for Macrinus [lacuna] wall [lacuna] and partly
persuaded by the Sun, whom they name Elagabalus and worship devotedly,
and by some other prophecies, he undertook to overthrow Macrinus and put
up Avitus, the grandson of Mæsa and a mere child, as emperor in his
stead. And he accomplished both projects, although he had himself as yet
not fully reached manhood and had as helpers only a few freedmen and
soldiers [lacuna] and Emesenian senators [lacuna] pretending that he was
a natural son of Tarautas and arraying him in clothing which the latter
had worn when a child, Cæsar by the [lacunæ] introduced into the camp at
night, without the knowledge of his mother or his grandmother, and at
dawn on the sixteenth of May he persuaded the soldiers, who were eager
to get some starting-point for an uprising, to revolt. Julianus, the
prefect, learning this (for he happened to be not far distant), caused
both a daughter and a son-in-law of Marcianus, together with some
others, to be assassinated. Then, after collecting as many of the
soldiers remaining as he could in the short time at his disposal, he
made an attack upon what was, to all intents and purposes, a most
hostile fortress. [Sidenote:--32--] He might have taken it that very
day, for the Moors sent to Tarautas according to the terms of alliance
fought most valiantly for Macrinus, who was a countryman of theirs, and
even broke through some of the gates. But he refused the opportunity,
either because he was afraid to rush in or because he expected that he
could win the men inside to surrender voluntarily. As no propositions
were made to him, and they furthermore built up all the gates during the
night, so that they were now in a securer position, he again assaulted
the place but effected nothing. For they carried Avitus (whom they were
already saluting as "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus") all about upon the
ramparts, and exhibited some likeness of Caracalla when a child as
bearing some resemblance to their new ruler, declaring that the latter
was truly Caracalla's child and his proper successor in the imperial
office. "Why do you do this, fellow-soldiers?" they exclaimed. "Why do
you thus fight against your benefactor's son?" By this means they
corrupted all the soldiers with Julianus, especially as the troops were
anxious to have a change, so that the attackers killed their commanders,
save Julianus (for he effected his escape), and surrendered themselves
to the False Antoninus. For when an attempt to restrain them was made by
their centurions and the other subordinates, and they were, as a result,
hesitating, Eutychianus sent Festus (thus--according to the cubicularius
of Tarautas--was one of the Cæsarians named) [Footnote: The text is
emended in accordance with a tentative suggestion of Boissevain.] and
persuaded them to kill all such officers and offered as a prize to each
soldier who should slay his man the victim's property and military rank.
The boy also harangued them from the wall with fictitious statements,
praising his "father" and [lacuna] Macrinus, as [lacuna]
[Fourteen lines are lacking.]
* * * * *
[Sidenote:--33--] [lacuna] those left to be restored to their original
property and status as citizens. But the most effective means by which
he attached them to himself was his promise to give each and every one
unlimited amounts of money, and to restore the exiles,--an act which
would seem to make him out in truth a legitimate son of Tarautas
[lacuna]
* * * * *
[Fourteen lines are lacking.]
[Sidenote:--34--] [lacuna] Marcianus [lacuna] Macrinus [lacuna] (for
Marcellus was dead) he put this person to death; but, lacking courage to
proceed further on his own responsibility without Macrinus, he sent for
the latter. Macrinus came quickly to the Alban soldiers at Apamea and
appointed his son emperor in spite of the lad's being but ten years old,
in order that with this excuse he might mollify the soldiers by various
means, chief among which should be the promise of five thousand denarii;
he assigned them a thousand each on the spot and restored to the rest
complete allowances of food and everything else of which they had been
deprived: in this way he hoped to appease them. With this same end in
view he bestowed upon the populace a dinner worth one hundred and fifty
denarii a head before revealing to them anything about the uprising; for
he wanted it to be thought that he was banqueting them not because of
that event but to show honor to his son. And on that occasion first one
of the revolted soldiers approached him carrying the head of Julianus
(who had been found somewhere in hiding and slain), in many linen cloths
and tied up very strongly indeed with ropes, pretending it was the head
of the False Antoninus. He had sealed the package with the finger ring
of Julianus. After doing that the soldier ran out when the head was
uncovered. Macrinus, upon discovering what had been done, no longer
dared either to stay where he was or to assault the fortification, but
returned to Antioch with all speed. So the Alban legion and the rest who
were wintering in that region likewise revolted. The opposing parties
continued their preparations and both sides sent messengers and letters
to the provinces and to the legions. As a result perturbation was caused
in many places by the first communication of each side about the other
and by the constant messages contradicting each other. In the course of
the uncertainty numerous letter-carriers on both sides lost their lives,
and numbers of those who had slain the followers of Antoninus, or had
not immediately attached themselves to their cause, were censured. Some
perished on this account and some merely incurred a small loss. Hence I
will pass over most of this (it is all very much alike and permits of no
considerable description in detail) and will give a summary of what took
place in Egypt.
[Sidenote:--35--] The governor of that country was Basilianus, whom
Macrinus had also made prefect in place of Julianus. Some interests were
managed also by Marius Secundus, although he had been created senator by
Macrinus and was at the head of affairs in Phoenicia. In this way both
of them were dependent upon Macrinus and for that reason put to death
the runners of the False Antoninus. As long, therefore, as the outcome
of the business was still in dispute, they and the soldiers and the
individuals were in suspense, some wishing and praying and reporting one
thing and others the opposite, as always in factional disturbances. When
the news of the defeat of Macrinus arrived, a riot of some magnitude
followed, in which many of the populace and not a few of the soldiers
were destroyed. Secundus found himself in a dilemma; and Basilianus,
fearing that he should lose his life instanter, effected his escape
from Egypt. After coming to the vicinity of Brundusium in Italy he was
discovered, having been betrayed by a friend in Rome to whom he had sent
a secret message asking for food. So he was later taken back to
Nicomedea and executed.
[Sidenote:--36--] Macrinus wrote also to the senate about the False
Antoninus [as he did also to the governors everywhere], calling him
"boy" and saying that he was mad. He wrote also to Maximus, the
præfectus urbi, giving him such information as one might expect, and
further stating that the soldiers recently enlisted insisted upon
receiving all that they were wont to have before, and that the rest, who
had been deprived of nothing, made common cause with them in their anger
at what was withheld. And to omit a recital, he said, of all the many
means devised by Severus and his son for the ruin of rigid discipline,
it was impossible for the troops to be given their entire pay in
addition to the donatives which they were receiving; for the increase in
their pay granted by Tarautas amounted to seven thousand myriads
annually, and could not be given, partly because the soldiers and again
because [lacuna] righteous [lacuna] but the recognized expenditures
[lacuna] and the [lacuna] could he himself and the child as [lacuna]
himself [lacuna] and he commiserated himself upon having a son, but said
that he found it a solace in his disaster to think that he had outlived
the fratricide who attempted to destroy the whole world. He also added
to the missive something like the following: "I know that there are
many who are more anxious to have emperors killed than to have them
live, but this is one thing I can not say in respect to myself, that any
one could either desire or pray that I should perish." At which Fulvius
Diogenianus exclaimed: "We have all prayed for it!"
[Sidenote:--37--] The speaker was one of the ex-consuls, but not of very
sound mind, and consequently he caused himself as much exasperation as
he did other people. He also [lacuna] the subscription [lacuna] of
letter [lacuna] and to the [lacuna] leather it had been entrusted to
read [lacuna] and those [lacuna] and [lacuna] others and also [lacuna]
be sent [lacuna] directly as [lacuna] hesitating [lacuna] ordering
[lacuna] by the [lacuna] and both to others [lacuna] of foremost to the
[lacuna] any care for the common preserver [lacuna] over [lacuna] that
the False Antoninus finding in the chests of Macrinus not yet [lacuna]
he himself voluntarily [lacuna] published [lacuna] calumny [lacuna]
making with reference to the soldiers. And he marched so quickly against
him that Macrinus could with difficulty encounter him in a village of
the Antiochians one hundred and fifty stades distant from the city.
There, so far as the zeal of the Pretorians went, he had him conquered
(he had taken from them their breastplates scales and their grooved
shields and had thus rendered them lighter for the battle): but he was
beaten by his own cowardice, as Heaven had foreshown to him. For on that
day when his first letter about the imperial office was read to us a
pigeon had lighted upon an image of Severus (whose name he had applied
to himself) that stood in the senate-chamber. [And subsequently, when
the communication about his son was sent, we had convened, not at the
bidding of the consuls or the prætors (for they did not happen to be
present) but of the tribunes,--a practice which by this time had fallen
more or less into disuse. And he had not written even his name in the
preface of the letter, though he termed him Cæsar and emperor and
indicated that the contents emanated from them both. Also, in the
rehearsal of events, he mentioned the name Diadumenianus, but left out
that of Antoninus, though he had this title too. Such was the state of
these [Sidenote:--38--] affairs; and, by Jupiter, when he sent word
about the uprising of the False Antoninus, the consuls uttered certain
formulæ against him, as is regularly done under such circumstances, and
one of the prætors and another of the tribunes did the same. War was
declared and solemnly proclaimed against the usurper and his cousin and
their mothers and their grandmother, and immunity was granted to those
that had taken part in the uprising, in case they should submit,
according as Macrinus had promised them. For the conversation he had had
with the soldiers was read aloud.] As a result of this, we all condemned
still more strongly his abasement and folly. [For one thing] he was most
constantly calling himself "father" and Diadumenianus his "son," and he
kept holding up to reproach the age of the False Antoninus, though he
had designated as emperor his son, who was much younger. [Now in the
battle Gannys hurriedly took possession of the narrow place in front of
the village and disposed his soldiers in good order for warfare,
regardless of the fact that he was most inexperienced in military
matters. Of such surpassing importance is good fortune in comparison
with other qualifications, that it actually bestows understanding upon
the ignorant.] But his army made a very weak fight and the men would not
have stood their ground, had not Mæsa and Soæmias [for they were already
in the boy's retinue] leaped down from their vehicles and, rushing among
the fugitives, by their lamentations restrained them from flight, and
had not the lad himself been seen by them (by some divine disposition of
affairs) with drawn sword on horseback charging the enemy. Even so they
would have turned their backs again, had not Macrinus fled at sight of
their resistance.
[Sidenote:--39--] The latter, having been thus defeated on the eighth of
June, sent his son in charge of Epagathus and some other attendants, to
Artabanus, king of the Parthians. He himself went to Antioch, giving out
that victory was his, to the end that he might be offered shelter there.
Then, when the news of his defeat became noised abroad, in the midst of
many consequent slaughters both along the roads and in the city,
springing from somebody's favoring the one side or the other, he made
his escape. From Antioch he proceeded by night, on horseback, with his
head and whole chin shaved, and attired in a dark garment worn over his
purple robe in order that he might, so far as possible, resemble an
ordinary citizen. In this way, with a few companions, he reached Ægæ in
Cilicia, and there, by pretending to be one of the soldiers that carried
messages, he got a wagon, on which he drove through Cappadocia and
Galatia and Bithynia as far as the shipyard of Eribolus, which is
opposite the city of Nicomedea. It was his intention to make his way
back to Rome, expecting that there he could gain some assistance from
the senate and from the people. And, if he had escaped thither, he would
certainly have accomplished something. For their disposition was
decidedly more favorable to him, in view of the hardihood of the
Syrians, the age of the False Antoninus, and the uncontrolledness of
Gannys and Comazon, so that even the soldiers would either
voluntarily [Footnote: Reading [Greek: 'hechhontast'] instead of
[Greek: thnhêschontast].] have changed their attitude or, refusing to do
so, would have been overpowered. As it turned out, however, if any one
recognized him in the course of his journey so far described, at least
no one ventured to lay hands on him: but he came to grief on his voyage
from Eribolus to Chalcedon. He did not dare to enter Nicomedea [through
fear of the governor of Bithynia, Cæcilius Aristo], and so he sent to
one of the procurators asking for money, and in this way he became
known. He was overtaken [while still] in Chalcedon and, on the arrival
of those sent by the False Antoninus in order that [lacuna] now if ever
[lacuna] he was arrested [by Aurelius Celsus, a centurion,] and taken to
Cappadocia [like a man held in no honor]. Ascertaining there that his
son had also been captured [(Claudius Pollio, the centurion of the
legion, had arrested him while driving through Zeugma, where, in the
course of a previous journey, he had been designated Cæsar)], he threw
himself from the conveyance (for he had not been bound) and at the time
suffered a fracture of his shoulder; but subsequently (though not a
great deal later) being sentenced to die before entering Antioch, he was
slain by Marcianus Taurus, a centurion, and his body remained unburied
until the False Antoninus could come from Syria into Bithynia and gloat
over it.
[Sidenote:--40--] So Macrinus, when an old man,--for he was fifty-four
years of age [lacking three or five days],--and eminent in experience of
affairs, displaying some degree of excellence and commanding so many
legions, was overthrown by a mere child of whose very name he had
previously been ignorant,--even as the oracle had foretold to him;
[[lacuna]] for upon his applying [to Zeus Belus] it had answered him:
"Old man, verily warriors young harass and exhaust thee:
Utterly spent is thy strength, and a grievious eld comes upon thee!"
[Footnote: From Homer's Iliad, VIII, verses 102-103.]
And fleeing [lacuna] or [lacuna], having played part of runaway slave
through the provinces which he had ruled, arrested like some robber by
common officers, beholding himself with villains most dishonored
[lacuna] guarded before whom often many senators had been brought; and
_his_ death was ordered who had the authority to punish or to release
any Roman whomsoever, and he was arrested and beheaded by centurions,
when he had authority to put to death both them and others, inferior and
superior. And his son likewise perished.
[Sidenote:--41--] This proves that no one, even of those whose
foundations seem unshakable, is sure of his position, but the exceeding
prosperous, equally with the rest, are poised in the balance.
And this man would have been lauded beyond all mankind, if he had not
himself desired to become emperor, but had chosen some person enrolled
in the senate to stand at the head of the Roman empire and had
appointed him emperor; and only in this way could he have avoided blame
for the plot against Caracalla, for by such action he would have
demonstrated that he resorted to it to secure his own safety and not on
account of a desire for supremacy. Whereas, instead, he got himself into
disrepute and ruined his career, becoming subject to reproach, and
finally falling a victim to a disaster that he richly deserved. And
having grasped at sole sovereignty before he had even the title of
senator, he lost it very quickly and in the most disappointing way. He
had ruled only a year and two months, lacking three days (a result
obtained by reckoning to the date of the battle).
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
79
Dio's Roman History 79:--
About Avitus, called also Pseudantoninus, and the slaughter that he
wrought (chapters 1-7).
About his transgression of law and how he married the Vestal (chapters
8-10).
About Eleogabalus [Footnote: It will be noted that the spelling of this
word in the Greek "arguments" of the MSS. differs from that in the
Greek text of the same.] and how he summoned Urania to Rome and united
her in bonds of wedlock with Eleogabalus (chapters 11-12).
About his licentiousness (chapters 13-16).
How he adopted his cousin and also renamed him Alexander (chapters 17,
18).
How he was overthrown and slain (chapters 19-21).
DURATION OF TIME.
The remainder of the consulship of Macrinus and Adventus, together with
four additional years, in which there were the following magistrates,
here enumerated. Pseudantoninus (II) and Q. Tineius Sacerdos. (A.D. 219
= a.u. 972 = Second of Eleogabalus, from June 8th.)
Pseudantoninus (III) and M. Valerius Comazon. (A.D. 220 = a.u. 973 =
Third of Elagabalus.)
C. Vettius Gratus Sabinianus and M. Flavius Vitellius Seleucus. (A.D.
221 = a.u. 974 = Fourth of Elagabalus.)
Pseudantoninus (IV) and M. Amelius Severus Alexander. (A.D. 222 = a.u.
975 = Fifth of Elagabalus to March 11th.)
(BOOK 80, BOISSEVAIN.)
[Sidenote: A.D. 218 (_a.u._ 971)] [Sidenote:--1--] Now Avitus, alias
False Antoninus, alias Assyrian or again Sardanapalus and also Tiberinus
(he secured the last appellation after he had been slain and his body
thrown into the Tiber) [on the very next day after the victory entered
Antioch, first promising the soldiers attending him five hundred denarii
apiece on condition that they should not sack the town,--a thing which
they were very anxious to do. This amount he levied upon the people. And
he sent to Rome such a despatch as might have been expected, speaking
much evil of Macrinus, especially with reference to his low birth and
his plot against Antoninus. Here is a sample of what he said: "He who
was not permitted to enter even the senate-house after the proclamation
debarring everybody other than senators from doing so, this man, I say,
dared treacherously to murder the emperor whom he had been trusted to
guard, dared to appropriate his office and to become emperor before he
was senator." About himself he made many promises, not only to the
soldiers but also to the senate and the people. He asserted that he
should do everything without exception to emulate Augustus (to whose
youth he likened his own) and also Marcus Antoninus. Yes, and he wrote
also the following, alluding to the derogatory remarks made about him
by Macrinus: "He undertook to censure my age, when he himself appointed
a five-year old son."
[Sidenote:--2--] Besides forwarding this communication to the senate, he
sent to the senate the records discovered among the soldiers and the
letters of Macrinus written, to Maximus, and sent them likewise to the
legions, hoping that these would cause them to hold the preceding
emperor's memory in greater detestation, and to feel greater affection
for him. In both the despatch to the senate and the letter to the people
he subscribed himself as emperor and Cæsar, son of Antoninus, grandson
of Severus, Pius, Felix, Augustus, proconsul, and holder of the
tribunician power, assuming these titles before they were voted,[lacuna]
the [lacuna] not the [lacuna] but the [lacuna] of [lacuna]
used [Footnote: Illegible MS.--Boissevain conjectures: "And he used not
the name of Avitus, but that of his father."] [lacuna] the records of
the soldiers [lacuna] for of Macrinus [lacuna] Cæsar [lacuna] Pretorians
and Alban legionaries who were in Italy [lacuna] and as consul should
proclaim [Footnote: "He sent another letter to the Pretorians and to the
Alban legionaries who were in Italy, in which he stated incidentally
that he was consul and high-priest." (Boissevain's conjecture.)]
[lacuna] and the [lacuna] Marius Censorinus [lacuna] superintendence
[lacuna] accepted [lacuna] Macrinus [lacuna] himself since not
sufficiently by his own voice [lacuna] public [lacuna] read [lacuna] the
letters of Sardanapalus [lacuna] registered among the ex-consuls and
gave him injunctions that if any one should resist him he should use the
band of soldiers. As a consequence, though against its will, it read
everything to those [lacuna] [Footnote: "Most of it Marius Censorinus,
who was their commandant, read aloud, but the news about Macrinus he
suppressed, because he thought that his single voice could not give it
sufficient publicity; at the same time, however, he took it upon himself
to have the letter of Sardanapalus read to the senate through the medium
of Claudius Pollio, who had been enrolled among the ex-consuls; thus, if
any opposition should develop, he would be in a position to use the band
of soldiers. As a consequence the senate, though against its will, read
everything to those enlisted." (Boissevain's conjecture.)]
For, by reason of the necessity thrust upon them, they were not able to
do anything that they should or had better have done [lacuna] but were
panic-stricken by fear [lacuna] and Macrinus, whom they had often
commended, they voted should be regarded as a public enemy and they
abused him, together with his son; and Tarautas, whom they had often
wished to declare an enemy, they now exalted and of course prayed that
his son might be like him.
[Sidenote:--3--] This was in Rome. And Avitus assigned [lacuna] Pollio
to govern [lacuna] Germany [lacuna] since the latter had very rapidly
reduced Bithynia to subjection. He himself, after sojourning some months
in Antioch until he had established his authority there in every
direction, went into Bithynia, coadjutor [lacuna] often [lacuna] making
Gannys, as had been his custom in the case of Antioch.
Having passed the winter here he proceeded into Italy through Thrace and
Moesia and both the Pannonias, and there he abode to the end of his
life. One action of his was worthy of a thoroughly good emperor: for,
whereas many individuals and communities alike,
including the Romans themselves,
both knights and senators,
had privately and publicly, by word and deed, heaped insults upon [both
Caracalla and] himself as a result of the letters of Macrinus, he
[neither threatened to make reprisals] in the case of a single person,
nor did he make reprisals. But on the other hand he drifted into all the
most obscene and lawless and bloodthirsty practices. [Some of them never
before known in Rome, took root and grew like ancestral institutions.
Others, taken up tentatively from one time [Footnote: Reading [Greek:
allote] (Bekker, Dindorf) in place of [Greek: alla te].] to another by
various individuals] flourished for the three years and nine months and
four days during which he ruled (to compute from the battle in which he
gained supreme control). [In Syria, he caused the assassination of
Nestor and Fabius Agrippinus, the governor of the country, as well as of
the foremost knights belonging to the party of Macrinus; but he
inflicted a similar fate upon men in Rome who were on most friendly
terms with him. In Arabia, he executed Pica Cæsianus, [Footnote: _P.
Numicius Pica Cæsianus_.] entrusted with the administration, because he
had not immediately declared his allegiance; and, in Cyprus, Claudius
Attalus, because he had fallen out with Comazon. Attalus had once been
governor of Thrace, had been expelled from the senate by Severus in the
war with Niger, but was restored to it by Tarautas, and had at this time
been assigned to Cyprus, as the lot directed. He had incurred Comazon's
ill-will by having formerly reduced him to the position of rower in a
trireme as a punishment for some villany which the latter committed
while serving in Thrace.]
[Sidenote:--4--] This incident sheds some light on the character of
Comazon, who got this name from mimes and buffoonery. [Footnote: This
statement is an error on the part of Xiphilinus, who thought that
"Comazon" (in Greek=The Reveler) was a nickname for a certain
Eutychianus. Investigations, however, show that there was a M. Valerius
Comazon prominent at this time and that the word should be taken as a
proper and not as a vulgar noun.] He commanded the Pretorians and,
though holding no position of management or superintendence whatever,
except over the camp, [he obtained the consular honors] and subsequently
actually became consul. [Also he became city prefect] not merely once,
but twice and thrice, as could be recorded in no other case. Wherefore
this, too, must be enumerated among the most illegal proceedings. [It
was on his account, then, that Attalus was put to death.
Triccianus came to his end on account of the Alban legion, which he
commanded with good discipline during Macrinus's reign, and Castinus
[Footnote: _C. Iulius Septimius Castinus_.] because he was energetic and
was known to many soldiers in consequence of the commands he had held
and his association with Antoninus. He had accordingly been sent out in
advance by Macrinus without reference to other events and was living in
Bithynia. The emperor put him to death in spite of having written
concerning him to the senate that Triccianus had been banished from
Rome, like Julius Asper, by Macrinus, and that he had restored him. He
took similar vengeance on Sulla, who had been governing Cappadocia but
had relinquished it, because Sulla both meddled in some matters that did
not concern him and when summoned to Rome by Elagabalus had managed to
meet the Celtic soldiers returning home after their winter in Bithynia,
a period during which they had raised some little disturbance. These men
perished for the reasons specified and no statements about them were
communicated to the senate. Seius Carus, the descendant of Fuscianus,
who had been city prefect, was killed because he was rich, great, and
sensible, on the pretext that he was forming a league of some of the
soldiers belonging to the Alban legion; and, on the basis of some
charges preferred by the emperor alone, he was accused in the palace,
where he was also slain.] Valerianus Pætus lost his life because he had
stamped some likeness of himself upon gold pieces to serve as ornaments
for his mistresses. [This led to the accusation that he intended to
remove to Cappadocia, a country bordering on his own (he was a Gaul),
for the purpose of starting a revolution, and that this was why he made
gold pieces bearing his own figure.
[Sidenote:--5--] On these charges] Silius Messala and Pomponius Bassus
[also were condemned to death by the senate: they] incurred blame
because they were not pleased with what he was doing. He did not
hesitate to write this statement about them to the senate, and called
them investigators of his habits of life and censors of proceedings in
the palace. ["The proofs of their plot I have not sent you," he said,
"because it would be useless to read them, in view of the fact that the
men are already dead."] There was another cause of dislike underlying
[the case against Messala,--the point, namely, that he sturdily made
public many facts in the senate. This was what led the emperor at the
outset to send for him to come to Syria, pretending to have very great
need of him, whereas his real fear was that Messala might bring about a
change of attitude on the part of the senators.
The cause in] the case of Bassus was that he had a wife both fair to
look upon and of noble rank; she was a descendant of Claudius Severus
and of Marcus Antoninus. Indeed, the prince married her, not allowing
her even to mourn the catastrophe. Now of his marriages, in which he
both married and was bestowed in marriage, an account will be given
presently. He appeared both as man and as woman, and performed the
functions of both in the most licentious fashion [lacuna] about [lacuna]
and [lacuna] by whom [lacuna] own [lacuna] Sergius [lacuna] and [lacuna]
out of [lacuna] any [lacuna] making [lacuna] him [lacuna] blame for
[lacuna] slaughter the [Sidenote:--6--] [lacuna] and of knights [lacuna]
Cæsarians [lacuna] [lacuna] were destroyed [lacuna] nothing [lacuna] but
by killing in Nicomedea at the very start of his reign Gannys, who had
arranged the uprising, who had introduced him into the camp and had
likewise caused [the soldiers to revolt, who had presented him with the
victory over Macrinus, one who had reared and managed him,--by this act
he came to be regarded as the most impious of men. To be sure, Gannys
was living rather luxuriously and was fond of accepting bribes, but for
all that he brought no injury upon anybody and bestowed many benefits
upon many people. Most of all, he always showed a deep respect for the
emperor, and he was thoroughly satisfactory to Mæsa and Soæmias, suiting
the former because she had brought him up and the latter because he
practically lived with her. But these were not the reasons why the
emperor put him out of the way, seeing that he was willing to give him a
marriage contract and appoint him Cæsar. It was rather that Gannys
compelled him to live temperately and prudently. And his own hand was
the first to give his minister a mortal blow, since no one of the
soldiers had the hardihood to take the initiative in his murder.--These
events, then, took place in this way.
[Sidenote:--7--] [lacuna] Another pair executed were Verus, who had
likewise mustered courage to make an attempt upon the sovereignty while
in the midst of the third (Gallic) legion, which he was commanding; and
Gellius Maximus, on the same sort of charge, though he was lieutenant in
Syria proper and at the head of the fourth (Scythian) legion. For to
such an extent had everything got upside down, that these men, too, one
of whom had been enrolled in the senate from the ranks of the centurions
and the other of whom was the son of a physician, took it into their
heads to aim at the imperial office. I have mentioned them alone by
name, not so much because they were the only ones who appeared entirely
insane as because they belonged to the senate; for other attempts were
made. A certain centurion's son undertook to throw into disorder the
same Gallic legion, and another, a worker in wool, tampered with the
Fourth, and a third, a private citizen, with the fleet in harbor at
Cyzicus when the False Antoninus was wintering at Nicomedea. And there
were many others elsewhere, so that it became a very ordinary thing for
those who so wished to hazard the chance of fomenting rebellion and
becoming emperor. They were encouraged partly by the fact that many
persons had entered upon the supreme office without expecting or
deserving it. Let no one be incredulous of my statements, for the facts
about the private citizens I ascertained from men who are worthy of
confidence, and of what I have written about the fleet I gained an exact
knowledge in Pergamum, close at hand, the affairs of which, as also of
Smyrna, I managed, having been assigned to duty there by Macrinus. And
in view of this attempt none of the others seemed at all incredible to
me.
[Sidenote:--8--] This is what he did in the way of murders. His acts
which varied from our ancestral precedents, however, were of simple
character and inflicted no great harm upon us. Some noteworthy
innovations were his applying to himself certain titles connected with
his sovereignty before they had been voted, as I have already described,
[Footnote: See Chapter 2.] and again his enrolling himself in the
consulship in place of Macrinus when he had not been elected to it and
did not enter upon any of its duties (the time expiring too soon): yet
at first, in three letters, he had referred to the year by the name of
Adventus, as if assuming that the latter had been sole consul. Other
points were that he undertook to be consul a second time, without having
secured any office previously or the privileges of any office, and that
while consul in Nicomedea he did not employ the triumphal costume on the
Day of Vows. [Footnote: Translated by Sturz "_votivorum ludorum die_."
What festival is meant is uncertain, but it is probably _not_ the
Compitalia (III. Non. Ian.). [Sidenote:--11--] With his infractions of
law is connected also the matter of Elagabalus. The offence consisted,
not in his introducing a foreign god into Rome, or in his exalting him
in very strange ways, but in his placing him before even Jupiter and
having himself voted his priest, in his circumcising his foreskin and
abstaining from swine's flesh [on the ground that his devotion would be
purer by this means. He had thought of cutting off his genitals
altogether, but that was an idea prompted by salaciousness; the
circumcision which he actually accomplished was a part of the priestly
requirements of Elagabalus. Hence he mutilated in like manner numerous
of his associates.] A further offence was his being frequently seen in
public clad in the barbaric dress which the Syrian priests employ, a
circumstance which had more to do than anything else with his getting
the name of "The Assyrian."
