Parallel Lives
{"WorkMasterId":7227,"WpPageId":287941,"ParentWpPageId":193747,"Slug":"parallel-lives","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/plutarch-of-chaeronea/parallel-lives/","RelativeUrl":"theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/plutarch-of-chaeronea/parallel-lives/","HasFullText":true,"RawHtmlLength":4397586,"CleanHtmlLength":4341476,"Kicker":"Philosophy Work","Title":"Parallel Lives","Deck":"Parallel Lives registers Plutarch\u0027s collected comparative biographies as moral and political examples joining Greek and Roman lives.","BackLink":{"Text":"Back to Plutarch of Chaeronea","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/plutarch-of-chaeronea/"},"AuthorCard":{"Label":"Author","Title":"Plutarch of Chaeronea","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/plutarch-of-chaeronea/","MediaHref":"","ImageSrc":"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/plutarch-of-chaeronea-01-delphi-bust.jpg","ImageAlt":"Bust believed to represent Plutarch at Delphi","FilterTerra":"Eastern Mediterranean","ClickText":"Plutarch of Chaeronea","ClickHref":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/plutarch-of-chaeronea/","Copies":["46 CE – 120 CE","Chaeronea (Boeotia)","Middle Platonist moralist, biographer, and priest of Apollo at Delphi whose Parallel Lives and Moralia join virtue ethics, political counsel, religious Platonism, moral psychology, and literary biography."]},"ContextCards":[{"Label":"Period","Key":"Period:1","Title":"Ancient History","DateText":"3000 BCE – 499 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-ancient-history/"},{"Label":"Era","Key":"Era:3","Title":"Classical Antiquity","DateText":"500 BCE – 499 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-ancient-history/philosophers-of-classical-antiquity/"},{"Label":"Composition","Title":"120 CE","Url":"","DateText":""}],"DateNote":"Source-backed approximate date.","GeoCards":[{"Label":"Region","Key":"Region:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita","Key":"TerraAvita:2"},{"Label":"Terra Avita Region","Key":"TerraAvitaRegion:8"},{"Label":"Modern Country","Key":"Country:GRC:2"}],"OriginalTitle":"Bioi paralleloi","Language":"Ancient Greek","DisciplineCards":[{"Label":"Primary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:ethics"},{"Label":"Secondary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:history"}],"Tradition":"Middle Platonism / Greco-Roman moral philosophy","FullText":{"Title":"Full Text","Copy":"Public-domain full text from Project Gutenberg eBook #674 .","Url":"","Label":"","Kicker":"","Cards":[]},"CoreThesis":["Parallel Lives registers Plutarch\u0027s collected comparative biographies as moral and political examples joining Greek and Roman lives."],"Classification":{"AlternateTitles":"Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans; Plutarch\u0027s Lives","KeyConcepts":"Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans; Plutarch\u0027s Lives","Methodology":"Source-backed Direct work entry.","Structure":"Collected comparative-biography corpus registration;"},"Arguments":["Parallel Lives registers Plutarch\u0027s collected comparative biographies as moral and political examples joining Greek and Roman lives."],"Influence":{"InfluencedBy":"","InfluenceOn":""},"Significance":["Registered as Plutarch\u0027s collected Parallel Lives corpus; no full text is imported.","Parallel Lives is registered as a source-backed Plutarch work. The page records collection status, transmitted/dubious attribution notes where needed, approximate dating, and no-full-text status."],"EvidenceNote":["Registered as Plutarch\u0027s collected Parallel Lives corpus; no full text is imported."],"MainSections":[{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Versions","BodyHtml":"\u003cdiv class=\"dz-philo__full-version-grid\"\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-version-card\"\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-provider\"\u003eProject Gutenberg\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ch3 class=\"dz-philo__full-version-title\"\u003eProject Gutenberg eBook #674\u003c/h3\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-meta\"\u003eHtmlText · Imported\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ca class=\"dz-philo__full-version-link\" href=\"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/674\"\u003eOpen full version\u003c/a\u003e\n \u003c/article\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e"},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Core Thesis","Paragraphs":["Parallel Lives registers Plutarch\u0027s collected comparative biographies as moral and political examples joining Greek and Roman lives."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Classification","Fields":[{"Label":"Alternate Titles","Value":"Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans; Plutarch\u0027s Lives"},{"Label":"Key Concepts","Value":"Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans; Plutarch\u0027s Lives"},{"Label":"Methodology","Value":"Source-backed Direct work entry."},{"Label":"Structure","Value":"Collected comparative-biography corpus registration;"}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Arguments","Paragraphs":["Parallel Lives registers Plutarch\u0027s collected comparative biographies as moral and political examples joining Greek and Roman lives."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Influence","Fields":[{"Label":"Influenced By","Value":""},{"Label":"Influence On","Value":""}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Significance","Paragraphs":["Registered as Plutarch\u0027s collected Parallel Lives corpus; no full text is imported.","Parallel Lives is registered as a source-backed Plutarch work. The page records collection status, transmitted/dubious attribution notes where needed, approximate dating, and no-full-text status."]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Evidence Note","Paragraphs":["Registered as Plutarch\u0027s collected Parallel Lives corpus; no full text is imported."]},{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Text","BodyHtml":"\u003cp class=\"dz-philo__section-copy dz-philo__full-text-source\"\u003ePublic-domain full text from \u003ca href=\"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/674\"\u003eProject Gutenberg eBook #674\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-text-body\"\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003ch1\u003ePLUTARCH’S LIVES\u003c/h1\u003e\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"no-break\"\u003eBy A. H. Clough\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003chr\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003eCONTENTS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003ctable style=\"\"\u003e\r\n\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap01\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eTHESEUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap02\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eROMULUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap03\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF ROMULUS WITH THESEUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap04\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eLYCURGUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap05\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eNUMA POMPILIUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap06\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF NUMA WITH LYCURGUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap07\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eSOLON\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap08\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003ePOPLICOLA\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap09\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF POPLICOLA WITH SOLON\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap10\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eTHEMISTOCLES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap11\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCAMILLUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap12\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003ePERICLES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap13\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eFABIUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap14\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF PERICLES WITH FABIUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap15\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eALCIBIADES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap16\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCORIOLANUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap17\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF ALCIBIADES WITH CORIOLANUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap18\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eTIMOLEON\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap19\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eAEMILIUS PAULUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap20\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF TIMOLEON WITH AEMILIUS PAULUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap21\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003ePELOPIDAS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap22\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eMARCELLUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap23\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISION OF PELOPIDAS WITH MARCELLUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap24\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eARISTIDES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap25\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eMARCUS CATO\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap26\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF ARISTIDES WITH MARCUS CATO.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap27\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003ePHILOPOEMEN\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap28\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eFLAMININUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap29\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF PHILOPOEMEN WITH FLAMININUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap30\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003ePYRRHUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap31\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCAIUS MARIUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap32\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eLYSANDER\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap33\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eSYLLA\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap34\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF LYSANDER WITH SYLLA\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap35\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCIMON\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap36\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eLUCULLUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap37\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF LUCULLUS WITH CIMON\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap38\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eNICIAS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap39\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCRASSUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap40\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF CRASSUS WITH NICIAS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap41\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eSERTORIUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap42\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eEUMENES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap43\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF SERTORIUS WITH EUMENES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap44\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eAGESILAUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap45\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003ePOMPEY\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap46\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF POMPEY AND AGESILAUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap47\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eALEXANDER\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap48\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCAESAR\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap49\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003ePHOCION\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap50\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCATO THE YOUNGER\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap51\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eAGIS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap52\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCLEOMENES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap53\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eTIBERIUS GRACCHUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap54\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCAIUS GRACCHUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap55\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF TIBERIUS AND CAIUS GRACCHUS WITH AGIS AND CLEOMENES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap56\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eDEMOSTHENES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap57\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCICERO\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap58\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF DEMOSTHENES AND CICERO\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap59\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eDEMETRIUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap60\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eANTONY\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap61\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF DEMETRIUS AND ANTONY\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap62\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eDION\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap63\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eMARCUS BRUTUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap64\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eCOMPARISON OF DION AND BRUTUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap65\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eARATUS\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap66\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eARTAXERXES\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap67\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eGALBA\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003ca href=\"#chap68\" class=\"pginternal\"\u003eOTHO\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\r\n\u003chr\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap01\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eTHESEUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps parts of the world\r\nwhich they do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the effect, that\r\nbeyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts full of wild beasts, unapproachable\r\nbogs, Scythian ice, or a frozen sea, so, in this work of mine, in which I have\r\ncompared the lives of the greatest men with one another, after passing through\r\nthose periods which probable reasoning can reach to and real history find a\r\nfooting in, I might very well say of those that are farther off, Beyond this\r\nthere is nothing but prodigies and fictions, the only inhabitants are the poets\r\nand inventors of fables; there is no credit, or certainty any farther. Yet,\r\nafter publishing an account of Lycurgus the lawgiver and Numa the king, I\r\nthought I might, not without reason, ascend as high as to Romulus, being\r\nbrought by my history so near to his time. Considering therefore with myself\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWhom shall I set so great a man to face?\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOr whom oppose? who’s equal to the place?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\n(as Aeschylus expresses it), I found none so fit as him that peopled the\r\nbeautiful and far-famed city of Athens, to be set in opposition with the father\r\nof the invincible and renowned city of Rome. Let us hope that Fable may, in\r\nwhat shall follow, so submit to the purifying processes of Reason as to take\r\nthe character of exact history. In any case, however, where it shall be found\r\ncontumaciously slighting credibility, and refusing to be reduced to anything\r\nlike probable fact, we shall beg that we may meet with candid readers, and such\r\nas will receive with indulgence the stories of antiquity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTheseus seemed to me to resemble Romulus in many particulars. Both of them,\r\nborn out of wedlock and of uncertain parentage, had the repute of being sprung\r\nfrom the gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBoth warriors; that by all the world’s allowed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBoth of them united with strength of body an equal vigor mind; and of the two\r\nmost famous cities of the world the one built Rome, and the other made Athens\r\nbe inhabited. Both stand charged with the rape of women; neither of them could\r\navoid domestic misfortunes nor jealousy at home; but towards the close of their\r\nlives are both of them said to have incurred great odium with their countrymen,\r\nif, that is, we may take the stories least like poetry as our guide to the\r\ntruth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe lineage of Theseus, by his father’s side, ascends as high as to Erechtheus\r\nand the first inhabitants of Attica. By his mother’s side he was descended of\r\nPelops. For Pelops was the most powerful of all the kings of Peloponnesus, not\r\nso much by the greatness of his riches as the multitude of his children, having\r\nmarried many daughters to chief men, and put many sons in places of command in\r\nthe towns round about him. One of whom named Pittheus, grandfather to Theseus,\r\nwas governor of the small city of the Troezenians, and had the repute of a man\r\nof the greatest knowledge and wisdom of his time; which then, it seems,\r\nconsisted chiefly in grave maxims, such as the poet Hesiod got his great fame\r\nby, in his book of Works and Days. And, indeed, among these is one that they\r\nascribe to Pittheus,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nUnto a friend suffice\u003cbr\u003e\r\nA stipulated price;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nwhich, also, Aristotle mentions. And Euripides, by calling Hippolytus “scholar\r\nof the holy Pittheus,” shows the opinion that the world had of him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAegeus, being desirous of children, and consulting the oracle of Delphi,\r\nreceived the celebrated answer which forbade him the company of any woman\r\nbefore his return to Athens. But the oracle being so obscure as not to satisfy\r\nhim that he was clearly forbid this, he went to Troezen, and communicated to\r\nPittheus the voice of the god, which was in this manner,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nLoose not the wine-skin foot, thou chief of men,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nUntil to Athens thou art come again.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPittheus, therefore, taking advantage from the obscurity of the oracle,\r\nprevailed upon him, it is uncertain whether by persuasion or deceit, to lie\r\nwith his daughter Aethra. Aegeus afterwards, knowing her whom he had lain with\r\nto be Pittheus’s daughter, and suspecting her to be with child by him, left a\r\nsword and a pair of shoes, hiding them under a great stone that had a hollow in\r\nit exactly fitting them; and went away making her only privy to it, and\r\ncommanding her, if she brought forth a son who, when he came to man’s estate,\r\nshould be able to lift up the stone and take away what he had left there, she\r\nshould send him away to him with those things with all secrecy, and with\r\ninjunctions to him as much as possible to conceal his journey from every one;\r\nfor he greatly feared the Pallantidae, who were continually mutinying against\r\nhim, and despised him for his want of children, they themselves being fifty\r\nbrothers, all sons of Pallas.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Aethra was delivered of a son, some say that he was immediately named\r\nTheseus, from the tokens which his father had put under the stone; others that\r\nhe received his name afterwards at Athens, when Aegeus acknowledged him for his\r\nson. He was brought up under his grandfather Pittheus, and had a tutor and\r\nattendant set over him named Connidas, to whom the Athenians, even to this\r\ntime, the day before the feast that is dedicated to Theseus, sacrifice a ram,\r\ngiving this honor to his memory upon much juster grounds than to Silanio and\r\nParrhasius, for making pictures and statues of Theseus. There being then a\r\ncustom for the Grecian youth, upon their first coming to man’s estate, to go to\r\nDelphi and offer first-fruits of their hair to the god, Theseus also went\r\nthither, and a place there to this day is yet named Thesea, as it is said, from\r\nhim. He clipped only the fore part of his head, as Homer says the Abantes did.%\r\nAnd this sort of tonsure was from him named Theseis. The Abantes first used it,\r\nnot in imitation of the Arabians, as some imagine, nor of the Mysians, but\r\nbecause they were a warlike people, and used to close fighting, and above all\r\nother nations accustomed to engage hand to hand; as Archilochus testifies in\r\nthese verses: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSlings shall not whirl, nor many arrows fly,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhen on the plain the battle joins; but swords,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nMan against man, the deadly conflict try,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAs is the practice of Euboea’s lords\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSkilled with the spear.—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTherefore that they might not give their enemies a hold by their hair, they cut\r\nit in this manner. They write also that this was the reason why Alexander gave\r\ncommand to his captains that all the beards of the Macedonians should be\r\nshaved, as being the readiest hold for an enemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAethra for some time concealed the true parentage of Theseus, and a report was\r\ngiven out by Pittheus that he was begotten by Neptune; for the Troezenians pay\r\nNeptune the highest veneration. He is their tutelar god, to him they offer all\r\ntheir first-fruits, and in his honor stamp their money with a trident.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTheseus displaying not only great strength of body, but equal bravery, and a\r\nquickness alike and force of understanding, his mother Aethra, conducting him\r\nto the stone, and informing him who was his true father, commanded him to take\r\nfrom thence the tokens that Aegeus had left, and to sail to Athens. He without\r\nany difficulty set himself to the stone and lifted it up; but refused to take\r\nhis journey by sea, though it was much the safer way, and though his mother and\r\ngrandfather begged him to do so. For it was at that time very dangerous to go\r\nby land on the road to Athens, no part of it being free from robbers and\r\nmurderers. That age produced a sort of men, in force of hand, and swiftness of\r\nfoot, and strength of body, excelling the ordinary rate, and wholly incapable\r\nof fatigue; making use, however, of these gifts of nature to no good or\r\nprofitable purpose for mankind, but rejoicing and priding themselves in\r\ninsolence, and taking the benefit of their superior strength in the exercise of\r\ninhumanity and cruelty, and in seizing, forcing, and committing all manner of\r\noutrages upon every thing that fell into their hands; all respect for others,\r\nall justice, they thought, all equity and humanity, though naturally lauded by\r\ncommon people, either out of want of courage to commit injuries or fear to\r\nreceive them, yet no way concerned those who were strong enough to win for\r\nthemselves. Some of these, Hercules destroyed and cut off in his passage\r\nthrough these countries, but some, escaping his notice while he was passing by,\r\nfled and hid themselves, or else were spared by him in contempt of their abject\r\nsubmission; and after that Hercules fell into misfortune, and, having slain\r\nIphitus, retired to Lydia, and for a long time was there slave to Omphale, a\r\npunishment which he had imposed upon himself for the murder, then, indeed,\r\nLydia enjoyed high peace and security, but in Greece and the countries about it\r\nthe like villanies again revived and broke out, there being none to repress or\r\nchastise them. It was therefore a very hazardous journey to travel by land from\r\nAthens to Peloponnesus; and Pittheus, giving him an exact account of each of\r\nthese robbers and villains, their strength, and the cruelty they used to all\r\nstrangers, tried to persuade Theseus to go by sea. But he, it seems, had long\r\nsince been secretly fired by the glory of Hercules, held him in the highest\r\nestimation, and was never more satisfied than in listening to any that gave an\r\naccount of him; especially those that had seen him, or had been present at any\r\naction or saying of his. So that he was altogether in the same state of feeling\r\nas, in after ages, Themistocles was, when he said that he could not sleep for\r\nthe trophy of Miltiades; entertaining such admiration for the virtue of\r\nHercules, that in the night his dreams were all of that hero’s actions. and in\r\nthe day a continual emulation stirred him up to perform the like. Besides, they\r\nwere related, being born of cousins-german. For Aethra was daughter of\r\nPittheus, and Alcmena of Lysidice; and Lysidice and Pittheus were brother and\r\nsister, children of Hippodamia and Pelops. He thought it therefore a\r\ndishonorable thing, and not to be endured, that Hercules should go out\r\neverywhere, and purge both land and sea from wicked men, and he himself should\r\nfly from the like adventures that actually came in his way; disgracing his\r\nreputed father by a mean flight by sea, and not showing his true one as good\r\nevidence of the greatness of his birth by noble and worthy actions, as by the\r\ntokens that he brought with him, the shoes and the sword.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWith this mind and these thoughts, he set forward with a design to do injury to\r\nnobody, but to repel and revenge himself of all those that should offer any.\r\nAnd first of all, in a set combat, he slew Periphetes, in the neighborhood of\r\nEpidaurus, who used a club for his arms, and from thence had the name of\r\nCorynetes, or the club-bearer; who seized upon him, and forbade him to go\r\nforward in his journey. Being pleased with the club, he took it, and made it\r\nhis weapon, continuing to use it as Hercules did the lion’s skin, on whose\r\nshoulders that served to prove how huge a beast he had killed; and to the same\r\nend Theseus carried about him this club; overcome indeed by him, but now, in\r\nhis hands, invincible.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPassing on further towards the Isthmus of Peloponnesus, he slew Sinnis, often\r\nsurnamed the Bender of Pines, after the same manner in which he himself had\r\ndestroyed many others before. And this he did without having either practiced\r\nor ever learnt the art of bending these trees, to show that natural strength is\r\nabove all art. This Sinnis had a daughter of remarkable beauty and stature,\r\ncalled Perigune, who, when her father was killed, fled, and was sought after\r\neverywhere by Theseus; and coming into a place overgrown with brushwood shrubs,\r\nand asparagus- thorn, there, in a childlike, innocent manner, prayed and begged\r\nthem, as if they understood her, to give her shelter, with vows that if she\r\nescaped she would never cut them down nor burn them. But Theseus calling upon\r\nher, and giving her his promise that he would use her with respect, and offer\r\nher no injury, she came forth, and in due time bore him a son, named\r\nMelanippus; but afterwards was married to Deioneus, the son of Eurytus, the\r\nOechalian, Theseus himself giving her to him. Ioxus, the son of this Melanippus\r\nwho was born to Theseus, accompanied Ornytus in the colony that he carried with\r\nhim into Caria, whence it is a family usage amongst the people called Ioxids,\r\nboth male and female, never to burn either shrubs or asparagus-thorn, but to\r\nrespect and honor them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Crommyonian sow, which they called Phaea, was a savage and formidable wild\r\nbeast, by no means an enemy to be despised. Theseus killed her, going out of\r\nhis way on purpose to meet and engage her, so that he might not seem to perform\r\nall his great exploits out of mere necessity ; being also of opinion that it\r\nwas the part of a brave man to chastise villainous and wicked men when attacked\r\nby them, but to seek out and overcome the more noble wild beasts. Others relate\r\nthat Phaea was a woman, a robber full of cruelty and lust, that lived in\r\nCrommyon, and had the name of Sow given her from the foulness of her life and\r\nmanners, and afterwards was killed by Theseus. He slew also Sciron, upon the\r\nborders of Megara, casting him down from the rocks, being, as most report, a\r\nnotorious robber of all passengers, and, as others add, accustomed, out of\r\ninsolence and wantonness, to stretch forth his feet to strangers, commanding\r\nthem to wash them, and then while they did it, with a kick to send them down\r\nthe rock into the sea. The writers of Megara, however, in contradiction to the\r\nreceived report, and, as Simonides expresses it, “fighting with all antiquity,”\r\ncontend that Sciron was neither a robber nor doer of violence, but a punisher\r\nof all such, and the relative and friend of good and just men; for Aeacus, they\r\nsay, was ever esteemed a man of the greatest sanctity of all the Greeks; and\r\nCychreus, the Salaminian, was honored at Athens with divine worship; and the\r\nvirtues of Peleus and Telamon were not unknown to any one. Now Sciron was\r\nson-in-law to Cychreus, father-in-law to Aeacus, and grandfather to Peleus and\r\nTelamon, who were both of them sons of Endeis, the daughter of Sciron and\r\nChariclo; it was not probable, therefore, that the best of men should make\r\nthese alliances with one who was worst, giving and receiving mutually what was\r\nof greatest value and most dear to them. Theseus, by their account, did not\r\nslay Sciron in his first journey to Athens, but afterwards, when he took\r\nEleusis, a city of the Megarians, having circumvented Diocles, the governor.\r\nSuch are the contradictions in this story. In Eleusis he killed Cercyon, the\r\nArcadian, in a wrestling match. And going on a little farther, in Erineus, he\r\nslew Damastes, otherwise called Procrustes, forcing his body to the size of his\r\nown bed, as he himself was used to do with all strangers; this he did in\r\nimitation of Hercules, who always returned upon his assailants the same sort of\r\nviolence that they offered to him; sacrificed Busiris, killed Antaeus in\r\nwrestling, and Cycnus in single combat, and Termerus by breaking his skull in\r\npieces (whence, they say, comes the proverb of “a Termerian mischief”), for it\r\nseems Termerus killed passengers that he met, by running with his head against\r\nthem. And so also Theseus proceeded in the punishment of evil men, who\r\nunderwent the same violence from him which they had inflicted upon others,\r\njustly suffering after the manner of their own injustice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs he went forward on his journey, and was come as far as the river Cephisus,\r\nsome of the race of the Phytalidae met him and saluted him, and, upon his\r\ndesire to use the purifications, then in custom, they performed them with all\r\nthe usual ceremonies, and, having offered propitiatory sacrifices to the gods,\r\ninvited him and entertained him at their house, a kindness which, in all his\r\njourney hitherto, he had not met.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the eighth day of Cronius, now called Hecatombaeon, he arrived at Athens,\r\nwhere he found the public affairs full of all confusion, and divided into\r\nparties and factions, Aegeus also, and his whole private family, laboring under\r\nthe same distemper; for Medea, having fled from Corinth, and promised Aegeus to\r\nmake him, by her art, capable of having children, was living with him. She\r\nfirst was aware of Theseus, whom as yet Aegeus did not know, and he being in\r\nyears, full of jealousies and suspicions, and fearing every thing by reason of\r\nthe faction that was then in the city, she easily persuaded him to kill him by\r\npoison at a banquet, to which he was to be invited as a stranger. He, coming to\r\nthe entertainment, thought it not fit to discover himself at once, but, willing\r\nto give his father the occasion of first finding him out, the meat being on the\r\ntable, he drew his sword as if he designed to cut with it; Aegeus, at once\r\nrecognizing the token, threw down the cup of poison, and, questioning his son,\r\nembraced him, and, having gathered together all his citizens, owned him\r\npublicly before them, who, on their part, received him gladly for the fame of\r\nhis greatness and bravery; and it is said, that when the cup fell, the poison\r\nwas spilt there where now is the enclosed space in the Delphinium; for in that\r\nplace stood Aegeus’s house, and the figure of Mercury on the east side of the\r\ntemple is called the Mercury of Aegeus’s gate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe sons of Pallas, who before were quiet, upon expectation of recovering the\r\nkingdom after Aegeus’s death, who was without issue, as soon as Theseus\r\nappeared and was acknowledged the successor, highly resenting that Aegeus\r\nfirst, an adopted son only of Pandion, and not at all related to the family of\r\nErechtheus, should be holding the kingdom, and that after him, Theseus, a\r\nvisitor and stranger, should be destined to succeed to it, broke out into open\r\nwar. And, dividing themselves into two companies, one part of them marched\r\nopenly from Sphettus, with their father, against the city, the other, hiding\r\nthemselves in the village of Gargettus, lay in ambush, with a design to set\r\nupon the enemy on both sides. They had with them a crier of the township of\r\nAgnus, named Leos, who discovered to Theseus all the designs of the Pallantidae\r\nHe immediately fell upon those that lay in ambuscade, and cut them all off;\r\nupon tidings of which Pallas and his company fled and were dispersed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom hence they say is derived the custom among the people of the township of\r\nPallene to have no marriages or any alliance with the people of Agnus, nor to\r\nsuffer the criers to pronounce in their proclamations the words used in all\r\nother parts of the country, Acouete Leoi (Hear ye people), hating the very\r\nsound of Leo, because of the treason of Leos.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTheseus, longing to be in action, and desirous also to make himself popular,\r\nleft Athens to fight with the bull of Marathon, which did no small mischief to\r\nthe inhabitants of Tetrapolis. And having overcome it, he brought it alive in\r\ntriumph through the city, and afterwards sacrificed it to the Delphinian\r\nApollo. The story of Hecale, also, of her receiving and entertaining Theseus in\r\nthis expedition, seems to be not altogether void of truth; for the townships\r\nround about, meeting upon a certain day, used to offer a sacrifice, which they\r\ncalled Hecalesia, to Jupiter Hecaleius, and to pay honor to Hecale, whom, by a\r\ndiminutive name, they called Hecalene, because she, while entertaining Theseus,\r\nwho was quite a youth, addressed him, as old people do, with similar endearing\r\ndiminutives; and having made a vow to Jupiter for him as he was going to the\r\nfight, that, if he returned in safety, she would offer sacrifices in thanks of\r\nit, and dying before he came back, she had these honors given her by way of\r\nreturn for her hospitality, by the command of Theseus, as Philochorus tells us.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after arrived the third time from Crete the collectors of the tribute\r\nwhich the Athenians paid them upon the following occasion. Androgeus having\r\nbeen treacherously murdered in the confines of Attica, not only Minos, his\r\nfather, put the Athenians to extreme distress by a perpetual war, but the gods\r\nalso laid waste their country both famine and pestilence lay heavy upon them,\r\nand even their rivers were dried up. Being told by the oracle that, if they\r\nappeased and reconciled Minos, the anger of the gods would cease and they\r\nshould enjoy rest from the miseries they labored under, they sent heralds, and\r\nwith much supplication were at last reconciled, entering into an agreement to\r\nsend to Crete every nine years a tribute of seven young men and as many\r\nvirgins, as most writers agree in stating; and the most poetical story adds,\r\nthat the Minotaur destroyed them, or that, wandering in the labyrinth, and\r\nfinding no possible means of getting out, they miserably ended their lives\r\nthere; and that this Minotaur was (as Euripides hath it)\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nA mingled form, where two strange shapes combined,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd different natures, bull and man, were joined.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut Philochorus says that the Cretans will by no means allow the truth of this,\r\nbut say that the labyrinth was only an ordinary prison, having no other bad\r\nquality but that it secured the prisoners from escaping, and that Minos, having\r\ninstituted games in honor of Androgeus, gave, as a reward to the victors, these\r\nyouths, who in the mean time were kept in the labyrinth; and that the first\r\nthat overcame in those games was one of the greatest power and command among\r\nthem, named Taurus, a man of no merciful or gentle disposition, who treated the\r\nAthenians that were made his prize in a proud and cruel manner. Also Aristotle\r\nhimself, in the account that he gives of the form of government of the\r\nBottiaeans, is manifestly of opinion that the youths were not slain by Minos,\r\nbut spent the remainder of their days in slavery in Crete; that the Cretans, in\r\nformer times, to acquit themselves of an ancient vow which they had made, were\r\nused to send an offering of the first-fruits of their men to Delphi, and that\r\nsome descendants of these Athenian slaves were mingled with them and sent\r\namongst them, and, unable to get their living there, removed from thence, first\r\ninto Italy, and settled about Japygia; from thence again, that they removed to\r\nThrace, and were named Bottiaeans and that this is the reason why, in a certain\r\nsacrifice, the Bottiaean girls sing a hymn beginning Let us go to Athens. This\r\nmay show us how dangerous a thing it is to incur the hostility of a city that\r\nis mistress of eloquence and song. For Minos was always ill spoken of, and\r\nrepresented ever as a very wicked man, in the Athenian theaters; neither did\r\nHesiod avail him by calling him “the most royal Minos,” nor Homer, who styles\r\nhim “Jupiter’s familiar friend;” the tragedians got the better, and from the\r\nvantage ground of the stage showered down obloquy upon him, as a man of cruelty\r\nand violence; whereas, in fact, he appears to have been a king and a lawgiver,\r\nand Rhadamanthus a judge under him, administering the statutes that he\r\nordained.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow when the time of the third tribute was come, and the fathers who had any\r\nyoung men for their sons were to proceed by lot to the choice of those that\r\nwere to be sent, there arose fresh discontents and accusations against Aegeus\r\namong the people, who were full of grief and indignation that he, who was the\r\ncause of all their miseries, was the only person exempt from the punishment;\r\nadopting and settling his kingdom upon a bastard and foreign son, he took no\r\nthought, they said, of their destitution and loss, not of bastards, but lawful\r\nchildren. These things sensibly affected Theseus, who, thinking it but just not\r\nto disregard, but rather partake of, the sufferings of his fellow citizens,\r\noffered himself for one without any lot. All else were struck with admiration\r\nfor the nobleness and with love for the goodness of the act; and Aegeus, after\r\nprayers and entreaties, finding him inflexible and not to be persuaded,\r\nproceeded to the choosing of the rest by lot. Hellanicus, however, tells us\r\nthat the Athenians did not send the young men and virgins by lot, but that\r\nMinos himself used to come and make his own choice, and pitched upon Theseus\r\nbefore all others; according to the conditions agreed upon between them,\r\nnamely, that the Athenians should furnish them with a ship, and that the young\r\nmen that were to sail with him should carry no weapon of war; but that if the\r\nMinotaur was destroyed, the tribute should cease.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the two former occasions of the payment of the tribute, entertaining no\r\nhopes of safety or return, they sent out the ship with a black sail, as to\r\nunavoidable destruction; but now, Theseus encouraging his father and speaking\r\ngreatly of himself, as confident that he should kill the Minotaur, he gave the\r\npilot another sail, which was white, commanding him, as he returned, if Theseus\r\nwere safe, to make use of that; but if not, to sail with the black one, and to\r\nhang out that sign of his misfortune. Simonides says that the sail which Aegeus\r\ndelivered to the pilot was not white, but\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nScarlet, in the juicy bloom\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOf the living oak-tree steeped,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand that this was to be the sign of their escape. Phereclus, son of Amarsyas,\r\naccording to Simonides, was pilot of the ship. But Philochorus says Theseus had\r\nsent him by Scirus, from Salamis, Nausithous to be his steersman, and Phaeax\r\nhis look-out-man in the prow, the Athenians having as yet not applied\r\nthemselves to navigation; and that Scirus did this because one of the young\r\nmen, Menesthes, was his daughter’s son; and this the chapels of Nausithous and\r\nPhaeax, built by Theseus near the temple of Scirus, confirm. He adds, also,\r\nthat the feast named Cybernesia was in honor of them. The lot being cast, and\r\nTheseus having received out of the Prytaneum those upon whom it fell, he went\r\nto the Delphinium, and made an offering for them to Apollo of his suppliant’s\r\nbadge, which was a bough of a consecrated olive tree, with white wool tied\r\nabout it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving thus performed his devotion, he went to sea, the sixth day of Munychion,\r\non which day even to this time the Athenians send their virgins to the same\r\ntemple to make supplication to the gods. It is farther reported that he was\r\ncommanded by the oracle at Delphi to make Venus his guide, and to invoke her as\r\nthe companion and conductress of his voyage, and that, as he was sacrificing a\r\nshe goat to her by the seaside, it was suddenly changed into a he, and for this\r\ncause that goddess had the name of Epitrapia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he arrived at Crete, as most of the ancient historians as well as poets\r\ntell us, having a clue of thread given him by Ariadne, who had fallen in love\r\nwith him, and being instructed by her how to use it so as to conduct him\r\nthrough the windings of the labyrinth, he escaped out of it and slew the\r\nMinotaur, and sailed back, taking along with him Ariadne and the young Athenian\r\ncaptives. Pherecydes adds that he bored holes in the bottoms of the Cretan\r\nships to hinder their pursuit. Demon writes that Taurus, the chief captain of\r\nMinos, was slain by Theseus at the mouth of the port, in a naval combat, as he\r\nwas sailing out for Athens. But Philochorus gives us the story thus: That at\r\nthe setting forth of the yearly games by king Minos, Taurus was expected to\r\ncarry away the prize, as he had done before; and was much grudged the honor.\r\nHis character and manners made his power hateful, and he was accused moreover\r\nof too near familiarity with Pasiphae, for which reason, when Theseus desired\r\nthe combat, Minos readily complied. And as it was a custom in Crete that the\r\nwomen also should be admitted to the sight of these games, Ariadne, being\r\npresent, was struck with admiration of the manly beauty of Theseus, and the\r\nvigor and address which he showed in the combat, overcoming all that\r\nencountered with him. Minos, too, being extremely pleased with him, especially\r\nbecause he had overthrown and disgraced Taurus, voluntarily gave up the young\r\ncaptives to Theseus, and remitted the tribute to the Athenians. Clidemus gives\r\nan account peculiar to himself, very ambitiously, and beginning a great way\r\nback: That it was a decree consented to by all Greece, that no vessel from any\r\nplace, containing above five persons, should be permitted to sail, Jason only\r\nexcepted, who was made captain of the great ship Argo, to sail about and scour\r\nthe sea of pirates. But Daedalus having escaped from Crete, and flying by sea\r\nto Athens, Minos, contrary to this decree, pursued him with his ships of war,\r\nwas forced by a storm upon Sicily, and there ended his life. After his decease,\r\nDeucalion, his son, desiring a quarrel with the Athenians, sent to them,\r\ndemanding that they should deliver up Daedalus to him, threatening, upon their\r\nrefusal, to put to death all the young Athenians whom his father had received\r\nas hostages from the city. To this angry message Theseus returned a very gentle\r\nanswer, excusing himself that he could not deliver up Daedalus, who was nearly\r\nrelated to him, being his cousin-german, his mother being Merope, the daughter\r\nof Erechtheus. In the meanwhile he secretly prepared a navy, part of it at home\r\nnear the village of the Thymoetadae, a place of no resort, and far from any\r\ncommon roads, the other part by his grandfather Pittheus’s means at Troezen,\r\nthat so his design might be carried on with the greatest secrecy. As soon as\r\never his fleet was in readiness, he set sail, having with him Daedalus and\r\nother exiles from Crete for his guides; and none of the Cretans having any\r\nknowledge of his coming, but imagining, when they saw his fleet, that they were\r\nfriends and vessels of their own, he soon made himself master of the port, and,\r\nimmediately making a descent, reached Gnossus before any notice of his coming,\r\nand, in a battle before the gates of the labyrinth, put Deucalion and all his\r\nguards to the sword. The government by this means falling to Ariadne, he made a\r\nleague with her, and received the captives of her, and ratified a perpetual\r\nfriendship between the Athenians and the Cretans, whom he engaged under an oath\r\nnever again to commence any war with Athens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere are yet many other traditions about these things, and as many concerning\r\nAriadne, all inconsistent with each other. Some relate that she hung herself,\r\nbeing deserted by Theseus. Others that she was carried away by his sailors to\r\nthe isle of Naxos, and married to Oenarus, priest of Bacchus; and that Theseus\r\nleft her because he fell in love with another,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFor Aegle’s love was burning in his breast;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\na verse which Hereas, the Megarian, says, was formerly in the poet Hesiod’s\r\nworks, but put out by Pisistratus, in like manner as he added in Homer’s\r\nRaising of the Dead, to gratify the Athenians, the line\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTheseus, Pirithous, mighty sons of gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nOthers say Ariadne had sons also by Theseus, Oenopion and Staphylus; and among\r\nthese is the poet Ion of Chios, who writes of his own native city\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWhich once Oenopion, son of Theseus, built.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut the more famous of the legendary stories everybody (as I may say) has in\r\nhis mouth. In Paeon, however, the Amathusian, there is a story given, differing\r\nfrom the rest. For he writes that Theseus, being driven by a storm upon the\r\nisle of Cyprus, and having aboard with him Ariadne, big with child, and\r\nextremely discomposed with the rolling of the sea, set her on shore, and left\r\nher there alone, to return himself and help the ship, when, on a sudden, a\r\nviolent wind carried him again out to sea. That the women of the island\r\nreceived Ariadne very kindly, and did all they could to console and alleviate\r\nher distress at being left behind. That they counterfeited kind letters, and\r\ndelivered them to her, as sent from Theseus, and, when she fell in labor, were\r\ndiligent in performing to her every needful service; but that she died before\r\nshe could be delivered, and was honorably interred. That soon after Theseus\r\nreturned, and was greatly afflicted for her loss, and at his departure left a\r\nsum of money among the people of the island, ordering them to do sacrifice to\r\nAriadne; and caused two little images to be made and dedicated to her, one of\r\nsilver and the other of brass. Moreover, that on the second day of Gorpiaeus,\r\nwhich is sacred to Ariadne, they have this ceremony among their sacrifices, to\r\nhave a youth lie down and with his voice and gesture represent the pains of a\r\nwoman in travail; and that the Amathusians call the grove in which they show\r\nher tomb, the grove of Venus Ariadne.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDiffering yet from this account, some of the Naxians write that there were two\r\nMinoses and two Ariadnes, one of whom, they say, was married to Bacchus, in the\r\nisle of Naxos, and bore the children Staphylus and his brother; but that the\r\nother, of a later age, was carried off by Theseus, and, being afterwards\r\ndeserted by him, retired to Naxos with her nurse Corcyna, whose grave they yet\r\nshow. That this Ariadne also died there, and was worshiped by the island, but\r\nin a different manner from the former; for her day is celebrated with general\r\njoy and revelling, but all the sacrifices performed to the latter are attended\r\nwith mourning and gloom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Theseus, in his return from Crete, put in at Delos, and, having sacrificed\r\nto the god of the island, dedicated to the temple the image of Venus which\r\nAriadne had given him, and danced with the young Athenians a dance that, in\r\nmemory of him, they say is still preserved among the inhabitants of Delos,\r\nconsisting in certain measured turnings and returnings, imitative of the\r\nwindings and twistings of the labyrinth. And this dance, as Dicaearchus writes,\r\nis called among the Delians, the Crane. This he danced round the Ceratonian\r\nAltar, so called from its consisting of horns taken from the left side of the\r\nhead. They say also that he instituted games in Delos where he was the first\r\nthat began the custom of giving a palm to the victors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen they were come near the coast of Attica, so great was the joy for the\r\nhappy success of their voyage, that neither Theseus himself nor the pilot\r\nremembered to hang out the sail which should have been the token of their\r\nsafety to Aegeus, who, in despair at the sight, threw himself headlong from a\r\nrock, and perished in the sea. But Theseus, being arrived at the port of\r\nPhalerum, paid there the sacrifices which he had vowed to the gods at his\r\nsetting out to sea, and sent a herald to the city to carry the news of his safe\r\nreturn. At his entrance, the herald found the people for the most part full of\r\ngrief for the loss of their king, others, as may well be believed, as full of\r\njoy for the tidings that he brought, and eager to welcome him and crown him\r\nwith garlands for his good news, which he indeed accepted of, but hung them\r\nupon his herald’s staff; and thus returning to the seaside before Theseus had\r\nfinished his libation to the gods, he stayed apart for fear of disturbing the\r\nholy rites, but, as soon as the libation was ended, went up and related the\r\nking’s death, upon the hearing of which, with great lamentations and a confused\r\ntumult of grief, they ran with all haste to the city. And from hence, they say,\r\nit comes that at this day, in the feast of Oschophoria, the herald is not\r\ncrowned, but his staff, and all who are present at the libation cry out eleleu\r\niou iou, the first of which confused sounds is commonly used by men in haste,\r\nor at a triumph, the other is proper to people in consternation or disorder of\r\nmind.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTheseus, after the funeral of his father, paid his vows to Apollo the seventh\r\nday of Pyanepsion; for on that day the youth that returned with him safe from\r\nCrete made their entry into the city. They say, also, that the custom of\r\nboiling pulse at this feast is derived from hence; because the young men that\r\nescaped put all that was left of their provision together, and, boiling it in\r\none common pot, feasted themselves with it, and ate it all up together. Hence,\r\nalso, they carry in procession an olive branch bound about with wool (such as\r\nthey then made use of in their supplications), which they call Eiresione,\r\ncrowned with all sorts of fruits, to signify that scarcity and barrenness was\r\nceased, singing in their procession this song:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nEiresione bring figs, and Eiresione bring loaves;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBring us honey in pints, and oil to rub on our bodies,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd a strong flagon of wine, for all to go mellow to bed on.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAlthough some hold opinion that this ceremony is retained in memory of the\r\nHeraclidae, who were thus entertained and brought up by the Athenians. But most\r\nare of the opinion which we have given above.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned had thirty oars, and\r\nwas preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus,\r\nfor they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger\r\ntimber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among\r\nthe philosophers, for the logical question as to things that grow; one side\r\nholding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was\r\nnot the same.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe feast called Oschophoria, or the feast of boughs, which to this day the\r\nAthenians celebrate, was then first instituted by Theseus. For he took not with\r\nhim the full number of virgins which by lot were to be carried away, but\r\nselected two youths of his acquaintance, of fair and womanish faces, but of a\r\nmanly and forward spirit, and having, by frequent baths, and avoiding the heat\r\nand scorching of the sun, with a constant use of all the ointments and washes\r\nand dresses that serve to the adorning of the head or smoothing the skin or\r\nimproving the complexion, in a manner changed them from what they were before,\r\nand having taught them farther to counterfeit the very voice and carriage and\r\ngait of virgins, so that there could not be the least difference perceived; he,\r\nundiscovered by any, put them into the number of the Athenian maids designed\r\nfor Crete. At his return, he and these two youths led up a solemn procession,\r\nin the same habit that is now worn by those who carry the vine-branches. These\r\nbranches they carry in honor of Bacchus and Ariadne, for the sake of their\r\nstory before related; or rather because they happened to return in autumn, the\r\ntime of gathering the grapes. The women whom they call Deipnopherae, or\r\nsupper-carriers, are taken into these ceremonies, and assist at the sacrifice,\r\nin remembrance and imitation of the mothers of the young men and virgins upon\r\nwhom the lot fell, for thus they ran about bringing bread and meat to their\r\nchildren; and because the women then told their sons and daughters many tales\r\nand stories, to comfort and encourage them under the danger they were going\r\nupon, it has still continued a custom that at this feast old fables and tales\r\nshould be told. For these particularities we are indebted to the history of\r\nDemon. There was then a place chosen out, and a temple erected in it to\r\nTheseus, and those families out of whom the tribute of the youth was gathered\r\nwere appointed to pay a tax to the temple for sacrifices to him. And the house\r\nof the Phytalidae had the overseeing of these sacrifices, Theseus doing them\r\nthat honor in recompense of their former hospitality.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow, after the death of his father Aegeus, forming in his mind a great and\r\nwonderful design, he gathered together all the inhabitants of Attica into one\r\ntown, and made them one people of one city, whereas before they lived\r\ndispersed, and were not easy to assemble upon any affair for the common\r\ninterest. Nay, differences and even wars often occurred between them, which he\r\nby his persuasions appeased, going from township to township, and from tribe to\r\ntribe. And those of a more private and mean condition readily embracing such\r\ngood advice, to those of greater power he promised a commonwealth without\r\nmonarchy, a democracy, or people’s government in which he should only be\r\ncontinued as their commander in war and the protector of their laws, all things\r\nelse being equally distributed among them; and by this means brought a part of\r\nthem over to his proposal. The rest, fearing his power, which was already grown\r\nvery formidable, and knowing his courage and resolution, chose rather to be\r\npersuaded than forced into a compliance. He then dissolved all the distinct\r\nstate-houses, council halls, and magistracies, and built one common state-house\r\nand council hall on the site of the present upper town, and gave the name of\r\nAthens to the whole state, ordaining a common feast and sacrifice, which he\r\ncalled Panathenaea, or the sacrifice of all the united Athenians. He instituted\r\nalso another sacrifice, called Metoecia, or Feast of Migration, which is yet\r\ncelebrated on the sixteenth day of Hecatombaeon. Then, as he had promised, he\r\nlaid down his regal power and proceeded to order a commonwealth, entering upon\r\nthis great work not without advice from the gods. For having sent to consult\r\nthe oracle of Delphi concerning the fortune of his new government and city, he\r\nreceived this answer:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSon of the Pitthean maid,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo your town the terms and fates,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nMy father gives of many states.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBe not anxious nor afraid;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe bladder will not fail so swim\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOn the waves that compass him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nWhich oracle, they say, one of the sibyls long after did in a manner repeat to\r\nthe Athenians, in this verse,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe bladder may be dipt, but not be drowned.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFarther yet designing to enlarge his city, he invited all strangers to come and\r\nenjoy equal privileges with the natives, and it is said that the common form,\r\nCome hither all ye people, was the words that Theseus proclaimed when he thus\r\nset up a commonwealth, in a manner, for all nations. Yet he did not suffer his\r\nstate, by the promiscuous multitude that flowed in, to be turned into confusion\r\nand be left without any order or degree, but was the first that divided the\r\nCommonwealth into three distinct ranks, the noblemen, the husbandmen, and\r\nartificers.% To the nobility he committed the care of religion, the choice of\r\nmagistrates, the teaching and dispensing of the laws, and interpretation and\r\ndirection in all sacred matters; the whole city being, as it were, reduced to\r\nan exact equality, the nobles excelling the rest in honor, the husbandmen in\r\nprofit, and the artificers in number. And that Theseus was the first, who, as\r\nAristotle says, out of an inclination to popular government, parted with the\r\nregal power, Homer also seems to testify, in his catalogue of the ships, where\r\nhe gives the name of People to the Athenians only.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe also coined money, and stamped it with the image of an ox, either in memory\r\nof the Marathonian bull, or of Taurus, whom he vanquished, or else to put his\r\npeople in mind to follow husbandry; and from this coin came the expression so\r\nfrequent among the Greeks, of a thing being worth ten or a hundred oxen. After\r\nthis he joined Megara to Attica, and erected that famous pillar on the Isthmus,\r\nwhich bears an inscription of two lines, showing the bounds of the two\r\ncountries that meet there. On the east side the inscription is,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nPeloponnesus there, Ionia here,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand on the west side,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nPeloponnesus here, Ionia there.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nHe also instituted the games, in emulation of Hercules, being ambitious that as\r\nthe Greeks, by that hero’s appointment, celebrated the Olympian games to the\r\nhonor of Jupiter, so, by his institution, they should celebrate the Isthmian to\r\nthe honor of Neptune. For those that were there before observed, dedicated to\r\nMelicerta, were performed privately in the night, and had the form rather of a\r\nreligious rite than of an open spectacle or public feast. There are some who\r\nsay that the Isthmian games were first instituted in memory of Sciron, Theseus\r\nthus making expiation for his death, upon account of the nearness of kindred\r\nbetween them, Sciron being the son of Canethus and Heniocha, the daughter of\r\nPittheus; though others write that Sinnis, not Sciron, was their son, and that\r\nto his honor, and not to the other’s, these games were ordained by Theseus. At\r\nthe same time he made an agreement with the Corinthians, that they should allow\r\nthose that came from Athens to the celebration of the Isthmian games as much\r\nspace of honor before the rest to behold the spectacle in, as the sail of the\r\nship that brought them thither, stretched to its full extent, could cover; so\r\nHellanicus and Andro of Halicarnassus have established.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nConcerning his voyage into the Euxine Sea, Philochorus and some others write\r\nthat he made it with Hercules, offering him his service in the war against the\r\nAmazons, and had Antiope given him for the reward of his valor; but the greater\r\nnumber, of whom are Pherecydes, Hellanicus, and Herodorus, write that he made\r\nthis voyage many years after Hercules, with a navy under his own command, and\r\ntook the Amazon prisoner, the more probable story, for we do not read that any\r\nother, of all those that accompanied him in this action, took any Amazon\r\nprisoner. Bion adds, that, to take her, he had to use deceit and fly away; for\r\nthe Amazons, he says, being naturally lovers of men, were so far from avoiding\r\nTheseus when he touched upon their coasts, that they sent him presents to his\r\nship; but he, having invited Antiope, who brought them, to come aboard,\r\nimmediately set sail and carried her away. An author named Menecrates, that\r\nwrote the History of Nicaea in Bithynia, adds, that Theseus, having Antiope\r\naboard his vessel, cruised for some time about those coasts, and that there\r\nwere in the same ship three young men of Athens, that accompanied him in this\r\nvoyage, all brothers, whose names were Euneos, Thoas, and Soloon. The last of\r\nthese fell desperately in love with Antiope; and, escaping the notice of the\r\nrest, revealed the secret only to one of his most intimate acquaintance, and\r\nemployed him to disclose his passion to Antiope, she rejected his pretenses\r\nwith a very positive denial, yet treated the matter with much gentleness and\r\ndiscretion, and made no complaint to Theseus of any thing that had happened;\r\nbut Soloon, the thing being desperate, leaped into a river near the seaside and\r\ndrowned himself. As soon as Theseus was acquainted with his death, and his\r\nunhappy love that was the cause of it, he was extremely distressed, and, in the\r\nheight of his grief, an oracle which he had formerly received at Delphi came\r\ninto his mind, for he had been commanded by the priestess of Apollo Pythius,\r\nthat, wherever in a strange land he was most sorrowful and under the greatest\r\naffliction, he should build a city there, and leave some of his followers to be\r\ngovernors of the place. For this cause he there founded a city, which he\r\ncalled, from the name of Apollo, Pythopolis, and, in honor of the unfortunate\r\nyouth, he named the river that runs by it Soloon, and left the two surviving\r\nbrothers entrusted with the care of the government and laws, joining with them\r\nHermus, one of the nobility of Athens, from whom a place in the city is called\r\nthe House of Hermus; though by an error in the accent it has been taken for the\r\nHouse of Hermes, or Mercury, and the honor that was designed to the hero\r\ntransferred to the god.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was the origin and cause of the Amazonian invasion of Attica, which would\r\nseem to have been no slight or womanish enterprise. For it is impossible that\r\nthey should have placed their camp in the very city, and joined battle close by\r\nthe Pnyx and the hill called Museum, unless, having first conquered the country\r\nround about, they had thus with impunity advanced to the city. That they made\r\nso long a journey by land, and passed the Cimmerian Bosphorus when frozen, as\r\nHellanicus writes, is difficult to be believed. That they encamped all but in\r\nthe city is certain, and may be sufficiently confirmed by the names that the\r\nplaces thereabout yet retain, and the graves and monuments of those that fell\r\nin the battle. Both armies being in sight, there was a long pause and doubt on\r\neach side which should give the first onset; at last Theseus, having sacrificed\r\nto Fear, in obedience to the command of an oracle he had received, gave them\r\nbattle; and this happened in the month of Boedromion, in which to this very day\r\nthe Athenians celebrate the Feast Boedromia. Clidemus, desirous to be very\r\ncircumstantial,writes that the left wing of the Amazons moved towards the place\r\nwhich is yet called Amazonium and the right towards the Pnyx, near Chrysa, that\r\nwith this wing the Athenians, issuing from behind the Museum, engaged, and that\r\nthe graves of those that were slain are to be seen in the street that leads to\r\nthe gate called the Piraic, by the chapel of the hero Chalcodon; and that here\r\nthe Athenians were routed, and gave way before the women, as far as to the\r\ntemple of the Furies, but, fresh supplies coming in from the Palladium,\r\nArdettus, and the Lyceum, they charged their right wing, and beat them back\r\ninto their tents, in which action a great number of the Amazons were slain. At\r\nlength, after four months, a peace was concluded between them by the mediation\r\nof Hippolyta (for so this historian calls the Amazon whom Theseus married, and\r\nnot Antiope), though others write that she was slain with a dart by Molpadia,\r\nwhile fighting by Theseus’s side, and that the pillar which stands by the\r\ntemple of Olympian Earth was erected to her honor. Nor is it to be wondered at,\r\nthat in events of such antiquity, history should be in disorder. For indeed we\r\nare also told that those of the Amazons that were wounded were privately sent\r\naway by Antiope to Chalcis, where many by her care recovered, but some that\r\ndied were buried there in the place that is to this time called Amazonium. That\r\nthis war, however, was ended by a treaty is evident, both from the name of the\r\nplace adjoining to the temple of Theseus, called, from the solemn oath there\r\ntaken, Horcomosium; and also from the ancient sacrifice which used to be\r\ncelebrated to the Amazons the day before the Feast of Theseus. The Megarians\r\nalso show a spot in their city where some Amazons were buried, on the way from\r\nthe market to a place called Rhus, where the building in the shape of a lozenge\r\nstands. It is said, likewise, that others of them were slain near Chaeronea,\r\nand buried near the little rivulet, formerly called Thermodon, but now Haemon,\r\nof which an account is given in the life of Demosthenes. It appears further\r\nthat the passage of the Amazons through Thessaly was not without opposition,\r\nfor there are yet shown many tombs of them near Scotussa and Cynoscephalae.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis is as much as is worth telling concerning the Amazons. For the account\r\nwhich the author of the poem called the Theseid gives of this rising of the\r\nAmazons, how Antiope, to revenge herself upon Theseus for refusing her and\r\nmarrying Phaedra, came down upon the city with her train of Amazons, whom\r\nHercules slew, is manifestly nothing else but fable and invention. It is true,\r\nindeed, that Theseus married Phaedra, but that was after the death of Antiope,\r\nby whom he had a son called Hippolytus, or, as Pindar writes, Demophon. The\r\ncalamities which befell Phaedra and this son, since none of the historians have\r\ncontradicted the tragic poets that have written of them, we must suppose\r\nhappened as represented uniformly by them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere are also other traditions of the marriages of Theseus, neither honorable\r\nin their occasions nor fortunate in their events, which yet were never\r\nrepresented in the Greek plays. For he is said to have carried off Anaxo, a\r\nTroezenian, and, having slain Sinnis and Cercyon, to have ravished their\r\ndaughters; to have married Periboea, the mother of Ajax, and then Phereboea,\r\nand then Iope, the daughter of Iphicles. And further, he is accused of\r\ndeserting Ariadne (as is before related), being in love with Aegle the daughter\r\nof Panopeus, neither justly nor honorably; and lastly, of the rape of Helen,\r\nwhich filled all Attica with war and blood, and was in the end the occasion of\r\nhis banishment and death, as will presently be related.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHerodorus is of opinion, that though there were many famous expeditions\r\nundertaken by the bravest men of his time, yet Theseus never joined in any of\r\nthem, once only excepted, with the Lapithae, in their war against the Centaurs;\r\nbut others say that he accompanied Jason to Colchis and Meleager to the slaying\r\nof the Calydonian boar, and that hence it came to be a proverb, Not without\r\nTheseus; that he himself, however, without aid of any one, performed many\r\nglorious exploits, and that from him began the saying, He is a second Hercules.\r\nHe also joined Adrastus in recovering the bodies of those that were slain\r\nbefore Thebes, but not as Euripides in his tragedy says, by force of arms, but\r\nby persuasion and mutual agreement and composition, for so the greater part of\r\nthe historians write; Philochorus adds further that this was the first treaty\r\nthat ever was made for the recovering the bodies of the dead, but in the\r\nhistory of Hercules it is shown that it was he who first gave leave to his\r\nenemies to carry off their slain. The burying-places of the most part are yet\r\nto be seen in the village called Eleutherae; those of the commanders, at\r\nEleusis, where Theseus allotted them a place, to oblige Adrastus. The story of\r\nEuripides in his Suppliants is disproved by Aeschylus in his Eleusinians, where\r\nTheseus himself relates the facts as here told.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe celebrated friendship between Theseus and Pirithous is said to have been\r\nthus begun: the fame of the strength and valor of Theseus being spread through\r\nGreece, Pirithous was desirous to make a trial and proof. of it himself, and to\r\nthis end seized a herd of oxen which belonged to Theseus, and was driving them\r\naway from Marathon, and, when news was brought that Theseus pursued him in\r\narms, he did not fly, but turned back and went to meet him. But as soon as they\r\nhad viewed one another, each so admired the gracefulness and beauty, and was\r\nseized with such a respect for the courage, of the other, that they forgot all\r\nthoughts of fighting; and Pirithous, first stretching out his hand to Theseus,\r\nbade him be judge in this case himself, and promised to submit willingly to any\r\npenalty he should impose. But Theseus not only forgave him all, but entreated\r\nhim to be his friend and brother in arms; and they ratified their friendship by\r\noaths. After this Pirithous married Deidamia, and invited Theseus to the\r\nwedding, entreating him to come and see his country, and make acquaintance with\r\nthe Lapithae; he had at the same time invited the Centaurs to the feast, who\r\ngrowing hot with wine and beginning to be insolent and wild, and offering\r\nviolence to the women, the Lapithae took immediate revenge upon them, slaying\r\nmany of them upon the place, and afterwards, having overcome them in battle,\r\ndrove the whole race of them out of their country, Theseus all along taking\r\ntheir part and fighting on their side. But Herodorus gives a different relation\r\nof these things: that Theseus came not to the assistance of the Lapithae till\r\nthe war was already begun; and that it was in this journey that he had the\r\nfirst sight of Hercules, having made it his business to find him out at\r\nTrachis, where he had chosen to rest himself after all his wanderings and his\r\nlabors; and that this interview was honorably performed on each part, with\r\nextreme respect, good-will, and admiration of each other. Yet it is more\r\ncredible, as others write, that there were, before, frequent interviews between\r\nthem, and that it was by the means of Theseus that Hercules was initiated at\r\nEleusis, and purified before initiation, upon account of several rash actions\r\nof his former life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTheseus was now fifty years old, as Hellanicus states, when he carried off\r\nHelen, who was yet too young to be married. Some writers, to take away this\r\naccusation of one of the greatest crimes laid to his charge, say, that he did\r\nnot steal away Helen himself, but that Idas and Lynceus were the ravishers, who\r\nbrought her to him, and committed her to his charge, and that, therefore, he\r\nrefused to restore her at the demand of Castor and Pollux; or, indeed, they say\r\nher own father, Tyndarus, had sent her to be kept by him, for fear of\r\nEnarophorus, the son of Hippocoon, who would have carried her away by force\r\nwhen she was yet a child. But the most probable account, and that which has\r\nmost witnesses on its side, is this: Theseus and Pirithous went both together\r\nto Sparta, and, having seized the young lady as she was dancing in the temple\r\nof Diana Orthia, fled away with her. There were presently men in arms sent to\r\npursue, but they followed no further than to Tegea; and Theseus and Pirithous,\r\nbeing now out of danger, having passed through Peloponnesus, made an agreement\r\nbetween themselves, that he to whom the lot should fall should have Helen to\r\nhis wife, but should be obliged to assist in procuring another for his friend.\r\nThe lot fell upon Theseus, who conveyed her to Aphidnae, not being yet\r\nmarriageable, and delivered her to one of his allies, called Aphidnus, and,\r\nhaving sent his mother Aethra after to take care of her, desired him to keep\r\nthem so secretly, that none might know where they were; which done, to return\r\nthe same service to his friend Pirithous, he accompanied him in his journey to\r\nEpirus, in order to steal away the king of the Molossians’ daughter. The king,\r\nhis own name being Aidoneus, or Pluto, called his wife Proserpina, and his\r\ndaughter Cora, and a great dog which he kept Cerberus, with whom he ordered all\r\nthat came as suitors to his daughter to fight, and promised her to him that\r\nshould overcome the beast. But having been informed that the design of\r\nPirithous and his companion was not to court his daughter, but to force her\r\naway, he caused them both to be seized, and threw Pirithous to be torn in\r\npieces by his dog, and put Theseus into prison, and kept him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout this time, Menestheus, the son of Peteus, grandson of Orneus, and\r\ngreat-grandson to Erechtheus, the first man that is recorded to have affected\r\npopularity and ingratiated himself with the multitude, stirred up and\r\nexasperated the most eminent men of the city, who had long borne a secret\r\ngrudge to Theseus, conceiving that he had robbed them of their several little\r\nkingdoms and lordships, and, having pent them all up in one city, was using\r\nthem as his subjects and slaves. He put also the meaner people into commotion,\r\ntelling them, that, deluded with a mere dream of liberty, though indeed they\r\nwere deprived both of that and of their proper homes and religious usages,\r\ninstead of many good and gracious kings of their own, they had given themselves\r\nup to be lorded over by a new-comer and a stranger. Whilst he was thus busied\r\nin infecting the minds of the citizens, the war that Castor and Pollux brought\r\nagainst Athens came very opportunely to further the sedition he had been\r\npromoting, and some say that he by his persuasions was wholly the cause of\r\ntheir invading the city. At their first approach, they committed no acts of\r\nhostility, but peaceably demanded their sister Helen; but the Athenians\r\nreturning answer that they neither had her there nor knew where she was\r\ndisposed of, they prepared to assault the city, when Academus, having, by\r\nwhatever means, found it out, disclosed to them that she was secretly kept at\r\nAphidnae. For which reason he was both highly honored during his life by Castor\r\nand Pollux, and the Lacedaemonians, when often in aftertimes they made\r\nincursions into Attica, and destroyed all the country round about, spared the\r\nAcademy for the sake of Academus. But Dicaearchus writes that there were two\r\nArcadians in the army of Castor and Pollux, the one called Echedemus and the\r\nother Marathus; from the first that which is now called Academia was then named\r\nEchedemia, and the village Marathon had its name from the other, who, to\r\nfulfill some oracle, voluntarily offered himself to be made a sacrifice before\r\nbattle. As soon as they were arrived at Aphidnae, they overcame their enemies\r\nin a set battle, and then assaulted and took the town. And here, they say,\r\nAlycus, the son of Sciron, was slain, of the party of the Dioscuri (Castor and\r\nPollux), from whom a place in Megara, where he was buried, is called Alycus to\r\nthis day. And Hereas writes that it was Theseus himself that killed him, in\r\nwitness of which he cites these verses concerning Alycus\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAnd Alycus, upon Aphidna’s plain\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBy Theseus in the cause of Helen slain.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThough it is not at all probable that Theseus himself was there when both the\r\ncity and his mother were taken.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAphidnae being won by Castor and Pollux, and the city of Athens being in\r\nconsternation, Menestheus persuaded the people to open their gates, and receive\r\nthem with all manner of friendship, for they were, he told them, at enmity with\r\nnone but Theseus, who had first injured them, and were benefactors and saviors\r\nto all mankind beside. And their behavior gave credit to those promises; for,\r\nhaving made themselves absolute masters of the place, they demanded no more\r\nthan to be initiated, since they were as nearly related to the city as Hercules\r\nwas, who had received the same honor. This their desire they easily obtained,\r\nand were adopted by Aphidnus, as Hercules had been by Pylius. They were honored\r\nalso like gods, and were called by a new name, Anaces, either from the\r\ncessation (Anokhe) of the war, or from the care they took that none should\r\nsuffer any injury, though there was so great an army within the walls; for the\r\nphrase anakos ekhein is used of those who look to or care for any thing; kings\r\nfor this reason, perhaps, are called anactes. Others say, that from the\r\nappearance of their star in the heavens, they were thus called, for in the\r\nAttic dialect this name comes very near the words that signify above.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome say that Aethra, Theseus’s mother, was here taken prisoner, and carried to\r\nLacedaemon, and from thence went away with Helen to Troy, alleging this verse\r\nof Homer, to prove that she waited upon Helen,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAethra of Pittheus born, and large-eyed Clymene.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nOthers reject this verse as none of Homer’s, as they do likewise the whole\r\nfable of Munychus, who, the story says, was the son of Demophon and Laodice,\r\nborn secretly, and brought up by Aethra at Troy. But Ister, in the thirteenth\r\nbook of his Attic History, gives us an account of Aethra, different yet from\r\nall the rest: that Achilles and Patroclus overcame Paris in Thessaly, near the\r\nriver Sperchius, but that Hector took and plundered the city of the\r\nTroezenians, and made Aethra prisoner there. But this seems a groundless tale.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Hercules, passing by the Molossians, was entertained in his way by Aidoneus\r\nthe king, who, in conversation, accidentally spoke of the journey of Theseus\r\nand Pirithous into his country, of what they had designed to do, and what they\r\nwere forced to suffer. Hercules was much grieved for the inglorious death of\r\nthe one and the miserable condition of the other. As for Pirithous, he thought\r\nit useless to complain; but begged to have Theseus released for his sake, and\r\nobtained that favor from the king. Theseus, being thus set at liberty, returned\r\nto Athens, where his friends were not yet wholly suppressed, and dedicated to\r\nHercules all the sacred places which the city had set apart for himself,\r\nchanging their names from Thesea to Heraclea, four only excepted, as\r\nPhilochorus writes. And wishing immediately to resume the first place in the\r\ncommonwealth, and manage the state as before, he soon found himself involved in\r\nfactions and troubles; those who long had hated him had now added to their\r\nhatred contempt; and the minds of the people were so generally corrupted, that,\r\ninstead of obeying commands with silence, they expected to be flattered into\r\ntheir duty. He had some thoughts to have reduced them by force, but was\r\noverpowered by demagogues and factions. And at last, despairing of any good\r\nsuccess of his affairs in Athens, he sent away his children privately to\r\nEuboea, commending them to the care of Elephenor, the son of Chalcodon; and he\r\nhimself, having solemnly cursed the people of Athens in the village of\r\nGargettus, in which there yet remains the place called Araterion, or the place\r\nof cursing, sailed to Scyros, where he had lands left him by his father, and\r\nfriendship, as he thought, with those of the island. Lycomedes was then king of\r\nScyros. Theseus, therefore, addressed himself to him, and desired to have his\r\nlands put into his possession, as designing to settle and to dwell there,\r\nthough others say that he came to beg his assistance against the Athenians. But\r\nLycomedes, either jealous of the glory of so great a man, or to gratify\r\nMenestheus, having led him up to the highest cliff of the island, on pretense\r\nof showing him from thence the lands that he desired, threw him headlong down\r\nfrom the rock, and killed him. Others say he fell down of himself by a slip of\r\nhis foot, as he was walking there, according to his custom, after supper. At\r\nthat time there was no notice taken, nor were any concerned for his death, but\r\nMenestheus quietly possessed the kingdom of Athens. His sons were brought up in\r\na private condition, and accompanied Elephenor to the Trojan war, but, after\r\nthe decease of Menestheus in that expedition, returned to Athens, and recovered\r\nthe government. But in succeeding ages, beside several other circumstances that\r\nmoved the Athenians to honor Theseus as a demigod, in the battle which was\r\nfought at Marathon against the Medes, many of the soldiers believed they saw an\r\napparition of Theseus in arms, rushing on at the head of them against the\r\nbarbarians. And after the Median war, Phaedo being archon of Athens, the\r\nAthenians, consulting the oracle at Delphi, were commanded to gather together\r\nthe bones of Theseus, and, laying them in some honorable place, keep them as\r\nsacred in the city. But it was very difficult to recover these relics, or so\r\nmuch as to find out the place where they lay, on account of the inhospitable\r\nand savage temper of the barbarous people that inhabited the island.