[Sidenote:--12--] ¶ A golden statue of False Antoninus was erected,
distinguished by its great and varied adornment.
¶ Macrinus, though he found considerable money in the treasury,
squandered it all, and incomes did not suffice for expenditures.
[Sidenote: A.D. 219 (_a.u._ 972)] [Sidenote:--9--] As to his marriage.
He espoused Cornelia Paula in order that he might sooner (these are his
words) become a father,--he, who could not even be a man. On the
occasion of his marriage not only the senate and the equestrian order
but also the wives of the senators received some distribution of
presents. The people were given a banquet at the per capita rate of one
hundred and fifty denarii, and the soldiers had one that cost a hundred
more. There were contests of gladiators at which the prince wore a
purple-bordered toga, the same as he had done at the ludi votivi.
Various beasts were slain, among them an elephant and fifty-one tigers,
a greater number than had ever yet been despatched at one time.
Afterwards he dismissed Paula on the pretext that she had some blemish
on her person and cohabited with Aqulia Severa,--a most flagrant breach
of law. She was consecrated to Vesta and yet he most sinfully ravished
her and actually dared to say: "I did it in order that godlike children
may spring from me, the high-priest, and from her, the high-priestess."
He felicitated himself on an act which was destined to lead to his being
maltreated in the Forum and thrown into prison and subsequently put to
death. However, he did not keep even this woman for long, but married a
second, and then a third, and still another; after that he went back to
Severa.
[Sidenote:--10--] Portents had been taking place in Rome, one of them on
the statue of Isis, which is borne upon a dog above the pediment of her
temple: it consisted in her turning her face towards the
interior.--Sardanapalus was conducting games and numerous spectacles,
in which Helix, the athlete, won renown. How far he surpassed his
adversaries is shown by his wishing to contend in both wrestling and
pancratium at Olympia, and by his winning victories in both at the
Capitolina. The Eleans, being jealous of him, and through fear that he
might prove the eighth from Hercules (as the saying is), [Footnote:
The history and significance of this proverb are not known.] would not
call any wrestler into the stadium, in spite of their having inscribed
this contest on the bulletin-board. But in Rome he won each of the two
games,--a feat that no one else had accomplished.
[Sidenote:--11--] And here I must omit mention of the barbaric chants
which Sardanapalus chanted to Elagabalus, and his mother and
grandmother, all three, as also of the secret sacrifices that he offered
to him: at these he slaughtered boys, and used charms, besides shutting
up in the god's temple a live lion and monkey and snake, throwing in
among them human genitals, and practicing other unholy rites, while he
wore invariably innumerable amulets. [Sidenote:--12--] But to run
briefly over these matters, he actually (most ridiculous of all) courted
a wife for Elagabalus, on the assumption that the god wanted marriage
and children. Such a wife might be neither poor nor low-born, and so he
chose the Carthaginian Urania, summoned her to come thence, and
established her in the palace. He gathered wedding gifts for her from
all his subjects, as he might have done in the case of his own wives.
All these presents that were given during his lifetime were exacted
later, but in the way of dowry he declared that nothing should be
brought save the gold lions, which were melted down.
[Sidenote:--13--] But this Sardanapalus, who thought it right to make
the gods cohabit under the form of marriage, himself lived from first to
last most licentiously. [He married many women] and had liaisons with
many more [without any lawful title], yet it was not that he cared about
them; he simply wanted to imitate their actions when he should lie with
his lovers [and get accomplices in his excesses by returning to them
indiscriminately]. He used his body for doing and allowing many unheard
of things which no one would endure telling or hearing, but his most
conspicuous acts, which it would be impossible to conceal, were the
following. He would go by night, wearing a wig of long hair, into the
taverns and ply the trade of a female huckster. He frequented the
notorious brothels, drove out the prostitutes, and prostituted himself.
Finally, he set aside a room in the palace and there committed his
indecencies, standing all the time naked at the door of it, as the
harlots do, and shaking the curtain, which was fastened by gold rings,
the while in a soft and melting voice he solicited the passers-by.
Certain persons had been given special orders to let themselves be
attracted to his abode. For, as in other matters, so in this business,
too, he had numerous detectives through whom he sought out the persons
who could please him most by their foulness. He would collect money from
his Patrons and put on airs over his gains: he would also dispute with
his associates in this shameful occupation, saying that he had more
lovers than they and took in more money. [Sidenote:--14--] This is the
way he behaved to all alike that enjoyed his services. But he had,
besides, one chosen man whom he accordingly desired to appoint Cæsar.
Also, arrayed in the Green uniform, he drove a chariot privately and at
home,--if one can call that place home where contests were conducted by
the foremost of his suite [and knights and Cæsarians], the very
prefects, his grandmother, his mother, his women, and likewise several
members of the senate, including Leo, the præfectus urbi, and where they
watched him playing charioteer and begging gold coin like any vagabond,
and bowing down before the managers of the games and the members of the
factions.
[Now in trying anybody in court he really did have the appearance of a
man, but everywhere else his actions and the quality of his voice showed
the wantonness of youth. For instance, he used to dance not only in the
orchestra but more or less also while walking, performing sacrifice,
greeting friends or making speeches.
And finally (to go back now to the story which I began) he was bestowed
in marriage and was termed wife, mistress, queen. He worked in wool,
sometimes wore a hair-net, painted his eyes [daubing them with white
lead and alkanet], and once he shaved his chin and celebrated a festival
to mark the event. After that he went with smooth face, because it would
help him appear like a woman, and he often reclined while greeting the
senators. [Sidenote:--15--] "Her" husband was Hierocles, a Carian slave
[once the favorite of Gordius], from whom he had learned
chariot-driving. It was in this connection, also, that by a most
unexpected chance he won the imperial approbation. At a horse-race
Heirocles fell out of his chariot just opposite the seat of
Sardanapalus, losing his helmet in his fall. Being still beardless and
adorned with a crown of yellow hair, he attracted the attention of the
prince and was at once carried hastily to the palace; and by his
nocturnal feats he captivated Sardanapalus more than ever and rose to
still greater power. Consequently his influence became even greater than
his patron's and it was thought a small thing that his mother, while
still a slave, should be brought to Rome by soldiers and be numbered
among the wives of ex-consuls. Certain other persons, too, were not
seldom honored by the emperor and became powerful, some because they had
joined in his uprising and others because they committed adultery with
him. For he was anxious to have the reputation of committing adultery,
that in this respect, too, he might imitate the most lascivious women;
and he would often get caught voluntarily and in the very act. Then, for
his conduct, he would be brutally abused by his husband and would be
beaten, so that he had black eyes. His affection for this "husband" was
no light inclination, but a serious matter and a firmly fixed passion,
so much so that he did not become vexed at any such harsh treatment, but
on the contrary loved him the more for it and actually wished to appoint
him Cæsar;--he threatened his grandmother when she interfered, and
chiefly on this man's account he became at odds with the soldiers. It
was this that was destined to lead his destruction.
[Sidenote:--16--] As for Aurelius Zoticus, a native of Smyrna, whom they
also called "Cook" (from his father's trade), he incurred the
sovereign's thorough love and thorough hatred, and consequently his life
was saved. This Aurelius had a body that was beautiful all over, as if
ready for a gymnastic contest, and he surpassed everybody in the size of
his private parts. The fact was reported to the emperor by those who
were on the lookout for such features and the man was suddenly snatched
away from the games and taken to Rome, accompanied by an immense
procession, larger than Abgarus had in the reign of Severus or Tiridates
in that of Nero. He was appointed cubicularius before he had been even
seen by the emperor, [was honored by the name of his grandfather,
Avitus, was adorned with garlands as at a festival,] and entered the
palace the center of a great glare of lights. Sardanapalus, on seeing
him, rose with modesty; the newcomer addressed him, as was usual, "My
Lord Emperor, hail!" whereupon the other, bending his neck so as to
assume a ravishing feminine pose, and turning his eyes wide open upon
him, answered without hesitation: "Call me Not Lord, for I am a Lady."
Then Sardanapalus immediately took a bath with him, and, finding his
guest when stripped to correspond to the report of him, burned with even
greater lust, reposed upon his breast, and took dinner, like some loved
mistress, in his bosom. Hierocles began to fear that Zoticus would bring
the emperor into a greater state of subjection than he himself was able
to effect, and that he might suffer some terrible fate at his hands, as
often happens in the case of rival lovers. Therefore he had the
wine-bearers, who were well-disposed to him, administer some drug that
abated the visitor's ferocity. And so Zoticus after a whole night of
embarrassment, being unable to secure an erection, was deprived of all
that he had obtained, and was driven out of the palace, out of Rome, and
later out of the remainder of Italy; and this saved his life. [However,
the emperor drove himself to such a frenzy of lewdness that he asked the
physicians to contrive a woman's vagina in his person by means of an
incision, and held out to them the hope of great pay for this
achievement.]
[Sidenote:--17--] Sardanapalus himself was destined not much later to
receive his well-deserved pay for his own defilement. For his acting in
this way and for making himself the object of these actions he became
hated by the populace and by the soldiers to whom he was most attached,
and at last he was slain by them in the very camp.
¶The False Antoninus was despised and put out of the way by the
soldiers. When any persons, particularly if armed, have accustomed
themselves to feel contempt for their rulers, they set no limits on
their right to do what they please but keep their arms ready to use even
against the very man who gave them whatever rights they possess.
[Sidenote: A.D. 221 (_a.u._ 974)] This is how it happened. He introduced
his cousin Bassianus before the senate, and, having stationed Mæsa and
Soæmias on either hand, adopted him as his child. Then did he
congratulate himself on being suddenly the father of so large a child
(as if he surpassed him in age) and declared that he needed no other
offspring to keep his house free from despondency.
Elagabalus, he said, had ordered him to do this and further to call his
son's name Alexander. And I for my part am persuaded that it came about
in very truth by some divine intention, and I base my inference not upon
what he said but upon what was said to him by some one, viz., that an
Alexander would come from Emesa to succeed him, and again on what took
place in upper Moesia and in Thrace. [Sidenote:--18--] A little before
this a spirit, declaring that he was the famous Alexander of Macedon,
wearing his appearance and all his apparatus, started from the regions
near the Ister, appearing there in I know not what way. It traversed
Thrace and Asia, reveling in company with four hundred male attendants,
who were equipped with thyrsi and fawn-skins and did no harm. The fact
was admitted by all those who lived in Thrace at that time that lodgings
and all the provisions for It were provided at public expense. And no
one dared to oppose It either by word or by deed,--no governor, no
soldier, no procurator, no heads of provinces,--but It proceeded, as if
in a daylight procession prescribed by proclamation, to the confines of
Bithynia. Leaving that point, it approached the Chalcedonian land and
there, after performing some sacred rite by night and burying a wooden
horse, it vanished. These facts I ascertained while still in Asia, as I
stated, and before anything at all had been done about Bassianus in
Rome.
¶One day the same man said this: "I have no need of titles
derived, from war and blood. It suffices me to have you call me
'Pious' and 'Fortunate'."
¶The False Antoninus on receiving praise from the senate one
day remarked: "Yes, you love me and, by Jupiter, so does the
populace and likewise the foreign legions. But I do not satisfy
the Pretorians, to whom I keep giving so much."
[Sidenote: A.D. 222 (_a.u._ 975)] [Sidenote:--19--] So long as
Sardanapalus continued to love his cousin, he was safe. But, since he
was suspicious of all men, and learned that their favor was turning
solely and absolutely to the boy, he dared to change his mind and worked
in every way to effect his overthrow.
¶Some persons were conversing with the False Antoninus and
remarked how fortunate he was to be consul along with his son. He
rejoined: "I shall be more fortunate next year, for then I'm
going to be consul with my truly-begotten son."
The moment, though, that he tried to destroy him, he not only
accomplished nothing but ran the risk of being killed himself.
Alexander was sedulously guarded by his mother and his grandmother and
the soldiers, and the Pretorians, on becoming aware of the attempt of
Sardanapalus, raised a terrible tumult. They would not cease their
rebellious attitude until Sardanapalus, with Alexander, visited the
camp; and he poured out his supplications and under compulsion gave up
such of his companions in lewdness as the soldiers demanded. In behalf
of Hierocles he pled piteously and lamented him with tears, foretelling
his own death, and adding: "Grant me this one man, whatever you are
pleased to suspect about him, or else kill me!" and thus with difficulty
he succeeded in appeasing them. On this occasion, then, he was saved,
though with difficulty. His grandmother hated him for his practices
(which seemed to show that he was not the son of Antoninus) and was
coming to favor Alexander, as being really sprung from him.
[Sidenote:--20--] Later he again made a plot against Alexander and, as
the Pretorians raised an outcry at this, entered the camp with him.
Then, he became aware that he was under guard and awaiting execution,
for the mothers of the two, being more openly at variance with each
other than before, were stirring up the soldiers to action. He then made
an attempt to flee, and intended to escape to some point by being placed
in a box, but was discovered and slain, having reached eighteen years of
age. His mother, who embraced and clung tightly to him, perished with
him; their heads were cut off and their bodies, after being stripped
naked, were first dragged all over the city, and then the woman's trunk
was cast off in some corner, while his was thrown into the river.
[Sidenote:--21--] With him perished Hierocles, and others, and the
prefects; and Aurelius Eubulus, who was an Emesenian by race [and had
gone so far in lewdness and defilement that his surrender had earlier
been demanded by the populace]. He had been entrusted with the general
accounts [Footnote: One of the _rationales summarum_.] and there was
nothing that escaped his confiscations. So now he was torn to pieces by
the populace and the soldiers, and Fulvius, the city prefect, with him.
Comazon succeeded the latter, as he had succeeded Fulvius's predecessor.
Just as a mask used to be carried into the theatres to occupy the stage
during the intervals in the acting, when it was left vacant by the
comedians, so was Comazon put in the vacant place of the men who had
been prefects in his day over the city of Rome.--As for
Elagabalus, [Footnote: Elagabalus, the god.] he was banished from Rome
altogether.
Such was the story of Tiberinus: and none of those even who helped him
arrange the uprising and attained great power in return, save perhaps a
single individual, [Footnote: This probably refers to Comazon.] survived.
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
80
Why Dio was not able to relate in detail the history of the reign of
Alexander (chapter 1).
About Ulpian, Pretorian Prefect, and his death (chapter 2).
Undertakings of Artaxerxes the Persian against the Parthians and Romans
(chapters 3, 4).
Dio's second consulship, his return to his own country, and conclusion
of the History (chapter 5).
DURATION OF TIME.
Duration of time eight years, in which the following are enumerated as
consuls.
Antoninus Elagabalus (IV), M. Aurelius Severus Alexander Coss. (A.D. 222
= a.u. 975 = First of Alexander, from March 11th.)
L. Marius Maximus (II), L. Roscius Ælianus. (A.D. 223 = a.u. 976 =
Second of Alexander.)
Iulianus (II), Crispinus. (A.D. 224 = a.u. 977 = Third of Alexander.)
Fuscus (II), Dexter. (A.D. 225 = a.u. 978 = Fourth of Alexander.)
Alexander Aug. (II), C. Marcellus Quintilianus (II). (A.D. 226 = a.u.
979 = Fifth of Alexander.)
Lucius Albinus, Max. Æmilius Æmilianus. (A.D. 227 = a.u. 980 = Sixth of
Alexander.)
T. Manilius Modestus, Ser. Calpurnius Probus. (A.D. 228 = a.u. 981 =
Seventh of Alexander.)
Alexander Aug. (III), Cassius Dio (II). (A.D. 229 = a.u. 982 = Eighth
of Alexander.)
[Sidenote: A.D. 222-229 (_a.u._ 975-982)] [Sidenote:--1--] Alexander
became emperor immediately after him [and at once proclaimed Augusta,
his own mother, Mammæa, who had in hand the administration of affairs
and gathered wise men about her son, that by their guidance he might be
duly trained in morals; and she chose out of the senate the better class
of counselors, to whom she communicated everything that had to be done].
He entrusted to one Domitius Ulpianus the command of the Pretorians and
the remaining business of the empire.--These matters I have set down in
detail, so far as I was able, in each case, but of the rest I have not
found it feasible to give a detailed account, for the reason that for a
long time I did not sojourn in Rome. After going from Asia to Bithynia I
fell sick, and from there I hurried to my duties as head of Africa. On
returning to Italy I was almost immediately sent to govern in Dalmatia
and from there into Upper Pannonia. After that I came back to Rome and
on reaching Campania at once set out for home.
[Sidenote:--2--] For these reasons, then, I have not been able to
compile an account of what follows similar to that which precedes. I
will narrate briefly, however, all the things that were done up to the
time of my second consulship.
Ulpianus corrected many of the irregular practices instituted by
Sardanapalus; but, after putting to death Flavianus and Chrestus, that
he might succeed them, he was himself before long slain by the
Pretorians, who attacked him in the night; and it availed nothing that
ran to the palace and took refuge with the emperor himself and the
latter's mother.--Even during his lifetime a great dispute had arisen
between the populace and the Pretorians, from some small cause, with the
result that they fought each other for three days, and many were lost by
both sides. The soldiers, on getting the worst of it, directed their
efforts to firing the buildings, and so the populace, fearing that the
whole city would be destroyed, reluctantly came to terms with them.
Besides these occurrences, Epagathus, who was believed to have been
chiefly [Footnote: Reading [Greek: to pleon] (Reimar, Bekker,
Boissevain).] responsible for the death of Ulpianus, was sent into
Egypt, supposedly to govern it, but really to prevent any disturbance
taking place in Rome when he met with punishment. From there he was
taken to Crete and executed. [Alexander's mother, being a slave to
money, gathered funds from all sources. She also brought home for her
son a spouse, whom she would not allow to be addressed as Augusta. After
a time, however, she separated her from her son and drove her away to
Libya, in spite of the woman's possessing his affections. Alexander,
however, could not oppose his mother, for she ruled him absolutely.]
[Sidenote:--3--] Many uprisings were made by many persons, some of which
caused serious alarm, but they were all checked. But affairs in
Mesopotamia were still more terrifying, and provoked in the hearts of
all, not merely the men of Rome but the rest of mankind, a fear that had
a truer foundation. Artaxerxes, a Persian, having conquered the
Parthians in three battles and killed their king, Artabanus, [made a
campaign against Hatra, which he endeavored to take as a base for
attacking the Romans. He did make a breach in the wall but, as he lost a
number of soldiers through an ambuscade, he transferred his position
into Media. Of this district, as also of Parthia, he acquired no small
portion, partly by force and partly by intimidation, and then] marched
against Armenia. Here he suffered a reverse at the hands of the natives,
some Medes, and the children of Artabanus, and either fled (as some say)
or (as others assert) retired to prepare a larger expedition.
[Sidenote:--4--] He accordingly became a source of fear to us; for he
was encamped with a large army over against not Mesopotamia only but
Syria also and boasted that he would win back everything that the
ancient Persians had once held, as far as the Grecian Sea. It was, he
said, his rightful inheritance from his forefathers. He was of no
particular account himself, but our military affairs are in such a
condition that some joined his cause and others refused to defend
themselves. The troops are so distinguished by wantonness, and
arrogance, and freedom from reproof, that those in Mesopotamia dared to
kill their commander, Flavius Heracleo, and the Pretorians found fault
with me before Ulpianus because I ruled the soldiers in Pannonia with a
strong hand; and they demanded my surrender, through fear that some one
might compel them to submit to a régime similar to that of the Pannonian
troops.
[Sidenote:--5--] Alexander, however, paid no attention to them, but
promoted me in various ways, appointing me to be consul for the second
time, as his colleague, and taking upon himself personally the
responsibility of meeting the expenditures of my office. As the
malcontents evinced displeasure at this, he became afraid that they
might kill me if they saw me in the insignia of my office, and he bade
me spend the period of my consulship in Italy, somewhere outside of
Rome. Later, accordingly, I came both to Rome and to Campania to visit
him. After spending a few days in his company, during which the soldiers
saw me without offering to do me any harm, I started for home, being
released on account of the trouble with my feet. Consequently, I expect
to spend all the remainder of my life in my own country, as the Divine
Presence revealed to me most clearly at the time I was in Bithynia.
Once, in a dream there, I thought I saw myself commanded by it to write
at the close of my work the following verses:
"Hector was led of Zeus far out of the range of the missiles,
Out of the dust and the slaying of men, out of blood and of uproar."
[Footnote: From Homer's Iliad, XI, verses 163-4.]
* * * * *
PRESERVED FROM BOOKS
PRECEDING No. 36.
* * * * *
(The "Fragments" of Dio.)
[Frag. I]
1. Dio says: "I am anxious to write a history of all (that is worth
remembering) done by the Romans both at peace and in war, so as to have
nothing essential lacking, either of those matters or of others.
(Valesius, p. 569.)
2[lacuna] everything about them, so to speak, that has been written
by any persons, and I have put in my history not everything but what I
have selected. However, let no one entertain any suspicions (as has
happened in the case of some other writers), regarding the truth of it
merely because I have used elaborate diction to whatever extent the
subject matter permitted; for I have been anxious to be equally perfect
in both respects so far as was possible. I will begin at the point where
I have obtained the clearest accounts of what is reported to have taken
place in this land which we inhabit.
This territory in which the city of Rome has been built" [Lacuna]
(Mai, p. 135.)
[Frag. II]
1. Ausonia, as Dio Cocceianus writes, is properly the land of the
Aurunci only, lying between the Campanians and Volsci along the
sea-coast. Many persons, however, thought that Ausonia extended even as
far as Latium, so that all of Italy was called from it Ausonia. (Isaac
Tzetzes on Lycophron, 44. and 615, 702.)
2. Where now Chone is there was formerly a district called Oenotria, in
which Philoctetes settled after the sack of Troy as Dionysius and Dio
Cocceianus and all those who write the story of Rome relate. (Idem, v.
912.)
3. ¶ About the Etruscans Dio says: "These facts about them required to
be written at this point in the narrative, and elsewhere something else
and later some still different fact will be told as occasion demands, in
whatever way the course of the history may chance to prepare the point
temporarily under discussion. Let this same explanation be sufficient
[Footnote: The MS. here has [Greek: ekontes] = "being (plural)
sufficient." I have adopted the reading [Greek: eketo], suggested by
Melber.] to cover also the remaining matters of importance. For I shall
recount to the best of my ability all the exploits of the Romans, but as
to the rest only what has a bearing on the Romans will be written."
(Mai, p. 136.)
[Frag. III]
1. Dio and Dionysius give the story of Cacus (Tzetzes, History, 5,
21).
2. In this way the country was called Italy. Picus was the first king of
it, and after him his son Faunus, when Heracles came there with the rest
of the kine of Geryon. And he begat Latinus by the wife of Faunus, who
was king of the people there, and from him all were called Latins. In
the fifty-fifth year after Heracles this Æneas, subsequent to the
capture of Troy, came, as we have remarked, to Italy and the Latins. He
landed near Laurentum, called also Troy, near the River Numicius along
with his own son by Creusa, Ascanius or Ilus. There his followers ate
their tables, which were of parsley or of the harder portions of bread
loaves (they had no real tables), and likewise a white sow leaped from
his boat and running to the Alban mount, named from her, gave birth to a
litter of thirty, by which she indicated that in the thirtieth year his
children should get fuller possession of both land and sovereignty. As
he had heard of this beforehand from an oracle he ceased his
wanderings, sacrificed the sow, and prepared to found a city. Latinus
would not put up with him, but being defeated in war gave Æneas his
daughter Lavinia in marriage. Æneas then founded a city and called it
Lavinium. When Latinus and Thurnus, king of the Rutuli, perished in war
each at the other's hands, Æneas became king. After Æneas had been
killed in war at Laurentum by the same Rutuli and Mezentius the
Etruscan, and Lavinia the wife of Æneas was pregnant (of Silvius
[Footnote: Reimar thinks this word a later interpolation.]), Ascanius
the child of Creusa was king. He finally conquered Mezentius, who had
opposed him in war and had refused to receive his embassies but sought
to command all the dependents of Latinus for an annual tribute. When the
Latins had grown strong because of the arrival of the thirtieth year,
they scorned Lavinium and founded a second city named from the sow Alba
Longa, i. e. "long white,"--and likewise called the mountain there
Albanus. Only, the images from Troy turned back a second time to
Lavinium.
After the death of Ascanius it was not Ascanius's son Iulus who became
king, but Æneas's son by Lavinia, Silvius,--or, according to some
Ascanius's son Silvius. Silvius again begat another Æneas, and he
Latinus, and he Capys. Capys had a child Tiberinus, whose son was
Amulius, whose son was Aventinus.
So far regarding Alba and Albanians. The story of Rome follows.
Aventinus begat Numitor and Amulius. Numitor while king was driven out
by Amulius, who killed Numitor's son Ægestes in a hunting party and
made the sister of Ægestes, daughter of the aforesaid Numitor, Silvia
or Rhea Ilia, a priestess of Vesta, so that she might remain a virgin.
He stood in terror of an oracle which foretold his death at the hands
of the children of Numitor. For this reason he had killed Ægestes and
made the other a priestess of Vesta, that she might continue a virgin
and childless. But she while drawing water in Mars's grove conceived,
and bore Romulus and Remus. The daughter of Amulius by supplication
rescued her from being put to death, but the babes she gave to
Faustulus, a shepherd, husband of Laurentia, to expose in the vicinity
of the river Tiber. These the shepherd's wife took and reared up; for
it happened that she had about that time brought forth a still-born
infant.
When Romulus and Remus were grown they kept flocks in the fields of
Amulius, but as they killed some of the shepherds of their grandfather
Numitor a watch was set for them. Remus being arrested, Romulus ran
and told Faustulus, and he ran to narrate everything to Numitor.
Finally Numitor recognized them to be his own daughter's children.
They with the assistance of many persons killed Amulius, and after
bestowing the kingdom of Alba on their grandfather Numitor themselves
made a beginning of founding Rome in the eighteenth year of Romulus's
life. Prior to this great Rome, which Romulus founded on the Palatine
mount about the dwelling of Faustulus, another Rome in the form of a
square had been founded by a Romulus and Remus older than these.
(Is. Tzetzes on Lycophron, 1232. Consequently Dio must have written
what is found in Zonaras 7, 3 [vol. II, p. 91, 7-10:]) "Romulus has
been described as eighteen years old when he joined in settling Rome.
He founded it around the dwelling of Faustulus. The place had been
named Palatium."
3. I have related previously at some length the story how Æneas
founded Lavinium, though these ignorant persons say Rome. See how
_they_ tell the story. Æneas received an oracle to found the city on
the spot where his companions should devour their own tables. Now when
they came to Italy and were in want of tables they used loaves instead
of tables. Finally they ate also the tables--or the loaves. Æneas,
consequently, understanding the oracle founded there the Lavinian
city, even if the ignorant do say Rome. (Is. Tzetz. on Lycophr. 1250.)
(Cp. Frag. III, 4.)
4. ¶Rome is part of the Latin country and the Latins have the same
name as Latinus, who is said to be the son of Odysseus and Circe, and
the Tiber, once called Albulus, received its change of name from the
fact that King Tiberius lost his life in it; this is proclaimed by
Dio's history among others. The Tiberius here meant by the history is
not the one subsequent to Augustus, but another who came earlier. He,
they say, died in battle and was carried away by the stream, and so
left his own name to the river. (Eustathius on Dionysius, 350.)
5. Arceisius--Lærtes was a son of Arceisius who was so called either
from [Greek: arkeo arkeso] [Footnote: These are the first two principal
parts of a Greek verb meaning "to be sufficient."] as if he were able
merely to be sufficient ([Greek: eparkeo]), whence comes the epithet
[Greek: podarkaes] (sufficient with the feet) or else because an _arkos_
or _arktos_ (bear) suckled him, just as some one else was suckled by a
horse or goat, and still others by a wolf, among whom were also the
Roman chiefs (according to Dio),--Remus, that is to say, and Romulus,
whom a wolf (lykaina) suckled, called by the Italians _lupa_; this name
has been aptly used metaphorically as a title for the _demi-monde_.
(Eustathius on the Odyssey, p. 1961, 13-16.)
[Frag. IV]
1. [Lacuna] [lacuna] (for it is not possible that one who is a mortal
should either foresee everything, or find a way to turn aside what is
destined to occur) children to punish his wrongdoing were born
[infinitive] of that maiden. [Footnote: I.e., Rhea Sylvia.] (Mai, p.
136.)
2. ¶Romulus and Remus, by their quarrel together, made it plain that
some can bear dangers straight through life altogether more easily
than good fortune. (Mai, p. 136.)
3. On Romulus and Remus Dionysius of Halicarnassus makes remarks in
his History, and so do Dio and Diodorus. (Scholia of Io. Tzetzes in
Exeg. Hom. II. p. 141, 20.)
4. After they had set about the building of the city a dispute arose
between the brothers regarding the sovereignty and regarding the city,
and they got into a conflict in which Remus was killed. (Zonaras, 7,
3, vol. II, p-90, 7 sqq.) (Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)
5. Whence also the custom arose that he who dared to cross the trench
of the camp otherwise than by the usual paths should be put to death.
(Zonaras, ib., p. 90, 16-18.)
6. They themselves [Footnote: The Cæninenses, Crustumini, and
Antemnates are meant (Bekker).--Compare Livy, I, 10, 11.] learned well
and taught others the lesson that those who take vengeance on others are
not certainly right merely because the others have previously done
wrong, and that those who make demands on stronger men do not
necessarily get them, but often lose the rest besides. (Mai, p. 136.)
7. ¶Hersilia and the rest of the women of her kin on discovering them
one day drawn up in opposing ranks ran down from the Palatine with
their little children (children had already been born), and rushing
suddenly into the space between the armies aroused much pity by their
words and their actions. Looking now at the one side and now at the
other they cried: "Why, fathers, do you do this? Why, husbands, do you
do it? When will you stop fighting? When will you stop hating each
other? Make peace with your sons-in-law! Make peace with your
fathers-in-law! For Pan's sake spare your children, for Quirinus's
sake your grandchildren! Pity your daughters, pity your wives! For if
you refuse to make peace and some bolt of madness has fallen upon your
heads to drive you to frenzy, then kill at once us, the causes of
your contention, and slay at once the little children whom you hate,
that with no longer any name or bond of kinship between you you may
gain the greatest of evils--to slay the grandsires of your children
and the fathers of your grandchildren." As they said this they tore
open their garments and exposed their breasts and abdomens, while some
pressed themselves against the swords and others threw their children
against them. Moved by such sounds and sights the men began to weep,
so that they desisted from battle and came together for a conference
there, just as they were, in the _comitium_, which received its name
from this very event. (Mai, p. 137.)
8. Tribous Trittys; or a third part. Romulus's heavy-armed men, three
thousand in number (as Dio tells us in the first book of his History),
were divided into three sections called _tribous_, i. e. trittyes,
which the Greeks also termed "tribes." Each trittys was separated into
ten _Curiæ_ or "thinking bodies"--_cura_ meaning thoughtfulness--and
the men who were appointed to each particular _curia_ came together
and thought out the business in hand.
Among the Greeks the _curiae_ are called _phratriae_ and
_phatriae_--in other words _associations, brotherhoods unions,
guilds_--from the fact that men of the same _phratry phrased_ or
revealed to one another their own intentions without scruple or fear.
Hence fathers or kinsmen or teachers are _phrators_,--those who share
in the same _phratry_. But possibly it was derived from the Roman word
_frater_, which signifies "brother." (--Glossar. Nom. Labbaei.)
9. (And he named the people _populus_.) Hence in the Law Books the
popular assembly has the name _popularia_. (Zonaras 7, 3 (vol. 11, p.
91, 17 and 18.) Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)
10. She [i. e. Tarpeia] having come down for water was seized and
brought to Tatius, and was induced to betray the fathers. (Zonaras,
ib., p. 93, 15-17.)
11. It is far better for them [senate-houses?] to be established anew
than having existed previously to be named over. (Mai, p. 137.)
12. ¶Romulus assumed a rather harsh attitude toward the senate and
behaved toward it rather like a tyrant, and the hostages of the Veientes
he returned [Footnote: Mai supplies the missing verb.] on his own
responsibility and not by common consent, as was usually done. When he
perceived them vexed at this he made a number of unpleasant remarks,
and finally said: "I have chosen you, Fathers, not for the purpose of
your ruling me, but that I might give directions to you." (Mai, p. 138.)
[What is said of Romulus in John of Antioch, Frag. 32 (Mueller) to
have been drawn from the extant books of Dio. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_
XIV.]
13. Dio I: "Thus by nature, doubtless, mankind will not endure to be
ruled by what is similar and ordinary partly through jealousy, partly
through contempt of it." [Footnote: This is probably a remark in regard
to the quarrels of the Roman elders over the kingdom after the death of
Romulus.--Compare Livy. I, 17.] (--Bekker, Anecd. p. 164, 15.)
14. Dio in I: "What time he threw both body and soul into the balance,
encountering danger in your behalf." [Footnote: Perhaps a reference to
the father of Horatius defending his son, or even to Romulus.] (Ib. p.
165, 27.)
[Frag. V] 1. Romulus had a crown and a sceptre with an eagle on the
top and a white cloak reaching to the feet striped with purple
embroideries from the shoulders to the feet: the name of the cloak was
toga, i. e. "covering," from _tegere_ the corresponding verb (this is
the word the Romans use for "cover") and a purple shoe which was
called _cothurnus_, as Cocceius says. (Io. Laur. Lydus, De Magis.
Reip. Rom. 1, pp. 20-22.)
Therefore the words of Zonaras II, p. 96, 5, may be attributed to Dio:
"(Romulus) also used red sandals."
2. "Shedding ashes from the hearth over the earth, they skillfully
traced the prophesies with this wand, as they gazed at the sun and
foretold the future. This wand Plutarch terms _lituos_, but _lituoi_
is what Cocceianus Cassius Dio says." (Io. Tzetzes, Alleg. Iliadis 1,
28.)
3. Numa dwelt on a hill called Quirinal, because he was a Sabine, but
he had his official residence in the Sacred Way and used to spend his
time near the temple of Vesta and sometimes even remained on the spot.
(Valesius, p. 569.)
4. For since he understood well that the majority of mankind hold in
contempt what is of like nature and consorts with them through a
feeling that it is no better than themselves, but cultivate what is
obscure and foreign as being superior, because they believe it divine,
he dedicated a certain lot of land to the Muses [lacuna] (Mai, p. 138.)
5. ¶The gods, as guardians of peace and justice, must be pure of
murder; and not listen to or look at anything pertaining to divinity
in a cursory or neglectful manner, but must exist enjoying leisure
from other affairs and fixing their attention on the practice of piety
as the most important act.--Zonaras, 7, 5 (vol. II, p. 100).
6. Dio, Book I: "This, then, is what Numa thought" (Bekker, Anecd. p.
158, 23.)
7. Furthermore, also, that they became composed at that time through
their own efforts, and took the sacred oath; after which they
themselves continued at peace both with one another and with the
outside tribes throughout the entire reign of Numa, and they seemed to
have lighted upon him by divine guidance no less than in the case of
Romulus. Men who know Sabine history best declare that he was born on
the same day that Rome was founded. In this way, because of both them
the city quickly became strong and well adorned: for the one gave it
practice in warfare,--of necessity, since it was but newly
founded,--and the other taught it besides the art of peace, so that it
was equally distinguished in each of these two particulars. (Valesius,
p. 569.)
8. Dio the Roman says that Janus, an ancient hero, because of his
entertainment of Saturn, received the knowledge of the future and of
the past, and that on this account he was represented with two faces
by the Romans. From him the month of January was named, and the
beginning of the year comes in the same month. (Cedrenus, Vol. 1, p.
295, 10, Bekker.)
9. Book 1, Dio:--"For in some beginnings, when grasping at ends, the
costs that we endure are not unwelcome." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 161, 3.)
10. (Numa) having lived for a period of three more than eighty years,
and having been king forty and three years.--Zonaras, 7, 5. (Cp.
Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)
[Frag. VI]
1. Dio, Book 2: "that their [Footnote: Probably refers to the people of
Alba.] reputation would stand in the way of their growth." (Bekker,
Anecd., p. 139, 12.)
2. ¶Neither of the two [Tullus or Mettius] sanctioned the removal, but
both championed their own pretensions. For Tullus in view of the report
about Romulus and the power they possessed was elated and so was
Fufetius in view of the age of Alba and because it was the mother city
not only of the Romans themselves but of many others; and both felt no
little pride. For these reasons they withdrew from that dispute but
plunged into a new quarrel about the sovereignty: for they saw that it
was impossible [Footnote: Refers to the Romans.] to keep them free from
party feeling, dwelling with them in safety on fair terms; and this was
due to the inherent disposition of men to quarrel with their equals, and
to desire to rule others. Many claims also regarding this they preferred
against each other, to see if by any means the one party would
voluntarily concede either of the two favors to the other. They
accomplished nothing, but formed a compact to struggle in her behalf.
(Mai, p. 139.)
3. Dio, Book 2.--"and attacking them who expected no further danger."
(Bekker, Anecd. p. 139, 15.)
4. ¶Tullus was deemed most able against the enemy, but absolutely
despised and neglected religion until, during the recurrence of a
plague, he himself fell sick. Then, indeed, he paid the strictest
regard to all the gods, and furthermore established the Salii Collini.
(Valesius, p. 569.)
[Frag. VII]
¶Marcius, comprehending how it is not sufficient for men who wish to
remain at peace to refrain from wrongdoing, and that refusing to
molest others, without active measures, is not a means of safety, but
the more one longs for it the more vulnerable does one become to the
mass of mankind, changed his course. He saw that a desire for quiet
was not a power for protection unless accompanied by equipment for
war: he perceived also that delight in freedom from foreign broils
very quickly and very easily ruined men who were unduly enthusiastic
over it. For this reason he thought that war was nobler and safer,
both as a preparation and as forethought, than was peace, and so
whatever he was unable to obtain from the Latins with their consent,
and without harming them, he took away against their will by means of
a military expedition. (Mai, p. 139.)
[Frag. VIII]
¶Tarquinius, by using wealth, knowledge, and great wit opportunely
everywhere, put Marcius in such a frame of mind than he was enrolled
by the latter among the patricians and among the senators, was often
appointed general and was entrusted with the guardianship of his
children and of the kingdom. He was no less agreeable to the rest, and
consequently ruled them with their consent. The reason was that while
he took all measures from which he might derive strength he did not
lose his head, but though among the foremost humbled himself. Any
laborious tasks he was willing to undertake openly in the place of
others, but in pleasure he willingly made way for others while he
himself obtained either nothing or but little, and that unnoticed. The
responsibility for what went well he laid upon any one sooner than
upon himself and placed the resulting advantages within the reach of
the public for whoever desired them, but more unsatisfactory issues he
never laid to the charge of any one else, nor attempted to divide the
blame. Besides, he favored all the friends of Marcius individually
both by deeds and by words. Money he spent without stint and was ready
to offer his services if any one wanted anything of him. He neither
said nor did anything mean against any one, and did not fall into
enmity with any one if he could help it. Furthermore, whatever
benefits he received from any persons he always exaggerated, but
unpleasant treatment he either did not notice at all or minimized it
and regarded it is of very slight importance: not only did he refuse
to take offensive measures in return, but he conferred kindnesses
until he won the man over entirely. This gained him a certain
reputation for cleverness, because he had mastered Marcius and all the
latter's followers, but through subsequent events he caused the
majority of men to be distrusted, either as being deceitful by nature
or as changing their views according to their own influence and
fortunes. (Valesius, p. 570.)
[Frag. IX]
Second Book of Dio: "As there was nothing in which they did not yield
him obedience." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 164, 19.)
[Frag. X] 1. Dio, Book 2.--"Because his brother did not cooperate
with him he secretly put him out of the way by poison through the
agency of his wife." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 139, 17. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 9.)
2. ¶Tarquinius, when he had equipped himself sufficiently to reign over
them even if they were unwilling, first arrested the most powerful
members of the senate and next some of the rest, and put to death many
publicly, when he could bring some real charge against them, and many
besides secretly, while some he banished. Not merely because some of
them loved Tullius more than him, nor because they had family, wealth,
intelligence, and displayed conspicuous bravery and distinguished wisdom
did he destroy them, out of jealousy and out of a suspicion likewise
that their dissimilarity of character must force them to hate him, the
while he defended himself against some and anticipated the attack of
others; no, he slew all his bosom friends who had exerted themselves to
help him get the kingship no less than the rest; for he thought that
impelled by the audacity and fondness for revolution through which they
had obtained dominion for him they might equally well give it to some
one else. So he made away with the best part of the senate and of the
knights and did not appoint to those orders any one at all in place of
the men who had been destroyed: he understood that he was hated by the
entire populace and was anxious to render the classes mentioned
extremely weak through paucity of men. Yes, he even undertook to abolish
the senate altogether, since he believed that every gathering of men and
especially of chosen persons who had some pretence of prestige from
antiquity, was most hostile to a tyrant. But as he was afraid that the
multitude or else his body-guards themselves, in their capacity as
citizens, might by reason of vexation at the change in government
revolt, he refrained from doing this openly, but effected it in a
conveniently outrageous way. He failed to introduce any new member into
the senate to make up the loss, and to those who were left he
communicated nothing of importance. He called the senators together not
to help him in the administration of any important business; no, this
very act was to give them a proof of their littleness, and thereby to
enable him to humiliate and show scorn for them. Most of his business he
carried on by himself or with the aid of his sons, in the first place to
the end that no one else should have any power, and secondly because he
shrank from publishing matters involving his own wrongdoing. He was
difficult of access and hard to accost, and showed such great
haughtiness and brutality toward all alike that he received the nickname
among them of "Proud." Among other decidedly tyrannical deeds of himself
and his children might be mentioned the fact that he once had some
citizens bound naked to some crosses in the Forum and before the
eyes of the citizens, and had them shamefully beaten to death with rods.
This punishment, invented by him at that time, has often been
inflicted. (Valesius, p. 573.)
3. Dio in 2nd Book: "Publicly and by arrangement reviling his father
in many unusual ways on the ground that he was a tyrant and was
forsworn." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 155, 1.)
4. The Sibyl about whom Lycophron is now speaking was the Cumæan, who
died in the time of Tarquin the Proud and left behind three or nine of
her prophetic books. Of these the Romans bought either one or three,
after the Sibyl's servant had destroyed the rest by fire because they
would not give her as much gold as she wanted. This they did later and
bought up either one that was left over or else three, and gave them to
Marcus Acilius to keep. Him they cast alive into the skin of an ox and
put to death because he had given them to be copied: but for the book or
books they dug a hole in the Forum and buried them along with a chest.
(Ioannes Tzetzes, scholia on Lycophr. 1279.)
5. ¶Lucius Junius, a son of Tarquinius's sister, in terror after the
king had killed his father and had moreover taken his property away
from him feigned madness, to the end that he might possibly survive.
For he well understood that every person possessed of sense,
especially when he is of a distinguished family, becomes an object of
suspicion to tyrants. And when once he had started on this plan he
acted it out with great precision, and for that reason was called
Brutus. This is the name that the Latins gave to idiots. Sent along
with Titus and Arruns as if he were a kind of plaything he carried a
staff as a votive offering, he said, to the gods, though it had no
great value so far as anyone could see. (Mai, p. 139.)
6. Dio in Book 2: "After that he was found in the Pythian god's
temple." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 139, 21.)
7. ¶They made sport of the gift [i. e. the staff] of Brutus, and when to
the enquiry of the ambassadors as to who should succeed to the kingdom
of their father the oracle replied that the first to kiss his mother
should hold dominion over the Romans, he kissed the earth, pretending to
have fallen down by accident, for he regarded her as the mother of all
mankind. (Mai, p. 140.)
8. ¶Brutus overthrew the Tarquins for the following reason. During the
siege of Ardea the children of Tarquin were one day dining with Brutus
and Collatinus, since these two were of their own age and relatives;
and they fell into a discussion and finally into a dispute about the
virtue of their wives,--each one giving the preference to his own
spouse. And, as all the women happened to be absent from the camp,
they decided straightaway that night, before they could be announced,
to take horse and ride away to all of them simultaneously. This they
did, and found all engaged in a carousal except Lucretia, wife of
Collatinus, whom they discovered at work on wool. This fact about her
becoming noised abroad led Sextus to desire to outrage her. Perchance
he even felt some love for her, since she was of surpassing beauty;
still it was rather her reputation than her body that he desired to
ruin. He watched for an opportunity when Collatinus was among the
Rutuli, hurried to Collatia, and coming by night to her house as that
of a kinswoman obtained both food and lodging. At first he tried to
persuade her to grant her favors to him, but as he could not succeed
he attempted force. When he found he could make no progress by this
means either, he devised a plan by which in the most unexpected way he
compelled her to submit voluntarily to be debauched. To his
declaration that he would cut her throat she paid no attention, and
his statement that he would make away with one of the servants she
listened to in contempt. When, however, he threatened to lay the body
of the servant beside her and spread the report that he had found them
sleeping together and killed them he was no longer to be resisted: and
she, fearing it might be believed that this had so happened, chose to
yield to him and die after giving an account of the affair rather than
lose her good name in perishing at once. For this reason she did not
refuse to commit adultery, but afterward she made ready a dagger
beneath the pillow and sent for her husband and her father. As soon as
they had come she shed many tears, then spoke with a sigh: "Father, I
utter your name because I have disgraced it less than my husband's.
It is no honorable deed I have done this last night, but Sextus forced
me, threatening to kill me and a slave together and pretend he had
found me sleeping with the man. This threat compelled me to sin, to
prevent you from believing that such a thing had taken place. And I,
because I am a woman, will treat my case as becomes me: but do you, if
you are men and care for your wives and for your children, avenge me,
free yourselves, and show the tyrants what manner of creatures you are
and what manner of woman they have outraged." Having spoken to this
effect she did not wait for any reply but immediately drawing the
dagger from its hiding place stabbed herself. (Valesius, p. 574.)
9. Dio, Second Book: "And he [Footnote: Van Herweiden's reading is the
one adopted in this doubtful passage.] went outside of Roman territory
making frequent trials of neighboring peoples." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 164,
25.)
1. ¶All crowds of people judge measures according to the men who
direct them, and of whatever sort they ascertain the men to be, they
believe that the measures are of the same sort. (Mai, p. 140.)
[Frag. XI]
2. Every one prefers the untried to the well known, attaching great
hope to the uncertain in comparison with what has already gained his
hatred. (Ib.)
3. All changes are very dangerous, and especially do those in
governments work the greatest and most numerous evils to both
individuals and state. Sensible men, therefore, decide to remain under
the same forms continually, even if they be not very good, rather than
by changing to have now one, now another, and be continually
wandering. (Ib.)
4. Dio, 2nd Book: "When he had learned this he accordingly both came
to them the following day [lacuna]" (Bekker, Anecd., p. 178, 20.)
5. In 3rd Book of Dio: "Whose father also ruled you blamelessly."
(Ib., p. 120, 24.)
6. Dio's 3rd Book: "Of the fact that he loves you, you could get no
greater proof than his eagerness to live in your midst and his action
in having his possessions long since brought here." (Ib., p. 139, 26,
and p. 164, 28.)
7. Dio's 3rd Book: "How would it pay any one to do this?" (Ib, p.
155,14.)
8. Dio's 3rd Book: "As Romulus also enjoined upon us." (Ib., p. 139,
29.)
9. ¶Every person comes to possess wishes and desires according to his
fortune and whatever his circumstances be, of like nature are also the
opinions he acquires. (Mai, p. 141.)
10. ¶The business of kingship, more than any other, demands not merely
virtue, but also great understanding and intelligence, and it is not
possible without these qualities for the man who takes hold of it to
show moderation. Many, for example, as if raised unexpectedly to some
great height, have not endured their elevation, but startled from
their senses have fallen and made failures of themselves and have
shattered all the interests of their subjects. (Mai, ib.)
11. With regard to the future form a judgment from what they have
done, but do not be deceived by what they as suppliants falsely
pretend. Unholy deeds proceed in every case from a man's real purpose,
but any one may concoct creditable phrases. Hence judge from what a
man has done, not from what he says he will do. (Mai, ib.)
12. 3rd Book of Dio: "It is done not merely by the actual men who rule
them, but also by those who share the power with those rulers."
(Bekker, Anecd. p.130, 23, and p.164, 32.)
In the preceding fragment we have, apparently, some comment of Dio
himself on the change in the Roman government (from monarchy to
republic) together with scraps of two speeches,--namely, that of the
envoys of Tarquinius to the Roman people, and that of Brutus in reply.
[Frag. XII]
1. ¶Valerius, the colleague of Brutus, although he had proved himself
the most democratic of men came near being murdered in short order by
the multitude: they suspected him, in fact, of being eager to become
sole sovereign. They would have slain him, indeed, had he not quickly
anticipated their action by courting their favor. He entered the
assembly and bent the rods which he had formerly used straight, and
took away the surrounding axes that were bound in with them. After he
had in this way assumed an attitude of humility, he kept a sad
countenance for some time and shed tears: and when he at last managed
to utter a sound, he spoke in a low fearful voice with a suggestion of
a quaver. [The general subject is speechmaking.] (Mai, p. 141.)
2. On account of whom (plur.) also [Collatinus] was enraged.
Consequently Brutus so incited the populace against him that they came
near slaying him on the spot. They did not quite do this, however, but
compelled him to resign without delay. They chose as colleague to the
consul in his place Publius Valerius, who had the additional title of
Poplicola. This appellation translated into Greek signifies "friend of
the people" or "most democratic." (Zonaras, 7, 12. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_
XIV.)
[Frag. XIII]
¶The temple of Jupiter was dedicated by Horatius, as determined by
lot, although Valerius made the declaration that his son was dead, and
arranged to have this news brought to him during the very performance
of his sacred office, with the purpose that Horatius under the blow of
the misfortune and because in general it was impious for any one in
grief to fulfill the duties of priest, should yield to him the
dedication of the structure. The other did not refuse credence to the
report--for it was noised abroad by many trustworthy persons--yet he
did not surrender his ministry: on the contrary, after bidding some
men to leave unburied the body of his son, as if it were a stranger's,
in order that he might seem unconcerned regarding the rites due to it,
he then performed all the necessary ceremonies. (Valesius, p.577.)
[Frag. XIV]
1. (Tarquinius continued to supplicate Klara Porsina.) (Zonaras, 7,
12. Cp. Tzetz. Hist. 6, 201. Plutarch, Poplic. 16, has "Lara
Porsina.")
2. Dio in 4th Book: "But they overran the Roman territory and harried
everything up to the wall." (Bekker, Anecd. p.152, 3 and 1.) 3.
Larta Porsenna, an Etruscan, or, perhaps, Klara Porsenna, was
proceeding against Rome with a great army. But Mucius, a noble Roman
soldier, after equipping himself in arms and dress of Etruscans then
started to spy upon them, wishing to kill Porsenna. Beside the latter
at that time was sitting his secretary, who in the Etruscan tongue was
called Clusinus; and Mucius, doubtful which might be the king, killed
Clusinus instead of the king. The man was arrested, and when Porsenna
asked him: "Why in the world did you do this thing? What injury had
you received from him?" the other cried out: "I happen to be not
Etruscan but Roman; and three hundred others of like mind with me who
are now hunting thee to slay thee." This he had spoken falsely; and,
with his right hand thrust into the fire, he gazed on Porsenna as
though another were suffering: and when the prince enquired: "Why do
you look fixedly upon us?" he said: "Reflecting how I erred in failing
to slay thee and in thy stead killed one whom I thought Porsenna." And
when Porsenna exclaimed: "You shall now become my friend!" Mucius
rejoined: "If thou becom'st a Roman." Porsenna admiring the man for
his uprightness becomes a friend to the Romans and checks the tide of
battle. (Tzetzes, Chiliades, VI, 201-223.)
(Cp. Scholia on John Tzetzes's Letters in Cramer's Anecd. Oxon., vol.
III, p.360, 30: "Clusinus was the name of Porsenna's secretary,
according to what Dio says"; and Zonaras, 7, 12: "Drawing his sword he
killed his secretary, who was sitting beside him and was similarly
arrayed.")
4. Dio's 4th Book: "And he [Footnote: Porsenna.] presented to the maiden
[Footnote: Clælia] both arms (or so some say) and a horse." (Bekker,
Anecd. p.133, 8.)
5. After this the Tarquins endeavored on several occasions, by forming
alliances with tribes bordering on Roman dominions, to recover the
kingdom; but they were all destroyed in the battles save the sire,
who, moreover, was called Superbus (or, as a Greek would say, Proud).
Subsequently he found his way to Cyme of Opicia and there died. Thus
the careers of the Tarquins reached a conclusion. And after their
expulsion from the kingdom consuls, as has been stated, were chosen by
the Romans. One of these was Publius Valerius, who became consul four
times,--the one to whom also the name Poplicola was applied. (Zonaras
7, 12 sq. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)
6. And the management of the funds they assigned to others in order
that the men holding the consular office might not possess the great
influence that would spring from their having the revenues in their
power. Now for the first time "stewards" began to be created and they
called them _quæstors_. These in the first place tried capital cases,
from which fact they have obtained this title,--on account of their
_questionings_ and on account of their search for truth as the result
of _questionings_. But later they acquired also management of the
public funds and received the additional name of Stewards ([Greek:
tamiai]). After a time the courts were delivered over to different
persons, while these officials were managers of the funds. (Zonaras 7,
13. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_, XIV.)
7. Dio's 4th Book: "And they provided them [Footnote: Probably a
reference to the quæstors.] with separate titles besides in general
making very different provision for them in the different cases."
(Bekker, Anecd. p.133, 16.)
8. Dio in 5th Book: "The lords filling them with hope on certain
points." (Ib. p.140, 10.)
9. Dio in 5th Book: "With this accordingly he honored him." (Ib.
p.175, 19.)
[Frag. XV]
¶To a large extent success consists in planning secretly, acting at the
opportune moment, following one's own counsel somewhat, and in having no
chance to fall back upon any one else, but being obliged to take upon
one's self the responsibility for the issue, however it turns out.
[Footnote: Fragment XV may perhaps be a comment on dictatorships.]
(Mai, p.142.)
[Frag. XVI]
1. They had recourse to civil strife. And the reason is plain. Those
whose money gave them influence desired to surpass their inferiors in
all respects as though they were their sovereigns, and the weaker
citizens, sure of their own equal rights, were unwilling to obey them
even in some small point. The one class, insatiate of freedom, sought
to enjoy the property of the other; and this other, uncontrolled in
its pride of place, to enjoy the fruits of the former's labors. So it
was that they sundered their former relations, wherein they were wont
harmoniously to assist each other with mutual profit, and no longer
made distinctions between foreign and native races. Indeed, both
disdained moderation, and the one class set its heart upon an extreme
of dominion, the other upon an extreme of resistance to voluntary
servitude; consequently they missed the results accomplished by their
previous allied efforts and inflicted many striking injuries, partly
in defence against each other's movements and partly by way of
anticipating them. More than all the rest of mankind they were at
variance save in the midst of particularly threatening dangers that
they incurred in the course of successive wars,--wars due chiefly to
their own dissensions; and for the sake of the respite many prominent
men on several occasions brought on these conflicts purposely. This,
then, was the beginning of their suffering more harm from each other
than from outside nations. And the complexion of their difficulties
inspires me to pronounce that it was impossible that they should be
deprived of either their power or their sway, unless they should lose
it through their own contentions. (Mai, ib.)
2. They were especially irritated that the senators were not of the
same mind after obtaining something from them as they were while
requesting it, but after making them numbers of great promises while
in the midst of danger failed to perform the slightest one of them
when safety had been secured. (Mai, p.143.)
3. So to the end that they might not fight in a compact mass, but each
division struggle separately for its own position and so become easier
to handle, they divided the army. [Footnote: Cp. Livy, II, 30.] (Ib.)
4. ¶The populace, as soon as Valerius the dictator became a private
citizen, began a most bitter contest, going so far even as to overturn
the government. The well-to-do classes insisted, in the case of debts,
upon the very letter of the agreement, refusing to abate one iota of
it, and so they both failed to secure its fulfillment and came to be
deprived of many other advantages; they had failed to recognize the
fact that an extreme of poverty is the heaviest of curses and that the
desperation which results from it is, especially if shared by a large
number of persons, very difficult to combat. This is why not a few
politicians voluntarily choose the course which is expedient in
preference to that which is absolutely just. Justice is often worsted
in an encounter with human nature and sometimes suffers total
extinction, whereas expediency, by parting with a mere fragment of
justice, preserves the greater portion of it intact.
Now the cause of most of the troubles that the Romans had lay in the
unyielding attitude adopted by the more powerful class toward its
inferiors. Many remedies were afforded them against delays in payment
of debts, one of which was that in case it happened that several
persons had been lending to anybody, they had authority to divide his
body piecemeal according to the proportionate amounts that he was
owing. Yet, however much this principle had been declared legal, still
it had surely never been put into practice. For how could a nation
have proceeded to such lengths of cruelty when it frequently granted
to those convicted of some crime a refuge for their preservation and
allowed such as were thrust from the cliffs of the Capitoline to live
in case they should survive the experience? (Mai, p.143. Cp. Zonaras.
7, 14.)
5. ¶Those who were owing debts took possession of a certain hill and
having placed one Gaius at their head proceeded to secure their food
from the country as from hostile territory, thereby demonstrating that
the laws were weaker than arms, and justice than their desperation.