\r\nNevertheless, afterwards, when Cimon took the island (as is related in his\r\nlife), and had a great ambition to find out the place where Theseus was buried,\r\nhe, by chance, spied an eagle upon a rising ground pecking with her beak and\r\ntearing up the earth with her talons, when on the sudden it came into his mind,\r\nas it were by some divine inspiration, to dig there, and search for the bones\r\nof Theseus. There were found in that place a coffin of a man of more than\r\nordinary size, and a brazen spear-head, and a sword lying by it, all which he\r\ntook aboard his galley and brought with him to Athens. Upon which the\r\nAthenians, greatly delighted, went out to meet and receive the relics with\r\nsplendid processions and with sacrifices, as if it were Theseus himself\r\nreturning alive to the city. He lies interred in the middle of the city, near\r\nthe present gymnasium. His tomb is a sanctuary and refuge for slaves, and all\r\nthose of mean condition that fly from the persecution of men in power, in\r\nmemory that Theseus while he lived was an assister and protector of the\r\ndistressed, and never refused the petitions of the afflicted that fled to him.\r\nThe chief and most solemn sacrifice which they celebrate to him is kept on the\r\neighth day of Pyanepsion, on which he returned with the Athenian young men from\r\nCrete. Besides which, they sacrifice to him on the eighth day of every month,\r\neither because he returned from Troezen the eighth day of Hecatombaeon, as\r\nDiodorus the geographer writes, or else thinking that number to be proper to\r\nhim, because he was reputed to be born of Neptune, because they sacrifice to\r\nNeptune on the eighth day of every month. The number eight being the first cube\r\nof an even number, and the double of the first square, seemed to be an emblem\r\nof the steadfast and immovable power of this god, who from thence has the names\r\nof Asphalius and Gaeiochus, that is, the establisher and stayer of the earth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap02\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eROMULUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom whom, and for what reason, the city of Rome, a name so great in glory, and\r\nfamous in the mouths of all men, was so first called, authors do not agree.\r\nSome are of opinion that the Pelasgians, wandering over the greater part of the\r\nhabitable world, and subduing numerous nations, fixed themselves here, and,\r\nfrom their own great strength in war, called the city Rome. Others, that at the\r\ntaking of Troy, some few that escaped and met with shipping, put to sea, and,\r\ndriven by winds, were carried upon the coasts of Tuscany, and came to anchor\r\noff the mouth of the river Tiber, where their women, out of heart and weary\r\nwith the sea, on its being proposed by one of the highest birth and best\r\nunderstanding amongst them, whose name was Roma, burnt the ships. With which\r\nact the men at first were angry, but afterwards, of necessity, seating\r\nthemselves near Palatium, where things in a short while succeeded far better\r\nthan they could hope, in that they found the country very good, and the people\r\ncourteous, they not only did the lady Roma other honors, but added also this,\r\nof calling after her name the city which she had been the occasion of their\r\nfounding. From this, they say, has come down that custom at Rome for women to\r\nsalute their kinsmen and husbands with kisses; because these women, after they\r\nhad burnt the ships, made use of such endearments when entreating and pacifying\r\ntheir husbands.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome again say that Roma, from whom this city was so called, was daughter of\r\nItalus and Leucaria; or, by another account, of Telephus, Hercules’s son, and\r\nthat she was married to Aeneas, or, according to others again, to Ascanius,\r\nAeneas’s son. Some tell us that Romanus, the son of Ulysses and Circe, built\r\nit; some, Romus the son of Emathion, Diomede having sent him from Troy; and\r\nothers, Romus, king of the Latins, after driving out the Tyrrhenians, who had\r\ncome from Thessaly into Lydia, and from thence into Italy. Those very authors,\r\ntoo, who, in accordance with the safest account, make Romulus give the name to\r\nthe city, yet differ concerning his birth and family. For some say, he was son\r\nto Aeneas and Dexithea, daughter of Phorbas, and was, with his brother Remus,\r\nin their infancy, carried into Italy, and being on the river when the waters\r\ncame down in a flood, all the vessels were cast away except only that where the\r\nyoung children were, which being gently landed on a level bank of the river,\r\nthey were both unexpectedly saved, and from them the place was called Rome.\r\nSome say, Roma, daughter of the Trojan lady above mentioned, was married to\r\nLatinus, Telemachus’s son, and became mother to Romulus; others, that Aemilia,\r\ndaughter of Aeneas and Lavinia, had him by the god Mars; and others give you\r\nmere fables of his origin. For to Tarchetius, they say, king of Alba, who was a\r\nmost wicked and cruel man, there appeared in his own house a strange vision, a\r\nmale figure that rose out of a hearth, and stayed there for many days. There\r\nwas an oracle of Tethys in Tuscany which Tarchetius consulted, and received an\r\nanswer that a virgin should give herself to the apparition, and that a son\r\nshould be born of her, highly renowned, eminent for valor, good fortune, and\r\nstrength of body. Tarchetius told the prophecy to one of his own daughters, and\r\ncommanded her to do this thing; which she avoiding as an indignity, sent her\r\nhandmaid. Tarchetius, hearing this, in great anger imprisoned them both,\r\npurposing to put them to death; but being deterred from murder by the goddess\r\nVesta in a dream, enjoined them for their punishment the working a web of\r\ncloth, in their chains as they were, which when they finished, they should be\r\nsuffered to marry; but whatever they worked by day, Tarchetius commanded others\r\nto unravel in the night. In the meantime, the waiting-woman was delivered of\r\ntwo boys, whom Tarchetius gave into the hands of one Teratius, with command to\r\ndestroy them; he, however, carried and laid them by the river side, where a\r\nwolf came and continued to suckle them, while birds of various sorts brought\r\nlittle morsels of food, which they put into their mouths; till a cow-herd,\r\nspying them, was first strangely surprised, but, venturing to draw nearer, took\r\nthe children up in his arms. Thus they were saved, and, when they grew up, set\r\nupon Tarchetius and overcame him. This one Promathion says, who compiled a\r\nhistory of Italy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the story which is most believed and has the greatest number of vouchers\r\nwas first published, in its chief particulars, amongst the Greeks by Diocles of\r\nPeparethus, whom Fabius Pictor also follows in most points. Here again there\r\nare variations, but in general outline it runs thus: the kings of Alba reigned\r\nin lineal descent from Aeneas and the succession devolved at length upon two\r\nbrothers, Numitor and Amulius. Amulius proposed to divide things into two equal\r\nshares, and set as equivalent to the kingdom the treasure and gold that were\r\nbrought from Troy. Numitor chose the kingdom; but Amulius, having the money,\r\nand being able to do more with that than Numitor, took his kingdom from him\r\nwith great ease, and, fearing lest his daughter might have children, made her a\r\nVestal, bound in that condition forever to live a single and maiden life. This\r\nlady some call Ilia, others Rhea, and others Silvia; however, not long after,\r\nshe was, contrary to the established laws of the Vestals, discovered to be with\r\nchild, and should have suffered the most cruel punishment, had not Antho, the\r\nking’s daughter, mediated with her father for her; nevertheless, she was\r\nconfined, and debarred all company, that she might not be delivered without the\r\nking’s knowledge. In time she brought forth two boys, of more than human size\r\nand beauty, whom Amulius, becoming yet more alarmed, commanded a servant to\r\ntake and cast away; this man some call Faustulus, others say Faustulus was the\r\nman who brought them up. He put the children, however, in a small trough, and\r\nwent towards the river with a design to cast them in; but, seeing the waters\r\nmuch swollen and coming violently down, was afraid to go nearer, and, dropping\r\nthe children near the bank, went away. The river overflowing, the flood at last\r\nbore up the trough, and, gently wafting it, landed them on a smooth piece of\r\nground, which they now call Cermanes, formerly Germanus, perhaps from Germani,\r\nwhich signifies brothers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNear this place grew a wild fig-tree, which they called Ruminalis, either from\r\nRomulus (as it is vulgarly thought), or from ruminating, because cattle did\r\nusually in the heat of the day seek cover under it, and there chew the cud; or,\r\nbetter, from the suckling of these children there, for the ancients called the\r\ndug or teat of any creature ruma, and there is a tutelar goddess of the rearing\r\nof children whom they still call Rumilia, in sacrificing to whom they use no\r\nwine, but make libations of milk. While the infants lay here, history tells us,\r\na she- wolf nursed them, and a woodpecker constantly fed and watched them;\r\nthese creatures are esteemed holy to the god Mars, the woodpecker the Latins\r\nstill especially worship and honor. Which things, as much as any, gave credit\r\nto what the mother of the children said, that their father was the god Mars:\r\nthough some say that it was a mistake put upon her by Amulius, who himself had\r\ncome to her dressed up in armor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOthers think that the first rise of this fable came from the children’s nurse,\r\nthrough the ambiguity of her name; for the Latins not only called wolves lupae,\r\nbut also women of loose life; and such an one was the wife of Faustulus, who\r\nnurtured these children, Acca Larentia by name. To her the Romans offer\r\nsacrifices, and in the month of April the priest of Mars makes libations there;\r\nit is called the Larentian Feast. They honor also another Larentia, for the\r\nfollowing reason: the keeper of Hercules’s temple having, it seems, little else\r\nto do, proposed to his deity a game at dice, laying down that, if he himself\r\nwon, he would have something valuable of the god; but if he were beaten, he\r\nwould spread him a noble table, and procure him a fair lady’s company. Upon\r\nthese terms, throwing first for the god and then for himself, he found himself\r\nbeaten. Wishing to pay his stakes honorably, and holding himself bound by what\r\nhe had said, he both provided the deity a good supper, and, giving money to\r\nLarentia, then in her beauty, though not publicly known, gave her a feast in\r\nthe temple, where he had also laid a bed, and after supper locked her in, as if\r\nthe god were really to come to her. And indeed, it is said, the deity did truly\r\nvisit her, and commanded her in the morning to walk to the market-place, and,\r\nwhatever man see met first, to salute him, and make him her friend. She met one\r\nnamed Tarrutius, who was a man advanced in years, fairly rich without children,\r\nand had always lived a single life. He received Larentia, and loved her well,\r\nand at his death left her sole heir of all his large and fair possessions, most\r\nof which she, in her last will and testament, bequeathed to the people. It was\r\nreported of her, being now celebrated and esteemed the mistress of a god, that\r\nshe suddenly disappeared near the place where the first Larentia lay buried;\r\nthe spot is at this day called Velabrum, because, the river frequently\r\noverflowing, they went over in ferry-boats somewhere hereabouts to the forum,\r\nthe Latin word for ferrying being velatura. Others derive the name from velum,\r\na sail; because the exhibitors of public shows used to hang the road that leads\r\nfrom the forum to the Circus Maximus with sails, beginning at this spot. Upon\r\nthese accounts the second Larentia is honored at Rome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMeantime Faustulus, Amulius’s swineherd, brought up the children without any\r\nman’s knowledge; or, as those say who wish to keep closer to probabilities,\r\nwith the knowledge and secret assistance of Numitor; for it is said, they went\r\nto school at Gabii, and were well instructed in letters, and other\r\naccomplishments befitting their birth. And they were called Romulus and Remus,\r\n(from ruma, the dug,) as we had before, because they were found sucking the\r\nwolf. In their very infancy, the size and beauty of their bodies intimated\r\ntheir natural superiority; and when they grew up, they both proved brave and\r\nmanly, attempting all enterprises that seemed hazardous, and showing in them a\r\ncourage altogether undaunted. But Romulus seemed rather to act by counsel, and\r\nto show the sagacity of a statesman, and in all his dealings with their\r\nneighbors, whether relating to feeding of flocks or to hunting, gave the idea\r\nof being born rather to rule than to obey. To their comrades and inferiors they\r\nwere therefore dear; but the king’s servants, his bailiffs and overseers, as\r\nbeing in nothing better men than themselves, they despised and slighted, nor\r\nwere the least concerned at their commands and menaces. They used honest\r\npastimes and liberal studies, not esteeming sloth and idleness honest and\r\nliberal, but rather such exercises as hunting and running, repelling robbers,\r\ntaking of thieves, and delivering the wronged and oppressed from injury. For\r\ndoing such things they became famous.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA quarrel occurring between Numitor’s and Amulius’s cowherds, the latter, not\r\nenduring the driving away of their cattle by the others, fell upon them and put\r\nthem to flight, and rescued the greatest part of the prey. At which Numitor\r\nbeing highly incensed, they little regarded it, but collected and took into\r\ntheir company a number of needy men and runaway slaves,—acts which looked like\r\nthe first stages of rebellion. It so happened, that when Romulus was attending\r\na sacrifice, being fond of sacred rites and divination, Numitor’s herdsmen,\r\nmeeting with Remus on a journey with few companions, fell upon him, and, after\r\nsome fighting, took him prisoner, carried him before Numitor, and there accused\r\nhim. Numitor would not punish him himself, fearing his brother’s anger, but\r\nwent to Amulius, and desired justice, as he was Amulius’s brother and was\r\naffronted by Amulius’s servants. The men of Alba likewise resenting the thing,\r\nand thinking he had been dishonorably used, Amulius was induced to deliver\r\nRemus up into Numitor’s hands, to use him as he thought fit. He therefore took\r\nand carried him home, and, being struck with admiration of the youth’s person,\r\nin stature and strength of body exceeding all men, and perceiving in his very\r\ncountenance the courage and force of his mind, which stood unsubdued and\r\nunmoved by his present circumstances, and hearing further that all the\r\nenterprises and actions of his life were answerable to what he saw of him, but\r\nchiefly, as it seemed, a divine influence aiding and directing the first steps\r\nthat were to lead to great results, out of the mere thought of his mind, and\r\ncasually, as it were, he put his hand upon the fact, and, in gentle terms and\r\nwith a kind aspect, to inspire him with confidence and hope, asked him who he\r\nwas, and whence he was derived. He, taking heart, spoke thus: “ I will hide\r\nnothing from you, for you seem to be of a more princely temper than Amulius, in\r\nthat you give a hearing and examine before you punish, while he condemns before\r\nthe cause is heard. Formerly, then, we (for we are twins) thought ourselves the\r\nsons of Faustulus and Larentia, the king’s servants; but since we have been\r\naccused and aspersed with calumnies, and brought in peril of our lives here\r\nbefore you, we hear great things of ourselves, the truth of which my present\r\ndanger is likely to bring to the test. Our birth is said to have been secret,\r\nour fostering and nurture in our infancy still more strange; by birds and\r\nbeasts, to whom we were cast out, we were fed, by the milk of a wolf, and the\r\nmorsels of a woodpecker, as we lay in a little trough by the side of the river.\r\nThe trough is still in being, and is preserved, with brass plates round it, and\r\nan inscription in letters almost effaced; which may prove hereafter unavailing\r\ntokens to our parents when we are dead and gone.” Numitor, upon these words,\r\nand computing the dates by the young man’s looks, slighted not the hope that\r\nflattered him, but considered how to come at his daughter privately (for she\r\nwas still kept under restraint), to talk with her concerning these matters.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFaustulus, hearing Remus was taken and delivered up, called on Romulus to\r\nassist in his rescue, informing him then plainly of the particulars of his\r\nbirth, not but he had before given hints of it, and told as much as an\r\nattentive man might make no small conclusions from; he himself, full of concern\r\nand fear of not coming in time, took the trough, and ran instantly to Numitor;\r\nbut giving a suspicion to some of the king’s sentry at his gate, and being\r\ngazed upon by them and perplexed with their questions, he let it be seen that\r\nhe was hiding the trough under his cloak. By chance there was one among them\r\nwho was at the exposing of the children, and was one employed in the office;\r\nhe, seeing the trough and knowing it by its make and inscription, guessed at\r\nthe business, and, without further delay, telling the king of it, brought in\r\nthe man to be examined. Faustulus, hard beset, did not show himself altogether\r\nproof against terror; nor yet was he wholly forced out of all; confessed indeed\r\nthe children were alive, but lived, he said, as shepherds, a great way from\r\nAlba; he himself was going to carry the trough to Ilia, who had often greatly\r\ndesired to see and handle it, for a confirmation of her hopes of her children.\r\nAs men generally do who are troubled in mind and act either in fear or passion,\r\nit so fell out Amulius now did; for he sent in haste as a messenger, a man,\r\notherwise honest, and friendly to Numitor, with commands to learn from Numitor\r\nwhether any tidings were come to him of the children’s being alive. He, coming\r\nand seeing how little Remus wanted of being received into the arms and embraces\r\nof Numitor, both gave him surer confidence in his hope, and advised them, with\r\nall expedition, to proceed to action; himself too joining and assisting them,\r\nand indeed, had they wished it, the time would not have let them demur. For\r\nRomulus was now come very near, and many of the citizens, out of fear and\r\nhatred of Amulius, were running out to join him; besides, he brought great\r\nforces with him, divided into companies, each of an hundred men, every captain\r\ncarrying a small bundle of grass and shrubs tied to a pole. The Latins call\r\nsuch bundles manipuli and from hence it is that in their armies still they call\r\ntheir captains manipulares. Remus rousing the citizens within to revolt, and\r\nRomulus making attacks from without, the tyrant, not knowing either what to do,\r\nor what expedient to think of for his security, in this perplexity and\r\nconfusion was taken and put to death. This narrative, for the most part given\r\nby Fabius and Diocles of Peparethus, who seem to be the earliest historians of\r\nthe foundation of Rome, is suspected by some, because of its dramatic and\r\nfictitious appearance; but it would not wholly be disbelieved, if men would\r\nremember what a poet fortune sometimes shows herself, and consider that the\r\nRoman power would hardly have reached so high a pitch without a divinely\r\nordered origin, attended with great and extraordinary circumstances.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmulius now being dead and matters quietly disposed, the two brothers would\r\nneither dwell in Alba without governing there, nor take the government into\r\ntheir own hands during the life of their grandfather. Having therefore\r\ndelivered the dominion up into his hands, and paid their mother befitting\r\nhonor, they resolved to live by themselves, and build a city in the same place\r\nwhere they were in their infancy brought up. This seems the most honorable\r\nreason for their departure; though perhaps it was necessary, having such a body\r\nof slaves and fugitives collected about them, either to come to nothing by\r\ndispersing them, or if not so, then to live with them elsewhere. For that the\r\ninhabitants of Alba did not think fugitives worthy of being received and\r\nincorporated as citizens among them plainly appears from the matter of the\r\nwomen, an attempt made not wantonly but of necessity, because they could not\r\nget wives by good-will. For they certainly paid unusual respect and honor to\r\nthose whom they thus forcibly seized.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after the first foundation of the city, they opened a sanctuary of\r\nrefuge for all fugitives, which they called the temple of the god Asylaeus,\r\nwhere they received and protected all, delivering none back, neither the\r\nservant to his master, the debtor to his creditor, nor the murderer into the\r\nhands of the magistrate, saying it was a privileged place, and they could so\r\nmaintain it by an order of the holy oracle; insomuch that the city grew\r\npresently very populous, for, they say, it consisted at first of no more than a\r\nthousand houses. But of that hereafter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTheir minds being fully bent upon building, there arose presently a difference\r\nabout the place where. Romulus chose what was called Roma Quadrata, or the\r\nSquare Rome, and would have the city there. Remus laid out a piece of ground on\r\nthe Aventine Mount, well fortified by nature, which was from him called\r\nRemonium, but now Rignarium. Concluding at last to decide the contest by a\r\ndivination from a flight of birds, and placing themselves apart at some\r\ndistance, Remus, they say, saw six vultures, and Romulus double the number;\r\nothers say Remus did truly see his number, and that Romulus feigned his, but,\r\nwhen Remus came to him, that then he did, indeed, see twelve. Hence it is that\r\nthe Romans, in their divinations from birds, chiefly regard the vulture, though\r\nHerodorus Ponticus relates that Hercules was always very joyful when a vulture\r\nappeared to him upon any action. For it is a creature the least hurtful of any,\r\npernicious neither to corn, fruit-tree, nor cattle; it preys only upon carrion,\r\nand never kills or hurts any living thing; and as for birds, it touches not\r\nthem, though they are dead, as being of its own species, whereas eagles, owls,\r\nand hawks mangle and kill their own fellow-creatures; yet, as Aeschylus says,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWhat bird is clean that preys on fellow bird ?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBesides all other birds are, so to say, never out of our eyes; they let\r\nthemselves be seen of us continually; but a vulture is a very rare sight, and\r\nyou can seldom meet with a man that has seen their young; their rarity and\r\ninfrequency has raised a strange opinion in some, that they come to us from\r\nsome other world; as soothsayers ascribe a divine origination to all things not\r\nproduced either of nature or of themselves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Remus knew the cheat, he was much displeased; and as Romulus was casting\r\nup a ditch, where he designed the foundation of the citywall, he turned some\r\npieces of the work to ridicule, and obstructed others: at last, as he was in\r\ncontempt leaping over it, some say Romulus himself struck him, others Celer,\r\none of his companions; he fell, however, and in the scuffle Faustulus also was\r\nslain, and Plistinus, who, being Faustulus’s brother, story tells us, helped to\r\nbring up Romulus. Celer upon this fled instantly into Tuscany, and from him the\r\nRomans call all men that are swift of foot Celeres; and because Quintus\r\nMetellus, at his father’s funeral, in a few days’ time gave the people a show\r\nof gladiators, admiring his expedition in getting it ready, they gave him the\r\nname of Celer.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nRomulus, having buried his brother Remus, together with his two foster-\r\nfathers, on the mount Remonia, set to building his city; and sent for men out\r\nof Tuscany, who directed him by sacred usages and written rules in all the\r\nceremonies to be observed, as in a religious rite. First, they dug a round\r\ntrench about that which is now the Comitium, or Court of Assembly, and into it\r\nsolemnly threw the first-fruits of all things either good by custom or\r\nnecessary by nature; lastly, every man taking a small piece of earth of the\r\ncountry from whence he came, they all threw them in promiscuously together.\r\nThis trench they call, as they do the heavens, Mundus; making which their\r\ncenter, they described the city in a circle round it. Then the founder fitted\r\nto a plow a brazen plowshare, and, yoking together a bull and a cow, drove\r\nhimself a deep line or furrow round the bounds; while the business of those\r\nthat followed after was to see that whatever earth was thrown up should be\r\nturned all inwards towards the city, and not to let any clod lie outside. With\r\nthis line they described the wall, and called it, by a contraction, Pomoerium,\r\nthat is, post murum, after or beside the wall; and where they designed to make\r\na gate, there they took out the share, carried the plow over, and left a space;\r\nfor which reason they consider the whole wall as holy, except where the gates\r\nare; for had they adjudged them also sacred, they could not, without offense to\r\nreligion, have given free ingress and egress for the necessaries of human life,\r\nsome of which are in themselves unclean.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for the day they began to build the city, it is universally agreed to have\r\nbeen the twenty-first of April, and that day the Romans annually keep holy,\r\ncalling it their country’s birthday. At first, they say, they sacrificed no\r\nliving creature on this day, thinking it fit to preserve the feast of their\r\ncountry’s birthday pure and without stain of blood. Yet before ever the city\r\nwas built, there was a feast of herdsmen and shepherds kept on this day, which\r\nwent by the name of Palilia. The Roman and Greek months have now little or no\r\nagreement; they say, however, the day on which Romulus began to build was quite\r\ncertainly the thirtieth of the month, at which time there was an eclipse of the\r\nsun which they conceive to be that seen by Antimachus, the Teian poet, in the\r\nthird year of the sixth Olympiad. In the times of Varro the philosopher, a man\r\ndeeply read in Roman history, lived one Tarrutius, his familiar acquaintance, a\r\ngood philosopher and mathematician, and one, too, that out of curiosity had\r\nstudied the way of drawing schemes and tables, and was thought to be a\r\nproficient in the art; to him Varro propounded to cast Romulus’s nativity, even\r\nto the first day and hour, making his deductions from the several events of the\r\nman’s life which he should be informed of, exactly as in working back a\r\ngeometrical problem; for it belonged, he said, to the same science both to\r\nforetell a man’s life by knowing the time of his birth, and also to find out\r\nhis birth by the knowledge of his life. This task Tarrutius undertook, and\r\nfirst looking into the actions and casualties of the man, together with the\r\ntime of his life and manner of his death, and then comparing all these remarks\r\ntogether, he very confidently and positively pronounced that Romulus was\r\nconceived in his mother’s womb the first year of the second Olympiad, the\r\ntwenty-third day of the month the Egyptians call Choeac, and the third hour\r\nafter sunset, at which time there was a total eclipse of the sun; that he was\r\nborn the twenty-first day of the month Thoth, about sun-rising; and that the\r\nfirst stone of Rome was laid by him the ninth day of the month Pharmuthi,\r\nbetween the second and third hour. For the fortunes of cities as well as of\r\nmen, they think, have their certain periods of time prefixed, which may be\r\ncollected and foreknown from the position of the stars at their first\r\nfoundation. But these and the like relations may perhaps not so much take and\r\ndelight the reader with their novelty and curiosity, as offend him by their\r\nextravagance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe city now being built, Romulus enlisted all that were of age to bear arms\r\ninto military companies, each company consisting of three thousand footmen and\r\nthree hundred horse. These companies were called legions, because they were the\r\nchoicest and most select of the people for fighting men. The rest of the\r\nmultitude he called the people; one hundred of the most eminent he chose for\r\ncounselors; these he styled patricians, and their assembly the senate, which\r\nsignifies a council of elders. The patricians, some say, were so called because\r\nthey were the fathers of lawful children; others, because they could give a\r\ngood account who their own fathers were, which not every one of the rabble that\r\npoured into the city at first could do; others, from patronage, their word for\r\nprotection of inferiors, the origin of which they attribute to Patron, one of\r\nthose that came over with Evander, who was a great protector and defender of\r\nthe weak and needy. But perhaps the most probable judgment might be, that\r\nRomulus, esteeming it the duty of the chiefest and wealthiest men, with a\r\nfatherly care and concern to look after the meaner, and also encouraging the\r\ncommonalty not to dread or be aggrieved at the honors of their superiors, but\r\nto love and respect them, and to think and call them their fathers, might from\r\nhence give them the name of patricians. For at this very time all foreigners\r\ngive senators the style of lords; but the Romans, making use of a more\r\nhonorable and less invidious name, call them Patres Conscripti; at first indeed\r\nsimply Patres, but afterwards, more being added, Patres Conscripti. By this\r\nmore imposing title he distinguished the senate from the populace; and in other\r\nways also separated the nobles and the commons,—calling them patrons, and these\r\ntheir clients,—by which means he created wonderful love and amity between them,\r\nproductive of great justice in their dealings. For they were always their\r\nclients’ counselors in law cases, their advocates in courts of justice, in fine\r\ntheir advisers and supporters in all affairs whatever. These again faithfully\r\nserved their patrons, not only paying them all respect and deference, but also,\r\nin case of poverty, helping them to portion their daughters and pay off their\r\ndebts; and for a patron to witness against his client, or a client against his\r\npatron, was what no law nor magistrate could enforce. In after times all other\r\nduties subsisting still between them, it was thought mean and dishonorable for\r\nthe better sort to take money from their inferiors. And so much of these\r\nmatters.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the fourth month, after the city was built, as Fabius writes, the adventure\r\nof stealing the women was attempted; and some say Romulus himself, being\r\nnaturally a martial man, and predisposed too, perhaps, by certain oracles, to\r\nbelieve the fates had ordained the future growth and greatness of Rome should\r\ndepend upon the benefit of war, upon these accounts first offered violence to\r\nthe Sabines, since he took away only thirty virgins, more to give an occasion\r\nof war than out of any want of women. But this is not very probable; it would\r\nseem rather that, observing his city to be filled by a confluence of\r\nforeigners, few of whom had wives, and that the multitude in general,\r\nconsisting of a mixture of mean and obscure men, fell under contempt, and\r\nseemed to be of no long continuance together, and hoping farther, after the\r\nwomen were appeased, to make this injury in some measure an occasion of\r\nconfederacy and mutual commerce with the Sabines, he took in hand this exploit\r\nafter this manner. First, he gave it out as if he had found an altar of a\r\ncertain god hid under ground; the god they called Consus, either the god of\r\ncounsel (for they still call a consultation consilium and their chief\r\nmagistrates consules, namely, counselors), or else the equestrian Neptune, for\r\nthe altar is kept covered in the circus maximus at all other times, and only at\r\nhorse-races is exposed to public view; others merely say that this god had his\r\naltar hid under ground because counsel ought to be secret and concealed. Upon\r\ndiscovery of this altar, Romulus, by proclamation, appointed a day for a\r\nsplendid sacrifice, and for public games and shows, to entertain all sorts of\r\npeople; many flocked thither, and he himself sat in front, amidst his nobles,\r\nclad in purple. Now the signal for their falling on was to be whenever he rose\r\nand gathered up his robe and threw it over his body; his men stood all ready\r\narmed, with their eyes intent upon him, and when the sign was given, drawing\r\ntheir swords and falling on with a great shout, they ravished away the\r\ndaughters of the Sabines, they themselves flying without any let or hindrance.\r\nThey say there were but thirty taken, and from them the Curiae or Fraternities\r\nwere named; but Valerius Antias says five hundred and twenty-seven, Juba, six\r\nhundred and eighty-three virgins; which was indeed the greatest excuse Romulus\r\ncould allege, namely, that they had taken no married woman, save one only,\r\nHersilia by name, and her too unknowingly; which showed they did not commit\r\nthis rape wantonly, but with a design purely of forming alliance with their\r\nneighbors by the greatest and surest bonds. This Hersilia some say Hostilius\r\nmarried, a most eminent man among the Romans; others, Romulus himself, and that\r\nshe bore two children to him, a daughter, by reason of primogeniture called\r\nPrima, and one only son, whom, from the great concourse of citizens to him at\r\nthat time, he called Aollius, but after ages Abillius. But Zenodotus the\r\nTroezenian, in giving this account, is contradicted by many.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmong those who committed this rape upon the virgins, there were, they say, as\r\nit so then happened, some of the meaner sort of men, who were carrying off a\r\ndamsel, excelling all in beauty and comeliness of stature, whom when some of\r\nsuperior rank that met them attempted to take away, they cried out they were\r\ncarrying her to Talasius, a young man, indeed, but brave and worthy; hearing\r\nthat, they commended and applauded them loudly, and also some, turning back,\r\naccompanied them with good- will and pleasure, shouting out the name of\r\nTalasius. Hence the Romans to this very time, at their weddings, sing Talasius\r\nfor their nuptial word, as the Greeks do Hymenaeus, because, they say, Talasius\r\nwas very happy in his marriage. But Sextius Sylla the Carthaginian, a man\r\nwanting neither learning nor ingenuity, told me Romulus gave this word as a\r\nsign when to begin the onset; everybody, therefore, who made prize of a maiden,\r\ncried out, Talasius; and for that reason the custom continues so now at\r\nmarriages. But most are of opinion (of whom Juba particularly is one) that this\r\nword was used to new-married women by way of incitement to good housewifery and\r\ntalasia (spinning), as we say in Greek, Greek words at that time not being as\r\nyet overpowered by Italian. But if this be the case, and if the Romans did at\r\nthat time use the word talasia as we do, a man might fancy a more probable\r\nreason of the custom. For when the Sabines, after the war against the Romans,\r\nwere reconciled, conditions were made concerning their women, that they should\r\nbe obliged to do no other servile offices to their husbands but what concerned\r\nspinning; it was customary, therefore, ever after, at weddings, for those that\r\ngave the bride or escorted her or otherwise were present, sportingly to say\r\nTalasius, intimating that she was henceforth to serve in spinning and no more.\r\nIt continues also a custom at this very day for the bride not of herself to\r\npass her husband’s threshold, but to be lifted over, in memory that the Sabine\r\nvirgins were carried in by violence, and did not go in of their own will. Some\r\nsay, too, the custom of parting the bride’s hair with the head of a spear was\r\nin token their marriages began at first by war and acts of hostility, of which\r\nI have spoken more fully in my book of Questions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis rape was committed on the eighteenth day of the month Sextilis, now called\r\nAugust, on which the solemnities of the Consualia are kept.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Sabines were a numerous and martial people, but lived in small, unfortified\r\nvillages, as it befitted, they thought, a colony of the Lacedaemonians to be\r\nbold and fearless; nevertheless, seeing themselves bound by such hostages to\r\ntheir good behavior, and being solicitous for their daughters, they sent\r\nambassadors to Romulus with fair and equitable requests, that he would return\r\ntheir young women and recall that act of violence, and afterwards, by\r\npersuasion and lawful means, seek friendly correspondence between both nations.\r\nRomulus would not part with the young women, yet proposed to the Sabines to\r\nenter into an alliance with them; upon which point some consulted and demurred\r\nlong, but Acron, king of the Ceninenses, a man of high spirit and a good\r\nwarrior, who had all along a jealousy of Romulus’s bold attempts, and\r\nconsidering particularly from this exploit upon the women that he was growing\r\nformidable to all people, and indeed insufferable, were he not chastised, first\r\nrose up in arms, and with a powerful army advanced against him. Romulus\r\nlikewise prepared to receive him; but when they came within sight and viewed\r\neach other, they made a challenge to fight a single duel, the armies standing\r\nby under arms, without participation. And Romulus, making a vow to Jupiter, if\r\nhe should conquer, to carry, himself, and dedicate his adversary’s armor to his\r\nhonor, overcame him in combat, and, a battle ensuing, routed his army also, and\r\nthen took his city; but did those he found in it no injury, only commanded them\r\nto demolish the place and attend him to Rome, there to be admitted to all the\r\nprivileges of citizens. And indeed there was nothing did more advance the\r\ngreatness of Rome, than that she did always unite and incorporate those whom\r\nshe conquered into herself. Romulus, that he might perform his vow in the most\r\nacceptable manner to Jupiter, and withal make the pomp of it delightful to the\r\neye of the city, cut down a tall oak which he saw growing in the camp, which he\r\ntrimmed to the shape of a trophy, and fastened on it Acron’s whole suit of\r\narmor disposed in proper form; then he himself, girding his clothes about him,\r\nand crowning his head with a laurel-garland, his hair gracefully flowing,\r\ncarried the trophy resting erect upon his right shoulder, and so marched on,\r\nsinging songs of triumph, and his whole army following after, the citizens all\r\nreceiving him with acclamations of joy and wonder. The procession of this day\r\nwas the origin and model of all after triumphs. This trophy was styled an\r\noffering to Jupiter Feretrius, from ferire, which in Latin is to smite; for\r\nRomulus prayed he might smite and overthrow his enemy; and the spoils were\r\ncalled opima, or royal spoils, says Varro, from their richness, which the word\r\nopes signifies; though one would more probably conjecture from opus, an act;\r\nfor it is only to the general of an army who with his own hand kills his\r\nenemies’ general that this honor is granted of offering the opima spolia. And\r\nthree only of the Roman captains have had it conferred on them: first, Romulus,\r\nupon killing Acron the Ceninensian; next, Cornelius Cossus, for slaying\r\nTolumnius the Tuscan; and lastly, Claudius Marcellus, upon his conquering\r\nViridomarus, king of the Gauls. The two latter, Cossus and Marcellus, made\r\ntheir entries in triumphant chariots, bearing their trophies themselves; but\r\nthat Romulus made use of a chariot, Dionysius is wrong in asserting. History\r\nsays, Tarquinius, Damaratus’s son, was the first that brought triumphs to this\r\ngreat pomp and grandeur; others, that Publicola was the first that rode in\r\ntriumph. The statues of Romulus in triumph are, as may be seen in Rome, all on\r\nfoot.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the overthrow of the Ceninensians, the other Sabines still protracting\r\nthe time in preparations, the people of Fidenae, Crustumerium, and Antemna,\r\njoined their forces against the Romans; they in like manner were defeated in\r\nbattle, and surrendered up to Romulus their cities to be seized, their lands\r\nand territories to be divided, and themselves to be transplanted to Rome. All\r\nthe lands which Romulus acquired, he distributed among the citizens, except\r\nonly what the parents of the stolen virgins had; these he suffered to possess\r\ntheir own. The rest of the Sabines, enraged hereat, choosing Tatius their\r\ncaptain, marched straight against Rome. The city was almost inaccessible,\r\nhaving for its fortress that which is now the Capitol, where a strong guard was\r\nplaced, and Tarpeius their captain; not Tarpeia the virgin, as some say who\r\nwould make Romulus a fool. But Tarpeia, daughter to the captain, coveting the\r\ngolden bracelets she saw them wear, betrayed the fort into the Sabines’ hands,\r\nand asked, in reward of her treachery, the things they wore on their left arms.\r\nTatius conditioning thus with her, in the night she opened one of the gates,\r\nand received the Sabines in. And truly Antigonus, it would seem, was not\r\nsolitary in saying, he loved betrayers, but hated those who had betrayed; nor\r\nCaesar, who told Rhymitalces the Thracian, that he loved the treason, but hated\r\nthe traitor; but it is the general feeling of all who have occasion for wicked\r\nmen’s service, as people have for the poison of venomous beasts; they are glad\r\nof them while they are of use, and abhor their baseness when it is over. And so\r\nthen did Tatius behave towards Tarpeia, for he commanded the Sabines, in regard\r\nto their contract, not to refuse her the least part of what they wore on their\r\nleft arms; and he himself first took his bracelet of his arm, and threw that,\r\ntogether with his buckler, at her; and all the rest following, she, being borne\r\ndown and quite buried with the multitude of gold and their shields, died under\r\nthe weight and pressure of them; Tarpeius also himself, being prosecuted by\r\nRomulus, was found guilty of treason, as Juba says Sulpicius Galba relates.\r\nThose who write otherwise concerning Tarpeia, as that she was the daughter of\r\nTatius, the Sabine captain, and, being forcibly detained by Romulus, acted and\r\nsuffered thus by her father’s contrivance, speak very absurdly, of whom\r\nAntigonus is one. And Simylus, the poet, who thinks Tarpeia betrayed the\r\nCapitol, not to the Sabines, but the Gauls, having fallen in love with their\r\nking, talks mere folly, saying thus:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTarpeia ’twas, who, dwelling close thereby,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nLaid open Rome unto the enemy.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nShe, for the love of the besieging Gaul,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBetrayed the city’s strength, the Capitol.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd a little after, speaking of her death:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe numerous nations of the Celtic foe\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBore her not living to the banks of Po;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTheir heavy shields upon the maid they threw,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd with their splendid gifts entombed at once and slew.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nTarpeia afterwards was buried there, and the hill from her was called Tarpeius,\r\nuntil the reign of king Tarquin, who dedicated the place to Jupiter, at which\r\ntime her bones were removed, and so it lost her name, except only that part of\r\nthe Capitol which they still call the Tarpeian Rock, from which they used to\r\ncast down malefactors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Sabines being possessed of the hill, Romulus, in great fury, bade them\r\nbattle, and Tatius was confident to accept it, perceiving, if they were\r\noverpowered, that they had behind them a secure retreat. The level in the\r\nmiddle, where they were to join battle, being surrounded with many little\r\nhills, seemed to enforce both parties to a sharp and desperate conflict, by\r\nreason of the difficulties of the place, which had but a few outlets,\r\ninconvenient either for refuge or pursuit. It happened, too, the river having\r\noverflowed not many days before, there was left behind in the plain, where now\r\nthe forum stands, a deep blind mud and slime, which, though it did not appear\r\nmuch to the eye, and was not easily avoided, at bottom was deceitful and\r\ndangerous; upon which the Sabines being unwarily about to enter, met with a\r\npiece of good fortune; for Curtius, a gallant man, eager of honor, and of\r\naspiring thoughts, being mounted on horseback, was galloping on before the\r\nrest, and mired his horse here, and, endeavoring for awhile by whip and spur\r\nand voice to disentangle him, but finding it impossible, quitted him and saved\r\nhimself; the place from him to this very time is called the Curtian Lake. The\r\nSabines, having avoided this danger, began the fight very smartly, the fortune\r\nof the day being very dubious, though many were slain; amongst whom was\r\nHostilius, who, they say, was husband to Hersilia, and grandfather to that\r\nHostilius who reigned after Numa. There were many other brief conflicts, we may\r\nsuppose, but the most memorable was the last, in which Romulus having received\r\na wound on his head by a stone, and being almost felled to the ground by it,\r\nand disabled, the Romans gave way, and, being driven out of the level ground,\r\nfled towards the Palatium. Romulus, by this time recovering from his wound a\r\nlittle, turned about to renew the battle, and, facing the fliers, with a loud\r\nvoice encouraged them to stand and fight. But being overborne with numbers, and\r\nnobody daring to face about, stretching out his hands to heaven, he prayed to\r\nJupiter to stop the army, and not to neglect but maintain the Roman cause, now\r\nin extreme danger. The prayer was no sooner made, than shame and respect for\r\ntheir king checked many; the fears of the fugitives changed suddenly into\r\nconfidence. The place they first stood at was where now is the temple of\r\nJupiter Stator (which may be translated the Stayer); there they rallied again\r\ninto ranks, and repulsed the Sabines to the place called now Regia, and to the\r\ntemple of Vesta; where both parties, preparing to begin a second battle, were\r\nprevented by a spectacle, strange to behold, and defying description. For the\r\ndaughters of the Sabines, who had been carried off, came running, in great\r\nconfusion, some on this side, some on that, with miserable cries and\r\nlamentations, like creatures possessed, in the midst of the army, and among the\r\ndead bodies, to come at their husbands and their fathers, some with their young\r\nbabes in their arms, others their hair loose about their ears, but all calling,\r\nnow upon the Sabines, now upon the Romans, in the most tender and endearing\r\nwords. Hereupon both melted into compassion, and fell back, to make room for\r\nthem between the armies. The sight of the women carried sorrow and\r\ncommiseration upon both sides into the hearts of all, but still more their\r\nwords, which began with expostulation and upbraiding, and ended with entreaty\r\nand supplication.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\n“Wherein,” say they, “have we injured or offended you, as to deserve such\r\nsufferings, past and present? We were ravished away unjustly and violently by\r\nthose whose now we are; that being done, we were so long neglected by our\r\nfathers, our brothers, and countrymen, that time, having now by the strictest\r\nbonds united us to those we once mortally hated, has made it impossible for us\r\nnot to tremble at the danger and weep at the death of the very men who once\r\nused violence to us. You did not come to vindicate our honor, while we were\r\nvirgins, against our assailants; but do come now to force away wives from their\r\nhusbands and mothers from their children, a succor more grievous to its\r\nwretched objects than the former betrayal and neglect of them. Which shall we\r\ncall the worst, their love-making or your compassion? If you were making war\r\nupon any other occasion, for our sakes you ought to withhold your hands from\r\nthose to whom we have made you fathers-in-law and grandsires. If it be for our\r\nown cause, then take us, and with us your sons-in-law and grandchildren.\r\nRestore to us our parents and kindred, but do not rob us of our children and\r\nhusbands. Make us not, we entreat you, twice captives.” Hersilia having spoken\r\nmany such words as these, and the others earnestly praying, a truce was made,\r\nand the chief officers came to a parley; the women, in the mean time, brought\r\nand presented their husbands and children to their fathers and brothers; gave\r\nthose that wanted, meat and drink, and carried the wounded home to be cured,\r\nand showed also how much they governed within doors, and how indulgent their\r\nhusbands were to them, in demeaning themselves towards them with all kindness\r\nand respect imaginable. Upon this, conditions were agreed upon, that what women\r\npleased might stay where they were, exempt, as aforesaid, from all drudgery and\r\nlabor but spinning; that the Romans and Sabines should inhabit the city\r\ntogether; that the city should be called Rome, from Romulus; but the Romans,\r\nQuirites, from the country of Tatius; and that they both should govern and\r\ncommand in common. The place of the ratification is still called Comitium, from\r\ncoire, to meet.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe city being thus doubled in number, one hundred of the Sabines were elected\r\nsenators, and the legions were increased to six thousand foot and six hundred\r\nhorse; then they divided the people into three tribes; the first, from Romulus,\r\nnamed Ramnenses; the second, from Tatius, Tatienses; the third, Luceres, from\r\nthe lucus, or grove, where the Asylum stood, whither many fled for sanctuary,\r\nand were received into the city. And that they were just three, the very name\r\nof tribe and tribune seems to show; each tribe contained ten curiae, or\r\nbrotherhoods, which, some say, took their names from the Sabine women; but that\r\nseems to be false, because many had their names from various places. Though it\r\nis true, they then constituted many things in honor to the women; as to give\r\nthem the way wherever they met them; to speak no ill word in their presence;\r\nnot to appear naked before them, or else be liable to prosecution before the\r\njudges of homicide; that their children should wear an ornament about their\r\nnecks called the bulla (because it was like a bubble), and the praetexta, a\r\ngown edged with purple.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe princes did not immediately join in council together, but at first each met\r\nwith his own hundred; afterwards all assembled together. Tatius dwelt where now\r\nthe temple of Moneta stands, and Romulus, close by the steps, as they call\r\nthem, of the Fair Shore, near the descent from the Mount Palatine to the Circus\r\nMaximus. There, they say, grew the holy cornel tree, of which they report, that\r\nRomulus once, to try his strength, threw a dart from the Aventine Mount, the\r\nstaff of which was made of cornel, which struck so deep into the ground, that\r\nno one of many that tried could pluck it up; and the soil, being fertile, gave\r\nnourishment to the wood, which sent forth branches, and produced a cornel-stock\r\nof considerable bigness. This did posterity preserve and worship as one of the\r\nmost sacred things; and, therefore, walled it about; and if to any one it\r\nappeared not green nor flourishing, but inclining to pine and wither, he\r\nimmediately made outcry to all he met, and they, like people hearing of a house\r\non fire, with one accord would cry for water, and run from all parts with\r\nbuckets full to the place. But when Caius Caesar, they say, was repairing the\r\nsteps about it, some of the laborers digging too close, the roots were\r\ndestroyed, and the tree withered.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Sabines adopted the Roman months, of which whatever is remarkable is\r\nmentioned in the Life of Numa. Romulus, on the other hand, adopted their long\r\nshields, and changed his own armor and that of all the Romans, who before wore\r\nround targets of the Argive pattern. Feasts and sacrifices they partook of in\r\ncommon, not abolishing any which either nation observed before, and instituting\r\nseveral new ones; of which one was the Matronalia, instituted in honor of the\r\nwomen. for their extinction of the war; likewise the Carmentalia. This Carmenta\r\nsome think a deity presiding over human birth; for which reason she is much\r\nhonored by mothers. Others say she was the wife of Evander, the Arcadian, being\r\na prophetess, and wont to deliver her oracles in verse, and from carmen, a\r\nverse, was called Carmenta; her proper name being Nicostrata. Others more\r\nprobably derive Carmenta from carens mente, or insane, in allusion to her\r\nprophetic frenzies. Of the Feast of Palilia we have spoken before. The\r\nLupercalia, by the time of its celebration, may seem to be a feast of\r\npurification, for it is solemnized on the dies nefasti, or non-court days, of\r\nthe month February, which name signifies purification, and the very day of the\r\nfeast was anciently called Februata; but its name is equivalent to the Greek\r\nLycaea; and it seems thus to be of great antiquity, and brought in by the\r\nArcadians who came with Evander. Yet this is but dubious, for it may come as\r\nwell from the wolf that nursed Romulus; and we see the Luperci, the priests,\r\nbegin their course from the place where they say Romulus was exposed. But the\r\nceremonies performed in it render the origin of the thing more difficult to be\r\nguessed at; for there are goats killed, then, two young noblemen’s sons being\r\nbrought, some are to stain their foreheads with the bloody knife, others\r\npresently to wipe it off with wool dipped in milk; then the young boys must\r\nlaugh after their foreheads are wiped; that done, having cut the goats’ skins\r\ninto thongs, they run about naked, only with something about their middle,\r\nlashing all they meet; and the young wives do not avoid their strokes, fancying\r\nthey will help conception and child-birth. Another thing peculiar to this feast\r\nis for the Luperci to sacrifice a dog. But as, a certain poet who wrote\r\nfabulous explanations of Roman customs in elegiac verses, says, that Romulus\r\nand Remus, after the conquest of Amulius, ran joyfully to the place where the\r\nwolf gave them suck; and that in imitation of that, this feast was held, and\r\ntwo young noblemen ran—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nStriking at all, as when from Alba town,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWith sword in hand, the twins came hurrying down;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand that the bloody knife applied to their foreheads was a sign of the danger\r\nand bloodshed of that day; the cleansing of them in milk, a remembrance of\r\ntheir food and nourishment. Caius Acilius writes, that, before the city was\r\nbuilt, the cattle of Romulus and Remus one day going astray, they, praying to\r\nthe god Faunus, ran out to seek them naked, wishing not to be troubled with\r\nsweat, and that this is why the Luperci run naked. If the sacrifice be by way\r\nof purification, a dog might very well be sacrificed; for the Greeks, in their\r\nlustrations, carry out young dogs, and frequently use this ceremony of\r\nperiscylacismus as they call it. Or if again it is a sacrifice of gratitude to\r\nthe wolf that nourished and preserved Romulus, there is good reason in killing\r\na dog, as being an enemy to wolves. Unless indeed, after all, the creature is\r\npunished for hindering the Luperci in their running.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey say, too, Romulus was the first that consecrated holy fire, and instituted\r\nholy virgins to keep it, called vestals; others ascribe it to Numa Pompilius;\r\nagreeing, however, that Romulus was otherwise eminently religious, and skilled\r\nin divination, and for that reason carried the lituus, a crooked rod with which\r\nsoothsayers describe the quarters of the heavens, when they sit to observe the\r\nflights of birds. This of his, being kept in the Palatium, was lost when the\r\ncity was taken by the Gauls; and afterwards, that barbarous people being driven\r\nout, was found in the ruins, under a great heap of ashes, untouched by the\r\nfire, all things about it being consumed and burnt. He instituted also certain\r\nlaws, one of which is somewhat severe, which suffers not a wife to leave her\r\nhusband, but grants a husband power to turn off his wife, either upon poisoning\r\nher children; or counterfeiting his keys, or for adultery; but if the husband\r\nupon any other occasion put her away, he ordered one moiety of his estate to be\r\ngiven to the wife, the other to fall to the goddess Ceres; and whoever cast off\r\nhis wife, to make an atonement by sacrifice to the gods of the dead. This, too,\r\nis observable as a singular thing in Romulus, that he appointed no punishment\r\nfor real parricide, but called all murder so, thinking the one an accursed\r\nthing, but the other a thing impossible; and, for a long time, his judgment\r\nseemed to have been right; for in almost six hundred years together, nobody\r\ncommitted the like in Rome; and Lucius Hostius, after the wars of Hanibal, is\r\nrecorded to have been the first parricide. Let thus much suffice concerning\r\nthese matters.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the fifth year of the reign of Tatius, some of his friends and kinsmen,\r\nmeeting ambassadors coming from Laurentum to Rome, attempted on the road to\r\ntake away their money by force, and, upon their resistance, killed them. So\r\ngreat a villainy having been committed, Romulus thought the malefactors ought\r\nat once to be punished, but Tatius shuffled off and deferred the execution of\r\nit; and this one thing was the beginning of open quarrel between them; in all\r\nother respects they were very careful of their conduct, and administered\r\naffairs together with great unanimity. The relations of the slain, being\r\ndebarred of lawful satisfaction by reason of Tatius, fell upon him as he was\r\nsacrificing with Romulus at Lavinium, and slew him; but escorted Romulus home,\r\ncommending and extolling him for a just prince. Romulus took the body of\r\nTatius, and buried it very splendidly in the Aventine Mount, near the place\r\ncalled Armilustrium, but altogether neglected revenging his murder. Some\r\nauthors write, the city of Laurentum, fearing the consequence, delivered up the\r\nmurderers of Tatius; but Romulus dismissed them, saying, one murder was\r\nrequited with another. This gave occasion of talk and jealousy, as if he were\r\nwell pleased at the removal of his copartner in the government. Nothing of\r\nthese things, however, raised any sort of feud or disturbance among the\r\nSabines; but some out of love to him, others out of fear of his power, some\r\nagain reverencing him as a god, they all continued living peacefully in\r\nadmiration and awe of him; many foreign nations, too, showed respect to\r\nRomulus; the Ancient Latins sent, and entered into league and confederacy with\r\nhim. Fidenae he took, a neighboring city to Rome, by a party of horse, as some\r\nsay, whom he sent before with commands to cut down the hinges of the gates,\r\nhimself afterwards unexpectedly coming up. Others say, they having first made\r\nthe invasion, plundering and ravaging the country and suburbs, Romulus lay in\r\nambush for them, and, having killed many of their men, took the city; but,\r\nnevertheless, did not raze or demolish it, but made it a Roman colony, and sent\r\nthither, on the Ides of April, two thousand five hundred inhabitants.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSoon after a plague broke out, causing sudden death without any previous\r\nsickness; it infected also the corn with unfruitfulness, and cattle with\r\nbarrenness; there rained blood, too, in the city; so that, to their actual\r\nsufferings, fear of the wrath of the gods was added. But when the same\r\nmischiefs fell upon Laurentum, then everybody judged it was divine vengeance\r\nthat fell upon both cities, for the neglect of executing justice upon the\r\nmurder of Tatius and the ambassadors. But the murderers on both sides being\r\ndelivered up and punished, the pestilence visibly abated; and Romulus purified\r\nthe cities with lustrations, which, they say, even now are performed at the\r\nwood called Ferentina. But before the plague ceased, the Camertines invaded the\r\nRomans and overran the country, thinking them, by reason of the distemper,\r\nunable to resist; but Romulus at once made head against them, and gained the\r\nvictory, with the slaughter of six thousand men; then took their city, and\r\nbrought half of those he found there to Rome; sending from Rome to Camerium\r\ndouble the number he left there. This was done the first of August. So many\r\ncitizens had he to spare, in sixteen years’ time from his first founding Rome.\r\nAmong other spoils, he took a brazen four-horse chariot from Camerium, which he\r\nplaced in the temple of Vulcan, setting on it his own statue, with a figure of\r\nVictory crowning him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Roman cause thus daily gathering strength, their weaker neighbors shrunk\r\naway, and were thankful to be left untouched; but the stronger, out of fear or\r\nenvy, thought they ought not to give way to Romulus, but to curb and put a stop\r\nto his growing greatness. The first were the Veientes, a people of Tuscany, who\r\nhad large possessions, and dwelt in a spacious city; they took occasion to\r\ncommence a war, by claiming Fidenae as belonging to them; a thing not only very\r\nunreasonable, but very ridiculous, that they, who did not assist them in the\r\ngreatest extremities, but permitted them to be slain, should challenge their\r\nlands and houses when in the hands of others. But being scornfully retorted\r\nupon by Romulus in his answers, they divided themselves into two bodies; with\r\none they attacked the garrison of Fidenae, the other marched against Romulus;\r\nthat which went against Fidenae got the victory, and slew two thousand Romans;\r\nthe other was worsted by Romulus, with the loss of eight thousand men. A fresh\r\nbattle was fought near Fidenae, and here all men acknowledge the day’s success\r\nto have been chiefly the work of Romulus himself, who showed the highest skill\r\nas well as courage, and seemed to manifest a strength and swiftness more than\r\nhuman. But what some write, that, of fourteen thousand that fell that day,\r\nabove half were slain by Romulus’s own hand, verges too near to fable, and is,\r\nindeed, simply incredible; since even the Messenians are thought to go too far\r\nin saying that Aristomenes three times offered sacrifice for the death of a\r\nhundred enemies, Lacedaemonians, slain by himself. The army being thus routed,\r\nRomulus, suffering those that were left to make their escape, led his forces\r\nagainst the city; they, having suffered such great losses, did not venture to\r\noppose, but, humbly suing to him, made a league and friendship for an hundred\r\nyears; surrendering also a large district of land called Septempagium, that is,\r\nthe seven parts, as also their salt-works upon the river, and fifty noblemen\r\nfor hostages. He made his triumph for this on the Ides of October, leading,\r\namong the rest of his many captives, the general of the Veientes, an elderly\r\nman, but who had not, it seemed, acted with the prudence of age; whence even\r\nnow, in sacrifices for victories, they lead an old man through the market place\r\nto the Capitol, appareled in purple, with a bulla, or child’s toy, tied to it,\r\nand the crier cries, Sardians to be sold; for the Tuscans are said to be a\r\ncolony of the Sardians, and the Veientes are a city of Tuscany.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was the last battle Romulus ever fought; afterwards he, as most, nay all\r\nmen, very few excepted, do, who are raised by great and miraculous good-haps of\r\nfortune to power and greatness, so, I say, did he; relying upon his own great\r\nactions, and growing of an haughtier mind, he forsook his popular behavior for\r\nkingly arrogance, odious to the people; to whom in particular the state which\r\nhe assumed was hateful. For he dressed in scarlet, with the purple-bordered\r\nrobe over it; he gave audience on a couch of state, having always about him\r\nsome young men called Celeres, from their swiftness in doing commissions; there\r\nwent before him others with staves, to make room, with leather thongs tied on\r\ntheir bodies, to bind on the moment whomever he commanded. The Latins formerly\r\nused ligare in the same sense as now alligare, to bind, whence the name\r\nlictors, for these officers, and bacula, or staves, for their rods, because\r\nstaves were then used. It is probable, however, they were first called litores,\r\nafterwards, by putting in a c, lictores, or, in Greek, liturgi, or people’s\r\nofficers, for leitos is still Greek for the commons, and laos for the people in\r\ngeneral.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when, after the death of his grandfather Numitor in Alba, the throne\r\ndevolving upon Romulus, he, to court the people, put the government into their\r\nown hands, and appointed an annual magistrate over the Albans, this taught the\r\ngreat men of Rome to seek after a free and anti- monarchical state, wherein all\r\nmight in turn be subjects and rulers. For neither were the patricians any\r\nlonger admitted to state affairs, only had the name and title left them,\r\nconvening in council rather for fashion’s sake than advice, where they heard in\r\nsilence the king’s commands, and so departed, exceeding the commonalty only in\r\nhearing first what was done. These and the like were matters of small moment;\r\nbut when he of his own accord parted among his soldiers what lands were\r\nacquired by war, and restored the Veientes their hostages, the senate neither\r\nconsenting nor approving of it, then, indeed, he seemed to put a great affront\r\nupon them; so that, on his sudden and strange disappearance a short while\r\nafter, the senate fell under suspicion and calumny. He disappeared on the Nones\r\nof July, as they now call the month which was then Quintilis, leaving nothing\r\nof certainty to be related of his death; only the time, as just mentioned, for\r\non that day many ceremonies are still performed in representation of what\r\nhappened. Neither is this uncertainty to be thought strange, seeing the manner\r\nof the death of Scipio Africanus, who died at his own home after supper, has\r\nbeen found capable neither of proof or disproof; for some say he died a natural\r\ndeath, being of a sickly habit; others, that he poisoned himself; others again,\r\nthat his enemies, breaking in upon him in the night, stifled him. Yet Scipio’s\r\ndead body lay open to be seen of all, and any one, from his own observation,\r\nmight form his suspicions and conjectures; whereas Romulus, when he vanished,\r\nleft neither the least part of his body, nor any remnant of his clothes to be\r\nseen. So that some fancied, the senators, having fallen upon him ill the temple\r\nof Vulcan, cut his body into pieces, and took each a part away in his bosom;\r\nothers think his disappearance was neither in the temple of Vulcan, nor with\r\nthe senators only by, but that, it came to pass that, as he was haranguing the\r\npeople without the city, near a place called the Goat’s Marsh, on a sudden\r\nstrange and unaccountable disorders and alterations took place in the air; the\r\nface of the sun was darkened, and the day turned into night, and that, too, no\r\nquiet, peaceable night, but with terrible thunderings, and boisterous winds\r\nfrom all quarters; during which the common people dispersed and fled, but the\r\nsenators kept close together. The tempest being over and the light breaking\r\nout, when the people gathered again, they missed and inquired for their king;\r\nthe senators suffered them not to search, or busy themselves about the matter,\r\nbut commanded them to honor and worship Romulus as one taken up to the gods,\r\nand about to be to them, in the place of a good prince, now a propitious god.\r\nThe multitude, hearing this, went away believing and rejoicing in hopes of good\r\nthings from him; but there were some, who, canvassing the matter in a hostile\r\ntemper, accused and aspersed the patricians, as men that persuaded the people\r\nto believe ridiculous tales, when they themselves were the murderers of the\r\nking.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThings being in this disorder, one, they say, of the patricians, of noble\r\nfamily and approved good character, and a faithful and familiar friend of\r\nRomulus himself, having come with him from Alba, Julius Proculus by name,\r\npresented himself in the forum; and, taking a most sacred oath, protested\r\nbefore them all, that, as he was traveling on the road, he had seen Romulus\r\ncoming to meet him, looking taller and comelier than ever, dressed in shining\r\nand faming armor; and he, being affrighted at the apparition, said, “Why, O\r\nking, or for what purpose have you abandoned us to unjust and wicked surmises,\r\nand the whole city to bereavement and endless sorrow?” and that he made answer,\r\n“It pleased the gods, O Proculus, that we, who came from them, should remain so\r\nlong a time amongst men as we did; and, having built a city to be the greatest\r\nin the world for empire and glory, should again return to heaven. But farewell;\r\nand tell the Romans, that, by the exercise of temperance and fortitude, they\r\nshall attain the height of human power; we will be to you the propitious god\r\nQuirinus.” This seemed credible to the Romans, upon the honesty and oath of the\r\nrelater, and indeed, too, there mingled with it a certain divine passion, some\r\npreternatural influence similar to possession by a divinity; nobody\r\ncontradicted it, but, laying aside all jealousies and detractions, they prayed\r\nto Quirinus and saluted him as a god.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis is like some of the Greek fables of Aristeas the Proconnesian, and\r\nCleomedes the Astypalaean; for they say Aristeas died in a fuller’s work-shop,\r\nand his friends, coming to look for him, found his body vanished; and that some\r\npresently after, coming from abroad, said they met him traveling towards\r\nCroton. And that Cleomedes, being an extraordinarily strong and gigantic man,\r\nbut also wild and mad, committed many desperate freaks; and at last, in a\r\nschool-house, striking a pillar that sustained the roof with his fist, broke it\r\nin the middle, so that the house fell and destroyed the children in it; and\r\nbeing pursued, he fled into a great chest, and, shutting to the lid, held it so\r\nfast, that many men, with their united strength, could not force it open;\r\nafterwards, breaking the chest to pieces, they found no man in it alive or\r\ndead; in astonishment at which, they sent to consult the oracle at Delphi; to\r\nwhom the prophetess made this answer,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nOf all the heroes, Cleomede is last.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThey say, too, the body of Alcmena, as they were carrying her to her grave,\r\nvanished, and a stone was found lying on the bier. And many such\r\nimprobabilities do your fabulous writers relate, deifying creatures naturally\r\nmortal; for though altogether to disown a divine nature in human virtue were\r\nimpious and base, so again to mix heaven with earth is ridiculous. Let us\r\nbelieve with Pindar, that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAll human bodies yield to Death’s decree,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe soul survives to all eternity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor that alone is derived from the gods, thence comes, and thither returns; not\r\nwith the body, but when most disengaged and separated from it, and when most\r\nentirely pure and clean and free from the flesh; for the most perfect soul,\r\nsays Heraclitus, is a dry light, which flies out of the body as lightning\r\nbreaks from a cloud; but that which is clogged and surfeited with body is like\r\ngross and humid incense, slow to kindle and ascend. We must not, therefore,\r\ncontrary to nature, send the bodies, too, of good men to heaven; but we must\r\nreally believe that, according to their divine nature and law, their virtue and\r\ntheir souls are translated out of men into heroes, out of heroes into\r\ndemi-gods, out of demi-gods, after passing, as in the rite of initiation,\r\nthrough a final cleansing and sanctification, and so freeing themselves from\r\nall that pertains to mortality and sense, are thus, not by human decree, but\r\nreally and according to right reason, elevated into gods, admitted thus to the\r\ngreatest and most blessed perfection.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nRomulus’s surname Quirinus, some say, is equivalent to Mars; others, that he\r\nwas so called because the citizens were called Quirites; others, because the\r\nancients called a dart or spear Quiris; thus, the statue of Juno resting on a\r\nspear is called Quiritis, and the dart in the Regia is addressed as Mars, and\r\nthose that were distinguished in war were usually presented with a dart; that,\r\ntherefore, Romulus, being a martial god, or a god of darts, was called\r\nQuirinus. A temple is certainly built to his honor on the mount called from him\r\nQuirinalis.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe day he vanished on is called the Flight of the People, and the Nones of the\r\nGoats, because they go then out of the city, and sacrifice at the Goat’s Marsh,\r\nand, as they go, they shout out some of the Roman names, as Marcus, Lucius,\r\nCaius, imitating the way in which they then fled and called upon one another in\r\nthat fright and hurry. Some, however, say, this was not in imitation of a\r\nflight, but of a quick and hasty onset, referring it to the following occasion:\r\nafter the Gauls who had taken Rome were driven out by Camillus, and the city\r\nwas scarcely as yet recovering her strength, many of the Latins, under the\r\ncommand of Livius Postumius, took this time to march against her. Postumius,\r\nhalting not far from Rome, sent a herald, signifying that the Latins were\r\ndesirous to renew their former alliance and affinity (that was now almost\r\ndecayed) by contracting new marriages between both nations; if, therefore, they\r\nwould send forth a good number of their virgins and widows, they should have\r\npeace and friendship, such as the Sabines had formerly had on the like\r\nconditions. The Romans, hearing this, dreaded a war, yet thought a surrender of\r\ntheir women little better than mere captivity. Being in this doubt, a\r\nservant-maid called Philotis (or, as some say, Tutola), advised them to do\r\nneither, but, by a stratagem, avoid both fighting and the giving up of such\r\npledges. The stratagem was this, that they should send herself, with other\r\nwell-looking servant-maids, to the enemy, in the dress of free-born virgins,\r\nand she should in the night light up a fire-signal, at which the Romans should\r\ncome armed and surprise them asleep. The Latins were thus deceived, and\r\naccordingly Philotis set up a torch in a wild fig-tree, screening it behind\r\nwith curtains and coverlets from the sight of the enemy, while visible to the\r\nRomans. They, when they saw it, eagerly ran out of the gates, calling in their\r\nhaste to each other as they went out, and so, falling in unexpectedly upon the\r\nenemy, they defeated them, and upon that made a feast of triumph, called the\r\nNones of the Goats, because of the wild fig-tree, called by the Romans\r\nCaprificus, or the goat-fig. They feast the women without the city in arbors\r\nmade of fig-tree boughs and the maid-servants gather together and run about\r\nplaying; afterwards they fight in sport, and throw stones one at another, in\r\nmemory that they then aided and assisted the Roman men in fight. This only a\r\nfew authors admit for true; For the calling upon one another’s names by day and\r\nthe going out to the Goat’s Marsh to do sacrifice seem to agree more with the\r\nformer story, unless, indeed, we shall say that both the actions might have\r\nhappened on the same day in different years. It was in the fifty-fourth year of\r\nhis age and the thirty-eighth of his reign that Romulus, they tell us, left the\r\nworld.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap03\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF ROMULUS WITH THESEUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis is what I have learnt of Romulus and Theseus, worthy of memory. It seems,\r\nfirst of all, that Theseus, out of his own free-will, without any compulsion,\r\nwhen he might have reigned in security at Troezen in the enjoyment of no\r\ninglorious empire, of his own motion affected great actions, whereas the other,\r\nto escape present servitude and a punishment that threatened him, (according to\r\nPlato’s phrase) grew valiant purely out of fear, and dreading the extremest\r\ninflictions, attempted great enterprises out of mere necessity. Again, his\r\ngreatest action was only the killing of one king of Alba; while, as mere\r\nby-adventures and preludes, the other can name Sciron, Sinnis, Procrustes, and\r\nCorynetes; by reducing and killing of whom, he rid Greece of terrible\r\noppressors, before any of them that were relieved knew who did it; moreover, he\r\nmight without any trouble as well have gone to Athens by sea, considering he\r\nhimself never was in the least injured by those robbers; where as Romulus could\r\nnot but be in trouble whilst Amulius lived. Add to this the fact that Theseus,\r\nfor no wrong done to himself, but for the sake of others, fell upon these\r\nvillains; but Romulus and Remus, as long as they themselves suffered no ill by\r\nthe tyrant, permitted him to oppress all others. And if it be a great thing to\r\nhave been wounded in battle by the Sabines, to have killed king Acron, and to\r\nhave conquered many enemies, we may oppose to these actions the battle with the\r\nCentaurs and the feats done against the Amazons. But what Theseus adventured,\r\nin offering himself voluntarily with young boys and virgins, as part of the\r\ntribute unto Crete, either to be a prey to a monster or a victim upon the tomb\r\nof Androgeus, or, according to the mildest form of the story, to live vilely\r\nand dishonorably in slavery to insulting and cruel men; it is not to be\r\nexpressed what an act of courage, magnanimity, or justice to the public, or of\r\nlove for honor and bravery, that was. So that methinks the philosophers did not\r\nill define love to be the provision of the gods for the care and preservation\r\nof the young; for the love of Ariadne, above all, seems to have been the proper\r\nwork and design of some god in order to preserve Theseus; and, indeed, we ought\r\nnot to blame her for loving him, but rather wonder all men and women were not\r\nalike affected towards him; and if she alone were so. truly I dare pronounce\r\nher worthy of the love of a god, who was herself so great a lover of virtue and\r\ngoodness, and the bravest man.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBoth Theseus and Romulus were by nature meant for governors; yet neither lived\r\nup to the true character of a king, but fell off, and ran, the one into\r\npopularity, the other into tyranny, falling both into the same fault out of\r\ndifferent passions. For a ruler’s first end is to maintain his office, which is\r\ndone no less by avoiding what is unfit than by observing what is suitable.\r\nWhoever is either too remiss or too strict is no more a king or a governor, but\r\neither a demagogue or a despot, and so becomes either odious or contemptible to\r\nhis subjects. Though certainly the one seems to be the fault of easiness and\r\ngood-nature, the other of pride and severity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIf men’s calamities, again, are not to be wholly imputed to fortune, but refer\r\nthemselves to differences of character, who will acquit either Theseus of rash\r\nand unreasonable anger against his son, or Romulus against his brother? Looking\r\nat motives, we more easily excuse the anger which a stronger cause, like a\r\nseverer blow, provoked. Romulus, having disagreed with his brother advisedly\r\nand deliberately on public matters, one would think could not on a sudden have\r\nbeen put into so great a passion; but love and jealousy and the complaints of\r\nhis wife, which few men can avoid being moved by, seduced Theseus to commit\r\nthat outrage upon his son. And what is more, Romulus, in his anger, committed\r\nan action of unfortunate consequence; but that of Theseus ended only in words,\r\nsome evil speaking, and an old man’s curse; the rest of the youth’s disasters\r\nseem to have proceeded from fortune; so that, so far, a man would give his vote\r\non Theseus’s part.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Romulus has, first of all, one great plea, that his performances proceeded\r\nfrom very small beginnings; for both the brothers being thought servants and\r\nthe sons of swineherds, before becoming freemen themselves, gave liberty to\r\nalmost all the Latins, obtaining at once all the most honorable titles, as\r\ndestroyers of their country’s enemies, preservers of their friends and kindred,\r\nprinces of the people, founders of cities, not removers, like Theseus, who\r\nraised and compiled only one house out of many, demolishing many cities bearing\r\nthe names of ancient kings and heroes. Romulus, indeed, did the same\r\nafterwards, forcing his enemies to deface and ruin their own dwellings, and to\r\nsojourn with their conquerors; but at first, not by removal, or increase of an\r\nexisting city, but by foundation of a new one, he obtained himself lands, a\r\ncountry, a kingdom, wives, children, and relations. And, in so doing, he killed\r\nor destroyed nobody, but benefited those that wanted houses and homes and were\r\nwilling to be of a society and become citizens. Robbers and malefactors he slew\r\nnot; but he subdued nations, he overthrew cities, he triumphed over kings and\r\ncommanders. As to Remus, it is doubtful by whose hand he fell; it is generally\r\nimputed to others. His mother he clearly retrieved from death, and placed his\r\ngrandfather who was brought under base and dishonorable vassalage, on the\r\nancient throne of Aeneas, to whom he did voluntarily many good offices, but\r\nnever did him harm even inadvertently. But Theseus, in his forgetfulness and\r\nneglect of the command concerning the flag, can scarcely, methinks, by any\r\nexcuses, or before the most indulgent judges, avoid the imputation of\r\nparricide. And, indeed, one of the Attic writers, perceiving it to be very hard\r\nto make an excuse for this, feigns that Aegeus, at the approach of the ship,\r\nrunning hastily to the Acropolis to see what news, slipped and fell down, as if\r\nhe had no servants, or none would attend him on his way to the shore.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, indeed, the faults committed in the rapes of women admit of no plausible\r\nexcuse in Theseus. First, because of the often repetition of the crime; for he\r\nstole Ariadne, Antiope, Anaxo the Troezenian, at last Helen, when he was an old\r\nman, and she not marriageable; she a child, and he at an age past even lawful\r\nwedlock. Then, on account of the cause; for the Troezenian, Lacedaemonian, and\r\nAmazonian virgins, beside that they were not betrothed to him, were not\r\nworthier to raise children by than the Athenian women, derived from Erechtheus\r\nand Cecrops; but it is to be suspected these things were done out of wantonness\r\nand lust. Romulus, when he had taken near eight hundred women, chose not all,\r\nbut only Hersilia, as they say, for himself; the rest he divided among the\r\nchief of the city; and afterwards, by the respect and tenderness and justice\r\nshown towards them, he made it clear that this violence and injury was a\r\ncommendable and politic exploit to establish a society; by which he intermixed\r\nand united both nations, and made it the fountain of after friendship and\r\npublic stability. And to the reverence and love and constancy he established in\r\nmatrimony, time can witness; for in two hundred and thirty years, neither any\r\nhusband deserted his wife, nor any wife her husband; but, as the curious among\r\nthe Greeks can name the first case of parricide or matricide, so the Romans all\r\nwell know that Spurius Carvilius was the first who put away his wife, accusing\r\nher of barrenness. The immediate results were similar; for upon those marriages\r\nthe two princes shared in the dominion, and both nations fell under the same\r\ngovernment. But from the marriages of Theseus proceeded nothing of friendship\r\nor correspondence for the advantage of commerce, but enmities and wars and the\r\nslaughter of citizens, and, at last, the loss of the city Aphidnae, when only\r\nout of the compassion of the enemy, whom they entreated and caressed like gods,\r\nthey escaped suffering what Troy did by Paris. Theseus’s mother, however, was\r\nnot only in danger, but suffered actually what Hecuba did, deserted and\r\nneglected by her son, unless her captivity be not a fiction, as I could wish\r\nboth that and other things were. The circumstances of the divine intervention,\r\nsaid to have preceded or accompanied their births, are also in contrast; for\r\nRomulus was preserved by the special favor of the gods; but the oracle given to\r\nAegeus, commanding him to abstain, seems to demonstrate that the birth of\r\nTheseus was not agreeable to the will of the gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap04\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eLYCURGUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere is so much uncertainty in the accounts which historians have left us of\r\nLycurgus, the lawgiver of Sparta, that scarcely anything is asserted by one of\r\nthem which is not called into question or contradicted by the rest. Their\r\nsentiments are quite different as to the family he came of, the voyages he\r\nundertook, the place and manner of his death, but most of all when they speak\r\nof the laws he made and the commonwealth which he founded. They cannot, by any\r\nmeans, be brought to an agreement as to the very age in which he lived; for\r\nsome of them say that he flourished in the time of Iphitus, and that they two\r\njointly contrived the ordinance for the cessation of arms during the solemnity\r\nof the Olympic games. Of this opinion was Aristotle; and for confirmation of\r\nit, he alleges an inscription upon one of the copper quoits used in those\r\nsports, upon which the name of Lycurgus continued uneffaced to his time. But\r\nEratosthenes and Apollodorus and other chronologers, computing the time by the\r\nsuccessions of the Spartan kings, pretend to demonstrate that he was much more\r\nancient than the institution of the Olympic games. Timaeus conjectures that\r\nthere were two of this name, and in diverse times, but that the one of them\r\nbeing much more famous than the other, men gave to him the glory of the\r\nexploits of both; the elder of the two, according to him, was not long after\r\nHomer; and some are so particular as to say that he had seen him. But that he\r\nwas of great antiquity may be gathered from a passage in Xenophon, where he\r\nmakes him contemporary with the Heraclidae. By descent, indeed, the very last\r\nkings of Sparta were Heraclidae too; but he seems in that place to speak of the\r\nfirst and more immediate successors of Hercules. But notwithstanding this\r\nconfusion and obscurity, we shall endeavor to compose the history of his life,\r\nadhering to those statements which are least contradicted, and depending upon\r\nthose authors who are most worthy of credit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe poet Simonides will have it that Lycurgus was the son of Prytanis, and not\r\nof Eunomus; but in this opinion he is singular, for all the rest deduce the\r\ngenealogy of them both as follows:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cpre\u003e\r\n Aristodemus\r\n Patrocles\r\n Sous\r\n Eurypon\r\n Eunomus\r\n —————————————————————\r\n Polydectes by his first wife Lycurgus by Dionassa his second.\r\n \u003c/pre\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDieuchidas says he was the sixth from Patrocles and the eleventh from Hercules.\r\nBe this as it will, Sous certainly was the most renowned of all his ancestors,\r\nunder whose conduct the Spartans made slaves of the Helots, and added to their\r\ndominions, by conquest, a good part of Arcadia, There goes a story of this king\r\nSous, that, being besieged by the Clitorians in a dry and stony place so that\r\nhe could come at no water, he was at last constrained to agree with them upon\r\nthese terms, that he would restore to them all his conquests, provided that\r\nhimself and all his men should drink of the nearest spring. After the usual\r\noaths and ratifications, he called his soldiers together, and offered to him\r\nthat would forbear drinking, his kingdom for a reward; and when not a man of\r\nthem was able to forbear, in short, when they had all drunk their fill, at last\r\ncomes king Sous himself to the spring, and, having sprinkled his face only,\r\nwithout swallowing one drop, marches off in the face of his enemies, refusing\r\nto yield up his conquests, because himself and all his men had not, according\r\nto the articles, drunk of their water.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlthough he was justly had in admiration on this account, yet his family was\r\nnot surnamed from him, but from his son Eurypon (of whom they were called\r\nEurypontids); the reason of which was that Eurypon relaxed the rigor of the\r\nmonarchy, seeking favor and popularity with the many. They, after this first\r\nstep, grew bolder; and the succeeding kings partly incurred hatred with their\r\npeople by trying to use force, or, for popularity’s sake and through weakness,\r\ngave way; and anarchy and confusion long prevailed in Sparta, causing,\r\nmoreover, the death of the father of Lycurgus. For as he was endeavoring to\r\nquell a riot, he was stabbed with a butcher’s knife, and left the title of king\r\nto his eldest son Polydectes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe, too, dying soon after, the right of succession (as every one thought)\r\nrested in Lycurgus; and reign he did, until it was found that the queen, his\r\nsister-in-law, was with child; upon which he immediately declared that the\r\nkingdom belonged to her issue, provided it were male, and that he himself\r\nexercised the regal jurisdiction only as his guardian; the Spartan name for\r\nwhich office is prodicus. Soon after, an overture was made to him by the queen,\r\nthat she would herself in some way destroy the infant, upon condition that he\r\nwould marry her when he came to the crown. Abhorring the woman’s wickedness, he\r\nnevertheless did not reject her proposal, but, making show of closing with her,\r\ndispatched the messenger with thanks and expressions of joy, but dissuaded her\r\nearnestly from procuring herself to miscarry, which would impair her health, if\r\nnot endanger her life; he himself, he said, would see to it, that the child, as\r\nsoon as born, should be taken out of the way. By such artifices having drawn on\r\nthe woman to the time of her lying-in, as soon as he heard that she was in\r\nlabor, he sent persons to be by and observe all that passed, with orders that\r\nif it were a girl they should deliver it to the women, but if a boy, should\r\nbring it to him wheresoever he were, and whatsoever doing. It so fell out that\r\nwhen he was at supper with the principal magistrates the queen was brought to\r\nbed of a boy, who was soon after presented to him as he was at the table; he,\r\ntaking him into his arms, said to those about him, “Men of Sparta, here is a\r\nking born unto us;” this said, he laid him down in the king’s place, and named\r\nhim Charilaus, that is, the joy of the people; because that all were\r\ntransported with joy and with wonder at his noble and just spirit. His reign\r\nhad lasted only eight months, but he was honored on other accounts by the\r\ncitizens, and there were more who obeyed him because of his eminent virtues,\r\nthan because he was regent to the king and had the royal power in his hands.\r\nSome, however, envied and sought to impede his growing influence while he was\r\nstill young; chiefly the kindred and friends of the queen mother, who pretended\r\nto have been dealt with injuriously. Her brother Leonidas, in a warm debate\r\nwhich fell out betwixt him and Lycurgus, went so far as to tell him to his face\r\nthat he was well assured that ere long he should see him king; suggesting\r\nsuspicions and preparing the way for an accusation of him, as though he had\r\nmade away with his nephew, if the child should chance to fail though by a\r\nnatural death. Words of the like import were designedly cast abroad by the\r\nqueen-mother and her adherents.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTroubled at this, and not knowing what it might come to, he thought it his\r\nwisest course to avoid their envy by a voluntary exile, and to travel from\r\nplace to place until his nephew came to marriageable years, and, by having a\r\nson, had secured the succession; setting sail, therefore, with this resolution,\r\nhe first arrived at Crete, where, having considered their several forms of\r\ngovernment, and got an acquaintance with the principal men amongst them, some\r\nof their laws he very much approved of, and resolved to make use of them in his\r\nown country; a good part he rejected as useless. Amongst the persons there the\r\nmost renowned for their learning all their wisdom in state matters was one\r\nThales, whom Lycurgus, by importunities and assurances of friendship, persuaded\r\nto go over to Lacedaemon; where, though by his outward appearance and his own\r\nprofession he seemed to be no other than a lyric poet, in reality he performed\r\nthe part of one of the ablest lawgivers in the world. The very songs which he\r\ncomposed were exhortations to obedience and concord, and the very measure and\r\ncadence of the verse, conveying impressions of order and tranquility, had so\r\ngreat an influence on the minds of the listeners, that they were insensibly\r\nsoftened and civilized, insomuch that they renounced their private feuds and\r\nanimosities, and were reunited in a common admiration of virtue. So that it may\r\ntruly be said that Thales prepared the way for the discipline introduced by\r\nLycurgus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom Crete he sailed to Asia, with design, as is said, to examine the\r\ndifference betwixt the manners and rules of life of the Cretans, which were\r\nvery sober and temperate, and those of the Ionians, a people of sumptuous and\r\ndelicate habits, and so to form a judgment; just as physicians do by comparing\r\nhealthy and diseased bodies. Here he had the first sight of Homer’s works, in\r\nthe hands, we may suppose, of the posterity of Creophylus; and, having observed\r\nthat the few loose expressions and actions of ill example which are to be found\r\nin his poems were much outweighed by serious lessons of state and rules of\r\nmorality, he set himself eagerly to transcribe and digest them into order, as\r\nthinking they would be of good use in his own country. They had, indeed,\r\nalready obtained some slight repute amongst the Greeks, and scattered portions,\r\nas chance conveyed them, were in the hands of individuals; but Lycurgus first\r\nmade them really known.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Egyptians say that he took a voyage into Egypt, and that, being much taken\r\nwith their way of separating the soldiery from the rest of the nation, he\r\ntransferred it from them to Sparta, a removal from contact with those employed\r\nin low and mechanical occupations giving high refinement and beauty to the\r\nstate. Some Greek writers also record this. But as for his voyages into Spain,\r\nAfrica, and the Indies, and his conferences there with the Gymnosophists, the\r\nwhole relation, as far as I can find, rests on the single credit of the Spartan\r\nAristocrates, the son of Hipparchus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLycurgus was much missed at Sparta, and often sent for, “for kings indeed we\r\nhave,” they said, “who wear the marks and assume the titles of royalty, but as\r\nfor the qualities of their minds, they have nothing by which they are to be\r\ndistinguished from their subjects;” adding, that in him alone was the true\r\nfoundation of sovereignty to be seen, a nature made to rule, and a genius to\r\ngain obedience. Nor were the kings themselves averse to see him back, for they\r\nlooked upon his presence as a bulwark against the insolencies of the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThings being in this posture at his return, he applied himself, without loss of\r\ntime, to a thorough reformation and resolved to change the whole face of the\r\ncommonwealth; for what could a few particular laws and a partial alteration\r\navail? He must act as wise physicians do, in the case of one who labors under a\r\ncomplication of diseases, by force of medicines reduce and exhaust him, change\r\nhis whole temperament, and then set him upon a totally new regimen of diet.\r\nHaving thus projected things, away he goes to Delphi to consult Apollo there;\r\nwhich having done, and offered his sacrifice, he returned with that renowned\r\noracle, in which he is called beloved of God, and rather God than man; that his\r\nprayers were heard, that his laws should be the best, and the commonwealth\r\nwhich observed them the most famous in the world. Encouraged by these things,\r\nhe set himself to bring over to his side the leading men of Sparta, exhorting\r\nthem to give him a helping hand in his great undertaking; he broke it first to\r\nhis particular friends, and then by degrees gained others, and animated them\r\nall to put his design in execution. When things were ripe for action, he gave\r\norder to thirty of the principal men of Sparta to be ready armed at the\r\nmarket-place by break of day, to the end that he might strike a terror into the\r\nopposite party. Hermippus hath set down the names of twenty of the most eminent\r\nof them; but the name of him whom Lycurgus most confided in, and who was of\r\nmost use to him, both in making his laws and putting them in execution, was\r\nArthmiadas. Things growing to a tumult, king Charilaus, apprehending that it\r\nwas a conspiracy against his person, took sanctuary in the temple of Minerva of\r\nthe Brazen House; but, being soon after undeceived, and having taken an oath of\r\nthem that they had no designs against him, he quitted his refuge, and himself\r\nalso entered into the confederacy with them; of so gentle and flexible a\r\ndisposition he was, to which Archelaus, his brother-king, alluded, when,\r\nhearing him extolled for his goodness, he said, “Who can say he is anything but\r\ngood? he is so even to the bad.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmongst the many changes and alterations which Lycurgus made, the first and of\r\ngreatest importance was the establishment of the senate, which, having a power\r\nequal to the kings’ in matters of great consequence, and, as Plato expresses\r\nit, allaying and qualifying the fiery genius of the royal office, gave\r\nsteadiness and safety to the commonwealth. For the state, which before had no\r\nfirm basis to stand upon, but leaned one while towards an absolute monarchy,\r\nwhen the kings had the upper hand, and another while towards a pure democracy,\r\nwhen the people had the better, found in this establishment of the senate a\r\ncentral weight, like ballast in a ship, which always kept things in a just\r\nequilibrium; the twenty-eight always adhering to the kings so far as to resist\r\ndemocracy, and, on the other hand, supporting the people against the\r\nestablishment of absolute monarchy. As for the determinate number of\r\ntwenty-eight, Aristotle states, that it so fell out because two of the original\r\nassociates, for want of courage, fell off from the enterprise; but Sphaerus\r\nassures us that there were but twenty-eight of the confederates at first;\r\nperhaps there is some mystery in the number, which consists of seven multiplied\r\nby four, and is the first of perfect numbers after six, being, as that is,\r\nequal to all its parts. For my part, I believe Lycurgus fixed upon the number\r\nof twenty-eight, that, the two kings being reckoned amongst them, they might be\r\nthirty in all. So eagerly set was he upon this establishment, that he took the\r\ntrouble to obtain an oracle about it from Delphi, the Rhetra, which runs thus:\r\n“After that you have built a temple to Jupiter Hellanius, and to Minerva\r\nHellania, and after that you have phyle’d the people phyles, and obe’d them\r\ninto obes, you shall establish a council of thirty elders, the leaders\r\nincluded, and shall, from time to time, apellazein the people betwixt Babyca\r\nand Cnacion, there propound and put to the vote. The commons have the final\r\nvoice and decision. “ By phyles and obes are meant the divisions of the people;\r\nby the leaders, the two kings; apellazein, referring to the Pythian Apollo,\r\nsignifies to assemble; Babyca and Cnacion they now call Oenus; Aristotle says\r\nCnacion is a river, and Babyca a bridge. Betwixt this Babyca and Cnacion, their\r\nassemblies were held, for they had no council-house or building, to meet in.\r\nLycurgus was of opinion that ornaments were so far from advantaging them in\r\ntheir counsels, that they were rather an hindrance, by diverting their\r\nattention from the business before them to statues and pictures, and roofs\r\ncuriously fretted, the usual embellishments of such places amongst the other\r\nGreeks. The people then being thus assembled in the open air, it was not\r\nallowed to any one of their order to give his advice, but only either to ratify\r\nor reject what should be propounded to them by the king or senate. But because\r\nit fell out afterwards that the people, by adding or omitting words, distorted\r\nand perverted the sense of propositions, kings Polydorus and Theopompus\r\ninserted into the Rhetra, or grand covenant, the following clause: “That if the\r\npeople decide crookedly, it should be lawful for the elders and leaders to\r\ndissolve;” that is to say, refuse ratification, and dismiss the people as\r\ndepravers and perverters of their counsel. It passed among the people, by their\r\nmanagement, as being equally authentic with the rest of the Rhetra, as appears\r\nby these verses of Tyrtaeus,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThese oracles they from Apollo heard,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd brought from Pytho home the perfect word:\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe heaven-appointed kings, who love the land,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nShall foremost in the nation’s council stand;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe elders next to them; the commons last;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nLet a straight Rhetra among all be passed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlthough Lycurgus had, in this manner, used all the qualifications possible in\r\nthe constitution of his commonwealth, yet those who succeeded him found the\r\noligarchical element still too strong and dominant, and, to check its high\r\ntemper and its violence, put, as Plato says, a bit in its mouth, which was the\r\npower of the ephori, established one hundred and thirty years after the death\r\nof Lycurgus. Elatus and his colleagues were the first who had this dignity\r\nconferred upon them, in the reign of king Theopompus, who, when his queen\r\nupbraided him one day that he would leave the regal power to his children less\r\nthan he had received it from his ancestors, said, in answer, “No, greater; for\r\nit will last longer.” For, indeed, their prerogative being thus reduced within\r\nreasonable bounds, the Spartan kings were at once freed from all further\r\njealousies and consequent danger, and never experienced the calamities of their\r\nneighbors at Messene and Argos, who, by maintaining their prerogative too\r\nstrictly, for want of yielding a little to the populace, lost it all.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIndeed, whosoever shall look at the sedition and misgovernment which befell\r\nthese bordering nations to whom they were as near related in blood as\r\nsituation, will find in them the best reason to admire the wisdom and foresight\r\nof Lycurgus. For these three states, in their first rise, were equal, or, if\r\nthere were any odds, they lay on the side of the Messenians and Argives, who,\r\nin the first allotment, were thought to have been luckier than the Spartans;\r\nyet was their happiness but of small continuance, partly the tyrannical temper\r\nof their kings and partly the ungovernableness of the people quickly bringing\r\nupon them such disorders, and so complete an overthrow of all existing\r\ninstitutions, as clearly to show how truly divine a blessing the Spartans had\r\nhad in that wise lawgiver who gave their government its happy balance and\r\ntemper. But of this I shall say more in its due place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the creation of the thirty senators, his next task, and, indeed, the most\r\nhazardous he ever undertook, was the making a new division of their lands. For\r\nthere was an extreme inequality amongst them, and their state was overloaded\r\nwith a multitude of indigent and necessitous persons, while its whole wealth\r\nhad centered upon a very few. To the end, therefore, that he might expel from\r\nthe state arrogance and envy, luxury and crime, and those yet more inveterate\r\ndiseases of want and superfluity, he obtained of them to renounce their\r\nproperties, and to consent to a new division of the land, and that they should\r\nlive all together on an equal footing; merit to be their only road to eminence,\r\nand the disgrace of evil, and credit of worthy acts, their one measure of\r\ndifference between man and man.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon their consent to these proposals, proceeding at once to put them into\r\nexecution, he divided the country of Laconia in general into thirty thousand\r\nequal shares, and the part attached to the city of Sparta into nine thousand;\r\nthese he distributed among the Spartans, as he did the others to the country\r\ncitizens. Some authors say that he made but six thousand lots for the citizens\r\nof Sparta, and that king Polydorus added three thousand more. Others say that\r\nPolydorus doubled the number Lycurgus had made, which, according to them, was\r\nbut four thousand five hundred. A lot was so much as to yield, one year with\r\nanother, about seventy bushels of grain for the master of the family, and\r\ntwelve for his wife, with a suitable proportion of oil and wine. And this he\r\nthought sufficient to keep their bodies in good health and strength;\r\nsuperfluities they were better without. It is reported, that, as he returned\r\nfrom a journey shortly after the division of the lands, in harvest time, the\r\nground being newly reaped, seeing the stacks all standing equal and alike, he\r\nsmiled, and said to those about him, “Methinks all Laconia looks like one\r\nfamily estate just divided among a number of brothers.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot contented with this, he resolved to make a division of their movables too,\r\nthat there might be no odious distinction or inequality left amongst them; but\r\nfinding that it would be very dangerous to go about it openly, he took another\r\ncourse, and defeated their avarice by the following stratagem: he commanded\r\nthat all gold and silver coin should be called in, and that only a sort of\r\nmoney made of iron should be current, a great weight and quantity of which was\r\nbut very little worth; so that to lay up twenty or thirty pounds there was\r\nrequired a pretty large closet, and, to remove it, nothing less than a yoke of\r\noxen. With the diffusion of this money, at once a number of vices were banished\r\nfrom Lacedaemon; for who would rob another of such a coin? Who would unjustly\r\ndetain or take by force, or accept as a bribe, a thing which it was not easy to\r\nhide, nor a credit to have, nor indeed of any use to cut in pieces? For when it\r\nwas just red hot, they quenched it in vinegar, and by that means spoilt it, and\r\nmade it almost incapable of being worked.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the next place, he declared an outlawry of all needless and superfluous\r\narts; but here he might almost have spared his proclamation; for they of\r\nthemselves would have gone after the gold and silver, the money which remained\r\nbeing not so proper payment for curious work; for, being of iron, it was\r\nscarcely portable, neither, if they should take the pains to export it, would\r\nit pass amongst the other Greeks, who ridiculed it. So there was now no more\r\nmeans of purchasing foreign goods and small wares; merchants sent no shiploads\r\ninto Laconian ports; no rhetoric-master, no itinerant fortune-teller, no\r\nharlot-monger or gold or silversmith, engraver, or jeweler, set foot in a\r\ncountry which had no money; so that luxury, deprived little by little of that\r\nwhich fed and fomented it, wasted to nothing, and died away of itself. For the\r\nrich had no advantage here over the poor, as their wealth and abundance had no\r\nroad to come abroad by, but were shut up at home doing nothing. And in this way\r\nthey became excellent artists in common, necessary things; bedsteads, chairs,\r\nand tables, and such like staple utensils in a family, were admirably well made\r\nthere; their cup, particularly, was very much in fashion, and eagerly bought up\r\nby soldiers, as Critias reports; for its color was such as to prevent water,\r\ndrunk upon necessity and disagreeable to look at, from being noticed; and the\r\nshape of it was such that the mud stuck to the sides, so that only the purer\r\npart came to the drinker’s mouth. For this, also, they had to thank their\r\nlawgiver, who, by relieving the artisans of the trouble of making useless\r\nthings, set them to show their skill in giving beauty to those of daily and\r\nindispensable use.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe third and most masterly stroke of this great lawgiver, by which he struck a\r\nyet more effectual blow against luxury and the desire of riches, was the\r\nordinance he made, that they should all eat in common, of the same bread and\r\nsame meat, and of kinds that were specified, and should not spend their lives\r\nat home, laid on costly couches at splendid tables, delivering themselves up\r\ninto the hands of their tradesmen and cooks, to fatten them in corners, like\r\ngreedy brutes, and to ruin not their minds only but their very bodies, which,\r\nenfeebled by indulgence and excess, would stand in need of long sleep, warm\r\nbathing, freedom from work, and, in a word, of as much care and attendance as\r\nif they were continually sick. It was certainly an extraordinary thing to have\r\nbrought about such a result as this, but a greater yet to have taken away from\r\nwealth, as Theophrastus observes, not merely the property of being coveted, but\r\nits very nature of being wealth. For the rich, being obliged to go to the same\r\ntable with the poor, could not make use of or enjoy their abundance, nor so\r\nmuch as please their vanity by looking at or displaying it. So that the common\r\nproverb, that Plutus, the god of riches, is blind, was nowhere in all the world\r\nliterally verified but in Sparta. There, indeed, he was not only blind, but\r\nlike a picture, without either life or motion. Nor were they allowed to take\r\nfood at home first, and then attend the public tables, for every one had an eye\r\nupon those who did not eat and drink like the rest, and reproached them with\r\nbeing dainty and effeminate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis last ordinance in particular exasperated the wealthier men. They collected\r\nin a body against Lycurgus, and from ill words came to throwing stones, so that\r\nat length he was forced to run out of the marketplace, and make to sanctuary to\r\nsave his life; by good-hap he outran all excepting one Alcander, a young man\r\notherwise not ill accomplished, but hasty and violent, who came up so close to\r\nhim, that, when he turned to see who was near him, he struck him upon the face\r\nwith his stick, and put out one of his eyes. Lycurgus, so far from being\r\ndaunted and discouraged by this accident, stopped short, and showed his\r\ndisfigured face and eye beat out to his countrymen; they, dismayed and ashamed\r\nat the sight, delivered Alcander into his hands to be punished, and escorted\r\nhim home, with expressions of great concern for his ill usage. Lycurgus, having\r\nthanked them for their care of his person, dismissed them all, excepting only\r\nAlcander; and, taking him with him into his house, neither did nor said\r\nanything severely to him, but, dismissing those whose place it was bade\r\nAlcander to wait upon him at table. The young man who was of an ingenuous\r\ntemper, without murmuring did as he was commanded; and, being thus admitted to\r\nlive with Lycurgus, he had an opportunity to observe in him, besides his\r\ngentleness and calmness of temper, an extraordinary sobriety and an\r\nindefatigable industry, and so, from an enemy, became one of his most zealous\r\nadmirers, and told his friends and relations that Lycurgus was not that morose\r\nand ill-natured man they had formerly taken him for, but the one mild and\r\ngentle character of the world. And thus did Lycurgus, for chastisement of his\r\nfault, make of a wild and passionate young man one of the discreetest citizens\r\nof Sparta.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn memory of this accident, Lycurgus built a temple to Minerva, surnamed\r\nOptiletis; optilus being the Doric of these parts for ophthalmus, the eye. Some\r\nauthors, however, of whom Dioscorides is one (who wrote a treatise on the\r\ncommonwealth of Sparta), say that he was wounded indeed, but did not lose his\r\neye with the blow; and that he built the temple in gratitude for the cure. Be\r\nthis as it will, certain it is, that, after this misadventure, the\r\nLacedaemonians made it a rule never to carry so much as a staff into their\r\npublic assemblies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut to return to their public repasts;—these had several names in Greek; the\r\nCretans called them andria, because the men only came to them. The\r\nLacedaemonians called them phiditia, that is, by changing l into d, the same as\r\nphilitia, love feasts, because that, by eating and drinking together, they had\r\nopportunity of making friends. Or perhaps from phido, parsimony, because they\r\nwere so many schools of sobriety; or perhaps the first letter is an addition,\r\nand the word at first was editia, from edode, eating. They met by companies of\r\nfifteen, more or less, and each of them stood bound to bring in monthly a\r\nbushel of meal, eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese, two pounds and a\r\nhalf of figs, and some very small sum of money to buy flesh or fish with.\r\nBesides this, when any of them made sacrifice to the gods, they always sent a\r\ndole to the common hall; and, likewise, when any of them had been a hunting, he\r\nsent thither a part of the venison he had killed; for these two occasions were\r\nthe only excuses allowed for supping at home. The custom of eating together was\r\nobserved strictly for a great while afterwards; insomuch that king Agis\r\nhimself, after having vanquished the Athenians, sending for his commons at his\r\nreturn home, because he desired to eat privately with his queen, was refused\r\nthem by the polemarchs; which refusal when he resented so much as to omit next\r\nday the sacrifice due for a war happily ended, they made him pay a fine.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey used to send their children to these tables as to schools of temperance;\r\nhere they were instructed in state affairs by listening to experienced\r\nstatesmen; here they learnt to converse with pleasantry, to make jests without\r\nscurrility, and take them without ill humor. In this point of good breeding,\r\nthe Lacedaemonians excelled particularly, but if any man were uneasy under it,\r\nupon the least hint given there was no more to be said to him. It was customary\r\nalso for the eldest man in the company to say to each of them, as they came in,\r\n“Through this” (pointing to the door), “no words go out.” When any one had a\r\ndesire to be admitted into any of these little societies; he was to go through\r\nthe following probation, each man in the company took a little ball of soft\r\nbread, which they were to throw into a deep basin, which a waiter carried round\r\nupon his head; those that liked the person to be chosen dropped their ball into\r\nthe basin without altering its figure, and those who disliked him pressed it\r\nbetween their fingers, and made it flat; and this signified as much as a\r\nnegative voice. And if there were but one of these pieces in the basin, the\r\nsuitor was rejected, so desirous were they that all the members of the company\r\nshould be agreeable to each other. The basin was called caddichus, and the\r\nrejected candidate had a name thence derived. Their most famous dish was the\r\nblack broth, which was so much valued that the elderly men fed only upon that,\r\nleaving what flesh there was to the younger.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey say that a certain king of Pontus, having heard much of this black broth\r\nof theirs, sent for a Lacedaemonian cook on purpose to make him some, but had\r\nno sooner tasted it than he found it extremely bad, which the cook observing,\r\ntold him, “Sir, to make this broth relish, you should have bathed yourself\r\nfirst in the river Eurotas.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter drinking moderately, every man went to his home without lights, for the\r\nuse of them was, on all occasions, forbid, to the end that they might accustom\r\nthemselves to march boldly in the dark. Such was the common fashion of their\r\nmeals.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLycurgus would never reduce his laws into writing; nay, there is a Rhetra\r\nexpressly to forbid it. For he thought that the most material points, and such\r\nas most directly tended to the public welfare, being imprinted on the hearts of\r\ntheir youth by a good discipline, would be sure to remain, and would find a\r\nstronger security, than any compulsion would be, in the principles of action\r\nformed in them by their best lawgiver, education. And as for things of lesser\r\nimportance, as pecuniary contracts, and such like, the forms of which have to\r\nbe changed as occasion requires, he thought it the best way to prescribe no\r\npositive rule or inviolable usage in such cases, willing that their manner and\r\nform should be altered according to the circumstances of time, and\r\ndeterminations of men of sound judgment. Every end and object of law and\r\nenactment it was his design education should effect.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOne, then, of the Rhetras was, that their laws should not be written; another\r\nis particularly leveled against luxury and expensiveness, for by it it was\r\nordained that the ceilings of their houses should only be wrought by the axe,\r\nand their gates and doors smoothed only by the saw. Epaminondas’s famous dictum\r\nabout his own table, that “Treason and a dinner like this do not keep company\r\ntogether,” may be said to have been anticipated by Lycurgus. Luxury and a house\r\nof this kind could not well be companions. For a man must have a less than\r\nordinary share of sense that would furnish such plain and common rooms with\r\nsilver-footed couches and purple coverlets and gold and silver plate. Doubtless\r\nhe had good reason to think that they would proportion their beds to their\r\nhouses, and their coverlets to their beds, and the rest of their goods and\r\nfurniture to these. It is reported that king Leotychides, the first of that\r\nname, was so little used to the sight of any other kind of work, that, being\r\nentertained at Corinth in a stately room, he was much surprised to see the\r\ntimber and ceiling so finely carved and paneled, and asked his host whether the\r\ntrees grew so in his country.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA third ordinance or Rhetra was, that they should not make war often, or long,\r\nwith the same enemy, lest that they should train and instruct them in war, by\r\nhabituating them to defend themselves. And this is what Agesilaus was much\r\nblamed for, a long time after; it being thought, that, by his continual\r\nincursions into Boeotia, he made the Thebans a match for the Lacedaemonians;\r\nand therefore Antalcidas, seeing him wounded one day, said to him, that he was\r\nvery well paid for taking such pains to make the Thebans good soldiers, whether\r\nthey would or no. These laws were called the Rhetras, to intimate that they\r\nwere divine sanctions and revelations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn order to the good education of their youth (which, as I said before, he\r\nthought the most important and noblest work of a lawgiver), he went so far back\r\nas to take into consideration their very conception and birth, by regulating\r\ntheir marriages. For Aristotle is wrong in saying, that, after he had tried all\r\nways to reduce the women to more modesty and sobriety, he was at last forced to\r\nleave them as they were, because that, in the absence of their husbands, who\r\nspent the best part of their lives in the wars, their wives, whom they were\r\nobliged to leave absolute mistresses at home, took great liberties and assumed\r\nthe superiority; and were treated with overmuch respect and called by the title\r\nof lady or queen. The truth is, he took in their case, also, all the care that\r\nwas possible; he ordered the maidens to exercise themselves with wrestling,\r\nrunning, throwing the quoit, and casting the dart, to the end that the fruit\r\nthey conceived might, in strong and healthy bodies, take firmer root and find\r\nbetter growth, and withal that they, with this greater vigor, might be the more\r\nable to undergo the pains of child- bearing. And to the end he might take away\r\ntheir over-great tenderness and fear of exposure to the air, and all acquired\r\nwomanishness, he ordered that the young women should go naked in the\r\nprocessions, as well as the young men, and dance, too, in that condition, at\r\ncertain solemn feasts, singing certain songs, whilst the young men stood\r\naround, seeing and hearing them. On these occasions, they now and then made, by\r\njests, a befitting reflection upon those who had misbehaved themselves in the\r\nwars; and again sang encomiums upon those who had done any gallant action, and\r\nby these means inspired the younger sort with an emulation of their glory.\r\nThose that were thus commended went away proud, elated, and gratified with\r\ntheir honor among the maidens; and those who were rallied were as sensibly\r\ntouched with it as if they had been formally reprimanded; and so much the more,\r\nbecause the kings and the elders, as well as the rest of the city, saw and\r\nheard all that passed. Nor was there any thing shameful in this nakedness of\r\nthe young women; modesty attended them, and all wantonness was excluded. It\r\ntaught them simplicity and a care for good health, and gave them some taste of\r\nhigher feelings, admitted as they thus were to the field of noble action and\r\nglory. Hence it was natural for them to think and speak as Gorgo, for example,\r\nthe wife of Leonidas, is said to have done, when some foreign lady, as it would\r\nseem, told her that the women of Lacedaemon were the only women of the world\r\nwho could rule men; “With good reason,” she said, “for we are the only women\r\nwho bring forth men.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese public processions of the maidens, and their appearing naked in their\r\nexercises and dancings, were incitements to marriage, operating upon the young\r\nwith the rigor and certainty, as Plato says, of love, if not of mathematics.\r\nBut besides all this, to promote it yet more effectually, those who continued\r\nbachelors were in a degree disfranchised by law; for they were excluded from\r\nthe sight of those public processions in which the young men and maidens danced\r\nnaked, and, in wintertime, the officers compelled them to march naked\r\nthemselves round the market-place, singing as they went a certain song to their\r\nown disgrace, that they justly suffered this punishment for disobeying the\r\nlaws. Moreover, they were denied that respect and observance which the younger\r\nmen paid their elders; and no man, for example, found fault with what was said\r\nto Dercyllidas, though so eminent a commander; upon whose approach one day, a\r\nyoung man, instead of rising, retained his seat, remarking, “No child of yours\r\nwill make room for me. “\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn their marriages, the husband carried off his bride by a sort of force; nor\r\nwere their brides ever small and of tender years, but in their full bloom and\r\nripeness. After this, she who superintended the wedding comes and clips the\r\nhair of the bride close round her head, dresses her up in man’s clothes, and\r\nleaves her upon a mattress in the dark; afterwards comes the bridegroom, in his\r\nevery-day clothes, sober and composed, as having supped at the common table,\r\nand, entering privately into the room where the bride lies, unties her virgin\r\nzone, and takes her to himself; and, after staying some time together, he\r\nreturns composedly to his own apartment, to sleep as usual with the other young\r\nmen. And so he continues to do, spending his days, and, indeed, his nights with\r\nthem, visiting his bride in fear and shame, and with circumspection, when he\r\nthought he should not be observed; she, also, on her part, using her wit to\r\nhelp and find favorable opportunities for their meeting, when company was out\r\nof the way. In this manner they lived a long time, insomuch that they sometimes\r\nhad children by their wives before ever they saw their faces by daylight. Their\r\ninterviews, being thus difficult and rare, served not only for continual\r\nexercise of their self-control, but brought them together with their bodies\r\nhealthy and vigorous, and their affections fresh and lively, unsated and\r\nundulled by easy access and long continuance with each other; while their\r\npartings were always early enough to leave behind unextinguished in each of\r\nthem some remainder fire of longing and mutual delight. After guarding marriage\r\nwith this modesty and reserve, he was equally careful to banish empty and\r\nwomanish jealousy. For this object, excluding all licentious disorders, he made\r\nit, nevertheless, honorable for men to give the use of their wives to those\r\nwhom they should think fit, that so they might have children by them;\r\nridiculing those in whose opinion such favors are so unfit for participation as\r\nto fight and shed blood and go to war about it. Lycurgus allowed a man who was\r\nadvanced in years and had a young wife to recommend some virtuous and approved\r\nyoung man, that she might have a child by him, who might inherit the good\r\nqualities of the father, and be a son to himself. On the other side, an honest\r\nman who had love for a married woman upon account of her modesty and the\r\nwellfavoredness of her children, might, without formality, beg her company of\r\nher husband, that he might raise, as it were, from this plot of good ground,\r\nworthy and well-allied children for himself. And, indeed, Lycurgus was of a\r\npersuasion that children were not so much the property of their parents as of\r\nthe whole commonwealth, and, therefore, would not have his citizens begot by\r\nthe first comers, but by the best men that could be found; the laws of other\r\nnations seemed to him very absurd and inconsistent, where people would be so\r\nsolicitous for their dogs and horses as to exert interest and pay money to\r\nprocure fine breeding, and yet kept their wives shut up, to be made mothers\r\nonly by themselves, who might be foolish, infirm, or diseased; as if it were\r\nnot apparent that children of a bad breed would prove their bad qualities first\r\nupon those who kept and were rearing them, and well-born children, in like\r\nmanner, their good qualities. These regulations, founded on natural and social\r\ngrounds, were certainly so far from that scandalous liberty which was\r\nafterwards charged upon their women, that they knew not what adultery meant. It\r\nis told, for instance, of Geradas, a very ancient, Spartan, that, being asked\r\nby a stranger what punishment their law had appointed for adulterers, he\r\nanswered, “There are no adulterers in our country.” “But,” replied the\r\nstranger, “suppose there were ?” “Then,” answered he, “the offender would have\r\nto give the plaintiff a bull with a neck so long as that he might drink from\r\nthe top of Taygetus of the Eurotas river below it.” The man, surprised at this,\r\nsaid, “Why, ’tis impossible to find such a bull.” Geradas smilingly replied,\r\n“’Tis as possible as to find an adulterer in Sparta.” So much I had to say of\r\ntheir marriages.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNor was it in the power of the father to dispose of the child as he thought\r\nfit; he was obliged to carry it before certain triers at a place called Lesche;\r\nthese were some of the elders of the tribe to which the child belonged; their\r\nbusiness it was carefully to view the infant, and, if they found it stout and\r\nwell made, they gave order for its rearing, and allotted to it one of the nine\r\nthousand shares of land above mentioned for its maintenance, but, if they found\r\nit puny and ill- shaped, ordered it to be taken to what was called the\r\nApothetae, a sort of chasm under Taygetus; as thinking it neither for the good\r\nof the child itself, nor for the public interest, that it should be brought up,\r\nif it did not, from the very outset, appear made to be healthy and vigorous.\r\nUpon the same account, the women did not bathe the new-born children with\r\nwater, as is the custom in all other countries, but with wine, to prove the\r\ntemper and complexion of their bodies; from a notion they had that epileptic\r\nand weakly children faint and waste away upon their being thus bathed, while,\r\non the contrary, those of a strong and vigorous habit acquire firmness and get\r\na temper by it, like steel. There was much care and art, too, used by the\r\nnurses; they had no swaddling bands; the children grew up free and\r\nunconstrained in limb and form, and not dainty and fanciful about their food;\r\nnot afraid in the dark, or of being left alone; without any peevishness or ill\r\nhumor or crying. Upon this account, Spartan nurses were often bought up, or\r\nhired by people of other countries; and it is recorded that she who suckled\r\nAlcibiades was a Spartan; who, however, if fortunate in his nurse, was not so\r\nin his preceptor; his guardian, Pericles, as Plato tells us, chose a servant\r\nfor that office called Zopyrus, no better than any common slave.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLycurgus was of another mind; he would not have masters bought out of the\r\nmarket for his young Spartans, nor such as should sell their pains; nor was it\r\nlawful, indeed, for the father himself to breed up the children after his own\r\nfancy; but as soon as they were seven years old they were to be enrolled in\r\ncertain companies and classes, where they all lived under the same order and\r\ndiscipline, doing their exercises and taking their play together. Of these, he\r\nwho showed the most conduct and courage was made captain; they had their eyes\r\nalways upon him, obeyed his orders, and underwent patiently whatsoever\r\npunishment he inflicted; so that the whole course of their education was one\r\ncontinued exercise of a ready and perfect obedience. The old men, too, were\r\nspectators of their performances, and often raised quarrels and disputes among\r\nthem, to have a good opportunity of finding out their different characters, and\r\nof seeing which would be valiant, which a coward, when they should come to more\r\ndangerous encounters. Reading and writing they gave them, just enough to serve\r\ntheir turn; their chief care was to make them good subjects, and to teach them\r\nto endure pain and conquer in battle. To this end, as they grew in years, their\r\ndiscipline was proportionably increased; their heads were close-clipped, they\r\nwere accustomed to go bare-foot, and for the most part to play naked.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter they were twelve years old, they were no longer allowed to wear any\r\nunder-garment; they had one coat to serve them a year; their bodies were hard\r\nand dry, with but little acquaintance of baths and unguents; these human\r\nindulgences they were allowed only on some few particular days in the year.\r\nThey lodged together in little bands upon beds made of the rushes which grew by\r\nthe banks of the river Eurotas, which they were to break off with their hands\r\nwithout a knife; if it were winter, they mingled some thistle-down with their\r\nrushes, which it was thought had the property of giving warmth. By the time\r\nthey were come to this age, there was not any of the more hopeful boys who had\r\nnot a lover to bear him company. The old men, too, had an eye upon them, coming\r\noften to the grounds to hear and see them contend either in wit or strength\r\nwith one another, and this as seriously and with as much concern as if they\r\nwere their fathers, their tutors, or their magistrates; so that there scarcely\r\nwas any time or place without someone present to put them in mind of their\r\nduty, and punish them if they had neglected it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBesides all this, there was always one of the best and honestest men in the\r\ncity appointed to undertake the charge and governance of them; he again\r\narranged them into their several bands, and set over each of them for their\r\ncaptain the most temperate and boldest of those they called Irens, who were\r\nusually twenty years old, two years out of the boys; and the eldest of the\r\nboys, again, were Mell-Irens, as much as to say, who would shortly be men. This\r\nyoung man, therefore, was their captain when they fought, and their master at\r\nhome, using them for the offices of his house; sending the oldest of them to\r\nfetch wood, and the weaker and less able, to gather salads and herbs, and these\r\nthey must either go without or steal; which they did by creeping into the\r\ngardens, or conveying themselves cunningly and closely into the eating-houses;\r\nif they were taken in the fact, they were whipped without mercy, for thieving\r\nso ill and awkwardly. They stole, too, all other meat they could lay their\r\nhands on, looking out and watching all opportunities, when people were asleep\r\nor more careless than usual. If they were caught, they were not only punished\r\nwith whipping, but hunger, too, being reduced to their ordinary allowance,\r\nwhich was but very slender, and so contrived on purpose, that they might set\r\nabout to help themselves, and be forced to exercise their energy and address.\r\nThis was the principal design of their hard fare; there was another not\r\ninconsiderable, that they might grow taller; for the vital spirits, not being\r\noverburdened and oppressed by too great a quantity of nourishment; which\r\nnecessarily discharges itself into thickness and breadth, do, by their natural\r\nlightness, rise; and the body, giving and yielding because it is pliant, grows\r\nin height. The same thing seems, also, to conduce to beauty of shape; a dry and\r\nlean habit is a better subject for nature’s configuration, which the gross and\r\nover-fed are too heavy to submit to properly. Just as we find that women who\r\ntake physic whilst they are with child, bear leaner and smaller but\r\nbetter-shaped and prettier children; the material they come of having been more\r\npliable and easily molded. The reason, however, I leave others to determine.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo return from whence we have digressed. So seriously did the Lacedaemonian\r\nchildren go about their stealing, that a youth, having stolen a young fox and\r\nhid it under his coat, suffered it to tear out his very bowels with its teeth\r\nand claws, and died upon the place, rather than let it be seen. What is\r\npracticed to this very day in Lacedaemon is enough to gain credit to this\r\nstory, for I myself have seen several of the youths endure whipping to death at\r\nthe foot of the altar of Diana surnamed Orthia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Iren, or under-master, used to stay a little with them after supper, and\r\none of them he bade to sing a song, to another he put a question which required\r\nan advised and deliberate answer; for example, Who was the best man in the\r\ncity? What he thought of such an action of such a man? They used them thus\r\nearly to pass a right judgment upon persons and things, and to inform\r\nthemselves of the abilities or defects of their countrymen. If they had not an\r\nanswer ready to the question Who was a good or who an ill-reputed citizen, they\r\nwere looked upon as of a dull and careless disposition, and to have little or\r\nno sense of virtue and honor; besides this, they were to give a good reason for\r\nwhat they said, and in as few words and as comprehensive as might be; he that\r\nfailed of this, or answered not to the purpose, had his thumb bit by his\r\nmaster. Sometimes the Iren did this in the presence of the old men and\r\nmagistrates, that they might see whether he punished them justly and in due\r\nmeasure or not; and when he did amiss, they would not reprove him before the\r\nboys, but, when they were gone, he was called to an account and underwent\r\ncorrection, if he had run far into either of the extremes of indulgence or\r\nseverity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTheir lovers and favorers, too, had a share in the young boy’s honor or\r\ndisgrace; and there goes a story that one of them was fined by the magistrates,\r\nbecause the lad whom he loved cried out effeminately as he was fighting. And\r\nthough this sort of love was so approved among them, that the most virtuous\r\nmatrons would make professions of it to young girls, yet rivalry did not exist,\r\nand if several men’s fancies met in one person, it was rather the beginning of\r\nan intimate friendship, whilst they all jointly conspired to render the object\r\nof their affection as accomplished as possible.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey taught them, also, to speak with a natural and graceful raillery, and to\r\ncomprehend much matter of thought in few words. For Lycurgus, who ordered, as\r\nwe saw, that a great piece of money should be but of an inconsiderable value,\r\non the contrary would allow no discourse to be current which did not contain in\r\nfew words a great deal of useful and curious sense; children in Sparta, by a\r\nhabit of long silence, came to give just and sententious answers; for, indeed,\r\nas loose and incontinent livers are seldom fathers of many children, so loose\r\nand incontinent talkers seldom originate many sensible words. King Agis, when\r\nsome Athenian laughed at their short swords, and said that the jugglers on the\r\nstage swallowed them with ease, answered him, “We find them long enough to\r\nreach our enemies with;” and as their swords were short and sharp, so, it seems\r\nto me, were their sayings. They reach the point and arrest the attention of the\r\nhearers better than any. Lycurgus himself seems to have been short and\r\nsententious, if we may trust the anecdotes of him; as appears by his answer to\r\none who by all means would set up democracy in Lacedaemon. “Begin, friend,”\r\nsaid he, “and set it up in your family.” Another asked him why he allowed of\r\nsuch mean and trivial sacrifices to the gods. He replied, “That we may always\r\nhave something to offer to them.” Being asked what sort of martial exercises or\r\ncombats he approved of, he answered, “All sorts, except that in which you\r\nstretch out your hands.” Similar answers, addressed to his countrymen by\r\nletter, are ascribed to him; as, being consulted how they might best oppose an\r\ninvasion of their enemies, he returned this answer, “By continuing poor, and\r\nnot coveting each man to be greater than his fellow.” Being consulted again\r\nwhether it were requisite to enclose the city with a wall, he sent them word,\r\n“The city is well fortified which hath a wall of men instead of brick.” But\r\nwhether these letters are counterfeit or not is not easy to determine.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf their dislike to talkativeness, the following apothegms are evidence. King\r\nLeonidas said to one who held him in discourse upon some useful matter, but not\r\nin due time and place, “Much to the purpose, Sir, elsewhere.” King Charilaus,\r\nthe nephew of Lycurgus, being asked why his uncle had made so few laws,\r\nanswered, “Men of few words require but few laws.” When one blamed Hecataeus\r\nthe sophist because that, being invited to the public table, he had not spoken\r\none word all supper-time, Archidamidas answered in his vindication, “He who\r\nknows how to speak, knows also when. “\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe sharp and yet not ungraceful retorts which I mentioned may be instanced as\r\nfollows. Demaratus, being asked in a troublesome manner by an importunate\r\nfellow, Who was the best man in Lacedaemon? answered at last, “He, Sir, that is\r\nthe least like you.” Some, in company where Agis was, much extolled the Eleans\r\nfor their just and honorable management of the Olympic tames; “Indeed,” said\r\nAgis, “they are highly to be commended if they can do justice one day in five\r\nyears.” Theopompus answered a stranger who talked much of his affection to the\r\nLacedaemonians, and said that his countrymen called him Philolacon (a lover of\r\nthe Lacedaemonians), that it had been more for his honor if they had called him\r\nPhilopolites (a lover of his own countrymen). And Plistoanax, the son of\r\nPausanias, when an orator of Athens said the Lacedaemonians had no learning,\r\ntold him, “You say true, Sir; we alone of all the Greeks have learned none of\r\nyour bad qualities.” One asked Archidamidas what number there might, be of the\r\nSpartans; he answered, “Enough, Sir, to keep out wicked men.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWe may see their character, too, in their very jests. For they did not throw\r\nthem out at random, but the very wit of them was grounded upon something or\r\nother worth thinking about. For instance, one, being asked to go hear a man who\r\nexactly counterfeited the voice of a nightingale, answered, “Sir, I have heard\r\nthe nightingale itself.” Another, having read the following inscription upon a\r\ntomb,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSeeking to quench a cruel tyranny,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThey, at Selinus, did in battle die,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nsaid, it served them right; for instead of trying to quench the tyranny they\r\nshould have let it burn out. A lad, being offered some game-cocks that would\r\ndie upon the spot, said that he cared not for cocks that would die, but for\r\nsuch that would live and kill others. Another, seeing people easing themselves\r\non seats, said, “God forbid I should sit where I could not get up to salute my\r\nelders.” In short, their answers were so sententious and pertinent, that one\r\nsaid well that intellectual much more truly than athletic exercise was the\r\nSpartan characteristic.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNor was their instruction in music and verse less carefully attended to than\r\ntheir habits of grace and good breeding in conversation. And their very songs\r\nhad a life and spirit in them that inflamed and possessed men’s minds with an\r\nenthusiasm and ardor for action; the style of them was plain and without\r\naffectation; the subject always serious and moral; most usually, it was in\r\npraise of such men as had died in defense of their country, or in derision of\r\nthose that had been cowards; the former they declared happy and glorified; the\r\nlife of the latter they described as most miserable and abject. There were also\r\nvaunts of what they would do, and boasts of what they had done, varying with\r\nthe various ages, as, for example, they had three choirs in their solemn\r\nfestivals, the first of the old men, the second of the young men, and the last\r\nof the children; the old men began thus:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWe once were young, and brave and strong;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nthe young men answered them, singing,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAnd we’re so now, come on and try;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nthe children came last and said,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBut we’ll be strongest by and by.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIndeed, if we will take the pains to consider their compositions, some of which\r\nwere still extant in our days, and the airs on the flute to which they marched\r\nwhen going to battle, we shall find that Terpander and Pindar had reason to say\r\nthat music and valor were allied. The first says of Lacedaemon—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe spear and song in her do meet,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd Justice walks about her street;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand Pindar—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nCouncils of wise elders here,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd the young men’s conquering spear,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd dance, and song, and joy appear;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nboth describing the Spartans as no less musical than warlike; in the words of\r\none of their own poets—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWith the iron stern and sharp\u003cbr\u003e\r\nComes the playing on the harp.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor, indeed, before they engaged in battle, the king first did sacrifice to the\r\nMuses, in all likelihood to put them in mind of the manner of their education,\r\nand of the judgment that would be passed upon their actions, and thereby to\r\nanimate them to the performance of exploits that should deserve a record. At\r\nsuch times, too, the Lacedaemonians abated a little the severity of their\r\nmanners in favor of their young men, suffering them to curl and adorn their\r\nhair, and to have costly arms, and fine clothes; and were well pleased to see\r\nthem, like proud horses, neighing and pressing to the course. And therefore, as\r\nsoon as they came to be well-grown, they took a great deal of care of their\r\nhair, to have it parted and trimmed, especially against a day of battle,\r\npursuant to a saying recorded of their lawgiver, that a large head of hair\r\nadded beauty to a good face, and terror to an ugly one.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen they were in the field, their exercises were generally more moderate,\r\ntheir fare not so hard, nor so strict a hand held over them by their officers,\r\nso that they were the only people in the world to whom war gave repose. When\r\ntheir army was drawn up in battle array and the enemy near, the king sacrificed\r\na goat, commanded the soldiers to set their garlands upon their heads, and the\r\npipers to play the tune of the hymn to Castor, and himself began the paean of\r\nadvance. It was at once a magnificent and a terrible sight to see them march on\r\nto the tune of their flutes, without any disorder in their ranks, any\r\ndiscomposure in their minds or change in their countenance, calmly and\r\ncheerfully moving with the music to the deadly fight. Men, in this temper, were\r\nnot likely to be possessed with fear or any transport of fury, but with the\r\ndeliberate valor of hope and assurance, as if some divinity were attending and\r\nconducting them. The king had always about his person some one who had been\r\ncrowned in the Olympic games; and upon this account a Lacedaemonian is said to\r\nhave refused a considerable present, which was offered to him upon condition\r\nthat he would not come into the lists; and when he had with much to-do thrown\r\nhis antagonist, some of the spectators saying to him, “And now, Sir\r\nLacedaemonian, what are you the better for your victory?” he answered smiling,\r\n“I shall fight next the king.” After they had routed an enemy, they pursued him\r\ntill they were well assured of the victory, and then they sounded a retreat,\r\nthinking it base and unworthy of a Grecian people to cut men in pieces, who had\r\ngiven up and abandoned all resistance. This manner of dealing with their\r\nenemies did not only show magnanimity, but was politic too; for, knowing that\r\nthey killed only those who made resistance, and gave quarter to the rest, men\r\ngenerally thought it their best way to consult their safety by flight.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHippias the sophist says that Lycurgus himself was a great soldier and an\r\nexperienced commander. Philostephanus attributes to him the first division of\r\nthe cavalry into troops of fifties in a square body; but Demetrius the\r\nPhalerian says quite the contrary, and that he made all his laws in a continued\r\npeace. And, indeed, the Olympic holy truce, or cessation of arms, that was\r\nprocured by his means and management, inclines me to think him a kind-natured\r\nman, and one that loved quietness and peace. Notwithstanding all this,\r\nHermippus tells us that he had no hand in the ordinance; that Iphitus made it,\r\nand Lycurgus came only as a spectator, and that by mere accident too. Being\r\nthere, he heard as it were a man’s voice behind him, blaming and wondering at\r\nhim that he did not encourage his countrymen to resort to the assembly, and,\r\nturning about and seeing no man, concluded that it was a voice from heaven, and\r\nupon this immediately went to Iphitus, and assisted him in ordering the\r\nceremonies of that feast, which, by his means, were better established, and\r\nwith more repute than before.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo return to the Lacedaemonians. Their discipline continued still after they\r\nwere full-grown men. No one was allowed to live after his own fancy; but the\r\ncity was a sort of camp, in which every man had his share of provisions and\r\nbusiness set out, and looked upon himself not so much born to serve his own\r\nends as the interest of his country. Therefore, if they were commanded nothing\r\nelse, they went to see the boys perform their exercises, to teach them\r\nsomething useful, or to learn it themselves of those who knew better. And,\r\nindeed, one of the greatest and highest blessings Lycurgus procured his people\r\nwas the abundance of leisure, which proceeded from his forbidding to them the\r\nexercise of any mean and mechanical trade. Of the money-making that depends on\r\ntroublesome going about and seeing people and doing business, they had no need\r\nat all in a state where wealth obtained no honor or respect. The Helots tilled\r\ntheir ground for them, and paid them yearly in kind the appointed quantity,\r\nwithout any trouble of theirs. To this purpose there goes a story of a\r\nLacedaemonian who, happening to be at Athens when the courts were sitting, was\r\ntold of a citizen that had been fined for living an idle life, and was being\r\nescorted home in much distress of mind by his condoling friends; the\r\nLacedaemonian was much surprised at it, and desired his friend to show him the\r\nman who was condemned for living like a freeman. So much beneath them did they\r\nesteem the frivolous devotion of time and attention to the mechanical arts and\r\nto money-making.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt need not be said, that, upon the prohibition of gold and silver, all\r\nlawsuits immediately ceased, for there was now neither avarice nor poverty\r\namongst them, but equality, where every one’s wants were supplied, and\r\nindependence, because those wants were so small. All their time, except when\r\nthey were in the field, was taken up by the choral dances and the festivals, in\r\nhunting, and in attendance on the exercise-grounds and the places of public\r\nconversation. Those who were under thirty years of age were not allowed to go\r\ninto the marketplace, but had the necessaries of their family supplied by the\r\ncare of their relations and lovers; nor was it for the credit of elderly men to\r\nbe seen too often in the marketplace; it was esteemed more suitable for them to\r\nfrequent the exercise-grounds and places of conversation, where they spent\r\ntheir leisure rationally in conversation, not on money-making and\r\nmarket-prices, but for the most part in passing judgment on some action worth\r\nconsidering; extolling the good, and censuring those who were otherwise, and\r\nthat in a light and sportive manner, conveying, without too much gravity,\r\nlessons of advice and improvement. Nor was Lycurgus himself unduly austere; it\r\nwas he who dedicated, says Sosibius, the little statue of Laughter. Mirth,\r\nintroduced seasonably at their suppers and places of common entertainment, was\r\nto serve as a sort of sweetmeat to accompany their strict and hard life. To\r\nconclude, he bred up his citizens in such a way that they neither would nor\r\ncould live by themselves; they were to make themselves one with the public\r\ngood, and, clustering like bees around their commander, be by their zeal and\r\npublic spirit carried all but out of themselves, and devoted wholly to their\r\ncountry. What their sentiments were will better appear by a few of their\r\nsayings. Paedaretus, not being admitted into the list of the three hundred,\r\nreturned home with a joyful face, well pleased to find that there were in\r\nSparta three hundred better men than himself. And Polycratidas, being sent with\r\nsome others ambassador to the lieutenants of the king of Persia, being asked by\r\nthem whether they came in a private or in a public character, answered, “In a\r\npublic, if we succeed; if not, in a private character.” Argileonis, asking some\r\nwho came from Amphipolis if her son Brasidas died courageously and as became a\r\nSpartan, on their beginning to praise him to a high degree, and saying there\r\nwas not such another left in Sparta, answered, “Do not say so; Brasidas was a\r\ngood and brave man, but there are in Sparta many better than he.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe senate, as I said before, consisted of those who were Lycurgus’s chief\r\naiders and assistants in his plans. The vacancies he ordered to be supplied out\r\nof the best and most deserving men past sixty years old; and we need not wonder\r\nif there was much striving for it; for what more glorious competition could\r\nthere be amongst men, than one in which it was not contested who was swiftest\r\namong the swift or strongest of the strong, but who of many wise and good was\r\nwisest and best, and fittest to be entrusted for ever after, as the reward of\r\nhis merits, with the supreme authority of the commonwealth, and with power over\r\nthe lives, franchises, and highest interests of all his countrymen? The manner\r\nof their election was as follows: the people being called together, some\r\nselected persons were locked up in a room near the place of election, so\r\ncontrived that they could neither see nor be seen, but could only hear the\r\nnoise of the assembly without; for they decided this, as most other affairs of\r\nmoment, by the shouts of the people. This done, the competitors were not\r\nbrought in and presented all together, but one after another by lot, and passed\r\nin order through the assembly without speaking a word. Those who were locked up\r\nhad writing-tables with them, in which they recorded and marked each shout by\r\nits loudness, without knowing in favor of which candidate each of them was\r\nmade, but merely that they came first, second, third, and so forth. He who was\r\nfound to have the most and loudest acclamations was declared senator duly\r\nelected. Upon this he had a garland set upon his head, and went in procession\r\nto all the temples to give thanks to the gods; a great number of young men\r\nfollowed him with applauses, and women, also, singing verses in his honor, and\r\nextolling the virtue and happiness of his life. As he went round the city in\r\nthis manner, each of his relations and friends set a table before him, saying,\r\n“The city honors you with this banquet;” but he, instead of accepting, passed\r\nround to the common table where he formerly used to eat; and was served as\r\nbefore, excepting that now he had a second allowance, which he took and put by.\r\nBy the time supper was ended, the women who were of kin to him had come about\r\nthe door; and he, beckoning to her whom he most esteemed, presented to her the\r\nportion he had saved, saying, that it had been a mark of esteem to him, and was\r\nso now to her; upon which she was triumphantly waited upon home by the women.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTouching burials, Lycurgus made very wise regulations; for, first of all, to\r\ncut of all superstition, he allowed them to bury their dead within the city,\r\nand even round about their temples, to the end that their youth might be\r\naccustomed to such spectacles, and not be afraid to see a dead body, or imagine\r\nthat to touch a corpse or to tread upon a grave would defile a man. In the next\r\nplace, he commanded them to put nothing into the ground with them, except, if\r\nthey pleased, a few olive leaves, and the scarlet cloth that they were wrapped\r\nin. He would not suffer the names to be inscribed, except only of men who fell\r\nin the wars, or women who died in a sacred office. The time, too, appointed for\r\nmourning, was very short, eleven days; on the twelfth, they were to do\r\nsacrifice to Ceres, and leave it off; so that we may see, that as he cut off\r\nall superfluity, so in things necessary there was nothing so small and trivial\r\nwhich did not express some homage of virtue or scorn of vice. He filled\r\nLacedaemon all through with proofs and examples of good conduct; with the\r\nconstant sight of which from their youth up, the people would hardly fail to be\r\ngradually formed and advanced in virtue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd this was the reason why he forbade them to travel abroad, and go about\r\nacquainting themselves with foreign rules of morality, the habits of\r\nill-educated people, and different views of government. Withal he banished from\r\nLacedaemon all strangers who could not give a very good reason for their coming\r\nthither; not because he was afraid lest they should inform themselves of and\r\nimitate his manner of government (as Thucydides says), or learn any thing to\r\ntheir good; but rather lest they should introduce something contrary to good\r\nmanners. With strange people, strange words must be admitted; these novelties\r\nproduce novelties in thought; and on these follow views and feelings whose\r\ndiscordant character destroys the harmony of the state. He was as careful to\r\nsave his city from the infection of foreign bad habits, as men usually are to\r\nprevent the introduction of a pestilence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHitherto I, for my part, see no sign of injustice or want of equity in the laws\r\nof Lycurgus, though some who admit them to be well contrived to make good\r\nsoldiers, pronounce them defective in point of justice. The Cryptia, perhaps\r\n(if it were one of Lycurgus’s ordinances, as Aristotle says it was), Gave both\r\nhim and Plato, too, this opinion alike of the lawgiver and his government. By\r\nthis ordinance, the magistrates dispatched privately some of the ablest of the\r\nyoung men into the country, from time to time, armed only with their daggers,\r\nand taking a little necessary provision with them; in the daytime, they hid\r\nthemselves in out-of-the-way places, and there lay close, but, in the night,\r\nissued out into the highways, and killed all the Helots they could light upon;\r\nsometimes they set upon them by day, as they were at work in the fields, and\r\nmurdered them. As, also, Thucydides, in his history of the Peloponnesian war,\r\ntells us, that a good number of them, after being singled out for their bravery\r\nby the Spartans, garlanded, as enfranchised persons, and led about to all the\r\ntemples in token of honors, shortly after disappeared all of a sudden, being\r\nabout the number of two thousand; and no man either then or since could give an\r\naccount how they came by their deaths. And Aristotle, in particular, adds, that\r\nthe ephori, so soon as they were entered into their office, used to declare war\r\nagainst them, that they might be massacred without a breach of religion. It is\r\nconfessed, on all hands, that the Spartans dealt with them very hardly; for it\r\nwas a common thing to force them to drink to excess, and to lead them in that\r\ncondition into their public halls, that the children might see what a sight a\r\ndrunken man is; they made them to dance low dances, and sing ridiculous songs,\r\nforbidding them expressly to meddle with any of a better kind. And,\r\naccordingly, when the Thebans made their invasion into Laconia, and took a\r\ngreat number of the Helots, they could by no means persuade them to sing the\r\nverses of Terpander, Alcman, or Spendon, “For,” said they, “the masters do not\r\nlike it.” So that it was truly observed by one, that in Sparta he who was free\r\nwas most so, and he that was a slave there, the greatest slave in the world.\r\nFor my part, I am of opinion that these outrages and cruelties began to be\r\nexercised in Sparta at a later time, especially after the great earthquake,\r\nwhen the Helots made a general insurrection, and, joining with the Messenians,\r\nlaid the country waste, and brought the greatest danger upon the city. For I\r\ncannot persuade myself to ascribe to Lycurgus so wicked and barbarous a course,\r\njudging of him from the gentleness of his disposition and justice upon all\r\nother occasions; to which the oracle also testified.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he perceived that his more important institutions had taken root in the\r\nminds of his countrymen, that custom had rendered them familiar and easy, that\r\nhis commonwealth was now grown up and able to go alone, then, as, Plato\r\nsomewhere tells us, the Maker of the world, when first he saw it existing and\r\nbeginning its motion, felt joy, even so Lycurgus, viewing with joy and\r\nsatisfaction the greatness and beauty of his political structure, now fairly at\r\nwork and in motion, conceived the thought to make it immortal too, and, as far\r\nas human forecast could reach, to deliver it down unchangeable to posterity. He\r\ncalled an extraordinary assembly of all the people, and told them that he now\r\nthought every thing reasonably well established, both for the happiness and the\r\nvirtue of the state; but that there was one thing still behind, of the greatest\r\nimportance, which he thought not fit to impart until he had consulted the\r\noracle; in the meantime, his desire was that they would observe the laws\r\nwithout any the least alteration until his return, and then he would do as the\r\ngod should direct him. They all consented readily, and bade him hasten his\r\njourney; but, before he departed, he administered an oath to the two kings, the\r\nsenate, and the whole commons, to abide by and maintain the established form of\r\npolity until Lycurgus should be come back. This done, he set out for Delphi,\r\nand, having sacrificed to Apollo, asked him whether the laws he had established\r\nwere good, and sufficient for a people’s happiness and virtue. The oracle\r\nanswered that the laws were excellent, and that the people, while it observed\r\nthem, should live in the height of renown. Lycurgus took the oracle in writing,\r\nand sent it over to Sparta; and, having sacrificed the second time to Apollo,\r\nand taken leave of his friends and his son, he resolved that the Spartans\r\nshould not be released from the oath they had taken, and that he would, of his\r\nown act, close his life where he was. He was now about that age in which life\r\nwas still tolerable, and yet might be quitted without regret. Every thing,\r\nmoreover, about him was in a sufficiently prosperous condition. He, therefore,\r\nmade an end of himself by a total abstinence from food; thinking it a\r\nstatesman’s duty to make his very death, if possible, an act of service to the\r\nstate, and even in the end of his life to give some example of virtue and\r\neffect some useful purpose. He would, on the one hand, crown and consummate his\r\nown happiness by a death suitable to so honorable a life, and, on the other,\r\nwould secure to his countrymen the enjoyment of the advantages he had spent his\r\nlife in obtaining for them, since they had solemnly sworn the maintenance of\r\nhis institutions until his return. Nor was he deceived in his expectations, for\r\nthe city of Lacedaemon continued the chief city of all Greece for the space of\r\nfive hundred years, in strict observance of Lycurgus’s laws; in all which time\r\nthere was no manner of alteration made, during the reign of fourteen kings,\r\ndown to the time of Agis, the son of Archidamus. For the new creation of the\r\nephori, though thought to be in favor of the people, was so far from\r\ndiminishing, that it very much heightened, the aristocratical character of the\r\ngovernment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the time of Agis, gold and silver first flowed into Sparta, and with them\r\nall those mischiefs which attend the immoderate desire of riches. Lysander\r\npromoted this disorder; for, by bringing in rich spoils from the wars, although\r\nhimself incorrupt, he yet by this means filled his country with avarice and\r\nluxury, and subverted the laws and ordinances of Lycurgus; so long as which\r\nwere in force, the aspect presented by Sparta was rather that of a rule of life\r\nfollowed by one wise and temperate man, than of the political government of a\r\nnation. And as the poets feign of Hercules, that, with his lion’s skin and his\r\nclub, he went over the world, punishing lawless and cruel tyrants, so may it be\r\nsaid of the Lacedaemonians, that, with a common staff and a coarse coat, they\r\ngained the willing and joyful obedience of Greece, through whose whole extent\r\nthey suppressed unjust usurpations and despotisms, arbitrated in war, and\r\ncomposed civil dissensions; and this often without so much as taking down one\r\nbuckler, but barely by sending some one single deputy, to whose direction all\r\nat once submitted, like bees swarming and taking their places around their\r\nprince. Such a fund of order and equity, enough and to spare for others,\r\nexisted in their state.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd therefore I cannot but wonder at those who say that the Spartans were good\r\nsubjects, but bad governors, and for proof of it allege a saying of king\r\nTheopompus, who, when one said that Sparta held up so long because their kings\r\ncould command so well, replied, “Nay, rather because the people know so well\r\nhow to obey.” For people do not obey, unless rulers know how to command;\r\nobedience is a lesson taught by commanders. A true leader himself creates the\r\nobedience of his own followers; as it is the last attainment in the art of\r\nriding to make a horse gentle and tractable, so is it of the science of\r\ngovernment, to inspire men with a willingness to obey. The Lacedaemonians\r\ninspired men not with a mere willingness, but with an absolute desire, to be\r\ntheir subjects. For they did not send petitions to them for ships or money, or\r\na supply of armed men, but only for a Spartan commander; and, having obtained\r\none, used him with honor and reverence; so the Sicilians behaved to Gylippus,\r\nthe Chalcidians to Brasidas, and all the Greeks in Asia to Lysander,\r\nCallicratidas, and Agesilaus; they styled them the composers and chasteners of\r\neach people or prince they were sent to, and had their eyes always fixed upon\r\nthe city of Sparta itself, as the perfect model of good manners and wise\r\ngovernment. The rest seemed as scholars, they the masters of Greece; and to\r\nthis Stratonicus pleasantly alluded, when in jest he pretended to make a law\r\nthat the Athenians should conduct religious processions and the mysteries, the\r\nEleans should preside at the Olympic games, and, if either did amiss, the\r\nLacedaemonians be beaten. Antisthenes, too, one of the scholars of Socrates,\r\nsaid, in earnest, of the Thebans, when they were elated by their victory at\r\nLeuctra, that they looked like schoolboys who had beaten their master.