The senators being in terror both that this party might become more
estranged and that the neighboring tribes in view of the crisis might
join in an attack upon them proposed terms to the rebels offering
everything that they hoped might please them. The seceders at first
were for brazening it out, but were brought to reason in a remarkable
way. When they kept up a series of disorderly shouts, Agrippa, one of
the envoys, begged them to hearken to a fable and having obtained
their consent spoke as follows. Once all the Members of Man began a
contention against the Belly, saying that they worked and toiled
without food or drink, being at the beck and call of the Belly in
everything, whereas it endured no labor and alone got its fill of
nourishment. And finally they voted that the Hands should no longer
convey aught to the Mouth nor the latter receive anything, to the end
that the Belly might so far as possible come to lack both food and
drink and so perish. Now when this measure was determined and put into
execution, at first the entire body began to wither away and next it
collapsed and gave out. Accordingly, the members through their own
evil state grew conscious that the Belly was the salvation of them and
restored to it its nourishment.
On hearing this the multitude comprehended that the abundance of the
prosperous also supports the condition of the poor; therefore they
showed greater mildness and accepted a reconciliation on being granted
a release from their debts and from seizures therefor. This then, was
voted by the senate. (Mai, p.144. Cp. Zonaras 7, 14.) The account of
John of Antioch, frag. 46 (Müller, fr. hist gr. IV, p.556) regarding
this secession of the plebs seems to have been taken from intact books
of Dio. (Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV, p.44, note 1; also G. Sotiriadis,
Zur Kritik des Johannes von Antiochia, Supplem. annal. philol. vol.
XVI, p.50.)
6. And it seemed to be most inconsistent with human conditions, and to
many others also, some willingly, some unwillingly [lacuna]
¶Whenever many men gathered in a compact body seek their own
advantage by violence, for the time being they have some equitable
agreement and display boldness, but later they become separated and
are punished on various pretexts. (Mai, p.146. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 15.)
7. Through the tendency, natural to most persons, to differ with their
fellows in office (it is always difficult for a number of men to
attain harmony, especially in a position of any influence)--through
this natural tendency, then, all their power was dissipated and torn
to shreds. None of their resolutions was valid in case even one of
them opposed it. They had originally received their office for no
other purpose than to resist such as were oppressing their
fellow-citizens, and thus he who tried to prevent any measure from
being carried into effect was sure to prove stronger than those who
supported it. (Mai, ib. Cp. Zonaras 7, 15.)
[Frag. XVII]
1. For it is not easy for a man either to be strong at all points or
to possess excellence in both departments,--war and peace,--at once.
Those who are physically strong are, as a rule, weak-minded and
success that has come in unstinted measure generally does not
luxuriate equally well everywhere. This explains why after having
first been exalted by the citizens to the foremost rank he was not
much later exiled by them, and how it was that after making the city
of the Volsci a slave to his country he with their aid brought his own
land in turn into an extremity of danger. (Mai, p. 146. Cp. Zonaras
7,16.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 491 (_a.u._ 263)] 2. ¶The same man wished to be made
prætor, and upon failing to secure the office became angry at the
populace; and in his displeasure at the great influence of the tribunes
he employed greater frankness in speaking to that body than was
attempted by others whose deeds entitled them to the same rank as
himself. A severe famine occurring at the same time that a town Norba
needed colonizing, the multitude censured the powerful classes on both
these points, maintaining that they were being deprived of food and were
being purposely delivered into the hands of enemies for manifest
destruction. Whenever persons come to suspect each other, they take
amiss everything even that is done in their behalf, and yield wholly to
their belligerent instincts. Coriolanus had invariably evinced contempt
for the people, and after grain had been brought in from many sources
(most of it sent as a gift from princes in Sicily) he would not allow
them to receive allotments of it as they were petitioning. Accordingly,
the tribunes, whose functions he was especially eager to abolish,
brought him to trial before the populace on a charge of aiming at
tyranny and drove him into exile. It availed nothing that all his peers
exclaimed and expressed their consternation at the fact that tribunes
dared to pass such sentences upon _their_ order. So on being expelled he
betook himself, raging at his treatment, to the Volsci, though they had
been his bitterest foes. His valor, of which they had had a taste, and
the wrath that he cherished toward his fellow-citizens gave him reason
to expect that they would receive him gladly, since they might hope,
thanks to him, to inflict upon the Romans injuries equal to what they
had endured, or even greater. When one has suffered particular damage at
the hands of any party, one is strongly inclined to believe in the
possibility of benefit from the same party in case it is willing and
also able to confer favors. (Mai, p.147. Cp. Zonaras 7, 16.) 3. For he
was very angry that they, who were incurring danger for their own
country would not even under these conditions withdraw from the
possessions of others. When, accordingly, this news also was brought,
the men did not cease any the more from factional strife. They were,
indeed, so bitterly at variance that they could be reconciled not even
by dangers. But the women, Volumnia the wife of Coriolanus and Veturia
his mother, gathering a company of the other most eminent ladies visited
him in camp and took his children with them; and they caused him to end
the war not only without requiring the submission of the country, but
without even demanding restoration from exile. For he admitted them at
once as soon as he learned they were there, and granted them a
conversation, the course of which was as follows. While the rest wept
without speaking Veturia began: "Why are you surprised, my child? Why
are you startled? We are not deserters, but the country has sent to you,
if you should yield, your mother and wife and children, if otherwise,
your spoil; hence, if even now you still are angry, kill us first. Why
do you weep? Why turn away? Can you fail to know how we have just ceased
lamenting the affairs of state, in order that we might see you? Be
reconciled to us, then, and retain no longer your anger against your
citizens, friends, temples, tombs; do not come rushing down into the
city with hostile wrath nor take by storm your native land in which you
were born, were reared, and became Coriolanus, bearer of this great
name. Yield to me, my child, and send me not hence without result,
unless you would see me dead by own hand."
At the end of this speech she sighed aloud, and tearing open her
clothing showed her breasts, and touching her abdomen exclaimed: "See,
my child, this brought you forth, these reared you up." When she had
said this, his wife and the children and the rest of the women joined
in the lament, so that he too was cast into grief. Recovering himself
at length with difficulty he embraced his mother and at the same time
kissing her replied: "Mother, I yield to you. Yours is the victory,
and let the other men, too, bestow their gratitude for this upon you.
For I can not endure even to see them, who after receiving such great
benefits at hands have treated me in such a way. Hence I never even
enter the city. Do you keep the country instead of me, since you have
so wished it, and I will take myself out of the way of you all."
Having spoken thus he withdrew. For through fear of the multitude and
shame before his peers, in that he had made an expedition against them
at all he would not accept even the safe return offered him, but
retired among the Volsci, and there, either as the result of a plot or
from old age, died. (Mai, p.148. Zonaras, 7, 16. Cp. John Tzetzes,
Letters, 6, p.9, 16.)
4. Dio Cocceianus himself and numberless others who have set forth the
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.)
6. When Rome had been sacked by the Gauls, Brennus being at the head
of that expedition of theirs, as the Gauls were on the point of
capturing the Capitol by ascending secretly to the Acropolis at night,
a great outcry of geese arose in that quarter; and one Marcus Manlius
roused from sleep saw the enemy creeping up, and by striking some with
his oblong shield and slaying others with his sword he repulsed them
all and saved the Romans. For this they gave him the title of
Capitolinus, and in honor of the geese they have door-keepers as
guards in the palace in remembrance of their watch at that time, just
as earlier the Greeks in Athens called Pelargikon Geraneia (Crane-ry)
from such creatures. (Tzetzes, His. 830-842. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 23.)
[Frag. XXV]
[Sidenote: B.C. 384 (_a.u._ 370)] 1. ¶ The populace passed sentence
against Capitolinus, his house was razed to the ground, his money
confiscated, and his name and even likeness, if such anywhere existed,
were erased and destroyed. At the present day, too, all these
punishments, except the razing to the ground, are visited upon those who
conspire against the commonwealth. They gave judgment also that no
patrician should dwell upon the height because Capitolinus happened to
have had his house there. And his kinsmen among the Manlii prohibited
any one of their number from being named Marcus, since that appellation
had been his.
Capitolinus at any rate underwent a great reversal, both in his
character and in his fortune. Having made a specialty of warfare he
did not understand how to remain at peace; the Capitol he had once
saved he occupied for the purpose of establishing a tyranny; although
a patrician he became the prey of a house-servant; and whereas he was
deemed a warrior, he was arrested after the manner of a slave and
hurled down the very rock from which he had repulsed the Gauls.
(Valesius, p.582. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 24.)
2. ¶ Capitolinus was thrown headlong down the rock by the Romans. So
true it is that nothing in the affairs of men,--generally
speaking,--remains at it was; and success, in particular, leads many
people on into catastrophes equally serious. It raises their hopes,
makes them continually strive after like or greater results and, if
they fail, casts them into just the opposite condition. (Mai, p. 155.
Cp. Zonaras, 7, 24.)
3. This Marcus Manlius, who was once termed also Capitolinus, and fell
through seeking the tyranny, when about to be put to death by vote of
all the jurors was saved by their looking just then at the Capitol,
where he himself had performed famous deeds of valor,--until the one
who spoke against him, perceiving the cause, transferred the assembly
to another court-house from which the Capitol could not be seen at all
and so a remembrance spring up of his trophies. Then they kill him.
But on the other hand, even so, through the whole period the populace
of Rome wore black, recompensing the graces of his valor and the
inimitable manner of his distinguished behavior. (Tzetzes, Hist. 3,
843-855. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 24.)
[Frag. XXVI]
[Sidenote: B.C. 381 (_a.u._ 373)] 1. ¶ Camillus made a campaign against
the Tusculans, but thanks to the astonishing attitude that they adopted
they suffered no harm. For just as if they themselves were guilty of no
offence and the Romans entertained no anger toward them, but were either
coming to them as friends to friends or else marching through their
territory against some other tribes, they changed none of their
accustomed habits and were not in the least disturbed: instead, all
without exception remaining in their places, at their occupations and at
their other work just as in time of peace, received the army within
their borders, gave them hospitable gifts, and in other ways honored
them like friends. Consequently the Romans so far from doing them harm
enrolled them subsequently among the citizens. (Valesius, p.582.)
[Frag. XXVII]
[Sidenote: B.C. 376 (_a.u._ 378)] 2. In Dio's 7th Book: "Tusculans did
not raise their hands against him." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 123, 32.)
1. ¶ The wife of Rufus, while he was military tribune and engaged in
public service in the Forum was visited by her sister.[Footnote: Livy
and Valerius Maximus give his name as _Gaius_.] When the husband arrived
and the lichtor, according to some ancient custom, knocked at the door,
the visitor was alarmed at this having never previously had any such
experience and was startled. She was consequently the subject of hearty
laughter on the part of her sister and the rest alike and she was made a
butt for jests as one not at home in an official atmosphere because her
husband had never proved his capacity in any position of authority. She
took it terribly to heart, as women, from their littleness of soul,
usually do, and would not give up her resentment until she had thrown
all the city in an uproar. Thus small accidental events become, in some
cases, the cause of many great evils, when a person receives them with
jealousy and envy. (Mai, p.155. Zonaras, 7, 24)
2. ¶ In the midst of evils expectation of rescue has power to persuade
one to trust even in what is beyond reason. (Mai, p.156.)
3. For by their disputes they kept constantly enfeebling in one way or
another the good order of their government; consequently, all these
objects so to speak for which they were formerly accustomed to wage
the greatest wars they gained in time--not without factional quarrels,
to be sure, but still with small difficulty. (Mai, ib.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 368 (_a.u._ 386)] 4. ¶ Publius,[Footnote: The gap
existing from the word "Forum" to the end of the sentence is supplied by
Bekker's conjecture.] when the citizens of Rome were quarreling with one
another, nearly reconciled them. For he chose as master of the horse
Licinius Stolo, who was merely one of the populace.[Footnote: This is
Publius Manlius, the dictator (Livy, VI, 39).] This innovation grieved
the patricians, but conciliated the rest so much that they no longer
laid claim to the consulship for the following year, but allowed the
consular tribunes to be chosen. As a result of this they in turn yielded
some points one to the other, and perhaps would have made peace with
each other had not Stolo the tribune made such utterance as that they
should not drink unless they could eat and so persuaded them to
relinquish nothing, but to perform as inevitable duties all that they
had taken in hand. (Valesius, p.585.)
[Frag. XXVIII]
[Sidenote: B.C. 362 (_a.u._ 392)] 1. Dio Cassius Cocceianus, the
compiler of Roman history, states that as a result of the wrath of
Heaven a fissure opened in the ground round about Rome and would not
close. An oracular utterance having been obtained to the effect that the
fissure would close if they should throw into it the mightiest
possession of the Romans, one Curtius, a knight of noble birth, when no
one else was able to understand the oracle, himself interpreted it to
mean a horse and man together. Straightway he mounted his horse and,
just as he was, dashed heroically forward and passed down into that
frightful pit. No sooner had he rushed down the incline than the fissure
closed; and the rest of the Romans from above scattered flowers. From
this event the name of Curtius was applied also to a cellar. (Io.
Tzetzes, Scholia for the Interpretation of Homer's Iliad, p. 136, 17,
Cp. Zonaras, 7, 25.)
2. There is no mortal creature either better or stronger than man. Do
you not see that all the rest go downwards and look forever toward the
earth and accomplish nothing save what is closely connected with
eating and the propagation of their species? So they have been
condemned to these pursuits even by Nature herself. We alone gaze
upwards and associate with heaven itself and despise those things that
are on the earth, while we dwell with the gods themselves, believing
them to be similar to us inasmuch as we are both their offspring and
creations, not earthly but heavenly: for which reason we paint and
fashion those very beings according to our forms. For, if one may
speak somewhat boldly, man is naught else than a god with mortal body,
and a god naught else than a man without body and consequently
immortal. That is why we surpass all other creatures. And there is
nothing afoot which we do not enslave, overtaking it by speed or
subduing it by force or catching it by some artifice, nor yet aught
that lives in the water or travels the air: nay, even of these two
classes, we pull the former up from the depths without seeing them and
drag the latter down from the sky without reaching them. (Mai, p. 532.
Zonaras, 7, 25.)
[Frag. XXIX]
¶ Dio says: "Wherefore, although not accustomed to indulgence in
digressions, I have taken pains to make mention of it and have stated in
addition the Olympiad, in order that when most men forget the date of
the migration,[Footnote: This last clause is a conjecture by Reimar.] it
may, from the precaution mentioned, become less doubtful." (Mai, p.
156.)
[Frag. XXX]
[Sidenote: B.C. 353 (_a.u._ 401)] ¶ The Agyllæans, when they ascertained
that the Romans wished to make war on them, despatched ambassadors to
Rome before any vote was taken, and obtained peace on surrender of half
their territory. (Ursinus, p. 374.)
[Frag. XXXI]
[Sidenote: B.C. 349 (_a.u._ 405)] Marcus Corvinus received the name of
Corvinus because when once engaged with a barbarian in single combat, he
had a savage crow as his ally in the battle, that flew at the eyes of
the barbarian until this Marcus killed him at that time. (Tzetzes, Hist.
3, 862-866. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 25.)
[Frag. XXXII]
1. These proposals and a few others of similar nature they put forward
not because they expected to carry any of them into effect,--for they,
if anybody, understood the purposes of the Romans,--but in order that
failing to obtain their requests they might secure an excuse for
complaints, on the ground that wrong had been done them. (Mai, p.
156.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 340 (_a.u._ 414)] 2. Dio in Book 7: "And for this
reason I shall execute you, in order that even as you obtain the prize
for your prowess, so you may receive the penalty for your disobedience."
[Footnote: The migration of Alexander(?). See Livy, VIII, 3, 6.]
(Bekker, Anecd. p. 133, 19. Zonaras, 7, 26.)
3. The statement is made by Douris, Diodorus and Dio that when the
Samnites, Etruscans and other nations were warring against the Romans,
Decius, a Roman consul and associated with Torquatus in command of the
troops, gave himself to be slain, and of the opposite side there were
slaughtered a hundred thousand that very day.[Footnote: Words of
Torquatus to his son.] (Io. Tzetzes, on Lycophr. 1378. Zonaras, 7, 26.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 340 (_a.u._ 414)] 4. ¶Dio says: "I am surprised that
his (Decius's) death should have set the battle right again, should have
defeated the side that was winning and have given victory to the men who
were getting worsted: I can not even comprehend what brought about the
result. When I reflect what some have accomplished,--for we know that
many such chances have befallen many persons before,--I can not
disbelieve the tradition: but when I come to calculate the causes of it,
I fall into a great dilemma. How can you believe that from such a
sacrifice of one man so great a multitude of human beings were brought
over at once to safety and to victory? Well, the truth of the matter and
the causes that are responsible shall be left to others to investigate."
(Mai, p.157. Zonaras, 7, 26.)
5. It was evident to every one that they had considered the outcome of
the event [Footnote: At the battle of Sentinum (295 B.C.).] and had
ranged themselves on the victorious side. Torquatus did not, however,
question them about it for fear they might revolt, since the affair of
the Latins was still a sore point with them. He was not harsh in every
case nor in most matters the sort of man he had shown himself toward his
son: on the contrary, he was admitted to be good at planning and good in
warfare, so that it was said by the citizens and by their adversaries
alike that he held success in war subservient to him, and that if he had
been leader of the Latins, he would certainly have made them conquer.
(Mai, p.157, and Valesius, p.585.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 340 (_a.u._ 414)] 6. ¶The Romans, although vexed at
Torquatus on account of his son to such an extent that deeds remarkable
for their cold-blooded indifference [Footnote: The phrase after "deeds"
is supplied from the general sense. The MS. shows a superlative ending
of adjective form, but the root portion of the word is lost.] are called
"Manliana," after him, and angry furthermore that he had celebrated the
triumph in spite of the death of that youth, in spite of the death of
his colleague, nevertheless when another war threatened them elected him
again to a fourth consulship. He, however, refused to hold their chief
office longer, and renounced it, declaring: "I could not endure you nor
you me." (Mai, p.157. Zonaras, 7, 26.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 338 (_a.u._ 416)] 7. ¶The Romans by way of bringing the
Latins in turn to a condition of friendliness, granted them
citizenship so that they secured equal privileges with themselves.
Those rights which they would not share with that people when it
threatened war and for which they underwent so many dangers, they
voluntarily voted to it now that they conquered. Thus they requited
some for their allegiance and others because they had taken no steps
of a revolutionary character. (Mai, p.158.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 328 (_a.u._ 426)] 8. ¶With reference to the inhabitants
of Privernum the Romans made no enquiry, asking them what they deserved
to suffer for such conduct. The others answered boldly: "Whatever is
suitable for men who are free and desire so to continue." To the next
question of the consul: "And what will you do if you obtain peace?" they
replied: "If we are granted it on [Sidenote: B.C. 426 (_a.u._ 426)]
fairly moderate terms, we will cease from disturbance, but if
unendurable burdens are placed upon us, we will fight." Admiring their
spirit they not only made a much more favorable truce with them than
with the rest [lacuna] (Mai, p.158.)
[Frag. XXXIII]
[Sidenote: B.C. 325 (_a.u._ 429)] 1. [From the address of the father
of Rullus.] Be well assured that penalties most unfitting in such cases,
while they destroy the culprits under sentence, who might have been made
better, are of no avail in correcting the rest. Human nature refuses to
leave its regular course for any threats. Some pressing fear or violence
of audacity together with courage born of inexperience and rashness
sprung from opportunity, or some other combination of circumstances such
as often occurs unexpectedly in the careers of many persons leads men to
do wrong. And these men are of two classes,--such as do not even think
of the punishments but heedless of them rush into the business before
them, and such as esteem them of no moment in comparison with the
attainment of the ends for which they are striving.
Consistent humanity, however, can produce an effect quite the opposite
of that just now mentioned. Through the influence of a seasonable pardon
the criminals frequently change their ways, especially when they have
acted from brave and not from wicked motives, from ambition and not from
baseness. For it should be noted that a reasonable humanity is a mighty
force for subduing and correcting a noble soul. As for the rest, they
are, without resistance, brought [Sidenote: B.C. 325 (_a.u._ 429)] into
a proper frame of mind by the sight of the rescue. Every one would
rather obey than be forced, and prefers voluntary to compulsory
observance of the law. He who submits to a measure works for it as if it
were his own invention, but what is imposed upon him he rejects as
unfitting for a freeman. Furthermore it is the part of the highest
virtue and power alike not to kill a man,--this is often done by the
wickedest and weakest men,--but to spare him and to preserve him; yet no
one of us is at liberty to do that without your consent.
It is my wish at length to cease from speaking. What little spirit I
have is weary, my voice is giving way, tears check my utterance and fear
closes my mouth. But I am at a loss how to close. For my suffering,
appearing to me in no doubtful light, does not allow me (unless you
decide otherwise) [Footnote: A clause that in the MS. has faded out is
represented here by Boissevian's conjecture.] to be silent, but compels
me, as if the safety of my child were going to be in accord with
whatever I say last, to speak even further as it were in prayers. (Mai,
p.159.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 325 (_a.u._ 429)] 2. The name and form of the office with
which he was invested he shrank from changing, and when he was intending
to spare Rullus,--for he observed the zeal of the populace,--he wished
to resist him somewhat before granting the favor and to alter the
attitude of the young men, so as to have his pardon come unexpectedly.
Therefore he contracted his face, and darting a harsh frowning look at
the populace, he raised his voice and spoke. The talking ceased, but
still they were not quiet: instead, as generally happens in such a case,
what with groaning over his fate and whispering one to another, in spite
of their not uttering a single word they gave the impression that they
desired the rescue of the cavalry commander. Papirius seeing this, in
fear of their possibly taking hostile action, relaxed the extremely
domineering manner which he had assumed (for purposes of their
correction) in an unusual degree, and by showing moderation in the rest
of his actions brought them once more to friendship and enthusiasm for
him, so that they proved themselves men when they met their opponents.
(Mai, p.160. Zonaras, 7, 26.)
3. ¶The Samnites after their defeat at the hands of the Romans, made
proposals for truce to the Romans in the city. They sent them all the
Roman captives that they held, together with the property of a man named
Papius, [Footnote: _Papius Brutulus_.] who was esteemed among the
foremost of his race and bore the entire responsibility for the war; his
bones, since he anticipated them in committing suicide, they scattered
abroad. Yet they did not obtain their peace; for they were regarded as
untrustworthy and had the name of making truces according to events
merely for the purpose of cheating any power that conquered them: hence
they not only failed to obtain terms, but even brought a relentless war
upon themselves. The Romans while accepting their prisoners voted to
make war upon them without announcement. (Ursinus, p.374. Zonaras, 7,
26.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 321. (_a.u._ 433)] 4. Among the many events of human
history that might give one cause for wonder must certainly be reckoned
what occurred at this time. The Romans, who were so extremely arrogant
as to vote that they would not again receive a herald from the Samnites
in the matter of peace and hoped moreover to capture them all at the
first blow, succumbed to a terrible disaster and incurred disgrace as
never before; the others, who to begin with were badly frightened and
thought the refusal to make peace a great calamity, seized their camp
and entire force, and sent them all under the yoke. So great a reverse
of fortune did they suffer. (Mai, p.161. Zonaras, 7, 26.)
5. Benefits lie rather within the actual choice of men and are not
brought about by necessity, or by ignorance, or anger, or deceit, or
anything of the sort, but are performed voluntarily by a willing and
eager condition of spirit. And for this reason it is proper to pity,
admonish, instruct those who commit any error and to admire, love,
reward those who do right. Whenever men act in both of these two ways,
it is decidedly more befitting our characters to remember their better
than their less correct deeds. [Footnote: Sections 5, 6, and 7 appear to
come from various speeches delivered at the Caudine Forks; section 8,
however, is from the speech of Herennius Pontius.] (Mai, p.535.)
6. ¶Quarrels are checked by kindness. The greater the pitch of enmity to
which a man has come when he unexpectedly obtains safety instead of
severity, the more readily does he hasten voluntarily to abandon the
quarrel and to acknowledge gladly the influence of kindness. B.C. 321
(_a.u._ 433) As in a random host of persons at variance from divers
causes those who have passed from friendship to enmity hate each other
with the more intense hatred, so in a random host of persons kindly
treated do those who receive this considerate treatment after a state of
strife love their benefactors the more. Romans, accordingly, are very
anxious to surpass in war and at the same time they honor virtue; for
this reason, compelled in both regards by their nobility of spirit, they
verily earn the right to surpass, since they take pains to recompense
fair treatment fairly, and even beyond its value. (Mai, p.161.)
7. For it is right to pride one's self upon requiting those who have
done some wrong, but to feel more highly elated over recompensing such
as have conferred some benefit. (Mai, p.536.)
8. ¶All men are by nature so constituted as to grieve more over any
insults offered them than they rejoice over benefits conferred upon
them: therefore they show hostility to persons who have injured them
with less effort than they require for aiding in return persons who have
shown them kindness; hence also they make no account, when their own
advantage is concerned, of the ill reputation they will gain by not
taking a friendly attitude toward their preserver, but indulge a spirit
of wrath even when such behavior runs counter to their own interest.
Such was the advice he gave them out of his own inherent good sense
and experience acquired in a long life, not looking to the
gratification of the moment but to the possible regret of the future.
(Mai, p.162.)
9. ¶The people of Capua, when the Romans after [Sidenote: B.C. 321
(_a.u._ 433)] their defeat arrived in that city, were guilty of no
bitter speech or outrageous act, but on the contrary gave them both food
and horses and received them like victors. They pitied in their
misfortune the men whom they would have not wished to see conquer on
account of the treatment those same persons had formerly accorded them.
When the Romans heard of the event they were altogether possessed by
doubt whether to be pleased at the survival of their soldiers or whether
to continue displeased. When they thought of the depth of the disgrace
their grief was extreme; for they deemed it unworthy of them to have met
with defeat, and especially at the hands of the Samnites, so that they
could wish that all had perished; when they stopped to reflect, however,
that if such a calamity had befallen them all the rest as well would
have incurred danger, they were not sorry to hear that the men had been
saved. (Mai, p.162. Zonaras, 7, 26.) 10. ¶It is requisite and blameless
for all men to plan for their own safety, and if they get into any
danger to do anything whatsoever so as to be preserved. (Mai, p.163.)
11. ¶Pardon is granted both by gods and by men to such as have committed
any act involuntarily. (Ib. Zonaras, 7, 26.)
12. Dio in Book 8: "I both take to myself the crime and admit the
perjury." (Bekker, Anecd. p.165, 13.)
13. Dio in Book 8: "For in all such matters he was quite all-sufficient
to himself." [Footnote: This is thought to refer to L. Papirius Cursor or
possibly to Q. Fabius Maximus. Cp. Livy, X, 26.] (Ib. p.124, 1.)
14.[Sidenote: B.C. 321 (_a.u._ 433)] ¶The Samnites, seeing that neither
were the oaths observed by them nor gratitude for favors manifested in
any other way, and that few instead of many were surrendered, thus
making void the oaths, became terribly angry and loudly called upon the
gods in respect to some of these matters: moreover, they brought the
pledges to their attention, demanded the captives, and ordered them to
pass naked under the same yoke where through pity they had been
released, in order that by experience they might learn to abide by terms
which had been once agreed upon. The men that had been surrendered they
dismissed, either because they did not think it right to destroy
guiltless persons or because they wished to fasten the perjury upon the
populace and not through the punishment of a few men to absolve the
rest. This they did, hoping as a result to secure decent treatment.
(Mai, p.163. Zonaras, 7, 26.) 15. ¶The Romans so far from being grateful
to the Samnites for the preservation of the surrendered soldiers,
actually behaved as if they had in this suffered some outrage. They
showed anger in their conduct of the war, and, being victorious, treated
the Samnites in the same way. For the justice of the battle-field does
not fit the ordinary definition of the word, and it is not inevitable
that the party which has been wronged should conquer: instead, war, in
its absolute sway, adjusts everything to the advantage of the victor,
often causing something that is the reverse of justice to go under that
name. (Mai, p.163. Zonaras, 7, 26.)
16.[Sidenote: B.C. 321 (_a.u._ 433)] ¶The Romans after vanquishing the
Samnites sent the captives in their turn under the yoke, regarding as
satisfactory to their honor a repayment of similar disgrace. So did
Fortune for both parties in the briefest time reverse her position and
by treating the Samnites to the same humiliation at the hands of their
outraged foes show clearly that here, too, she was all-supreme. (Mai, p.
164. Zonaras, 7, 26.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 319 (_a.u._ 435)] 17. ¶ Papirius made a campaign against
the Samnites and having reduced them to a state of siege entrenched
himself before them. At this time some one reproached him with excessive
use of wine, whereupon he replied: "That I am not intoxicated is clear
to every one from the fact that I am up at the peep of dawn and lie down
to rest latest of all. But on account of having public affairs on my
mind day and night alike, and not being able to obtain sleep easily, I
take a little wine to lull me to rest." (Mai, ib.)
18. ¶ The same man one day while making the rounds of the garrison
became angry on not finding the general from Præneste at his post. He
summoned him and bade him hand the axe to the lictor. Alarm and
consternation at this was evident on the part of the general, and his
fear sufficed. Papirius harmed him no further but merely gave orders to
the lictor to cut off some roots growing beside the tents, so that they
should not injure passers-by. (Mai, ib.)