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, it was not the design of Lycurgus that his city should govern a great\r\nmany others; he thought rather that the happiness of a state, as of a private\r\nman, consisted chiefly in the exercise of virtue, and in the concord of the\r\ninhabitants; his aim, therefore, in all his arrangements, was to make and keep\r\nthem free-minded, self-dependent, and temperate. And therefore all those who\r\nhave written well on politics, as Plato, Diogenes, and Zeno, have taken\r\nLycurgus for their model, leaving behind them, however, mere projects and\r\nwords; whereas Lycurgus was the author, not in writing but in reality, of a\r\ngovernment which none else could so much as copy; and while men in general have\r\ntreated the individual philosophic character as unattainable, he, by the\r\nexample of a complete philosophic state, raised himself high above all other\r\nlawgivers of Greece. And so Aristotle says they did him less honor at\r\nLacedaemon after his death than he deserved, although he has a temple there,\r\nand they offer sacrifices yearly to him as to a god.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is reported that when his bones were brought home to Sparta his tomb was\r\nstruck with lightning; an accident which befell no eminent person but himself,\r\nand Euripides, who was buried at Arethusa in Macedonia; and it may serve that\r\npoet’s admirers as a testimony in his favor, that he had in this the same fate\r\nwith that holy man and favorite of the gods. Some say Lycurgus died in Cirrha;\r\nApollothemis says, after he had come to Elis; Timaeus and Aristoxenus, that he\r\nended his life in Crete; Aristoxenus adds that his tomb is shown by the Cretans\r\nin the district of Pergamus, near the strangers’ road. He left an only son,\r\nAntiorus, on whose death without issue, his family became extinct. But his\r\nrelations and friends kept up an annual commemoration of him down to a long\r\ntime after; and the days of the meeting were called Lycurgides. Aristocrates,\r\nthe son of Hipparchus, says that he died in Crete, and that his Cretan friends,\r\nin accordance with his own request, when they had burned his body, scattered\r\nthe ashes into the sea; for fear lest, if his relics should be transported to\r\nLacedaemon, the people might pretend to be released from their oaths, and make\r\ninnovations in the government. Thus much may suffice for the life and actions\r\nof Lycurgus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap05\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eNUMA POMPILIUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThough the pedigrees of noble families of Rome go back in exact form as far as\r\nNuma Pompilius, yet there is great diversity amongst historians concerning the\r\ntime in which he reigned; a certain writer called Clodius, in a book of his\r\nentitled Strictures on Chronology, avers that the ancient registers of Rome\r\nwere lost when the city was sacked by the Gauls, and that those which are now\r\nextant were counterfeited, to flatter and serve the humor of some men who\r\nwished to have themselves derived from some ancient and noble lineage, though\r\nin reality with no claim to it. And though it be commonly reported that Numa\r\nwas a scholar and a familiar acquaintance of Pythagoras, yet it is again\r\ncontradicted by others, who affirm, that he was acquainted with neither the\r\nGreek language nor learning, and that he was a person of that natural talent\r\nand ability as of himself to attain to virtue, or else that he found some\r\nbarbarian instructor superior to Pythagoras. Some affirm, also, that Pythagoras\r\nwas not contemporary with Numa, but lived at least five generations after him;\r\nand that some other Pythagoras, a native of Sparta, who, in the sixteenth\r\nOlympiad, in the third year of which Numa became king, won a prize at the\r\nOlympic race, might, in his travel through Italy, have gained acquaintance with\r\nNuma, and assisted him in the constitution of his kingdom; whence it comes that\r\nmany Laconian laws and customs appear amongst the Roman institutions. Yet, in\r\nany case, Numa was descended of the Sabines, who declare themselves to be a\r\ncolony of the Lacedaemonians. And chronology, in general, is uncertain;\r\nespecially when fixed by the lists of victors in the Olympic games, which were\r\npublished at a late period by Hippias the Elean, and rest on no positive\r\nauthority. Commencing, however, at a convenient point, we will proceed to give\r\nthe most noticeable events that are recorded of the life of Numa.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was the thirty-seventh year, counted from the foundation of Rome, when\r\nRomulus, then reigning, did, on the fifth day of the month of July, called the\r\nCaprotine Nones, offer a public sacrifice at the Goat’s Marsh, in presence of\r\nthe senate and people of Rome. Suddenly the sky was darkened, a thick cloud of\r\nstorm and rain settled on the earth; the common people fled in affright, and\r\nwere dispersed; and in this whirlwind Romulus disappeared, his body being never\r\nfound either living or dead. A foul suspicion presently attached to the\r\npatricians, and rumors were current among the people as if that they, weary of\r\nkingly government, and exasperated of late by the imperious deportment of\r\nRomulus towards them, had plotted against his life and made him away, that so\r\nthey might assume the authority and government into their own hands. This\r\nsuspicion they sought to turn aside by decreeing divine honors to Romulus, as\r\nto one not dead but translated to a higher condition. And Proculus, a man of\r\nnote, took oath that he saw Romulus caught up into heaven in his arms and\r\nvestments, and heard him, as he ascended, cry out that they should hereafter\r\nstyle him by the name of Quirinus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis trouble, being appeased, was followed by another, about the election of a\r\nnew king: for the minds of the original Romans and the new inhabitants were not\r\nas yet grown into that perfect unity of temper, but that there were diversities\r\nof factions amongst the commonalty, and jealousies and emulations amongst the\r\nsenators; for though all agreed that it was necessary to have a king. yet what\r\nperson or of which nation, was matter of dispute. For those who had been\r\nbuilders of the city with Romulus, and had already yielded a share of their\r\nlands and dwellings to the Sabines, were indignant at any pretension on their\r\npart to rule over their benefactors. On the other side, the Sabines could\r\nplausibly allege, that, at their king Tatius’s decease, they had peaceably\r\nsubmitted to the sole command of Romulus; so now their turn was come to have a\r\nking chosen out of their own nation; nor did they esteem themselves to have\r\ncombined with the Romans as inferiors, nor to have contributed less than they\r\nto the increase of Rome, which, without their numbers and association, could\r\nscarcely have merited the name of a city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus did both parties argue and dispute their cause; but lest meanwhile\r\ndiscord, in the absence of all command, should occasion general confusion, it\r\nwas agreed that the hundred and fifty senators should interchangeably execute\r\nthe office of supreme magistrate, and each in succession, with the ensigns of\r\nroyalty, should offer the solemn sacrifices and dispatch public business for\r\nthe space of six hours by day and six by night; which vicissitude and equal\r\ndistribution of power would preclude all rivalry amongst the senators and envy\r\nfrom the people, when they should behold one, elevated to the degree of a king,\r\nleveled within the space of a day to the condition of a private citizen. This\r\nform of government is termed, by the Romans, interregnum. Nor yet could they,\r\nby this plausible and modest way of rule, escape suspicion and clamor of the\r\nvulgar, as though they were changing the form of government to an oligarchy,\r\nand designing to keep the supreme power in a sort of wardship under themselves,\r\nwithout ever proceeding to choose a king. Both parties came at length to the\r\nconclusion that the one should choose a king out of the body of the other; the\r\nRomans make choice of a Sabine, or the Sabines name a Roman; this was esteemed\r\nthe best expedient to put an end to all party spirit, and the prince who should\r\nbe chosen would have an equal affection to the one party as his electors and to\r\nthe other as his kinsmen. The Sabines remitted the choice to the original\r\nRomans, and they, too, on their part, were more inclinable to receive a Sabine\r\nking elected by themselves than to see a Roman exalted by the Sabines.\r\nConsultations being accordingly held, they named Numa Pompilius, of the Sabine\r\nrace, a person of that high reputation for excellence, that, though he were not\r\nactually residing at Rome, yet he was no sooner nominated than accepted by the\r\nSabines, with acclamation almost greater than that of the electors themselves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe choice being declared and made known to the people, principal men of both\r\nparties were appointed to visit and entreat him, that he would accept the\r\nadministration of the government. Numa resided at a famous city of the Sabines\r\ncalled Cures, whence the Romans and Sabines gave themselves the joint name of\r\nQuirites. Pomponius, an illustrious person, was his father, and he the youngest\r\nof his four sons, being (as it had been divinely ordered) born on the\r\ntwenty-first day of April, the day of the foundation of Rome. He was endued\r\nwith a soul rarely tempered by nature, and disposed to virtue, which he had yet\r\nmore subdued by discipline, a severe life, and the study of philosophy; means\r\nwhich had not only succeeded in expelling the baser passions, but also the\r\nviolent and rapacious temper which barbarians are apt to think highly of; true\r\nbravery, in his judgment, was regarded as consisting in the subjugation of our\r\npassions by reason.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe banished all luxury and softness from his own home, and, while citizens\r\nalike and strangers found in him an incorruptible judge and counselor, in\r\nprivate he devoted himself not to amusement or lucre, but to the worship of the\r\nimmortal gods, and the rational contemplation of their divine power and nature.\r\nSo famous was he, that Tatius, the colleague of Romulus, chose him for his\r\nson-in-law, and gave him his only daughter, which, however, did not stimulate\r\nhis vanity to desire to dwell with his father-in-law at Rome; he rather chose\r\nto inhabit with his Sabines, and cherish his own father in his old age; and\r\nTatia, also, preferred the private condition of her husband before the honors\r\nand splendor she might have enjoyed with her father. She is said to have died\r\nafter she had been married thirteen years, and then Numa, leaving the\r\nconversation of the town, betook himself to a country life, and in a solitary\r\nmanner frequented the groves and fields consecrated to the gods, passing his\r\nlife in desert places. And this in particular gave occasion to the story about\r\nthe goddess, namely, that Numa did not retire from human society out of any\r\nmelancholy or disorder of mind. but because he had tasted the joys of more\r\nelevated intercourse, and, admitted to celestial wedlock in the love and\r\nconverse of the goddess Egeria, had attained to blessedness, and to a divine\r\nwisdom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe story evidently resembles those very ancient fables which the Phrygians\r\nhave received and still recount of Attis, the Bithynians of Herodotus, the\r\nArcadians of Endymion, not to mention several others who were thought blessed\r\nand beloved of the gods; nor does it seem strange if God, a lover, not of\r\nhorses or birds, but men, should not disdain to dwell with the virtuous and\r\nconverse with the wise and temperate soul, though it be altogether hard,\r\nindeed, to believe, that any god or daemon is capable of a sensual or bodily\r\nlove and passion for any human form or beauty. Though, indeed, the wise\r\nEgyptians do not unplausibly make the distinction, that it may be possible for\r\na divine spirit so to apply itself to the nature of a woman, as to imbreed in\r\nher the first beginnings of generation, while on the other side they conclude\r\nit impossible for the male kind to have any intercourse or mixture by the body\r\nwith any divinity, not considering, however, that what takes place on the one\r\nside, must also take place on the other; intermixture, by force of terms, is\r\nreciprocal. Not that it is otherwise than befitting to suppose that the gods\r\nfeel towards men affection, and love, in the sense of affection, and in the\r\nform of care and solicitude for their virtue and their good dispositions. And,\r\ntherefore, it was no error of those who feigned, that Phorbas, Hyacinthus, and\r\nAdmetus were beloved by Apollo; or that Hippolytus the Sicyonian was so much in\r\nhis favor, that, as often as he sailed from Sicyon to Cirrha, the Pythian\r\nprophetess uttered this heroic verse, expressive of the god’s attention and\r\njoy:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nNow doth Hippolytus return again,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd venture his dear life upon the main.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is reported, also, that Pan became enamored of Pindar for his verses, and\r\nthe divine power rendered honor to Hesiod and Archilochus after their death for\r\nthe sake of the Muses; there is a statement, also, that Aesculapius sojourned\r\nwith Sophocles in his lifetime, of which many proofs still exist, and that,\r\nwhen he was dead, another deity took care for his funeral rites. And so if any\r\ncredit may be given to these instances, why should we judge it incongruous,\r\nthat a like spirit of the gods should visit Zaleucus, Minos, Zoroaster,\r\nLycurgus, and Numa, the controllers of kingdoms, and the legislators for\r\ncommonwealths? Nay, it may be reasonable to believe, that the gods, with a\r\nserious purpose, assist at the councils and serious debates of such men, to\r\ninspire and direct them; and visit poets and musicians, if at all, in their\r\nmore sportive moods; but, for difference of opinion here, as Bacchylides said,\r\n“the road is broad.” For there is no absurdity in the account also given, that\r\nLycurgus and Numa, and other famous lawgivers, having the task of subduing\r\nperverse and refractory multitudes, and of introducing great innovations,\r\nthemselves made this pretension to divine authority, which, if not true,\r\nassuredly was expedient for the interests of those it imposed upon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNuma was about forty years of age when the ambassadors came to make him offers\r\nof the kingdom; the speakers were Proculus and Velesus, one or other of whom it\r\nhad been thought the people would elect as their new king; the original Romans\r\nbeing for Proculus, and the Sabines for Velesus. Their speech was very short,\r\nsupposing that, when they came to tender a kingdom, there needed little to\r\npersuade to an acceptance; but, contrary to their expectation, they found that\r\nthey had to use many reasons and entreaties to induce one, that lived in peace\r\nand quietness, to accept the government of a city whose foundation and increase\r\nhad been made, in a manner, in war. In presence of his father and his kinsman\r\nMarcius, he returned answer that “Every alteration of a man’s life is dangerous\r\nto him; but madness only could induce one who needs nothing and is satisfied\r\nwith everything to quit a life he is accustomed to; which, whatever else it is\r\ndeficient in, at any rate has the advantage of certainty over one wholly\r\ndoubtful and unknown. Though, indeed, the difficulties of this government\r\ncannot even be called unknown; Romulus, who first held it, did not escape the\r\nsuspicion of having plotted against the life of his colleague Tatius; nor the\r\nsenate the like accusation, of having treasonably murdered Romulus. Yet Romulus\r\nhad the advantage to be thought divinely born and miraculously preserved and\r\nnurtured. My birth was mortal; I was reared and instructed by men that are\r\nknown to you. The very points of my character that are most commended mark me\r\nas unfit to reign,—love of retirement and of studies inconsistent with\r\nbusiness, a passion that has become inveterate in me for peace, for unwarlike\r\noccupations, and for the society of men whose meetings are but those of worship\r\nand of kindly intercourse, whose lives in general are spent upon their farms\r\nand their pastures. I should but be, methinks, a laughing-stock, while I should\r\ngo about to inculcate the worship of the gods, and give lessons in the love of\r\njustice and the abhorrence of violence and war, to a city whose needs are\r\nrather for a captain than for a king.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Romans, perceiving by these words that he was declining to accept the\r\nkingdom, were the more instant and urgent with him that he would not forsake\r\nand desert them in this condition, and suffer them to relapse, as they must,\r\ninto their former sedition and civil discord, there being no person on whom\r\nboth parties could accord but on himself. And, at length, his father and\r\nMarcius, taking him aside, persuaded him to accept a gift so noble in itself,\r\nand tendered to him rather from heaven than from men. “Though,” said they, “you\r\nneither desire riches, being content with what you have, nor court the fame of\r\nauthority, as having already the more valuable fame of virtue, yet you will\r\nconsider that government itself is a service of God, who now calls out into\r\naction your qualities of justice and wisdom, which were not meant to be left\r\nuseless and unemployed. Cease, therefore, to avoid and turn your back upon an\r\noffice which, to a wise man, is a field for great and honorable actions, for\r\nthe magnificent worship of the gods, and for the introduction of habits of\r\npiety, which authority alone can effect amongst a people. Tatius, though a\r\nforeigner, was beloved, and the memory of Romulus has received divine honors;\r\nand who knows but that this people, being victorious, may be satiated with war,\r\nand, content with the trophies and spoils they have acquired, may be, above all\r\nthings, desirous to have a pacific and justice-loving prince, to lead them to\r\ngood order and quiet? But if, indeed, their desires are uncontrollably and\r\nmadly set on war, were it not better, then, to have the reins held by such a\r\nmoderating hand as is able to divert the fury another way, and that your native\r\ncity and the whole Sabine nation should possess in you a bond of good-will and\r\nfriendship with this young and growing power?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWith these reasons and persuasions several auspicious omens are said to have\r\nconcurred, and the zeal, also, of his fellow-citizens, who, on understanding\r\nwhat message the Roman ambassadors had brought him, entreated him to accompany\r\nthem, and to accept the kingdom as a means to unanimity and concord between the\r\nnations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNuma, yielding to these inducements, having first performed divine sacrifice,\r\nproceeded to Rome, being met in his way by the senate and people, who, with an\r\nimpatient desire, came forth to receive him; the women, also, welcomed him with\r\njoyful acclamations, and sacrifices were offered for him in all the temples,\r\nand so universal was the joy, that they seemed to be receiving, not a new king,\r\nbut a new kingdom. In this manner he descended into the forum, where Spurius\r\nVettius, whose turn it was to be interrex at that hour, put it to the vote; and\r\nall declared him king. Then the regalities and robes of authority were brought\r\nto him; but he refused to be invested with them until he had first consulted\r\nand been confirmed by the gods; so, being accompanied by the priests and\r\naugurs, he ascended the Capitol, which at that time the Romans called the\r\nTarpeian Hill. Then the chief of the augurs covered Numa’s head, and turned his\r\nface towards the south, and, standing behind him, laid his right hand on his\r\nhead, and prayed, turning his eyes every way, in expectation of some auspicious\r\nsignal from the gods. It was wonderful, meantime, with what silence and\r\ndevotion the multitude stood assembled in the forum in similar expectation and\r\nsuspense, till auspicious birds appeared and passed on the right. Then Numa,\r\nappareling himself in his royal robes, descended from the hill to the people,\r\nby whom he was received and congratulated with shouts and acclamations of\r\nwelcome, as a holy king, and beloved of all the gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe first thing he did at his entrance into government was to dismiss the band\r\nof three hundred men which had been Romulus’s life-guard, called by him\r\nCeleres, saying, that he would not distrust those who put confidence in him,\r\nnor rule over a people that distrusted him. The next thing he did was to add to\r\nthe two priests of Jupiter and Mars a third in honor of Romulus, whom he called\r\nthe Flamen Quirinalis. The Romans anciently called their priests Flamines, by\r\ncorruption of the word Pilamines, from a certain cap which they wore, called\r\nPileus. In those times, Greek words were more mixed with the Latin than at\r\npresent; thus also the royal robe, which is called Laena, Juba says, is the\r\nsame as the Greek Chlaena; and that the name of Camillus, given to the boy with\r\nboth his parents living, who serves in the temple of Jupiter, was taken from\r\nthe name given by some Greeks to Mercury, denoting his office of attendance on\r\nthe gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Numa had, by such measures, won the favor and affection of the people, he\r\nset himself, without delay, to the task of bringing the hard and iron Roman\r\ntemper to somewhat more of gentleness and equity. Plato’s expression of a city\r\nin high fever was never more applicable than to Rome at that time; in its\r\norigin formed by daring and warlike spirits, whom bold and desperate adventure\r\nbrought thither from every quarter, it had found in perpetual wars and\r\nincursions on its neighbors its after sustenance and means of growth and in\r\nconflict with danger the source of new strength; like piles, which the blows of\r\nthe rammer serve to fix into the ground. Wherefore Numa, judging it no slight\r\nundertaking to mollify and bend to peace the presumptuous and stubborn spirits\r\nof this people, began to operate upon them with the sanctions of religion. He\r\nsacrificed often, and used processions and religious dances, in which most\r\ncommonly he officiated in person; by such combinations of solemnity with\r\nrefined and humanizing pleasures, seeking to win over and mitigate their fiery\r\nand warlike tempers. At times, also, he filled their imaginations with\r\nreligious terrors, professing that strange apparitions had been seen, and\r\ndreadful voices heard; thus subduing and humbling their minds by a sense of\r\nsupernatural fears.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis method which Numa used made it believed that he had been much conversant\r\nwith Pythagoras; for in the philosophy of the one, as in the policy of the\r\nother, man’s relations to the deity occupy a great place. It is said, also,\r\nthat the solemnity of his exterior garb and gestures was adopted by him from\r\nthe same feeling with Pythagoras. For it is said of Pythagoras, that he had\r\ntaught an eagle to come at his call, and stoop down to him in its flight; and\r\nthat, as he passed among the people assembled at the Olympic games, he showed\r\nthem his golden thigh; besides many other strange and miraculous seeming\r\npractices, on which Timon the Phliasian wrote the distich,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWho, of the glory of a juggler proud,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWith solemn talk imposed upon the crowd.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn like manner Numa spoke of a certain goddess or mountain nymph that was in\r\nlove with him, and met him in secret, as before related; and professed that he\r\nentertained familiar conversation with the Muses, to whose teaching he ascribed\r\nthe greatest part of his revelations; and amongst them, above all, he\r\nrecommended to the veneration of the Romans one in particular, whom he named\r\nTacita, the Silent; which he did perhaps in imitation and honor of the\r\nPythagorean silence. His opinion, also, of images is very agreeable to the\r\ndoctrine of Pythagoras; who conceived of the first principle of being as\r\ntranscending sense and passion, invisible and incorrupt, and only to be\r\napprehended by abstract intelligence. So Numa forbade the Romans to represent\r\nGod in the form of man or beast, nor was there any painted or graven image of a\r\ndeity admitted amongst them for the space of the first hundred and seventy\r\nyears, all which time their temples and chapels were kept free and pure from\r\nimages; to such baser objects they deemed it impious to liken the highest, and\r\nall access to God impossible, except by the pure act of the intellect. His\r\nsacrifices, also, had great similitude to the ceremonial of Pythagoras, for\r\nthey were not celebrated with effusion of blood, but consisted of flour, wine,\r\nand the least costly offerings. Other external proofs, too, are urged to show\r\nthe connection Numa had with Pythagoras. The comic writer Epicharmus, an\r\nancient author, and of the school of Pythagoras, in a book of his dedicated to\r\nAntenor, records that Pythagoras was made a freeman of Rome. Again, Numa gave\r\nto one of his four sons the name of Mamercus, which was the name of one of the\r\nsons of Pythagoras; from whence, as they say sprang that ancient patrician\r\nfamily of the Aemilii, for that the king gave him in sport the surname of\r\nAemilius, for his engaging and graceful manner in speaking. I remember, too,\r\nthat when I was at Rome, I heard many say, that, when the oracle directed two\r\nstatues to be raised, one to the wisest, and another to the most valiant man of\r\nGreece, they erected two of brass, one representing Alcibiades, and the other\r\nPythagoras.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut to pass by these matters, which are full of uncertainty, and not so\r\nimportant as to be worth our time to insist on them, the original constitution\r\nof the priests, called Pontifices, is ascribed unto Numa, and he himself was,\r\nit is said, the first of them; and that they have the name of Pontifices from\r\npotens, powerful, because they attend the service of the gods, who have power\r\nand command over all. Others make the word refer to exceptions of impossible\r\ncases; the priests were to perform all the duties possible to them; if any\r\nthing lay beyond their power, the exception was not to be cavilled at. The most\r\ncommon opinion is the most absurd, which derives this word from pons, and\r\nassigns the priests the title of bridge-makers. The sacrifices performed on the\r\nbridge were amongst the most sacred and ancient, and the keeping and repairing\r\nof the bridge attached, like any other public sacred office, to the priesthood.\r\nIt was accounted not simply unlawful, but a positive sacrilege, to pull down\r\nthe wooden bridge; which moreover is said, in obedience to an oracle, to have\r\nbeen built entirely of timber and fastened with wooden pins, without nails or\r\ncramps of iron. The stone bridge was built a very long time after, when\r\nAemilius was quaestor, and they do, indeed, say also that the wooden bridge was\r\nnot so old as Numa’s time, but was finished by Ancus Marcius, when he was king,\r\nwho was the grandson of Numa by his daughter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe office of Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest, was to declare and interpret\r\nthe divine law, or, rather, to preside over sacred rites; he not only\r\nprescribed rules for public ceremony, but regulated the sacrifices of private\r\npersons, not suffering them to vary from established custom, and giving\r\ninformation to every one of what was requisite for purposes of worship or\r\nsupplication. He was also guardian of the vestal virgins, the institution of\r\nwhom, and of their perpetual fire, was attributed to Numa, who, perhaps fancied\r\nthe charge of pure and uncorrupted flames would be fitly entrusted to chaste\r\nand unpolluted persons, or that fire, which consumes, but produces nothing,\r\nbears all analogy to the virgin estate. In Greece, wherever a perpetual holy\r\nfire is kept, as at Delphi and Athens, the charge of it is committed, not to\r\nvirgins, but widows past the time of marriage. And in case by any accident it\r\nshould happen that this fire became extinct, as the holy lamp was at Athens\r\nunder the tyranny of Aristion, and at Delphi, when that temple was burnt by the\r\nMedes, as also in the time of the Mithridatic and Roman civil war, when not\r\nonly the fire was extinguished, but the altar demolished, then, afterwards, in\r\nkindling this fire again, it was esteemed an impiety to light it from common\r\nsparks or flame, or from any thing but the pure and unpolluted rays of the sun,\r\nwhich they usually effect by concave mirrors, of a figure formed by the\r\nrevolution of an isoceles rectangular triangle, all the lines from the\r\ncircumference of which meeting in a center, by holding it in the light of the\r\nsun they can collect and concentrate all its rays at this one point of\r\nconvergence; where the air will now become rarefied, and any light, dry,\r\ncombustible matter will kindle as soon as applied, under the effect of the\r\nrays, which here acquire the substance and active force of fire. Some are of\r\nopinion that these vestals had no other business than the preservation of this\r\nfire; but others conceive that they were keepers of other divine secrets,\r\nconcealed from all but themselves, of which we have told all that may lawfully\r\nbe asked or told, in the life of Camillus. Gegania and Verenia, it is recorded,\r\nwere the names of the first two virgins consecrated and ordained by Numa;\r\nCanuleia and Tarpeia succeeded; Servius afterwards added two, and the number of\r\nfour has continued to the present time.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe statutes prescribed by Numa for the vestals were these: that they should\r\ntake a vow of virginity for the space of thirty years, the first ten of which\r\nthey were to spend in learning their duties, the second ten in performing them,\r\nand the remaining ten in teaching and instructing others. Thus the whole term\r\nbeing completed, it was lawful for them to marry, and, leaving the sacred\r\norder, to choose any condition of life that pleased them; but this permission\r\nfew, as they say, made use of; and in cases where they did so, it was observed\r\nthat their change was not a happy one, but accompanied ever after with regret\r\nand melancholy; so that the greater number, from religious fears and scruples,\r\nforbore, and continued to old age and death in the strict observance of a\r\nsingle life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor this condition he compensated by great privileges and prerogatives; as that\r\nthey had power to make a will in the lifetime of their father; that they had a\r\nfree administration of their own affairs without guardian or tutor, which was\r\nthe privilege of women who were the mothers of three children; when they go\r\nabroad, they have the fasces carried before them; and if in their walks they\r\nchance to meet a criminal on his way to execution, it saves his life, upon oath\r\nmade that the meeting was an accidental one, and not concerted or of set\r\npurpose. Any one who presses upon the chair on which they are carried, is put\r\nto death. If these vestals commit any minor fault, they are punishable by the\r\nhigh- priest only, who scourges the offender, sometimes with her clothes off,\r\nin a dark place, with a curtain drawn between; but she that has broken her vow\r\nis buried alive near the gate called Collina, where a little mound of earth\r\nstands, inside the city, reaching some little distance, called in Latin agger;\r\nunder it a narrow room is constructed, to which a descent is made by stairs;\r\nhere they prepare a bed, and light a lamp, and leave a small quantity of\r\nvictuals, such as bread, water, a pail of milk, and some oil; that so that body\r\nwhich had been consecrated and devoted to the most sacred service of religion\r\nmight not be said to perish by such a death as famine. The culprit herself is\r\nput in a litter, which they cover over, and tie her down with cords on it, so\r\nthat nothing she utters may be heard. They then take her to the forum; all\r\npeople silently go out of the way as she passes, and such as follow accompany\r\nthe bier with solemn and speechless sorrow; and, indeed, there is not any\r\nspectacle more appalling, nor any day observed by the city with greater\r\nappearance of gloom and sadness. When they come to the place of execution, the\r\nofficers loose the cords, and then the high- priest, lifting his hands to\r\nheaven, pronounces certain prayers to himself before the act; then he brings\r\nout the prisoner, being still covered, and placing her upon the steps that lead\r\ndown to the cell, turns away his face with the rest of the priests; the stairs\r\nare drawn up after she has gone down, and a quantity of earth is heaped up over\r\nthe entrance to the cell, so as to prevent it from being distinguished from the\r\nrest of the mound. This is the punishment of those who break their vow of\r\nvirginity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is said, also, that Numa built the temple of Vesta, which was intended for a\r\nrepository of the holy fire, of a circular form, not to represent the figure of\r\nthe earth, as if that were the same as Vesta, but that of the general universe,\r\nin the center of which the Pythagoreans place the element of fire, and give it\r\nthe name of Vesta and the unit; and do not hold that the earth is immovable, or\r\nthat it is situated in the center of the globe, but that it keeps a circular\r\nmotion about the seat of fire, and is not in the number of the primary\r\nelements; in this agreeing with the opinion of Plato, who, they say, in his\r\nlater life, conceived that the earth held a lateral position, and that the\r\ncentral and sovereign space was reserved for some nobler body.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was yet a farther use of the priests, and that was to give people\r\ndirections in the national usages at funeral rites. Numa taught them to regard\r\nthese offices, not as a pollution, but as a duty paid to the gods below, into\r\nwhose hands the better part of us is transmitted; especially they were to\r\nworship the goddess Libitina, who presided over all the ceremonies performed at\r\nburials; whether they meant hereby Proserpina, or, as the most learned of the\r\nRomans conceive, Venus, not inaptly attributing the beginning and end of man’s\r\nlife to the agency of one and the same deity. Numa also prescribed rules for\r\nregulating the days of mourning, according to certain times and ages. As, for\r\nexample, a child of three years was not to be mourned for at all; one older, up\r\nto ten years, for as many months as it was years old; and the longest time of\r\nmourning for any person whatsoever was not to exceed the term of ten months;\r\nwhich was the time appointed for women that lost their husbands to continue in\r\nwidowhood. If any married again before that time, by the laws of Numa she was\r\nto sacrifice a cow big with calf.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNuma, also, was founder of several other orders of priests, two of which I\r\nshall mention, the Salii and the Feciales, which are among the clearest proofs\r\nof the devoutness and sanctity of his character. These Fecials, or guardians of\r\npeace, seem to have had their name from their office, which was to put a stop\r\nto disputes by conference and speech; for it was not allowable to take up arms\r\nuntil they had declared all hopes of accommodation to be at an end, for in\r\nGreek, too, we call it peace when disputes are settled by words, and not by\r\nforce. The Romans commonly dispatched the Fecials, or heralds, to those who had\r\noffered them injury, requesting satisfaction; and, in case they refused, they\r\nthen called the gods to witness, and, with imprecations upon themselves and\r\ntheir country should they be acting unjustly, so declared war; against their\r\nwill, or without their consent, it was lawful neither for soldier nor king to\r\ntake up arms; the war was begun with them, and, when they had first handed it\r\nover to the commander as a just quarrel, then his business was to deliberate of\r\nthe manner and ways to carry it on. It is believed that the slaughter and\r\ndestruction which the Gauls made of the Romans was a judgment on the city for\r\nneglect of this religious proceeding; for that when these barbarians besieged\r\nthe Clusinians, Fabius Ambustus was dispatched to their camp to negotiate peace\r\nfor the besieged; and, on their returning a rude refusal, Fabius imagined that\r\nhis office of ambassador was at an end, and, rashly engaging on the side of the\r\nClusinians, challenged the bravest of the enemy to a single combat. It was the\r\nfortune of Fabius to kill his adversary, and to take his spoils; but when the\r\nGauls discovered it, they sent a herald to Rome to complain against him; since,\r\nbefore war was declared, he had, against the law of nations, made a breach of\r\nthe peace. The matter being debated in the senate, the Fecials were of opinion\r\nthat Fabius ought to be consigned into the hands of the Gauls; but he, being\r\nforewarned of their judgment, fled to the people, by whose protection and favor\r\nhe escaped the sentence. On this, the Gauls marched with their army to Rome,\r\nwhere, having taken the Capitol, they sacked the city. The particulars of all\r\nwhich are fully given in the history of Caminus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe origin of the Salii is this. In the eighth year of the reign of Numa, a\r\nterrible pestilence, which traversed all Italy, ravaged likewise the city of\r\nRome; and the citizens being in distress and despondent, a brazen target, they\r\nsay, fell from heaven into the hands of Numa who gave them this marvelous\r\naccount of it: that Egeria and the Muses had assured him it was sent from\r\nheaven for the cure and safety of the city, and that, to keep it secure, he was\r\nordered by them to make eleven others, so like in dimension and form to the\r\noriginal that no thief should be able to distinguish the true from the\r\ncounterfeit. He farther declared, that he was commanded to consecrate to the\r\nMuses the place, and the fields about it, where they had been chiefly wont to\r\nmeet with him, and that the spring which watered the field should be hallowed\r\nfor the use of the vestal virgins, who were to wash and cleanse the penetralia\r\nof their sanctuary with those holy waters. The truth of all which was speedily\r\nverified by the cessation of the pestilence. Numa displayed the target to the\r\nartificers and bade them show their skill in making others like it; all\r\ndespaired, until at length one Mamurius Veturius, an excellent workman, happily\r\nhit upon it, and made all so exactly the same that Numa himself was at a loss,\r\nand could not distinguish. The keeping of these targets was committed to the\r\ncharge of certain priests, called Salii, who did not receive their name, as\r\nsome tell the story, from Salius, a dancing-master born in Samothrace, or at\r\nMantinea, who taught the way of dancing in arms; but more truly from that\r\njumping dance which the Salii themselves use, when in the month of March they\r\ncarry the sacred targets through the city; at which procession they are habited\r\nin short frocks of purple, girt with a broad belt studded with brass; on their\r\nheads they wear a brass helmet, and carry in their hands short daggers, which\r\nthey clash every now and then against the targets. But the chief thing is the\r\ndance itself. They move with much grace, performing, in quick time and close\r\norder, various intricate figures, with a great display of strength and agility.\r\nThe targets were called Ancilia from their form; for they are not made round,\r\nnor like proper targets, of a complete circumference, but are cut out into a\r\nwavy line, the ends of which are rounded off and turned in at the thickest part\r\ntowards each other; so that their shape is curvilinear, or, in Greek, ancylon;\r\nor the name may come from ancon, the elbow, on which they are carried. Thus\r\nJuba writes, who is eager to make it Greek. But it might be, for that matter,\r\nfrom its having come down anecathen, from above; or from its akesis, or cure of\r\ndiseases; or auchmon Iysis, because it put an end to a drought; or from its\r\nanaschesis, or relief from calamities, which is the origin of the Athenian name\r\nAnaces, given to Castor and Pollux; if we must, that is, reduce it to Greek.\r\nThe reward which Mamurius received for his art was to be mentioned and\r\ncommemorated in the verses which the Salii sang, as they danced in their arms\r\nthrough the city; though some will have it that they do not say Veturium\r\nMamurium, but Veterem Memoriam, ancient remembrance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter Numa had in this manner instituted these several orders of priests, he\r\nerected, near the temple of Vesta, what is called to this day Regia, or king’s\r\nhouse, where he spent the most part of his time, performing divine service,\r\ninstructing the priests, or conversing with them on sacred subjects. He had\r\nanother house upon the Mount Quirinalis, the site of which they show to this\r\nday. In all public processions and solemn prayers, criers were sent before to\r\ngive notice to the people that they should forbear their work, and rest. They\r\nsay that the Pythagoreans did not allow people to worship and pray to their\r\ngods by the way, but would have them go out from their houses direct, with\r\ntheir minds set upon the duty, and so Numa, in like manner, wished that his\r\ncitizens should neither see nor hear any religious service in a perfunctory and\r\ninattentive manner, but, laying aside all other occupations, should apply their\r\nminds to religion as to a most serious business; and that the streets should be\r\nfree from all noises and cries that accompany manual labor, and clear for the\r\nsacred solemnity. Some traces of this custom remain at Rome to this day, for,\r\nwhen the consul begins to take auspices or do sacrifice, they call out to the\r\npeople, Hoc age, Attend to this, whereby the auditors then present are\r\nadmonished to compose and recollect themselves. Many other of his precepts\r\nresemble those of the Pythagoreans. The Pythagoreans said, for example, “Thou\r\nshalt not make a peck-measure thy seat to sit on. Thou shalt not stir the fire\r\nwith a sword. When thou goest out upon a journey, look not behind thee. When\r\nthou sacrificest to the celestial gods, let it be with an odd number, and when\r\nto the terrestrial, with even.” The significance of each of which precepts they\r\nwould not commonly disclose. So some of Numa’s traditions have no obvious\r\nmeaning. “Thou shalt not make libation to the gods of wine from an unpruned\r\nvine. No sacrifices shall be performed without meal. Turn round to pay\r\nadoration to the gods; sit after you have worshipped.” The first two directions\r\nseem to denote the cultivation and subduing of the earth as a part of religion;\r\nand as to the turning which the worshipers are to use in divine adoration, it\r\nis said to represent the rotatory motion of the world. But, in my opinion, the\r\nmeaning rather is, that the worshiper, since the temples front the east, enters\r\nwith his back to the rising sun; there, faces round to the east, and so turns\r\nback to the god of the temple, by this circular movement referring the\r\nfulfillment of his prayer to both divinities. Unless, indeed, this change of\r\nposture may have a mystical meaning, like the Egyptian wheels, and signify to\r\nus the instability of human fortune, and that, in whatever way God changes and\r\nturns our lot and condition, we should rest contented, and accept it as right\r\nand fitting. They say, also, that the sitting after worship was to be by way of\r\nomen of their petitions being granted, and the blessing they asked assured to\r\nthem. Again, as different courses of actions are divided by intervals of rest,\r\nthey might seat themselves after the completion of what they had done, to seek\r\nfavor of the gods for beginning something else. And this would very well suit\r\nwith what we had before; the lawgiver wants to habituate us to make our\r\npetitions to the deity not by the way, and as it were, in a hurry, when we have\r\nother things to do, but with time and leisure to attend to it. By such\r\ndiscipline and schooling in religion, the city passed insensibly into such a\r\nsubmissiveness of temper, and stood in such awe and reverence of the virtue of\r\nNuma, that they received, with an undoubted assurance, whatever he delivered,\r\nthough never so fabulous, and thought nothing incredible or impossible from\r\nhim.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere goes a story that he once invited a great number of citizens to an\r\nentertainment, at which the dishes in which the meat was served were very\r\nhomely and plain, and the repast itself poor and ordinary fare; the guests\r\nseated, he began to tell them that the goddess that consulted with him was then\r\nat that time come to him; when on a sudden the room was furnished with all\r\nsorts of costly drinking-vessels, and the tables loaded with rich meats, and a\r\nmost sumptuous entertainment. But the dialogue which is reported to have passed\r\nbetween him and Jupiter surpasses all the fabulous legends that were ever\r\ninvented. They say that before Mount Aventine was inhabited or enclosed within\r\nthe walls of the city, two demi-gods, Picus and Faunus, frequented the Springs\r\nand thick shades of that place; which might be two satyrs, or Pans, except that\r\nthey went about Italy playing the same sorts of tricks, by skill in drugs and\r\nmagic, as are ascribed by the Greeks to the Dactyli of Mount Ida. Numa\r\ncontrived one day to surprise these demi-gods, by mixing wine and honey in the\r\nwaters of the spring of which they usually drank. On finding themselves\r\nensnared, they changed themselves into various shapes, dropping their own form\r\nand assuming every kind of unusual and hideous appearance; but when they saw\r\nthey were safely entrapped, and in no possibility of getting free, they\r\nrevealed to him many secrets and future events; and particularly a charm for\r\nthunder and lightning, still in use, performed with onions and hair and\r\npilchards. Some say they did not tell him the charm, but by their magic brought\r\ndown Jupiter out of heaven; and that he then, in an angry manner answering the\r\ninquiries, told Numa, that, if he would charm the thunder and lightning, he\r\nmust do it with heads. “How,” said Numa, “with the heads of onions?” “No,”\r\nreplied Jupiter, “of men.” But Numa, willing to elude the cruelty of this\r\nreceipt, turned it another way, saying, “Your meaning is, the hairs of men’s\r\nheads.” “No,” replied Jupiter, “with living”—“pilchards,” said Numa,\r\ninterrupting him. These answers he had learnt from Egeria. Jupiter returned\r\nagain to heaven, pacified and ilcos, or propitious. The place was, in\r\nremembrance of him, called Ilicium, from this Greek word; and the spell in this\r\nmanner effected.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese stories, laughable as they are, show us the feelings which people then,\r\nby force of habit, entertained towards the deity. And Numa’s own thoughts are\r\nsaid to have been fixed to that degree on divine objects, that he once, when a\r\nmessage was brought to him that “Enemies are approaching,” answered with a\r\nsmile, “And I am sacrificing.” It was he, also, that built the temples of Faith\r\nand Terminus and taught the Romans that the name of Faith was the most solemn\r\noath that they could swear. They still use it; and to the god Terminus, or\r\nBoundary, they offer to this day both public and private sacrifices, upon the\r\nborders and stone- marks of their land; living victims now, though anciently\r\nthose sacrifices were solemnized without blood; for Numa reasoned that the god\r\nof boundaries, who watched over peace, and testified to fair dealing, should\r\nhave no concern with blood. It is very clear that it was this king who first\r\nprescribed bounds to the territory of Rome; for Romulus would but have openly\r\nbetrayed how much he had encroached on his neighbors’ lands, had he ever set\r\nlimits to his own; for boundaries are, indeed, a defense to those who choose to\r\nobserve them, but are only a testimony against the dishonesty of those who\r\nbreak through them. The truth is, the portion of lands which the Romans\r\npossessed at the beginning was very narrow, until Romulus enlarged them by war;\r\nall whose acquisitions Numa now divided amongst the indigent commonalty,\r\nwishing to do away with that extreme want which is a compulsion to dishonesty,\r\nand, by turning the people to husbandry, to bring them, as well as their lands,\r\ninto better order. For there is no employment that gives so keen and quick a\r\nrelish for peace as husbandry and a country life, which leave in men all that\r\nkind of courage that makes them ready to fight in defense of their own, while\r\nit destroys the license that breaks out into acts of injustice and rapacity.\r\nNuma, therefore, hoping agriculture would be a sort of charm to captivate the\r\naffections of his people to peace, and viewing it rather as a means to moral\r\nthan to economical profit, divided all the lands into several parcels, to which\r\nhe gave the name of pagus, or parish, and over every one of them he ordained\r\nchief overseers; and, taking a delight sometimes to inspect his colonies in\r\nperson, he formed his judgment of every man’s habits by the results; of which\r\nbeing witness himself, he preferred those to honors and employments who had\r\ndone well, and by rebukes and reproaches incited the indolent and careless to\r\nimprovement. But of all his measures the most commended was his distribution of\r\nthe people by their trades into companies or guilds; for as the city consisted,\r\nor rather did not consist of, but was divided into, two different tribes, the\r\ndiversity between which could not be effaced and in the mean time prevented all\r\nunity and caused perpetual tumult and ill-blood, reflecting how hard substances\r\nthat do not readily mix when in the lump may, by being beaten into powder, in\r\nthat minute form be combined, he resolved to divide the whole population into a\r\nnumber of small divisions, and thus hoped, by introducing other distinctions,\r\nto obliterate the original and great distinction, which would be lost among the\r\nsmaller. So, distinguishing the whole people by the several arts and trades, he\r\nformed the companies of musicians, goldsmiths, carpenters, dyers, shoemakers,\r\nskinners, braziers, and potters; and all other handicraftsmen he composed and\r\nreduced into a single company, appointing every one their proper courts,\r\ncouncils, and religious observances. In this manner all factious distinctions\r\nbegan, for the first time, to pass out of use, no person any longer being\r\neither thought of or spoken of under the notion of a Sabine or a Roman, a\r\nRomulian or a Tatian; and the new division became a source of general harmony\r\nand intermixture.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe is also much to be commended for the repeal, or rather amendment, of that\r\nlaw which gives power to fathers to sell their children; he exempted such as\r\nwere married, conditionally that it had been with the liking and consent of\r\ntheir parents; for it seemed a hard thing that a woman who had given herself in\r\nmarriage to a man whom she judged free should afterwards find herself living\r\nwith a slave.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe attempted, also, the formation of a calendar, not with absolute exactness,\r\nyet not without some scientific knowledge. During the reign of Romulus, they\r\nhad let their months run on without any certain or equal term; some of them\r\ncontained twenty days, others thirty-five, others more; they had no sort of\r\nknowledge of the inequality in the motions of the sun and moon; they only kept\r\nto the one rule that the whole course of the year contained three hundred and\r\nsixty days. Numa, calculating the difference between the lunar and the solar’\r\nyear at eleven days, for that the moon completed her anniversary course in\r\nthree hundred and fifty-four days, and the sun in three hundred and sixty-\r\nfive, to remedy this incongruity doubled the eleven days, and every other year\r\nadded an intercalary month, to follow February, consisting of twenty-two days,\r\nand called by the Romans the month Mercedinus. This amendment, however, itself,\r\nin course of time, came to need other amendments. He also altered the order of\r\nthe months; for March, which was reckoned the first, he put into the third\r\nplace; and January, which was the eleventh, he made the first; and February,\r\nwhich was the twelfth and last, the second. Many will have it, that it was\r\nNuma, also, who added the two months of January and February; for in the\r\nbeginning they had had a year of ten months; as there are barbarians who count\r\nonly three; the Arcadians, in Greece, had but four; the Acarnanians, six. The\r\nEgyptian year at first, they say, was of one month; afterwards, of four; and\r\nso, though they live in the newest of all countries, they have the credit of\r\nbeing a more ancient nation than any; and reckon, in their genealogies, a\r\nprodigious number of years, counting months, that is, as years. That the\r\nRomans, at first, comprehended the whole year within ten, and not twelve\r\nmonths, plainly appears by the name of the last, December, meaning the tenth\r\nmonth; and that March was the first is likewise evident, for the fifth month\r\nafter it was called Quintilis, and the sixth Sextilis, and so the rest;\r\nwhereas, if January and February had, in this account, preceded March,\r\nQuintilis would have been fifth in name and seventh in reckoning. It was also\r\nnatural, that March, dedicated to Mars, should be Romulus’s first, and April,\r\nnamed from Venus, or Aphrodite, his second month; in it they sacrifice to\r\nVenus, and the women bathe on the calends, or first day of it, with myrtle\r\ngarlands on their heads. But others, because of its being p and not ph, will\r\nnot allow of the derivation of this word from Aphrodite, but say it is called\r\nApril from aperio, Latin for to open, because that this month is high spring,\r\nand opens and discloses the buds and flowers. The next is called May, from\r\nMaia, the mother of Mercury, to whom it is sacred; then June follows, so called\r\nfrom Juno; some, however, derive them from the two ages, old and young, majores\r\nbeing their name for older, and juniores for younger men. To the other months\r\nthey gave denominations according to their order; so the fifth was called\r\nQuintilis, Sextilis the sixth, and the rest, September, October, November, and\r\nDecember. Afterwards Quintilis received the name of Julius, from Caesar who\r\ndefeated Pompey; as also Sextilis that of Augustus, from the second Caesar, who\r\nhad that title. Domitian, also, in imitation, gave the two other following\r\nmonths his own names, of Germanicus and Domitianus; but, on his being slain,\r\nthey recovered their ancient denominations of September and October. The two\r\nlast are the only ones that have kept their names throughout without any\r\nalteration. Of the months which were added or transposed in their order by\r\nNuma, February comes from februa; and is as much as Purification month; in it\r\nthey make offerings to the dead, and celebrate the Lupercalia, which, in most\r\npoints, resembles a purification. January was so called from Janus, and\r\nprecedence given to it by Numa before March, which was dedicated to the god\r\nMars; because, as I conceive, he wished to take every opportunity of intimating\r\nthat the arts and studies of peace are to be preferred before those of war. For\r\nthis Janus, whether in remote antiquity he were a demi-god or a king, was\r\ncertainly a great lover of civil and social unity, and one who reclaimed men\r\nfrom brutal and savage living; for which reason they figure him with two faces,\r\nto represent the two states and conditions out of the one of which he brought\r\nmankind, to lead them into the other. His temple at Rome has two gates, which\r\nthey call the gates of war, because they stand open in the time of war, and\r\nshut in the times of peace; of which latter there was very seldom an example,\r\nfor, as the Roman empire was enlarged and extended, it was so encompassed with\r\nbarbarous nations and enemies to be resisted, that it was seldom or never at\r\npeace. Only in the time of Augustus Caesar, after he had overcome Antony, this\r\ntemple was shut; as likewise once before, when Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius\r\nwere consuls; but then it was not long before, wars breaking out, the gates\r\nwere again opened. But, during the reign of Numa, those gates were never seen\r\nopen a single day, but continued constantly shut for a space of forty-three\r\nyears together; such an entire and universal cessation of war existed. For not\r\nonly had the people of Rome itself been softened and charmed into a peaceful\r\ntemper by the just and mild rule of a pacific prince, but even the neighboring\r\ncities, as if some salubrious and gentle air had blown from Rome upon them,\r\nbegan to experience a change of feeling, and partook in the general longing for\r\nthe sweets of peace and order, and for life employed in the quiet tillage of\r\nsoil, bringing up of children, and worship of the gods. Festival days and\r\nsports, and the secure and peaceful interchange of friendly visits and\r\nhospitalities prevailed all through the whole of Italy. The love of virtue and\r\njustice flowed from Numa’s wisdom as from a fountain, and the serenity of his\r\nspirit diffused itself, like a calm, on all sides; so that the hyperboles of\r\npoets were flat and tame to express what then existed; as that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nOver the iron shield the spiders hang their threads,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nor that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nRust eats the pointed spear and double-edged sword.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nNo more is heard the trumpet’s brazen roar,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSweet sleep is banished from our eyes no more.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor, during the whole reign of Numa, there was neither war, nor sedition, nor\r\ninnovation in the state, nor any envy or ill-will to his person, nor plot or\r\nconspiracy from views of ambition. Either fear of the gods that were thought to\r\nwatch over him, or reverence for his virtue, or a divine felicity of fortune\r\nthat in his days preserved human innocence, made his reign, by whatever means,\r\na living example and verification of that saying which Plato, long afterwards,\r\nventured to pronounce, that the sole and only hope of respite or remedy for\r\nhuman evils was in some happy conjunction of events, which should unite in a\r\nsingle person the power of a king and the wisdom of a philosopher, so as to\r\nelevate virtue to control and mastery over vice. The wise man is blessed in\r\nhimself, and blessed also are the auditors who can hear and receive those words\r\nwhich flow from his mouth; and perhaps, too, there is no need of compulsion or\r\nmenaces to affect the multitude, for the mere sight itself of a shining and\r\nconspicuous example of virtue in the life of their prince will bring them\r\nspontaneously to virtue, and to a conformity with that blameless and blessed\r\nlife of good will and mutual concord, supported by temperance and justice,\r\nwhich is the highest benefit that human means can confer; and he is the truest\r\nruler who can best introduce it into the hearts and practice of his subjects.\r\nIt is the praise of Numa that no one seems ever to have discerned this so\r\nclearly as he.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs to his children and wives, there is a diversity of reports by several\r\nauthors; some will have it that he never had any other wife than Tatia, nor\r\nmore children than one daughter called Pompilia; others will have it that he\r\nleft also four sons, namely, Pompo, Pinus, Calpus, and Mamercus, every one of\r\nwhom had issue, and from them descended the noble and illustrious families of\r\nPomponii, Pinarii, Calpurnii, and Mamerci, which for this reason took also the\r\nsurname of Rex, or King. But there is a third set of writers who say that these\r\npedigrees are but a piece of flattery used by writers, who, to gain favor with\r\nthese great families, made them fictitious genealogies from the lineage of\r\nNuma; and that Pompilia was not the daughter of Tatia, but Lucretia, another\r\nwife whom he married after he came to his kingdom; however, all of them agree\r\nin opinion that she was married to the son of that Marcius who persuaded him to\r\naccept the government, and accompanied him to Rome where, as a mark of honor,\r\nhe was chosen into the senate, and, after the death of Numa, standing in\r\ncompetition with Tullus Hostilius for the kingdom, and being disappointed of\r\nthe election, in discontent killed himself; his son Marcius, however, who had\r\nmarried Pompilia, continuing at Rome, was the father of Ancus Marcius, who\r\nsucceeded Tullus Hostilius in the kingdom, and was but five years of age when\r\nNuma died.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNuma lived something above eighty years, and then, as Piso writes, was not\r\ntaken out of the world by a sudden or acute disease, but died of old age and by\r\na gradual and gentle decline. At his funeral all the glories of his life were\r\nconsummated, when all the neighboring states in alliance and amity with Rome\r\nmet to honor and grace the rites of his interment with garlands and public\r\npresents; the senators carried the bier on which his corpse was laid, and the\r\npriests followed and accompanied the solemn procession; while a general crowd,\r\nin which women and children took part, followed with such cries and weeping as\r\nif they had bewailed the death and loss of some most dear relation taken away\r\nin the flower of age, and not of an old and worn-out king. It is said that his\r\nbody, by his particular command, was not burnt, but that they made, in\r\nconformity with his order, two stone coffins, and buried both under the hill\r\nJaniculum, in one of which his body was laid, and in the other his sacred\r\nbooks, which, as the Greek legislators their tables, he had written out for\r\nhimself, but had so long inculcated the contents of them, whilst he lived, into\r\nthe minds and hearts of the priests, that their understandings became fully\r\npossessed with the whole spirit and purpose of them; and he, therefore, bade\r\nthat they should be buried with his body, as though such holy precepts could\r\nnot without irreverence be left to circulate in mere lifeless writings. For\r\nthis very reason, they say, the Pythagoreans bade that their precepts should\r\nnot be committed to paper, but rather preserved in the living memories of those\r\nwho were worthy to receive them; and when some of their out-of-the-way and\r\nabstruse geometrical processes had been divulged to an unworthy person, they\r\nsaid the gods threatened to punish this wickedness and profanity by a signal\r\nand wide-spreading calamity. With these several instances, concurring to show a\r\nsimilarity in the lives of Numa and Pythagoras, we may easily pardon those who\r\nseek to establish the fact of a real acquaintance between them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nValerius Antias writes that the books which were buried in the aforesaid chest\r\nor coffin of stone were twelve volumes of holy writ and twelve others of Greek\r\nphilosophy, and that about four hundred years afterwards, when P. Cornelius and\r\nM. Baebius were consuls, in a time of heavy rains, a violent torrent washed\r\naway the earth, and dislodged the chests of stone; and, their covers falling\r\noff, one of them was found wholly empty, without the least relic of any human\r\nbody; in the other were the books before mentioned, which the praetor Petilius\r\nhaving read and perused, made oath in the senate, that, in his opinion, it was\r\nnot fit for their contents to be made public to the people; whereupon the\r\nvolumes were all carried to the Comitium, and there burnt.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is the fortune of all good men that their virtue rises in glory after their\r\ndeaths, and that the envy which evil men conceive against them never outlives\r\nthem long; some have the happiness even to see it die before them; but in\r\nNuma’s case, also, the fortunes of the succeeding kings served as foils to set\r\noff the brightness of his reputation. For after him there were five kings, the\r\nlast of whom ended his old age in banishment, being deposed from his crown; of\r\nthe other four, three were assassinated and murdered by treason; the other, who\r\nwas Tullus Hostilius, that immediately succeeded Numa, derided his virtues, and\r\nespecially his devotion to religious worship, as a cowardly and mean- spirited\r\noccupation, and diverted the minds of the people to war; but was checked in\r\nthese youthful insolences, and was himself driven by an acute and tormenting\r\ndisease into superstitions wholly different from Numa’s piety, and left others\r\nalso to participate in these terrors when he died by the stroke of a\r\nthunderbolt.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap06\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF NUMA WITH LYCURGUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving thus finished the lives of Lycurgus and Numa, we shall now, though the\r\nwork be difficult, put together their points of difference as they lie here\r\nbefore our view. Their points of likeness are obvious; their moderation, their\r\nreligion, their capacity of government and discipline, their both deriving\r\ntheir laws and constitutions from the gods. Yet in their common glories there\r\nare circumstances of diversity; for, first, Numa accepted and Lycurgus resigned\r\na kingdom; Numa received without desiring it, Lycurgus had it and gave it up;\r\nthe one from a private person and a stranger was raised by others to be their\r\nking, the other from the condition of a prince voluntarily descended to the\r\nstate of privacy. It was glorious to acquire a throne by justice, yet more\r\nglorious to prefer justice before a throne; the same virtue which made the one\r\nappear worthy of regal power exalted the other to the disregard of it. Lastly,\r\nas musicians tune their harps, so the one let down the high-flown spirits of\r\nthe people at Rome to a lower key, as the other screwed them up at Sparta to a\r\nhigher note, when they were sunken low by dissoluteness and riot. The harder\r\ntask was that of Lycurgus; for it was not so much his business to persuade his\r\ncitizens to put off their armor or ungird their swords, as to cast away their\r\ngold or silver, and abandon costly furniture and rich tables; nor was it\r\nnecessary to preach to them, that, laying aside their arms, they should observe\r\nthe festivals, and sacrifice to the gods, but rather, that, giving up feasting\r\nand drinking, they should employ their time in laborious and martial exercises;\r\nso that while the one effected all by persuasions and his people’s love for\r\nhim, the other, with danger and hazard of his person, scarcely in the end\r\nsucceeded. Numa’s muse was a gentle and loving inspiration, fitting him well to\r\nturn and soothe his people into peace and justice out of their violent and\r\nfiery tempers; whereas, if we must admit the treatment of the Helots to be a\r\npart of Lycurgus’s legislations, a most cruel and iniquitous proceeding, we\r\nmust own that Numa was by a great deal the more humane and Greek-like\r\nlegislator, granting even to actual slaves a license to sit at meat with their\r\nmasters at the feast of Saturn, that they, also, might have some taste and\r\nrelish of the sweets of liberty. For this custom, too, is ascribed to Numa,\r\nwhose wish was, they conceive, to give a place in the enjoyment of the yearly\r\nfruits of the soil to those who had helped to produce them. Others will have it\r\nto be in remembrance of the age of Saturn, when there was no distinction\r\nbetween master and slave, but all lived as brothers and as equals in a\r\ncondition of equality.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn general, it seems that both aimed at the same design and intent, which was\r\nto bring their people to moderation and frugality; but, of other virtues, the\r\none set his affection most on fortitude, and the other on justice; unless we\r\nwill attribute their different ways to the different habits and temperaments\r\nwhich they had to work upon by their enactments; for Numa did not out of\r\ncowardice or fear affect peace, but because he would not be guilty of\r\ninjustice; nor did Lycurgus promote a spirit of war in his people that they\r\nmight do injustice to others, but that they might protect themselves by it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn bringing the habits they formed in their people to a just and happy mean,\r\nmitigating them where they exceeded, and strengthening them where they were\r\ndeficient, both were compelled to make great innovations. The frame of\r\ngovernment which Numa formed was democratic and popular to the last extreme,\r\ngoldsmiths and flute-players and shoemakers constituting his promiscuous,\r\nmany-colored commonalty. Lycurgus was rigid and aristocratical, banishing all\r\nthe base and mechanic arts to the company of servants and strangers, and\r\nallowing the true citizens no implements but the spear and shield, the trade of\r\nwar only, and the service of Mars, and no other knowledge or study but that of\r\nobedience to their commanding officers, and victory over their enemies. Every\r\nsort of money-making was forbid them as freemen; and to make them thoroughly so\r\nand to keep them so through their whole lives, every conceivable concern with\r\nmoney was handed over, with the cooking and the waiting at table, to slaves and\r\nhelots. But Numa made none of these distinctions; he only suppressed military\r\nrapacity, allowing free scope to every other means of obtaining wealth; nor did\r\nhe endeavor to do away with inequality in this respect, but permitted riches to\r\nbe amassed to any extent, and paid no attention to the gradual and continual\r\naugmentation and influx of poverty; which it was his business at the outset,\r\nwhilst there was as yet no great disparity in the estates of men, and whilst\r\npeople still lived much in one manner, to obviate, as Lycurgus did, and take\r\nmeasures of precaution against the mischiefs of avarice, mischiefs not of small\r\nimportance, but the real seed and first beginning of all the great and\r\nextensive evils of after times. The re-division of estates, Lycurgus is not, it\r\nseems to me, to be blamed for making, nor Numa for omitting; this equality was\r\nthe basis and foundation of the one commonwealth; but at Rome, where the lands\r\nhad been lately divided, there was nothing to urge any re-division or any\r\ndisturbance of the first arrangement, which was probably still in existence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWith respect to wives and children, and that community which both, with a sound\r\npolicy, appointed, to prevent all jealousy, their methods, however, were\r\ndifferent. For when a Roman thought himself to have a sufficient number of\r\nchildren, in case his neighbor who had none should come and request his wife of\r\nhim, he had a lawful power to give her up to him who desired her, either for a\r\ncertain time, or for good. The Lacedaemonian husband on the other hand, might\r\nallow the use of his wife to any other that desired to have children by her,\r\nand yet still keep her in his house, the original marriage obligation still\r\nsubsisting as at first. Nay, many husbands, as we have said, would invite men\r\nwhom they thought like]y to procure them fine and good-looking children into\r\ntheir houses. What is the difference, then, between the two customs? Shall we\r\nsay that the Lacedaemonian system is one of an extreme and entire unconcern\r\nabout their wives, and would cause most people endless disquiet and annoyance\r\nwith pangs and jealousies? The Roman course wears an air of a more delicate\r\nacquiescence, draws the veil of a new contract over the change, and concedes\r\nthe general insupportableness of mere community? Numa’s directions, too, for\r\nthe care of young women are better adapted to the female sex and to propriety;\r\nLycurgus’s are altogether unreserved and unfeminine, and have given a great\r\nhandle to the poets, who call them (Ibycus, for example) Phaenomerides, bare-\r\nthighed; and give them the character (as does Euripides) of being wild after\r\nhusbands;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThese with the young men from the house go out,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWith thighs that show, and robes that fly about.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor in fact the skirts of the frock worn by unmarried girls were not sewn\r\ntogether at the lower part, but used to fly back and show the whole thigh bare\r\nas they walked. The thing is most distinctly given by Sophocles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n—She, also, the young maid,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhose frock, no robe yet o’er it laid,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFolding back, leaves her bare thigh free,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nHermione.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd so their women, it is said, were bold and masculine, overbearing to their\r\nhusbands in the first place, absolute mistresses in their houses, giving their\r\nopinions about public matters freely, and speaking openly even on the most\r\nimportant subjects. But the matrons, under the government of Numa, still indeed\r\nreceived from their husbands all that high respect and honor which had been\r\npaid them under Romulus as a sort of atonement for the violence done to them;\r\nnevertheless, great modesty was enjoined upon them; all busy intermeddling\r\nforbidden, sobriety insisted on, and silence made habitual. Wine they were not\r\nto touch at all, nor to speak, except in their husband’s company, even on the\r\nmost ordinary subjects. So that once when a woman had the confidence to plead\r\nher own cause in a court of judicature, the senate, it is said, sent to inquire\r\nof the oracle what the prodigy did portend; and, indeed, their general good\r\nbehavior and submissiveness is justly proved by the record of those that were\r\notherwise; for as the Greek historians record in their annals the names of\r\nthose who first unsheathed the sword of civil war, or murdered their brothers,\r\nor were parricides, or killed their mothers, so the Roman writers report it as\r\nthe first example, that Spurius Carvilius divorced his wife, being a case that\r\nnever before happened, in the space of two hundred and thirty years from the\r\nfoundation of the city; and that one Thalaea, the wife of Pinarius, had a\r\nquarrel (the first instance of the kind) with her mother-in-law, Gegania, in\r\nthe reign of Tarquinius Superbus; so successful was the legislator in securing\r\norder and good conduct in the marriage relation. Their respective regulations\r\nfor marrying the young women are in accordance with those for their education.\r\nLycurgus made them brides when they were of full age and inclination for it.\r\nIntercourse, where nature was thus consulted, would produce, he thought, love\r\nand tenderness, instead of the dislike and fear attending an unnatural\r\ncompulsion; and their bodies, also, would be better able to bear the trials of\r\nbreeding and of bearing children, in his judgment the one end of marriage.\r\nAstolos chiton, the under garment, frock, or tunic, without anything, either\r\nhimation or peplus, over it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Romans, on the other hand, gave their daughters in marriage as early as\r\ntwelve years old, or even under; thus they thought their bodies alike and minds\r\nwould be delivered to the future husband pure and undefiled. The way of\r\nLycurgus seems the more natural with a view to the birth of children; the\r\nother, looking to a life to be spent together, is more moral. However, the\r\nrules which Lycurgus drew up for superintendence of children, their collection\r\ninto companies, their discipline and association, as also his exact regulations\r\nfor their meals, exercises, and sports, argue Numa no more than an ordinary\r\nlawgiver. Numa left the whole matter simply to be decided by the parent’s\r\nwishes or necessities; he might, if he pleased, make his son a husbandman or\r\ncarpenter, coppersmith or musician; as if it were of no importance for them to\r\nbe directed and trained up from the beginning to one and the same common end,\r\nor as though it would do for them to be like passengers on shipboard, brought\r\nthither each for his own ends and by his own choice, uniting to act for the\r\ncommon good only in time of danger upon occasion of their private fears, in\r\ngeneral looking simply to their own interest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWe may forbear, indeed, to blame common legislators, who may be deficient in\r\npower or knowledge. But when a wise man like Numa had received the sovereignty\r\nover a new and docile people, was there any thing that would better deserve his\r\nattention than the education of children, and the training up of the young, not\r\nto contrariety and discordance of character, but to the unity of the common\r\nmodel of virtue, to which from their cradle they should have been formed and\r\nmolded? One benefit among many that Lycurgus obtained by his course was the\r\npermanence which it secured to his laws. The obligation of oaths to preserve\r\nthem would have availed but little, if he had not, by discipline and education,\r\ninfused them into the children’s characters, and imbued their whole early life\r\nwith a love of his government. The result was that the main points and\r\nfundamentals of his legislation continued for above five hundred years, like\r\nsome deep and thoroughly ingrained tincture, retaining their hold upon the\r\nnation. But Numa’s whole design and aim, the continuance of peace and\r\ngood-will, on his death vanished with him; no sooner did he expire his last\r\nbreath than the gates of Janus’s temple flew wide open, and, as if war had,\r\nindeed, been kept and caged up within those walls, it rushed forth to fill all\r\nItaly with blood and slaughter; and thus that best and justest fabric of things\r\nwas of no long continuance, because it wanted that cement which should have\r\nkept all together, education. What, then, some may say, has not Rome been\r\nadvanced and bettered by her wars? A question that will need a long answer, if\r\nit is to be one to satisfy men who take the better to consist in riches,\r\nluxury, and dominion, rather than in security, gentleness, and that\r\nindependence which is accompanied by justice. However, it makes much for\r\nLycurgus, that, after the Romans deserted the doctrine and discipline of Numa,\r\ntheir empire grew and their power increased so much; whereas so soon as the\r\nLacedaemonians fell from the institutions of Lycurgus, they sank from the\r\nhighest to the lowest state, and, after forfeiting their supremacy over the\r\nrest of Greece, were themselves in danger of absolute extirpation. Thus much,\r\nmeantime, was peculiarly signal and almost divine in the circumstances of Numa,\r\nthat he was an alien, and yet courted to come and accept a kingdom, the frame\r\nof which though he entirely altered, yet he performed it by mere persuasion,\r\nand ruled a city that as yet had scarce become one city, without recurring to\r\narms or any violence (such as Lycurgus used, supporting himself by the aid of\r\nthe nobler citizens against the commonalty), but, by mere force of wisdom and\r\njustice, established union and harmony amongst all.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap07\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eSOLON\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDidymus, the grammarian, in his answer to Asclepiades concerning Solon’s Tables\r\nof Law, mentions a passage of one Philocles, who states that Solon’s father’s\r\nname was Euphorion, contrary to the opinion of all others who have written\r\nconcerning him; for they generally agree that he was the son of Execestides, a\r\nman of moderate wealth and power in the city, but of a most noble stock, being\r\ndescended from Codrus; his mother, as Heraclides Ponticus affirms, was cousin\r\nto Pisistratus’s mother, and the two at first were great friends, partly\r\nbecause they were akin, and partly because of Pisistratus’s noble qualities and\r\nbeauty. And they say Solon loved him; and that is the reason, I suppose, that\r\nwhen afterwards they differed about the government, their enmity never produced\r\nany hot and violent passion, they remembered their old kindnesses, and\r\nretained—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nStill in its embers living the strong fire\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nof their love and dear affection. For that Solon was not proof against beauty,\r\nnor of courage to stand up to passion and meet it,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHand to hand as in the ring—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nwe may conjecture by his poems, and one of his laws, in which there are\r\npractices forbidden to slaves, which he would appear, therefore, to recommend\r\nto freemen. Pisistratus, it is stated, was similarly attached to one Charmus;\r\nhe it was who dedicated the figure of Love in the Academy, where the runners in\r\nthe sacred torch-race light their torches. Solon, as Hermippus writes, when his\r\nfather had ruined his estate in doing benefits and kindnesses to other men,\r\nthough he had friends enough that were willing to contribute to his relief, yet\r\nwas ashamed to be beholden to others, since he was descended from a family who\r\nwere accustomed to do kindnesses rather than receive them; and therefore\r\napplied himself to merchandise in his youth; though others assure us that he\r\ntraveled rather to get learning and experience than to make money. It is\r\ncertain that he was a lover of knowledge, for when he was old he would say,\r\nthat he\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nEach day grew older, and learnt something new,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand yet no admirer of riches, esteeming as equally wealthy the man,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWho hath both gold and silver in his hand,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nHorses and mules, and acres of wheat-land,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd him whose all is decent food to eat,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nClothes to his back and shoes upon his feet,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd a young wife and child, since so ’twill be,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd no more years than will with that agree;—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand in another place,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWealth I would have, but wealth by wrong procure\u003cbr\u003e\r\nI would not; justice, e’en if slow, is sure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd it is perfectly possible for a good man and a statesman, without being\r\nsolicitous for superfluities, to show some concern for competent necessaries.