19. ¶ In numerous cases instances of good fortune are not at all
constant, but lead many aside into paths of carelessness and ruin
them.[Footnote: Cp. Livy, IX, 18, 8.] (Mai, p. 165.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 310 (_a.u._ 444)] 20. ¶ The men of the city put forward
Papirius as dictator, and fearing that Rullus might be unwilling to name
him on account of his own experiences while master of the horse, they
sent for him and begged him to put the common weal before a private
grudge. And he gave the envoys, indeed, no response, but when night had
come (according to ancient custom it was quite necessary that the
dictator be appointed at night), he named Papirius and secured by this
act the greatest renown.(Valesius, p. 585.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 296 (_a.u._)] 21. ¶ Appius the Blind and Volumnius
became at variance each with the other: and it was owing to this that
Volumnius once, when Appius charged him in the assembly with showing no
gratitude for the progress he had made in wisdom through Appius's
instruction, answered that he had indeed grown wiser and was likewise
ready to admit it, but that Appius had not advanced at all in matters
pertaining to war. (Mai, p. 165.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 296 (_a.u._ 458)] 22. ¶ As regards the prophecy the
multitude was not capable for the time being of either believing or
disbelieving him.[Footnote: I.e., Manius, an Etruscan.] It neither
wished to hope for everything, inasmuch as it did not desire to see
everything fulfilled, nor did it dare to refuse belief in all points
inasmuch as it wished to be victorious, but was placed in an extremely
painful position, as it were between confusion and fear. As each single
event occurred they applied the interpretation to it according to the
actual result, and the man himself undertook to assume some reputation
for skill with regard to the foreknowledge of the unseen. (Mai, p. 165.
Cp. Zonaras, 8, 1.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 293 (_a.u._ 461)] 23. ¶ The Samnites, enraged at what
occurred and deeming it highly disgraceful to be defeated, resorted to
extreme daring and folly with the intention of either conquering or
being utterly destroyed. They assembled all their men that were of
military age, threatening with death all that should remain at home, and
they bound themselves with frightful oaths to the effect that no man
should flee from the contest but should slaughter any person that might
undertake to do so. (Mai, ib. Zonaras, 8, 1.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 292 (_a.u._ 462)] 24. ¶ The Romans on hearing that their
consul Fabius had been worsted in the war became terribly angry and
summoned him to stand trial. A vehement denunciation of the man was
made before the people,--and, indeed, he was depressed by the injury to
his father's reputation even more than by the complaints,--and no
opportunity was afforded the object of the attack for reply. Nor did the
elder man make a set defence of his son, but by enumerating his own
services and those of his ancestors, and by promising furthermore that
his son would do nothing unworthy of them, he abated the people's wrath,
especially since he urged his son's youth. Moreover, he joined him at
once in the campaign, overthrew the Samnites in battle, though they were
elated by their victory, and captured their camp and great booty. The
Romans therefore extolled him and ordered that his son also should
command for the future with consular powers, and still employ his father
as lieutenant. The latter managed and arranged everything for him,
sparing his old age not a whit, and the allied forces readily assisted
the father in remembrance of his old-time deeds. He made it clear,
however, that he was not executing the business on his own
responsibility, but he associated with his son as if actually in the
capacity of counselor and under-officer, while he moderated his
temperament and assigned to him the glory of the exploits. (Valesius, p.
585. Zonaras, 8, 1.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 291 (_a.u._ 463)] 25. ¶ The soldiers with Junius who took
the field along with Postumius fell sick on the way, and thought that
their trouble was due to the felling of the grove. He was recalled for
these reasons, but showed contempt for them even at this juncture,
declaring that the senate was not his master but that he was master of
the senate [lacuna] Envio [lacuna] and the [lacuna] men much [lacuna]
ambition [lacuna] [Words of Postumius Megillus: Cp. Dionys. Hal. Ant.
Rom. 16, [Footnote: The famous Apollonius of Tyana.]. (Mai, p. 167.)
[Frag. XXXIV]
¶ Gaius Fabricius in most respects was like Rufinus, but in
incorruptibility far superior. He was very firm against bribes, and on
that account did not please Rufinus, but was always at variance with
him. Yet the latter chose Fabricius, thinking that he was a most proper
person to meet the requirements of the war, and making his personal
enmity of little account in comparison with the advantage of the
commonwealth.
[Frag. XXXIV]
As a result he gained some reputation for having shown himself above
jealousy, which springs up in the hearts of many of the best men by
reason of emulation. Since he was a thorough patriot and did not
practice virtue for a show he thought it a matter of indifference
whether the State were benefited by him or through some other man, even
if that man should be an opponent. (Valesius, p.586.)
[Frag. XXXV]
¶Cornelius Fabricius, when asked why he had entrusted the business to
his foe, [lacuna][Footnote: See Niebuhr, Rh. Mus., 1828, p.600, or
_Kleine Schriften_, 2, p.241.] the general excellence of Rufius and
added that to be spoiled by the citizen is preferable to being bought
and sold by the enemy. [This anecdote concerns Fabricius Luscinus,
mentioned by Cicero, de orat. 2, 66, 268; Quintilian 12, 1, 43; Gellius
4, 48.]
[Frag. XXXVI]
[Sidenote: B.C. 290 (_a.u._ 464)] ¶Curius, in defence of his conduct in
the popular assembly, said that he had acquired so much land [lacuna]
and had hunted for so many men [lacuna] country [lacuna] [The person
referred to is Manius Curius Dentatus. Cp. Auct. de Viris. Illustr., c.
33.
¶After Niebuhr, Rh. Mus. 1828, p.579.]
[Frag. XXXVII]
¶When the tribunes moved an annulment of debts, the law was often
proposed without avail, since the lenders were by no means willing to
accept it and the tribunes granted the nobles the choice of either
putting this law to the vote or following that of Stolo, by which they
were to reckon the previous interest toward the principal and receive
the remainder in triennial payments. [Footnote: The opening portion of
this fragment is based largely on conjectures of Niebuhr (Rhein. Mus.,
1828, p.579ff.)] And for the time being the weaker party, dreading lest
it might lose all, paid court to them, and the wealthier class,
encouraged to think it would not be compelled to adopt either course,
maintained a hostile attitude. But when the revolted [Footnote: A
doubtful reading.] party proceeded to press matters somewhat, both sides
changed their positions. The debtors were no longer satisfied with
either plan, and the nobles thought themselves lucky if they should not
be deprived of their principal. Hence the dispute was not decided
immediately, but subsequently they prolonged their rivalry in a spirit
of contentiousness, and did not act at all in their usual character.
Finally the people made peace in spite of the fact that the nobles were
unwilling to remit much more than they had originally expected; however,
the more they beheld their creditors yielding, the more were they
emboldened, as if they were successful by a kind of right; and
consequently they regarded the various concessions almost as matters of
course and strove for yet more, using as a stepping-stone to that end
the fact that they had already obtained something. (Mai, p.167. Zonaras,
8,2.)
[Frag. XXXVIII]
¶When the opposite side [Footnote: The Tuscans, Senones, and Gauls
appear to be meant.] saw also another general approaching, they ceased
to heed the common interests of their force but each cast about to
secure his individual safety, as a common practice of those who form a
union uncemented by kindred blood, or who make a campaign without common
grievances, or who have not one commander. While good fortune attends
them their views are harmonious, but in disaster each one sees before
him only matters of individual concern. They betook themselves to flight
as soon as it had grown dark, without having communicated to one another
their intention. In a body they thought it would be impossible for them
to force their way out or for their defection to pass unnoticed, but if
they should leave each on his own account and, as they believed, alone,
they would more easily escape. And so, to his own party,--each one of
them [lacuna] they will think that accomplishing their flight with the
greatest security [lacuna] (Mai, p.167.)
[Frag. XXXIX]
[Sidenote: B.C. 283 (_a.u._ 471)] 1. The Romans had learned that the
Tarentini and some others were making ready to war against them, and had
despatched Fabricius as an envoy to the allied cities to prevent them
from committing any revolutionary act: but they had him arrested, and by
sending men to the Etruscans and Umbrians and Gauls they caused a number
of them also to secede, some immediately and some a little later.
(Ursinus, p.375. Zonaras, 8, 2-Vol. II, p.174, 4 sq.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 283 (_a.u._ 471)] 2. ¶The Tarentini, although they had
themselves initiated the war, nevertheless were sheltered from fear. For
the Romans, who understood what they were doing, pretended not to know
it on account of temporary embarrassments. Hereupon the Tarentini,
thinking that they either could mock [Footnote: Verb adopted from
Boissevain's conjecture [Greek: _diasilloun_] (cp. the same word in Book
Fifty-nine, chapter 25). at Rome or were entirely unobserved because
they were receiving no complaints behaved still more insolently and
involved the Romans even contrary to their own wishes in a war. This
proved the saying that even good fortune, when a disproportionately
large portion of it falls to the lot of any individuals, becomes the
cause of disaster to them; it entices them on to a state of frenzy
(since moderation refuses to cohabit with vanity) and ruins their
greatest interests. So these Tarentini, too, after rising to an
unexampled height of prosperity in turn met with a misfortune that was
an equivalent return for their wantonness. (Mai, p.168 and 536.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 282 (_a.u._ 472)] 3. Dio in Book 9: "Lucius Valerius,
[Footnote: Appian (Samnite Wars, VII, 1) gives the second name as
Cornelius.] who was admiral of the Romans and had been despatched on
some errand by them." (Bekker, Anecd. p.158, 25. Zonaras, 8, 2.)
4. ¶Lucius was despatched by the Romans to Tarentum. Now the Tarentini
were celebrating the Dionysia, and sitting gorged with wine in the
theatre of an afternoon suspected that he was sailing against them as an
enemy. Immediately in a passion and partly under the influence of their
intoxication they set sail in turn: so without any show of force on his
part or the slightest expectation of any hostile act they attacked and
sent to the bottom both him and many others. When the Romans heard of
this they naturally were angry, but did not choose to take the field
against Tarentum at once. However, they despatched envoys in order not
to seem to have passed over the affair in silence and by that means
render them more impudent. But the Tarentini, so far from receiving them
decently or even sending them back with an answer in any way suitable,
at once, before so much as granting them an audience, made sport of
their dress and general appearance. It was the city garb, which we use
in the Forum; and this the envoys had put on, either for the sake of
stateliness or else through fear, thinking that this at least would
cause the foreigners to respect their position. Bands of revelers
accordingly jeered at them,--they were still celebrating the festival,
which, although they were at no time noted for temperate behavior,
rendered them still more wanton,--and finally a man planted himself in
the road of Postumius and, with a forward inclination, threw him down
and soiled his clothing. At this an uproar arose from all the rest, who
praised the fellow as if he had performed some remarkable deed, and they
sang many scurrilous anapæsts upon the Romans, accompanied by applause
and capering steps. But Postumius cried: "Laugh, laugh while you may!
For long will be the period of your weeping, when you shall wash this
garment clean with your blood." (Ursinus, p.375. Mai, 168. Zonaras, 8,
2.)
5. Hearing this they ceased their jests but could accomplish nothing
towards obtaining pardon for their insult: however, they took to
themselves credit for a kindness in the fact that they let the
ambassadors withdraw unharmed. (Mai, ib.)
6. ¶Meton, failing to persuade the Tarentini not to engage in
hostilities with the Romans, retired unobserved from the assembly, put
garlands on his head, and returned along with some fellow-revelers and a
flute girl. At the sight of him singing and dancing the kordax, they
gave up the business in hand to accompany his movements with shouts and
hand-clapping, as is often done under such circumstances. But he, after
reducing them to silence, spoke: "Now it is yours both to be drunken and
to revel, but if you accomplish what you plan to do, we shall be
slaves." (Mai, p.169.)
[Frag. XL]
[Sidenote: B.C. 281 (_a.u._ 473)] ¶King Pyrrhus was not only king of the
district called Epirus, but had made the larger part of the Greek world
his own, partly by kindness and partly by fear. The Ætolians, who at
that period possessed great power, and Philip [Footnote: The son of
Cassander, who ruled only four months in B. C. 296.] the Macedonian, and
the chief men in Illyricum did his bidding. By natural brilliancy and
force of education and experience in affairs he far surpassed all, so as
to be esteemed far beyond what was warranted by his own powers and those
of his allies, although these powers were great. (Valesius, p.589.
Zonaras, 8, 2.)
2. ¶Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, had a particularly high opinion of his
powers in that he was deemed by foreign nations a match for the Romans:
and he believed that it would be opportune to assist the fugitives who
had taken refuge with him, especially as they were Greeks, and at the
same time to anticipate the Romans with some plausible excuse before he
received any damage at their hands. So careful was he about a fair
pretext that though he had long had his eye on Sicily and had been
considering how he could overthrow the Roman dominion, he shrank from
taking the initiative in hostilities, when no wrong had been done him.
(Mai, p.169. Zonaras, 8, 2.)
3. ¶King Pyrrhus was said to have captured more cities by Cineas than by
his own spear. For the latter, says Plutarch, [Footnote: Cp. Plutarch,
Life of Pyrrhus, chapter 14.] was skilled in speaking,--the only one in
fact to be compared in skill with Demosthenes. Notwithstanding, as a
sensible man, he spoke in opposition to Pyrrhus, pointing out to him the
folly of the expedition. For the king intended by his prowess to rule
the whole earth, whereas Cineas urged him to be satisfied with his own
possessions, which were sufficient for enjoyment. But the man's fondness
for war and fondness for leadership prevailed against the advice of
Cineas and caused him to depart in disgrace from both Sicily and Italy,
after losing in all of the battles many myriads of his own forces.
(Valesius, p.586.)
4. ¶Pyrrhus sent to Dodona and enquired of the oracle about the
expedition. And a response having come to him: "You, if you cross into
Italy, Romans shall conquer," he construed it according to his wish (for
desire has mighty power to deceive any one) and would not even await the
coming of spring. (Mai, p.169.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 280 (_a.u._ 474)] 5. ¶The Rhegians had asked of the
Romans a garrison, and Decius [Footnote: _Decius Vibellius_.] was the
leader of it. The majority of these guards, accordingly, as a result of
the excess of supplies and general easy habits,--for they enjoyed a far
less strenuous existence than they had known at home,--through the
persuasion of Decius formed the desire to kill the foremost Rhegians and
occupy the city. It seemed as though they might be quite free to perform
whatever they pleased, unconcerned about the Romans, who were busied
with the Tarentini and with Pyrrhus. Decius was further enabled to
persuade them by the fact that they saw Messana in the power of the
Mamertines. The latter, who were Campanians and had been appointed to
garrison it by Agathocles, the lord of Sicily, had slaughtered the
natives and occupied the town.
The conspirators did not, however, make their attempt openly, since they
were decidedly inferior in numbers. Letters were forged by Decius,
purporting to have been written to Pyrrhus by some citizens with a view
to the betrayal of the city. He next assembled the soldiers and read
these to them, stating that they had been intercepted, and by his talk
(the character of which may easily be conceived) excited them greatly.
The effect was enhanced by the sudden announcement of a man (who had
been assigned to the role) that a portion of Pyrrhus's fleet had
anchored somewhere off the coast, having come for a conference with the
traitors. Others, who had been instructed, magnified the matter, and
shouted out that they must anticipate the Rhegians before some harm
happened, and that the traitors, ignorant of what was being done, would
find it difficult to resist them. So some rushed down to the landing
places, and others broke into the houses and slaughtered great
numbers,--save that a few had been invited to dinner by Decius and were
slain there. (Valesius, p.589.)
6. ¶Decius, commander of the garrison, after slaying the Rhegians,
ratified friendship with the Mamertines, thinking that the similar
nature of their outrages would render them most trustworthy allies. He
was well aware that a great many men find the ties resulting from some
common transgression stronger to unite them than the obligations of
lawful association or the bonds of kinship. (Mai, p.170.)
7. ¶The Romans suffered some reproach from them for a while, until such
time as they took the field against them. For since they were busied
with concerns that were greater and more urgent, what these men did
seemed to some of comparatively little importance. (Mai, p.170.)
8. ¶The Romans, on learning that Pyrrhus was to come, stood in terror of
him, since they had heard that he was a good warrior and had a large
force by no means despicable as an adversary,--the sort of information,
of course, that is always given to enquirers in regard to persons
unknown to them who live at a very great distance. (Mai, p.170. Zonaras,
8,3.)
9. For it is impossible that persons not brought up under the same
institutions, nor filled with the same ambitions, nor regarding the same
things as base or noble, should ever become friends with one
another. [Footnote: Nos. 9, 10, and 11 are thought to be possibly from
the speech made by Lævinus to the soldiers (Zonaras, VIII, 3, 6).]
(Mai, p. 537.)
10. ¶Ambition and distrust are always qualities of tyrants, and so it is
inevitable that they should possess no real friend. A man who is
distrusted and envied could not love any one sincerely. Moreover, a
similarity of habits and a like station in life and the fact that the
same objects are disastrous and beneficial to persons are the only
forces that can create true, firm friends. Wherever any one of these
conditions is lacking, you see a delusive appearance of comradeship, but
find it to be without secure support. (Mai, p.170 and 537.)
11. ¶Generalship, if it is assisted by respectable forces of men,
contributes greatly both to their preservation and their chances of
victory, but by itself is worth nothing. Nor is there any other
profession that is of weight without persons to coöperate and to aid in
its administration. (Mai, p.171.)
12. ¶When Megacles was dead and Pyrrhus had cast off his cap the battle
took an opposite turn. One side was filled with much greater boldness by
his preservation and the fact that he had survived contrary to their
fears than if the idea had never gained ground that he was dead: the
other side, deceived, had no second fund of zeal to expend, but, since
they had been cut short in their premature encouragement and because of
the sudden change in their feelings to an expectation of less favorable
results, had no hope that he might subsequently perish once more. (Mai,
p.171. Zonaras, 8, 3.)
13. ¶When certain men congratulated Pyrrhus on his victory, he accepted
the glory of the exploit, but said that if he should ever conquer again
in like fashion, it would be his ruin. Besides this story, it is told of
him that he admired the Romans even in their defeat and judged them
superior to his own soldiers, declaring: "I should already have mastered
the whole inhabited world, were I king of the Romans." (Mai, p.171.
Zonaras, 8, 3.)
14. ¶Pyrrhus became famous for his victory and acquired a great
reputation from it, to such an extent that many who were standing
neutral came over to his side and that all the allies who had been
watching the turn of events espoused his cause. He did not openly
display anger towards them nor conceal entirely his suspicions; he
rebuked them somewhat for their tardiness, but otherwise received them
kindly. The result of showing excessive irritation would be, he feared,
their open estrangement, while if he failed to reveal his real feelings
at all, he thought that he would either be condemned by them for his
simplicity in not comprehending what they had done, or would be
suspected of harboring secret wrath. Such a surmise would breed in them
either contempt or hatred, or would lead to a plot against him, due to
the desire to anticipate injuries that they might suffer at his hands.
For these reasons, then, he conversed affably with them and presented to
them some of the spoils. (Mai, p.172. Zonaras, 8, 4.)
15. ¶Pyrrhus at first undertook to persuade the Roman captives (who
were many) to join with him in a campaign against Rome; when, however,
they refused, he treated them with the utmost consideration and did not
put them in prison or harm them in any other way, his intention being to
restore them voluntarily and through their agency to win over the city
without a battle. (Valesius, p.590.)
16. ¶The Romans, who by reason of the elephants,--a kind of beast that
they had never before seen,--had fallen into dismay, still, by
reflecting on the mortal nature of the animals and the fact that no
beast is superior to man, but that all of them in every way show
inferiority if not as regards strength, at least in respect to
understanding, they gradually became encouraged. (Mai, p.172.)
17. ¶The soldiers of Pyrrhus, also, both his native followers and the
allies, showed tremendous eagerness for plunder, which seemed to lie
ready before them and to be free from danger. (Mai, ib.)
18. ¶The Epirots dishonored the ties of friendship, through vexation
that after making the campaign supported by high hopes they were getting
nothing except trouble. And this happened very opportunely for the
Romans: for the dwellers in Italy that had leagued themselves with him,
on seeing that he ravaged the possessions of allies and enemies alike,
withdrew. In other words, his acts made a greater impression upon them
than his promises. (Mai, ib.)
19. ¶Pyrrhus dreaded being cut off on all sides by the Romans, while he
was in unfamiliar regions. When his allies showed displeasure at this he
told them that he could see clearly from the country itself what a
difference existed between them and the Romans. The subject territory
of the latter had all kinds of trees, vineyards and farms, and expensive
agricultural machinery; whereas the property of his own friends had been
so pillaged, that it was impossible to tell even whether it had ever
been settled. (Mai, p.173. Zonaras, 8, 4.)
20. ¶The same man, when as he was retreating it occurred to him to
wonder [Footnote: Gap supplied by van Herwerden.] how he beheld the army
of Lævinus much larger than it was before, declared that the Roman
troops when cut to pieces grew whole again, hydra-fashion. This did not,
however, cause him to lose courage: he made preparations in his turn,
but did not come to the issue of battle. (Mai, p.173. Zonaras, 8,4.)
21. ¶Pyrrhus, who learned that Fabricius and other envoys were
approaching, to treat in behalf of the captives, sent a guard to them as
far as the border, to the end that they should suffer no violence at the
hands of the Tarentini, met them in due time, escorted them to the city,
entertained them brilliantly and honored them in other ways, expecting
that they would ask for a truce and make such terms as was proper for a
defeated party. (Ursinus, p.376. Zonaras, 8, 4.)
22. ¶When Fabricius made this statement merely: "The Romans sent us to
bring back the men captured in battle, and to pay ransoms of such size
for them as shall be agreed upon by both of us," he was quite
dumbfounded because the man did not say that he was commissioned to
treat about peace; and after removing them he took counsel with the
friends who were usually his advisers partly, to be sure, about the
return of the captives, but chiefly about the war and its management,
whether with vehemence or in some other way it [lacuna] (Four pages are
lacking.) (Mai, p.173. Zonaras, 8, 4.)
23 [lacuna]. "to manage, or to run the risk of battles and combats, the
outcome of which is doubtful. [Footnote: Cineas is the speaker.] Hence,
if you heed me, Milo, and the old proverb, you will not employ violence
for any purpose rather than skill, where the latter is feasible, since
Pyrrhus knows precisely what he has to do and does not need to be
enlightened by us regarding a single detail of his program." By this
speech they were all brought to one decision, particularly because this
course entailed neither loss nor danger, whereas the others were likely
to bring both. And Pyrrhus, being of this mind, said to the ambassadors:
"Not willingly, Romans, did I previously make war upon you, and I would
not war against you now: I feel that it is of the highest importance to
become your friend, and for this reason I release all the captives
without ransom and make a treaty of peace." Privately, also, he did them
favors, in order that, if possible, they might take his part, or at any
rate obtain friendship for him. (Mai, p.173. Zonaras, 8, 4.)
24. Pyrrhus made friends of nearly all, and with Fabricius he conversed
as follows: "Fabricius, I do not want to be at war with you any longer,
and indeed I repent that I heeded the Tarentini in the first place and
came hither, although I have beaten you badly in battle. I would gladly,
then, become a friend to all the Romans, but most of all to you. For I
see that you are a thoroughly excellent and reputable [Footnote: The two
words "and reputable" are a conjecture of Bossevain's. Some ten letters
in the MS. have faded out.] man. I accordingly ask you to help me in
getting peace and furthermore to accompany me home. I want to make a
campaign against Greece and need you as adviser and general." Fabricius
replied: "I commend you for repenting of your expedition and desiring
peace, and will cordially assist you in that purpose if it is to our
advantage (for of course you will not ask me, a man who pretends to
uprightness, as you say, to do anything against my country); but an
adviser and general you must never choose from a democracy: as for me, I
have no leisure whatever. Nor could I ever accept any of these things,
because it is not seemly for an ambassador to receive gifts at all. I
would fain know, therefore, whether you in very truth regard me as a
reputable man or not. If I am a scoundrel, how is it that you deem me
worthy of gifts? If, on the other hand, I am a man of honor, how can you
bid me accept them? Let me assure you, then, of the fact that I have
many possessions and am in no need of more: what I own supplies me and I
feel no desire for what belongs to others. You, however, even if you
believe yourself ever so rich, are in unspeakable poverty. For you would
not have crossed over to this land, leaving behind Epirus and the rest
of your dominions, if you had been content with them and had not been
reaching out for more. Whenever a man is in this condition and sets no
limit to his greed, he is the poorest of beggars. And why? Because he
longs for everything not his own as if it were absolutely necessary, and
with the idea that he could not live without it.
"Consequently I would gladly, since you call yourself my friend, afford
you a little of my own wealth. It is far more secure and imperishable
than yours, and no one envies it or plots against it, neither populace
nor tyrant: best of all, the larger the number of persons who share it,
the greater it will grow. In what, accordingly, does it consist? In
using the little one has with as much satisfaction as if it were
inexhaustible, in refraining from the goods of others as if they
contained some mighty danger, in wronging no man, in doing well to
many, and in numberless other details, which only a person of leisure
could rehearse. I, for my part, should choose, if it were absolutely
necessary to suffer either one or the other, to perish by violence
rather than by deceit. The former falls to the lot of some by the decree
of Fortune, but the latter only as a result of folly and great greed of
gain: it is, therefore, preferable to fall by the crushing hand of Fate
[Footnote: Omitting [Greek: ti], and reading [Greek: thehioy], which the
MSS. give.] rather than by one's own baseness. In the former instance a
man's body is laid low, but in the latter his soul is ruined as
well,[lacuna] but in that case a man becomes to a certain extent the
slayer of himself, because he who has once taught his soul not to be
content with the fortune already possessed, acquires a boundless desire
for increased advantages." (Mai, pp.174 and 538. Zonaras, 8, 4.)
25. And they presented themselves for the enlistment with the greatest
zeal, believing, each man of them, that his own defection would mean the
overthrow of the fatherland. [Footnote: Cp. Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus,
chapter 18 (early).] (Mai, p.176.)
26. Such is the nature of oratory and so great is its power that it led
even them to change, causing courage and hatred to take the place
respectively of the fear inspired by Pyrrhus and the estrangements his
gifts had wrought. (Mai, ib.)
27. ¶Every force which, contrary to expectation, is humbled in spirit,
suffers a loss also in strength. (Mai, p.177.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 279 (_a.u._ 475)] 28. ¶Pyrrhus sent to Decius, telling
him that he would not succeed in accomplishing this even if he wished it
[i. e., to die without being seized] and threatened besides that if he
were taken alive he should perish miserably. To this the consuls
answered that they were in no need of having recourse to such a
proceeding as the one to which he alluded, since they were sure to
conquer him in other ways. (Mai, ib. Zonaras, 8, 5.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 278 (_a.u._ 476)] 29. He did not know how he would
repulse the one of them [Footnote: "They" are C. Fabricius Luscinus and
Q. Aemilius Papus, Roman consuls.] first, nor how he should repel them
both, and was in perplexity. To divide the army, which was smaller than
that of his opponents, was something he feared to do, yet to allow one
of them to ravage the country with impunity seemed to him almost out of
the question. (Mai, p.177.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 277 (_a.u._ 477)] 30. However, he behaved in general
toward them with great circumspection, and awarded greater credit for
his safety to the fact that no one, even if he wished, could harm him,
than to the probability that no one would have desired to inflict an
injury. It was for this reason, too, that he expelled and slew many who
held office and many who called him in to help in their disputes. This
was partly because he was somewhat displeased with them, on account of
their statements that he had secured the reins of power in the State
through their influence, and partly because he was suspicious of them
and thought that as they had come over to his side so they might go over
to some one else's [lacuna] (Mai, p.178. Zonaras, 8, 5.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 276 (_a.u._ 479)] 31. ¶As the allies were unwilling to
contribute anything for the support of Pyrrhus, he betook himself to the
treasuries of Persephone, that were widely reputed for their wealth,
despoiled them and sent the spoils on ships to Tarentum. And the men
almost all perished through a storm, while the money and offerings were
cast out on land. (Valesius, p.590.)
32. ¶All admired the following act of Pyrrhus. Some youths at a banquet
had ridiculed him, and at first he wished to have them before a court
and exact vengeance, but, afterward, when they declared: "We should have
said a lot more things a good deal worse, if the wine hadn't failed us,"
he laughed and let them go. (Mai, ib. Zonaras, 8, 6.)
[Frag. XLI]
[Sidenote: B.C. 273 (_a.u._ 481)] ¶Ptolemy, nicknamed Philadelphus,
king of Egypt, when he learned that Pyrrhus had fared poorly and that
the Romans were growing, sent gifts to them and made a compact. The
Romans, accordingly, pleased that a monarch living so very far away
should have come to respect them, despatched ambassadors to him in turn.
From him the envoys, too, received magnificent gifts; but when they had
offered these to the treasury, they would not accept them. (Ursinus,
p.374. Zonaras, 8, 6.)
[Frag. XLII]
[Sidenote: B.C. 266 (_a.u._ 488)]¶Though the Romans were faring in this
manner and were constantly rising to greater heights they showed no
haughtiness as yet: on the contrary, they surrendered to the
Appolloniatians (Corinthian colonists on the Ionian Gulf) Quintus
Fabius, a senator, because he had insulted some of their ambassadors.
The people of this town, however, did him no harm, and even sent him
home. (Valesius, p.590. Zonaras, 8, 7.)
[Frag. XLIII]
1. ¶The causes responsible for the dispute between the two were--on the
side of the Romans that the Carthaginians had assisted the Tarentini, on
the side of the Carthaginians, that the Romans had made a treaty of
friendship with Hiero. But these they merely put forward as excuses, as
those are inclined to do who in reality are desirous of advancing their
own interests but pause before a reputation for such action. The truth
is different. As a matter of fact, the Carthaginians, who had long been
powerful, and the Romans, who were now growing rapidly, kept viewing
each other with jealousy; and they were incited to war partly by the
desire of continually getting more, according to the instinct of the
majority of mankind, most active when they are most successful, and
partly also by fear. Each alike thought that the one sure salvation for
her own possessions lay in obtaining what the other held. If there had
been no other reason, it was most difficult, nay, impossible, for two
nations that were free, powerful, and proud, and separated from each
other, so to speak, only a very short distance (considering the speed of
voyages) to rule any outside tribes and yet keep their hands off each
other. But a mere accident of the kind that befell broke the truce they
had been keeping and dashed them together in war. (Mai, p.178. Zonaras,
8, 8.)
2. ¶The conflict, according to report, concerned Messana and Sicily, but
in reality both parties perceived that from this region danger
threatened their native land, and they thought that the island, lying,
as it did, between them, would furnish to the side that conquered it a
safe base for operations against the other party. (Mai, p.179. Zonaras,
8, 8.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 264 (_a.u._ 490)] 3. ¶Gaius Claudius came to the meeting,
and among other remarks which he made to tempt them declared that the
object of his presence was to free the city, since the Romans had no
need of Messana; and that he would immediately sail away, as soon as he
should set their affairs in order. Next he bade the Carthaginians also
either to withdraw, or, if they had any just plea to offer, to submit
to arbitration. Now when not one of the Mamertines (by reason of fear)
opened his lips, and the Carthaginians since they were occupying the
city by force of arms paid little heed to him, he stated that the
silence on both sides afforded sufficient evidence: on the part of the
invaders it showed that they were in the wrong, for they would have
justified themselves if their purposes were at all honest, and on the
part of the Mamertines that they desired freedom; they might have been
quite free to speak, had they espoused the cause of the Carthaginians,
especially as there was a force of the latter present. Furthermore he
promised that he would aid them, both on account of their Italian origin
and on account of the request for assistance they had made. (Mai, p.179.
Zonaras, 8,8.)
4. ¶Gaius Claudius lost some of the triremes and with difficulty reached
safety. Neither he nor the Romans in the City, however, were prevented
from renewing attempts by sea through the fact that they had been
worsted when first making a trial of it, although this is the ordinary
course that people pursue who fail in the first undertaking and think
that they can never again succeed, viewing the past in the light of an
omen. On the contrary, they applied themselves to the watery element
with an even greater zeal, and chiefly because they were ambitious and
did not wish to appear to have been diverted from their purpose by the
disaster. (Mai, p.180. Zonaras 8, 8, sq.) 5. ¶Hanno, who was in no wise
disposed to make light of the war in case it were bound to occur, was
particularly anxious to throw the responsibility for breaking the truce
upon the other man, for fear it might be thought that he himself was
taking the initiative. Accordingly, he sent back to him the ships and
the captives, while he urged him to accept peace and exhorted him
besides not to meddle with the sea. (Mai, p.180. Zonaras, 8, 9.)
6. ¶When he would accept nothing, he launched at him an arrogant and
reprehensible threat. For he declared that he would never allow the
Romans even to wash their hands in the sea: yet he lost not only the sea
but also Messana not much later. (Mai, p.180. Zonaras, 8, 9.)
7. ¶Claudius, finding the Mamertines gathered at the harbor, called an
assembly of their number and made the statement: "I have no need of arms
but will leave it with you to decide everything." By this means he
persuaded them to send for Hanno. As the latter refused to come down, he
chid him soundly, inveighing against him and declaring that if he had
even the slightest justification, he would certainly hold a conference
with him and not persist in occupying the city by force. (Mai, p.180.
Zonaras, 8, 9.)
8. ¶The consul Claudius exhorted the soldiers beforehand to be of good
cheer and not to be cast down over the defeat of the tribune. He
instructed them that in the first place victories fall to the lot of the
better equipped, and that secondly their valor far surpassed the skill
of their opponents. They would acquire, he said, the knowledge of
seafaring in a short time, whereas the Carthaginians would never have
bravery equal to theirs. Knowledge was something that could be obtained
in a brief space by men who gave their minds to it and could be mastered
by practice; but bravery, in case it were absent from a man's nature,
could never be furnished by instruction. (Mai, p. 181.)
9. ¶ The Libyans, rejoicing in the idea that they had conquered not
through the nature of their position, but by their own valor, sallied
out. But Claudius made them so fearful that they would not even peep out
of the camp. (Mai, p. 181. Zonaras, 8, 9.)
10. For it happens in the majority of instances that those who as a
result of calculation fear something are successful by reason of their
precaution against it, whereas those whose boldness rests on lack of
forethought, are ruined on account of their unguarded condition.
[Footnote: The Carthaginians are, in a general way, the subject of this
section.] (Mai, p. 539.)
11. The quality of moderation both obtains victories and preserves them
after they are won, whereas that of wantonness can prevail against
nothing, and if it be at any time fortunate in some matter, very easily
destroys it. And again, if it perchance preserves some conquest, it
grows worse by the very fact of extraordinary good fortune and so far
from being benefited by its success is actually ruined by it
irretrievably.
Moreover, whenever there is boldness not in accord with reason, you may
expect to find unreasoning fear. Calculation, bringing with it
resolution strengthened by forethought, and a hope made confident by its
own trustworthiness do not allow one to be either dejected or
presumptuous. Unreasoning impulse, however, often elates men in the
midst of good fortune and humbles them to dust in disasters, possessing,
as it were, no support, but always copying the feature of the chance
event. (Mai, p. 539 and p. 181.)
12. ¶ The Romans and Carthaginians when they entered upon war were
equally matched in the number of ships and readiness to serve.
[Sidenote: B.C. 260 (_a.u._ 494)] It was a naval battle soon after in
which, with equal equipment, they first became engaged. They hoped that
it would decide the whole war: Sicily lay before their eyes as the
prize: they were contending in a matter of servitude or empire, resolved
not to be beaten, lest they taste the former, but to conquer and obtain
the latter. One side surpassed in the experience possessed by the crews
of its triremes, since they had long been masters of the sea, and the
other in the strength of its marines and its daring; for the rashness
and audacity of their fighting was commensurate with their inexperience
in naval affairs. In matters of experience practically all men make
exact calculations and are imbued with wholesome fear, even if their
judgment approves a particular course, but the untried renders them
unreasonably bold, and draws them into conflict through lack of due
consideration. (Mai, p.181.)
13. ¶The Carthaginians because of their defeat by the Romans in the
sea-fight came near putting Hannibal to death. It is a trait of
practically all people who send out armies on any mission to lay claims
to advantage gained but to put the responsibility of defeat upon their
leaders, and the Carthaginians were very ready to chastise those who
failed in an enterprise.
He, however, was afraid and immediately after the defeat enquired of
them whether if the business were still untouched they would bid him
risk a sea-fight or not. When they declared in the affirmative, as he
had doubtless expected, because they prided themselves on having such a
superior navy, he added, by the mouths of the same messengers: "I, then,
have done no wrong, for I went into the engagement with the same hopes
as you. The decision was within my power but not the fortune of the
battle." (Mai, p.182. Zonaras, 8, 11.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 258 (_a.u._ 496)] 14. Dio in Book 11: "When the storm
continued and a mist arose besides, he brought about Hannibal's defeat
through the agency of some deserters." (Bekker, Anecd. p.171, 26.
Zonaras, 8, 12.)
15. But regarding the non-surrender of their native land and the
acquirement of foreign territory as matters of equal importance, they
[Footnote: I.e., The Carthaginians.] contended with courage and force.
For whereas most men defend their own possessions to the very limit of
their power but are unwilling to lay claim to the goods of others if it
involves danger, these antagonists set a like value upon what they held
fast and what they expected, and so were equally determined upon both
points. Now the Romans thought it better to conduct the war no longer at
a distance, nor to risk a first encounter in the islands, but to have
the contest in the Carthaginians' own land. If they failed, they would
lose nothing; and if they conquered they would obtain something besides
hopes. Therefore, making their preparation follow their resolve, they
took the field against Carthage. (Mai, p. 183. Cp. Zonaras, 8, 12.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 256 (_a.u._ 498)] 16. Their leaders were Regulus and
Lucius, preferred before others for their excellence. Regulus was,
indeed, in so great poverty that he did not readily consent, on that
account, to take up the command; and it was voted that his wife and
children should be furnished their support from the public treasury.
(Valesius, p. 593. Zonaras, 8, 12.)
17. ¶ Hanno had been sent to the Romans by Hamilcar, as was pretended,
in behalf of peace, but in reality for the sake of delay. And he, when
some clamored for his arrest, because the Carthaginians by fraud
[lacuna] Cornelius [lacuna] [Mai, p. 183.] Four pages of the MS. are
lacking. (Zonaras, 8, 12.)
18. Dio the Roman, who wrote a history about the Empire and the Republic
of Rome and describes the far-famed Carthaginian war, says that when
Regulus,
[Sidenote: B.C. 256 (_a.u._ 498)] consul for Rome, was warring against
Carthage, a serpent suddenly crept out of the palisade of the Roman army
and lay there. By his command the Romans slew the reptile and having
flayed it sent its skin, a great prodigy, to the Roman senate. And when
measured by the same senate (as the same Dio says) it was found to have
a length of one hundred and twenty feet. In addition to its length its
thickness was also notable. (Ioannes Damascenus, On Serpents, vol. I, p.
472, A.B. Cp. Zonaras, 8, 13.)
19. ¶ The Carthaginians in fear of capture sent heralds to the consul to
the end that by some satisfactory arrangement they might turn aside the
danger of the moment, and so escape. But since they refused to withdraw
from both Sicily and Sardinia, to release the Roman captives free of
cost and to ransom their own, to make good all the expenses incurred by
the Romans for the war and besides to pay more as tribute each year,
they accomplished nothing. And in addition to the above mentioned, there
were the following commands which displeased them: that they should make
neither war nor treaties without the consent of the Romans, that they
should employ not more than one warship but the Romans would come to
their aid with fifty triremes as often as notice should be sent them,
and that they would not be on an equal footing in conducting some other
kinds of business. Considering these points they decided that the truce
would mean their utter subjugation, and preferred rather to fight with
the Romans. (Ursinus, p. 376. Zonaras, 8, 13.)
20. Dio in Book 11: "The Carthaginians kept watch for their ships
homeward bound and captured several heavily laden with money." (Bekker,
Anecd. p. 131, 12. Zonaras, 8, 14.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 251 (_a.u._ 503)] 21. ¶ They say the Carthaginians sent
heralds to the Romans on account of the great number of the captives
(among other causes), and most of all to see if they would be inclined
to make peace on some moderate terms; if this could not be effected,
their purpose still held to get back the captives. They say that
Regulus, too, had been sent among the envoys because of his reputation
and valor. The people assumed that the Romans would do anything whatever
in the hope of getting him back, so that he might even be delivered up
alone in return for peace, or at any rate in exchange for the captives.
Accordingly, they bound him by mighty oaths and pledges to return
without fail in case neither of their objects should be accomplished,
and they despatched him as an envoy with others.
And he acted in all respects like a Carthaginian, not a Roman; for he
did not even grant his wife leave to confer with him nor did he enter
the city, although he was invited: instead, when the senate assembled
outside of the walls, as their custom was in treating with the envoys of
the enemy, he asked for permission to approach with the others--at
least, so the story goes, [lacuna] (Ursinus, p. 377. Zonaras, 8, 15.)
22. Dio in Book 11: "Regulus paid no heed to them until the
Carthaginians permitted him to do so." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 140, 20.
Zonaras, 8, 15.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 251 (_a.u._ 503)] 23. Dio in Book 11: "For it is neither
my duty nor that of any other upright man to give up aught that pertains
to the public welfare." (Ib. p. 165, 23.)
24. In Book 11: "Any one else, wishing to console himself for the
disaster which had happened in his own case, would have exalted the
prowess of the enemy." (Ib. p. 165, 30.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 249 (_a.u._ 505)] 25. The second part of the augury is
transmitted to us by Dio Cassius Cocceianus, who says that they keep
tame birds which eat barley, and put barley grains in front of them when
they seek an omen. If, then, in the course of eating the birds do not
strike the barley with their beaks and toss it aside, the sign is good;
but if they do so strike the grain, it is not good. (Io. Tzetzes,
Exegesis of Homer's Iliad, p. 108, 2.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 244 (_a.u._ 510)] 26. He [sc. Mamilcar] thought it was
requisite for a man who wished to accomplish anything by secret means
not to make the matter known to anyone at all. There was no one, he
believed, so self-possessed as to be willing, when he had heard, merely
to observe operations and be silent. Just the reverse was true: the more
strongly a man might be forbidden to mention anything, the greater would
be his desire to speak of it, and thus one man learning the secret from
another with the understanding that he was the only person to know it
would reveal the story. [Footnote: Section 26 may refer to Hamilcar
Barca's plans for seizing Mount Eryx.] (Mai, p. 540. Cp. Diodorus, 24,
7.)
27. In Book 11 of Dio: "He feasted the populace." [Footnote: Boissevain
thinks that No. 27 may concern the banqueting of the populace during
Metellus's triumph. Others have other opinions.] (Bekker, Anecd. p. 133,
24.)
28. In Book 11 of Dio: "You attack even such friends as have been guilty
of any error, whereas I pardon even my enemies." (Ib. p.171, 29.)
29. In Book 12 of Dio: "By the one process [Footnote: Perhaps from the
speech of Regulus to the senators.] he might have become to a certain
extent estranged from you." (Ib. p.124, 4.) 30. In Book 12 of Dio: "Some
are dead, and others who were deserving of some notice, have been
captured." [Footnote: This may be likewise from the speech of Regulus
and be said of the Carthaginian leaders.] (Ib. p. 133,25.)
[Frag. XLIV]
1. For the Ligurians occupy the whole shore from Etruria up to the Alps
and as far as Gaul, according to Dio's statement. (Isaac Tzetzes, on
Lycophron, 1312.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 236 (_a.u._ 518)] 2. The Romans at first sent Claudius
to the Corsicans and gave him up. This was after he had made terms with
them, but his countrymen, who claimed that the fault in breaking the
compact rested on him and not on themselves, had waged war upon them and
subdued them. When the Corsicans refused to receive him, the Romans
drove him out. (Valesius, p.593. Zonaras, 8, 18.)
[Frag. XLV]
[Sidenote: B.C. 235 (_a.u._ 519)] 1. ¶The Romans after exacting also
money from the Carthaginians, renewed the truce. And at first when an
embassy from the latter arrived, they returned no proper answer, because
they were aware of the state of their own equipment and because they
were themselves still busied at that time with the war against the
neighboring tribes. After this, however, Hanno, a man of youthful years
who employed striking frankness of speech, was sent. He touched
unreservedly on a number of other subjects and finally his appeal--"If
you don't want to be at peace, restore to us both Sardinia and Sicily;
for with these we purchased not a temporary respite but eternal
friendship"--caused them to become milder and ashamed [lacuna] (Ursinus,
p.378. Zonaras, 8, 18.)
2[lacuna] lest [Footnote: Preceding this fragment four pages of the MS.
are missing.] they might suffer the same injuries in return, so that
they were very glad to delay,--the one side choosing to preserve the
prosperity that was an inheritance of the past, and the other to cling
to the possessions which were still theirs. To judge by their threats
they were no longer maintaining peace, but in fact they still
deliberated about the matter, so that all could see that whichever of
the two found it to his advantage to create the first disturbance would
also be the one to begin war. Most men abide by their agreements just so
long as suits their own convenience. If they have in view a greater
resultant benefit to themselves, they deem it safe even to break some
compact. (Mai, p.184.)
[Frag. XLVI]
[Sidenote: B.C. 231 (_a.u._ 523)] ¶Once in the consulship of Marcus
Pomponius and Gaius Papirius they despatched envoys to investigate
affairs in Spain, although none of the Spanish States had ever yet
belonged to them. He, [Footnote: A reference to some previous proper
name, outside this fragment.] besides showing them other honors,
addressed them in suitable words, declaring that he was obliged to fight
against the Spaniards in order that the money which was still owing to
the Romans on the part of the Carthaginians might be paid; for it was
impossible to obtain it from any other source. The envoys were
consequently embarrassed to know how to censure him. (Mai, p.184)
[Frag. XLVII]
[Sidenote: B.C. 230 (_a.u._ 524)] 1. ¶The island of Issa surrendered
itself voluntarily to the Romans. This was the first time the islanders
were about to make the acquaintance of the latter, but they judged them
more friendly and faithful than the powers which they then dreaded.
Calculation caused them to place more dependence on the unknown than on
the evident; for while the latter had aroused irritation through the
dealings already had with it, the former afforded good hope, because its
actions were as yet only matters of expectation. (Mai, ib. Zonaras, 8,
19.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 230 (_a.u._ 524)] 2. When the Issæans had attached
themselves to the Romans, the latter, being ready and anxious to do them
some favor in return forthwith, so as to get the reputation of aiding
such as espoused their cause and also for the purpose of restraining the
Ardiasans, who were annoying those that sailed from Brundusium,--for
these reasons they sent messengers to Agro, who were to ask clemency for
the Issæans and censure the king in that he was wronging them without
previous cause. Now these men found Agro no longer in existence: he had
died, leaving behind a child named Pineus. Teuta, Agro's wife and
stepmother of Pineus, held the power over the Ardiæans,[lacuna] Being
[lacuna] by boldness, she made no moderate response to their requests,
but woman-like she showed a vanity (due to innate recklessness as well
as to the power that she was holding) by casting some of the ambassadors
into prison and killing others for speaking frankly. Such was her action
at that time, and she actually took pride in it as if she had displayed
some strength by her facile cruelty. In a very short space, however, she
proved the weakness of the female sex, for as she had quickly flown into
a passion through short-sightedness of judgment, so through cowardice
she was quickly terrified. As soon as she learned that the Romans had
voted for war against her she was panic-stricken, and promised to
restore their men whom she held, while she tried to defend herself for
the death of the others, declaring that they had been slain by some
robbers. When the Romans were thus led to cease temporarily their
campaign and demand the surrender of the murderers, she showed contempt
again, because the danger was not yet at her doors, and declaring that
she would not give anybody up despatched an army against Issa. When she
learned that the consuls were at hand she grew terrified again, gave
over her high spirit, and became ready to heed them in every minutest
detail. She had not yet, however, been fully brought to her senses, for
when the consuls had crossed over to Corcyra she felt imbued with new
courage, revolted, and despatched an army against Epidamnus and
Apollonia. After the Romans had rescued the cities and at the news of
their capture of ships and treasures of hers she was on the point of
again yielding obedience. Meanwhile in the course of scaling certain
heights overlooking the sea they were worsted near the Atyrian hill and
she now waited, hoping, in view of the fact that it was really winter
already, for their withdrawal. But on perceiving that Albinus remained
where he was and Demetrius as a result of her caprice as well as from
fear of the Romans had transferred his allegiance, besides persuading
some others to desert, she became utterly terrified and gave up her
sovereignty. (Ursinus, p. 378. Zonaras, 8, 19.)
[Frag. XLVIII]
[Sidenote: B.C. 228 (_a.u._ 526)] In the time of Fabius Maximus
Berucosus ("full of warts") the Romans did this, after burying in the
middle Of the Forum a Greek and a Gallic couple, man and woman: they
were frightened by a certain oracle which said that Greek and Gaul
should occupy the city. (Isaac Tzetzes on Lycophron, 603, 1056. Cp.
Zonaras, 8, 19.)
[Frag. XLIX]
1. ¶ The Romans were being frightened by an oracle of the Sibyl which
urged the necessity of guarding against the Gauls when a thunderbolt
should fall upon the Capitol near the temple of Apollo. (Mai, p. 185.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 225 (_a.u._ 529)] 2. ¶ The Gauls became dejected on
seeing that the Romans had taken beforehand the most favorable
locations. All men if they obtain the object of their first aim proceed
more readily toward their subsequent goals, but if they miss it, lose
interest in everything else. They, however, after the Gallic fashion and
more than is usual with the rest of mankind, lay hold very eagerly of
what they desire and cling most tenaciously to any success, but if they
meet with the slightest obstacle have no hope left for the future. Folly
makes them inclined to expect whatsoever they wish, and their spirited
temperament ready to carry out whatsoever they undertake. They are given
to violent anger and dash headlong into enterprises, and for that reason
they have within themselves no quality of endurance (since it is
impossible for reckless audacity to prevail for any time), and if they
once suffer any setback they are unable (especially by reason of the
fear to which they then fall a prey) to recover themselves: they are
plunged into a state of panic corresponding to their previous fearless
daring. In a brief period they rush vehemently to the most opposite
extremes, since they can furnish no motive based on calculation for
either action. (Mai, p. 185.)
3. ¶ Æmilius on conquering the Insubres celebrated a triumph and in it
conveyed the foremost captives clad in armor up to the Capitol, making
jests upon them because he had heard that they had sworn not to remove
their breastplates before they had ascended the Capitol. (Mai, p. 186.
Zonaras, 8, 20.)
[Frag. L]
¶ If any of the details, even the smallest, that were customary in
festivals had been missed, they renewed the ceremonial proceedings at
any rate a second and a third time, and even more times still, so far as
was possible in one day, till everything seemed to them to have been
done faultlessly. (Mai, p. 186. Zonaras, 8, 20.)
[Frag. LI]
[Sidenote: B.C. 219 (_a.u._ 535)] ¶ Demetrius, elated by his position as
guardian of Pineus and by the fact that he had married the latter's
mother Triteuta (Teuta was dead), was hateful to the natives and injured
the property of neighboring tribes. So they summoned him before them
(since it appeared that it was by misusing the friendship of the Romans
that he was able to wrong those peoples) as soon as they heard of it.
When he refused compliance and actually assailed their allies, they made
a campaign against Issa, where he was. (Valesius, p.593. Zonaras, 8,
20.)
[Frag. LII]
1. ¶The Romans were at their prime in equipment for war and enjoyed
absolute harmony among themselves. Whereas the majority of persons are
led by unmixed good fortune to audacity but by a tremendous fear to
proper behavior, they had quite a different experience at that time in
those matters. The more successes they had the more sober it made them;
against their enemies they displayed the kind of boldness that partakes
of bravery, while toward one another they employed that right dealing
which is closely connected with good order. [Footnote: The word for
"good order" is conjectured by van Herwerden.] They held their power
with a view to the practice of moderation and kept their orderliness for
the acquirement of a true bravery: they did not allow their good fortune
to develop into wantonness, nor their right dealing into cowardice. They
believed that in case of such laxity temperance might be ruined by
bravery and boldness by boldness; but that when people exercised care,
as they did, moderation was made more secure by bravery and good fortune
rendered surer by discipline. This was the reason for their vast
superiority over the enemies that encountered them and for their
excellent administration of both their own affairs and those of the
allies. (Mai, p. 186.)
2. ¶ All who dwelt on the near side of the Alps revolted to join the
Carthaginians, not because they preferred the Carthaginians to the
Romans as leaders, but because they hated the force that ruled them and
were for welcoming the untried. The Carthaginians had allies against the
Romans from every one of the tribes that then existed; but Hannibal was
worth nearly all of them. He could comprehend matters very quickly and
plan the details of every project that he laid to heart, notwithstanding
the fact that generally sureness is the product of slowness and only
rash decisions result from hastiness of disposition. He was most
[lacuna] when given the smallest margin of time, and most enduring with
a very great degree of reliability. He managed in a safe way the affair
of the moment and showed skill in considering the future beforehand: he
proved himself a most capable counselor in ordinary events and a very
accurate judge of the unusual. By these powers he handled the issue
immediately confronting him very readily and in the shortest time, while
by calculation he anticipated the future afar off and considered it as
though it were actually present. Consequently he, more than any man, met
each occasion with suitable words and acts, because he made no
distinction between what he possessed and what he hoped for. He was able
to conduct matters so for the reason that in addition to his natural
capacity he was well versed in much Phoenician learning, common to his
country, and likewise much Greek, and furthermore he understood
divination by inspection of entrails. (Mai, p. 187 and Valesius, p.
593.)
3. With such intellectual qualities he had brought his body to a state
of equal perfection, partly by nature, partly by practice, so that he
could carry out easily everything that he took in hand. It was nimble
and at the same time heavy to the utmost degree, and he could,
therefore, run, fight, and ride safely at full speed. He never burdened
himself with overmuch food, nor suffered annoyance by lack of it, but
took more or less with equal grace, feeling that either was
satisfactory. Hardship made him rugged, and on loss of sleep he grew
strong.
Having these advantages of mind and body he universally administered
affairs in a fashion now to be described. Since he saw that most men
were trustworthy only in what concerned their own interest, he himself
dealt with them in this manner and expected the same treatment of them,
so that he very often succeeded by deceiving persons and very seldom
failed by being the object of a plot. He regarded as hostile every force
that could gain an advantage both among foreigners and among kinsmen
alike, and did not wait to learn their intentions from their acts, but
handled them quite unsparingly, assuming that they were anxious to
commit a wrong when they could: he thought it better to be the first to
act than the first to suffer, and resolved that the rest of the world
should be dependent on him, and not he upon other persons. In fine, he
paid attention to the nature of things, rather than to their reputed
good points, as often as the two did not happen to coincide. He also,
however, prized extravagantly whatever he needed. Slaves, most of them,
he esteemed in that way, and beheld them willing to encounter danger for
him even contrary to their own advantage. For these reasons he often
himself refrained from opportunities for gain and other most delightful
pleasures, but gave a share ungrudgingly to them. Hence he could get
them to be not unwilling partners in hard work. He subjected himself not
only to the same conditions of living as these men, but also to the same
dangers and was the first to accomplish every task that he demanded of
them. Likewise he was confident that they, too, without pretexts and
with zeal,--since he showed his care for them not in words only,--would
help him effect his projects.
Toward the rest he always behaved quite proudly; and the whole
multitude, in consequence, felt either good-will or fear toward him
because of their similar conditions of life, on the one hand, and
because of his haughtiness on the other. Accordingly, he was fully able
to bring low the towering head, to exalt humility, and to inspire all
whom he pleased, in the shortest period, one with hesitation, another
with boldness, with hope also and despair regarding most important
matters.
And that this information about him is not false, but is truthful
tradition, his works are proof. Much of Spain he won over in a short
time, and from there carried the war into Italy through the country of
the Gauls, most of whom were not only not in league with him, but
actually unknown to him. He was the first of non-Europeans, so far as we
know, to cross the Alps with an army, and after that he made a campaign
against Rome itself, sundering from it almost all its allies, some by
force and others by persuasion. This, however, he achieved by himself
without the aid of the Carthaginian government. He was not sent forth in
the beginning by the magistrates at home, nor did he later obtain any
considerable assistance from them. While they were on the eve of
enjoying the greatest glory and benefit through his efforts, they
wished rather not to appear to be leaving him in the lurch than to
coöperate effectively in any enterprise. (Valesius, p. 593.)
[Frag. LIII]
Dio Cocceianus calls the Narbonenses _Bebruces_, writing this: "To those
who of old were Bebruces, but now Narbonenses, belongs the Pyrenees
range. This range is the boundary between Spain and Gaul." (Isaac
Tzetzes on Lycophron, 516. Zonaras, 8, 21.)
[Frag. LIV]
1. ¶ Peace both creates wealth and preserves it, but war both expends it
and destroys it. [Footnote: The first eight sections of this fragment
seem to be taken from speeches of Romans in the senate-house. Nos. 1 and
2 are apparently the words of an unknown individual discouraging the
eagerness for war; Nos. 3 and 4 may be spoken by Lentulus, urging war;
and Nos. 5 to 8 may contain the opposing arguments of Fabius.](Mai, p.
188.)
2. ¶Every human being is so constituted as to desire to lord it over
such as yield, and to employ the turn of Fortune's scale against
voluntary slaves. (Mai, ib.)
3. But do you who know the facts and have experienced them, think that
propriety and humaneness are sufficient for your safety? And do you
regard listlessly all the wrongs they have committed against us by
stealth or deceit or violence? Are you not stimulated, are you not for
paying them back or for defending yourselves? Then again, you have never
reflected that such behavior is in place for you toward one another, but
toward the Carthaginians is cowardly and base. Our citizens we must
treat in a gentle and politic fashion; if one be preserved unexpectedly,
he is of our possessions: but harsh treatment is for the enemy. We shall
save ourselves not by our defeats as a result of sparing them, but by
our victories that will come from abasing them. (Mai, p.188.)