\r\nIn his time, as Hesiod says, —“Work was a shame to none,” nor was any\r\ndistinction made with respect to trade, but merchandise was a noble calling,\r\nwhich brought home the good things which the barbarous nations enjoyed, was the\r\noccasion of friendship with their kings, and a great source of experience. Some\r\nmerchants have built great cities, as Protis, the founder of Massilia, to whom\r\nthe Gauls near the Rhine were much attached. Some report also that Thales and\r\nHippocrates the mathematician traded; and that Plato defrayed the charges of\r\nhis travels by selling oil in Egypt. Solon’s softness and profuseness, his\r\npopular rather than philosophical tone about pleasure in his poems, have been\r\nascribed to his trading life; for, having suffered a thousand dangers, it was\r\nnatural they should be recompensed with some gratifications and enjoyments; but\r\nthat he accounted himself rather poor than rich is evident from the lines,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSome wicked men are rich, some good are poor,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWe will not change our virtue for their store;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nVirtue’s a thing that none call take away,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut money changes owners all the day.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt first he used his poetry only in trifles, not for any serious purpose, but\r\nsimply to pass away his idle hours; but afterwards he introduced moral\r\nsentences and state matters, which he did, not to record them merely as an\r\nhistorian, but to justify his own actions, and sometimes to correct, chastise,\r\nand stir up the Athenians to noble performances. Some report that he designed\r\nto put his laws into heroic verse, and that they began thus,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWe humbly beg a blessing on our laws\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFrom mighty Jove, and honor, and applause.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn philosophy, as most of the wise men then, he chiefly esteemed the political\r\npart of morals; in physics, he was very plain and antiquated, as appears by\r\nthis,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIt is the clouds that make the snow and hail,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd thunder comes from lightning without fail;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe sea is stormy when the winds have blown,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut it deals fairly when ’tis left alone.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd, indeed, it is probable that at that time Thales alone had raised\r\nphilosophy above mere practice into speculation; and the rest of the wise men\r\nwere so called from prudence in political concerns. It is said, that they had\r\nan interview at Delphi, and another at Corinth, by the procurement of\r\nPeriander, who made a meeting for them, and a supper. But their reputation was\r\nchiefly raised by sending the tripod to them all, by their modest refusal, and\r\ncomplaisant yielding to one another. For, as the story goes, some of the Coans\r\nfishing with a net, some strangers, Milesians, bought the draught at a venture;\r\nthe net brought up a golden tripod, which, they say, Helen, at her return from\r\nTroy, upon the remembrance of an old prophecy, threw in there. Now, the\r\nstrangers at first contesting with the fishers about the tripod, and the cities\r\nespousing the quarrel so far as to engage themselves in a war, Apollo decided\r\nthe controversy by commanding to present it to the wisest man; and first it was\r\nsent to Miletus to Thales, the Coans freely presenting him with that for which\r\nthey fought against the whole body of the Milesians; but, Thales declaring Bias\r\nthe wiser person, it was sent to him; from him to another; and so, going round\r\nthem all, it came to Thales a second time; and, at last, being carried from\r\nMiletus to Thebes, was there dedicated to Apollo Ismenius. Theophrastus writes\r\nthat it was first presented to Bias at Priene; and next to Thales at Miletus,\r\nand so through all it returned to Bias, and was afterwards sent to Delphi. This\r\nis the general report, only some, instead of a tripod, say this present was a\r\ncup sent by Croesus; others, a piece of plate that one Bathycles had left. It\r\nis stated, that Anacharsis and Solon, and Solon and Thales, were familiarly\r\nacquainted, and some have delivered parts of their discourse; for, they say,\r\nAnacharsis, coming to Athens, knocked at Solon’s door, and told him, that he,\r\nbeing a stranger, was come to be his guest, and contract a friendship with him;\r\nand Solon replying, “It is better to make friends at home,” Anacharsis replied,\r\n“Then you that are at home make friendship with me.” Solon, somewhat surprised\r\nat the readiness of the repartee, received him kindly, and kept him some time\r\nwith him, being already engaged in public business and the compilation of his\r\nlaws; which when Anacharsis understood, he laughed at him for imagining the\r\ndishonesty and covetousness of his countrymen could be restrained by written\r\nlaws, which were like spiders’ webs, and would catch, it is true, the weak and\r\npoor, but easily be broken by the mighty and rich. To this Solon rejoined that\r\nmen keep their promises when neither side can get anything by the breaking of\r\nthem; and he would so fit his laws to the citizens, that all should understand\r\nit was more eligible to be just than to break the laws. But the event rather\r\nagreed with the conjecture of Anacharsis than Solon’s hope. Anacharsis, being\r\nonce at the assembly, expressed his wonder at the fact that in Greece wise men\r\nspoke and fools decided.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSolon went, they say, to Thales at Miletus, and wondered that Thales took no\r\ncare to get him a wife and children. To this, Thales made no answer for the\r\npresent; but, a few days after, procured a stranger to pretend that he had left\r\nAthens ten days ago; and Solon inquiring what news there, the man, according to\r\nhis instructions, replied, “None but a young man’s funeral, which the whole\r\ncity attended; for he was the son, they said, of an honorable man, the most\r\nvirtuous of the citizens, who was not then at home, but had been traveling a\r\nlong time.” Solon replied, “What a miserable man is he! But what was his name?”\r\n“I have heard it,” says the man, “but have now forgotten it, only there was\r\ngreat talk of his wisdom and his justice.” Thus Solon was drawn on by every\r\nanswer, and his fears heightened, till at last, being extremely concerned, he\r\nmentioned his own name, and asked the stranger if that young man was called\r\nSolon’s son; and the stranger assenting, he began to beat his head, and to do\r\nand say all that is usual with men in transports of grief. But Thales took his\r\nhand, and, with a smile, said, “These things, Solon, keep me from marriage and\r\nrearing children, which are too great for even your constancy to support;\r\nhowever, be not concerned at the report, for it is a fiction.” This Hermippus\r\nrelates, from Pataecus, who boasted that he had Aesop’s soul.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, it is irrational and poor-spirited not to seek conveniences for fear\r\nof losing them, for upon the same account we should not allow ourselves to like\r\nwealth, glory, or wisdom, since we may fear to be deprived of all these; nay,\r\neven virtue itself, than which there is no greater nor more desirable\r\npossession, is often suspended by sickness or drugs. Now Thales, though\r\nunmarried, could not be free from solicitude, unless he likewise felt no care\r\nfor his friends, his kinsmen, or his country; yet we are told he adopted\r\nCybisthus, his sister’s son. For the soul, having a principle of kindness in\r\nitself, and being born to love, as well as perceive, think, or remember,\r\ninclines and fixes upon some stranger, when a man has none of his own to\r\nembrace. And alien or illegitimate objects insinuate themselves into his\r\naffections, as into some estate that lacks lawful heirs; and with affection\r\ncome anxiety and care; insomuch that you may see men that use the strongest\r\nlanguage against the marriage-bed and the fruit of it, when some servant’s or\r\nconcubine’s child is sick or dies, almost killed with grief, and abjectly\r\nlamenting. Some have given way to shameful and desperate sorrow at the loss of\r\na dog or horse; others have borne the deaths of virtuous children without any\r\nextravagant or unbecoming grief; have passed the rest of their lives like men,\r\nand according to the principles of reason. It is not affection, it is weakness,\r\nthat brings men, unarmed against fortune by reason, into these endless pains\r\nand terrors; and they indeed have not even the present enjoyment of what they\r\ndote upon, the possibility of the future loss causing them continual pangs,\r\ntremors, and distresses. We must not provide against the loss of wealth by\r\npoverty, or of friends by refusing all acquaintance, or of children by having\r\nnone, but by morality and reason. But of this too much.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow, when the Athenians were tired with a tedious and difficult war that they\r\nconducted against the Megarians for the island Salamis, and made a law that it\r\nshould be death for any man, by writing or speaking, to assert that the city\r\nought to endeavor to recover it, Solon, vexed at the disgrace, and perceiving\r\nthousands of the youth wished for somebody to begin, but did not dare to stir\r\nfirst for fear of the law, counterfeited a distraction, and by his own family\r\nit was spread about the city that he was mad. He then secretly composed some\r\nelegiac verses, and getting them by heart, that it might seem extempore, ran\r\nout into the place with a cap upon his head, and, the people gathering about\r\nhim, got upon the herald’s stand, and sang that elegy which begins thus:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nI am a herald come from Salamis the fair,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nMy news from thence my verses shall declare.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThe poem is called Salamis, it contains one hundred verses, very elegantly\r\nwritten; when it had been sung, his friends commended it, and especially\r\nPisistratus exhorted the citizens to obey his directions; insomuch that they\r\nrecalled the law, and renewed the war under Solon’s conduct. The popular tale\r\nis, that with Pisistratus he sailed to Colias, and, finding the women,\r\naccording to the custom of the country there, sacrificing to Ceres, he sent a\r\ntrusty friend to Salamis, who should pretend himself a renegade, and advise\r\nthem, if they desired to seize the chief Athenian women, to come with him at\r\nonce to Colias; the Megarians presently sent of men in the vessel with him; and\r\nSolon, seeing it put off from the island, commanded the women to be gone, and\r\nsome beardless youths, dressed in their clothes, their shoes, and caps, and\r\nprivately armed with daggers, to dance and play near the shore till the enemies\r\nhad landed and the vessel was in their power. Things being thus ordered, the\r\nMegarians were allured with the appearance, and, coming to the shore, jumped\r\nout, eager who should first seize a prize, so that not one of them escaped; and\r\nthe Athenians set sail for the island and took it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOthers say that it was not taken this way, but that he first received this\r\noracle from Delphi:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThose heroes that in fair Asopia rest,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAll buried with their faces to the west,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nGo and appease with offerings of the best;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand that Solon, sailing by night to the island, sacrificed to the heroes\r\nPeriphemus and Cychreus, and then, taking five hundred Athenian volunteers (a\r\nlaw having passed that those that took the island should be highest in the\r\ngovernment), with a number of fisher-boats and one thirty-oared ship, anchored\r\nin a bay of Salamis that looks towards Nisaea; and the Megarians that were then\r\nin the island, hearing only an uncertain report, hurried to their arms, and\r\nsent a ship to reconnoiter the enemies. This ship Solon took, and, securing the\r\nMegarians, manned it with Athenians, and gave them orders to sail to the island\r\nwith as much privacy as possible; meantime he, with the other soldiers, marched\r\nagainst the Megarians by land, and whilst they were fighting, those from the\r\nship took the city. And this narrative is confirmed by the following solemnity,\r\nthat was afterwards observed: an Athenian ship used to sail silently at first\r\nto the island, then, with noise and a great shout, one leapt out armed, and\r\nwith a loud cry ran to the promontory Sciradium to meet those that approached\r\nupon the land. And just by there stands a temple which Solon dedicated to Mars.\r\nFor he beat the Megarians, and as many as were not killed in the battle he sent\r\naway upon conditions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Megarians, however, still contending, and both sides having received\r\nconsiderable losses, they chose the Spartans for arbitrators. Now, many affirm\r\nthat Homer’s authority did Solon a considerable kindness, and that, introducing\r\na line into the Catalog of Ships, when the matter was to be determined, he read\r\nthe passage as follows:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTwelve ships from Salamis stout Ajax brought,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd ranked his men where the Athenians fought.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThe Athenians, however, call this but an idle story, and report, that Solon\r\nmade it appear to the judges, that Philaeus and Eurysaces, the sons of Ajax,\r\nbeing made citizens of Athens, gave them the island, and that one of them dwelt\r\nat Brauron in Attica, the other at Melite; and they have a township of\r\nPhilaidae, to which Pisistratus belonged, deriving its name from this Philaeus.\r\nSolon took a farther argument against the Megarians from the dead bodies,\r\nwhich, he said, were not buried after their fashion but according to the\r\nAthenian; for the Megarians turn the corpse to the east, the Athenians to the\r\nwest. But Hereas the Megarian denies this, and affirms that they likewise turn\r\nthe body to the west, and also that the Athenians have a separate tomb for\r\nevery body, but the Megarians put two or three into one. However, some of\r\nApollo’s oracles, where he calls Salamis Ionian, made much for Solon. This\r\nmatter was determined by five Spartans, Critolaidas, Amompharetus, Hypsechidas,\r\nAnaxilas, and Cleomenes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor this, Solon grew famed and powerful; but his advice in favor of defending\r\nthe oracle at Delphi, to give aid, and not to suffer the Cirrhaeans to profane\r\nit, but to maintain the honor of the god, got him most repute among the Greeks:\r\nfor upon his persuasion the Amphictyons undertook the war, as, amongst others,\r\nAristotle affirms, in his enumeration of the victors at the Pythian games,\r\nwhere he makes Solon the author of this counsel. Solon, however, was not\r\ngeneral in that expedition, as Hermippus states, out of Evanthes the Samian;\r\nfor Aeschines the orator says no such thing, and, in the Delphian register,\r\nAlcmaeon, not Solon, is named as commander of the Athenians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow the Cylonian pollution had a long while disturbed the commonwealth, ever\r\nsince the time when Megacles the archon persuaded the conspirators with Cylon\r\nthat took sanctuary in Minerva’s temple to come down and stand to a fair trial.\r\nAnd they, tying a thread to the image, and holding one end of it, went down to\r\nthe tribunal; but when they came to the temple of the Furies, the thread broke\r\nof its own accord, upon which, as if the goddess had refused them protection,\r\nthey were seized by Megacles and the other magistrates; as many as were without\r\nthe temples were stoned, those that fled for sanctuary were butchered at the\r\naltar, and only those escaped who made supplication to the wives of the\r\nmagistrates. But they from that time were considered under pollution, and\r\nregarded with hatred. The remainder of the faction of Cylon grew strong again,\r\nand had continual quarrels with the family of Megacles; and now the quarrel\r\nbeing at its height, and the people divided, Solon, being in reputation,\r\ninterposed with the chiefest of the Athenians, and by entreaty and admonition\r\npersuaded the polluted to submit to a trial and the decision of three hundred\r\nnoble citizens. And Myron of Phlya being their accuser, they were found guilty,\r\nand as many as were then alive were banished, and the bodies of the dead were\r\ndug up, and scattered beyond the confines of the country. In the midst of these\r\ndistractions, the Megarians falling upon them, they lost Nisaea and Salamis\r\nagain; besides, the city was disturbed with superstitious fears and strange\r\nappearances, and the priests declared that the sacrifices intimated some\r\nvillanies and pollutions that were to be expiated. Upon this, they sent for\r\nEpimenides the Phaestian from Crete, who is counted the seventh wise man by\r\nthose that will not admit Periander into the number. He seems to have been\r\nthought a favorite of heaven, possessed of knowledge in all the supernatural\r\nand ritual parts of religion; and, therefore, the men of his age called him a\r\nnew Cures, and son of a nymph named Balte. When he came to Athens, and grew\r\nacquainted with Solon, he served him in many instances, and prepared the way\r\nfor his legislation. He made them moderate in their forms of worship, and\r\nabated their mourning by ordering some sacrifices presently after the funeral,\r\nand taking off those severe and barbarous ceremonies which the women usually\r\npracticed; but the greatest benefit was his purifying and sanctifying the city,\r\nby certain propitiatory and expiatory lustrations, and foundation of sacred\r\nbuildings; by that means making them more submissive to justice, and more\r\ninclined to harmony. It is reported that, looking upon Munychia, and\r\nconsidering a long while, he said to those that stood by, “How blind is man in\r\nfuture things! for did the Athenians foresee what mischief this would do their\r\ncity, they would even eat it with their own teeth to be rid of it.” A similar\r\nanticipation is ascribed to Thales; they say he commanded his friends to bury\r\nhim in an obscure and contemned quarter of the territory of Miletus, saying\r\nthat it should some day be the marketplace of the Milesians. Epimenides, being\r\nmuch honored, and receiving from the city rich offers of large gifts and\r\nprivileges, requested but one branch of the sacred olive, and, on that being\r\ngranted, returned.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Athenians, now the Cylonian sedition was over and the polluted gone into\r\nbanishment, fell into their old quarrels about the government, there being as\r\nmany different parties as there were diversities in the country. The Hill\r\nquarter favored democracy, the Plain, oligarchy, and those that lived by the\r\nSea-side stood for a mixed sort of government, and so hindered either of the\r\nother parties from prevailing. And the disparity of fortune between the rich\r\nand the poor, at that time, also reached its height; so that the city seemed to\r\nbe in a truly dangerous condition, and no other means for freeing it from\r\ndisturbances and settling it, to be possible but a despotic power. All the\r\npeople were indebted to the rich; and either they tilled their land for their\r\ncreditors, paying them a sixth part of the increase, and were, therefore,\r\ncalled Hectemorii and Thetes, or else they engaged their body for the debt, and\r\nmight be seized, and either sent into slavery at home, or sold to strangers;\r\nsome (for no law forbade it) were forced to sell their children, or fly their\r\ncountry to avoid the cruelty of their creditors; but the most part and the\r\nbravest of them began to combine together and encourage one another to stand to\r\nit, to choose a leader, to liberate the condemned debtors, divide the land, and\r\nchange the government.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen the wisest of the Athenians, perceiving Solon was of all men the only one\r\nnot implicated in the troubles, that he had not joined in the exactions of the\r\nrich, and was not involved in the necessities of the poor, pressed him to\r\nsuccor the commonwealth and compose the differences. Though Phanias the Lesbian\r\naffirms, that Solon, to save his country, put a trick upon both parties, and\r\nprivately promised the poor a division of the lands, and the rich, security for\r\ntheir debts. Solon, however, himself, says that it was reluctantly at first\r\nthat he engaged in state affairs, being afraid of the pride of one party and\r\nthe greediness of the other; he was chosen archon, however, after Philombrotus,\r\nand empowered to be an arbitrator and lawgiver; the rich consenting because he\r\nwas wealthy, the poor because he was honest. There was a saying of his current\r\nbefore the election, that when things are even there never can be war, and this\r\npleased both parties, the wealthy and the poor; the one conceiving him to mean,\r\nwhen all have their fair proportion; the others, when all are absolutely equal.\r\nThus, there being great hopes on both sides, the chief men pressed Solon to\r\ntake the government into his own hands, and, when he was once settled, manage\r\nthe business freely and according to his pleasure; and many of the commons,\r\nperceiving it would be a difficult change to be effected by law and reason,\r\nwere willing to have one wise and just man set over the affairs; and some say\r\nthat Solon had this oracle from Apollo—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTake the mid-seat, and be the vessel’s guide;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nMany in Athens are upon your side.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut chiefly his familiar friends chid him for disaffecting monarchy only\r\nbecause of the name, as if the virtue of the ruler could not make it a lawful\r\nform; Euboea had made this experiment when it chose Tynnondas, and Mitylene,\r\nwhich had made Pittacus its prince; yet this could not shake Solon’s\r\nresolution; but, as they say, he replied to his friends, that it was true a\r\ntyranny was a very fair spot, but it had no way down from it; and in a copy of\r\nverses to Phocus he writes.—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n—that I spared my land, And withheld from usurpation and from violence my\r\nhand,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd forbore to fix a stain and a disgrace on my good name,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nI regret not; I believe that it will be my chiefest fame.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFrom which it is manifest that he was a man of great reputation before he gave\r\nhis laws. The several mocks that were put upon him for refusing the power, he\r\nrecords in these words,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSolon surely was a dreamer, and a man of simple mind;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhen the gods would give him fortune, he of his own will declined;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhen the net was full of fishes, over-heavy thinking it,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nHe declined to haul it up, through want of heart and want of wit.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nHad but I that chance of riches and of kingship, for one day,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nI would give my skin for flaying, and my house to die away.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus he makes the many and the low people speak of him. Yet, though he refused\r\nthe government, he was not too mild in the affair; he did not show himself mean\r\nand submissive to the powerful, nor make his laws to pleasure those that chose\r\nhim. For where it was well before, he applied no remedy, nor altered anything,\r\nfor fear lest,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nOverthrowing altogether and disordering the state,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nhe should be too weak to new-model and recompose it to a tolerable condition;\r\nbut what he thought he could effect by persuasion upon the pliable, and by\r\nforce upon the stubborn, this he did, as he himself says,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWith force and justice working both one.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd, therefore, when he was afterwards asked if he had left the Athenians the\r\nbest laws that could be given, he replied, “The best they could receive.” The\r\nway which, the moderns say, the Athenians have of softening the badness of a\r\nthing, by ingeniously giving it some pretty and innocent appellation, calling\r\nharlots, for example, mistresses, tributes customs, a garrison a guard, and the\r\njail the chamber, seems originally to have been Solon’s contrivance, who called\r\ncanceling debts Seisacthea, a relief, or disencumbrance. For the first thing\r\nwhich he settled was, that what debts remained should be forgiven, and no man,\r\nfor the future, should engage the body of his debtor for security. Though some,\r\nas Androtion, affirm that the debts were not canceled, but the interest only\r\nlessened, which sufficiently pleased the people; so that they named this\r\nbenefit the Seisacthea, together with the enlarging their measures, and raising\r\nthe value of their money; for he made a pound, which before passed for\r\nseventy-three drachmas, go for a hundred; so that, though the number of pieces\r\nin the payment was equal, the value was less; which proved a considerable\r\nbenefit to those that were to discharge great debts, and no loss to the\r\ncreditors. But most agree that it was the taking off the debts that was called\r\nSeisacthea, which is confirmed by some places in his poem, where he takes honor\r\nto himself, that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe mortgage-stones that covered her, by me\u003cbr\u003e\r\nRemoved, —the land that was a slave is free;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nthat some who had been seized for their debts he had brought back from other\r\ncountries, where\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n—so far their lot to roam,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThey had forgot the language of their home;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand some he had set at liberty,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWho here in shameful servitude were held.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile he was designing this, a most vexatious thing happened; for when he had\r\nresolved to take off the debts, and was considering the proper form and fit\r\nbeginning for it, he told some of his friends, Conon, Clinias, and Hipponicus,\r\nin whom he had a great deal of confidence, that he would not meddle with the\r\nlands, but only free the people from their debts; upon which, they, using their\r\nadvantage, made haste and borrowed some considerable sums of money, and\r\npurchased some large farms; and when the law was enacted, they kept the\r\npossessions, and would not return the money; which brought Solon into great\r\nsuspicion and dislike, as if he himself had not been abused, but was concerned\r\nin the contrivance. But he presently stopped this suspicion, by releasing his\r\ndebtors of five talents (for he had lent so much), according to the law;\r\nothers, as Polyzelus the Rhodian, say fifteen; his friends, however, were ever\r\nafterward called Chreocopidae, repudiators.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this he pleased neither party, for the rich were angry for their money, and\r\nthe poor that the land was not divided, and, as Lycurgus ordered in his\r\ncommonwealth, all men reduced to equality. He, it is true, being the eleventh\r\nfrom Hercules, and having reigned many years in Lacedaemon, had got a great\r\nreputation and friends and power, which he could use in modeling his state;\r\nand, applying force more than persuasion, insomuch that he lost his eye in the\r\nscuffle, was able to employ the most effectual means for the safety and harmony\r\nof a state, by not permitting any to be poor or rich in his commonwealth. Solon\r\ncould not rise to that in his polity, being but a citizen of the middle\r\nclasses; yet he acted fully up to the height of his power, having nothing but\r\nthe good-will and good opinion of his citizens to rely on; and that he offended\r\nthe most part, who looked for another result, he declares in the words,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFormerly they boasted of me vainly; with averted eyes\u003cbr\u003e\r\nNow they look askance upon me; friends no more, but enemies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd yet had any other man, he says, received the same power,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHe would not have forborne, nor let alone,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut made the fattest of the milk his own.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nSoon, however, becoming sensible of the good that was done, they laid by their\r\ngrudges, made a public sacrifice, calling it Seisacthea, and chose Solon to\r\nnew-model and make laws for the commonwealth, giving him the entire power over\r\neverything, their magistracies, their assemblies, courts, and councils; that he\r\nshould appoint the number, times of meeting, and what estate they must have\r\nthat could be capable of these, and dissolve or continue any of the present\r\nconstitutions, according to his pleasure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFirst, then, he repealed all Draco’s laws, except those concerning homicide,\r\nbecause they were too severe, and the punishments too great; for death was\r\nappointed for almost all offenses, insomuch that those that were convicted of\r\nidleness were to die, and those that stole a cabbage or an apple to suffer even\r\nas villains that committed sacrilege or murder. So that Demades, in after time,\r\nwas thought to have said very happily, that Draco’s laws were written not with\r\nink, but blood; and he himself, being once asked why he made death the\r\npunishment of most offenses, replied, “Small ones deserve that, and I have no\r\nhigher for the greater crimes.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNext, Solon, being willing to continue the magistracies in the hands of the\r\nrich men, and yet receive the people into the other part of the government,\r\ntook an account of the citizens’ estates, and those that were worth five\r\nhundred measures of fruits, dry and liquid, he placed in the first rank,\r\ncalling them Pentacosiomedimni; those that could keep an horse, or were worth\r\nthree hundred measures, were named Hippada Teluntes, and made the second class;\r\nthe Zeugitae, that had two hundred measures, were in the third; and all the\r\nothers were called Thetes, who were not admitted to any office, but could come\r\nto the assembly, and act as jurors; which at first seemed nothing, but\r\nafterwards was found an enormous privilege, as almost every matter of dispute\r\ncame before them in this latter capacity. Even in the cases which he assigned\r\nto the archons’ cognizance, he allowed an appeal to the courts. Besides, it is\r\nsaid that he was obscure and ambiguous in the wording of his laws, on purpose\r\nto increase the honor of his courts; for since their differences could not be\r\nadjusted by the letter, they would have to bring all their causes to the\r\njudges, who thus were in a manner masters of the laws. Of this equalization he\r\nhimself makes mention in this manner:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSuch power I gave the people as might do,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAbridged not what they had, now lavished new.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThose that were great in wealth and high in place,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nMy counsel likewise kept from all disgrace.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBefore them both I held my shield of might,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd let not either touch the other’s right.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd for the greater security of the weak commons, he gave general liberty of\r\nindicting for an act of injury; if any one was beaten, maimed, or suffered any\r\nviolence, any man that would and was able, might prosecute the wrongdoer;\r\nintending by this to accustom the citizens, like members of the same body, to\r\nresent and be sensible of one another’s injuries. And there is a saying of his\r\nagreeable to this law, for, being asked what city was best modeled, “That,”\r\nsaid he, “where those that are not injured try and punish the unjust as much as\r\nthose that are.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he had constituted the Areopagus of those who had been yearly archons, of\r\nwhich he himself was a member therefore, observing that the people, now free\r\nfrom their debts, were unsettled and imperious, he formed another council of\r\nfour hundred, a hundred out of each of the four tribes, which was to inspect\r\nall matters before they were propounded to the people, and to take care that\r\nnothing but what had been first examined should be brought before the general\r\nassembly. The upper council, or Areopagus, he made inspectors and keepers of\r\nthe laws, conceiving that the commonwealth, held by these two councils, like\r\nanchors, would be less liable to be tossed by tumults, and the people be more\r\nat quiet. Such is the general statement, that Solon instituted the Areopagus;\r\nwhich seems to be confirmed, because Draco makes no mention of the Areopagites,\r\nbut in all causes of blood refers to the Ephetae; yet Solon’s thirteenth table\r\ncontains the eighth law set down in these very words: “Whoever before Solon’s\r\narchonship were disfranchised, let them be restored, except those that, being\r\ncondemned by the Areopagus, Ephetae, or in the Prytaneum by the kings, for\r\nhomicide, murder, or designs against the government, were in banishment when\r\nthis law was made;” and these words seem to show that the Areopagus existed\r\nbefore Solon’s laws, for who could be condemned by that council before his\r\ntime, if he was the first that instituted the court? unless, which is probable,\r\nthere is some ellipsis, or want of precision, in the language, and it should\r\nrun thus, — “Those that are convicted of such offenses as belong to the\r\ncognizance of the Areopagites, Ephetae, or the Prytanes, when this law was\r\nmade,” shall remain still in disgrace, whilst others are restored; of this the\r\nreader must judge.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmongst his other laws, one is very peculiar and surprising, which\r\ndisfranchises all who stand neuter in a sedition; for it seems he would not\r\nhave any one remain insensible and regardless of the public good, and, securing\r\nhis private affairs, glory that he has no feeling of the distempers of his\r\ncountry; but at once join with the good party and those that have the right\r\nupon their side, assist and venture with them, rather than keep out of harm’s\r\nway and watch who would get the better. It seems an absurd and foolish law\r\nwhich permits an heiress, if her lawful husband fail her, to take his nearest\r\nkinsman; yet some say this law was well contrived against those, who, conscious\r\nof their own unfitness, yet, for the sake of the portion, would match with\r\nheiresses, and make use of law to put a violence upon nature; for now, since\r\nshe can quit him for whom she pleases, they would either abstain from such\r\nmarriages, or continue them with disgrace, and suffer for their covetousness\r\nand designed affront; it is well done, moreover, to confine her to her\r\nhusband’s nearest kinsman, that the children may be of the same family.\r\nAgreeable to this is the law that the bride and bridegroom shall be shut into a\r\nchamber, and eat a quince together; and that the husband of an heiress shall\r\nconsort with her thrice a month; for though there be no children, yet it is an\r\nhonor and due affection which an husband ought to pay to a virtuous, chaste\r\nwife; it takes off all petty differences, and will not permit their little\r\nquarrels to proceed to a rupture.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn all other marriages he forbade dowries to be given; the wife was to have\r\nthree suits of clothes, a little inconsiderable household stuff, and that was\r\nall; for he would not have marriages contracted for gain or an estate, but for\r\npure love, kind affection, and birth of children. When the mother of Dionysius\r\ndesired him to marry her to one of his citizens, “Indeed,” said he, “by my\r\ntyranny I have broken my country’s laws, but cannot put a violence upon those\r\nof nature by an unseasonable marriage.” Such disorder is never to be suffered\r\nin a commonwealth, nor such unseasonable and unloving and unperforming\r\nmarriages, which attain no due end or fruit; any provident governor or lawgiver\r\nmight say to an old man that takes a young wife what is said to Philoctetes in\r\nthe tragedy,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTruly, in a fit state thou to marry!\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand if he finds a young man, with a rich and elderly wife, growing fat in his\r\nplace, like the partridges, remove him to a young woman of proper age. And of\r\nthis enough.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnother commendable law of Solon’s is that which forbids men to speak evil of\r\nthe dead; for it is pious to think the deceased sacred, and just, not to meddle\r\nwith those that are gone, and politic, to prevent the perpetuity of discord. He\r\nlikewise forbade them to speak evil of the living in the temples, the courts of\r\njustice, the public offices, or at the games, or else to pay three drachmas to\r\nthe person, and two to the public. For never to be able to control passion\r\nshows a weak nature and ill-breeding; and always to moderate it is very hard,\r\nand to some impossible. And laws must look to possibilities, if the maker\r\ndesigns to punish few in order to their amendment, and not many to no purpose.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe is likewise much commended for his law concerning wills; for before him none\r\ncould be made, but all the wealth and estate of the deceased belonged to his\r\nfamily; but he, by permitting them, if they had no children, to bestow it on\r\nwhom they pleased, showed that he esteemed friendship a stronger tie than\r\nkindred, and affection than necessity; and made every man’s estate truly his\r\nown. Yet he allowed not all sorts of legacies, but those only which were not\r\nextorted by the frenzy of a disease, charms, imprisonment, force, or the\r\npersuasions of a wife; with good reason thinking that being seduced into wrong\r\nwas as bad as being forced, and that between deceit and necessity, flattery and\r\ncompulsion, there was little difference, since both may equally suspend the\r\nexercise of reason.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe regulated the walks, feasts, and mourning of the women, and took away\r\neverything that was either unbecoming or immodest; when they walked abroad, no\r\nmore than three articles of dress were allowed them; an obol’s worth of meat\r\nand drink; and no basket above a cubit high; and at night they were not to go\r\nabout unless in a chariot with a torch before them. Mourners tearing themselves\r\nto raise pity, and set wailings, and at one man’s funeral to lament for\r\nanother, he forbade. To offer an ox at the grave was not permitted, nor to bury\r\nabove three pieces of dress with the body, or visit the tombs of any besides\r\ntheir own family, unless at the very funeral; most of which are likewise\r\nforbidden by our laws, but this is further added in ours, that those that are\r\nconvicted of extravagance in their mournings, are to be punished as soft and\r\neffeminate by the censors of women.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nObserving the city to be filled with persons that flocked from all parts into\r\nAttica for security of living, and that most of the country was barren and\r\nunfruitful, and that traders at sea import nothing to those that could give\r\nthem nothing in exchange, he turned his citizens to trade, and made a law that\r\nno son should be obliged to relieve a father who had not bred him up to any\r\ncalling. It is true, Lycurgus, having a city free from all strangers, and land,\r\naccording to Euripides,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nLarge for large hosts, for twice their number much,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand, above all, an abundance of laborers about Sparta, who should not be left\r\nidle, but be kept down with continual toil and work, did well to take off his\r\ncitizens from laborious and mechanical occupations, and keep them to their\r\narms, and teach them only the art of war. But Solon, fitting his laws to the\r\nstate of things, and not making things to suit his laws, and finding the ground\r\nscarce rich enough to maintain the husbandmen, and altogether incapable of\r\nfeeding an unoccupied and leisurely multitude, brought trades into credit, and\r\nordered the Areopagites to examine how every man got his living, and chastise\r\nthe idle. But that law was yet more rigid which, as Heraclides Ponticus\r\ndelivers, declared the sons of unmarried mothers not obliged to relieve their\r\nfathers; for he that avoids the honorable form of union shows that he does not\r\ntake a woman for children, but for pleasure, and thus gets his just reward, and\r\nhas taken away from himself every title to upbraid his children, to whom he has\r\nmade their very birth a scandal and reproach.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSolon’s laws in general about women are his strangest; for he permitted any one\r\nto kill an adulterer that found him in the act; but if any one forced a free\r\nwoman, a hundred drachmas was the fine; if he enticed her, twenty; except those\r\nthat sell themselves openly, that is, harlots, who go openly to those that hire\r\nthem. He made it unlawful to sell a daughter or a sister, unless, being yet\r\nunmarried, she was found wanton. Now it is irrational to punish the same crime\r\nsometimes very severely and without remorse, and sometimes very lightly, and,\r\nas it were, in sport, with a trivial fine; unless, there being little money\r\nthen in Athens, scarcity made those mulcts the more grievous punishment. In the\r\nvaluation for sacrifices, a sheep and a bushel were both estimated at a\r\ndrachma; the victor in the Isthmian games was to have for reward a hundred\r\ndrachmas; the conqueror in the Olympian, five hundred; he that brought a wolf,\r\nfive drachmas; for a whelp, one; the former sum, as Demetrius the Phalerian\r\nasserts, was the value of an ox, the latter, of a sheep. The prices which\r\nSolon, in his sixteenth table, sets on choice victims, were naturally far\r\ngreater; yet they, too, are very low in comparison of the present. The\r\nAthenians were, from the beginning, great enemies to wolves, their fields being\r\nbetter for pasture than corn. Some affirm their tribes did not take their names\r\nfrom the sons of Ion, but from the different sorts of occupation that they\r\nfollowed; the soldiers were called Hoplitae, the craftsmen Ergades, and, of the\r\nremaining two, the farmers Gedeontes, and the shepherds and graziers Aegicores.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSince the country has but few rivers, lakes, or large springs, and many used\r\nwells which they had dug, there was a law made, that, where there was a public\r\nwell within a hippicon, that is, four furlongs, all should draw at that; but,\r\nwhen it was farther off, they should try and procure a well of their own; and,\r\nif they had dug ten fathom deep and could find no water, they had liberty to\r\nfetch a pitcherful of four gallons and a half in a day from their neighbors’;\r\nfor he thought it prudent to make provision against want, but not to supply\r\nlaziness. He showed skill in his orders about planting, for any one that would\r\nplant another tree was not to set it within five feet of his neighbor’s field;\r\nbut if a fig or an olive, not within nine; for their roots spread farther, nor\r\ncan they be planted near all sorts of trees without damage, for they draw away\r\nthe nourishment, and in some cases are noxious by their effluvia. He that would\r\ndig a pit or a ditch was to dig it at the distance of its own depth from his\r\nneighbor’s ground; and he that would raise stocks of bees was not to place them\r\nwithin three hundred feet of those which another had already raised.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe permitted only oil to be exported, and those that exported any other fruit,\r\nthe archon was solemnly to curse, or else pay an hundred drachmas himself; and\r\nthis law was written in his first table, and, therefore, let none think it\r\nincredible, as some affirm, that the exportation of figs was once unlawful, and\r\nthe informer against the delinquents called a sycophant. He made a law, also,\r\nconcerning hurts and injuries from beasts, in which he commands the master of\r\nany dog that bit a man to deliver him up with a log about his neck, four and a\r\nhalf feet long; a happy device for men’s security. The law concerning\r\nnaturalizing strangers is of doubtful character; he permitted only those to be\r\nmade free of Athens who were in perpetual exile from their own country, or came\r\nwith their whole family to trade there; this he did, not to discourage\r\nstrangers, but rather to invite them to a permanent participation in the\r\nprivileges of the government; and, besides, he thought those would prove the\r\nmore faithful citizens who had been forced from their own country, or\r\nvoluntarily forsook it. The law of public entertainment (parasitein is his name\r\nfor it) is, also, peculiarly Solon’s, for if any man came often, or if he that\r\nwas invited refused, they were punished, for he concluded that one was greedy,\r\nthe other a contemner of the state.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll his laws he established for an hundred years, and wrote them on wooden\r\ntables or rollers, named axones, which might be turned round in oblong cases;\r\nsome of their relics were in my time still to be seen in the Prytaneum, or\r\ncommon hall, at Athens. These, as Aristotle states, were called cyrbes, and\r\nthere is a passage of Cratinus the comedian,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBy Solon, and by Draco, if you please,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhose Cyrbes make the fires that parch our peas.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut some say those are properly cyrbes, which contain laws concerning\r\nsacrifices and the rites of religion, and all the others axones. The council\r\nall jointly swore to confirm the laws, and every one of the Thesmothetae vowed\r\nfor himself at the stone in the marketplace, that, if he broke any of the\r\nstatutes, he would dedicate a golden statue, as big as himself, at Delphi.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nObserving the irregularity of the months, and that the moon does not always\r\nrise and set with the sun, but often in the same day overtakes and gets before\r\nhim, he ordered the day should be named the Old and New, attributing that part\r\nof it which was before the conjunction to the old moon, and the rest to the\r\nnew, he being the first, it seems, that understood that verse of Homer,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe end and the beginning of the month,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand the following day he called the new moon. After the twentieth he did not\r\ncount by addition, but, like the moon itself in its wane, by subtraction; thus\r\nup to the thirtieth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow when these laws were enacted, and some came to Solon every day, to commend\r\nor dispraise them, and to advise, if possible, to leave out, or put in\r\nsomething, and many criticized, and desired him to explain, and tell the\r\nmeaning of such and such a passage, he, knowing that to do it was useless, and\r\nnot to do it would get him ill-will, and desirous to bring himself out of all\r\nstraits, and to escape all displeasure and exceptions, it being a hard thing,\r\nas he himself says,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIn great affairs to satisfy all sides,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nas an excuse for traveling, bought a trading vessel, and, having obtained leave\r\nfor ten years’ absence, departed, hoping that by that time his laws would have\r\nbecome familiar.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis first voyage was for Egypt, and he lived, as he himself says,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nNear Nilus’ mouth, by fair Canopus’ shore,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand spent some time in study with Psenophis of Heliopolis, and Sonchis the\r\nSaite, the most learned of all the priests; from whom, as Plato says, getting\r\nknowledge of the Atlantic story, he put it into a poem, and proposed to bring\r\nit to the knowledge of the Greeks. From thence he sailed to Cyprus, where he\r\nwas made much of by Philocyprus, one of the kings there, who had a small city\r\nbuilt by Demophon, Theseus’s son, near the river Clarius, in a strong\r\nsituation, but incommodious and uneasy of access. Solon persuaded him, since\r\nthere lay a fair plain below, to remove, and build there a pleasanter and more\r\nspacious city. And he stayed himself, and assisted in gathering inhabitants,\r\nand in fitting it both for defense and convenience of living; insomuch that\r\nmany flocked to Philocyprus, and the other kings imitated the design; and,\r\ntherefore, to honor Solon, he called the city Soli, which was formerly named\r\nAepea. And Solon himself, in his Elegies, addressing Philocyprus, mentions this\r\nfoundation in these words—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nLong may you live, and fill the Solian throne,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSucceeded still by children of your own;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd from your happy island while I sail,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nLet Cyprus send for me a favoring gale;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nMay she advance, and bless your new command,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nProsper your town, and send me safe to land.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThat Solon should discourse with Croesus, some think not agreeable with\r\nchronology; but I cannot reject so famous and well-attested a narrative, and,\r\nwhat is more, so agreeable to Solon’s temper, and so worthy his wisdom and\r\ngreatness of mind, because, forsooth, it does not agree with some chronological\r\ncanons, which thousands have endeavored to regulate, and yet, to this day,\r\ncould never bring their differing opinions to any agreement. They say,\r\ntherefore, that Solon, coming to Croesus at his request, was in the same\r\ncondition as an inland man when first he goes to see the sea; for as he fancies\r\nevery river he meets with to be the ocean, so Solon, as he passed through the\r\ncourt, and saw a great many nobles richly dressed, and proudly attended with a\r\nmultitude of guards and footboys, thought every one had been the king, till he\r\nwas brought to Croesus, who was decked with every possible rarity and\r\ncuriosity, in ornaments of jewels, purple, and gold, that could make a grand\r\nand gorgeous spectacle of him. Now when Solon came before him, and seemed not\r\nat all surprised, nor gave Croesus those compliments he expected, but showed\r\nhimself to all discerning eyes to be a man that despised the gaudiness and\r\npetty ostentation of it, he commanded them to open all his treasure houses, and\r\ncarry him to see his sumptuous furniture and luxuries though he did not wish\r\nit; Solon could judge of him well enough by the first sight of him; and, when\r\nhe returned from viewing all, Croesus asked him if ever he had known a happier\r\nman than he. And when Solon answered that he had known one Tellus, a\r\nfellow-citizen of his own, and told him that this Tellus had been an honest\r\nman, had had good children, a competent estate, and died bravely in battle for\r\nhis country, Croesus took him for an ill-bred fellow and a fool, for not\r\nmeasuring happiness by the abundance of gold and silver, and preferring the\r\nlife and death of a private and mean man before so much power and empire. He\r\nasked him, however, again, if, besides Tellus, he knew any other man more\r\nhappy. And Solon replying, Yes, Cleobis and Biton, who were loving brothers,\r\nand extremely dutiful sons to their mother, and, when the oxen delayed her,\r\nharnessed themselves to the wagon, and drew her to Juno’s temple, her neighbors\r\nall calling her happy, and she herself rejoicing; then, after sacrificing and\r\nfeasting, they went to rest, and never rose again, but died in the midst of\r\ntheir honor a painless and tranquil death, “What,” said Croesus, angrily, “and\r\ndost not thou reckon us amongst the happy men at all?” Solon, unwilling either\r\nto flatter or exasperate him more, replied, “The gods, O king, have given the\r\nGreeks all other gifts in moderate degree; and so our wisdom, too, is a\r\ncheerful and a homely, not a noble and kingly wisdom; and this, observing the\r\nnumerous misfortunes that attend all conditions, forbids us to grow insolent\r\nupon our present enjoyments, or to admire any man’s happiness that may yet, in\r\ncourse of time, suffer change. For the uncertain future has yet to come, with\r\nevery possible variety of fortune; and him only to whom the divinity has\r\ncontinued happiness unto the end, we call happy; to salute as happy one that is\r\nstill in the midst of life and hazard, we think as little safe and conclusive\r\nas to crown and proclaim as victorious the wrestler that is yet in the ring.”\r\nAfter this, he was dismissed, having given Croesus some pain, but no\r\ninstruction.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAesop, who wrote the fables, being then at Sardis upon Croesus’s invitation,\r\nand very much esteemed, was concerned that Solon was so ill- received, and gave\r\nhim this advice: “Solon, let your converse with kings be either short or\r\nseasonable.” “Nay, rather,” replied Solon, “either short or reasonable.” So at\r\nthis time Croesus despised Solon; but when he was overcome by Cyrus, had lost\r\nhis city, was taken alive, condemned to be burnt, and laid bound upon the pile\r\nbefore all the Persians and Cyrus himself, he cried out as loud as possibly he\r\ncould three times, “O Solon!” and Cyrus being surprised, and sending some to\r\ninquire what man or god this Solon was, whom alone he invoked in this\r\nextremity, Croesus told him the whole story, saying, “He was one of the wise\r\nmen of Greece, whom I sent for, not to be instructed, or to learn any thing\r\nthat I wanted, but that he should see and be a witness of my happiness; the\r\nloss of which was, it seems, to be a greater evil than the enjoyment was a\r\ngood; for when I had them they were goods only in opinion, but now the loss of\r\nthem has brought upon me intolerable and real evils. And he, conjecturing from\r\nwhat then was, this that now is, bade me look to the end of my life, and not\r\nrely and grow proud upon uncertainties.” When this was told Cyrus, who was a\r\nwiser man than Croesus, and saw in the present example Solon’s maxim confirmed,\r\nhe not only freed Croesus from punishment, but honored him as long as he lived;\r\nand Solon had the glory, by the same saying, to save one king and instruct\r\nanother.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Solon was gone, the citizens began to quarrel; Lycurgus headed the Plain;\r\nMegacles, the son of Alcmaeon, those to the Sea-side; and Pisistratus the\r\nHill-party, in which were the poorest people, the Thetes, and greatest enemies\r\nto the rich; insomuch that, though the city still used the new laws, yet all\r\nlooked for and desired a change of government, hoping severally that the change\r\nwould be better for them, and put them above the contrary faction. Affairs\r\nstanding thus, Solon returned, and was reverenced by all, and honored; but his\r\nold age would not permit him to be as active, and to speak in public, as\r\nformerly; yet, by privately conferring with the heads of the factions, he\r\nendeavored to compose the differences, Pisistratus appearing the most\r\ntractable; for he was extremely smooth and engaging in his language, a great\r\nfriend to the poor, and moderate in his resentments; and what nature had not\r\ngiven him, he had the skill to imitate; so that he was trusted more than the\r\nothers, being accounted a prudent and orderly man, one that loved equality, and\r\nwould be an enemy to any that moved against the present settlement. Thus he\r\ndeceived the majority of people; but Solon quickly discovered his character,\r\nand found out his design before any one else; yet did not hate him upon this,\r\nbut endeavored to humble him, and bring him off from his ambition, and often\r\ntold him and others, that if any one could banish the passion for preeminence\r\nfrom his mind, and cure him of his desire of absolute power, none would make a\r\nmore virtuous man or a more excellent citizen. Thespis, at this time, beginning\r\nto act tragedies, and the thing, because it was new, taking very much with the\r\nmultitude, though it was not yet made a matter of competition, Solon, being by\r\nnature fond of hearing and learning something new, and now, in his old age,\r\nliving idly, and enjoying himself, indeed, with music and with wine, went to\r\nsee Thespis himself, as the ancient custom was, act; and after the play was\r\ndone, he addressed him, and asked him if he was not ashamed to tell so many\r\nlies before such a number of people; and Thespis replying that it was no harm\r\nto say or do so in play, Solon vehemently struck his staff against the ground:\r\n“Ay,” said he, “if we honor and commend such play as this, we shall find it\r\nsome day in our business.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow when Pisistratus, having wounded himself, was brought into the marketplace\r\nin a chariot, and stirred up the people, as if he had been thus treated by his\r\nopponents because of his political conduct, and a great many were enraged and\r\ncried out, Solon, coming close to him, said, “This, O son of Hippocrates, is a\r\nbad copy of Homer’s Ulysses; you do, to trick your countrymen, what he did to\r\ndeceive his enemies.” After this, the people were eager to protect Pisistratus,\r\nand met in an assembly, where one Ariston making a motion that they should\r\nallow Pisistratus fifty clubmen for a guard to his person, Solon opposed it,\r\nand said, much to the same purport as what he has left us in his poems,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nYou dote upon his words and taking phrase;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand again,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTrue, you are singly each a crafty soul,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut all together make one empty fool.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut observing the poor men bent to gratify Pisistratus, and tumultuous, and the\r\nrich fearful and getting out of harm’s way, he departed, saying he was wiser\r\nthan some and stouter than others; wiser than those that did not understand the\r\ndesign, stouter than those that, though they understood it, were afraid to\r\noppose the tyranny. Now, the people, having passed the law, were not nice with\r\nPisistratus about the number of his clubmen, but took no notice of it, though\r\nhe enlisted and kept as many as he would, until he seized the Acropolis. When\r\nthat was done, and the city in an uproar, Megacles, with all his family, at\r\nonce fled; but Solon, though he was now very old, and had none to back him, yet\r\ncame into the marketplace and made a speech to the citizens, partly blaming\r\ntheir inadvertency and meanness of spirit, and in part urging and exhorting\r\nthem not thus tamely to lose their liberty; and likewise then spoke that\r\nmemorable saying, that, before, it was an easier task to stop the rising\r\ntyranny, but now the greater and more glorious action to destroy it, when it\r\nwas begun already, and had gathered strength. But all being afraid to side with\r\nhim, he returned home, and, taking his arms, he brought them out and laid them\r\nin the porch before his door, with these words: “I have done my part to\r\nmaintain my country and my laws,” and then he busied himself no more. His\r\nfriends advising him to fly, he refused; but wrote poems, and thus reproached\r\nthe Athenians in them,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIf now you suffer, do not blame the Powers,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFor they are good, and all the fault was ours.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAll the strongholds you put into his hands,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd now his slaves must do what he commands.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd many telling him that the tyrant would take his life for this, and asking\r\nwhat he trusted to, that he ventured to speak so boldly, he replied, “To my old\r\nage.” But Pisistratus, having got the command, so extremely courted Solon, so\r\nhonored him, obliged him, and sent to see him, that Solon gave him his advice,\r\nand approved many of his actions; for he retained most of Solon’s laws,\r\nobserved them himself, and compelled his friends to obey. And he himself,\r\nthough already absolute ruler, being accused of murder before the Areopagus,\r\ncame quietly to clear himself; but his accuser did not appear. And he added\r\nother laws, one of which is that the maimed in the wars should be maintained at\r\nthe public charge; this Heraclides Ponticus records, and that Pisistratus\r\nfollowed Solon’s example in this, who had decreed it in the case of one\r\nThersippus, that was maimed; and Theophrastus asserts that it was Pisistratus,\r\nnot Solon, that made that law against laziness, which was the reason that the\r\ncountry was more productive, and the city tranquiller.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Solon, having begun the great work in verse, the history or fable of the\r\nAtlantic Island, which he had learned from the wise men in Sais, and thought\r\nconvenient for the Athenians to know, abandoned it; not, as Plato says, by\r\nreason of want of time, but because of his age, and being discouraged at the\r\ngreatness of the task; for that he had leisure enough, such verses testify, as\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nEach day grow older, and learn something new\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand again,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBut now the Powers of Beauty, Song, and Wine,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhich are most men’s delights, are also mine.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nPlato, willing to improve the story of the Atlantic Island, as if it were a\r\nfair estate that wanted an heir and came with some title to him, formed,\r\nindeed, stately entrances, noble enclosures, large courts, such as never yet\r\nintroduced any story, fable, or poetic fiction; but, beginning it late, ended\r\nhis life before his work; and the reader’s regret for the unfinished part is\r\nthe greater, as the satisfaction he takes in that which is complete is\r\nextraordinary. For as the city of Athens left only the temple of Jupiter\r\nOlympius unfinished, so Plato, amongst all his excellent works, left this only\r\npiece about the Atlantic Island imperfect. Solon lived after Pisistratus seized\r\nthe government, as Heraclides Ponticus asserts, a long time; but Phanias the\r\nEresian says not two full years; for Pisistratus began his tyranny when Comias\r\nwas archon, and Phanias says Solon died under Hegestratus, who succeeded\r\nComias. The story that his ashes were scattered about the island Salamis is too\r\nstrange to be easily believed, or be thought anything but a mere fable; and yet\r\nit is given, amongst other good authors, by Aristotle, the philosopher.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap08\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003ePOPLICOLA\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSuch was Solon. To him we compare Poplicola, who received this later title from\r\nthe Roman people for his merit, as a noble accession to his former name,\r\nPublius Valerius. He descended from Valerius, a man amongst the early citizens,\r\nreputed the principal reconciler of the differences betwixt the Romans and\r\nSabines, and one that was most instrumental in persuading their kings to assent\r\nto peace and union. Thus descended, Publius Valerius, as it is said, whilst\r\nRome remained under its kingly government, obtained as great a name from his\r\neloquence as from his riches, charitably employing the one in liberal aid to\r\nthe poor, the other with integrity and freedom in the service of justice;\r\nthereby giving assurance, that, should the government fall into a republic, he\r\nwould become a chief man in the community. The illegal and wicked accession of\r\nTarquinius Superbus to the crown, with his making it, instead of kingly rule,\r\nthe instrument of insolence and tyranny, having inspired the people with a\r\nhatred to his reign, upon the death of Lucretia (she killing herself after\r\nviolence had been done to her), they took an occasion of revolt; and Lucius\r\nBrutus, engaging in the change, came to Valerius before all others, and, with\r\nhis zealous assistance, deposed the kings. And whilst the people inclined\r\ntowards the electing one leader instead of their king, Valerius acquiesced,\r\nthat to rule was rather Brutus’s due, as the author of the democracy. But when\r\nthe name of monarchy was odious to the people, and a divided power appeared\r\nmore grateful in the prospect, and two were chosen to hold it, Valerius,\r\nentertaining hopes that he might be elected consul with Brutus, was\r\ndisappointed; for, instead of Valerius, notwithstanding the endeavors of\r\nBrutus, Tarquinius Collatinus was chosen, the husband of Lucretia, a man noways\r\nhis superior in merit. But the nobles, dreading the return of their kings, who\r\nstill used all endeavors abroad and solicitations at home, were resolved upon a\r\nchieftain of an intense hatred to them, and noways likely to yield.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Valerius was troubled, that his desire to serve his country should be\r\ndoubted, because he had sustained no private injury from the insolence of the\r\ntyrants. He withdrew from the senate and practice of the bar, quitting all\r\npublic concerns; which gave an occasion of discourse, and fear, too, lest his\r\nanger should reconcile him to the king’s side, and he should prove the ruin of\r\nthe state, tottering as yet under the uncertainties of a change. But Brutus\r\nbeing doubtful of some others, and determining to give the test to the senate\r\nupon the altars, upon the day appointed Valerius came with cheerfulness into\r\nthe forum, and was the first man that took the oath, in no way to submit or\r\nyield to Tarquin’s propositions, but rigorously to maintain liberty; which gave\r\ngreat satisfaction to the senate and assurance to the consuls, his actions soon\r\nafter showing the sincerity of his oath. For ambassadors came from Tarquin,\r\nwith popular and specious proposals, whereby they thought to seduce the people,\r\nas though the king had cast off all insolence, and made moderation the only\r\nmeasure of his desires. To this embassy the consuls thought fit to give public\r\naudience, but Valerius opposed it, and would not permit that the poorer people,\r\nwho entertained more fear of war than of tyranny, should have any occasion\r\noffered them, or any temptations to new designs. Afterwards other ambassadors\r\narrived, who declared their king would recede from his crown, and lay down his\r\narms, only capitulating for a restitution to himself, his friends, and allies,\r\nof their moneys and estates to support them in their banishment. Now, several\r\ninclining to the request, and Collatinus in particular favoring it, Brutus, a\r\nman of vehement and unbending nature, rushed into the forum, there proclaiming\r\nhis fellow- consul to be a traitor, in granting subsidies to tyranny, and\r\nsupplies for a war to those to whom it was monstrous to allow so much as\r\nsubsistence in exile. This caused an assembly of the citizens, amongst whom the\r\nfirst that spake was Caius Minucius, a private man, who advised Brutus, and\r\nurged the Romans to keep the property, and employ it against the tyrants,\r\nrather than to remit it to the tyrants, to be used against themselves. The\r\nRomans, however, decided that whilst they enjoyed the liberty they had fought\r\nfor, they should not sacrifice peace for the sake of money, but send out the\r\ntyrants’ property after them. This question, however, of his property, was the\r\nleast part of Tarquin’s design; the demand sounded the feelings of the people,\r\nand was preparatory to a conspiracy which the ambassadors endeavored to excite,\r\ndelaying their return, under pretense of selling some of the goods and\r\nreserving others to be sent away, till, in fine, they corrupted two of the most\r\neminent families in Rome, the Aquillian, which had three, and the Vitellian,\r\nwhich had two senators. These all were, by the mother’s side, nephews to\r\nCollatinus; besides which Brutus had a special alliance to the Vitellii from\r\nhis marriage with their sister, by whom he had several children; two of whom,\r\nof their own age, their near relations and daily companions, the Vitellii\r\nseduced to join in the plot, to ally themselves to the great house and royal\r\nhopes of the Tarquins, and gain emancipation from the violence and imbecility\r\nunited of their father, whose austerity to offenders they termed violence,\r\nwhile the imbecility which he had long feigned, to protect himself from the\r\ntyrants, still, it appears, was, in name at least, ascribed to him. When upon\r\nthese inducements the youths came to confer with the Aquillii, all thought it\r\nconvenient to bind themselves in a solemn and dreadful oath, by tasting the\r\nblood of a murdered man, and touching his entrails. For which design they met\r\nat the house of the Aquillii. The building chosen for the transaction was, as\r\nwas natural, dark and unfrequented, and a slave named Vindicius had, as it\r\nchanced, concealed himself there, not out of design or any intelligence of the\r\naffair, but, accidentally being within, seeing with how much haste and concern\r\nthey came in, he was afraid to be discovered, and placed himself behind a\r\nchest, where he was able to observe their actions and overhear their debates.\r\nTheir resolutions were to kill the consuls, and they wrote letters to Tarquin\r\nto this effect, and gave them to the ambassadors, who were lodging upon the\r\nspot with the Aquillii, and were present at the consultation.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon their departure, Vindicius secretly quitted the house, but was at a loss\r\nwhat to do in the matter, for to arraign the sons before the father Brutus, or\r\nthe nephews before the uncle Collatinus, seemed equally (as indeed it was)\r\nshocking; yet he knew no private Roman to whom he could entrust secrets of such\r\nimportance. Unable, however, to keep silence, and burdened with his knowledge,\r\nhe went and addressed himself to Valerius, whose known freedom and kindness of\r\ntemper were an inducement; as he was a person to whom the needy had easy\r\naccess, and who never shut his gates against the petitions or indigences of\r\nhumble people. But when Vindicius came and made a complete discovery to him,\r\nhis brother Marcus and his own wife being present, Valerius was struck with\r\namazement, and by no means would dismiss the discoverer, but confined him to\r\nthe room, and placed his wife as a guard to the door, sending his brother in\r\nthe interim to beset the king’s palace, and seize, if possible, the writings\r\nthere, and secure the domestics, whilst he, with his constant attendance of\r\nclients and friends, and a great retinue of attendants, repaired to the house\r\nof the Aquillii, who were, as it chanced, absent from home; and so, forcing an\r\nentrance through the gates, they lit upon the letters then lying in the\r\nlodgings of the ambassadors. Meantime the Aquillii returned in all haste, and,\r\ncoming to blows about the gate, endeavored a recovery of the letters. The other\r\nparty made a resistance, and, throwing their gowns round their opponents’\r\nnecks, at last, after much struggling on both sides, made their way with their\r\nprisoners through the streets into the forum. The like engagement happened\r\nabout the king’s palace, where Marcus seized some other letters which it was\r\ndesigned should be conveyed away in the goods, and, laying hands on such of the\r\nking’s people as he could find, dragged them also into the forum. When the\r\nconsuls had quieted the tumult, Vindicius was brought out by the orders of\r\nValerius, and the accusation stated, and the letters were opened, to which the\r\ntraitors could make no plea. Most of the people standing mute and sorrowful,\r\nsome only, out of kindness to Brutus, mentioning banishment, the tears of\r\nCollatinus, attended with Valerius’s silence, gave some hopes of mercy. But\r\nBrutus, calling his two sons by their names, “Canst not thou,” said he, “O\r\nTitus, or thou, Tiberius, make any defense against the indictment?” The\r\nquestion being thrice proposed, and no reply made, he turned himself to the\r\nlictors, and cried, “What remains is your duty.” They immediately seized the\r\nyouths, and, stripping them of their clothes, bound their hands behind them,\r\nand scourged their bodies with their rods; too tragical a scene for others to\r\nlook at; Brutus, however, is said not to have turned aside his face, nor\r\nallowed the least glance of pity to soften and smooth his aspect of rigor and\r\nausterity; but sternly watched his children suffer, even till the lictors,\r\nextending them on the ground, cut off their heads with an axe; then departed,\r\ncommitting the rest to the judgment of his colleague. An action truly open\r\nalike to the highest commendation and the strongest censure; for either the\r\ngreatness of his virtue raised him above the impressions of sorrow, or the\r\nextravagance of his misery took away all sense of it; but neither seemed\r\ncommon, or the result of humanity, but either divine or brutish. Yet it is more\r\nreasonable that our judgment should yield to his reputation, than that his\r\nmerit should suffer detraction by the weakness of our judgment; in the Romans’\r\nopinion, Brutus did a greater work in the establishment of the government than\r\nRomulus in the foundation of the city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon Brutus’s departure out of the forum, consternation, horror, and silence\r\nfor some time possessed all that reflected on what was done; the easiness and\r\ntardiness, however, of Collatinus, gave confidence to the Aquillii to request\r\nsome time to answer their charge, and that Vindicius, their servant, should be\r\nremitted into their hands, and no longer harbored amongst their accusers. The\r\nconsul seemed inclined to their proposal, and was proceeding to dissolve the\r\nassembly; but Valerius would not suffer Vindicius, who was surrounded by his\r\npeople, to be surrendered, nor the meeting to withdraw without punishing the\r\ntraitors; and at length laid violent hands upon the Aquillii, and, calling\r\nBrutus to his assistance, exclaimed against the unreasonable course of\r\nCollatinus, to impose upon his colleague the necessity of taking away the lives\r\nof his own sons, and yet have thoughts of gratifying some women with the lives\r\nof traitors and public enemies. Collatinus, displeased at this, and commanding\r\nVindicius to be taken away, the lictors made their way through the crowd and\r\nseized their man, and struck all who endeavored a rescue. Valerius’s friends\r\nheaded the resistance, and the people cried out for Brutus, who, returning, on\r\nsilence being made, told them he had been competent to pass sentence by himself\r\nupon his own sons, but left the rest to the suffrages of the free citizens:\r\n“Let every man speak that wishes, and persuade whom he can.” But there was no\r\nneed of oratory, for, it being referred to the vote, they were returned\r\ncondemned by all the suffrages, and were accordingly beheaded.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCollatinus’s relationship to the kings had, indeed, already rendered him\r\nsuspicious, and his second name, too, had made him obnoxious to the people, who\r\nwere loath to hear the very sound of Tarquin; but after this had happened,\r\nperceiving himself an offense to every one, he relinquished his charge and\r\ndeparted from the city. At the new elections in his room, Valerius obtained,\r\nwith high honor, the consulship, as a just reward of his zeal; of which he\r\nthought Vindicius deserved a share, whom he made, first of all freedmen, a\r\ncitizen of Rome, and gave him the privilege of voting in what tribe soever he\r\nwas pleased to be enrolled; other freedmen received the right of suffrage a\r\nlong time after from Appius, who thus courted popularity; and from this\r\nVindicius, a perfect manumission is called to this day vindicta. This done, the\r\ngoods of the kings were exposed to plunder, and the palace to ruin.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe pleasantest part of the field of Mars, which Tarquin had owned, was devoted\r\nto the service of that god; it happening to be harvest season, and the sheaves\r\nyet being on the ground, they thought it not proper to commit them to the\r\nflail, or unsanctify them with any use; and, therefore, carrying them to the\r\nriver side, and trees withal that were cut down, they cast all into the water,\r\ndedicating the soil, free from all occupation, to the deity. Now, these thrown\r\nin, one upon another, and closing together, the stream did not bear them far,\r\nbut where the first were carried down and came to a bottom, the remainder,\r\nfinding no farther conveyance, were stopped and interwoven one with another;\r\nthe stream working the mass into a firmness, and washing down fresh mud. This,\r\nsettling there, became an accession of matter, as well as cement, to the\r\nrubbish, insomuch that the violence of the waters could not remove it, but\r\nforced and compressed it all together. Thus its bulk and solidity gained it new\r\nsubsidies, which gave it extension enough to stop on its way most of what the\r\nstream brought down. This is now a sacred island, lying by the city, adorned\r\nwith temples of the gods, and walks, and is called in the Latin tongue inter\r\nduos pontes. Though some say this did not happen at the dedication of Tarquin’s\r\nfield, but in after- times, when Tarquinia, a vestal priestess, gave an\r\nadjacent field to the public, and obtained great honors in consequence, as,\r\namongst the rest, that of all women her testimony alone should be received; she\r\nhad also the liberty to marry, but refused it; thus some tell the story.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTarquin, despairing of a return to his kingdom by the conspiracy, found a kind\r\nreception amongst the Tuscans, who, with a great army, proceeded to restore\r\nhim. The consuls headed the Romans against them, and made their rendezvous in\r\ncertain holy places, the one called the Arsian grove, the other the Aesuvian\r\nmeadow. When they came into action, Aruns, the son of Tarquin, and Brutus, the\r\nRoman consul, not accidentally encountering each other, but out of hatred and\r\nrage, the one to avenge tyranny and enmity to his country, the other his\r\nbanishment, set spurs to their horses, and, engaging with more fury than\r\nforethought, disregarding their own security, fell together in the combat. This\r\ndreadful onset hardly was followed by a more favorable end; both armies, doing\r\nand receiving equal damage, were separated by a storm. Valerius was much\r\nconcerned, not knowing what the result of the day was, and seeing his men as\r\nwell dismayed at the sight of their own dead, as rejoiced at the loss of the\r\nenemy; so apparently equal in the number was the slaughter on either side. Each\r\nparty, however, felt surer of defeat from the actual sight of their own dead,\r\nthan they could feel of victory from conjecture about those of their\r\nadversaries. The night being come (and such as one may presume must follow such\r\na battle), and the armies laid to rest, they say that the grove shook, and\r\nuttered a voice, saying that the Tuscans had lost one man more than the Romans;\r\nclearly a divine announcement; and the Romans at once received it with shouts\r\nand expressions of joy; whilst the Tuscans, through fear and amazement,\r\ndeserted their tents, and were for the most part dispersed. The Romans, falling\r\nupon the remainder, amounting to nearly five thousand, took them prisoners, and\r\nplundered the camp; when they numbered the dead, they found on the Tuscans’\r\nside eleven thousand and three hundred, exceeding their own loss but by one\r\nman. This fight happened upon the last day of February, and Valerius triumphed\r\nin honor of it, being the first consul that drove in with a four-horse chariot;\r\nwhich sight both appeared magnificent, and was received with an admiration free\r\nfrom envy or offense (as some suggest) on the part of the spectators; it would\r\nnot otherwise have been continued with so much eagerness and emulation through\r\nall the after ages. The people applauded likewise the honors he did to his\r\ncolleague, in adding to his obsequies a funeral oration; which was so much\r\nliked by the Romans, and found so good a reception, that it became customary\r\nfor the best men to celebrate the funerals of great citizens with speeches in\r\ntheir commendation; and their antiquity in Rome is affirmed to be greater than\r\nin Greece, unless, with the orator Anaximenes, we make Solon the first author.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet some part of Valerius’s behavior did give offense and disgust to the\r\npeople, because Brutus, whom they esteemed the father of their liberty, had not\r\npresumed to rule without a colleague, but united one and then another to him in\r\nhis commission; while Valerius, they said, centering all authority in himself,\r\nseemed not in any sense a successor to Brutus in the consulship, but to Tarquin\r\nin the tyranny; he might make verbal harangues to Brutus’s memory, yet, when he\r\nwas attended with all the rods and axes, proceeding down from a house than\r\nwhich the king’s house that he had demolished had not been statelier, those\r\nactions showed him an imitator of Tarquin. For, indeed, his dwelling house on\r\nthe Velia was somewhat imposing in appearance, hanging over the forum, and\r\noverlooking all transactions there; the access to it was hard, and to see him\r\nfar of coming down, a stately and royal spectacle. But Valerius showed how well\r\nit were for men in power and great offices to have ears that give admittance to\r\ntruth before flattery; for upon his friends telling him that he displeased the\r\npeople, he contended not, neither resented it, but while it was still night,\r\nsending for a number of workpeople, pulled down his house and leveled it with\r\nthe ground; so that in the morning the people, seeing and flocking together,\r\nexpressed their wonder and their respect for his magnanimity, and their sorrow,\r\nas though it had been a human being, for the large and beautiful house which\r\nwas thus lost to them by an unfounded jealousy, while its owner, their consul,\r\nwithout a roof of his own, had to beg a lodging with his friends. For his\r\nfriends received him, till a place the people gave him was furnished with a\r\nhouse, though less stately than his own, where now stands the temple, as it is\r\ncalled, of Vica Pota.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe resolved to render the government, as well as himself, instead of terrible,\r\nfamiliar and pleasant to the people, and parted the axes from the rods, and\r\nalways, upon his entrance into the assembly, lowered these also to the people,\r\nto show, in the strongest way, the republican foundation of the government; and\r\nthis the consuls observe to this day. But the humility of the man was but a\r\nmeans, not, as they thought, of lessening himself, but merely to abate their\r\nenvy by this moderation; for whatever he detracted from his authority he added\r\nto his real power, the people still submitting with satisfaction, which they\r\nexpressed by calling him Poplicola, or people-lover, which name had the\r\npreeminence of the rest, and, therefore, in the sequel of this narrative we\r\nshall use no other.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe gave free leave to any to sue for the consulship; but before the admittance\r\nof a colleague, mistrusting the chances, lest emulation or ignorance should\r\ncross his designs, by his sole authority enacted his best and most important\r\nmeasures. First, he supplied the vacancies of the senators, whom either Tarquin\r\nlong before had put to death, or the war lately cut off; those that he\r\nenrolled, they write, amounted to a hundred and sixty-four; afterwards he made\r\nseveral laws which added much to the people’s liberty, in particular one\r\ngranting offenders the liberty of appealing to the people from the judgment of\r\nthe consuls; a second, that made it death to usurp any magistracy without the\r\npeople’s consent; a third, for the relief of poor citizens, which, taking off\r\ntheir taxes, encouraged their labors; another, against disobedience to the\r\nconsuls, which was no less popular than the rest, and rather to the benefit of\r\nthe commonalty than to the advantage of the nobles, for it imposed upon\r\ndisobedience the penalty of ten oxen and two sheep; the price of a sheep being\r\nten obols, of an ox, a hundred. For the use of money was then infrequent\r\namongst the Romans, but their wealth in cattle great; even now pieces of\r\nproperty are called peculia, from pecus, cattle; and they had stamped upon\r\ntheir most ancient money an ox, a sheep, or a hog; and surnamed their sons\r\nSuillii, Bubulci, Caprarii, and Porcii, from caprae, goats, and porci, hogs.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmidst this mildness and moderation, for one excessive fault he instituted one\r\nexcessive punishment; for he made it lawful without trial to take away any\r\nman’s life that aspired to a tyranny, and acquitted the slayer, if he produced\r\nevidence of the crime; for though it was not probable for a man, whose designs\r\nwere so great, to escape all notice; yet because it was possible he might,\r\nalthough observed, by force anticipate judgment, which the usurpation itself\r\nwould then preclude, he gave a license to any to anticipate the usurper. He was\r\nhonored likewise for the law touching the treasury; for because it was\r\nnecessary for the citizens to contribute out of their estates to the\r\nmaintenance of wars, and he was unwilling himself to be concerned in the care\r\nof it, or to permit his friends, or indeed to let the public money pass into\r\nany private house, he allotted the temple of Saturn for the treasury, in which\r\nto this day they deposit the tribute-money, and granted the people the liberty\r\nof choosing two young men as quaestors, or treasurers. The first were Publius\r\nVeturius and Marcus Minucius; and a large sum was collected, for they assessed\r\none hundred and thirty thousand, excusing orphans and widows from the payment.\r\nAfter these dispositions, he admitted Lucretius, the father of Lucretia, as his\r\ncolleague, and gave him the precedence in the government, by resigning the\r\nfasces to him, as due to his years, which privilege of seniority continued to\r\nour time. But within a few days Lucretius died, and in a new election Marcus\r\nHoratius succeeded in that honor, and continued consul for the remainder of the\r\nyear.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow, whilst Tarquin was making preparations in Tuscany for a second war against\r\nthe Romans, it is said a great portent occurred. When Tarquin was king, and had\r\nall but completed the buildings of the Capitol, designing, whether from\r\noracular advice or his own pleasure, to erect an earthen chariot upon the top,\r\nhe entrusted the workmanship to Tuscans of the city Veii, but soon after lost\r\nhis kingdom. The work thus modeled, the Tuscans set in a furnace, but the clay\r\nshowed not those passive qualities which usually attend its nature, to subside\r\nand be condensed upon the evaporation of the moisture, but rose and swelled out\r\nto that bulk, that, when solid and firm, notwithstanding the removal of the\r\nroof and opening the walls of the furnace, it could not be taken out without\r\nmuch difficulty. The soothsayers looked upon this as a divine prognostic of\r\nsuccess and power to those that should possess it; and the Tuscans resolved not\r\nto deliver it to the Romans, who demanded it, but answered that it rather\r\nbelonged to Tarquin than to those who had sent him into exile. A few days\r\nafter, they had a horse-race there, with the usual shows and solemnities, and\r\nas the charioteer, with his garland on his head, was quietly driving the\r\nvictorious chariot out of the ring, the horses, upon no apparent occasion,\r\ntaking fright, either by divine instigation or by accident, hurried away their\r\ndriver at full speed to Rome; neither did his holding them in prevail, nor his\r\nvoice, but he was forced along with violence till, coming to the Capitol, he\r\nwas thrown out by the gate called Ratumena. This occurrence raised wonder and\r\nfear in the Veientines, who now permitted the delivery of the chariot.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe building of the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter had been vowed by Tarquin,\r\nthe son of Demaratus, when warring with the Sabines; Tarquinius Superbus, his\r\nson or grandson, built, but could not dedicate it, because he lost his kindom\r\nbefore it was quite finished. And now that it was completed with all its\r\nornaments, Poplicola was ambitious to dedicate it; but the nobility envied him\r\nthat honor, as, indeed, also, in some degree, those his prudence in making laws\r\nand conduct in wars entitled him to. Grudging him, at any rate, the addition of\r\nthis, they urged Horatius to sue for the dedication and, whilst Poplicola was\r\nengaged in some military expedition, voted it to Horatius, and conducted him to\r\nthe Capitol, as though, were Poplicola present, they could not have carried it.\r\nYet, some write, Poplicola was by lot destined against his will to the\r\nexpedition, the other to the dedication; and what happened in the performance\r\nseems to intimate some ground for this conjecture; for, upon the Ides of\r\nSeptember, which happens about the full moon of the month Metagitnion, the\r\npeople having assembled at the Capitol and silence being enjoined, Horatius,\r\nafter the performance of other ceremonies, holding the doors, according to\r\ncustom, was proceeding to pronounce the words of dedication, when Marcus, the\r\nbrother of Poplicola, who had got a place on purpose beforehand near the door,\r\nobserving his opportunity, cried, “O consul, thy son lies dead in the camp;”\r\nwhich made a great impression upon all others who heard it, yet in nowise\r\ndiscomposed Horatius, who returned merely the reply, “Cast the dead out whither\r\nyou please; I am not a mourner;” and so completed the dedication. The news was\r\nnot true, but Marcus thought the lie might avert him from his performance; but\r\nit argues him a man of wonderful self-possession, whether he at once saw\r\nthrough the cheat, or, believing it as true, showed no discomposure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe same fortune attended the dedication of the second temple; the first, as\r\nhas been said, was built by Tarquin and dedicated by Horatius; it was burnt\r\ndown in the civil wars. The second, Sylla built, and, dying before the\r\ndedication, left that honor to Catulus; and when this was demolished in the\r\nVitellian sedition, Vespasian, with the same success that attended him in other\r\nthings, began a third, and lived to see it finished, but did not live to see it\r\nagain destroyed, as it presently was; but was as fortunate in dying before its\r\ndestruction, as Sylla was the reverse in dying before the dedication of his.\r\nFor immediately after Vespasian’s death it was consumed by fire. The fourth,\r\nwhich now exists, was both built and dedicated by Domitian. It is said Tarquin\r\nexpended forty thousand pounds of silver in the very foundations; but the whole\r\nwealth of the richest private man in Rome would not discharge the cost of the\r\ngilding of this temple in our days, it amounting to above twelve thousand\r\ntalents; the pillars were cut out of Pentelican marble, of a length most\r\nhappily proportioned to their thickness; these we saw at Athens; but when they\r\nwere cut anew at Rome and polished, they did not gain so much in embellishment,\r\nas they lost in symmetry, being rendered too taper and slender. Should any one\r\nwho wonders at the costliness of the Capitol visit any one gallery in\r\nDomitian’s palace, or hall, or bath, or the apartments of his concubines,\r\nEpicharmus’s remark upon the prodigal, that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n’Tis not beneficence, but, truth to say,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nA mere disease of giving things away,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nwould be in his mouth in application to Domitian. It is neither piety, he would\r\nsay, nor magnificence, but, indeed, a mere disease of building, and a desire,\r\nlike Midas, of converting every thing into gold or stone. And thus much for\r\nthis matter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTarquin, after the great battle wherein he lost his son in combat with Brutus,\r\nfled to Clusium, and sought aid from Lars Porsenna, then one of the most\r\npowerful princes of Italy, and a man of worth and generosity; who assured him\r\nof assistance, immediately sending his commands to Rome that they should\r\nreceive Tarquin as their king, and, upon the Romans’ refusal, proclaimed war,\r\nand, having signified the time and place where he intended his attack,\r\napproached with a great army. Poplicola was, in his absence, chosen consul a\r\nsecond time, and Titus Lucretius his colleague, and, returning to Rome, to show\r\na spirit yet loftier than Porsenna’s, built the city Sigliuria when Porsenna\r\nwas already in the neighborhood; and, walling it at great expense, there placed\r\na colony of seven hundred men, as being little concerned at the war.\r\nNevertheless, Porsenna, making a sharp assault, obliged the defendants to\r\nretire to Rome, who had almost in their entrance admitted the enemy into the\r\ncity with them; only Poplicola by sallying out at the gate prevented them, and,\r\njoining battle by Tiber side, opposed the enemy, that pressed on with their\r\nmultitude, but at last, sinking under desperate wounds, was carried out of the\r\nfight. The same fortune fell upon Lucretius, so that the Romans, being\r\ndismayed, retreated into the city for their security, and Rome was in great\r\nhazard of being taken, the enemy forcing their way on to the wooden bridge,\r\nwhere Horatius Cocles, seconded by two of the first men in Rome, Herminius and\r\nLartius, made head against them. Horatius obtained this name from the loss of\r\none of his eyes in the wars, or, as others write, from the depressure of his\r\nnose, which, leaving nothing in the middle to separate them, made both eyes\r\nappear but as one; and hence, intending to say Cyclops, by a mispronunciation\r\nthey called him Cocles. This Cocles kept the bridge, and held back the enemy,\r\ntill his own party broke it down behind, and then with his armor dropped into\r\nthe river, and swam to the hither side, with a wound in his hip from a Tuscan\r\nspear. Poplicola, admiring his courage, proposed at once that the Romans should\r\nevery one make him a present of a day’s provisions, and afterwards gave him as\r\nmuch land as he could plow round in one day, and besides erected a brazen\r\nstatue to his honor in the temple of Vulcan, as a requital for the lameness\r\ncaused by his wound.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Porsenna laying close siege to the city, and a famine raging amongst the\r\nRomans, also a new army of the Tuscans making incursions into the country,\r\nPoplicola, a third time chosen consul, designed to make, without sallying out,\r\nhis defense against Porsenna, but, privately stealing forth against the new\r\narmy of the Tuscans, put them to flight, and slew five thousand. The story of\r\nMucius is variously given; we, like others, must follow the commonly received\r\nstatement. He was a man endowed with every virtue, but most eminent in war;\r\nand, resolving to kill Porsenna, attired himself in the Tuscan habit, and,\r\nusing the Tuscan language, came to the camp, and approaching the seat where the\r\nking sat amongst his nobles, but not certainly knowing the king, and fearful to\r\ninquire, drew out his sword, and stabbed one who he thought had most the\r\nappearance of king. Mucius was taken in the act, and whilst he was under\r\nexamination, a pan of fire was brought to the king, who intended to sacrifice;\r\nMucius thrust his right hand into the flame, and whilst it burnt stood looking\r\nat Porsenna with a steadfast and undaunted countenance; Porsenna at last in\r\nadmiration dismissed him, and returned his sword, reaching it from his seat;\r\nMucius received it in his left hand, which occasioned the name of Scaevola,\r\nleft-handed, and said, “I have overcome the terrors of Porsenna, yet am\r\nvanquished by his generosity, and gratitude obliges me to disclose what no\r\npunishment could extort;” and assured him then, that three hundred Romans, all\r\nof the same resolution, lurked about his camp, only waiting for an opportunity;\r\nhe, by lot appointed to the enterprise, was not sorry that he had miscarried in\r\nit, because so brave and good a man deserved rather to be a friend to the\r\nRomans than an enemy. To this Porsenna gave credit, and thereupon expressed an\r\ninclination to a truce, not, I presume, so much out of fear of the three\r\nhundred Romans, as in admiration of the Roman courage. All other writers call\r\nthis man Mucius Scaevola, yet Athenodorus, son of Sandon, in a book addressed\r\nto Octavia, Caesar’s sister, avers he was also called Postumus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPoplicola, not so much esteeming Porsenna’s enmity dangerous to Rome as his\r\nfriendship and alliance serviceable, was induced to refer the controversy with\r\nTarquin to his arbitration, and several times undertook to prove Tarquin the\r\nworst of men, and justly deprived of his kingdom. But Tarquin proudly replied\r\nhe would admit no judge, much less Porsenna, that had fallen away from his\r\nengagements; and Porsenna, resenting this answer, and mistrusting the equity of\r\nhis cause, moved also by the solicitations of his son Aruns, who was earnest\r\nfor the Roman interest, made a peace on these conditions, that they should\r\nresign the land they had taken from the Tuscans, and restore all prisoners and\r\nreceive back their deserters. To confirm the peace, the Romans gave as hostages\r\nten sons of patrician parents, and as many daughters, amongst whom was Valeria,\r\nthe daughter of Poplicola.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon these assurances, Porsenna ceased from all acts of hostility, and the\r\nyoung girls went down to the river to bathe, at that part where the winding of\r\nthe bank formed a bay and made the waters stiller and quieter; and, seeing no\r\nguard, nor any one coming or going over, they were encouraged to swim over,\r\nnotwithstanding the depth and violence of the stream. Some affirm that one of\r\nthem, by name Cloelia, passing over on horseback, persuaded the rest to swim\r\nafter; but, upon their safe arrival, presenting themselves to Poplicola, he\r\nneither praised nor approved their return, but was concerned lest he should\r\nappear less faithful than Porsenna, and this boldness in the maidens should\r\nargue treachery in the Romans; so that, apprehending them, he sent them back to\r\nPorsenna. But Tarquin’s men, having intelligence of this, laid a strong\r\nambuscade on the other side for those that conducted them; and while these were\r\nskirmishing together, Valeria, the daughter of Poplicola, rushed through the\r\nenemy and fled, and with the assistance of three of her attendants made good\r\nher escape, whilst the rest were dangerously hedged in by the soldiers; but\r\nAruns, Porsenna’s son, upon tidings of it, hastened to their rescue, and,\r\nputting the enemy to flight, delivered the Romans. When Porsenna saw the\r\nmaidens returned, demanding who was the author and adviser of the act, and\r\nunderstanding Cloelia to be the person, he looked on her with a cheerful and\r\nbenignant countenance, and, commanding one of his horses to be brought,\r\nsumptuously adorned, made her a present of it. This is produced as evidence by\r\nthose who affirm that only Cloelia passed the river or. horseback; those who\r\ndeny it call it only the honor the Tuscan did to her courage; a figure,\r\nhowever, on horseback stands in the Via Sacra, as you go to the Palatium, which\r\nsome say is the statue of Cloelia, others of Valeria. Porsenna, thus reconciled\r\nto the Romans, gave them a fresh instance of his generosity, and commanded his\r\nsoldiers to quit the camp merely with their arms, leaving their tents, full of\r\ncorn and other stores, as a gift to the Romans. Hence, even down to our time,\r\nwhen there is a public sale of goods, they cry Porsenna’s first, by way of\r\nperpetual commemoration of his kindness. There stood, also, by the\r\nsenate-house, a brazen statue of him, of plain and antique workmanship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfterwards, the Sabines making incursions upon the Romans, Marcus Valerius,\r\nbrother to Poplicola, was made consul, and with him Postumius Tubertus. Marcus,\r\nthrough the management of affairs by the conduct and direct assistance of\r\nPoplicola, obtained two great victories, in the latter of which he slew\r\nthirteen thousand Sabines without the loss of one Roman, and was honored, as\r\nall accession to his triumph, with an house built in the Palatium at the public\r\ncharge; and whereas the doors of other houses opened inward into the house,\r\nthey made this to open outward into the street, to intimate their perpetual\r\npublic recognition of his merit by thus continually making way for him. The\r\nsame fashion in their doors the Greeks, they say, had of old universally, which\r\nappears from their comedies, where those that are going out make a noise at the\r\ndoor within, to give notice to those that pass by or stand near the door, that\r\nthe opening the door into the street might occasion no surprisal.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe year after, Poplicola was made consul the fourth time, when a confederacy\r\nof the Sabines and Latins threatened a war; a superstitious fear also overran\r\nthe city on the occasion of general miscarriages of their women, no single\r\nbirth coming to its due time. Poplicola, upon consultation of the Sibylline\r\nbooks, sacrificing to Pluto, and renewing certain games commanded by Apollo,\r\nrestored the city to more cheerful assurance in the gods, and then prepared\r\nagainst the menaces of men. There were appearances of treat preparation, and of\r\na formidable confederacy. Amongst the Sabines there was one Appius Clausus, a\r\nman of a great wealth and strength of body, but most eminent for his high\r\ncharacter and for his eloquence; yet, as is usually the fate of great men, he\r\ncould not escape the envy of others, which was much occasioned by his\r\ndissuading the war, and seeming to promote the Roman interest, with a view, it\r\nwas thought, to obtaining absolute power in his own country for himself.\r\nKnowing how welcome these reports would be to the multitude, and how offensive\r\nto the army and the abettors of the war, he was afraid to stand a trial, but,\r\nhaving a considerable body of friends and allies to assist him, raised a tumult\r\namongst the Sabines, which delayed the war. Neither was Poplicola wanting, not\r\nonly to understand the grounds of the sedition, but to promote and increase it,\r\nand he dispatched emissaries with instructions to Clausus, that Poplicola was\r\nassured of his goodness and justice, and thought it indeed unworthy in any man,\r\nhowever injured, to seek revenge upon his fellow-citizens; yet if he pleased,\r\nfor his own security, to leave his enemies and come to Rome, he should be\r\nreceived, both in public and private, with the honor his merit deserved, and\r\ntheir own glory required. Appius, seriously weighing the matter, came to the\r\nconclusion that it was the best resource which necessity left him, and advising\r\nwith his friends; and they inviting again others in the same manner, he came to\r\nRome, bringing five thousand families, with their wives and children; people of\r\nthe quietest and steadiest temper of all the Sabines. Poplicola, informed of\r\ntheir approach, received them with all the kind offices of a friend, and\r\nadmitted them at once to the franchise, allotting to every one two acres of\r\nland by the river Anio, but to Clausus twenty-five acres, and gave him a place\r\nin the senate; a commencement of political power which he used so wisely, that\r\nhe rose to the highest reputation, was very influential, and left the Claudian\r\nhouse behind him, inferior to none in Rome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe departure of these men rendered things quiet amongst the Sabines; yet the\r\nchief of the community would not suffer them to settle into peace, but resented\r\nthat Clausus now, by turning deserter, should disappoint that revenge upon the\r\nRomans, which, while at home, he had unsuccessfully opposed. Coming with a\r\ngreat army, they sat down before Fidenae, and placed an ambuscade of two\r\nthousand men near Rome, in wooded and hollow spots, with a design that some few\r\nhorsemen, as soon as it was day, should go out and ravage the country,\r\ncommanding them upon their approach to the town so to retreat as to draw the\r\nenemy into the ambush. Poplicola, however, soon advertised of these designs by\r\ndeserters, disposed his forces to their respective charges. Postumius Balbus,\r\nhis son-in-law, going out with three thousand men in the evening, was ordered\r\nto take the hills, under which the ambush lay, there to observe their motions;\r\nhis colleague, Lucretius, attended with a body of the lightest and boldest men,\r\nwas appointed to meet the Sabine horse; whilst he, with the rest of the army,\r\nencompassed the enemy. And a thick mist rising accidentally, Postumius, early\r\nin the morning, with shouts from the hills, assailed the ambuscade, Lucretius\r\ncharged the light-horse, and Poplicola besieged the camp; so that on all sides\r\ndefeat and ruin came upon the Sabines, and without any resistance the Romans\r\nkilled them in their flight, their very hopes leading them to their death, for\r\neach division, presuming that the other was safe, gave up all thought of\r\nfighting or keeping their ground; and these quitting the camp to retire to the\r\nambuscade, and the ambuscade flying; to the camp, fugitives thus met fugitives,\r\nand found those from whom they expected succor as much in need of succor from\r\nthemselves. The nearness, however, of the city Fidenae was the preservation of\r\nthe Sabines, especially those that fled from the camp; those that could not\r\ngain the city either perished in the field, or were taken prisoners. This\r\nvictory, the Romans, though usually ascribing such success to some god,\r\nattributed to the conduct of one captain; and it was observed to be heard\r\namongst the soldiers, that Poplicola had delivered their enemies lame and\r\nblind, and only not in chains, to be dispatched by their swords. From the spoil\r\nand prisoners great wealth accrued to the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPoplicola, having completed his triumph, and bequeathed the city to the care of\r\nthe succeeding consuls, died; thus closing a life which, so far as human life\r\nmay be, had been full of all that is good and honorable. The people, as though\r\nthey had not duly rewarded his deserts when alive, but still were in his debt,\r\ndecreed him a public interment, every one contributing his quadrans towards the\r\ncharge; the women, besides, by private consent, mourned a whole year, a signal\r\nmark of honor to his memory. He was buried, by the people’s desire, within the\r\ncity, in the part called Velia, where his posterity had likewise privilege of\r\nburial; now, however, none of the family are interred there, but the body is\r\ncarried thither and set down, and someone places a burning torch under it, and\r\nimmediately takes it away, as an attestation of the deceased’s privilege, and\r\nhis receding from his honor; after which the body is removed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap09\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF POPLICOLA WITH SOLON\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere is something singular in the present parallel, which has not occurred in\r\nany other of the lives; that the one should be the imitator of the other, and\r\nthe other his best evidence. Upon the survey of Solon’s sentence to Croesus in\r\nfavor of Tellus’s happiness, it seems more applicable to Poplicola; for Tellus,\r\nwhose virtuous life and dying well had gained him the name of the happiest man,\r\nyet was never celebrated in Solon’s poems for a good man, nor have his children\r\nor any magistracy of his deserved a memorial; but Poplicola’s life was the most\r\neminent amongst the Romans, as well for the greatness of his virtue as his\r\npower, and also since his death many amongst the distinguished families, even\r\nin our days, the Poplicolae, Messalae, and Valerii, after a lapse of six\r\nhundred years, acknowledge him as the fountain of their honor. Besides, Tellus,\r\nthough keeping his post and fighting like a valiant soldier, was yet slain by\r\nhis enemies; but Poplicola, the better fortune, slew his, and saw his country\r\nvictorious under his command. And his honors and triumphs brought him, which\r\nwas Solon’s ambition, to a happy end; the ejaculation which, in his verses\r\nagainst Mimnermus about the continuance of man’s life, he himself made,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nMourned let me die; and may I, when life ends,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOccasion sighs and sorrows to my friends,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nis evidence to Poplicola’s happiness; his death did not only draw tears from\r\nhis friends and acquaintance, but was the object of universal regret and sorrow\r\nthrough the whole city; the women deplored his loss as that of a son, brother,\r\nor common father. “Wealth I would have,” said Solon, “but wealth by wrong\r\nprocure would not,” because punishment would follow. But Poplicola’s riches\r\nwere not only justly his, but he spent them nobly in doing good to the\r\ndistressed. So that if Solon was reputed the wisest man, we must allow\r\nPoplicola to be the happiest; for what Solon wished for as the greatest and\r\nmost perfect good, this Poplicola had, and used and enjoyed to his death.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd as Solon may thus be said to have contributed to Poplicola’s glory, so did\r\nalso Poplicola to his, by his choice of him as his model in the formation of\r\nrepublican institutions; in reducing, for example, the excessive powers and\r\nassumption of the consulship. Several of his laws, indeed, he actually\r\ntransferred to Rome, as his empowering the people to elect their officers, and\r\nallowing offenders the liberty of appealing to the people, as Solon did to the\r\njurors. He did not, indeed, create a new senate, as Solon did, but augmented\r\nthe old to almost double its number. The appointment of treasurers again, the\r\nquaestors, has a like origin; with the intent that the chief magistrate should\r\nnot, if of good character, be withdrawn from greater matters; or, if bad, have\r\nthe greater temptation to injustice, by holding both the government and\r\ntreasury in his hands. The aversion to tyranny was stronger in Poplicola; any\r\none who attempted usurpation could, by Solon’s law, only be punished upon\r\nconviction; but Poplicola made it death before a trial. And though Solon justly\r\ngloried, that, when arbitrary power was absolutely offered to him by\r\ncircumstances, and when his countrymen would have willingly seen him accept it,\r\nhe yet declined it; still Poplicola merited no less, who, receiving a despotic\r\ncommand, converted it to a popular office, and did not employ the whole legal\r\npower which he held. We must allow, indeed, that Solon was before Poplicola in\r\nobserving that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nA people always minds its rulers best\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhen it is neither humored nor oppressed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe remission of debts was peculiar to Solon; it was his great means for\r\nconfirming the citizens’ liberty; for a mere law to give all men equal rights\r\nis but useless, if the poor must sacrifice those rights to their debts, and, in\r\nthe very seats and sanctuaries of equality, the courts of justice, the offices\r\nof state, and the public discussions, be more than anywhere at the beck and\r\nbidding of the rich. A yet more extraordinary success was, that, although\r\nusually civil violence is caused by any remission of debts, upon this one\r\noccasion this dangerous but powerful remedy actually put an end to civil\r\nviolence already existing, Solon’s own private worth and reputation\r\noverbalancing all the ordinary ill- repute and discredit of the change. The\r\nbeginning of his government was more glorious, for he was entirely original,\r\nand followed no man’s example, and, without the aid of any ally, achieved his\r\nmost important measures by his own conduct; yet the close of Poplicola’s life\r\nwas more happy and desirable, for Solon saw the dissolution of his own\r\ncommonwealth, Poplicola’s maintained the state in good order down to the civil\r\nwars. Solon, leaving his laws, as soon as he had made them, engraven in wood,\r\nbut destitute of a defender, departed from Athens; whilst Poplicola, remaining,\r\nboth in and out of office, labored to establish the government Solon, though he\r\nactually knew of Pisistratus’s ambition, yet was not able to suppress it, but\r\nhad to yield to usurpation in its infancy; whereas Poplicola utterly subverted\r\nand dissolved a potent monarchy, strongly settled by long continuance; uniting\r\nthus to virtues equal to those, and purposes identical with those of Solon, the\r\ngood fortune and the power that alone could make them effective.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn military exploits, Daimachus of Plataea will not even allow Solon the\r\nconduct of the war against the Megarians, as was before intimated; but\r\nPoplicola was victorious in the most important conflicts, both as a private\r\nsoldier and commander. In domestic politics, also, Solon, in play, as it were,\r\nand by counterfeiting madness, induced the enterprise against Salamis; whereas\r\nPoplicola, in the very beginning, exposed himself to the greatest risk, took\r\narms against Tarquin, detected the conspiracy, and, being principally concerned\r\nboth in preventing the escape of and afterwards punishing the traitors, not\r\nonly expelled the tyrants from the city, but extirpated their very hopes. And\r\nas, in cases calling for contest and resistance and manful opposition, he\r\nbehaved with courage and resolution, so, in instances where peaceable language,\r\npersuasion, and concession were requisite, he was yet more to be commended; and\r\nsucceeded in gaining happily to reconciliation and friendship, Porsenna, a\r\nterrible and invincible enemy. Some may, perhaps, object, that Solon recovered\r\nSalamis, which they had lost, for the Athenians; whereas Poplicola receded from\r\npart of what the Romans were at that time possessed of; but judgment is to be\r\nmade of actions according to the times in which they were performed. The\r\nconduct of a wise politician is ever suited to the present posture of affairs;\r\noften by foregoing a part he saves the whole, and by yielding in a small matter\r\nsecures a greater; and so Poplicola, by restoring what the Romans had lately\r\nusurped, saved their undoubted patrimony, and procured, moreover, the stores of\r\nthe enemy for those who were only too thankful to secure their city. Permitting\r\nthe decision of the controversy to his adversary, he not only got the victory,\r\nbut likewise what he himself would willingly have given to purchase the\r\nvictory, Porsenna putting an end to the war, and leaving them all the provision\r\nof his camp, from the sense of the virtue and gallant disposition of the Romans\r\nwhich their consul had impressed upon him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap10\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eTHEMISTOCLES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe birth of Themistocles was somewhat too obscure to do him honor. His father,\r\nNeocles, was not of the distinguished people of Athens, but of the township of\r\nPhrearrhi, and of the tribe Leontis; and by his mother’s side, as it is\r\nreported, he was base-born.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nI am not of the noble Grecian race,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nI’m poor Abrotonon, and born in Thrace;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nLet the Greek women scorn me, if they please,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nI was the mother of Themistocles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet Phanias writes that the mother of Themistocles was not of Thrace, but of\r\nCaria, and that her name was not Abrotonon, but Euterpe; and Neanthes adds\r\nfarther that she was of Halicarnassus in Caria. And, as illegitimate children,\r\nincluding those that were of the half-blood or had but one parent an Athenian,\r\nhad to attend at the Cynosarges (a wrestling-place outside the gates, dedicated\r\nto Hercules, who was also of half-blood amongst the gods, having had a mortal\r\nwoman for his mother), Themistocles persuaded several of the young men of high\r\nbirth to accompany him to anoint and exercise themselves together at\r\nCynosarges; an ingenious device for destroying the distinction between the\r\nnoble and the base-born, and between those of the whole and those of the half\r\nblood of Athens. However, it is certain that he was related to the house of the\r\nLycomedae; for Simonides records, that he rebuilt the chapel of Phlya,\r\nbelonging to that family, and beautified it with pictures and other ornaments,\r\nafter it had been burnt by the Persians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is confessed by all that from his youth he was of a vehement and impetuous\r\nnature, of a quick apprehension, and a strong and aspiring bent for action and\r\ngreat affairs. The holidays and intervals in his studies he did not spend in\r\nplay or idleness, as other children, but would be always inventing or arranging\r\nsome oration or declamation to himself, the subject of which was generally the\r\nexcusing or accusing his companions, so that his master would often say to him,\r\n“You, my boy, will be nothing small, but great one way or other, for good or\r\nelse for bad.” He received reluctantly and carelessly instructions given him to\r\nimprove his manners and behavior, or to teach him any pleasing or graceful\r\naccomplishment, but whatever was said to improve him in sagacity, or in\r\nmanagement of affairs, he would give attention to, beyond one of his years,\r\nfrom confidence in his natural capacities for such things. And thus afterwards,\r\nwhen in company where people engaged themselves in what are commonly thought\r\nthe liberal and elegant amusements, he was obliged to defend himself against\r\nthe observations of those who considered themselves highly accomplished, by the\r\nsomewhat arrogant retort, that he certainly could not make use of any stringed\r\ninstrument, could only, were a small and obscure city put into his hands, make\r\nit great and glorious. Notwithstanding this, Stesimbrotus says that\r\nThemistocles was a hearer of Anaxagoras, and that he studied natural philosophy\r\nunder Melissus, contrary to chronology; for Melissus commanded the Samians in\r\ntheir siege by Pericles, who was much Themistocles’s junior; and with Pericles,\r\nalso, Anaxagoras was intimate. They, therefore, might rather be credited, who\r\nreport, that Themistocles was an admirer of Mnesiphilus the Phrearrhian, who\r\nwas neither rhetorician nor natural philosopher, but a professor of that which\r\nwas then called wisdom, consisting in a sort of political shrewdness and\r\npractical sagacity, which had begun and continued, almost like a sect of\r\nphilosophy, from Solon; but those who came afterwards, and mixed it with\r\npleadings and legal artifices, and transformed the practical part of it into a\r\nmere art of speaking and an exercise of words, were generally called sophists.\r\nThemistocles resorted to Mnesiphilus when he had already embarked in politics.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the first essays of his youth he was not regular nor happily balanced; he\r\nallowed himself to follow mere natural character, which, without the control of\r\nreason and instruction, is apt to hurry, upon either side, into sudden and\r\nviolent courses, and very often to break away and determine upon the worst; as\r\nhe afterwards owned himself, saying, that the wildest colts make the best\r\nhorses, if they only get properly trained and broken in. But those who upon\r\nthis fasten stories of their own invention, as of his being disowned by his\r\nfather, and that his mother died for grief of her son’s ill fame, certainly\r\ncalumniate him; and there are others who relate, on the contrary, how that to\r\ndeter him from public business, and to let him see how the vulgar behave\r\nthemselves towards their leaders when they have at last no farther use of them,\r\nhis father showed him the old galleys as they lay forsaken and cast about upon\r\nthe sea-shore.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet it is evident that his mind was early imbued with the keenest interest in\r\npublic affairs, and the most passionate ambition for distinction. Eager from\r\nthe first to obtain the highest place, he unhesitatingly accepted the hatred of\r\nthe most powerful and influential leaders in the city, but more especially of\r\nAristides, the son of Lysimachus, who always opposed him. And yet all this\r\ngreat enmity between them arose, it appears, from a very boyish occasion, both\r\nbeing attached to the beautiful Stesilaus of Ceos, as Ariston the philosopher\r\ntells us; ever after which, they took opposite sides, and were rivals in\r\npolitics. Not but that the incompatibility of their lives and manners may seem\r\nto have increased the difference, for Aristides was of a mild nature, and of a\r\nnobler sort of character, and, in public matters, acting always with a view,\r\nnot to glory or popularity, but to the best interests of the state consistently\r\nwith safety and honesty, he was often forced to oppose Themistocles, and\r\ninterfere against the increase of his influence, seeing him stirring up the\r\npeople to all kinds of enterprises, and introducing various innovations. For it\r\nis said that Themistocles was so transported with the thoughts of glory, and so\r\ninflamed with the passion for great actions, that, though he was still young\r\nwhen the battle of Marathon was fought against the Persians, upon the skillful\r\nconduct of the general, Miltiades, being everywhere talked about, he was\r\nobserved to be thoughtful, and reserved, alone by him self; he passed the\r\nnights without sleep, and avoided all his usual places of recreation, and to\r\nthose who wondered at the change, and inquired the reason of it, he gave the\r\nanswer, that “the trophy of Miltiades would not let him sleep.” And when others\r\nwere of opinion that the battle of Marathon would be an end to the war,\r\nThemistocles thought that it was but the beginning of far greater conflicts,\r\nand for these, to the benefit of all Greece, he kept himself in continual\r\nreadiness, and his city also in proper training, foreseeing from far before\r\nwhat would happen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, first of all, the Athenians being accustomed to divide amongst themselves\r\nthe revenue proceeding from the silver mines at Laurium, he was the only man\r\nthat dared propose to the people that this distribution should cease, and that\r\nwith the money ships should be built to make war against the Aeginetans, who\r\nwere the most flourishing people in all Greece, and by the number of their\r\nships held the sovereignty of the sea; and Themistocles thus was more easily\r\nable to persuade them, avoiding all mention of danger from Darius or the\r\nPersians, who were at a great distance, and their coming very uncertain, and at\r\nthat time not much to be feared; but, by a seasonable employment of the\r\nemulation and anger felt by the Athenians against the Aeginetans, he induced\r\nthem to preparation. So that with this money a hundred ships were built, with\r\nwhich they afterwards fought against Xerxes. And, henceforward, little by\r\nlittle, turning and drawing the city down towards the sea, in the belief, that,\r\nwhereas by land they were not a fit match for their next neighbors, with their\r\nships they might be able to repel the Persians and command Greece, thus, as\r\nPlato says, from steady soldiers he turned them into mariners and seamen tossed\r\nabout the sea, and gave occasion for the reproach against him, that he took\r\naway from the Athenians the spear and the shield, and bound them to the bench\r\nand the oar. These measures he carried in the assembly, against the opposition,\r\nas Stesimbrotus relates, of Miltiades; and whether or no he hereby injured the\r\npurity and true balance of government, may be a question for philosophers, but\r\nthat the deliverance of Greece came at that time from the sea, and that these\r\ngalleys restored Athens again after it was destroyed, were others wanting,\r\nXerxes himself would be sufficient evidence, who, though his land-forces were\r\nstill entire, after his defeat at sea, fled away, and thought himself no longer\r\nable to encounter the Greeks; and, as it seems to me, left Mardonius behind\r\nhim, not out of any hopes he could have to bring them into subjection, but to\r\nhinder them from pursuing him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThemistocles is said to have been eager in the acquisition of riches, according\r\nto some, that he might be the more liberal; for loving to sacrifice often, and\r\nto be splendid in his entertainment of strangers, he required a plentiful\r\nrevenue; yet he is accused by others of having been parsimonious and sordid to\r\nthat degree that he would sell provisions which were sent to him as a present.\r\nHe desired Diphilides, who was a breeder of horses, to give him a colt, and\r\nwhen he refused it, threatened that in a short time he would turn his house\r\ninto a wooden horse, intimating that he would stir up dispute and litigation\r\nbetween him and some of his relations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe went beyond all men in the passion for distinction. When he was still young\r\nand unknown in the world, he entreated Epicles of Hermione, who had a good hand\r\nat the lute and was much sought after by the Athenians, to come and practice at\r\nhome with him, being ambitious of having people inquire after his house and\r\nfrequent his company. When he came to the Olympic games, and was so splendid in\r\nhis equipage and entertainments, in his rich tents and furniture, that he\r\nstrove to outdo Cimon, he displeased the Greeks, who thought that such\r\nmagnificence might be allowed in one who was a young man and of a great family\r\nbut was a great piece of insolence in one as yet undistinguished, and without\r\ntitle or means for making any such display. In a dramatic contest, the play he\r\npaid for won the prize, which was then a matter that excited much emulation; he\r\nput up a tablet in record of it, with the inscription, “Themistocles of\r\nPhrearrhi was at the charge of it; Phrynichus made it; Adimantus was archon.”\r\nHe was well liked by the common people, would salute every particular citizen\r\nby his own name, and always show himself a just judge in questions of business\r\nbetween private men; he said to Simonides, the poet of Ceos, who desired\r\nsomething of him, when he was commander of the army, that was not reasonable,\r\n“Simonides, you would be no good poet if you wrote false measure, nor should I\r\nbe a good magistrate if for favor I made false law.” And at another time,\r\nlaughing at Simonides, he said, that he was a man of little judgment to speak\r\nagainst the Corinthians, who were inhabitants of a great city, and to have his\r\nown picture drawn so often, having so ill-looking a face.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nGradually growing to be great, and winning the favor of the people, he at last\r\ngained the day with his faction over that of Aristides, and procured his\r\nbanishment by ostracism. When the king of Persia was now advancing against\r\nGreece, and the Athenians were in consultation who should be general, and many\r\nwithdrew themselves of their own accord, being terrified with the greatness of\r\nthe danger, there was one Epicydes, a popular speaker, son to Euphemides, a man\r\nof an eloquent tongue, but of a faint heart, and a slave to riches, who was\r\ndesirous of the command, and was looked upon to be in a fair way to carry it by\r\nthe number of votes; but Themistocles, fearing that, if the command should fall\r\ninto such hands, all would be lost, bought off Epicydes and his pretensions, it\r\nis said, for a sum of money.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the king of Persia sent messengers into Greece, with an interpreter, to\r\ndemand earth and water, as an acknowledgment of subjection, Themistocles, by\r\nthe consent of the people, seized upon the interpreter, and put him to death,\r\nfor presuming to publish the barbarian orders and decrees in the Greek\r\nlanguage; this is one of the actions he is commended for, as also for what he\r\ndid to Arthmius of Zelea, who brought gold from the king of Persia to corrupt\r\nthe Greeks, and was, by an order from Themistocles, degraded and disfranchised,\r\nhe and his children and his posterity; but that which most of all redounded to\r\nhis credit was, that he put an end to all the civil wars of Greece, composed\r\ntheir differences, and persuaded them to lay aside all enmity during the war\r\nwith the Persians; and in this great work, Chileus the Arcadian was, it is\r\nsaid, of great assistance to him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving taken upon himself the command of the Athenian forces, he immediately\r\nendeavored to persuade the citizens to leave the city, and to embark upon their\r\ngalleys, and meet with the Persians at a great distance from Greece; but many\r\nbeing against this, he led a large force, together with the Lacedaemonians,\r\ninto Tempe, that in this pass they might maintain the safety of Thessaly, which\r\nhad not as yet declared for the king; but when they returned without performing\r\nanything; and it was known that not only the Thessalians, but all as far as\r\nBoeotia, was going over to Xerxes, then the Athenians more willingly hearkened\r\nto the advice of Themistocles to fight by sea, and sent him with a fleet to\r\nguard the straits of Artemisium.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the contingents met here, the Greeks would have the Lacedaemonians to\r\ncommand, and Eurybiades to be their admiral; but the Athenians, who surpassed\r\nall the rest together in number of vessels, would not submit to come after any\r\nother, till Themistocles, perceiving the danger of this contest, yielded his\r\nown command to Eurybiades, and got the Athenians to submit, extenuating the\r\nloss by persuading them, that if in this war they behaved themselves like men,\r\nhe would answer for it after that, that the Greeks, of their own will, would\r\nsubmit to their command. And by this moderation of his, it is evident that he\r\nwas the chief means of the deliverance of Greece, and gained the Athenians the\r\nglory of alike surpassing their enemies in valor, and their confederates in\r\nwisdom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as the Persian armada arrived at Aphetae, Eurybiades was astonished to\r\nsee such a vast number of vessels before him, and, being informed that two\r\nhundred more were sailing round behind the island of Sciathus, he immediately\r\ndetermined to retire farther into Greece, and to sail back into some part of\r\nPeloponnesus, where their land army and their fleet might join, for he looked\r\nupon the Persian forces to be altogether unassailable by sea. But the Euboeans,\r\nfearing that the Greeks would forsake them, and leave them to the mercy of the\r\nenemy, sent Pelagon to confer privately with Themistocles, taking with him a\r\ngood sum of money, which, as Herodotus reports, he accepted and gave to\r\nEurybiades. In this affair none of his own countrymen opposed him so much as\r\nArchiteles, captain of the sacred galley, who, having no money to supply his\r\nseamen, was eager to go home; but Themistocles so incensed the Athenians\r\nagainst him, that they set upon him and left him not so much as his supper, at\r\nwhich Architeles was much surprised, and took it very ill; but Themistocles\r\nimmediately sent him in a chest a service of provisions, and at the bottom of\r\nit a talent of silver, desiring him to sup tonight, and tomorrow provide for\r\nhis seamen; if not, he would report it amongst the Athenians that he had\r\nreceived money from the enemy. So Phanias the Lesbian tells the story.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThough the fights between the Greeks and Persians in the straits of Euboea were\r\nnot so important as to make any final decision of the war, yet the experience\r\nwhich the Greeks obtained in them was of great advantage, for thus, by actual\r\ntrial and in real danger, they found out that neither number of ships, nor\r\nriches and ornaments, nor boasting shouts, nor barbarous songs of victory, were\r\nany way terrible to men that knew how to fight, and were resolved to come hand\r\nto hand with their enemies; these things they were to despise, and to come up\r\nclose and grapple with their foes. This, Pindar appears to have seen, and says\r\njustly enough of the fight at Artemisium, that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThere the sons of Athens set\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe stone that freedom stands on yet.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor the first step towards victory undoubtedly is to gain courage. Artemisium\r\nis in Euboea, beyond the city of Histiaea, a sea-beach open to the north; most\r\nnearly opposite to it stands Olizon, in the country which formerly was under\r\nPhiloctetes; there is a small temple there, dedicated to Diana, surnamed of the\r\nDawn, and trees about it, around which again stand pillars of white marble; and\r\nif you rub them with your hand, they send forth both the smell and color of\r\nsaffron. On one of the pillars these verses are engraved,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWith numerous tribes from Asia’s regions brought\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe sons of Athens on these waters, fought;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nErecting, after they had quelled the Mede,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo Artemis this record of the deed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThere is a place still to be seen upon this shore, where, in the middle of a\r\ngreat heap of sand, they take out from the bottom a dark powder like ashes, or\r\nsomething that has passed the fire; and here, it is supposed, the shipwrecks\r\nand bodies of the dead were burnt.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when news came from Thermopylae to Artemisium, informing them that king\r\nLeonidas was slain, and that Xerxes had made himself master of all the passages\r\nby land, they returned back to the interior of Greece, the Athenians having the\r\ncommand of the rear, the place of honor and danger, and much elated by what had\r\nbeen done.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs Themistocles sailed along the coast, he took notice of the harbors and fit\r\nplaces for the enemies’ ships to come to land at, and engraved large letters in\r\nsuch stones as he found there by chance, as also in others which he set up on\r\npurpose near to the landing-places, or where they were to water; in which\r\ninscriptions he called upon the Ionians to forsake the Medes, if it were\r\npossible, and come over to the Greeks, who were their proper founders and\r\nfathers, and were now hazarding all for their liberties; but, if this could not\r\nbe done, at any rate to impede and disturb the Persians in all engagements. He\r\nhoped that these writings would prevail with the Ionians to revolt, or raise\r\nsome trouble by making their fidelity doubtful to the Persians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow, though Xerxes had already passed through Doris and invaded the country of\r\nPhocis, and was burning and destroying the cities of the Phocians, yet the\r\nGreeks sent them no relief; and, though the Athenians earnestly desired them to\r\nmeet the Persians in Boeotia, before they could come into Attica, as they\r\nthemselves had come forward by sea at Artemisium, they gave no ear to their\r\nrequest, being wholly intent upon Peloponnesus, and resolved to gather all\r\ntheir forces together within the Isthmus, and to build a wall from sea to sea\r\nin that narrow neck of land; so that the Athenians were enraged to see\r\nthemselves betrayed, and at the same time afflicted and dejected at their own\r\ndestitution. For to fight alone against such a numerous army was to no purpose,\r\nand the only expedient now left them was to leave their city and cling to their\r\nships; which the people were very unwilling to submit to, imagining that it\r\nwould signify little now to gain a victory, and not understanding how there\r\ncould be deliverance any longer after they had once forsaken the temples of\r\ntheir gods and exposed the tombs and monuments of their ancestors to the fury\r\nof their enemies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThemistocles, being at a loss, and not able to draw the people over to his\r\nopinion by any human reason, set his machines to work, as in a theater, and\r\nemployed prodigies and oracles. The serpent of Minerva, kept in the inner part\r\nof her temple, disappeared; the priests gave it out to the people that the\r\nofferings which were set for it were found untouched, and declared, by the\r\nsuggestion of Themistocles, that the goddess had left the city, and taken her\r\nflight before them towards the sea. And he often urged them with the oracle\r\nwhich bade them trust to walls of wood, showing them that walls of wood could\r\nsignify nothing else but ships; and that the island of Salamis was termed in\r\nit, not miserable or unhappy, but had the epithet of divine, for that it should\r\none day be associated with a great good fortune of the Greeks. At length his\r\nopinion prevailed, and he obtained a decree that the city should be committed\r\nto the protection of Minerva, “queen of Athens;” that they who were of age to\r\nbear arms should embark, and that each should see to sending away his children,\r\nwomen, and slaves where he could. This decree being confirmed, most of the\r\nAthenians removed their parents, wives, and children to Troezen, where they\r\nwere received with eager good-will by the Troezenians, who passed a vote that\r\nthey should be maintained at the public charge, by a daily payment of two obols\r\nto every one, and leave be given to the children to gather fruit where they\r\npleased, and schoolmasters paid to instruct them. This vote was proposed by\r\nNicagoras.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was no public treasure at that time in Athens; but the council of\r\nAreopagus, as Aristotle says, distributed to every one that served, eight\r\ndrachmas, which was a great help to the manning of the fleet; but Clidemus\r\nascribes this also to the art of Themistocles. When the Athenians were on their\r\nway down to the haven of Piraeus, the shield with the head of Medusa was\r\nmissing; and he, under the pretext of searching for it, ransacked all places,\r\nand found among their goods considerable sums of money concealed, which he\r\napplied to the public use; and with this the soldiers and seamen were well\r\nprovided for their voyage.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the whole city of Athens were going on board, it afforded a spectacle\r\nworthy of pity alike and admiration, to see them thus send away their fathers\r\nand children before them, and, unmoved with their cries and tears, pass over\r\ninto the island. But that which stirred compassion most of all was, that many\r\nold men, by reason of their great age, were left behind; and even the tame\r\ndomestic animals could not be seen without some pity, running about the town\r\nand howling, as desirous to be carried along with their masters that had kept\r\nthem; among which it is reported that Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, had a\r\ndog that would not endure to stay behind, but leaped into the sea, and swam\r\nalong by the galley’s side till he came to the island of Salamis, where he\r\nfainted away and died, and that spot in the island, which is still called the\r\nDog’s Grave, is said to be his.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmong the great actions of Themistocles at this crisis, the recall of Aristides\r\nwas not the least, for, before the war, he had been ostracized by the party\r\nwhich Themistocles headed, and was in banishment; but now, perceiving that the\r\npeople regretted his absence, and were fearful that he might go over to the\r\nPersians to revenge himself, and thereby ruin the affairs of Greece,\r\nThemistocles proposed a decree that those who were banished for a time might\r\nreturn again, to give assistance by word and deed to the cause of Greece with\r\nthe rest of their fellow-citizens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nEurybiades, by reason of the greatness of Sparta, was admiral of the Greek\r\nfleet, but yet was faint-hearted in time of danger, and willing to weigh anchor\r\nand set sail for the isthmus of Corinth, near which the land army lay encamped;\r\nwhich Themistocles resisted; and this was the occasion of the well-known words,\r\nwhen Eurybiades, to check his impatience, told him that at the Olympic games\r\nthey that start up before the rest are lashed; “And they,” replied\r\nThemistocles, “that are left behind are not crowned.” Again, Eurybiades lifting\r\nup his staff as if he were going to strike, Themistocles said, “Strike if you\r\nwill, but hear;” Eurybiades, wondering much at his moderation, desired him to\r\nspeak, and Themistocles now brought him to a better understanding. And when one\r\nwho stood by him told him that it did not become those who had neither city nor\r\nhouse to lose, to persuade others to relinquish their habitations and forsake\r\ntheir countries, Themistocles gave this reply: “We have indeed left our houses\r\nand our walls, base fellow, not thinking it fit to become slaves for the sake\r\nof things that have no life nor soul; and yet our city is the greatest of all\r\nGreece, consisting of two hundred galleys, which are here to defend you, if you\r\nplease; but if you run away and betray us, as you did once before, the Greeks\r\nshall soon hear news of the Athenians possessing as fair a country, and as\r\nlarge and free a city, as that they have lost.” These expressions of\r\nThemistocles made Eurybiades suspect that if he retreated the Athenians would\r\nfall off from him. When one of Eretria began to oppose him, he said, “Have you\r\nanything to say of war, that are like an ink-fish? you have a sword, but no\r\nheart.” Some say that while Themistocles was thus speaking things upon the\r\ndeck, an owl was seen flying to the right hand of the fleet, which came and sat\r\nupon the top of the mast; and this happy omen so far disposed the Greeks to\r\nfollow his advice, that they presently prepared to fight. Yet, when the enemy’s\r\nfleet was arrived at the haven of Phalerum, upon the coast of Attica, and with\r\nthe number of their ships concealed all the shore, and when they saw the king\r\nhimself in person come down with his land army to the seaside, with all his\r\nforces united, then the good counsel of Themistocles was soon forgotten, and\r\nthe Peloponnesians cast their eyes again towards the isthmus, and took it very\r\nill if any one spoke against their returning home; and, resolving to depart\r\nthat night, the pilots had order what course to steer. The Teuthis, loligo, or\r\ncuttlefish, is said to have a bone or cartilage shaped like a sword, and was\r\nconceived to have no heart.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThemistocles, in great distress that the Greeks should retire, and lose the\r\nadvantage of the narrow seas and strait passage, and slip home every one to his\r\nown city, considered with himself, and contrived that stratagem that was\r\ncarried out by Sicinnus. This Sicinnus was a Persian captive, but a great lover\r\nof Themistocles, and the attendant of his children. Upon this occasion, he sent\r\nhim privately to Xerxes, commanding him to tell the king, that Themistocles,\r\nthe admiral of the Athenians, having espoused his interest, wished to be the\r\nfirst to inform him that the Greeks were ready to make their escape, and that\r\nhe counseled him to hinder their flight, to set upon them while they were in\r\nthis confusion and at a distance from their land army, and hereby destroy all\r\ntheir forces by sea. Xerxes was very joyful at this message, and received it as\r\nfrom one who wished him all that was good, and immediately issued instructions\r\nto the commanders of his ships, that they should instantly Yet out with two\r\nhundred galleys to encompass all the islands, and enclose all the straits and\r\npassages, that none of the Greeks might escape, and that they should afterwards\r\nfollow with the rest of their fleet at leisure. This being done, Aristides, the\r\nson of Lysimachus, was the first man that perceived it, and went to the tent of\r\nThemistocles, not out of any friendship, for he had been formerly banished by\r\nhis means, as has been related, but to inform him how they were encompassed by\r\ntheir enemies. Themistocles, knowing the generosity of Aristides, and much\r\nstruck by his visit at that time, imparted to him all that he had transacted by\r\nSicinnus, and entreated him, that, as he would be more readily believed among\r\nthe Greeks, he would make use of his credit to help to induce them to stay and\r\nfight their enemies in the narrow seas. Aristides applauded Themistocles, and\r\nwent to the other commanders and captains of the galleys, and encouraged them\r\nto engage; yet they did not perfectly assent to him, till a galley of Tenos,\r\nwhich deserted from the Persians, of which Panaetius was commander, came in,\r\nwhile they were still doubting, and confirmed the news that all the straits and\r\npassages were beset; and then their rage and fury, as well as their necessity;\r\nprovoked them all to fight.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as it was day, Xerxes placed himself high up, to view his fleet, and\r\nhow it was set in order. Phanodemus says, he sat upon a promontory above the\r\ntemple of Hercules, where the coast of Attica is separated from the island by a\r\nnarrow channel; but Acestodorus writes, that it was in the confines of Megara,\r\nupon those hills which are called the Horns, where he sat in a chair of gold,\r\nwith many secretaries about him to write down all that was done in the fight.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Themistocles was about to sacrifice, close to the admiral’s galley, there\r\nwere three prisoners brought to him, fine looking men, and richly dressed in\r\nornamented clothing and gold, said to be the children of Artayctes and\r\nSandauce, sister to Xerxes. As soon as the prophet Euphrantides saw them, and\r\nobserved that at the same time the fire blazed out from the offerings with a\r\nmore than ordinary flame, and that a man sneezed on the right, which was an\r\nintimation of a fortunate event, he took Themistocles by the hand, and bade him\r\nconsecrate the three young men for sacrifice, and offer them up with prayers\r\nfor victory to Bacchus the Devourer: so should the Greeks not only save\r\nthemselves, but also obtain victory. Themistocles was much disturbed at this\r\nstrange and terrible prophecy, but the common people, who, in any difficult\r\ncrisis and great exigency, ever look for relief rather to strange and\r\nextravagant than to reasonable means, calling upon Bacchus with one voice, led\r\nthe captives to the altar, and compelled the execution of the sacrifice as the\r\nprophet had commanded. This is reported by Phanias the Lesbian, a philosopher\r\nwell read in history.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe number of the enemy’s ships the poet Aeschylus gives in his tragedy called\r\nthe Persians, as on his certain knowledge, in the following words—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nXerxes, I know, did into battle lead\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOne thousand ships; of more than usual speed\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSeven and two hundred. So is it agreed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThe Athenians had a hundred and eighty; in every ship eighteen men fought upon\r\nthe deck, four of whom were archers and the rest men-at- arms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs Themistocles had fixed upon the most advantageous place, so, with no less\r\nsagacity, he chose the best time of fighting; for he would not run the prows of\r\nhis galleys against the Persians, nor begin the fight till the time of day was\r\ncome, when there regularly blows in a fresh breeze from the open sea, and\r\nbrings in with it a strong swell into the channel; which was no inconvenience\r\nto the Greek ships, which were low- built, and little above the water, but did\r\nmuch hurt to the Persians, which had high sterns and lofty decks, and were\r\nheavy and cumbrous in their movements, as it presented them broadside to the\r\nquick charges of the Greeks, who kept their eyes upon the motions of\r\nThemistocles, as their best example, and more particularly because, opposed to\r\nhis ship, Ariamenes, admiral to Xerxes, a brave man, and by far the best and\r\nworthiest of the king’s brothers, was seen throwing darts and shooting arrows\r\nfrom his huge galley, as from the walls of a castle. Aminias the Decelean and\r\nSosicles the Pedian, who sailed in the same vessel, upon the ships meeting stem\r\nto stem, and transfixing each the other with their brazen prows, so that they\r\nwere fastened together, when Ariamenes attempted to board theirs, ran at him\r\nwith their pikes, and thrust him into the sea; his body, as it floated amongst\r\nother shipwrecks, was known to Artemisia, and carried to Xerxes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is reported, that, in the middle of the fight, a great flame rose into the\r\nair above the city of Eleusis, and that sounds and voices were heard through\r\nall the Thriasian plain, as far as the sea, sounding like a number of men\r\naccompanying and escorting the mystic Iacchus, and that a mist seemed to form\r\nand rise from the place from whence the sounds came, and, passing forward, fell\r\nupon the galleys. Others believed that they saw apparitions, in the shape of\r\narmed men, reaching out their hands from the island of Aegina before the\r\nGrecian galleys; and supposed they were the Aeacidae, whom they had invoked to\r\ntheir aid before the battle. The first man that took a ship was Lycomedes the\r\nAthenian, captain of a galley, who cut down its ensign, and dedicated it to\r\nApollo the Laurel-crowned. And as the Persians fought in a narrow arm of the\r\nsea, and could bring but part of their fleet to fight, and fell foul of one\r\nanother, the Greeks thus equaled them in strength, and fought with them till\r\nthe evening, forced them back, and obtained, as says Simonides, that noble and\r\nfamous victory, than which neither amongst the Greeks nor barbarians was ever\r\nknown more glorious exploit on the seas; by the joint valor, indeed, and zeal\r\nof all who fought, but by the wisdom and sagacity of Themistocles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this sea-fight, Xerxes, enraged at his ill-fortune, attempted, by casting\r\ngreat heaps of earth and stones into the sea, to stop up the channel and to\r\nmake a dam, upon which he might lead his land-forces over into the island of\r\nSalamis.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThemistocles, being desirous to try the opinion of Aristides, told him that he\r\nproposed to set sail for the Hellespont, to break the bridge of ships, so as to\r\nshut up, he said, Asia a prisoner within Europe; but Aristides, disliking the\r\ndesign, said, “We have hitherto fought with an enemy who has regarded little\r\nelse but his pleasure and luxury; but if we shut him up within Greece, and\r\ndrive him to necessity, he that is master of such great forces will no longer\r\nsit quietly with an umbrella of gold over his head, looking upon the fight for\r\nhis pleasure; but in such a strait will attempt all things; he will be\r\nresolute, and appear himself in person upon all occasions, he will soon correct\r\nhis errors, and supply what he has formerly omitted through remissness, and\r\nwill be better advised in all things. Therefore, it is noways our interest,\r\nThemistocles,” he said, “to take away the bridge that is already made, but\r\nrather to build another, if it were possible, that he might make his retreat\r\nwith the more expedition.” To which Themistocles answered, “If this be\r\nrequisite, we must immediately use all diligence, art, and industry, to rid\r\nourselves of him as soon as may be;” and to this purpose he found out among the\r\ncaptives one of the king Of Persia’s eunuchs, named Arnaces, whom he sent to\r\nthe king, to inform him that the Greeks, being now victorious by sea, had\r\ndecreed to sail to the Hellespont, where the boats were fastened together, and\r\ndestroy the bridge; but that Themistocles, being concerned for the king,\r\nrevealed this to him, that he might hasten towards the Asiatic seas, and pass\r\nover into his own dominions; and in the mean time would cause delays, and\r\nhinder the confederates from pursuing him. Xerxes no sooner heard this, but,\r\nbeing very much terrified, he proceeded to retreat out of Greece with all\r\nspeed. The prudence of Themistocles and Aristides in this was afterwards more\r\nfully understood at the battle of Plataea, where Mardonius, with a very small\r\nfraction of the forces of Xerxes, put the Greeks in danger of losing all.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHerodotus writes, that, of all the cities of Greece, Aegina was held to have\r\nperformed the best service in the war; while all single men yielded to\r\nThemistocles, though, out of envy, unwillingly; and when they returned to the\r\nentrance of Peloponnesus, where the several commanders delivered their\r\nsuffrages at the altar, to determine who was most worthy, every one gave the\r\nfirst vote for himself and the second for Themistocles. The Lacedaemonians\r\ncarried him with them to Sparta, where, giving the rewards of valor to\r\nEurybiades, and of wisdom and conduct to Themistocles, they crowned him with\r\nolive, presented him with the best chariot in the city, and sent three hundred\r\nyoung men to accompany him to the confines of their country. And at the next\r\nOlympic games, when Themistocles entered the course, the spectators took no\r\nfarther notice of those who were contesting the prizes, but spent the whole day\r\nin looking upon him, showing him to the strangers, admiring him, and applauding\r\nhim by clapping their hands, and other expressions of joy, so that he himself,\r\nmuch gratified, confessed to his friends that he then reaped the fruit of all\r\nhis labors for the Greeks.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was, indeed, by nature, a great lover of honor, as is evident from the\r\nanecdotes recorded of him. When chosen admiral by the Athenians, he would not\r\nquite conclude any single matter of business, either public or private, but\r\ndeferred all till the day they were to set sail, that, by dispatching a great\r\nquantity of business all at once, and having to meet a great variety of people,\r\nhe might make an appearance of greatness and power. Viewing the dead bodies\r\ncast up by the sea, he perceived bracelets and necklaces of gold about them,\r\nyet passed on, only showing them to a friend that followed him, saying, “Take\r\nyou these things, for you are not Themistocles.” He said to Antiphates, a\r\nhandsome young man, who had formerly avoided, but now in his glory courted him,\r\n“Time, young man, has taught us both a lesson.” He said that the Athenians did\r\nnot honor him or admire him, but made, as it were, a sort of plane-tree of him;\r\nsheltered themselves under him in bad weather, and, as soon as it was fine,\r\nplucked his leaves and cut his branches. When the Seriphian told him that he\r\nhad not obtained this honor by himself, but by the greatness of his city, he\r\nreplied, “You speak truth; I should never have been famous if I had been of\r\nSeriphus; nor you, had you been of Athens.” When another of the generals, who\r\nthought he had performed considerable service for the Athenians, boastingly\r\ncompared his actions with those of Themistocles, he told him that once upon a\r\ntime the Day after the Festival found fault with the Festival: “On you there is\r\nnothing but hurry and trouble and preparation, but, when I come, everybody sits\r\ndown quietly and enjoys himself;” which the Festival admitted was true, but “if\r\nI had not come first, you would not have come at all.” “Even so,” he said, “if\r\nThemistocles had not come before, where had you been now?” Laughing at his own\r\nson, who got his mother, and, by his mother’s means, his father also, to\r\nindulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any one in Greece: “For\r\nthe Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians, your mother\r\ncommands me, and you command your mother.” Loving to be singular in all things,\r\nwhen he had land to sell, he ordered the crier to give notice that there were\r\ngood neighbors near it. Of two who made love to his daughter, he preferred the\r\nman of worth to the one who was rich, saying he desired a man without riches,\r\nrather than riches without a man. Such was the character of his sayings.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter these things, he began to rebuild and fortify the city of Athens,\r\nbribing, as Theopompus reports, the Lacedaemonian ephors not to be against it,\r\nbut, as most relate it, overreaching and deceiving them. For, under pretest of\r\nan embassy, he went to Sparta, where, upon the Lacedaemonians charging him with\r\nrebuilding the walls, and Poliarchus coming on purpose from Aegina to denounce\r\nit, he denied the fact, bidding them to send people to Athens to see whether it\r\nwere so or no; by which delay he got time for the building of the wall, and\r\nalso placed these ambassadors in the hands of his countrymen as hostages for\r\nhim; and so, when the Lacedaemonians knew the truth, they did him no hurt, but,\r\nsuppressing all display of their anger for the present, sent him away.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNext he proceeded to establish the harbor of Piraeus, observing the great\r\nnatural advantages of the locality and desirous to unite the whole city with\r\nthe sea, and to reverse, in a manner, the policy of ancient Athenian kings,\r\nwho, endeavoring to withdraw their subjects from the sea, and to accustom them\r\nto live, not by sailing about, but by planting and tilling the earth, spread\r\nthe story of the dispute between Minerva and Neptune for the sovereignty of\r\nAthens, in which Minerva, by producing to the judges an olive tree, was\r\ndeclared to have won; whereas Themistocles did not only knead up, as\r\nAristophanes says, the port and the city into one, but made the city absolutely\r\nthe dependent and the adjunct of the port, and the land of the sea, which\r\nincreased the power and confidence of the people against the nobility; the\r\nauthority coming into the hands of sailors and boatswains and pilots. Thus it\r\nwas one of the orders of the thirty tyrants, that the hustings in the assembly,\r\nwhich had faced towards the sea, should be turned round towards the land;\r\nimplying their opinion that the empire by sea had been the origin of the\r\ndemocracy, and that the farming population were not so much opposed to\r\noligarchy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThemistocles, however, formed yet higher designs with a view to naval\r\nsupremacy. For, after the departure of Xerxes, when the Grecian fleet was\r\narrived at Pagasae, where they wintered, Themistocles, in a public oration to\r\nthe people of Athens, told them that he had a design to perform something that\r\nwould tend greatly to their interests and safety, but was of such a nature,\r\nthat it could not be made generally public. The Athenians ordered him to impart\r\nit to Aristides only; and, if he approved of it, to put it in practice. And\r\nwhen Themistocles had discovered to him that his design was to burn the Grecian\r\nfleet in the haven of Pagasae, Aristides, coming out to the people, gave this\r\nreport of the stratagem contrived by Themistocles, that no proposal could be\r\nmore politic, or more dishonorable; on which the Athenians commanded\r\nThemistocles to think no farther of it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the Lacedaemonians proposed, at the general council of the Amphictyonians,\r\nthat the representatives of those cities which were not in the league, nor had\r\nfought against the Persians, should be excluded, Themistocles, fearing that the\r\nThessalians, with those of Thebes, Argos, and others, being thrown out of the\r\ncouncil, the Lacedaemonians would become wholly masters of the votes, and do\r\nwhat they pleased, supported the deputies of the cities, and prevailed with the\r\nmembers then sitting to alter their opinion in this point, showing them that\r\nthere were but one and thirty cities which had partaken in the war, and that\r\nmost of these, also, were very small; how intolerable would it be, if the rest\r\nof Greece should be excluded, and the general council should come to be ruled\r\nby two or three great cities. By this, chiefly, he incurred the displeasure of\r\nthe Lacedaemonians, whose honors and favors were now shown to Cimon, with a\r\nview to making him the opponent of the state policy of Themistocles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was also burdensome to the confederates, sailing about the islands and\r\ncollecting money from them. Herodotus says, that, requiring money of those of\r\nthe island of Andros, he told them that he had brought with him two goddesses,\r\nPersuasion and Force; and they answered him that they had also two great\r\ngoddesses, which prohibited them from giving him any money, Poverty and\r\nImpossibility. Timocreon, the Rhodian poet, reprehends him somewhat bitterly\r\nfor being wrought upon by money to let some who were banished return, while\r\nabandoning himself, who was his guest and friend. The verses are these:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nPausanias you may praise, and Xanthippus he be for,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFor Leutychidas, a third; Aristides, I proclaim,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFrom the sacred Athens came,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe one true man of all; for Themistocles Latona doth abhor\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe liar, traitor, cheat, who, to gain his filthy pay,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTimocreon, his friend, neglected to restore\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo his native Rhodian shore;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThree silver talents took, and departed (curses with him) on his way,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nRestoring people here, expelling there, and killing here,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFilling evermore his purse: and at the Isthmus gave a treat,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo be laughed at, of cold meat,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhich they ate, and prayed the gods some one else might give the feast another\r\nyear.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut after the sentence and banishment of Themistocles, Timocreon reviles him\r\nyet more immoderately and wildly in a poem which begins thus:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nUnto all the Greeks repair\u003cbr\u003e\r\nO Muse, and tell these verses there,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAs is fitting and is fair.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThe story is, that it was put to the question whether Timocreon should be\r\nbanished for siding with the Persians, and Themistocles gave his vote against\r\nhim. So when Themistocles was accused of intriguing with the Medes, Timocreon\r\nmade these lines upon him:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSo now Timocreon, indeed, is not the sole friend of the Mede,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThere are some knaves besides; nor is it only mine that fails,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut other foxes have lost tails.—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nWhen the citizens of Athens began to listen willingly to those who traduced and\r\nreproached him, he was forced, with somewhat obnoxious frequency, to put them\r\nin mind of the great services he had performed, and ask those who were offended\r\nwith him whether they were weary with receiving benefits often from the same\r\nperson, so rendering himself more odious. And he yet more provoked the people\r\nby building a temple to Diana with the epithet of Aristobule, or Diana of Best\r\nCounsel; intimating thereby, that he had given the best counsel, not only to\r\nthe Athenians, but to all Greece. He built this temple near his own house, in\r\nthe district called Melite, where now the public officers carry out the bodies\r\nof such as are executed, and throw the halters and clothes of those that are\r\nstrangled or otherwise put to death. There is to this day a small figure of\r\nThemistocles in the temple of Diana of Best Counsel, which represents him to be\r\na person, not only of a noble mind, but also of a most heroic aspect. At length\r\nthe Athenians banished him, making use of the ostracism to humble his eminence\r\nand authority, as they ordinarily did with all whom they thought too powerful,\r\nor, by their greatness, disproportionable to the equality thought requisite in\r\na popular government. For the ostracism was instituted, not so much to punish\r\nthe offender, as to mitigate and pacify the violence of the envious, who\r\ndelighted to humble eminent men, and who, by fixing this disgrace upon them,\r\nmight vent some part of their rancor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThemistocles being banished from Athens, while he stayed at Argos the detection\r\nof Pausanias happened, which gave such advantage to his enemies, that Leobotes\r\nof Agraule, son of Alcmaeon, indicted him of treason, the Spartans supporting\r\nhim in the accusation.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Pausanias went about this treasonable design, he concealed it at first\r\nfrom Themistocles, though he were his intimate friend; but when he saw him\r\nexpelled out of the commonwealth, and how impatiently he took his banishment,\r\nhe ventured to communicate it to him, and desired his assistance, showing him\r\nthe king of Persia’s letters, and exasperating him against the Greeks, as a\r\nvillainous, ungrateful people. However, Themistocles immediately rejected the\r\nproposals of Pausanias, and wholly refused to be a party in the enterprise,\r\nthough he never revealed his communications, nor disclosed the conspiracy to\r\nany man, either hoping that Pausanias would desist from his intentions, or\r\nexpecting that so inconsiderate an attempt after such chimerical objects would\r\nbe discovered by other means.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter that Pausanias was put to death, letters and writings being found\r\nconcerning this matter, which rendered Themistocles suspected, the\r\nLacedaemonians were clamorous against him, and his enemies among the Athenians\r\naccused him; when, being absent from Athens, he made his defense by letters,\r\nespecially against the points that had been previously alleged against him. In\r\nanswer to the malicious detractions of his enemies, he merely wrote to the\r\ncitizens, urging that he who was always ambitious to govern, and not of a\r\ncharacter or a disposition to serve, would never sell himself and his country\r\ninto slavery to a barbarous and hostile nation.