4. ¶War both preserves men's own possessions and wins the property of
others, whereas peace destroys not only what has been bestowed by war
but itself in addition. (Mai, pp.188 and 541.)
[Frag. LIV]
5. ¶It is base to proceed to action ere arguments about the matter have
been heard: for in such a case, if successful, you will be thought to
have enjoyed good fortune rather than to have employed good counsel, and
if worsted, to have taken your resolution without forethought, at a time
when there was no profit in it. And yet who does not know this,--that to
heap up reproaches and to accuse people that have once warred against us
is very easy--any man can do it--whereas, to say what is advantageous
for the State, not in anger over other men's deeds, but with a view to
the State's benefit, is really the duty of the advising class? Do not
irritate us, Lentulus, nor persuade us to begin war until you show us
that it shall be really for our advantage. Reflect particularly (though
there are other considerations) that speaking here about deeds of war is
not the same sort of thing as their actual performance. (Mai, p.189.)
6. Men are often set on their feet by disasters, and many who use them
wisely fare better than those who are completely fortunate and for that
very reason wanton. Somehow ill luck seems to hold no inconsiderable
portion of benefit, because it does not permit men to lose their senses
or indulge in extreme wantonness. For naturally it is most advisable to
set one's face steadfastly toward all the best things, and to make not
possibility, but calculation, the measure of desire. And if a man be not
able to prefer what is more excellent, it will still pay him to behave,
even unwillingly, with moderation so as to regard in the light of
happiness even the failure to be fortunate in all cases. (Mai, p.542.)
7. It is imperative to be on one's guard against any similar experience
again,--that being the only benefit that can come from disasters.
Repeated good fortune occasionally ruins those who unthinkingly base
their hopes upon it, believing they are sure of another victory, whereas
failures compel every one as a result of his past trouble to provide for
the future carefully beforehand. (Mai, pp.189 and 542.)
8. ¶For securing the favor of the gods or a good reputation among men it
is no small thing to escape the appearance of creating war, and seem to
be compelled to defend the existing population. (Mai, p.189.)
9. After speeches of this character on both sides they determined to
prepare for fighting: they would not vote that way however, but
determined to send envoys to Carthage and denounce Hannibal; then, if
the Carthaginians refrained from approving his exploits, they would
arbitrate the matter, or if all responsibility were laid on his
shoulders, they would demand his extradition; if he were given up, well;
otherwise they would declare war. (Mai, p.190. Zonaras, 8, 22.)
10. ¶When the Carthaginians made no definite answer to the envoys and
instead behaved contemptuously toward them, Marcus [Footnote: According
to Livy (XXI, 18, 1) his name was _Quintus_. Willems suggests emending
to Maximus here.] Fabius thrust his hands beneath his toga and holding
them with palms upward said: "Here I bring to you, Carthaginians, both
war and peace: do you choose unequivocally whichever of them you wish."
Upon their replying to this challenge even then that they chose neither
but would readily accept either that the Romans left with them, he
declared war upon them. (Mai, p.190. Zonaras, 8, 22.)
[Frag. LV]
¶The Romans invited the Narbonenses to an alliance. But the latter
declared that they had never suffered any harm from the Carthaginians or
received any favor from the Romans that they should war against the one
or defend the other, and were quite angry with them, charging that the
Romans had often treated their kinsmen outrageously. (Mai, p.190.)
[Frag. LVI]
1. ¶From such an expectation, Dio says, already acquired from that
source, the Romans and Carthaginians had reached a state in which they
had formed the most different judgments regarding the administration of
the war. For hopefulness, in that it leads all men to cheerfulness,
renders them also more active and confident, possessed of a faith that
they will be victorious; lack of hope casts them into dejection and
despair, and deprives of strength even the naturally stout-hearted.
(Mai, p.191.)
2. Just as matters at a great distance and quite unknown are accustomed
to disturb many men, so now they struck no little fear to the hearts of
the Spaniards. [Footnote: This refers to the Spaniards' refusing, at the
start, to undertake a campaign. Cp. Livy, XXI, 23.] For the majority of
the multitude that makes a campaign not for any reason of its own but
ranking as an allied force is a strong force just so long as it has the
hopes of obtaining some benefit without danger. But when the men reach
the vicinity of the conflict, they are frightened out of their hopes of
gain and lose their faith in promises. And the most of them have gotten
it into their heads that they are by all means going to be successful in
any case; consequently, even if they should meet with some reverse, they
esteem it lightly in comparison with the hopes which have been
offsetting it. (Mai, p.191. Cp. Zonaras, 8, 23.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 218 (_a.u._ 536)] 3. When the preparations failed to be
sufficient in any respect for the size of Hannibal's army, and some one
on this account suggested to him that the soldiers be fed on the flesh
of their opponents, he did not take the idea amiss, but said he feared
that some day through lack of bodies of that kind they might turn to
eating one another. (Mai, p.191. Cp. Zonaras, 8, 23.)
4. ¶Hannibal before beginning operations called together the soldiers
and brought in the captives whom he had taken by the way: he enquired of
the latter whether they wished to undergo imprisonment in fetters and to
endure a grievous slavery or to fight in single combat one with another
on condition that the victors should be released. When they chose the
second alternative, he set them to fighting. And at the end of the
conflict he said: "Now is it not shameful, fellow-soldiers, that these
men who have been captured by us are so disposed toward bravery as to be
eager to die in place of becoming slaves, whereas we shrink from
incurring a little toil and danger for the purpose of not being
subservient to others,--yes, and ruling them besides?" (Mai, p.192.
Zonaras, 8, 23.)
5. All the sufferings that we have endured when occasionally defeated by
the enemy we will inflict upon them, if we are victorious. Be well
assured that by conquering we shall obtain all the benefits that I
mention, but if conquered we shall not even have a safe means of escape.
The victor straightway finds everything friendly, even if possibly it
hates him, and to the vanquished no one even of his own household pays
any longer heed. (Mai, pp. 543 and 192.)
6. ¶To have once failed in an enterprise against some foes puts them
forever out of countenance, and is a preventative of any future courage.
(Mai, p. 192.)
7. For the whole Gallic race is naturally more or less eccentric and
cowardly and faithless. Just as they are readily emboldened in the face
of hopes, so (only more readily) when frightened do they fall into a
panic. The fact that they were no more faithful to the Carthaginians
will teach the rest of mankind a lesson never to dare to invade Italy.
(Mai, p. 192. Cp. Zonaras, 8, 24.)
8. ¶Many portents, [Footnote: Cp. Livy XXI, 62, and XXII, I, 8-20.] some
of which had actually occurred and others which were the product of idle
talk, became the subject of conversation. For when persons get seriously
frightened and those [lacuna] are in reality proven to have occurred to
them, oftentimes others are imagined. And if once any of the former
phenomena is believed, heedlessly at once the rest [lacuna]
Accordingly, the sacrifices were offered and all the other ceremonies
were accomplished which men are in the habit of performing for the cure
of their temporary terror and for escape from expected ruin. Yet the
race of men is wont to trust such agencies, hoping in the line of
improvement, and so now, even if because of the greatness of the danger
awaited they thought that the harshest fate would fall upon them, still
they kept hoping that they would not be defeated. (Mai, p. 192.)
9. ¶ The Romans proclaimed Fabius dictator, satisfied if they could
themselves survive, and neither despatched any aid to the allies nor
[lacuna] but learning that Hannibal had turned aside from Campania, they
made sure of the former's safety through fear that they might change
sides either willingly or under compulsion. (Mai, p. 193. Zonaras, 8,
25.)
10. ¶ Fabius continued to besiege him from a safe distance instead of in
dangerous proximity; he would not venture to make a trial of men skilled
in the art of war, and made the safety of the soldiers a matter of great
circumspection because of the scarcity of the citizens, deeming it no
disaster to fail of destroying the forces of the enemy but a great one
to lose any of his troops. The Carthaginians, he believed, by means of
their enormous multitude would encounter danger again even if once
defeated, but if the smallest part of his own army met with failure he
calculated that he should find himself in every extremity of evil; this
would not be due to the number of the dead on any such occasion but to
the previous setbacks endured. He was in the habit of saying that men
with powers undiminished could often suffer without hurt the most
dreadful losses, but those who were already exhausted might be harmed by
the slightest reverses. Once, when his son advised him to run the risk
and be done with it and said something about his not losing more than a
hundred men, the above consideration led him to refuse assent, and he
further inquired of the young man whether he would like to be one of the
hundred men. (Mai, pp. 193 and 544. Zonaras, 8, 26.)
11. ¶ The Carthaginians, far from sending voluntarily any support to
Hannibal, were rather disposed to make sport of him, because whereas he
was continually writing of his splendid progress and his many successes
he still asked money and soldiers of them. They said his requests did
not agree with his successes: victors ought to find their existing army
sufficient and to send money home instead of demanding additional funds
from them. (Mai, p. 194. Zonaras, 8, 26.)
12. I am under accusation, not because I dash headlong into battles nor
because I risk dangers in my office as general, purposing by losing many
soldiers and killing many enemies to be named dictator and celebrate a
triumph, but because I am slow and because I delay and because I always
exercise extreme foresight for your preservation. (Mai, p.542.)
13. Is it not really absurd for us to be zealous for success in
enterprises outside and far off before the city itself is really set
upon a firm foundation? Is it not absolutely outrageous to be eager to
conquer the enemy before we set our own affairs well in order? (Mai, p.
543.)
14 ¶ Hannibal either as a favor to Fabius, on the ground that he was an
advantage to them or perhaps to create a prejudice against him, did not
ravage any of his possessions. Accordingly, when an exchange of captives
was made between the Romans and Carthaginians with the proviso that any
number in excess on either side should be ransomed, and as the Romans
were unwilling to ransom their men with money from the public treasury,
Fabius sold the farms and paid their ransom. Therefore they did not
depose him but they gave equal power to his master of the horse, so that
both held their commands on a like footing. Fabius harbored no wrath
against either the citizens or Rufus: he excused them for an act
prompted by human nature and was for contenting himself if in any way
they might survive. He desired the preservation and victory of the
commonwealth rather than an individual reputation, and continued to
believe that excellence depends not on decrees but on each man's spirit,
and that a man is better or worse not as a result of any ordinance but
as a result of his own wisdom or ignorance.
Rufus, however, who had not shown the right spirit in the first place
was now more than ever puffed up and could not contain himself because
he had obtained through his insubordination the further prize of equal
authority with the dictator. And so he kept asking for the right to hold
sole sway a day at a time, or for several days alternately. But Fabius,
in the fear that he might work some harm if he should get possession of
the undivided power, would not consent to either plan of his, but
divided the army in such a way that they each, like the consuls, had a
separate force. And immediately Rufus encamped apart, in order that he
might give a practical illustration of the fact that he held sway in his
own right and not subject to the dictator. (Valesius, p. 597. Zonaras,
8, 26.)
15. ¶ It is customary for men who are ruled to concur in opinion easily.
Especially often do they join forces when the object is to slander men
of good reputation, for the reason that it is their nature to help in
augmenting any power just come to light but to bring low what has
already obtained preëminence. And though one can not immediately measure
one's self with men who surpass one through ampler resources, growth in
an unexpected quarter brings hope of a like good fortune to others that
dwell in obscurity. [Footnote: This may come from a speech of M.
Terentius Varro in favor of equalizing the powers of dictator and of
master-of-horse.](Mai, p. 194.) 16. ¶ Rufus, who obtained equal
authority with the dictator, after a defeat by the Carthaginians altered
his attitude (for disasters chasten somehow those who are not completely
fools) and voluntarily gave up his leadership. And for this all praised
him loudly. He was not held worthy of censure because he had failed to
recognize at first what was fitting, but was commended for not
hesitating to change his mind. They deemed it an act of good fortune for
a man to choose right at the start a proper course of conduct, but they
thoroughly approved the course of one, who, having learned from
practical experience the better way, was not ashamed to face squarely
about. From this episode, too, it was clearly shown how much one man
differs from another and true excellence from the reputation therefor.
What had been taken from Fabius by jealousy and prejudice of the
citizens, he received back with good-will and even at the request of his
colleague. (Mai, p. 194. Zonaras, 8, 26.) 17. ¶ The same man when about
to retire from office sent for the consuls, surrendered his army to
them, and advised them in addition very fully regarding all the details
of what must be done. The safety of the city stood higher in his
estimation than a reputation for being the only successful commander,
and expecting that if they followed their own bent they would probably
meet with failure, but if they heeded his counsel they would meet with a
favorable outcome, he preferred to look to the second contingency for
praise. And the consuls were not unduly bold but acted on the suggestion
of Fabius, deeming it better not to accomplish any important result than
to be ruined; hence they remained where they were throughout the entire
period of their command. (Mai, p. 195. Zonaras, 8, 26.)
18. For the Iapygians and Apulians dwell around the Ionic Gulf. Of the
Apulians the tribes according to Dio are the Peuketii Pediculi, Daunii,
Tarentini. There is also Cannæ, the "plain of Diomed," near Daunian
Apulia. Messapia was called also Iapygia, later Salentia, and then
Calabria. Argyrippa, a Diomedian city, was renamed Arpi by the
Apulians. (Isaac Tzetzes on Lycophron, 603 and 852. Cp. Zonaras, 9, 1.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 216 (_a.u._ 538)] 19. Later he was arrayed against the
Romans at Cannæ, when the Roman generals were Paulus and Terentius. Now
Cannæ is a level district of Argyrippa, where Diomed founded the city
Argyrippa, that is to say "Argos the Horse-City" in the tongue of the
Greeks. And this plain comes to belong later to the Daunii (of the
Iapygians), then to the Salantii, and now to those that all call by the
name Calauri. It is also the boundary between the Calauri and
Longibardi, where the great war burst upon them. (Tzetzes, Hist., 1,
757-767. Cp. Zonaras, 9, 1.)
20. ¶ With regard to divination and astronomy Dio says: "I, however, can
not form any opinion either about these events or about others that are
foretold by divination. For what does foreshowing avail, if a thing
shall certainly come to pass, and if there could be no averting of it
either by human devices or by divine providence? Accordingly, let each
man look at these matters in what way he pleases." (Mai, p. 195. Cp.
Zonaras, 9, 1.)
21. ¶ The commanders were Paulus and Terentius, men not of similar
temperament, but differing alike in family and in character. The former
was a patrician, possessed of the graces of education, and esteemed
safety before haste, being restrained partly, it might be said, as a
result of the censure he had received for his former conduct in office.
Hence he was not inclined to audacity, but was considering how he might
keep from getting into trouble again rather than how he might achieve
success by some desperate venture. Terentius, however, had been brought
up among the rabble, was practiced in vulgar bravado, and so displayed
lack of prudence in nearly all respects; for instance, he promised
himself general direction of the war, kept constantly annoying the
patricians, and thought that he alone should have the leadership in view
of the quiet behavior of his colleague. Now they both reached the camp
at a most opportune time: Hannibal had no longer any provender; Spain
was in turmoil; the affection of the allies was being alienated from
him: and if they had waited for even the briefest possible period, they
would have conquered without trouble. As matters went, however, the
heedlessness of Terentius and the submissiveness of Paulus, who always
desired the proper course but assented to his colleague in most
points--so sure is gentleness to be overcome by audacity,--compassed
their defeat. (Mai, p. 196. Zonaras, 9, 1.)
22. ¶ In the mêlée of the war not even the boldest possessed a hope so
buoyant as to rise above the fear that arose from its uncertainty. The
surer they felt of conquering the more did they tremble for fear they
might in some way come to grief. Those who are ignorant of a matter by
reason of their very lack of perception are not awaiting anything
terrible, but the boldness derived from calculation [lacuna] (Six pages
are lacking.) (Mai, p. 196.)
23. At the time when burst this frightful war, a terrific earthquake
occurred, so that mountains were cleft asunder and showers of great
stones poured down from heaven. But they, fighting vigorously, perceived
none of these things. At last so great a multitude of Roman warriors
fell that Hannibal, the general, in sending to Sicily the finger-rings
of the generals and the other men of repute filled many bushel and peck
measures--so great a multitude that the noble, foremost Roman women ran
lamenting to the temples in Rome and with the hairs of their heads
cleansed the statues there;--and later had intercourse with both slaves
and barbarians (because the Roman land had been utterly impoverished of
men), to the end that their race might not be every whit extirpated.
Rome at that time, after the utter loss of all her citizens, stood
inglorious through many day-coursing cycles. Her old men sitting at her
outer gates bewailed the disaster most grievous to be borne and asked
ever and anon the passers-by whether any one perchance were left alive.
(Tzetzes, Hist. 1, 767-785. (Cp. Fragm. LVI, 19, which precedes this.)
Cp. Zonaras, 9, 1.)
24. ¶ Scipio, on learning that some of the Romans were prepared to
abandon Rome, and indeed all Italy, because they felt it was destined to
fall into the hands of the Carthaginians, yet found a way to restrain
them. Sword in hand he sprang suddenly into the room where they were
conferring, and after himself swearing to take all proper measures both
of word and act he made them also devote themselves by oath to utter
destruction, should they fail to keep their pledges to him. Later these
men reached a harmonious decision and wrote to the consul that they were
safe enough. He, however, did not at once write or despatch a messenger
to Rome; on reaching Canusium he set in order affairs at that place,
sent to the regions in proximity garrisons sufficient for immediate
needs, and repulsed a cavalry attack upon the city. Altogether, he
displayed neither dejection nor terror, but with an unbending spirit,
as if no serious evil had befallen them, he both planned and executed
all measures of immediate benefit. (Valesius, p. 598. Zonaras, 9, 2.)
25. Hannibal took possession of the Nucerini under an agreement that
each man should leave the city carrying one change of clothing. As soon,
however, as he was master of the situation he shut the senators into
bath-houses and suffocated them, and in the case of the others, although
he had granted them permission to go away where they pleased, he cut
down many of them even on the road. Still, this course was of no profit
to him, for the rest became afraid that they might suffer a similar
fate, and so would not come to terms with him and resisted as long as
they could hold out. (Valesius, p. 598. Zonaras, 9, 2.)
26. ¶ Marcellus showed great bravery, moderation, and justice. His
demands on his subjects were not all rigorous or harsh, nor was he
careful to see that they also should do what was needful. Those of them
who committed any errors he pardoned humanely and, furthermore, was not
angry if they failed to be like him. (Valesius, p. 601.)
27. ¶ When many citizens of Nola were dreading the men captured at Cannæ
and later released by Hannibal, because they thought that such persons
favored the invader's cause, and when they were even desirous of putting
them to death, he opposed it. Furthermore, he concealed from this time
on the suspicion that he felt toward them, and treated them in such a
way that they chose his side by preference, and became extremely useful
both to their native land and to the Romans. (Valesius, p. 601. Cp.
Zonaras, 9, 2.)
28. ¶ The same Marcellus when he perceived that one of the Lucanian
cavalrymen was in love with a woman permitted him to keep her in the
camp, because he was a most excellent fighter: this in spite of the
fact that he had forbidden any women to enter the ramparts. (Valesius,
p. 601.)
29. ¶ He pursued the same course with the people of Acerræ as he had
with those of Nucreia, except that he cast the senators into wells and
not into bath-houses. (Valesius, p. 601. Zonaras, 9, 2.)
30. ¶ Fabius got back some of the men captured in former battles by
exchanging man for man, while others he made a compact to ransom with
money. When, however, the senate failed to confirm the expenditure,
because it did not approve of their ransoming, he offered for sale, as I
have said, [Footnote: Cp. section 14 (first paragraph) of this fragment.]
his own farms and from the proceeds of them furnished the ransom for the
men. (Valesius, p. 601.)
31. Archimedes, the well-known inventor, was by birth a Syracusan. Now
this old geometrician, who had passed through seventy-five seasons, had
built many powerful engines, and by the triple pulley, with the aid of
the left hand alone, could launch a merchant ship of fifty thousand
medimni burden. And when Marcellus once, the Roman general, assaulted
Syracuse by land and sea, this man first by his engines drew up some
merchantmen, and lifting them up against the wall of Syracuse dropped
them again and sent them every one to the bottom, crews and all. Again,
as Marcellus removed his ships a little distance, the old man gave all
the Syracusans the power to lift stones of a wagon's size, and letting
them go one by one to sink the ships. When Marcellus withdrew a bow
shot thence, the old man manufactured a kind of hexagonal mirror, and at
an interval proportionate to the size of the mirror he set similar small
mirrors with four edges, moving by links and by a kind of hinge, and
made the glass the center of the rays of the sun,--its noontide ray,
whether in summer or in the dead of winter. So after that when the beams
were reflected into this, a terrible kindling of flame arose upon the
ships, and he reduced them to ashes a bowshot off. Thus by his
contrivances did the old man vanquish Marcellus.
He used to say, moreover, in Dorian, the Syracusan dialect: "Give me
where to stand, and with a lever I will move the whole earth."
This man, when (according to Diodorus) this Syracuse surrendered herself
entire to Marcellus, or (according to Dio) was pillaged by the Romans
during an all-night festival to Artemis that the citizens were
celebrating, was killed by a certain Roman in the following fashion.--He
was bent over, drawing some geometrical figure, and some Roman, coming
upon him, made him his prisoner and began to drag him away: but he, with
all his attention fixed just then upon his figure, not knowing who it
was that pulled him said to the man: "Stand aside, fellow, from my
figure." But as the other kept on dragging, he turned, and recognizing
him as a Roman cried out: "Let some one give me one of my machines." The
Roman in terror immediately killed him, an unsound weak old man, but
marvelous through his works. Marcellus straightaway mourned on learning
this, buried him brilliantly in his ancestral tomb, assisted by the
noblest citizens and all the Romans, and the man's murderer, I trow, he
slew with an axe. Dio and Diodorus have written the story. (Tzetzes,
Hist. 2, 103-149. Cp. Zonaras, 9, 4.)
32. Proculus sings of having forged fire-producing mirrors and of having
hung them from the wall opposite the enemy's ships. Then when the rays
of the sun fell upon these, fire was struck out of them that consumed
the naval force of the opponents and the ships themselves,--a device
which Dio relates Archimedes hit upon long ago, at the time when the
Romans were besieging Syracuse. (Zonaras, 14, 3.)
33. Though such a disaster at that time had overwhelmed Rome, Hannibal
neglected to reduce the town, and occupied in triumphs, drinking bouts
and luxurious living appeared sluggish in the enterprise, until at
length a Roman army was collected for the Romans.
[Sidenote: B.C. 211 (_a.u._ 543)] Then was he hindered in three-fold
manner when he set out for Rome. For of a sudden from the clear sky a
most violent hail poured down, and a spreading darkness kept him from
his journey. (Tzetzes, Hist. 1, 786-792. Cp. Zonaras, 9, 6.)
34. Dio in his Roman History 15: "For as a result of their position from
very early times and their pristine friendship for the Romans, they
would not endure to be punished, but the Campanians undertook to accuse
Flaccus and the Syracusans Marcellus. And they were condemned in the
assembly." (Suidas, s. v. [Greek: 'edkaióthaesan'].)
35. Dio in 15th Book: "For fear the Syracusans, in despair of
assistance, commit some act of rebellion." (Bekker, Anecdota, p. 119,
121. Zonaras, 9, 6.)
36. ¶ The Romans had made propositions to Hannibal looking to a return
of the prisoners on both sides, but did not accomplish the exchange
although they sent, Carthalo to them for this very purpose. For when
they would not receive him, as an enemy, within the walls, he refused to
hold any conversation with them, but immediately turned back in anger.
(Ursinus, p. 379. Zonaras, 9, 6.)
37. ¶ Scipio the prætor, who saved his wounded father, surpassed in
natural excellence, was renowned for his education, and possessed great
force both of mind and also of language, whenever the latter was
necessary. These qualities he displayed conspicuously in his acts, so
that he seemed to be high-minded and disposed to do great deeds not for
the sake of an empty boast but as the result of a steadfast tendency.
For these reasons and because he scrupulously paid honors to the
heavenly powers, he was elected. He had never had charge of any public
or private enterprise before he ascended the Capitol and spent some time
there. On this account also he acquired the reputation of having sprung
from Jupiter, who had taken the form of a serpent on the occasion of
intercourse with his mother. [Footnote: Compare the story about Augustus
(Volume III, page 3 of this translation).] And by this tradition he
inspired many with a kind of hope in him. (Valesius, p.601. Zonaras, 9,
7.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 210 (_a.u._ 544)] 38. ¶ Scipio, although he did not
receive the title of legal commander from those by whom he was elected,
nevertheless made the army his friend, roused the men from their
undisciplined state and drilled them, and brought them out of the terror
with which their misfortunes had filled them. As for Marcius, [Footnote:
This is L. Marcius, a knight, who at the death of Publius and Gnæus
Scipio in Spain was chosen commander by the soldiers.] Scipio did not,
as most men would have done, regard him as unfit because he had acquired
popularity, but both in word and deed always showed him respect. He was
the sort of man to wish to make his way not by slandering and
overthrowing his neighbor, but by his native excellence. And it was this
most of all that helped him to conciliate the soldiers. (Valesius,
p.602.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 209 (_a.u._ 545)] 39. ¶ When a mutiny of the soldiers
took place, Scipio distributed many gifts to the soldiers and designated
many also for the public treasury. Some of the captives he appointed to
service in the general fleet and all the hostages he gave back freely to
their relatives. For this reason many towns and many princes, among them
Indibilis and Mandonius of the Ilergetes, came over to his side. The
Celtiberian race, the largest and strongest of those in that region, he
gained in the following way. He had taken among the captives a maiden
distinguished for her beauty and it was supposed, on general principles,
that he would fall in love with her: and when he learned that she was
betrothed to Allucius, one of the Celtiberian magistrates, he
voluntarily sent for him and delivered the girl to him along with the
ransom her kinsfolk had brought. By this deed he attached to his cause
both them and the rest of the nation. (Valesius, p.602. Zonaras, 9, 8.)
40. ¶ Scipio was clever in strategy, agreeable in society, terrifying to
his opponents, and humane to such as yielded. Furthermore, through his
father's and his uncle's reputation he was thoroughly able to inspire
confidence in his projects, because he was thought to have acquired his
fame by hereditary excellence and not fortuitously. At this time the
swiftness of his victory, the fact that Hasdrubal had retreated into the
interior, and especially the recollection that he had predicted, whether
through divine inspiration or by some chance information, that he would
encamp in the enemy's country,--a prediction now fulfilled,--caused all
to honor him as superior to themselves, while the Spaniards actually
named him Great King. (Valesius, p. 605. Zonaras, 9, 8.)
41. ¶ The king of the Spaniards, taken captive by Scipio, chose to
follow the Roman cause, surrendered his own sovereignty, and stood ready
to furnish hostages. Scipio, though he accepted the man's alliance, said
there was no need of hostages, for he possessed the necessary pledge in
his own arms. [Footnote: Probably spurious (Melber).] (Mai, p. 545.)
42. Dio in 16: "You all deserve to die: however, I shall not put you all
to death, but I shall execute only a few whom I have already arrested;
the rest I shall release." (Suidas, s. v. [Greek: edikaióthaesan].
Zonaras, 9, 10.)
43. Later Hannibal incurred the jealousy of the Sicilians, and when he
fell in need of grain, as the islanders did not send it, the former
noble conqueror, now by famine conquered, was put to flight by Scipio
the Roman, and to the Sicilians became part cause of their utter, dire
destruction. (Tzetzes, Hist. 1, 793-797.)
44. Thus these authorities in regard to the Gymnesian islands. Dio
Cocceianus, however, says they are near the Iberus river and near the
European Pillars of Hercules,--which islands the Greeks and Romans alike
call the Gymnesian, but the Spaniards Valerian or Healthful Islands.
(Isaac Tzetzes on Lycophron, 633. Cp. Zonaras, 9, 10.)
45. ¶ Masinissa was in general among the most prominent men and was
wont to accomplish warlike deeds, whether by planning or by force, in
the best manner, and gained the foremost place in the confidence not
only of the men of his own race (and these are most distrustful as a
rule) but of those who greatly prided themselves upon their sagacity.
(Valesius, p. 605. Zonaras, 9, 11.)
46. ¶ Masinissa became mightily enamoured of Sophonis, [Footnote:
The name appears as Sophoniba in Livy (XXX, 12).] who possessed
conspicuous beauty,--that symmetry of body and bloom of youth which
is characteristic of the prime of life,--and had also been trained
in a liberal literary and musical education. She was of attractive
manners, coy and altogether so lovable that the mere sight of her or
even the sound of her voice vanquished every one, however devoid of
affection he might be. (Valesius, p. 605. Zonaras, 9, 11.)
47[lacuna]. However he also wished to take revenge on him. For having
incurred suspicion beforehand he took to flight, and on arriving at
Libya inflicted many injuries by himself and many with Roman aid upon
Syphax and the Carthaginians. Scipio, when he had won over the whole
territory south of the Pyrenees, partly by force, partly by treaty,
equipped himself for the journey to Libya, as he had received orders to
do. This business, too, had now been entrusted to him in spite of much
opposition, and he was instructed to join Syphax. Certainly he would
have accomplished something worthy of his aspirations: he would have
either surrounded Carthage with his troops and have captured the place
or he would have drawn Hannibal from as he later did, had not the Romans
at home through jealousy of him and through fear stood in his way. They
reflected that youth without exception always reaches out after greater
results and good fortune is often insatiate of success, and thought that
it would be very difficult for a youthful spirit [lacuna] through
self-confidence [lacuna] [lacuna] it would be of advantage not to treat
him according to his power and fame but to look to their own liberty and
safety, they dismissed him; in other words, the man that they themselves
had put in charge of affairs when they stood in need of him they now of
their own motion removed because he had become too great for the public
safety. They were no longer anxious to conduct a destructive warfare
through his agency against the Carthaginians, but simply to escape
training up for themselves a self-chosen tyrant. So they sent two of the
prætors to relieve him and called him home. Also they did not vote him a
triumph, because he was campaigning as an individual and had been
appointed to no legal command, but they allowed him to sacrifice a
hundred white oxen upon the Capitol, to celebrate a festival, and to
canvass for the consulship of the second year following. For the
elections for the next year had recently been held.
[Sidenote: B.C. 207 (_a.u._ 547)] At this same period Sulpicius, too,
with Attalus captured Oreus by treachery and Opus by main force. Philip
although in Demetrias was unable to check their encroachments speedily
because the Ætolians had seized the passes in advance. At last,
however, he did arrive on the scene and finding Attalus disposing of the
spoil from Opus (for this had fallen to his lot and that from Oreus to
the Romans) he hurled him back to his ships. Attalus, accordingly, for
this reason and also because Prusias, king of Bithynia, had invaded his
country and was devastating it, hastily sailed away homewards.
Philip, however, far from being elated at this success, even wished to
conclude a truce with the Romans and especially because Ptolemy, too,
was sending ambassadors from Egypt and trying to reconcile them. After
some preliminary discussion [lacuna] he no longer requested peace, but
[lacuna] drew the Ætolians away from the Roman alliance by some [lacuna]
and made them friends.
Nothing worthy of remembrance, however, was done either by him or by any
others either then or in the following year when Lucius Veturius and
Cæcilius Metellus became consuls: this notwithstanding the fact that
many signs of ill-omen to the Romans were reported. For example, a
hermaphrodite lamb was born, and a swarm of [lacuna] was seen, down the
doors of the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter two serpents glided, both
the doors and the altar in the temple of Neptune ran with copious sweat,
in Antium bloody ears were seen by some reapers, elsewhere a woman
having horns appeared and many thunderbolts [lacuna] into temples
[lacuna] Paris Fragment (10th Century MS.) (See Haase, Rh. Mus., 1839,
p.458, ff. Zonaras 9, 11.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 205 (_a.u._ 549)]48. ¶ Licinius Crassus, by reason of
his geniality and beauty and wealth (which gained for him the name of
Wealthy) and because he was a high priest, was to stay in Italy without
casting lots for the privilege. (Valesius, p. 605. Zonaras, 9, 11.)
49. ¶ The Pythian god commanded the Romans to entrust to the best of the
citizens the conveyance to the city of the goddess from Pessinus, and
they accordingly honored Publius Scipio, a son of Gnæus who died in
Spain, above all others by their first preference. The reason was that
he was in general [lacuna] and was deemed both pious and just. He at
this time, accompanied by the most prominent women, conducted the
goddess to Rome and to the Palatine. (Valesius, p. 606.)
50. ¶ The Romans on learning of the actions of the Locrians, thinking it
had come about through contempt of Scipio, were displeased, and under
the influence of anger immediately made plans to end his leadership and
to recall him for trial. They were also indignant because he adopted
Greek manners, wore his toga thrown back over his shoulder, and
contended in the palæstra. Furthermore it was said he gave over to the
soldiers the property of the allies to plunder, and he was suspected of
delaying the voyage to Carthage purposely, in order that he might hold
office for a longer time; but it was principally at the instigation of
men who all along had been jealous of him that they wished to summon
him. Still, this proposition was not carried out because of the great
favor, based on their hopes of him, which the mass of the people felt
for him. (Valesius, p. 606. Zonaras, 9, 11.)
51 [lacuna]. they stopped and pitched a camp in a suitable place and
fenced it all about with palisades, as they had brought in stakes for
this very purpose. It had just been finished when a great serpent came
gliding along beside it on the road leading to Carthage, so that by this
portent, Scipio, owing to the tradition about his father, was
encouraged, and devastated the country and assaulted the cities with
greater boldness. Some of the latter he did succeed in capturing; and
the Carthaginians not yet [lacuna] prepared remained still, and Syphax
was by profession their friend, but, as a matter of fact, he held aloof
from the action; by urging Scipio to come to terms with them he showed
that he was unwilling that either side should conquer the other and at
the same time become his master; on the contrary he desired them to
oppose each other as vigorously as possible but to be at peace with him.
Consequently, as Scipio was harrying the country, Hanno the cavalry
commander (he was a son of Hasdrubal) [lacuna] the [lacuna] was
persuaded on the part of Masinissa [lacuna] to the Carthaginians
[lacuna] warlike [lacuna] was believed, and, therefore, Scipio, sending
forward some horsemen on the advice of Masinissa [lacuna] laid an ambush
in a suitable spot where they were destined [lacuna] making an onset to
simulate flight. Against [lacuna] those wishing to pursue them. This
also took place. The Carthaginians attacked them, and when after a
little by agreement they turned, followed after at full speed while
Masinissa with his accompanying cavalry lagged behind and got in the
rear of the pursuers, and Scipio appearing from ambush went to meet
them: thus they were cut off and overwhelmed with weapons on both sides
and many were killed and captured [lacuna] and also Hanno. On learning
this, Hasdrubal arrested the mother of Masinissa. And those captives
were exchanged, one for the other.
Now Syphax, being well aware that Masinissa would war against him no
less than against the Carthaginians and fearing that he might find
himself bereft of allies if they suffered any harm through his desertion
of their cause, renounced his pretended friendship for the Romans and
attached himself openly to the Carthaginians. He failed to render the
wholehearted assistance, however, to the point of actually resisting the
Romans, and the latter overran the country with impunity, carrying off
much plunder and recovering many prisoners from Italy who had previously
been sent to Libya by Hannibal; consequently they despised their foes
and began a campaign against Utica. When Syphax and Hasdrubal saw this,
they so feared for the safety of the place that they no longer remained
passive; and their approach caused the Romans to abandon the siege,
since they did not dare to contend against two forces at the same time.
Subsequently the invaders went into winter quarters where they were,
getting a part of their provisions from the immediate neighborhood and
sending for a part from Sicily and Sardinia; for the ships that carried
the spoils to Sicily could also bring them food supplies.
In Italy no great results were accomplished in the war against Hannibal.
Publius Sempronius in a small engagement was vanquished by Hannibal, but
later overcame the latter in turn: Livius and Nero, having become
censors, announced to those Latins who had abandoned the joint
expedition and had been designated to furnish a double quota of
soldiers, that a census of persons taxable should be taken; this they
did in order that others, too, might contribute money, and they made
salt, which up to that time had been free of tax, taxable. This measure
was for no other purpose than to satisfy Livius, who designed it, thus
requiting the citizens for their vote of condemnation; and indeed, he
received a nickname from it; after this he was called Salinator.
[Footnote: Salinator = "salt-dealer."] This was one act that caused
these censors to become notorious; another was that they deprived each
other of their horses and made each other ærarii [Footnote: Ærarius--a
citizen of the lowest class, who paid only a poll-tax and had no right
to vote.] [lacuna] according to the [lacuna] (Paris fragment (p. 460).
Zonaras, 9, 12.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 203 (_a.u._ 551)] 52. ¶ Scipio captured a Carthaginian
vessel but released it, inflicting no injury when they feigned to have
been coming on an embassy to him. He knew that this pretext was invented
to secure the safety of the captives, but preferred avoiding the
possibility of being touched by the breath of slander to the retention
of the ship. Also, when Syphax at that time was still endeavoring to
reconcile them on the terms that Scipio should sail from Libya and
Hannibal from Italy, he received his proposition not because he trusted
him, but to the end that he might ruin him. (Valesius, p. 606. Zonaras,
9, 12.)
53. ¶ The Romans came bringing to Scipio along with much other property
Syphax himself. And the commander would not consent to see him remain
bound in chains, but calling to mind his entertainment at the other's
court and reflecting on human misfortunes, on the fact that his captive
had been king over no inconsiderable power and had shown commendable
zeal in his behalf, and that nevertheless he beheld him in so pitiable a
plight,--Scipio leaped from his chair, loosed him, embraced him, and
treated him with great consideration. (Valesius, p. 606. Zonaras, 9,
13.)
54. ¶ The Carthaginians made propositions to Scipio through heralds, and
of the demands made upon them by him there was none that did not promise
to satisfy, although they never intended to carry out their agreement;
they did, to be sure, give him money at once and gave back all the
prisoners, but in regard to the other matters they sent envoys to Rome.
The Romans would not receive them at that time, declaring that it was a
tradition in the State not to negotiate a peace with any parties while
their armies were in Italy. Later when Hannibal and Mago had embarked,
they granted the envoys an audience and fell into a dispute among
themselves, being of two minds. At last, however, they voted the peace
on the terms that Scipio had arranged. (Ursinus, p. 380. Zonaras, 9,
13.)
55. ¶ The Carthaginians attacked Scipio both by land and by sea. Scipio,
vexed at this, made a complaint, but they returned no proper answer to
the envoys and moreover actually plotted against them when they sailed
back; and had not by chance a wind sprung up and aided them, they would
have been captured or would have perished. On this account Scipio,
although at this time the commissioners arrived with peace for the men
of Carthage, refused any longer to make it. (Ursinus, p. 380. Zonaras,
9, 13.)
56. Nearly all who conduct a military expedition,--or many, at any
rate,--perform voluntarily many acts which would not be required of
them. They look askance at their instructions as something forced upon
them, but are delighted with the projects of their own minds because
they feel themselves so far independent. (Valesius, p. 609.)
57. Dio in Book 17: "He suddenly halted in his running." (Bekker,
Anecd., p. 140, 23. Zonaras, 9, 14.)
58. Dio in _Roman History_ 17: "In general the fortunate party is
inclined to audacity and the unfortunate to moderate behavior, and
accordingly, the timid party is wont to show temperance and the
audacious intemperance. This was to be noted to an especial degree in
that case." [Footnote: This may conceivably relate to Masinissa's
marrying Sophoniba without authorization.] (Suidas s. v. [Greek: hôst
hephipan])
59. Dio in Roman History 17: "And a report about them of same such
nature as follows was made public." (Suidas and Etymologicum Magnum and
others s. v. [Greek: hedêmhôthê].)
60. [Greek: henthymixhomenoi] = _calculating_. So Dio in Book 17, Roman
History. (Suidas or Etym. in Cramer. Anecd., Paris, Vol. IV, p. 169, 8.
Zonaras, Lex., p. 750.)
61. [Greek: diathithêmi] ("arrange") for [Greek: diaprhattomai]
("accomplish"), with the accusative in Dio, Book 18: "And culling all
the best flowers of philosophy." (Bekker, Anecd., p. 133, 29.) [This is
from two glosses, and there is confusion caused by gaps.--Ed.]
[Sidenote: B.C. 201 (_a.u. 553_)]62. [The Carthaginians made overtures
for peace to Scipio. The terms agreed upon were, that they should give
hostages, should return the captives and deserters they were holding
(whether of the Romans or of the allies), should surrender all the
elephants and the triremes (save ten), and for the future possess
neither elephants nor ships, should withdraw from all territory of
Masinissa that they were holding and restore to him the country and the
cities that were properly in his domain, that they should not hold
levies, nor use mercenaries, nor make war upon any one contrary to the
advice and consent of the Romans. (Ursinus, p. 380. Zonaras, 9, 14.)
63. ¶ It seemed to Cornelius [Footnote: _Cu. Cornelius Lentulus_.] the
consul, as well as to many other Romans, that Carthage ought to be
destroyed, and he was wont to say that it was impossible, while that
city existed, for them to be free from fear. (Ursinus, p. 381. Cp.
Zonaras, 9, 14.)
64. In the popular assembly, however, [lacuna] all unanimously voted for
peace. [_About three obscure lines (fragmentary) follow_.]
[Sidenote: B.C. 201 (_a.u._ 553)] And of the elephants the larger number
were carried off to Rome, and the rest were presented to Masinissa.
[lacuna] of Carthaginians. And they themselves, immediately after the
ratification of the peace, abandoned Italy, and the Romans, Libya. The
Carthaginians who sent commissioners to Rome were allowed by the Romans
to contribute for the benefit of the captives severally related to them;
and about two hundred of them were sent back without ransoms to Scipio
[lacuna] after the treaty [lacuna] and friendship [lacuna] confirmed;
and they granted peace [lacuna] [Two fragmentary lines.]
Scipio accordingly attained great prominence by these deeds, but
Hannibal was even brought to trial by his own people; he was accused of
having refused to capture Rome when he was able to do so, and of having
appropriated the plunder in Italy. He was not, however, convicted, but
was shortly after entrusted with the highest office in Carthage [lacuna]
[One fragmentary line.] (Paris Fragment, p. 462. Zonaras, 9, 14. Livy,
30:42, 43, 45.) [Frag. LVII]
1[lacuna]. Marcus [lacuna] sent to Philip by the generals [lacuna] from
them either [lacuna] was successful; embassy [lacuna] of Philip and
[lacuna] and some [lacuna] which he himself [lacuna] had sent to the
Carthaginians [lacuna] not at all peace [lacuna] having vanquished
[lacuna] enemies by the [lacuna] rendered them of no less importance in
reputation. (Paris Fragment, p. 463. Cp. Zonaras, 9. 15 = Livy 30:42.)
[Frag. LVII]
2. I found the Dardanians to be a race dwelling above the Illyrians and
Macedonians. And the city of Dardanus is there. (Isaac Tzetzes on
Lycophron, 1128. Cp. Zonaras, 9, 14.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 200 (_a.u._ 554)]3. And they [Footnote: I.e., the Romans
and the Macedonians.]delayed for several days, not meeting in battle
array but conducting skirmishes and sallies of the light-armed troops
and the horse. The Romans, for their part, were eager to join battle
with all speed: their force was a strong one, they had little provision,
and consequently would often go up to the foe's palisade. Philip, on the
other hand, was weaker in point of armed followers, but his supply of
provisions was better than theirs because his own country was close by;
so he waited, expecting that they would become exhausted without a
conflict, and if he had possessed self-control he certainly would have
accomplished something. As it was, he acquired a contempt for the
Romans, thinking that they feared him because they had transferred their
camp to a certain spot from which they could get food better: he
thereupon attacked them unexpectedly while they were engaged in
plundering and managed to kill a few. Galba on perceiving this made a
sortie from the camp, fell upon him while off his guard, and slew many
more in return. Philip, in view of his defeat and the further fact that
he was wounded, no longer held his position but after a truce of some
days for the taking up and burial of the corpses withdrew the first part
of the night. Galba, however, did not follow him up; he was short of
provisions, he did not know the country, and particularly he was
ignorant of his adversary's strength; he was also afraid that if he
advanced inconsiderately he might come to grief. For these reasons he
was unwilling to proceed farther, but retired to Apollonia.
During this same time Apustius with the Rhodians and with Attalus
cruised about and subjugated many of the islands [lacuna] (Paris
Fragment, p. 464. Zonaras, 9, 15. Cp. Livy, 31:21 ff.)
4. The Insubres were thrown into confusion. For Hamilcar, a
Carthaginian, who had made a campaign with Mago and remained secretly in
those regions, after a term of quiet, during which he was satisfied
merely to elude discovery, as soon as the Macedonian war broke out,
caused the Gauls to revolt from the Romans; then in company with the
rebels he made an expedition against the Ligurians and won over some of
them. Later they had a battle with the prætor Lucius Furius, were
defeated, and sent envoys asking peace. This the Ligurians obtained;
then others [lacuna] [Five fragmentary lines.] (Paris Fragment, p. 465.
Zonaras, 9, 15.)
5[lacuna]. he thought he ought to be granted a triumph, and many
arguments were presented on both sides. Some, especially in view of the
malignity of Aurelius, eagerly furthered his cause and magnified his
victory, using many illustrations. Others declared he had contended with
the help of the consular army and had no individual and independent
appointment, and furthermore they even demanded an accounting from him
because he had not carried out his instructions. However, he won his
point. And he in that place [lacuna] before Aurelius [lacuna] Vermis
[lacuna] from the [lacuna] (Paris Fragment, p. 465. Cp. Livy, 31:47 ff.)
[Frag. LVIII]
[Sidenote: B.C. 197 (_a.u._ 557)] ¶ Philip after his defeat sent heralds
to Flamininus. The latter, however eagerly he coveted Macedonia and
desired the fullest results from his good fortune of the moment,
nevertheless made a truce. The cause lay in the fear that, if Philip
were out of the way, the Greeks might recover their ancient spirit and
no longer pay them court, that the Ætolians, already filled with great
boasting because they had contributed the largest share to the victory,
might become more vexatious to them, and that Antiochus might, as was
reported, come to Europe and form an alliance with Philip. (Ursinus, p.
381. Zonaras, 9, 16.)
[Frag. LIX]
[Sidenote: B.C. 192 (_a.u._ 562)] 1. ¶ Antiochus and his generals were
ruined beforehand; for by his general indolence and his passion for a
certain girl he had drifted into luxurious living and had at the same
time rendered the rest unfit for warfare. (Valesius, p. 609. Zonaras, 9,
19.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 190 (_a.u._ 564)] 2. ¶ Seleucus [Footnote: Probably an
error of the excerptor, for Antiochus himself.] the son of Antiochus
captured the son of Africanus, who was sailing across from Greece, and
had given him the kindest treatment. Although his father many times
requested the privilege of ransoming him, his captor refused, yet did
him no harm: on the contrary, he showed him every honor and finally,
though he failed of securing peace, released him without ransom.
(Valesius, p. 609. Zonaras, 9, 20.)
[Frag. LX]
[Sidenote: B.C. 189 (_a.u._ 565)] ¶ Many were jealous of the Scipios
because the two brothers of excellent stock and trained in virtue had
accomplished all that has been related and had secured such titles. That
these victors could not be charged with wrongdoing is made plain by my
former statements and was shown still more conclusively on the occasion
of the confiscation of the property of Asiaticus,--which was found to
consist merely of his original inheritance,--or again by the retirement
of Africanus to Liternum and the security that he enjoyed there to the
end of his life. At first he did appear in court, [Footnote: Political
enemies of P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus summoned him to court on
trumped-up charges.] thinking that he would be saved by the genuineness
of his good behavior. (Valesius, p. 609. Zonaras, 9, 20.)
[Frag. LXI]
¶ The Romans, when they had had a taste of Asiatic luxury and had
spent some time in the possessions of the vanquished amid the
abundance of spoils and the license granted by success in arms,
rapidly came to emulate their prodigality and ere long to trample
under foot their ancestral traditions. Thus this terrible influence,
arising from that source, fell also upon the city. (Valesius, p. 609.)
[Frag. LXII]
¶ Gracchus was thoroughly a man of the people and a very fluent public
speaker, but his disposition was very different from Cato's. Although
he had an enmity of long standing against the Scipios, he would not
endure what was taking place but spoke in defence of Africanus, who
was accused while absent, and exerted himself to prevent any smirch
from attaching to that leader; and he prevented the imprisonment of
Asiaticus. Consequently the Scipios, too, relinquished their hatred of
him and made a family alliance, Africanus bestowing upon him his own
daughter. (Valesius, p. 610.)
[Frag. LXIII]
[Sidenote: B.C. 187 (_a.u._ 567)] ¶ Some youths who had insulted the
Carthaginian envoys that had come to Rome were sent to Carthage and
delivered up to the people; they received no injury, however, at the
hands of the citizens and were released. (Ursinus, p. 381.)
[Frag. LXIV]
[Sidenote: B.C. 183 (_a.u._ 571)] ¶ He himself [i.e. Hannibal] died by
drinking poison near Bithynia, in a certain place called Libyssa by
name; though he thought to die in Libyssa his own proper country. For an
oracle had once been written down for Hannibal to the following effect:
"A Libyssan clod shall hide the form of Hannibal." Later the Roman
Emperor Severus, being of Libyan birth, interred in a tomb of white
marble this man, the general Hannibal. (Tzetzes. Hist. 1, 798-805. Cp.
Zonaras, 9, 21.)
[Frag. LXV]
[Sidenote: B.C. 169 (_a.u._ 585)] 1. ¶ Perseus hoped to eject the Romans
from Greece completely, but through his excessive and inopportune
parsimony and the consequent contempt of his allies he became weak once
more. When Roman influence was declining slightly and his own was
increasing, he was filled with scorn and thought he had no further need
of his allies, but believed that either they would assist him free of
cost or he could prevail by himself. Hence he paid neither Eumenes nor
Gentius the money that he had promised, thinking that they must have
reasons of their own strong enough to insure hostility towards the
Romans. These princes, therefore, and the Thrasians--they, too, were not
receiving their full pay--became indifferent; and Perseus fell into such
depths of despair again as actually to sue for peace. (Valesius, p. 610.
Zonaras, 9, 22.)
2. ¶ Perseus sued for peace at the hands of the Romans, and would have
obtained it but for the presence in his embassy of the Rhodians, who
joined it through fear that a rival to the Romans might be annihilated.
Their language had none of the moderation which petitioners should
employ, and they talked as if they were not so much asking peace for
Perseus as bestowing it, and adopted a generally haughty tone: finally
they threatened those who should be responsible for their failing to
come to a satisfactory agreement by saying that they would fight on the
opposite side. They had previously been somewhat under the ban of Roman
suspicion, but after this many more hard things were said of them and
they prevented Perseus from obtaining peace. (Ursinus, p. 382. Zonaras,
9, 22.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 168 (_a.u._ 586)]3. ¶ When Perseus was in the temple at
Samothrace, a demand was made upon him for the surrender of one Evander,
of Cretan stock, a most faithful follower who had assisted him in many
schemes against the Romans and had helped to concoct the plot carried
out at Delphi against Eumenes. The prince, fearing that he might declare
all the intrigues to which he had been privy, did not deliver him but
secretly slew him and spread abroad the report that he had made way with
himself in advance. The associates of Perseus, fearing his treachery
and blood-guiltiness, then began to desert his standard. (Valesius, p.
610. Zonaras, 9, 23.)
4. ¶ Perseus allowed himself [Footnote: Cp. Livy, XLV, 6.] to be found,
and upon his being brought to Amphipolis Paulus accorded him no harsh
treatment by deed or word, but on the contrary made way for him when he
approached, entertained him in various ways and had him sit at his
table, keeping him, meanwhile, although a prisoner, unconfined and
showing him every courtesy. (Valesius, p. 613. Zonaras, 9, 23.)
[Frag. LXVI]
¶ Paulus was not only good at generalship but most inaccessible to
bribes. Of this the following is proof. Though he had at that time
entered for a second term upon the consulship and had gained possession
of untold spoils, he continued to live in so great indigence that when
he died the dowry was with difficulty paid back to his wife. Such was
the nature of the man and such were his deeds. The only thing regarded
as a blemish that attaches to his character is his turning over the
possessions [of the Epirots?] to his soldiers for pillage: for the rest,
he showed himself a man not devoid of charm and temperate in good
fortune, who was seen to be extremely lucky and at the same time full of
wise counsel in dealing with the enemy. As an illustration: he was not
cowardly or heedless in waging war against Perseus, but afterward did
not assume a pompous or boastful air toward him. (Valesius, p. 613.
Zonaras, 9, 24.)
[Frag. LXVII]
1. ¶ The Rhodians, who formerly had possessed a vast amount of
self-esteem, thinking that they, too, ranked as conquerors of Philip and
Antiochus, and were stronger than the Romans, fell into such depths of
terror as to despatch an ambassador to Antiochus, king of Syria, and
summon Popilius, in whose presence they condemned all those opposed to
the Roman policy and then sent such as were arrested to punishment.
(Ursinus, p. 382. Zonaras, 9, 24.)
2. ¶ The same persons, though they had often sent envoys to them, as
frequently as they wanted anything, now ceased to bring to their
attention any of the former enterprises, but mentioned only those cases
which they could cite pertaining to services once rendered which might
be useful in diverting Roman ill-will. They were especially anxious at
this time to secure the title of Roman allies. Previously they had
refused to accept it. They had wished to inspire some fear in
Rome,--for, not being bound to friendship by any oath, they had power to
transfer their allegiance at any time,--and furthermore to be courted by
such states as from time to time might be engaged in war with that city.
But now they were looking to confirm the favor of the Romans and to the
consequent honor that was sure to be accorded to them by others.
(Ursinus, p. 382. Zonaras, 9, 24.)
[Frag. LXVIII]
¶ Prusias himself entered the senate-house at Rome and covered the
threshold with kisses. The senators he termed gods, and worshiped them.
Thus, then, he obtained an abundance of pity, though he had fought
against Attalus contrary to the Roman decision. It was said that at
home, too, whenever their envoys came to him, he worshiped them, calling
himself a freedman of the people, and often he would put on a slave's
cap. (Ursinus, p. 383. Zonaras, 9, 24.)
[Frag. LXIX]
[Sidenote: B.C. 149 (_a.u._ 605)] ¶ Scipio Africanus excelled in
planning out at leisure the requisite course, but excelled also in
discovering at a moment's notice what needed to be done, and knew how to
employ either method on the proper occasion. The duties that lay before
him he reviewed boldly but accomplished their fulfillment as if with
timidity. Therefore by his fearless detailed investigation he obtained
accurate knowledge of the fitting action in every emergency, and by his
good judgment in doubtful cases met these emergencies safely.
Consequently, if he was ever brought face to face with some need that
admitted of no deliberation,--as is wont to happen in the contradictions
of warfare and the turns of fortune--not even then did he miss the
proper course. Through accustoming himself to regard no happening as
unreasonable he was not unprepared for the assault of sudden events,
but through his incessant activity was able to meet the unexpected as if
he had forseen it long before. As a result he showed himself daring in
matters where he felt he was right, and ready to run risks where he felt
bold. In bodily frame he was strong as the best of the soldiers. This
led to one of his most remarkable characteristics: he would devise
movements that looked advantageous as if he were merely going to command
others, and at the time of action would execute them as if they had been
ordered by others. Besides not swerving from the ordinary paths of
rectitude, he kept faith scrupulously not only with the citizens and his
acquaintances, but with foreign and most hostile nations. This, too,
brought many individuals as well as many cities to his standard. He
never spoke or acted without due consideration or through anger or fear,
but as a result of the certainty of his calculations he was ready for
all chances: he had thought out practically all human possibilities; he
never did anything unexpected, but deliberated every matter beforehand,
according to its nature. Thus he perceived very easily the right course
to follow even before there was any necessity, and pursued it with
firmness.
These are the reasons, or chiefly these--I should mention also his
moderation and amiability--that he alone of men escaped the envy of his
peers, or of any one else. He chose to make himself like to his
inferiors, not better than his equals, weaker than greater men, and so
passed beyond the power of jealousy, which harasses only the noblest
men. (Valesius, p. 613. Zonaras, 9, 27.)
[Frag. LXX]
[Sidenote: B.C. 148 (_a.u._ 606)] Dio in Book 21: "Phameas, despairing
of the Carthaginian cause" [lacuna] (Bekker, Anecd. p. 124, 9a. Zonaras,
9, 27.)
[Frag. LXXI]
What age limit, pray, is imposed upon those who from their very boyhood
set their faces toward obtaining a right state of mind? What number of
years has been settled upon with reference to the fulfillment of duties?
Is it not true that all who enjoy an excellent nature and good fortune
both think and do in all things what is right from the very beginning,
whereas those who at this age of their life have little sense would
never subsequently grow more prudent, even if they should pass through
many years? A man may continue to improve upon his former condition as
he advances in age, but not one would turn out wise from being foolish,
or sensible from being silly. Do not, therefore, put the young into a
state of dejection through the idea that they are actually condemned to
a state of inability to perform their duties. On the contrary, you ought
to urge them to practice zealously the performance of all that they are
required to do, and to look for both honors and offices even before they
reach old age. By this course you will render their elders better,
too,--first, by confronting them with many competitors, and next by
making clear that you are going to establish not length of years but
innate excellence as the test in conferring positions of command upon
any citizens, even more than you do in the case of ordinary benefits.
[Footnote: These words would appear to be taken from the speech before
the senate of some such person as a tribune of the plebs, and to relate
either to the consulship of Scipio Æmilianus (B.C. 148) or to the
Spanish appointment of Scipio Africanus (B.C. 211), preferably the
former.] (Mai, p. 547, and also Excerpts from a Florentine MS. of John
of Antioch's _Parallela_. Cp. Zonaras, 9, 29.)
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https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
An alternative method of locating eBooks:
https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL