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNotwithstanding this, the people, being persuaded by his accusers, sent\r\nofficers to take him and bring him away to be tried before a council of the\r\nGreeks, but, having timely notice of it, he passed over into the island of\r\nCorcyra, where the state was under obligations to him; for being chosen as\r\narbitrator in a difference between them and the Corinthians, he decided the\r\ncontroversy by ordering the Corinthians to pay down twenty talents, and\r\ndeclaring the town and island of Leucas a joint colony from both cities. From\r\nthence he fled into Epirus, and, the Athenians and Lacedaemonians still\r\npursuing him, he threw himself upon chances of safety that seemed all but\r\ndesperate. For he fled for refuge to Admetus, king of the Molossians, who had\r\nformerly made some request to the Athenians, when Themistocles was in the\r\nheight of his authority, and had been disdainfully used and insulted by him,\r\nand had let it appear plain enough, that could he lay hold of him, he would\r\ntake his revenge. Yet in this misfortune, Themistocles, fearing the recent\r\nhatred of his neighbors and fellow-citizens more than the old displeasure of\r\nthe king, put himself at his mercy, and became a humble suppliant to Admetus,\r\nafter a peculiar manner, different from the custom of other countries. For\r\ntaking the king’s son, who was then a child, in his arms, he laid himself down\r\nat his hearth, this being the most sacred and only manner of supplication,\r\namong the Molossians, which was not to be refused. And some say that his wife,\r\nPhthia, intimated to Themistocles this way of petitioning, and placed her young\r\nson with him before the hearth; others, that king Admetus, that he might be\r\nunder a religious obligation not to deliver him up to his pursuers, prepared\r\nand enacted with him a sort of stage-play to this effect. At this time,\r\nEpicrates of Acharnae privately conveyed his wife and children out of Athens,\r\nand sent them hither, for which afterwards Cimon condemned him and put him to\r\ndeath, as Stesimbrotus reports, and yet somehow, either forgetting this\r\nhimself, or making Themistocles to be little mindful of it, says presently that\r\nhe sailed into Sicily, and desired in marriage the daughter of Hiero, tyrant of\r\nSyracuse, promising to bring the Greeks under his power; and, on Hiero refusing\r\nhim, departed thence into Asia; but this is not probable.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor Theophrastus writes, in his work on Monarchy, that when Hiero sent\r\nrace-horses to the Olympian games, and erected a pavilion sumptuously\r\nfurnished, Themistocles made an oration to the Greeks, inciting them to pull\r\ndown the tyrant’s tent, and not to suffer his horses to run. Thucydides says,\r\nthat, passing over land to the Aegaean Sea, he took ship at Pydna in the bay of\r\nTherme, not being known to any one in the ship, till, being terrified to see\r\nthe vessel driven by the winds near to Naxos, which was then besieged by the\r\nAthenians, he made himself known to the master and pilot, and, partly\r\nentreating them, partly threatening that if they went on shore he would accuse\r\nthem, and make the Athenians to believe that they did not take him in out of\r\nignorance, but that he had corrupted them with money from the beginning, he\r\ncompelled them to bear off and stand out to sea, and sail forward towards the\r\ncoast of Asia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA great part of his estate was privately conveyed away by his friends, and sent\r\nafter him by sea into Asia; besides which there was discovered and confiscated\r\nto the value of fourscore talents, as Theophrastus writes, Theopompus says a\r\nhundred; though Themistocles was never worth three talents before he was\r\nconcerned in public affairs.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he arrived at Cyme, and understood that all along the coast there were\r\nmany laid wait for him, and particularly Ergoteles and Pythodorus (for the game\r\nwas worth the hunting for such as were thankful to make money by any means, the\r\nking of Persia having offered by public proclamation two hundred talents to him\r\nthat should take him), he fled to Aegae, a small city of the Aeolians, where no\r\none knew him but only his host Nicogenes, who was the richest man in Aeolia,\r\nand well known to the great men of Inner Asia. While Themistocles lay hid for\r\nsome days in his house, one night, after a sacrifice and supper ensuing,\r\nOlbius, the attendant upon Nicogenes’s children, fell into a sort of frenzy and\r\nfit of inspiration, and cried out in verse,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nNight shall speak, and night instruct thee,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBy the voice of night conduct thee.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAfter this, Themistocles, going to bed, dreamed that he saw a snake coil itself\r\nup upon his belly, and so creep to his neck; then, as soon as it touched his\r\nface, it turned into an eagle, which spread its wings over him, and took him up\r\nand flew away with him a great distance; then there appeared a herald’s golden\r\nwand, and upon this at last it set him down securely, after infinite terror and\r\ndisturbance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis departure was effected by Nicogenes by the following artifice; the\r\nbarbarous nations, and amongst them the Persians especially, are extremely\r\njealous, severe, and suspicious about their women, not only their wives, but\r\nalso their bought slaves and concubines, whom they keep so strictly that no one\r\never sees them abroad; they spend their lives shut up within doors, and, when\r\nthey take a journey, are carried in close tents, curtained in on all sides, and\r\nset upon a wagon. Such a traveling carriage being prepared for Themistocles,\r\nthey hid him in it, and carried him on his journeys and told those whom they\r\nmet or spoke with upon the road that they were conveying a young Greek woman\r\nout of Ionia to a nobleman at court.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThucydides and Charon of Lampsacus say that Xerxes was dead, and that\r\nThemistocles had an interview with his son; but Ephorus, Dinon, Clitarchus,\r\nHeraclides, and many others, write that he came to Xerxes. The chronological\r\ntables better agree with the account of Thucydides, and yet neither can their\r\nstatements be said to be quite set at rest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Themistocles was come to the critical point, he applied himself first to\r\nArtabanus, commander of a thousand men, telling him that he was a Greek, and\r\ndesired to speak with the king about important affairs concerning which the\r\nking was extremely solicitous. Artabanus answered him, “O stranger, the laws of\r\nmen are different, and one thing is honorable to one man, and to others\r\nanother; but it is honorable for all to honor and observe their own laws. It is\r\nthe habit of the Greeks, we are told, to honor, above all things, liberty and\r\nequality; but amongst our many excellent laws, we account this the most\r\nexcellent, to honor the king, and to worship him, as the image of the great\r\npreserver of the universe; if, then, you shall consent to our laws, and fall\r\ndown before the king and worship him, you may both see him and speak to him;\r\nbut if your mind be otherwise, you must make use of others to intercede for\r\nyou, for it is not the national custom here for the king to give audience to\r\nanyone that doth not fall down before him.” Themistocles, hearing this,\r\nreplied, “Artabanus, I that come hither to increase the power and glory of the\r\nking, will not only submit myself to his laws, since so it hath pleased the god\r\nwho exalteth the Persian empire to this greatness, but will also cause many\r\nmore to be worshippers and adorers of the king. Let not this, therefore, be an\r\nimpediment why I should not communicate to the king what I have to impart.”\r\nArtabanus asking him, “Who must we tell him that you are? for your words\r\nsignify you to be no ordinary person,” Themistocles answered, “No man, O\r\nArtabanus, must be informed of this before the king himself.” Thus Phanias\r\nrelates; to which Eratosthenes, in his treatise on Riches, adds, that it was by\r\nthe means of a woman of Eretria, who was kept by Artabanus, that he obtained\r\nthis audience and interview with him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he was introduced to the king, and had paid his reverence to him, he stood\r\nsilent, till the king commanding the interpreter to ask him who he was, he\r\nreplied, “O king, I am Themistocles the Athenian, driven into banishment by the\r\nGreeks. The evils that I have done to the Persians are numerous; but my\r\nbenefits to them yet greater, in withholding the Greeks from pursuit, so soon\r\nas the deliverance of my own country allowed me to show kindness also to you. I\r\ncome with a mind suited to my present calamities; prepared alike for favors and\r\nfor anger; to welcome your gracious reconciliation, and to deprecate your\r\nwrath. Take my own countrymen for witnesses of the services I have done for\r\nPersia, and make use of this occasion to show the world your virtue, rather\r\nthan to satisfy your indignation. If you save me, you will save your suppliant;\r\nif otherwise, will destroy an enemy of the Greeks.” He talked also of divine\r\nadmonitions, such as the vision which he saw at Nicogenes’s house, and the\r\ndirection given him by the oracle of Dodona, where Jupiter commanded him to go\r\nto him that had a name like his, by which he understood that he was sent from\r\nJupiter to him, seeing that they both were great, and had the name of kings.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe king heard him attentively, and, though he admired his temper and courage,\r\ngave him no answer at that time; but, when he was with his intimate friends,\r\nrejoiced in his great good fortune, and esteemed himself very happy in this,\r\nand prayed to his god Arimanius, that all his enemies might be ever of the same\r\nmind with the Greeks, to abuse and expel the bravest men amongst them. Then he\r\nsacrificed to the gods, and presently fell to drinking, and was so well\r\npleased, that in the night, in the middle of his sleep, he cried out for joy\r\nthree times, “I have Themistocles the Athenian.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the morning, calling together the chief of his court, he had Themistocles\r\nbrought before him, who expected no good of it, when he saw, for example, the\r\nguards fiercely set against him as soon as they learnt his name, and giving him\r\nill language. As he came forward towards the king, who was seated, the rest\r\nkeeping silence, passing by Roxanes, a commander of a thousand men, he heard\r\nhim, with a slight groan, say, without stirring out of his place, “You subtle\r\nGreek serpent, the king’s good genius hath brought thee hither.” Yet, when he\r\ncame into the presence, and again fell down, the king saluted him, and spoke to\r\nhim kindly, telling him he was now indebted to him two hundred talents; for it\r\nwas just and reasonable that he should receive the reward which was proposed to\r\nwhosoever should bring Themistocles; and promising much more, and encouraging\r\nhim, he commanded him to speak freely what he would concerning the affairs of\r\nGreece. Themistocles replied, that a man’s discourse was like to a rich Persian\r\ncarpet, the beautiful figures and patterns of which can only be shown by\r\nspreading and extending it out; when it is contracted and folded up, they are\r\nobscured and lost; and, therefore, he desired time. The king being pleased with\r\nthe comparison, and bidding him take what time he would, he desired a year; in\r\nwhich time, having, learnt the Persian language sufficiently, he spoke with the\r\nking by himself without the help of an interpreter, it being supposed that he\r\ndiscoursed only about the affairs of Greece; but there happening, at the same\r\ntime, great alterations at court, and removals of the king’s favorites, he drew\r\nupon himself the envy of the great people, who imagined that he had taken the\r\nboldness to speak concerning them. For the favors shown to other strangers were\r\nnothing in comparison with the honors conferred on him; the king invited him to\r\npartake of his own pastimes and recreations both at home and abroad, carrying\r\nhim with him a-hunting, and made him his intimate so far that he permitted him\r\nto see the queen-mother, and converse frequently with her. By the king’s\r\ncommand, he also was made acquainted with the Magian learning.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Demaratus the Lacedaemonian, being ordered by the king to ask whatsoever\r\nhe pleased, and it should immediately be granted him, desired that he might\r\nmake his public entrance, and be carried in state through the city of Sardis,\r\nwith the tiara set in the royal manner upon his head, Mithropaustes, cousin to\r\nthe king, touched him on the head, and told him that he had no brains for the\r\nroyal tiara to cover, and if Jupiter should give him his lightning and thunder,\r\nhe would not any the more be Jupiter for that; the king also repulsed him with\r\nanger resolving never to be reconciled to him, but to be inexorable to all\r\nsupplications on his behalf. Yet Themistocles pacified him, and prevailed with\r\nhim to forgive him. And it is reported, that the succeeding kings, in whose\r\nreigns there was a greater communication between the Greeks and Persians, when\r\nthey invited any considerable Greek into their service, to encourage him, would\r\nwrite, and promise him that he should be as great with them as Themistocles had\r\nbeen. They relate, also, how Themistocles, when he was in great prosperity, and\r\ncourted by many, seeing himself splendidly served at his table turned to his\r\nchildren and said, “Children, we had been undone if we had not been undone.”\r\nMost writers say that he had three cities given him, Magnesia, Myus, and\r\nLampsacus, to maintain him in bread, meat, and wine. Neanthes of Cyzicus, and\r\nPhanias, add two more, the city of Palaescepsis, to provide him with clothes,\r\nand Percote, with bedding and furniture for his house.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs he was going down towards the sea-coast to take measures against Greece, a\r\nPersian whose name was Epixyes, governor of the upper Phrygia, laid wait to\r\nkill him, having for that purpose provided a long time before a number of\r\nPisidians, who were to set upon him when he should stop to rest at a city that\r\nis called Lion’s-head. But Themistocles, sleeping in the middle of the day, saw\r\nthe Mother of the gods appear to him in a dream and say unto him,\r\n“Themistocles, keep back from the Lion’s-head, for fear you fall into the\r\nlion’s jaws; for this advice I expect that your daughter Mnesiptolema should be\r\nmy servant.” Themistocles was much astonished, and, when he had made his vows\r\nto the goddess, left the broad road, and, making a circuit, went another way,\r\nchanging his intended station to avoid that place, and at night took up his\r\nrest in the fields. But one of the sumpter-horses, which carried the furniture\r\nfor his tent, having fallen that day into the river, his servants spread out\r\nthe tapestry, which was wet, and hung it up to dry; in the mean time the\r\nPisidians made towards them with their swords drawn, and, not discerning\r\nexactly by the moon what it was that was stretched out thought it to be the\r\ntent of Themistocles, and that they should find him resting himself within it;\r\nbut when they came near, and lifted up the hangings, those who watched there\r\nfell upon them and took them. Themistocles, having escaped this great danger,\r\nin admiration of the goodness of the goddess that appeared to him, built, in\r\nmemory of it, a temple in the city of Magnesia, which he dedicated to\r\nDindymene, Mother of the gods, in which he consecrated and devoted his daughter\r\nMnesiptolema to her service.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he came to Sardis, he visited the temples of the gods, and observing, at\r\nhis leisure, their buildings, ornaments, and the number of their offerings, he\r\nsaw in the temple of the Mother of the gods, the statue of a virgin in brass,\r\ntwo cubits high, called the water-bringer. Themistocles had caused this to be\r\nmade and set up when he was surveyor of waters at Athens, out of the fines of\r\nthose whom he detected in drawing off and diverting the public water by pipes\r\nfor their private use; and whether he had some regret to see this image in\r\ncaptivity, or was desirous to let the Athenians see in what great credit and\r\nauthority he was with the king, he entered into a treaty with the governor of\r\nLydia to persuade him to send this statue back to Athens, which so enraged the\r\nPersian officer, that he told him he would write the king word of it.\r\nThemistocles, being affrighted hereat, got access to his wives and concubines,\r\nby presents of money to whom, he appeased the fury of the governor; and\r\nafterwards behaved with more reserve and circumspection, fearing the envy of\r\nthe Persians, and did not, as Theopompus writes, continue to travel about Asia,\r\nbut lived quietly in his own house in Magnesia, where for a long time he passed\r\nhis days in great security, being courted by all, and enjoying rich presents,\r\nand honored equally with the greatest persons in the Persian empire; the king,\r\nat that time, not minding his concerns with Greece, being taken up with the\r\naffairs of Inner Asia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when Egypt revolted, being assisted by the Athenians, and the Greek galleys\r\nroved about as far as Cyprus and Cilicia, and Cimon had made himself master of\r\nthe seas, the king turned his thoughts thither, and, bending his mind chiefly\r\nto resist the Greeks, and to check the growth of their power against him, began\r\nto raise forces, and send out commanders, and to dispatch messengers to\r\nThemistocles at Magnesia, to put him in mind of his promise, and to summon him\r\nto act against the Greeks. Yet this did not increase his hatred nor exasperate\r\nhim against the Athenians, neither was he any way elevated with the thoughts of\r\nthe honor and powerful command he was to have in this war; but judging,\r\nperhaps, that the object would not be attained, the Greeks having at that time,\r\nbeside other great commanders, Cimon, in particular, who was gaining wonderful\r\nmilitary successes; but chiefly, being ashamed to sully the glory of his former\r\ngreat actions, and of his many victories and trophies, he determined to put a\r\nconclusion to his life, agreeable to its previous course. He sacrificed to the\r\ngods, and invited his friends; and, having entertained them and shaken hands\r\nwith them, drank bull’s blood, as is the usual story; as others state, a poison\r\nproducing instant death; and ended his days in the city of Magnesia, having\r\nlived sixty-five years, most of which he had spent in politics and in the wars,\r\nin government and command. The king, being informed of the cause and manner of\r\nhis death, admired him more than ever, and continued to show kindness to his\r\nfriends and relations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThemistocles left three sons by Archippe, daughter to Lysander of Alopece, —\r\nArcheptolis, Polyeuctus, and Cleophantus. Plato the philosopher mentions the\r\nlast as a most excellent horseman, but otherwise insignificant person; of two\r\nsons yet older than these, Neocles and Diocles, Neocles died when he was young\r\nby the bite of a horse, and Diocles was adopted by his grandfather, Lysander.\r\nHe had many daughters, of whom Mnesiptolema, whom he had by a second marriage,\r\nwas wife to Archeptolis, her brother by another mother; Italia was married to\r\nPanthoides, of the island of Chios; Sybaris to Nicomedes the Athenian. After\r\nthe death of Themistocles, his nephew, Phrasicles, went to Magnesia, and\r\nmarried, with her brothers’ consent, another daughter, Nicomache, and took\r\ncharge of her sister Asia, the youngest of all the children.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Magnesians possess a splendid sepulchre of Themistocles, placed in the\r\nmiddle of their market-place. It is not worthwhile taking notice of what\r\nAndocides states in his Address to his Friends concerning his remains, how the\r\nAthenians robbed his tomb, and threw his ashes into the air; for he feigns\r\nthis, to exasperate the oligarchical faction against the people; and there is\r\nno man living but knows that Phylarchus simply invents in his history, where he\r\nall but uses an actual stage machine, and brings in Neocles and Demopolis as\r\nthe sons of Themistocles, to incite or move compassion, as if he were writing a\r\ntragedy. Diodorus the cosmographer says, in his work on Tombs, but by\r\nconjecture rather than of certain knowledge, that near to the haven of Piraeus,\r\nwhere the land runs out like an elbow from the promontory of Alcimus, when you\r\nhave doubled the cape and passed inward where the sea is always calm, there is\r\na large piece of masonry, and upon this the tomb of Themistocles, in the shape\r\nof an altar; and Plato the comedian confirms this, he believes, in these\r\nverses,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThy tomb is fairly placed upon the strand,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhere merchants still shall greet it with the land;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nStill in and out ’twill see them come and go,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd watch the galleys as they race below.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nVarious honors also and privileges were granted to the kindred of Themistocles\r\nat Magnesia, which were observed down to our times, and were enjoyed by another\r\nThemistocles of Athens, with whom I had an intimate acquaintance and friendship\r\nin the house of Ammonius the philosopher.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap11\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCAMILLUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmong the many remarkable things that are related of Furius Camillus, it seems\r\nsingular and strange above all, that he, who continually was in the highest\r\ncommands, and obtained the greatest successes, was five times chosen dictator,\r\ntriumphed four times, and was styled a second founder of Rome, yet never was so\r\nmuch as once consul. The reason of which was the state and temper of the\r\ncommonwealth at that time; for the people, being at dissension with the senate,\r\nrefused to return consuls, but in their stead elected other magistrates, called\r\nmilitary tribunes, who acted, indeed, with full consular power, but were\r\nthought to exercise a less obnoxious amount of authority, because it was\r\ndivided among a larger number; for to have the management of affairs entrusted\r\nin the hands of six persons rather than two was some satisfaction to the\r\nopponents of oligarchy. This was the condition of the times when Camillus was\r\nin the height of his actions and glory, and, although the government in the\r\nmeantime had often proceeded to consular elections, yet he could never persuade\r\nhimself to be consul against the inclination of the people. In all his other\r\nadministrations, which were many and various, he so behaved himself, that, when\r\nalone in authority, he exercised his power as in common, but the honor of all\r\nactions redounded entirely to himself, even when in joint commission with\r\nothers; the reason of the former was his moderation in command; of the latter,\r\nhis great judgment and wisdom, which gave him without controversy the first\r\nplace.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe house of the Furii was not, at that time of any considerable distinction;\r\nhe, by his own acts, first raised himself to honor, serving under Postumius\r\nTubertus, dictator, in the great battle against the Aequians and Volscians. For\r\nriding out from the rest of the army, and in the charge receiving a wound in\r\nhis thigh, he for all that did not quit the fight, but, letting the dart drag\r\nin the wound, and engaging with the bravest of the enemy, put them to flight;\r\nfor which action, among other rewards bestowed on him, he was created censor,\r\nan office in those days of great repute and authority. During his censorship\r\none very good act of his is recorded, that, whereas the wars had made many\r\nwidows, he obliged such as had no wives, some by fair persuasion, others by\r\nthreatening to set fines on their heads, to take them in marriage; another\r\nnecessary one, in causing orphans to be rated, who before were exempted from\r\ntaxes, the frequent wars requiring more than ordinary expenses to maintain\r\nthem. What, however, pressed them most was the siege of Veii. Some call this\r\npeople Veientani. This was the head city of Tuscany, not inferior to Rome,\r\neither in number of arms or multitude of soldiers, insomuch that, presuming on\r\nher wealth and luxury, and priding herself upon her refinement and\r\nsumptuousness, she engaged in many honorable contests with the Romans for glory\r\nand empire. But now they had abandoned their former ambitious hopes, having\r\nbeen weakened by great defeats, so that, having fortified themselves with high\r\nand strong walls, and furnished the city with all sorts of weapons offensive\r\nand defensive, as likewise with corn and all manner of provisions, they\r\ncheerfully endured a siege, which, though tedious to them, was no less\r\ntroublesome and distressing to the besiegers. For the Romans, having never been\r\naccustomed to stay away from home, except in summer, and for no great length of\r\ntime, and constantly to winter at home, were then first compelled by the\r\ntribunes to build forts in the enemy’s country, and, raising strong works about\r\ntheir camp, to join winter and summer together. And now, the seventh year of\r\nthe war drawing to an end, the commanders began to be suspected as too slow and\r\nremiss in driving on the siege, insomuch that they were discharged and others\r\nchosen for the war, among whom was Camillus, then second time tribune. But at\r\npresent he had no hand in the siege, the duties that fell by lot to him being\r\nto make war upon the Faliscans and Capenates, who, taking advantage of the\r\nRomans being occupied on all hands, had carried ravages into their country,\r\nand, through all the Tuscan war, given them much annoyance, but were now\r\nreduced by Camillus, and with great loss shut up within their walls.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now, in the very heat of the war, a strange phenomenon in the Alban lake,\r\nwhich, in the absence of any known cause and explanation by natural reasons,\r\nseemed as great a prodigy as the most incredible that are reported, occasioned\r\ngreat alarm. It was the beginning of autumn, and the summer now ending had, to\r\nall observation, been neither rainy nor much troubled with southern winds; and\r\nof the many lakes, brooks, and springs of all sorts with which Italy abounds,\r\nsome were wholly dried up, others drew very little water with them; all the\r\nrivers, as is usual in summer, ran in a very low and hollow channel. But the\r\nAlban lake, that is fed by no other waters but its own, and is on all sides\r\nencircled with fruitful mountains, without any cause, unless it were divine,\r\nbegan visibly to rise and swell, increasing to the feet of the mountains, and\r\nby degrees reaching the level of the very tops of them, and all this without\r\nany waves or agitation. At first it was the wonder of shepherds and herdsmen;\r\nbut when the earth, which, like a great dam, held up the lake from falling into\r\nthe lower grounds, through the quantity and weight of water was broken down,\r\nand in a violent stream it ran through the plowed fields and plantations to\r\ndischarge itself in the sea, it not only struck terror into the Romans, but was\r\nthought by all the inhabitants of Italy to portend some extraordinary event.\r\nBut the greatest talk of it was in the camp that besieged Veii, so that in the\r\ntown itself, also, the occurrence became known.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs in long sieges it commonly happens that parties on both sides meet often and\r\nconverse with one another, so it chanced that a Roman had gained much\r\nconfidence and familiarity with one of the besieged, a man versed in ancient\r\nprophecies, and of repute for more than ordinary skill in divination. The\r\nRoman, observing him to be overjoyed at the story of the lake, and to mock at\r\nthe siege, told him that this was not the only prodigy that of late had\r\nhappened to the Romans; others more wonderful yet than this had befallen them,\r\nwhich he was willing to communicate to him, that he might the better provide\r\nfor his private interests in these public distempers. The man greedily embraced\r\nthe proposal, expecting to hear some wonderful secrets; but when, by little and\r\nlittle, he had led him on in conversation, and insensibly drawn him a good way\r\nfrom the gates of the city, he snatched him up by the middle, being stronger\r\nthan he, and, by the assistance of others that came running from the camp,\r\nseized and delivered him to the commanders. The man, reduced to this necessity,\r\nand sensible now that destiny was not to be avoided, discovered to them the\r\nsecret oracles of Veii; that it was not possible the city should be taken,\r\nuntil the Alban lake, which now broke forth and had found out new passages, was\r\ndrawn back from that course, and so diverted that it could not mingle with the\r\nsea. The senate, having heard and satisfied themselves about the matter,\r\ndecreed to send to Delphi, to ask counsel of the god. The messengers were\r\npersons of the highest repute, Licinius Cossus, Valerius Potitus, and Fabius\r\nAmbustus; who, having made their voyage by sea and consulted the god, returned\r\nwith other answers, particularly that there had been a neglect of some of their\r\nnational rites relating to the Latin feasts; but the Alban water the oracle\r\ncommanded, if it were possible, they should keep from the sea, and shut it up\r\nin its ancient bounds; but if that was not to be done, then they should carry\r\nit off by ditches and trenches into the lower grounds, and so dry it up; which\r\nmessage being delivered, the priests performed what related to the sacrifices,\r\nand the people went to work and turned the water.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now the senate, in the tenth year of the war, taking away all other\r\ncommands, created Camillus dictator, who chose Cornelius Scipio for his general\r\nof horse. And in the first place he made vows unto the gods, that, if they\r\nwould grant a happy conclusion of the war, he would celebrate to their honor\r\nthe great games, and dedicate a temple to the goddess whom the Romans call\r\nMatuta the Mother, though, from the ceremonies which are used, one would think\r\nshe was Leucothea. For they take a servant-maid into the secret part of the\r\ntemple, and there cuff her, and drive her out again, and they embrace their\r\nbrothers’ children in place of their own; and, in general, the ceremonies of\r\nthe sacrifice remind one of the nursing of Bacchus by Ino, and the calamities\r\noccasioned by her husband’s concubine. Camillus, having made these vows,\r\nmarched into the country of the Faliscans, and in a great battle overthrew them\r\nand the Capenates, their confederates; afterwards he turned to the siege of\r\nVeii, and, finding that to take it by assault would prove a difficult and\r\nhazardous attempt, proceeded to cut mines under ground, the earth about the\r\ncity being easy to break up, and allowing such depth for the works as would\r\nprevent their being discovered by the enemy. This design going on in a hopeful\r\nway, he openly gave assaults to the enemy, to keep them to the walls, whilst\r\nthey that worked underground in the mines were, without being perceived,\r\narrived within the citadel, close to the temple of Juno, which was the greatest\r\nand most honored in all the city. It is said that the prince of the Tuscans was\r\nat that very time at sacrifice, and that the priest, after he had looked into\r\nthe entrails of the beast, cried out with a loud voice that the gods would give\r\nthe victory to those that should complete those offerings; and that the Romans\r\nwho were in the mines, hearing the words, immediately pulled down the floor,\r\nand, ascending with noise and clashing of weapons, frightened away the enemy,\r\nand, snatching up the entrails, carried them to Camillus. But this may look\r\nlike a fable. The city, however, being taken by storm, and the soldiers busied\r\nin pillaging and gathering an infinite quantity of riches and spoil, Camillus,\r\nfrom the high tower, viewing what was done, at first wept for pity; and when\r\nthey that were by congratulated his good success, he lifted up his hands to\r\nheaven, and broke out into this prayer: “O most mighty Jupiter, and ye gods\r\nthat are judges of good and evil actions, ye know that not without just cause,\r\nbut constrained by necessity, we have been forced to revenge ourselves on the\r\ncity of our unrighteous and wicked enemies. But if, in the vicissitude of\r\nthings, there be any calamity due, to counterbalance this great felicity, I beg\r\nthat it may be diverted from the city and army of the Romans, and fall, with as\r\nlittle hurt as may be, upon my own head.” Having said these words, and just\r\nturning about (as the custom of the Romans is to turn to the right after\r\nadoration or prayer), he stumbled and fell, to the astonishment of all that\r\nwere present. But, recovering himself presently from the fall, he told them\r\nthat he had received what he had prayed for, a small mischance, in compensation\r\nfor the greatest good fortune.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving sacked the city, he resolved, according as he had vowed, to carry Juno’s\r\nimage to Rome; and, the workmen being ready for that purpose, he sacrificed to\r\nthe goddess, and made his supplications that she would be pleased to accept of\r\ntheir devotion toward her, and graciously vouchsafe to accept of a place among\r\nthe gods that presided at Rome; and the statue, they say, answered in a low\r\nvoice that she was ready and willing to go. Livy writes, that, in praying,\r\nCamillus touched the goddess, and invited her, and that some of the standers-by\r\ncried out that she was willing and would come. They who stand up for the\r\nmiracle and endeavor to maintain it have one great advocate on their side in\r\nthe wonderful fortune of the city, which, from a small and contemptible\r\nbeginning, could never have attained to that greatness and power without many\r\nsignal manifestations of the divine presence and cooperation. Other wonders of\r\nthe like nature, drops of sweat seen to stand on statues, groans heard from\r\nthem, the figures seen to turn round and to close their eyes, are recorded by\r\nmany ancient historians; and we ourselves could relate divers wonderful things,\r\nwhich we have been told by men of our own time, that are not lightly to be\r\nrejected; but to give too easy credit to such things, or wholly to disbelieve\r\nthem, is equally dangerous, so incapable is human infirmity of keeping any\r\nbounds, or exercising command over itself, running off sometimes to\r\nsuperstition and dotage, at other times to the contempt and neglect of all that\r\nis supernatural. But moderation is best, and to avoid all extremes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCamillus, however, whether puffed up with the greatness of his achievement in\r\nconquering a city that was the rival of Rome, and had held out a ten years’\r\nsiege, or exalted with the felicitations of those that were about him, assumed\r\nto himself more than became a civil and legal magistrate; among other things,\r\nin the pride and haughtiness of his triumph, driving through Rome in a chariot\r\ndrawn with four white horses, which no general either before or since ever did;\r\nfor the Romans consider such a mode of conveyance to be sacred, and specially\r\nset apart to the king and father of the gods. This alienated the hearts of his\r\nfellow-citizens, who were not accustomed to such pomp and display.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe second pique they had against him was his opposing the law by which the\r\ncity was to be divided; for the tribunes of the people brought forward a motion\r\nthat the people and senate should be divided into two parts, one of which\r\nshould remain at home, the other, as the lot should decide, remove to the\r\nnew-taken city. By which means they should not only have much more room, but by\r\nthe advantage of two great and magnificent cities, be better able to maintain\r\ntheir territories and their fortunes in general. The people, therefore, who\r\nwere numerous and indigent, greedily embraced it, and crowded continually to\r\nthe forum, with tumultuous demands to have it put to the vote. But the senate\r\nand the noblest citizens, judging the proceedings of the tribunes to tend\r\nrather to a destruction than a division of Rome, greatly averse to it, went to\r\nCamillus for assistance, who, fearing the result if it came to a direct\r\ncontest, contrived to occupy the people with other business, and so staved it\r\noff. He thus became unpopular. But the greatest and most apparent cause of\r\ntheir dislike against him arose from the tenths of the spoil; the multitude\r\nhaving here, if not a just, yet a plausible case against him. For it seems, as\r\nhe went to the siege of Veii, he had vowed to Apollo that if he took the city\r\nhe would dedicate to him the tenth of the spoil. The city being taken and\r\nsacked, whether he was loath to trouble the soldiers at that time, or that\r\nthrough the multitude of business he had forgotten his vow, he suffered them to\r\nenjoy that part of the spoils also. Some time afterwards, when his authority\r\nwas laid down, he brought the matter before the senate, and the priests, at the\r\nsame time, reported, out of the sacrifices, that there were intimations of\r\ndivine anger, requiring propitiations and offerings. The senate decreed the\r\nobligation to be in force.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut seeing it was difficult for every one to produce the very same things they\r\nhad taken, to be divided anew, they ordained that every one upon oath should\r\nbring into the public the tenth part of his gains. This occasioned many\r\nannoyances and hardships to the soldiers, who were poor men, and had endured\r\nmuch in the war, and now were forced, out of what they had gained and spent, to\r\nbring in so great a proportion. Camillus, being assaulted by their clamor and\r\ntumults, for want of a better excuse, betook himself to the poorest of\r\ndefenses, confessing he had forgotten his vow; they in turn complained that he\r\nhad vowed the tenth of the enemy’s goods, and now levied it out of the tenths\r\nof the citizens. Nevertheless, every one having brought in his due proportion,\r\nit was decreed that out of it a bowl of massy gold should be made, and sent to\r\nDelphi. And when there was great scarcity of gold in the city, and the\r\nmagistrates were considering where to get it, the Roman ladies, meeting\r\ntogether and consulting among themselves, out of the golden ornaments they wore\r\ncontributed as much as went to the making the offering, which in weight came to\r\neight talents of gold. The senate, to give them the honor they had deserved,\r\nordained that funeral orations should be used at the obsequies of women as well\r\nas men, it having never before been a custom that any woman after death should\r\nreceive any public eulogy. Choosing out, therefore, three of the noblest\r\ncitizens as a deputation, they sent them in a vessel of war, well manned and\r\nsumptuously adorned. Storm and calm at sea may both, they say, alike be\r\ndangerous; as they at this time experienced, being brought almost to the very\r\nbrink of destruction, and, beyond all expectation, escaping. For near the isles\r\nof Solus the wind slacking, galleys of the Lipareans came upon them, taking\r\nthem for pirates; and, when they held up their hands as suppliants, forbore\r\nindeed from violence, but took their ship in tow, and carried her into the\r\nharbor, where they exposed to sale their goods and persons as lawful prize,\r\nthey being pirates; and scarcely, at last, by the virtue and interest of one\r\nman, Timesitheus by name, who was in office as general, and used his utmost\r\npersuasion, they were, with much ado, dismissed. He, however, himself sent out\r\nsome of his own vessels with them, to accompany them in their voyage and assist\r\nthem at the dedication; for which he received honors at Rome, as he had\r\ndeserved.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now the tribunes of the people again resuming their motion for the division\r\nof the city, the war against the Faliscans luckily broke out, giving liberty to\r\nthe chief citizens to choose what magistrates they pleased, and to appoint\r\nCamillus military tribune, with five colleagues; affairs then requiring a\r\ncommander of authority and reputation, as well as experience. And when the\r\npeople had ratified the election, he marched with his forces into the\r\nterritories of the Faliscans, and laid seige to Falerii, a well-fortified city,\r\nand plentifully stored with all necessaries of war. And although he perceived\r\nit would be no small work to take it, and no little time would be required for\r\nit, yet he was willing to exercise the citizens and keep them abroad, that they\r\nmight have no leisure, idling at home, to follow the tribunes in factions and\r\nseditions; a very common remedy, indeed, with the Romans, who thus carried off,\r\nlike good physicians, the ill humors of their commonwealth. The Falerians,\r\ntrusting in the strength of their city, which was well fortified on all sides,\r\nmade so little account of the siege, that all, with the exception of those that\r\nguarded the walls, as in times of peace, walked about the streets in their\r\ncommon dress; the boys went to school, and were led by their master to play and\r\nexercise about the town walls; for the Falerians, like the Greeks, used to have\r\na single teacher for many pupils, wishing their children to live and be brought\r\nup from the beginning in each other’s company.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis schoolmaster, designing to betray the Falerians by their children, led\r\nthem out every day under the town wall, at first but a little way, and, when\r\nthey had exercised, brought them home again. Afterwards by degrees he drew them\r\nfarther and farther, till by practice he had made them bold and fearless, as if\r\nno danger was about them; and at last, having got them all together, he brought\r\nthem to the outposts of the Romans, and delivered them up, demanding to be led\r\nto Camillus. Where being come, and standing in the middle, he said that he was\r\nthe master and teacher of these children, but, preferring his favor before all\r\nother obligations, he was come to deliver up his charge to him, and, in that,\r\nthe whole city. When Camillus had heard him out, he was astounded at the\r\ntreachery of the act, and, turning to the standers-by, observed, that “war,\r\nindeed, is of necessity attended with much injustice and violence! Certain\r\nlaws, however, all good men observe even in war itself; nor is victory so great\r\nan object as to induce us to incur for its sake obligations for base and\r\nimpious acts. A great general should rely on his own virtue, and not on other\r\nmen’s vices.” Which said, he commanded the officers to tear off the man’s\r\nclothes, and bind his hands behind him, and give the boys rods and scourges, to\r\npunish the traitor and drive him back to the city. By this time the Falerians\r\nhad discovered the treachery of the schoolmaster, and the city, as was likely,\r\nwas full of lamentations and cries for their calamity, men and women of worth\r\nrunning in distraction about the walls and gates; when, behold, the boys came\r\nwhipping their master on, naked and bound, calling Camillus their preserver and\r\ngod and father. Insomuch that it struck not only into the parents, but the rest\r\nof the citizens that saw what was done, such admiration and love of Camillus’s\r\njustice, that, immediately meeting in assembly, they sent ambassadors to him,\r\nto resign whatever they had to his disposal. Camillus sent them to Rome, where,\r\nbeing brought into the senate, they spoke to this purpose: that the Romans,\r\npreferring justice before victory, had taught them rather to embrace submission\r\nthan liberty; they did not so much confess themselves to be inferior in\r\nstrength, as they must acknowledge them to be superior in virtue. The senate\r\nremitted the whole matter to Camillus, to judge and order as he thought fit;\r\nwho, taking a sum of money of the Falerians, and, making a peace with the whole\r\nnation of the Faliscans, returned home.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the soldiers, who had expected to have the pillage of the city, when they\r\ncame to Rome empty-handed, railed against Camillus among their fellow-citizens,\r\nas a hater of the people, and one that grudged all advantage to the poor.\r\nAfterwards, when the tribunes of the people again brought their motion for\r\ndividing the city to the vote, Camillus appeared openly against it, shrinking\r\nfrom no unpopularity, and inveighing boldly against the promoters of it, and so\r\nurging and constraining the multitude, that, contrary to their inclinations,\r\nthey rejected the proposal; but yet hated Camillus. Insomuch that, though a\r\ngreat misfortune befell him in his family (one of his two sons dying of a\r\ndisease), commiseration for this could not in the least make them abate of\r\ntheir malice. And, indeed, he took this loss with immoderate sorrow, being a\r\nman naturally of a mild and tender disposition, and, when the accusation was\r\npreferred against him, kept his house, and mourned amongst the women of his\r\nfamily.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis accuser was Lucius Apuleius; the charge, appropriation of the Tuscan\r\nspoils; certain brass gates, part of those spoils, were said to be in his\r\npossession. The people were exasperated against him, and it was plain they\r\nwould take hold of any occasion to condemn him. Gathering, therefore, together\r\nhis friends and fellow-soldiers, and such as had borne command with him, a\r\nconsiderable number in all, he besought them that they would not suffer him to\r\nbe unjustly overborne by shameful accusations, and left the mock and scorn of\r\nhis enemies. His friends, having advised and consulted among themselves, made\r\nanswer, that, as to the sentence, they did not see how they could help him, but\r\nthat they would contribute to whatsoever fine should be set upon him. Not able\r\nto endure so great an indignity, he resolved in his anger to leave the city and\r\ngo into exile; and so, having taken leave of his wife and his son, he went\r\nsilently to the gate of the city, and, there stopping and turning round,\r\nstretched out his hands to the Capitol, and prayed to the gods, that if,\r\nwithout any fault of his own, but merely through the malice and violence of the\r\npeople, he was driven out into banishment, the Romans might quickly repent of\r\nit; and that all mankind might witness their need for the assistance, and\r\ndesire for the return of Camillus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus, like Achilles, having left his imprecations on the citizens, he went into\r\nbanishment; so that, neither appearing nor making defense, he was condemned in\r\nthe sum of fifteen thousand asses, which, reduced to silver, makes one thousand\r\nfive hundred drachmas; for the as was the money of the time, ten of such copper\r\npieces making the denarius, or piece of ten. And there is not a Roman but\r\nbelieves that immediately upon the prayers of Camillus a sudden judgment\r\nfollowed, and that he received a revenge for the injustice done unto him; which\r\nthough we cannot think was pleasant, but rather grievous and bitter to him, yet\r\nwas very remarkable, and noised over the whole world; such a punishment visited\r\nthe city of Rome, an era of such loss and danger and disgrace so quickly\r\nsucceeded; whether it thus fell out by fortune, or it be the office of some god\r\nnot to see injured virtue go unavenged.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe first token that seemed to threaten some mischief to ensue was the death of\r\nthe censor Julius; for the Romans have a religious reverence for the office of\r\na censor, and esteem it sacred. The second was that, just before Camillus went\r\ninto exile, Marcus Caedicius, a person of no great distinction, nor of the rank\r\nof senator, but esteemed a good and respectable man, reported to the military\r\ntribunes a thing worthy their consideration: that, going along the night before\r\nin the street called the New Way, and being called by somebody in a loud voice,\r\nhe turned about, but could see no one, but heard a voice greater than human,\r\nwhich said these words, “Go, Marcus Caedicius, and early in the morning tell\r\nthe military tribunes that they are shortly to expect the Gauls.” But the\r\ntribunes made a mock and sport with the story, and a little after came\r\nCamillus’s banishment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Gauls are of the Celtic race, and are reported to have been compelled by\r\ntheir numbers to leave their country, which was insufficient to sustain them\r\nall, and to have gone in search of other homes. And being, many thousands of\r\nthem, young men and able to bear arms, and carrying with them a still greater\r\nnumber of women and young children, some of them, passing the Riphaean\r\nmountains, fell upon the Northern Ocean, and possessed themselves of the\r\nfarthest parts of Europe; others, seating themselves between the Pyrenean\r\nmountains and the Alps, lived there a considerable time, near to the Senones\r\nand Celtorii; but, afterwards tasting wine which was then first brought them\r\nout of Italy, they were all so much taken with the liquor, and transported with\r\nthe hitherto unknown delight, that, snatching up their arms and taking their\r\nfamilies along with them, they marched directly to the Alps, to find out the\r\ncountry which yielded such fruit, pronouncing all others barren and useless. He\r\nthat first brought wine among them and was the chief instigator of their coming\r\ninto Italy is said to have been one Aruns, a Tuscan, a man of noble extraction,\r\nand not of bad natural character, but involved in the following misfortune. He\r\nwas guardian to an orphan, one of the richest of the country, and much admired\r\nfor his beauty, whose name was Lucumo. From his childhood he had been bred up\r\nwith Aruns in his family and when now grown up did not leave his house,\r\nprofessing to wish for the enjoyment of his society. And thus for a great while\r\nhe secretly enjoyed Aruns’s wife, corrupting her, and himself corrupted by her.\r\nBut when they were both so far gone in their passion that they could neither\r\nrefrain their lust nor conceal it, the young man seized the woman and openly\r\nsought to carry her away. The husband, going to law, and finding himself\r\noverpowered by the interest and money of his opponent, left his country, and,\r\nhearing of the state of the Gauls, went to them and was the conductor of their\r\nexpedition into Italy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt their first coming they at once possessed themselves of all that country\r\nwhich anciently the Tuscans inhabited, reaching from the Alps to both the seas,\r\nas the names themselves testify; for the North or Adriatic Sea is named from\r\nthe Tuscan city Adria, and that to the south the Tuscan Sea simply. The whole\r\ncountry is rich in fruit trees, has excellent pasture, and is well watered with\r\nrivers. It had eighteen large and beautiful cities, well provided with all the\r\nmeans for industry and wealth, and all the enjoyments and pleasures of life.\r\nThe Gauls cast out the Tuscans, and seated themselves in them. But this was\r\nlong before.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Gauls at this time were besieging Clusium, a Tuscan city. The Clusinians\r\nsent to the Romans for succor desiring them to interpose with the barbarians by\r\nletters and ambassadors. There were sent three of the family of the Fabii,\r\npersons of high rank and distinction in the city. The Gauls received them\r\ncourteously, from respect to the name of Rome, and, giving over the assault\r\nwhich was then making upon the walls, came to conference with them; when the\r\nambassadors asking what injury they had received of the Clusinians that they\r\nthus invaded their city, Brennus, king of the Gauls, laughed and made answer,\r\n“The Clusinians do us injury, in that, being able only to till a small parcel\r\nof ground, they must needs possess a great territory, and will not yield any\r\npart to us who are strangers, many in number, and poor. In the same nature, O\r\nRomans, formerly the Albans, Fidenates, and Ardeates, and now lately the\r\nVeientines and Capenates, and many of the Faliscans and Volscians, did you\r\ninjury; upon whom ye make war if they do not yield you part of what they\r\npossess, make slaves of them, waste and spoil their country, and ruin their\r\ncities; neither in so doing are cruel or unjust, but follow that most ancient\r\nof all laws, which gives the possessions of the feeble to the strong; which\r\nbegins with God and ends in the beasts; since all these, by nature, seek, the\r\nstronger to have advantage over the weaker. Cease, therefore, to pity the\r\nClusinians whom we besiege, lest ye teach the Gauls to be kind and\r\ncompassionate to those that are oppressed by you.” By this answer the Romans,\r\nperceiving that Brennus was not to be treated with, went into Clusium, and\r\nencouraged and stirred up the inhabitants to make a sally with them upon the\r\nbarbarians, which they did either to try their strength or to show their own.\r\nThe sally being made, and the fight growing hot about the walls, one of the\r\nFabii, Quintus Ambustus, being well mounted, and setting spurs to his horse,\r\nmade full against a Gaul, a man of huge bulk and stature, whom he saw riding\r\nout at a distance from the rest. At the first he was not recognized, through\r\nthe quickness of the conflict and the glittering of his armor, that precluded\r\nany view of him; but when he had overthrown the Gaul, and was going to gather\r\nthe spoils, Brennus knew him; and, invoking the gods to be witnesses, that,\r\ncontrary to the known and common law of nations, which is holily observed by\r\nall mankind, he who had come as an ambassador had now engaged in hostility\r\nagainst him, he drew off his men, and, bidding Clusium farewell, led his army\r\ndirectly to Rome. But not wishing that it should look as if they took advantage\r\nof that injury, and were ready to embrace any occasion of quarrel, he sent a\r\nherald to demand the man in punishment, and in the meantime marched leisurely\r\non.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe senate being met at Rome, among many others that spoke against the Fabii,\r\nthe priests called fecials were the most decided, who, on the religious ground,\r\nurged the senate that they should lay the whole guilt and penalty of the fact\r\nupon him that committed it, and so exonerate the rest. These fecials Numa\r\nPompilius, the mildest and justest of kings, constituted guardians of peace,\r\nand the judges and determiners of all causes by which war may justifiably be\r\nmade. The senate referring the whole matter to the people, and the priests\r\nthere, as well as in the senate, pleading against Fabius, the multitude,\r\nhowever, so little regarded their authority, that in scorn and contempt of it\r\nthey chose Fabius and the rest of his brothers military tribunes. The Gauls, on\r\nhearing this, in great rage threw aside every delay, and hastened on with all\r\nthe speed they could make. The places through which they marched, terrified\r\nwith their numbers and the splendor of their preparations for war, and in alarm\r\nat their violence and fierceness, began to give up their territories as already\r\nlost, with little doubt but their cities would quickly follow; contrary,\r\nhowever, to expectation, they did no injury as they passed, nor took anything\r\nfrom the fields; and, as they went by any city, cried out that they were going\r\nto Rome; that the Romans only were their enemies, and that they took all others\r\nfor their friends.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst the barbarians were thus hastening with all speed, the military tribunes\r\nbrought the Romans into the field to be ready to engage them, being not\r\ninferior to the Gauls in number (for they were no less than forty thousand\r\nfoot), but most of them raw soldiers, and such as had never handled a weapon\r\nbefore. Besides, they had wholly neglected all religious usages, had not\r\nobtained favorable sacrifices, nor made inquiries of the prophets, natural in\r\ndanger and before battle. No less did the multitude of commanders distract and\r\nconfound their proceedings; frequently before, upon less occasions, they had\r\nchosen a single leader, with the title of dictator, being sensible of what\r\ngreat importance it is in critical times to have the soldiers united under one\r\ngeneral with the entire and absolute control placed in his hands. Add to all,\r\nthe remembrance of Camillus’s treatment, which made it now seem a dangerous\r\nthing for officers to command without humoring their soldiers. In this\r\ncondition they left the city, and encamped by the river Allia, about ten miles\r\nfrom Rome, and not far from the place where it falls into the Tiber; and here\r\nthe Gauls came upon them, and, after a disgraceful resistance, devoid of order\r\nand discipline, they were miserably defeated. The left wing was immediately\r\ndriven into the river, and there destroyed; the right had less damage by\r\ndeclining the shock, and from the low grounds getting to the tops of the hills,\r\nfrom whence most of them afterwards dropped into the city; the rest, as many as\r\nescaped, the enemy being weary of the slaughter, stole by night to Veii, giving\r\nup Rome and all that was in it for lost.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis battle was fought about the summer solstice, the moon being at full, the\r\nvery same day in which the sad disaster of the Fabii had happened, when three\r\nhundred of that name were at one time cut off by the Tuscans. But from this\r\nsecond loss and defeat the day got the name of Alliensis, from the river Allia,\r\nand still retains it. The question of unlucky days, whether we should consider\r\nany to be so, and whether Heraclitus did well in upbraiding Hesiod for\r\ndistinguishing them into fortunate and unfortunate, as ignorant that the nature\r\nof every day is the same, I have examined in another place; but upon occasion\r\nof the present subject, I think it will not be amiss to annex a few examples\r\nrelating to this matter. On the fifth of their month Hippodromius, which\r\ncorresponds to the Athenian Hecatombaeon, the Boeotians gained two signal\r\nvictories, the one at Leuctra, the other at Ceressus, about three hundred years\r\nbefore, when they overcame Lattamyas and the Thessalians, both which asserted\r\nthe liberty of Greece. Again, on the sixth of Boedromion, the Persians were\r\nworsted by the Greeks at Marathon; on the third, at Plataea, as also at Mycale;\r\non the twenty-fifth, at Arbela. The Athenians, about the full moon in\r\nBoedromion, gained their sea- victory at Naxos under the conduct of Chabrias;\r\non the twentieth, at Salamis, as we have shown in our treatise on Days.\r\nThargelion was a very unfortunate month to the barbarians, for in it Alexander\r\novercame Darius’s generals on the Granicus; and the Carthaginians, on the\r\ntwenty- fourth, were beaten by Timoleon in Sicily, on which same day and month\r\nTroy seems to have been taken, as Ephorus, Callisthenes, Damastes, and\r\nPhylarchus state. On the other hand, the month Metagitnion, which in Boeotia is\r\ncalled Panemus, was not very lucky to the Greeks; for on its seventh day they\r\nwere defeated by Antipater, at the battle in Cranon, and utterly ruined; and\r\nbefore, at Chaeronea, were defeated by Philip; and on the very same day, same\r\nmonth, and same year, those that went with Archidamus into Italy were there cut\r\noff by the barbarians. The Carthaginians also observe the twenty-first of the\r\nsame month, as bringing with it the largest number and the severest of their\r\nlosses. I am not ignorant, that, about the Feast of Mysteries, Thebes was\r\ndestroyed the second time by Alexander; and after that, upon the very twentieth\r\nof Boedromion, on which day they lead forth the mystic Iacchus, the Athenians\r\nreceived a garrison of the Macedonians. On the selfsame day the Romans lost\r\ntheir army under Caepio by the Cimbrians, and in a subsequent year, under the\r\nconduct of Lucullus, overcame the Armenians and Tigranes. King Attalus and\r\nPompey died both on their birthdays. One could reckon up several that have had\r\nvariety of fortune on the same day. This day, meantime, is one of the\r\nunfortunate ones to the Romans, and for its sake two others in every month;\r\nfear and superstition, as the custom of it is, more and more prevailing. But I\r\nhave discussed this more accurately in my Roman Questions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now, after the battle, had the Gauls immediately pursued those that fled,\r\nthere had been no remedy but Rome must have wholly been ruined, and all those\r\nwho remained in it utterly destroyed; such was the terror that those who\r\nescaped the battle brought with them into the city, and with such distraction\r\nand confusion were themselves in turn infected. But the Gauls, not imagining\r\ntheir victory to be so considerable, and overtaken with the present joy, fell\r\nto feasting and dividing the spoil, by which means they gave leisure to those\r\nwho were for leaving the city to make their escape, and to those that remained,\r\nto anticipate and prepare for their coming. For they who resolved to stay at\r\nRome, abandoning the rest of the city, betook themselves to the Capitol, which\r\nthey fortified with the help of missiles and new works. One of their principal\r\ncares was of their holy things, most of which they conveyed into the Capitol.\r\nBut the consecrated fire the vestal virgins took, and fled with it, as likewise\r\ntheir other sacred things. Some write that they have nothing in their charge\r\nbut the ever-living fire which Numa had ordained to be worshipped as the\r\nprinciple of all things; for fire is the most active thing in nature, and all\r\nproduction is either motion, or attended with motion; all the other parts of\r\nmatter, so long as they are without warmth, lie sluggish and dead, and require\r\nthe accession of a sort of soul or vitality in the principle of heat; and upon\r\nthat accession, in whatever way, immediately receive a capacity either of\r\nacting or being acted upon. And thus Numa, a man curious in such things, and\r\nwhose wisdom made it thought that he conversed with the Muses, consecrated\r\nfire, and ordained it to be kept ever burning, as an image of that eternal\r\npower which orders and actuates all things. Others say that this fire was kept\r\nburning in front of the holy things, as in Greece, for purification, and that\r\nthere were other things hid in the most secret part of the temple, which were\r\nkept from the view of all, except those virgins whom they call vestals. The\r\nmost common opinion was, that the image of Pallas, brought into Italy by\r\nAeneas, was laid up there; others say that the Samothracian images lay there,\r\ntelling a story how that Dardanus carried them to Troy, and, when he had built\r\nthe city, celebrated those rites, and dedicated those images there; that after\r\nTroy was taken, Aeneas stole them away, and kept them till his coming into\r\nItaly. But they who profess to know more of the matter affirm that there are\r\ntwo barrels, not of any great size, one of which stands open and has nothing in\r\nit, the other full and sealed up; but that neither of them may be seen but by\r\nthe most holy virgins. Others think that they who say this are misled by the\r\nfact that the virgins put most of their holy things into two barrels at this\r\ntime of the Gaulish invasion, and hid them underground in the temple of\r\nQuirinus; and that from hence that place to this day bears the name of Barrels.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever it be, taking the most precious and important things they had, they\r\nfled away with them, shaping their course along the river side, where Lucius\r\nAlbinius, a simple citizen of Rome, who among others was making his escape,\r\novertook them, having his wife, children, and goods in a cart; and, seeing the\r\nvirgins dragging along in their arms the holy things of the gods, in a helpless\r\nand weary condition, he caused his wife and children to get down, and, taking\r\nout his goods, put the virgins in the cart, that they might make their escape\r\nto some of the Greek cities. This devout act of Albinius, and the respect he\r\nshowed thus signally to the gods at a time of such extremity, deserved not to\r\nbe passed over in silence. But the priests that belonged to other gods, and the\r\nmost elderly of the senators, men who had been consuls and had enjoyed\r\ntriumphs, could not endure to leave the city; but, putting on their sacred and\r\nsplendid robes, Fabius the high-priest performing the office, they made their\r\nprayers to the gods, and, devoting themselves, as it were, for their country,\r\nsat themselves down in their ivory chairs in the forum, and in that posture\r\nexpected the event.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the third day after the battle, Brennus appeared with his army at the city,\r\nand, finding the gates wide open and no guards upon the walls, first began to\r\nsuspect it was some design or stratagem, never dreaming that the Romans were in\r\nso desperate a condition. But when he found it to be so indeed, he entered at\r\nthe Colline gate, and took Rome, in the three hundred and sixtieth year, or a\r\nlittle more, after it was built; if, indeed, it can be supposed probable that\r\nan exact chronological statement has been preserved of events which were\r\nthemselves the cause of chronological difficulties about things of later date;\r\nof the calamity itself, however, and of the fact of the capture, some faint\r\nrumors seem to have passed at the time into Greece. Heraclides Ponticus, who\r\nlived not long after these times, in his book upon the Soul, relates that a\r\ncertain report came from the west, that an army, proceeding from the\r\nHyperboreans, had taken a Greek city called Rome, seated somewhere upon the\r\ngreat sea. But I do not wonder that so fabulous and high-flown an author as\r\nHeraclides should embellish the truth of the story with expressions about\r\nHyperboreans and the great sea. Aristotle the philosopher appears to have heard\r\na correct statement of the taking of the city by the Gauls, but he calls its\r\ndeliverer Lucius; whereas Camillus’s surname was not Lucius, but Marcus. But\r\nthis is a matter of conjecture.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrennus, having taken possession of Rome, set a strong guard about the Capitol,\r\nand, going himself down into the forum, was there struck with amazement at the\r\nsight of so many men sitting in that order and silence, observing that they\r\nneither rose at his coming, nor so much as changed color or countenance, but\r\nremained without fear or concern, leaning upon their staves, and sitting\r\nquietly, looking at each other. The Gauls, for a great while, stood wondering\r\nat the strangeness of the sight not daring to approach or touch them, taking\r\nthem for an assembly of superior beings. But when one, bolder than the rest,\r\ndrew near to Marcus Papirius, and, putting forth his hand, gently touched his\r\nchin and stroked his long beard, Papirius with his staff struck him a severe\r\nblow on the head; upon which the barbarian drew his sword and slew him. This\r\nwas the introduction to the slaughter; for the rest, following his example, set\r\nupon them all and killed them, and dispatched all others that came in their\r\nway; and so went on to the sacking and pillaging the houses, which they\r\ncontinued for many days ensuing. Afterwards, they burnt them down to the ground\r\nand demolished them, being incensed at those who kept the Capitol, because they\r\nwould not yield to summons; but, on the contrary, when assailed, had repelled\r\nthem, with some loss, from their defenses. This provoked them to ruin the whole\r\ncity, and to put to the sword all that came to their hands, young and old, men,\r\nwomen, and children.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now, the siege of the Capitol having lasted a good while, the Gauls began\r\nto be in want of provision; and dividing their forces, part of them stayed with\r\ntheir king at the siege, the rest went to forage the country, ravaging the\r\ntowns and villages where they came, but not all together in a body, but in\r\ndifferent squadrons and parties; and to such a confidence had success raised\r\nthem, that they carelessly rambled about without the least fear or apprehension\r\nof danger. But the greatest and best ordered body of their forces went to the\r\ncity of Ardea, where Camillus then sojourned, having, ever since his leaving\r\nRome, sequestered himself from all business, and taken to a private life; but\r\nnow he began to rouse up himself, and consider not how to avoid or escape the\r\nenemy, but to find out an opportunity to be revenged upon them. And perceiving\r\nthat the Ardeatians wanted not men, but rather enterprise, through the\r\ninexperience and timidity of their officers, he began to speak with the young\r\nmen, first, to the effect that they ought not to ascribe the misfortune of the\r\nRomans to the courage of their enemy, nor attribute the losses they sustained\r\nby rash counsel to the conduct of men who had no title to victory; the event\r\nhad been only an evidence of the power of fortune; that it was a brave thing\r\neven with danger to repel a foreign and barbarous invader, whose end in\r\nconquering was like fire, to lay waste and destroy, but if they would be\r\ncourageous and resolute, he was ready to put an opportunity into their hands to\r\ngain a victory without hazard at all. When he found the young men embraced the\r\nthing, he went to the magistrates and council of the city, and, having\r\npersuaded them also, he mustered all that could bear arms, and drew them up\r\nwithin the walls, that they might not be perceived by the enemy, who was near;\r\nwho, having scoured the country, and now returned heavy-laden with booty, lay\r\nencamped in the plains in a careless and negligent posture, so that, with the\r\nnight ensuing upon debauch and drunkenness, silence prevailed through all the\r\ncamp. When Camillus learned this from his scouts, he drew out the Ardeatians,\r\nand in the dead of the night, passing in silence over the ground that lay\r\nbetween, came up to their works, and, commanding his trumpets to sound and his\r\nmen to shout and halloo, he struck terror into them from all quarters; while\r\ndrunkenness impeded and sleep retarded their movements. A few, whom fear had\r\nsobered, getting into some order, for awhile resisted; and so died with their\r\nweapons in their hands. But the greatest part of them, buried in wine and\r\nsleep, were surprised without their arms, and dispatched; and as many of them\r\nas by the advantage of the night got out of the camp were the next day found\r\nscattered abroad and wandering in the fields, and were picked up by the horse\r\nthat pursued them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe fame of this action soon flew through the neighboring cities, and stirred\r\nup the young men from various quarters to come and join themselves with him.\r\nBut none were so much concerned as those Romans who escaped in the battle of\r\nAllia, and were now at Veii, thus lamenting with themselves, “O heavens, what a\r\ncommander has Providence bereaved Rome of, to honor Ardea with his actions! And\r\nthat city, which brought forth and nursed so great a man, is lost and gone, and\r\nwe, destitute of a leader and shut up within strange walls, sit idle, and see\r\nItaly ruined before our eyes. Come, let us send to the Ardeatians to have back\r\nour general, or else, with weapons in our hands, let us go thither to him; for\r\nhe is no longer a banished man, nor we citizens, having no country but what is\r\nin the possession of the enemy.” To this they all agreed, and sent to Camillus\r\nto desire him to take the command; but he answered, that he would not, until\r\nthey that were in the Capitol should legally appoint him; for he esteemed them,\r\nas long as they were in being, to be his country; that if they should command\r\nhim, he would readily obey; but against their consent he would intermeddle with\r\nnothing. When this answer was returned, they admired the modesty and temper of\r\nCamillus; but they could not tell how to find a messenger to carry the\r\nintelligence to the Capitol, or rather, indeed, it seemed altogether impossible\r\nfor any one to get to the citadel whilst the enemy was in full possession of\r\nthe city. But among the young men there was one Pontius Cominius, of ordinary\r\nbirth, but ambitious of honor, who proffered himself to run the hazard, and\r\ntook no letters with him to those in the Capitol, lest, if he were intercepted,\r\nthe enemy might learn the intentions of Camillus; but, putting on a poor dress\r\nand carrying corks under it, he boldly traveled the greatest part of the way by\r\nday, and came to the city when it was dark; the bridge he could not pass, as it\r\nwas guarded by the barbarians; so that taking his clothes, which were neither\r\nmany nor heavy, and binding them about his head, he laid his body upon the\r\ncorks, and, swimming with them, got over to the city. And avoiding those\r\nquarters where he perceived the enemy was awake, which he guessed at by the\r\nlights and noise, he went to the Carmental gate, where there was greatest\r\nsilence, and where the hill of the Capitol is steepest, and rises with craggy\r\nand broken rock. By this way he got up, though with much difficulty, by the\r\nhollow of the cliff, and presented himself to the guards, saluting them, and\r\ntelling them his name; he was taken in, and carried to the commanders. And a\r\nsenate being immediately called, he related to them in order the victory of\r\nCamillus, which they had not heard of before, and the proceedings of the\r\nsoldiers; urging them to confirm Camillus in the command, as on him alone all\r\ntheir fellow-countrymen outside the city would rely. Having heard and consulted\r\nof the matter, the senate declared Camillus dictator, and sent back Pontius the\r\nsame way that he came, who, with the same success as before, got through the\r\nenemy without being discovered, and delivered to the Romans outside the\r\ndecision of the senate, who joyfully received it. Camillus, on his arrival,\r\nfound twenty thousand of them ready in arms; with which forces, and those\r\nconfederates he brought along with him, he prepared to set upon the enemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut at Rome some of the barbarians, passing by chance near the place at which\r\nPontius by night had got into the Capitol, spied in several places marks of\r\nfeet and hands, where he had laid hold and clambered, and places where the\r\nplants that grew to the rock had been rubbed off, and the earth had slipped,\r\nand went accordingly and reported it to the king, who, coming in person, and\r\nviewing it, for the present said nothing, but in the evening, picking out such\r\nof the Gauls as were nimblest of body, and by living in the mountains were\r\naccustomed to climb, he said to them, “The enemy themselves have shown us a way\r\nhow to come at them, which we knew not of before, and have taught us that it is\r\nnot so difficult and impossible but that men may overcome it. It would be a\r\ngreat shame, having begun well, to fail in the end, and to give up a place as\r\nimpregnable, when the enemy himself lets us see the way by which it may be\r\ntaken; for where it was easy for one man to get up, it will not be hard for\r\nmany, one after another; nay, when many shall undertake it, they will be aid\r\nand strength to each other. Rewards and honors shall be bestowed on every man\r\nas he shall acquit himself.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the king had thus spoken, the Gauls cheerfully undertook to perform it,\r\nand in the dead of night a good party of them together, with great silence,\r\nbegan to climb the rock, clinging to the precipitous and difficult ascent,\r\nwhich yet upon trial offered a way to them, and proved less difficult than they\r\nhad expected. So that the foremost of them having gained the top of all, and\r\nput themselves into order, they all but surprised the outworks, and mastered\r\nthe watch, who were fast asleep; for neither man nor dog perceived their\r\ncoming. But there were sacred geese kept near the temple of Juno, which at\r\nother times were plentifully fed, but now, by reason that corn and all other\r\nprovisions were grown scarce for all, were but in a poor condition. The\r\ncreature is by nature of quick sense, and apprehensive of the least noise, so\r\nthat these, being moreover watchful through hunger, and restless, immediately\r\ndiscovered the coming of the Gauls, and, running up and down with their noise\r\nand cackling, they raised the whole camp, while the barbarians on the other\r\nside, perceiving themselves discovered, no longer endeavored to conceal their\r\nattempt, but with shouting and violence advanced to the assault. The Romans,\r\nevery one in haste snatching up the next weapon that came to hand, did what\r\nthey could on the sudden occasion. Manlius, a man of consular dignity, of\r\nstrong body and great spirit, was the first that made head against them, and,\r\nengaging with two of the enemy at once, with his sword cut off the right arm of\r\none just as he was lifting up his blade to strike, and, running his target full\r\nin the face of the other, tumbled him headlong down the steep rock; then\r\nmounting the rampart, and there standing with others that came running to his\r\nassistance, drove down the rest of them, who, indeed, to begin, had not been\r\nmany, and did nothing worthy of so bold an attempt. The Romans, having thus\r\nescaped this danger, early in the morning took the captain of the watch and\r\nflung him down the rock upon the heads of their enemies, and to Manlius for his\r\nvictory voted a reward, intended more for honor than advantage, bringing him,\r\neach man of them, as much as he received for his daily allowance, which was\r\nhalf a pound of bread, and one eighth of a pint of wine.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHenceforward, the affairs of the Gauls were daily in a worse and worse\r\ncondition; they wanted provisions, being withheld from foraging through fear of\r\nCamillus, and sickness also was amongst them, occasioned by the number of\r\ncarcasses that lay in heaps unburied. Being lodged among the ruins, the ashes,\r\nwhich were very deep, blown about with the winds and combining with the sultry\r\nheats, breathed up, so to say, a dry and searching air, the inhalation of which\r\nwas destructive to their health. But the chief cause was the change from their\r\nnatural climate, coming as they did out of shady and hilly countries, abounding\r\nin means of shelter from the heat, to lodge in low, and, in the autumn season,\r\nvery unhealthy ground; added to which was the length and tediousness of the\r\nsiege, as they had now sat seven months before the Capitol. There was,\r\ntherefore, a great destruction among them, and the number of the dead grew so\r\ngreat, that the living gave up burying them. Neither, indeed, were things on\r\nthat account any better with the besieged, for famine increased upon them, and\r\ndespondency with not hearing any thing of Camillus, it being impossible to send\r\nany one to him, the city was so guarded by the barbarians. Things being in this\r\nsad condition on both sides, a motion of treaty was made at first by some of\r\nthe outposts, as they happened to speak with one another; which being embraced\r\nby the leading men, Sulpicius, tribune of the Romans, came to a parley with\r\nBrennus, in which it was agreed, that the Romans laying down a thousand weight\r\nof gold, the Gauls upon the receipt of it should immediately quit the city and\r\nterritories. The agreement being confirmed by oath on both sides, and the gold\r\nbrought forth, the Gauls used false dealing in the weights, secretly at first,\r\nbut afterwards openly pulled back and disturbed the balance; at which the\r\nRomans indignantly complaining, Brennus in a scoffing and insulting manner\r\npulled off his sword and belt, and threw them both into the scales; and when\r\nSulpicius asked what that meant, “What should it mean,” says he, “but woe to\r\nthe conquered?” which afterwards became a proverbial saying. As for the Romans,\r\nsome were so incensed that they were for taking their gold back again, and\r\nreturning to endure the siege. Others were for passing by and dissembling a\r\npetty injury, and not to account that the indignity of the thing lay in paying\r\nmore than was due, since the paying anything at all was itself a dishonor only\r\nsubmitted to as a necessity of the times.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst this difference remained still unsettled, both amongst themselves and\r\nwith the Gauls, Camillus was at the gates with his army; and, having learned\r\nwhat was going on, commanded the main body of his forces to follow slowly after\r\nhim in good order, and himself with the choicest of his men hastening on, went\r\nat once to the Romans; where all giving way to him, and receiving him as their\r\nsole magistrate, with profound silence and order, he took the gold out of the\r\nscales, and delivered it to his officers, and commanded the Gauls to take their\r\nweights and scales and depart; saying that it was customary with the Romans to\r\ndeliver their country with iron, not with gold. And when Brennus began to rage,\r\nand say that he was unjustly dealt with in such a breach of contract, Camillus\r\nanswered that it was never legally made, and the agreement of no force or\r\nobligation; for that himself being declared dictator, and there being no other\r\nmagistrate by law, the engagement had been made with men who had no power to\r\nenter into it; but now they might say anything they had to urge, for he was\r\ncome with full power by law to grant pardon to such as should ask it, or\r\ninflict punishment on the guilty, if they did not repent. At this, Brennus\r\nbroke into violent anger, and an immediate quarrel ensued; both sides drew\r\ntheir swords and attacked, but in confusion, as could not otherwise be amongst\r\nhouses, and ill narrow lanes and places where it was impossible to form in any\r\norder. But Brennus, presently recollecting himself, called off his men, and,\r\nwith the loss of a few only, brought them to their camp; and, rising in the\r\nnight with all his forces, left the city, and, advancing about eight miles,\r\nencamped upon the way to Gabii. As soon as day appeared, Camillus came up with\r\nhim, splendidly armed himself, and his soldiers full of courage and confidence;\r\nand there engaging with him in a sharp conflict, which lasted a long while,\r\noverthrew his army with great slaughter, and took their camp. Of those that\r\nfled, some were presently cut off by the pursuers; others, and these were the\r\ngreatest number, dispersed hither and thither, and were dispatched by the\r\npeople that came sallying out from the neighboring towns and villages.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus Rome was strangely taken, and more strangely recovered, having been seven\r\nwhole months in the possession of the barbarians who entered her a little after\r\nthe Ides of July, and were driven out about the Ides of February following.\r\nCamillus triumphed, as he deserved, having saved his country that was lost, and\r\nbrought the city, so to say, back again to itself. For those that had fled\r\nabroad, together with their wives and children, accompanied him as he rode in;\r\nand those who had been shut up in the Capitol, and were reduced almost to the\r\npoint of perishing with hunger, went out to meet him, embracing each other as\r\nthey met, and weeping for joy and, through the excess of the present pleasure,\r\nscarce believing in its truth. And when the priests and ministers of the gods\r\nappeared, bearing the sacred things, which in their flight they had either hid\r\non the spot, or conveyed away with them, and now openly showed in safety, the\r\ncitizens who saw the blessed sight felt as if with these the gods themselves\r\nwere again returned unto Rome. After Camillus had sacrificed to the gods, and\r\npurified the city according to the direction of those properly instructed, he\r\nrestored the existing temples, and erected a new one to Rumour, or Voice,\r\ninforming himself of the spot in which that voice from heaven came by night to\r\nMarcus Caedicius, foretelling the coming of the barbarian army.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was a matter of difficulty, and a hard task, amidst so much rubbish, to\r\ndiscover and redetermine the consecrated places; but by the zeal of Camillus,\r\nand the incessant labor of the priests, it was at last accomplished. But when\r\nit came also to rebuilding the city, which was wholly demolished, despondency\r\nseized the multitude, and a backwardness to engage in a work for which they had\r\nno materials; at a time, too, when they rather needed relief and repose from\r\ntheir past labors, than any new demands upon their exhausted strength and\r\nimpaired fortunes. Thus insensibly they turned their thoughts again towards\r\nVeii, a city ready-built and well-provided, and gave an opening to the arts of\r\nflatterers eager to gratify their desires, and lent their ears to seditious\r\nlanguage flung out against Camillus; as that, out of ambition and self-glory,\r\nhe withheld them from a city fit to receive them, forcing them to live in the\r\nmidst of ruins, and to re-erect a pile of burnt rubbish, that he might be\r\nesteemed not the chief magistrate only and general of Rome, but, to the\r\nexclusion of Romulus, its founder, also. The senate, therefore, fearing a\r\nsedition, would not suffer Camillus, though desirous, to lay down his authority\r\nwithin the year, though no other dictator had ever held it above six months.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey themselves, meantime, used their best endeavors, by kind persuasions and\r\nfamiliar addresses, to encourage and to appease the people, showing them the\r\nshrines and tombs of their ancestors, calling to their remembrance the sacred\r\nspots and holy places which Romulus and Numa or any other of their kings had\r\nconsecrated and left to their keeping; and among the strongest religious\r\narguments, urged the head, newly separated from the body, which was found in\r\nlaying the foundation of the Capitol, marking it as a place destined by fate to\r\nbe the head of all Italy; and the holy fire which had just been rekindled\r\nagain, since the end of the war, by the vestal virgins; “What a disgrace would\r\nit be to them to lose and extinguish this, leaving the city it belonged to, to\r\nbe either inhabited by strangers and new-comers, or left a wild pasture for\r\ncattle to graze on?” Such reasons as these, urged with complaint and\r\nexpostulation, sometimes in private upon individuals, and sometimes in their\r\npublic assemblies, were met, on the other hand, by laments and protestations of\r\ndistress and helplessness; entreaties, that, reunited as they just were, after\r\na sort of shipwreck, naked and destitute, they would not constrain them to\r\npatch up the pieces of a ruined and shattered city, when they had another at\r\nhand ready-built and prepared.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCamillus thought good to refer it to general deliberation, and himself spoke\r\nlargely and earnestly in behalf of his country, as also many others. At last,\r\ncalling to Lucius Lucretius, whose place it was to speak first, he commanded\r\nhim to give his sentence, and the rest as they followed, in order. Silence\r\nbeing made, and Lucretius just about to begin, by chance a centurion, passing\r\nby outside with his company of the day-guard, called out with a loud voice to\r\nthe ensign-bearer to halt and fix his standard, for this was the best place to\r\nstay in. This voice, coming in that moment of time, and at that crisis of\r\nuncertainty and anxiety for the future, was taken as a direction what was to be\r\ndone; so that Lucretius, assuming an attitude of devotion, gave sentence in\r\nconcurrence with the gods, as he said, as likewise did all that followed. Even\r\namong the common people it created a wonderful change of feeling; every one now\r\ncheered and encouraged his neighbor, and set himself to the work, proceeding in\r\nit, however, not by any regular lines or divisions, but every one pitching upon\r\nthat plot of ground which came next to hand, or best pleased his fancy; by\r\nwhich haste and hurry in building, they constructed their city in narrow and\r\nill-designed lanes, and with houses huddled together one upon another; for it\r\nis said that within the compass of the year the whole city was raised up anew,\r\nboth in its public walls and private buildings. The persons, however, appointed\r\nby Camillus to resume and mark out, in this general confusion, all consecrated\r\nplaces, coming, in their way round the Palatium, to the chapel of Mars, found\r\nthe chapel itself indeed destroyed and burnt to the ground, like everything\r\nelse, by the barbarians; but whilst they were clearing the place, and carrying\r\naway the rubbish, lit upon Romulus’s augural staff, buried under a great heap\r\nof ashes. This sort of staff is crooked at one end, and is called lituus; they\r\nmake use of it in quartering out the regions of the heavens when engaged in\r\ndivination from the flight of birds; Romulus, who was himself a great diviner,\r\nmade use of it. But when he disappeared from the earth, the priests took his\r\nstaff and kept it, as other holy things, from the touch of man; and when they\r\nnow found that, whereas all other things were consumed, this staff had\r\naltogether escaped the flames, they began to conceive happier hopes of Rome,\r\nand to augur from this token its future everlasting safety.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now they had scarcely got a breathing time from their trouble, when a new\r\nwar came upon them; and the Aequians, Volscians, and Latins all at once invaded\r\ntheir territories, and the Tuscans besieged Sutrium, their confederate city.\r\nThe military tribunes who commanded the army, and were encamped about the hill\r\nMaecius, being closely besieged by the Latins, and the camp in danger to be\r\nlost, sent to Rome, where Camillus was a third time chosen dictator. Of this\r\nwar two different accounts are given; I shall begin with the more fabulous.\r\nThey say that the Latins (whether out of pretense, or a real design to revive\r\nthe ancient relationship of the two nations) sent to desire of the Romans some\r\nfree- born maidens in marriage; that when the Romans were at a loss how to\r\ndetermine (for on one hand they dreaded a war, having scarcely yet settled and\r\nrecovered themselves, and on the other side suspected that this asking of wives\r\nwas, in plain terms, nothing else but a demand for hostages, though covered\r\nover with the specious name of intermarriage and alliance), a certain handmaid,\r\nby name Tutula, or, as some call her, Philotis, persuaded the magistrates to\r\nsend with her some of the most youthful and best looking maid-servants, in the\r\nbridal dress of noble virgins, and leave the rest to her care and management;\r\nthat the magistrates consenting, chose out as many as she thought necessary for\r\nher purpose, and, adorning them with gold and rich clothes, delivered them to\r\nthe Latins, who were encamped not far from the city; that at night the rest\r\nstole away the enemy’s swords, but Tutula or Philotis, getting to the top of a\r\nwild fig-tree, and spreading out a thick woolen cloth behind her, held out a\r\ntorch towards Rome, which was the signal concerted between her and the\r\ncommanders, without the knowledge, however, of any other of the citizens, which\r\nwas the reason that their issuing out from the city was tumultuous, the\r\nofficers pushing their men on, and they calling upon one another’s names, and\r\nscarce able to bring themselves into order; that setting upon the enemy’s\r\nworks, who either were asleep or expected no such matter, they took the camp,\r\nand destroyed most of them; and that this was done on the nones of July, which\r\nwas then called Quintilis, and that the feast that is observed on that day is a\r\ncommemoration of what was then done. For in it, first, they run out of the city\r\nin great crowds, and call out aloud several familiar and common names, Caius,\r\nMarcus, Lucius, and the like, in representation of the way in which they called\r\nto one another when they went out in such haste. In the next place, the\r\nmaid-servants, gaily dressed, run about, playing and jesting upon all they\r\nmeet, and amongst themselves, also, use a kind of skirmishing, to show they\r\nhelped in the conflict against the Latins; and while eating and drinking, they\r\nsit shaded over with boughs of wild fig-tree, and the day they call Nonae\r\nCaprotinae, as some think from that wild fig-tree on which the maid- servant\r\nheld up her torch, the Roman name for a wild fig-tree being caprificus. Others\r\nrefer most of what is said or done at this feast to the fate of Romulus, for,\r\non this day, he vanished outside the gates in a sudden darkness and storm (some\r\nthink it an eclipse of the sun), and from this, the day was called Nonae\r\nCaprotinae, the Latin for a goat being capra, and the place where he\r\ndisappeared having the name of Goat’s Marsh, as is stated in his life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the general stream of writers prefer the other account of this war, which\r\nthey thus relate. Camillus, being the third time chosen dictator, and learning\r\nthat the army under the tribunes was besieged by the Latins and Volscians, was\r\nconstrained to arm, not only those under, but also those over, the age of\r\nservice; and taking a large circuit round the mountain Maecius, undiscovered by\r\nthe enemy, lodged his army on their rear, and then by many fires gave notice of\r\nhis arrival. The besieged, encouraged by this, prepared to sally forth and join\r\nbattle; but the Latins and Volscians, fearing this exposure to an enemy on both\r\nsides, drew themselves within their works, and fortified their camp with a\r\nstrong palisade of trees on every side, resolving to wait for more supplies\r\nfrom home, and expecting, also, the assistance of the Tuscans, their\r\nconfederates. Camillus, detecting their object, and fearing to be reduced to\r\nthe same position to which he had brought them, namely, to be besieged himself,\r\nresolved to lose no time; and finding their rampart was all of timber, and\r\nobserving that a strong wind constantly at sun- rising blew off from the\r\nmountains, after having prepared a quantity of combustibles, about break of day\r\nhe drew forth his forces, commanding a part with their missiles to assault the\r\nenemy with noise and shouting on the other quarter, whilst he, with those that\r\nwere to fling in the fire, went to that side of the enemy’s camp to which the\r\nwind usually blew, and there waited his opportunity. When the skirmish was\r\nbegun, and the sun risen, and a strong wind set in from the mountains, he gave\r\nthe signal of onset; and, heaping in an infinite quantity of fiery matter,\r\nfilled all their rampart with it, so that the flame being fed by the close\r\ntimber and wooden palisades, went on and spread into all quarters. The Latins,\r\nhaving nothing ready to keep it off or extinguish it, when the camp was now\r\nalmost full of fire, were driven back within a very small compass, and at last\r\nforced by necessity to come into their enemy’s hands, who stood before the\r\nworks ready armed and prepared to receive them; of these very few escaped,\r\nwhile those that stayed in the camp were all a prey to the fire, until the\r\nRomans, to gain the pillage, extinguished it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese things performed, Camillus, leaving his son Lucius in the camp to guard\r\nthe prisoners and secure the booty, passed into the enemy’s country, where,\r\nhaving taken the city of the Aequians and reduced the Volscians to obedience,\r\nhe then immediately led his army to Sutrium, not having heard what had befallen\r\nthe Sutrians, but making haste to assist them, as if they were still in danger\r\nand besieged by the Tuscans. They, however, had already surrendered their city\r\nto their enemies, and destitute of all things, with nothing left but their\r\nclothes, met Camillus on the way, leading their wives and children, and\r\nbewailing their misfortune. Camillus himself was struck with compassion, and\r\nperceiving the soldiers weeping, and commiserating their case, while the\r\nSutrians hung about and clung to them, resolved not to defer revenge, but that\r\nvery day to lead his army to Sutrium; conjecturing that the enemy, having just\r\ntaken a rich and plentiful city, without an enemy left within it, nor any from\r\nwithout to be expected, would be found abandoned to enjoyment and unguarded.\r\nNeither did his opinion fail him; he not only passed through their country\r\nwithout discovery, but came up to their very gates and possessed himself of the\r\nwalls, not a man being left to guard them, but their whole army scattered about\r\nin the houses, drinking and making merry. Nay, when at last they did perceive\r\nthat the enemy had seized the city, they were so overloaded with meat and wine,\r\nthat few were able so much as to endeavor to escape, but either waited\r\nshamefully for their death within doors, or surrendered themselves to the\r\nconqueror. Thus the city of the Sutrians was twice taken in one day; and they\r\nwho were in possession lost it, and they who had lost regained it, alike by the\r\nmeans of Camillus. For all which actions he received a triumph, which brought\r\nhim no less honor and reputation than the two former ones; for those citizens\r\nwho before most regarded him with an evil eye, and ascribed his successes to a\r\ncertain luck rather than real merit, were compelled by these last acts of his\r\nto allow the whole honor to his great abilities and energy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf all the adversaries and enviers of his glory, Marcus Manlius was the most\r\ndistinguished, he who first drove back the Gauls when they made their night\r\nattack upon the Capitol, and who for that reason had been named Capitolinus.\r\nThis man, affecting the first place in the commonwealth, and not able by noble\r\nways to outdo Camillus’s reputation, took that ordinary course towards\r\nusurpation of absolute power, namely, to gain the multitude, those of them\r\nespecially that were in debt; defending some by pleading their causes against\r\ntheir creditors, rescuing others by force, and not suffering the law to proceed\r\nagainst them; insomuch that in a short time he got great numbers of indigent\r\npeople about him, whose tumults and uproars in the forum struck terror into the\r\nprincipal citizens. After that Quintius Capitolinus, who was made dictator to\r\nsuppress these disorders, had committed Manlius to prison, the people\r\nimmediately changed their apparel, a thing never done but in great and public\r\ncalamities, and the senate, fearing some tumult, ordered him to be released.\r\nHe, however, when set at liberty, changed not his course, but was rather the\r\nmore insolent in his proceedings, filling the whole city with faction and\r\nsedition. They chose, therefore, Camillus again military tribune; and a day\r\nbeing appointed for Manlius to answer to his charge, the prospect from the\r\nplace where his trial was held proved a great impediment to his accusers; for\r\nthe very spot where Manlius by night fought with the Gauls overlooked the forum\r\nfrom the Capitol, so that, stretching forth his hands that way, and weeping, he\r\ncalled to their remembrance his past actions, raising compassion in all that\r\nbeheld him. Insomuch that the judges were at a loss what to do, and several\r\ntimes adjourned the trial, unwilling to acquit him of the crime, which was\r\nsufficiently proved, and yet unable to execute the law while his noble action\r\nremained, as it were, before their eyes. Camillus, considering this,\r\ntransferred the court outside the gates to the Peteline Grove, from whence\r\nthere is no prospect of the Capitol. Here his accuser went on with his charge,\r\nand his judges were capable of remembering and duly resenting his guilty deeds.\r\nHe was convicted, carried to the Capitol, and flung headlong from the rock; so\r\nthat one and the same spot was thus the witness of his greatest glory, and\r\nmonument of his most unfortunate end. The Romans, besides, razed his house, and\r\nbuilt there a temple to the goddess they call Moneta, ordaining for the future\r\nthat none of the patrician order should ever dwell on the Capitoline.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now Camillus, being called to his sixth tribuneship, desired to be excused,\r\nas being aged, and perhaps not unfearful of the malice of fortune, and those\r\nreverses which seem to ensue upon great prosperity. But the most apparent\r\npretense was the weakness of his body, for he happened at that time to be sick;\r\nthe people, however, would admit of no excuses, but, crying that they wanted\r\nnot his strength for horse or for foot service, but only his counsel and\r\nconduct, constrained him to undertake the command, and with one of his\r\nfellow-tribunes to lead the army immediately against the enemy. These were the\r\nPraenestines and Volscians, who, with large forces, were laying waste the\r\nterritory of the Roman confederates. Having marched out with his army, he sat\r\ndown and encamped near the enemy, meaning himself to protract the war, or if\r\nthere should come any necessity or occasion of fighting, in the mean time to\r\nregain his strength. But Lucius Furius, his colleague, carried away with the\r\ndesire of glory, was not to be held in, but, impatient to give battle, inflamed\r\nthe inferior officers of the army with the same eagerness; so that Camillus,\r\nfearing he might seem out of envy to be wishing to rob the young men of the\r\nglory of a noble exploit, consented, though unwillingly, that he should draw\r\nout the forces, whilst himself, by reason of weakness, stayed behind with a few\r\nin the camp. Lucius, engaging rashly, was discomfited, when Camillus,\r\nperceiving the Romans to give ground and fly, could not contain himself, but,\r\nleaping from his bed, with those he had about him ran to meet them at the gates\r\nof the camp, making his way through the flyers to oppose the pursuers; so that\r\nthose who had got within the camp turned back at once and followed him, and\r\nthose that came flying from without made head again and gathered about him,\r\nexhorting one another not to forsake their general. Thus the enemy for that\r\ntime, was stopped in his pursuit. The next day Camillus drawing out his forces\r\nand joining battle with them, overthrew them by main force, and, following\r\nclose upon them, entered pell-mell with them into their camp and took it,\r\nslaying the greatest part of them. Afterwards, having heard that the city\r\nSatricum was taken by the Tuscans, and the inhabitants, all Romans, put to the\r\nsword, he sent home to Rome the main body of his forces and heaviest-armed,\r\nand, taking with him the lightest and most vigorous soldiers, set suddenly upon\r\nthe Tuscans, who were in the possession of the city, and mastered them, slaying\r\nsome and expelling the rest; and so, returning to Rome with great spoils, gave\r\nsignal evidence of their superior wisdom, who, not mistrusting the weakness and\r\nage of a commander endued with courage and conduct, had rather chosen him who\r\nwas sickly and desirous to be excused, than younger men who were forward and\r\nambitious to command.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen, therefore, the revolt of the Tusculans was reported, they gave Camillus\r\nthe charge of reducing them, choosing one of his five colleagues to go with\r\nhim. And when every one was eager for the place, contrary to the expectation of\r\nall, he passed by the rest and chose Lucius Furius, the very same man who\r\nlately, against the judgment of Camillus, had rashly hazarded and nearly lost a\r\nbattle; willing, as it should seem, to dissemble that miscarriage, and free him\r\nfrom the shame of it. The Tusculans, hearing of Camillus’s coming against them,\r\nmade a cunning attempt at revoking their act of revolt; their fields, as in\r\ntimes of highest peace, were full of plowman and shepherds; their gates stood\r\nwide open, and their children were being taught in the schools; of the people,\r\nsuch as were tradesmen, he found in their workshops, busied about their several\r\nemployments, and the better sort of citizens walking in the public places in\r\ntheir ordinary dress; the magistrates hurried about to provide quarters for the\r\nRomans, as if they stood in fear of no danger and were conscious of no fault.\r\nWhich arts, though they could not dispossess Camillus of the conviction he had\r\nof their treason, yet induced some compassion for their repentance; he\r\ncommanded them to go to the senate and deprecate their anger, and joined\r\nhimself as an intercessor in their behalf, so that their city was acquitted of\r\nall guilt and admitted to Roman citizenship, These were the most memorable\r\nactions of his sixth tribuneship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter these things, Licinius Stolo raised a great sedition in the city, and\r\nbrought the people to dissension with the senate, contending, that of two\r\nconsuls one should be chosen out of the commons, and not both out of the\r\npatricians. Tribunes of the people were chosen, but the election of consuls was\r\ninterrupted and prevented by the people. And as this absence of any supreme\r\nmagistrate was leading to yet further confusion, Camillus was the fourth time\r\ncreated dictator by the senate, sorely against the people’s will, and not\r\naltogether in accordance with his own; he had little desire for a conflict with\r\nmen whose past services entitled them to tell him that he had achieved far\r\ngreater actions in war along with them than in politics with the patricians,\r\nwho, indeed, had only put him forward now out of envy; that, if successful, he\r\nmight crush the people, or, failing, be crushed himself. However, to provide as\r\ngood a remedy as he could for the present, knowing the day on which the\r\ntribunes of the people intended to prefer the law, he appointed it by\r\nproclamation for a general muster, and called the people from the forum into\r\nthe Campus, threatening to set heavy fines upon such as should not obey. On the\r\nother side, the tribunes of the people met his threats by solemnly protesting\r\nthey would fine him in fifty thousand drachmas of silver, if he persisted in\r\nobstructing the people from giving their suffrages for the law. Whether it\r\nwere, then, that he feared another banishment or condemnation which would ill\r\nbecome his age and past great actions, or found himself unable to stem the\r\ncurrent of the multitude, which ran strong and violent, he betook himself, for\r\nthe present, to his house, and afterwards, for some days together, professing\r\nsickness, finally laid down his dictatorship. The senate created another\r\ndictator; who, choosing Stolo, leader of the sedition, to be his general of\r\nhorse, suffered that law to be enacted and ratified, which was most grievous to\r\nthe patricians, namely, that no person whatsoever should possess above five\r\nhundred acres of land. Stolo was much distinguished by the victory he had\r\ngained; but, not long after, was found himself to possess more than he had\r\nallowed to others, and suffered the penalties of his own law.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now the contention about election of consuls coming on (which was the main\r\npoint and original cause of the dissension, and had throughtout furnished most\r\nmatter of division between the senate and the people), certain intelligence\r\narrived, that the Gauls again, proceeding from the Adriatic Sea, were marching\r\nin vast numbers upon Rome. On the very heels of the report followed manifest\r\nacts also of hostility; the country through which they marched was all wasted,\r\nand such as by flight could not make their escape to Rome were dispersing and\r\nscattering among the mountains. The terror of this war quieted the sedition;\r\nnobles and commons, senate and people together, unanimously chose Camillus the\r\nfifth time dictator; who, though very aged, not wanting much of fourscore\r\nyears, yet, considering the danger and necessity of his country, did not, as\r\nbefore, pretend sickness, or depreciate his own capacity, but at once undertook\r\nthe charge, and enrolled soldiers. And, knowing that the great force of the\r\nbarbarians lay chiefly in their swords, with which they laid about them in a\r\nrude and inartificial manner, hacking and hewing the head and shoulders, he\r\ncaused head-pieces entire of iron to be made for most of his men, smoothing and\r\npolishing the outside, that the enemy’s swords, lighting upon them, might\r\neither slide off or be broken; and fitted also their shields with a little rim\r\nof brass, the wood itself not being sufficient to bear off the blows. Besides,\r\nhe taught his soldiers to use their long javelins in close encounter, and, by\r\nbringing them under their enemy’s swords, to receive their strokes upon them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the Gauls drew near, about the river Anio, dragging a heavy camp after\r\nthem, and loaded with infinite spoil, Camillus drew forth his forces, and\r\nplanted himself upon a hill of easy ascent, and which had many dips in it, with\r\nthe object that the greatest part of his army might lie concealed, and those\r\nwho appeared might be thought to have betaken themselves, through fear, to\r\nthose upper grounds. And the more to increase this opinion in them, he suffered\r\nthem, without any disturbance, to spoil and pillage even to his very trenches,\r\nkeeping himself quiet within his works, which were well fortified; till, at\r\nlast, perceiving that part of the enemy were scattered about the country\r\nforaging, and that those that were in the camp did nothing day and night but\r\ndrink and revel, in the nighttime he drew up his lightest-armed men, and sent\r\nthem out before to impede the enemy while forming into order, and to harass\r\nthem when they should first issue out of their camp; and early in the morning\r\nbrought down his main body, and set them in battle array in the lower grounds,\r\na numerous and courageous army, not, as the barbarians had supposed, an\r\ninconsiderable and fearful division. The first thing that shook the courage of\r\nthe Gauls was, that their enemies had, contrary to their expectation, the honor\r\nof being aggressors. In the next place, the light-armed men, falling upon them\r\nbefore they could get into their usual order or range themselves in their\r\nproper squadrons, so disturbed and pressed upon them, that they were obliged to\r\nfight at random, without any order at all. But at last, when Camillus brought\r\non his heavy-armed legions, the barbarians, with their swords drawn, went\r\nvigorously to engage them; the Romans, however, opposing their javelins and\r\nreceiving the force of their blows on those parts of their defenses which were\r\nwell guarded with steel, turned the edge of their weapons, being made of a soft\r\nand ill-tempered metal, so that their swords bent and doubled up in their\r\nhands; and their shields were pierced through and through, and grew heavy with\r\nthe javelins that stuck upon them. And thus forced to quit their own weapons,\r\nthey endeavored to take advantage of those of their enemies, laid hold of the\r\njavelins with their hands, and tried to pluck them away. But the Romans,\r\nperceiving them now naked and defenseless, betook themselves to their swords,\r\nwhich they so well used, that in a little time great slaughter was made in the\r\nforemost ranks, while the rest fled over all parts of the level country; the\r\nhills and upper grounds Camillus had secured beforehand, and their camp they\r\nknew it would not be difficult for the enemy to take, as, through confidence of\r\nvictory, they had left it unguarded. This fight, it is stated, was thirteen\r\nyears after the sacking of Rome; and from henceforward the Romans took courage,\r\nand surmounted the apprehensions they had hitherto entertained of the\r\nbarbarians, whose previous defeat they had attributed rather to pestilence and\r\na concurrence of mischances than to their own superior valor. And, indeed, this\r\nfear had been formerly so great, that they made a law, that priests should be\r\nexcused from service in war, unless in an invasion from the Gauls.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was the last military action that ever Camillus performed; for the\r\nvoluntary surrender of the city of the Velitrani was but a mere accessory to\r\nit. But the greatest of all civil contests, and the hardest to be managed, was\r\nstill to be fought out against the people; who, returning home full of victory\r\nand success, insisted, contrary to established law, to have one of the consuls\r\nchosen out of their own body. The senate strongly opposed it, and would not\r\nsuffer Camillus to lay down his dictatorship, thinking, that, under the shelter\r\nof his great name and authority, they should be better able to contend for the\r\npower of the aristocracy. But when Camillus was sitting upon the tribunal,\r\ndispatching public affairs, an officer, sent by the tribunes of the people,\r\ncommanded him to rise and follow him, laying his hand upon him, as ready to\r\nseize and carry him away; upon which, such a noise and tumult as was never\r\nheard before, filled the whole forum; some that were about Camillus thrusting\r\nthe officer from the bench, and the multitude below calling out to him to bring\r\nCamillus down. Being at a loss what to do in these difficulties, he yet laid\r\nnot down his authority, but, taking the senators along with him, he went to the\r\nsenate-house; but before he entered, besought the gods that they would bring\r\nthese troubles to a happy conclusion, solemnly vowing, when the tumult was\r\nended, to build a temple to Concord. A great conflict of opposite opinions\r\narose in the senate; but, at last, the most moderate and most acceptable to the\r\npeople prevailed, and consent was given, that of two consuls, one should be\r\nchosen from the commonalty. When the dictator proclaimed this determination of\r\nthe senate to the people, at the moment, pleased and reconciled with the\r\nsenate, as indeed could not otherwise be, they accompanied Camillus home, with\r\nall expressions and acclamations of joy; and the next day, assembling together,\r\nthey voted a temple of Concord to be built, according to Camillus’s vow, facing\r\nthe assembly and the forum; and to the feasts, called the Latin holidays, they\r\nadded one day more, making four in all; and ordained that, on the present\r\noccasion, the whole people of Rome should sacrifice with garlands on their\r\nheads.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the election of consuls held by Camillus, Marcus Aemilius was chosen of the\r\npatricians, and Lucius Sextius the first of the commonalty; and this was the\r\nlast of all Camillus’s actions. In the year following, a pestilential sickness\r\ninfected Rome, which, besides an infinite number of the common people, swept\r\naway most of the magistrates, among whom was Camillus; whose death cannot be\r\ncalled immature, if we consider his great age, or greater actions, yet was he\r\nmore lamented than all the rest put together that then died of that distemper.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap12\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003ePERICLES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar once, seeing some wealthy strangers at Rome, carrying up and down with\r\nthem in their arms and bosoms young puppy-dogs and monkeys, embracing and\r\nmaking much of them, took occasion not unnaturally to ask whether the women in\r\ntheir country were not used to bear children; by that prince-like reprimand\r\ngravely reflecting upon persons who spend and lavish upon brute beasts that\r\naffection and kindness which nature has implanted in us to be bestowed on those\r\nof our own kind. With like reason may we blame those who misuse that love of\r\ninquiry and observation which nature has implanted in our souls, by expending\r\nit on objects unworthy of the attention either of their eyes or their ears,\r\nwhile they disregard such as are excellent in themselves, and would do them\r\ngood.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe mere outward sense, being passive in responding to the impression of the\r\nobjects that come in its way and strike upon it, perhaps cannot help\r\nentertaining and taking notice of everything that addresses it, be it what it\r\nwill, useful or unuseful; but, in the exercise of his mental perception, every\r\nman, if he chooses, has a natural power to turn himself upon all occasions, and\r\nto change and shift with the greatest ease to what he shall himself judge\r\ndesirable. So that it becomes a man’s duty to pursue and make after the best\r\nand choicest of everything, that he may not only employ his contemplation, but\r\nmay also be improved by it. For as that color is most suitable to the eye whose\r\nfreshness and pleasantness stimulates and strengthens the sight, so a man ought\r\nto apply his intellectual perception to such objects as, with the sense of\r\ndelight, are apt to call it forth, and allure it to its own proper good and\r\nadvantage.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSuch objects we find in the acts of virtue, which also produce in the minds of\r\nmere readers about them, an emulation and eagerness that may lead them on to\r\nimitation. In other things there does not immediately follow upon the\r\nadmiration and liking of the thing done, any strong desire of doing the like.\r\nNay, many times, on the very contrary, when we are pleased with the work, we\r\nslight and set little by the workman or artist himself, as, for instance, in\r\nperfumes and purple dyes, we are taken with the things themselves well enough,\r\nbut do not think dyers and perfumers otherwise than low and sordid people. It\r\nwas not said amiss by Antisthenes, when people told him that one Ismenias was\r\nan excellent piper, “It may be so,” said he, “but he is but a wretched human\r\nbeing, otherwise he would not have been an excellent piper.” And king Philip,\r\nto the same purpose, told his son Alexander, who once at a merry-meeting played\r\na piece of music charmingly and skillfully, “Are you not ashamed, son, to play\r\nso well?” For it is enough for a king, or prince to find leisure sometimes to\r\nhear others sing, and he does the muses quite honor enough when he pleases to\r\nbe but present, while others engage in such exercises and trials of skill.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe who busies himself in mean occupations produces, in the very pains he takes\r\nabout things of little or no use, an evidence against himself of his negligence\r\nand indisposition to what is really good. Nor did any generous and ingenuous\r\nyoung man, at the sight of the statue of Jupiter at Pisa, ever desire to be a\r\nPhidias, or, on seeing that of Juno at Argos, long to be a Polycletus, or feel\r\ninduced by his pleasure in their poems to wish to be an Anacreon or Philetas or\r\nArchilochus. For it does not necessarily follow, that, if a piece of work\r\nplease for its gracefulness, therefore he that wrought it deserves our\r\nadmiration. Whence it is that neither do such things really profit or advantage\r\nthe beholders, upon the sight of which no zeal arises for the imitation of\r\nthem, nor any impulse or inclination, which may prompt any desire or endeavor\r\nof doing the like. But virtue, by the bare statement of its actions, can so\r\naffect men’s minds as to create at once both admiration of the things done and\r\ndesire to imitate the doers of them. The goods of fortune we would possess and\r\nwould enjoy; those of virtue we long to practice and exercise; we are content\r\nto receive the former from others, the latter we wish others to experience from\r\nus. Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen, than it inspires\r\nan impulse to practice; and influences the mind and character not by a mere\r\nimitation which we look at, but, by the statement of the fact, creates a moral\r\npurpose which we form.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd so we have thought fit to spend our time and pains in writing of the lives\r\nof famous persons; and have composed this tenth book upon that subject,\r\ncontaining the life of Pericles, and that of Fabius Maximus, who carried on the\r\nwar against Hannibal, men alike, as in their other virtues and good parts, so\r\nespecially in their mild and upright temper and demeanor, and in that capacity\r\nto bear the cross-grained humors of their fellow-citizens and colleagues in\r\noffice which made them both most useful and serviceable to the interests of\r\ntheir countries. Whether we take a right aim at our intended purpose, it is\r\nleft to the reader to judge by what he shall here find.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPericles was of the tribe Acamantis, and the township Cholargus, of the noblest\r\nbirth both on his father’s and mother’s side. Xanthippus, his father, who\r\ndefeated the king of Persia’s generals in the battle at Mycale, took to wife\r\nAgariste, the grandchild of Clisthenes, who drove out the sons of Pisistratus,\r\nand nobly put an end to their tyrannical usurpation, and moreover made a body\r\nof laws, and settled a model of government admirably tempered and suited for\r\nthe harmony and safety of the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis mother, being near her time, fancied in a dream that she was brought to bed\r\nof a lion, and a few days after was delivered of Pericles, in other respects\r\nperfectly formed, only his head was somewhat longish and out of proportion. For\r\nwhich reason almost all the images and statues that were made of him have the\r\nhead covered with a helmet, the workmen apparently being willing not to expose\r\nhim. The poets of Athens called him Schinocephalos, or squill-head, from\r\nschinos, a squill, or sea- onion. One of the comic poets, Cratinus, in the\r\nChirons, tells us that —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nOld Chronos once took queen Sedition to wife;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhich two brought to life\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThat tyrant far-famed,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhom the gods the supreme skull-compeller have named.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd, in the Nemesis, addresses him —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nCome, Jove, thou head of gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd a second, Teleclides, says, that now, in embarrassment with political\r\ndifficulties, he sits in the city,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFainting underneath the load\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOf his own head; and now abroad,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFrom his huge gallery of a pate,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSends forth trouble to the state.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd a third, Eupolis, in the comedy called the Demi, in a series of questions\r\nabout each of the demagogues, whom he makes in the play to come up from hell,\r\nupon Pericles being named last, exclaims,—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAnd here by way of summary, now we’ve done,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBehold, in brief, the heads of all in one.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe master that taught him music, most authors are agreed, was Damon (whose\r\nname, they say, ought to be pronounced with the first syllable short). Though\r\nAristotle tells us that he was thoroughly practiced in all accomplishments of\r\nthis kind by Pythoclides. Damon, it is not unlikely, being a sophist, out of\r\npolicy, sheltered himself under the profession of music to conceal from people\r\nin general his skill in other things, and under this pretense attended\r\nPericles, the young athlete of politics, so to say, as his training-master in\r\nthese exercises. Damon’s lyre, however, did not prove altogether a successful\r\nblind; he was banished the country by ostracism for ten years, as a dangerous\r\nintermeddler and a favorer of arbitrary power, and, by this means, gave the\r\nstage occasion to play upon him. As, for instance, Plato, the comic poet,\r\nintroduces a character, who questions him —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTell me, if you please,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSince you’re the Chiron who taught Pericles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPericles, also, was a hearer of Zeno, the Eleatic, who treated of natural\r\nphilosophy in the same manner as Parmenides did, but had also perfected himself\r\nin an art of his own for refuting and silencing opponents in argument; as Timon\r\nof Phlius describes it, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAlso the two-edged tongue of mighty Zeno, who,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSay what one would, could argue it untrue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut he that saw most of Pericles, and furnished him most especially with a\r\nweight and grandeur of sense, superior to all arts of popularity, and in\r\ngeneral gave him his elevation and sublimity of purpose and of character, was\r\nAnaxagoras of Clazomenae; whom the men of those times called by the name of\r\nNous, that is, mind, or intelligence, whether in admiration of the great and\r\nextraordinary gift he displayed for the science of nature, or because that he\r\nwas the first of the philosophers who did not refer the first ordering of the\r\nworld to fortune or chance, nor to necessity or compulsion, but to a pure,\r\nunadulterated intelligence, which in all other existing mixed and compound\r\nthings acts as a principle of discrimination, and of combination of like with\r\nlike.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor this man, Pericles entertained an extraordinary esteem and admiration, and,\r\nfilling himself with this lofty, and, as they call it, up-in-the-air sort of\r\nthought, derived hence not merely, as was natural, elevation of purpose and\r\ndignity of language, raised far above the base and dishonest buffooneries of\r\nmob-eloquence, but, besides this, a composure of countenance, and a serenity\r\nand calmness in all his movements, which no occurrence whilst he was speaking\r\ncould disturb, a sustained and even tone of voice, and various other advantages\r\nof a similar kind, which produced the greatest effect on his hearers. Once,\r\nafter being reviled and ill-spoken of all day long in his own hearing by some\r\nvile and abandoned fellow in the open marketplace, where he was engaged in the\r\ndispatch of some urgent affair, he continued his business in perfect silence,\r\nand in the evening returned home composedly, the man still dogging him at the\r\nheels, and pelting him all the way with abuse and foul language; and stepping\r\ninto his house, it being by this time dark, he ordered one of his servants to\r\ntake a light, and to go along with the man and see him safe home. Ion, it is\r\ntrue, the dramatic poet, says that Pericles’s manner in company was somewhat\r\nover-assuming and pompous; and that into his high bearing there entered a good\r\ndeal of slightingness and scorn of others; he reserves his commendation for\r\nCimon’s ease and pliancy and natural grace in society. Ion, however, who must\r\nneeds make virtue, like a show of tragedies, include some comic scenes, we\r\nshall not altogether rely upon; Zeno used to bid those who called Pericles’s\r\ngravity the affectation of a charlatan, to go and affect the like themselves;\r\ninasmuch as this mere counterfeiting might in time insensibly instill into them\r\na real love and knowledge of those noble qualities.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNor were these the only advantages which Pericles derived from Anaxagoras’s\r\nacquaintance; he seems also to have become, by his instructions, superior to\r\nthat superstition with which an ignorant wonder at appearances, for example, in\r\nthe heavens possesses the minds of people unacquainted with their causes, eager\r\nfor the supernatural, and excitable through an inexperience which the knowledge\r\nof natural causes removes, replacing wild and timid superstition by the good\r\nhope and assurance of an intelligent piety.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere is a story, that once Pericles had brought to him from a country farm of\r\nhis, a ram’s head with one horn, and that Lampon, the diviner, upon seeing the\r\nhorn grow strong and solid out of the midst of the forehead, gave it as his\r\njudgment, that, there being at that time two potent factions, parties, or\r\ninterests in the city, the one of Thucydides and the other of Pericles, the\r\ngovernment would come about to that one of them in whose ground or estate this\r\ntoken or indication of fate had shown itself. But that Anaxagoras, cleaving the\r\nskull in sunder, showed to the bystanders that the brain had not filled up its\r\nnatural place, but being oblong, like an egg, had collected from all parts of\r\nthe vessel which contained it, in a point to that place from whence the root of\r\nthe horn took its rise. And that, for that time, Anaxagoras was much admired\r\nfor his explanation by those that were present; and Lampon no less a little\r\nwhile after, when Thucydides was overpowered, and the whole affairs of the\r\nstate and government came into the hands of Pericles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd yet, in my opinion, it is no absurdity to say that they were both in the\r\nright, both natural philosopher and diviner, one justly detecting the cause of\r\nthis event, by which it was produced, the other the end for which it was\r\ndesigned. For it was the business of the one to find out and give an account of\r\nwhat it was made, and in what manner and by what means it grew as it did; and\r\nof the other to foretell to what end and purpose it was so made, and what it\r\nmight mean or portend. Those who say that to find out the cause of a prodigy is\r\nin effect to destroy its supposed signification as such, do not take notice\r\nthat, at the same time, together with divine prodigies, they also do away with\r\nsigns and signals of human art and concert, as, for instance, the clashings of\r\nquoits, fire-beacons, and the shadows on sun-dials, every one of which things\r\nhas its cause, and by that cause and contrivance is a sign of something else.\r\nBut these are subjects, perhaps, that would better befit another place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPericles, while yet but a young man, stood in considerable apprehension of the\r\npeople, as he was thought in face and figure to be very like the tyrant\r\nPisistratus, and those of great age remarked upon the sweetness of his voice,\r\nand his volubility and rapidity in speaking, and were struck with amazement at\r\nthe resemblance. Reflecting, too, that he had a considerable estate, and was\r\ndescended of a noble family, and had friends of great influence, he was fearful\r\nall this might bring him to be banished as a dangerous person; and for this\r\nreason meddled not at all with state affairs, but in military service showed\r\nhimself of a brave and intrepid nature. But when Aristides was now dead, and\r\nThemistocles driven out, and Cimon was for the most part kept abroad by the\r\nexpeditions he made in parts out of Greece, Pericles, seeing things in this\r\nposture, now advanced and took his side, not with the rich and few, but with\r\nthe many and poor, contrary to his natural bent, which was far from\r\ndemocratical; but, most likely, fearing he might fall under suspicion of aiming\r\nat arbitrary power, and seeing Cimon on the side of the aristocracy, and much\r\nbeloved by the better and more distinguished people, he joined the party of the\r\npeople, with a view at once both to secure himself and procure means against\r\nCimon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe immediately entered, also, on quite a new course of life and management of\r\nhis time. For he was never seen to walk in any street but that which led to the\r\nmarketplace and the council-hall, and he avoided invitations of friends to\r\nsupper, and all friendly visiting and intercourse whatever; in all the time he\r\nhad to do with the public, which was not a little, he was never known to have\r\ngone to any of his friends to a supper, except that once when his near kinsman\r\nEuryptolemus married, he remained present till the ceremony of the\r\ndrink-offering, and then immediately rose from table and went his way. For\r\nthese friendly meetings are very quick to defeat any assumed superiority, and\r\nin intimate familiarity an exterior of gravity is hard to maintain. Real\r\nexcellence, indeed, is most recognized when most openly looked into; and in\r\nreally good men, nothing which meets the eyes of external observers so truly\r\ndeserves their admiration, as their daily common life does that of their nearer\r\nfriends. Pericles, however, to avoid any feeling of commonness, or any satiety\r\non the part of the people, presented himself at intervals only, not speaking to\r\nevery business, nor at all times coming into the assembly, but, as Critolaus\r\nsays, reserving himself, like the Salaminian galley, for great occasions, while\r\nmatters of lesser importance were dispatched by friends or other speakers under\r\nhis direction. And of this number we are told Ephialtes made one, who broke the\r\npower of the council of Areopagus, giving the people, according to Plato’s\r\nexpression, so copious and so strong a draught of liberty, that, growing wild\r\nand unruly, like an unmanageable horse, it, as the comic poets say, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“ — got beyond all keeping in,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nChamping at Euboea, and among the islands leaping in.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe style of speaking most consonant to his form of life and the dignity of his\r\nviews he found, so to say, in the tones of that instrument with which\r\nAnaxagoras had furnished him; of his teaching he continually availed himself,\r\nand deepened the colors of rhetoric with the dye of natural science. For\r\nhaving, in addition to his great natural genius, attained, by the study of\r\nnature, to use the words of the divine Plato, this height of intelligence, and\r\nthis universal consummating power, and drawing hence whatever might be of\r\nadvantage to him in the art of speaking, he showed himself far superior to all\r\nothers. Upon which account, they say, he had his nickname given him, though\r\nsome are of opinion he was named the Olympian from the public buildings with\r\nwhich he adorned the city; and others again, from his great power in public\r\naffairs, whether of war or peace. Nor is it unlikely that the confluence of\r\nmany attributes may have conferred it on him. However, the comedies represented\r\nat the time, which, both in good earnest and in merriment, let fly many hard\r\nwords at him, plainly show that he got that appellation especially from his\r\nspeaking; they speak of his “thundering and lightning” when he harangued the\r\npeople, and of his wielding a dreadful thunderbolt in his tongue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA saying also of Thucydides, the son of Melesias, stands on record, spoken by\r\nhim by way of pleasantry upon Pericles’s dexterity. Thucydides was one of the\r\nnoble and distinguished citizens, and had been his greatest opponent; and, when\r\nArchidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, asked him whether he or Pericles\r\nwere the better wrestler, he made this answer: “When I,” said he, “have thrown\r\nhim and given him a fair fall, by persisting that he had no fall, he gets the\r\nbetter of me, and makes the bystanders, in spite of their own eyes, believe\r\nhim.” The truth, however, is, that Pericles himself was very careful what and\r\nhow he was to speak, insomuch that, whenever he went up to the hustings, he\r\nprayed the gods that no one word might unawares slip from him unsuitable to the\r\nmatter and the occasion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe has left nothing in writing behind him, except some decrees; and there are\r\nbut very few of his sayings recorded; one, for example, is, that he said Aegina\r\nmust, like a gathering in a man’s eye, be removed from Piraeus; and another,\r\nthat he said he saw already war moving on its way towards them out of\r\nPeloponnesus. Again, when on a time Sophocles, who was his fellow-commissioner\r\nin the generalship, was going on board with him, and praised the beauty of a\r\nyouth they met with in the way to the ship, “Sophocles,” said he, “a general\r\nought not only to have clean hands, but also clean eyes.” And Stesimbrotus\r\ntells us, that, in his encomium on those who fell in battle at Samos, he said\r\nthey were become immortal, as the gods were. “For,” said he, “we do not see\r\nthem themselves, but only by the honors we pay them, and by the benefits they\r\ndo us, attribute to them immortality; and the like attributes belong also to\r\nthose that die in the service of their country.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSince Thucydides describes the rule of Pericles as an aristocratical\r\ngovernment, that went by the name of a democracy, but was, indeed, the\r\nsupremacy of a single great man, while many others say, on the contrary, that\r\nby him the common people were first encouraged and led on to such evils as\r\nappropriations of subject territory; allowances for attending theaters,\r\npayments for performing public duties, and by these bad habits were, under the\r\ninfluence of his public measures, changed from a sober, thrifty people, that\r\nmaintained themselves by their own labors, to lovers of expense, intemperance,\r\nand license, let us examine the cause of this change by the actual matters of\r\nfact.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt the first, as has been said, when he set himself against Cimon’s great\r\nauthority, he did caress the people. Finding himself come short of his\r\ncompetitor in wealth and money, by which advantages the other was enabled to\r\ntake care of the poor, inviting every day some one or other of the citizens\r\nthat was in want to supper, and bestowing clothes on the aged people, and\r\nbreaking down the hedges and enclosures of his grounds, that all that would\r\nmight freely gather what fruit they pleased, Pericles, thus outdone in popular\r\narts, by the advice of one Damonides of Oea, as Aristotle states, turned to the\r\ndistribution of the public moneys; and in a short time having bought the people\r\nover, what with moneys allowed for shows and for service on juries, and what\r\nwith other forms of pay and largess, he made use of them against the council of\r\nAreopagus, of which he himself was no member, as having never been appointed by\r\nlot either chief archon, or lawgiver, or king, or captain. For from of old\r\nthese offices were conferred on persons by lot, and they who had acquitted\r\nthemselves duly in the discharge of them were advanced to the court of\r\nAreopagus. And so Pericles, having secured his power and interest with the\r\npopulace, directed the exertions of his party against this council with such\r\nsuccess, that most of those causes and matters which had been used to be tried\r\nthere, were, by the agency of Ephialtes, removed from its cognizance, Cimon,\r\nalso, was banished by ostracism as a favorer of the Lacedaemonians and a hater\r\nof the people, though in wealth and noble birth he was among the first, and had\r\nwon several most glorious victories over the barbarians, and had filled the\r\ncity with money and spoils of war; as is recorded in the history of his life.\r\nSo vast an authority had Pericles obtained among the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe ostracism was limited by law to ten years; but the Lacedaemonians, in the\r\nmean time, entering with a great army into the territory of Tanagra, and the\r\nAthenians going out against them, Cimon, coming from his banishment before his\r\ntime was out, put himself in arms and array with those of his fellow-citizens\r\nthat were of his own tribe, and desired by his deeds to wipe off the suspicion\r\nof his favoring the Lacedaemonians, by venturing his own person along with his\r\ncountry-men. But Pericles’s friends, gathering in a body, forced him to retire\r\nas a banished man. For which cause also Pericles seems to have exerted himself\r\nmore in that than in any battle, and to have been conspicuous above all for his\r\nexposure of himself to danger. All Cimon’s friends, also, to a man, fell\r\ntogether side by side, whom Pericles had accused with him of taking part with\r\nthe Lacedaemonians. Defeated in this battle on their own frontiers, and\r\nexpecting a new and perilous attack with return of spring, the Athenians now\r\nfelt regret and sorrow for the loss of Cimon, and repentance for their\r\nexpulsion of him. Pericles, being sensible of their feelings, did not hesitate\r\nor delay to gratify it, and himself made the motion for recalling him home. He,\r\nupon his return, concluded a peace betwixt the two cities; for the\r\nLacedaemonians entertained as kindly feelings towards him as they did the\r\nreverse towards Pericles and the other popular leaders.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet some there are who say that Pericles did not propose the order for Cimon’s\r\nreturn till some private articles of agreement had been made between them, and\r\nthis by means of Elpinice, Cimon’s sister; that Cimon, namely, should go out to\r\nsea with a fleet of two hundred ships, and be commander-in-chief abroad, with a\r\ndesign to reduce the king of Persia’s territories, and that Pericles should\r\nhave the power at home.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis Elpinice, it was thought, had before this time procured some favor for her\r\nbrother Cimon at Pericles’s hands, and induced him to be more remiss and gentle\r\nin urging the charge when Cimon was tried for his life; for Pericles was one of\r\nthe committee appointed by the commons to plead against him. And when Elpinice\r\ncame and besought him in her brother’s behalf, he answered, with a smile, “O\r\nElpinice, you are too old a woman to undertake such business as this.” But,\r\nwhen he appeared to impeach him, he stood up but once to speak, merely to\r\nacquit himself of his commission, and went out of court, having done Cimon the\r\nleast prejudice of any of his accusers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHow, then, can one believe Idomeneus, who charges Pericles as if he had by\r\ntreachery procured the murder of Ephialtes, the popular statesman, one who was\r\nhis friend, and of his own party in all his political course, out of jealousy,\r\nforsooth, and envy of his great reputation? This historian, it seems, having\r\nraked up these stories, I know not whence, has befouled with them a man who,\r\nperchance, was not altogether free from fault or blame, but yet had a noble\r\nspirit, and a soul that was bent on honor; and where such qualities are, there\r\ncan no such cruel and brutal passion find harbor or gain admittance. As to\r\nEphialtes, the truth of the story, as Aristotle has told it, is this: that\r\nhaving made himself formidable to the oligarchical party, by being an\r\nuncompromising asserter of the people’s rights in calling to account and\r\nprosecuting those who any way wronged them, his enemies, lying in wait for him,\r\nby the means of Aristodicus the Tanagraean, privately dispatched him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCimon, while he was admiral, ended his days in the Isle of Cyprus. And the\r\naristocratical party, seeing that Pericles was already before this grown to be\r\nthe greatest and foremost man of all the city, but nevertheless wishing there\r\nshould be somebody set up against him, to blunt and turn the edge of his power,\r\nthat it might not altogether prove a monarchy, put forward Thucydides of\r\nAlopece, a discreet person, and a near kinsman of Cimon’s, to conduct the\r\nopposition against him; who, indeed, though less skilled in warlike affairs\r\nthan Cimon was, yet was better versed in speaking and political business, and\r\nkeeping close guard in the city, and engaging with Pericles on the hustings, in\r\na short time brought the government to an equality of parties. For he would not\r\nsuffer those who were called the honest and good (persons of worth and\r\ndistinction) to be scattered up and down and mix themselves and be lost among\r\nthe populace, as formerly, diminishing and obscuring their superiority amongst\r\nthe masses; but taking them apart by themselves and uniting them in one body,\r\nby their combined weight he was able, as it were upon the balance, to make a\r\ncounter-poise to the other party.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor, indeed, there was from the beginning a sort of concealed split, or seam,\r\nas it might be in a piece of iron, marking the different popular and\r\naristocratical tendencies; but the open rivalry and contention of these two\r\nopponents made the gash deep, and severed the city into the two parties of the\r\npeople and the few. And so Pericles, at that time more than at any other, let\r\nloose the reins to the people, and made his policy subservient to their\r\npleasure, contriving continually to have some great public show or solemnity,\r\nsome banquet, or some procession or other in the town to please them, coaxing\r\nhis countrymen like children, with such delights and pleasures as were not,\r\nhowever, unedifying. Besides that every year he sent out threescore galleys, on\r\nboard of which there went numbers of the citizens, who were in pay eight\r\nmonths, learning at the same time and practicing the art of seamanship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe sent, moreover, a thousand of them into the Chersonese as planters, to share\r\nthe land among them by lot, and five hundred more into the isle of Naxos, and\r\nhalf that number to Andros, a thousand into Thrace to dwell among the Bisaltae,\r\nand others into Italy, when the city Sybaris, which now was called Thurii, was\r\nto be repeopled. And this he did to ease and discharge the city of an idle,\r\nand, by reason of their idleness, a busy, meddling crowd of people; and at the\r\nsame time to meet the necessities and restore the fortunes of the poor\r\ntownsmen, and to intimidate, also, and check their allies from attempting any\r\nchange, by posting such garrisons, as it were, in the midst of them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThat which gave most pleasure and ornament to the city of Athens, and the\r\ngreatest admiration and even astonishment to all strangers, and that which now\r\nis Greece’s only evidence that the power she boasts of and her ancient wealth\r\nare no romance or idle story, was his construction of the public and sacred\r\nbuildings. Yet this was that of all his actions in the government which his\r\nenemies most looked askance upon and caviled at in the popular assemblies,\r\ncrying out how that the commonwealth of Athens had lost its reputation and was\r\nill-spoken of abroad for removing the common treasure of the Greeks from the\r\nisle of Delos into their own custody; and how that their fairest excuse for so\r\ndoing, namely, that they took it away for fear the barbarians should seize it,\r\nand on purpose to secure it in a safe place, this Pericles had made\r\nunavailable, and how that “Greece cannot but resent it as an insufferable\r\naffront, and consider herself to be tyrannized over openly, when she sees the\r\ntreasure, which was contributed by her upon a necessity for the war, wantonly\r\nlavished out by us upon our city, to gild her all over, and to adorn and set\r\nher forth, as it were some vain woman, hung round with precious stones and\r\nfigures and temples, which cost a world of money.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPericles, on the other hand, informed the people, that they were in no way\r\nobliged to give any account of those moneys to their allies, so long as they\r\nmaintained their defense, and kept off the barbarians from attacking them;\r\nwhile in the meantime they did not so much as supply one horse or man or ship,\r\nbut only found money for the service; “which money,” said he, “is not theirs\r\nthat give it, but theirs that receive it, if so be they perform the conditions\r\nupon which they receive it.” And that it was good reason, that, now the city\r\nwas sufficiently provided and stored with all things necessary for the war,\r\nthey should convert the overplus of its wealth to such undertakings, as would\r\nhereafter, when completed, give them eternal honor, and, for the present, while\r\nin process, freely supply all the inhabitants with plenty. With their variety\r\nof workmanship and of occasions for service, which summon all arts and trades\r\nand require all hands to be employed about them, they do actually put the whole\r\ncity, in a manner, into state-pay; while at the same time she is both\r\nbeautified and maintained by herself. For as those who are of age and strength\r\nfor war are provided for and maintained in the armaments abroad by their pay\r\nout of the public stock, so, it being his desire and design that the\r\nundisciplined mechanic multitude that stayed at home should not go without\r\ntheir share of public salaries, and yet should not have them given them for\r\nsitting still and doing nothing, to that end he thought fit to bring in among\r\nthem, with the approbation of the people, these vast projects of buildings and\r\ndesigns of works, that would be of some continuance before they were finished,\r\nand would give employment to numerous arts, so that the part of the people that\r\nstayed at home might, no less than those that were at sea or in garrisons or on\r\nexpeditions, have a fair and just occasion of receiving the benefit and having\r\ntheir share of the public moneys.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe materials were stone, brass, ivory, gold, ebony cypress-wood; and the arts\r\nor trades that wrought and fashioned them were smiths and carpenters, molders,\r\nfounders and braziers, stone-cutters, dyers, goldsmiths, ivory-workers,\r\npainters, embroiderers, turners; those again that conveyed them to the town for\r\nuse, merchants and mariners and ship- masters by sea, and by land, cartwrights,\r\ncattle-breeders, waggoners, rope-makers, flax-workers, shoe-makers and\r\nleather-dressers, roadmakers, miners. And every trade in the same nature, as a\r\ncaptain in an army has his particular company of soldiers under him, had its\r\nown hired company of journeymen and laborers belonging to it banded together as\r\nin array, to be as it were the instrument and body for the performance of the\r\nservice. Thus, to say all in a word, the occasions and services of these public\r\nworks distributed plenty through every age and condition.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs then grew the works up, no less stately in size than exquisite in form, the\r\nworkmen striving to outvie the material and the design with the beauty of their\r\nworkmanship, yet the most wonderful thing of all was the rapidity of their\r\nexecution. Undertakings, any one of which singly might have required, they\r\nthought, for their completion, several successions and ages of men, were every\r\none of them accomplished in the height and prime of one man’s political\r\nservice. Although they say, too, that Zeuxis once, having heard Agatharchus the\r\npainter boast of dispatching his work with speed and ease, replied, “I take a\r\nlong time.” For ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting\r\nsolidity or exactness of beauty; the expenditure of time allowed to a man’s\r\npains beforehand for the production of a thing is repaid by way of interest\r\nwith a vital force for its preservation when once produced. For which reason\r\nPericles’s works are especially admired, as having been made quickly, to last\r\nlong. For every particular piece of his work was immediately, even at that\r\ntime, for its beauty and elegance, antique; and yet in its vigor and freshness\r\nlooks to this day as if it were just executed. There is a sort of bloom of\r\nnewness upon those works of his, preserving them from the touch of time, as if\r\nthey had some perennial spirit and undying vitality mingled in the composition\r\nof them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPhidias had the oversight of all the works, and was surveyor-general, though\r\nupon the various portions other great masters and workmen were employed. For\r\nCallicrates and Ictinus built the Parthenon; the chapel at Eleusis, where the\r\nmysteries were celebrated, was begun by Coroebus, who erected the pillars that\r\nstand upon the floor or pavement, and joined them to the architraves; and after\r\nhis death Metagenes of Xypete added the frieze and the upper line of columns;\r\nXenocles of Cholargus roofed or arched the lantern on the top of the temple of\r\nCastor and Pollux; and the long wall, which Socrates says he himself heard\r\nPericles propose to the people, was undertaken by Callicrates. This work\r\nCratinus ridicules, as long in finishing, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n’Tis long since Pericles, if words would do it,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTalk’d up the wall; yet adds not one mite to it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Odeum, or music-room, which in its interior was full of seats and ranges of\r\npillars, and outside had its roof made to slope and descend from one single\r\npoint at the top, was constructed, we are told, in imitation of the king of\r\nPersia’s Pavilion; this likewise by Pericles’s order; which Cratinus again, in\r\nhis comedy called The Thracian Women, made an occasion of raillery, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSo, we see here,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nJupiter Long-pate Pericles appear,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSince ostracism time, he’s laid aside his head,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd wears the new Odeum in its stead.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPericles, also, eager for distinction, then first obtained the decree for a\r\ncontest in musical skill to be held yearly at the Panathenaea, and he himself,\r\nbeing chosen judge, arranged the order and method in which the competitors\r\nshould sing and play on the flute and on the harp. And both at that time, and\r\nat other times also, they sat in this music-room to see and hear all such\r\ntrials of skill.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe propylaea, or entrances to the Acropolis, were finished in five years’\r\ntime, Mnesicles being the principal architect. A strange accident happened in\r\nthe course of building, which showed that the goddess was not averse to the\r\nwork, but was aiding and cooperating to bring it to perfection. One of the\r\nartificers, the quickest and the handiest workman among them all, with a slip\r\nof his foot fell down from a great height, and lay in a miserable condition,\r\nthe physicians having no hopes of his recovery. When Pericles was in distress\r\nabout this, Minerva appeared to him at night in a dream, and ordered a course\r\nof treatment, which he applied, and in a short time and with great ease cured\r\nthe man. And upon this occasion it was that he set up a brass statue of\r\nMinerva, surnamed Health, in the citadel near the altar, which they say was\r\nthere before. But it was Phidias who wrought the goddess’s image in gold, and\r\nhe has his name inscribed on the pedestal as the workman of it; and indeed the\r\nwhole work in a manner was under his charge, and he had, as we have said\r\nalready, the oversight over all the artists and workmen, through Pericles’s\r\nfriendship for him; and this, indeed, made him much envied, and his patron\r\nshamefully slandered with stories, as if Phidias were in the habit of\r\nreceiving, for Pericles’s use, freeborn women that came to see the works. The\r\ncomic writers of the town, when they had got hold of this story, made much of\r\nit, and bespattered him with all the ribaldry they could invent, charging him\r\nfalsely with the wife of Menippus, one who was his friend and served as\r\nlieutenant under him in the wars; and with the birds kept by Pyrilampes, an\r\nacquaintance of Pericles, who, they pretended, used to give presents of\r\npeacocks to Pericles’s female friends. And how can one wonder at any number of\r\nstrange assertions from men whose whole lives were devoted to mockery, and who\r\nwere ready at any time to sacrifice the reputation of their superiors to vulgar\r\nenvy and spite, as to some evil genius, when even Stesimbrotus the Thasian has\r\ndared to lay to the charge of Pericles a monstrous and fabulous piece of\r\ncriminality with his son’s wife? So very difficult a matter is it to trace and\r\nfind out the truth of anything by history, when, on the one hand, those who\r\nafterwards write it find long periods of time intercepting their view, and, on\r\nthe other hand, the contemporary records of any actions and lives, partly\r\nthrough envy and ill-will, partly through favor and flattery, pervert and\r\ndistort truth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the orators, who sided with Thucydides and his party, were at one time\r\ncrying out, as their custom was, against Pericles, as one who squandered away\r\nthe public money, and made havoc of the state revenues, he rose in the open\r\nassembly and put the question to the people, whether they thought that he had\r\nlaid out much; and they saying, “Too much, a great deal.” “Then,” said he,\r\n“since it is so, let the cost not go to your account, but to mine; and let the\r\ninscription upon the buildings stand in my name.” When they heard him say thus,\r\nwhether it were out of a surprise to see the greatness of his spirit, or out of\r\nemulation of the glory of the works, they cried aloud, bidding him to spend on,\r\nand lay out what he thought fit from the public purse, and to spare no cost,\r\ntill all were finished.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt length, coming to a final contest with Thucydides, which of the two should\r\nostracize the other out of the country, and having gone through this peril, he\r\nthrew his antagonist out, and broke up the confederacy that had been organized\r\nagainst him. So that now all schism and division being at an end, and the city\r\nbrought to evenness and unity, he got all Athens and all affairs that pertained\r\nto the Athenians into his own hands, their tributes, their armies, and their\r\ngalleys, the islands, the sea, and their wide-extended power, partly over other\r\nGreeks and partly over barbarians, and all that empire, which they possessed,\r\nfounded and fortified upon subject nations and royal friendships and alliances.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this he was no longer the same man he had been before, nor as tame and\r\ngentle and familiar as formerly with the populace, so as readily to yield to\r\ntheir pleasures and to comply with the desires of the multitude, as a steersman\r\nshifts with the winds. Quitting that loose, remiss, and, in some cases,\r\nlicentious court of the popular will, he turned those soft and flowery\r\nmodulations to the austerity of aristocratical and regal rule; and employing\r\nthis uprightly and undeviatingly for the country’s best interests, he was able\r\ngenerally to lead the people along, with their own wills and consents, by\r\npersuading and showing them what was to be done; and sometimes, too, urging and\r\npressing them forward extremely against their will, he made them, whether they\r\nwould or no, yield submission to what was for their advantage. In which, to say\r\nthe truth, he did but like a skillful physician, who, in a complicated and\r\nchronic disease, as he sees occasion, at one while allows his patient the\r\nmoderate use of such things as please him, at another while gives him keen\r\npains and drugs to work the cure. For there arising and growing up, as was\r\nnatural, all manner of distempered feelings among a people which had so vast a\r\ncommand and dominion, he alone, as a great master, knowing how to handle and\r\ndeal fitly with each one of them, and, in an especial manner, making that use\r\nof hopes and fears, as his two chief rudders, with the one to check the career\r\nof their confidence at any time, with the other to raise them up and cheer them\r\nwhen under any discouragement, plainly showed by this, that rhetoric, or the\r\nart of speaking, is, in Plato’s language, the government of the souls of men,\r\nand that her chief business is to address the affections and passions, which\r\nare as it were the strings and keys to the soul, and require a skillful and\r\ncareful touch to be played on as they should be. The source of this\r\npredominance was not barely his power of language, but, as Thucydides assures\r\nus, the reputation of his life, and the confidence felt in his character; his\r\nmanifest freedom from every kind of corruption, and superiority to all\r\nconsiderations of money. Notwithstanding he had made the city Athens, which was\r\ngreat of itself, as great and rich as can be imagined, and though he were\r\nhimself in power and interest more than equal to many kings and absolute\r\nrulers, who some of them also bequeathed by will their power to their children,\r\nhe, for his part, did not make the patrimony his father left him greater than\r\nit was by one drachma.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThucydides, indeed, gives a plain statement of the greatness of his power; and\r\nthe comic poets, in their spiteful manner, more than hint at it, styling his\r\ncompanions and friends the new Pisistratidae, and calling on him to abjure any\r\nintention of usurpation, as one whose eminence was too great to be any longer\r\nproportionable to and compatible with a democracy or popular government. And\r\nTeleclides says the Athenians had surrendered up to him —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe tribute of the cities, and with them, the cities too, to do with them as he\r\npleases, and undo; To build up, if he likes, stone walls around a town; and\r\nagain, if so he likes, to pull them down; Their treaties and alliances, power,\r\nempire, peace, and war, their wealth and their success forevermore.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNor was all this the luck of some happy occasion; nor was it the mere bloom and\r\ngrace of a policy that flourished for a season; but having for forty years\r\ntogether maintained the first place among statesmen such as Ephialtes and\r\nLeocrates and Myronides and Cimon and Tolmides and Thucydides were, after the\r\ndefeat and banishment of Thucydides, for no less than fifteen years longer, in\r\nthe exercise of one continuous unintermitted command in the office, to which he\r\nwas annually reelected, of General, he preserved his integrity unspotted;\r\nthough otherwise he was not altogether idle or careless in looking after his\r\npecuniary advantage; his paternal estate, which of right belonged to him, he so\r\nordered that it might neither through negligence be wasted or lessened, nor\r\nyet, being so full of business as he was, cost him any great trouble or time\r\nwith taking care of it; and put it into such a way of management as he thought\r\nto be the most easy for himself, and the most exact. All his yearly products\r\nand profits he sold together in a lump, and supplied his household needs\r\nafterward by buying everything that he or his family wanted out of the market.\r\nUpon which account, his children, when they grew to age, were not well pleased\r\nwith his management, and the women that lived with him were treated with little\r\ncost, and complained of this way of housekeeping, where everything was ordered\r\nand set down from day to day, and reduced to the greatest exactness; since\r\nthere was not there, as is usual in a great family and a plentiful estate, any\r\nthing to spare, or over and above; but all that went out or came in, all\r\ndisbursements and all receipts, proceeded as it were by number and measure. His\r\nmanager in all this was a single servant, Evangelus by name, a man either\r\nnaturally gifted or instructed by Pericles so as to excel every one in this art\r\nof domestic economy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll this, in truth, was very little in harmony with Anaxagoras’s wisdom; if,\r\nindeed, it be true that he, by a kind of divine impulse and greatness of\r\nspirit, voluntarily quitted his house, and left his land to lie fallow and to\r\nbe grazed by sheep like a common. But the life of a contemplative philosopher\r\nand that of an active statesman are, I presume, not the same thing; for the one\r\nmerely employs, upon great and good objects of thought, an intelligence that\r\nrequires no aid of instruments nor supply of any external materials; whereas\r\nthe other, who tempers and applies his virtue to human uses, may have occasion\r\nfor affluence, not as a matter of mere necessity, but as a noble thing; which\r\nwas Pericles’s case, who relieved numerous poor citizens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, there is a story, that Anaxagoras himself, while Pericles was taken up\r\nwith public affairs, lay neglected, and that, now being grown old, he wrapped\r\nhimself up with a resolution to die for want of food; which being by chance\r\nbrought to Pericles’s ear, he was horror-struck, and instantly ran thither, and\r\nused all the arguments and entreaties he could to him, lamenting not so much\r\nAnaxagoras’s condition as his own, should he lose such a counselor as he had\r\nfound him to be; and that, upon this, Anaxagoras unfolded his robe, and showing\r\nhimself, made answer: “Pericles,” said he, “even those who have occasion for a\r\nlamp supply it with oil.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Lacedaemonians beginning to show themselves troubled at the growth of the\r\nAthenian power, Pericles, on the other hand, to elevate the people’s spirit yet\r\nmore, and to raise them to the thought of great actions, proposed a decree, to\r\nsummon all the Greeks in what part soever, whether of Europe or Asia, every\r\ncity, little as well as great, to send their deputies to Athens to a general\r\nassembly, or convention, there to consult and advise concerning the Greek\r\ntemples which the barbarians had burnt down, and the sacrifices which were due\r\nfrom them upon vows they had made to their gods for the safety of Greece when\r\nthey fought against the barbarians; and also concerning the navigation of the\r\nsea, that they might henceforward all of them pass to and fro and trade\r\nsecurely, and be at peace among themselves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this errand, there were twenty men, of such as were above fifty years of\r\nage, sent by commission; five to summon the Ionians and Dorians in Asia, and\r\nthe islanders as far as Lesbos and Rhodes; five to visit all the places in the\r\nHellespont and Thrace, up to Byzantium; and other five besides these to go to\r\nBoeotia and Phocis and Peloponnesus, and from hence to pass through the\r\nLocrians over to the neighboring continent, as far as Acarnania and Ambracia;\r\nand the rest to take their course through Euboea to the Oetaeans and the Malian\r\nGulf, and to the Achaeans of Phthiotis and the Thessalians; all of them to\r\ntreat with the people as they passed, and to persuade them to come and take\r\ntheir part in the debates for settling the peace and jointly regulating the\r\naffairs of Greece.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNothing was effected, nor did the cities meet by their deputies, as was\r\ndesired; the Lacedaemonians, as it is said, crossing the design underhand, and\r\nthe attempt being disappointed and baffled first in Peloponnesus. I thought\r\nfit, however, to introduce the mention of it, to show the spirit of the man and\r\nthe greatness of his thoughts.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn his military conduct, he gained a great reputation for wariness; he would\r\nnot by his good-will engage in any fight which had much uncertainty or hazard;\r\nhe did not envy the glory of generals whose rash adventures fortune favored\r\nwith brilliant success, however they were admired by others; nor did he think\r\nthem worthy his imitation, but always used to say to his citizens that, so far\r\nas lay in his power, they should continue immortal, and live forever. Seeing\r\nTolmides, the son of Tolmaeus, upon the confidence of his former successes, and\r\nflushed with the honor his military actions had procured him, making\r\npreparation to attack the Boeotians in their own country, when there was no\r\nlikely opportunity, and that he had prevailed with the bravest and most\r\nenterprising of the youth to enlist themselves as volunteers in the service,\r\nwho besides his other force made up a thousand, he endeavored to withhold him\r\nand to advise him from it in the public assembly, telling him in a memorable\r\nsaying of his, which still goes about, that, if he would not take Pericles’s\r\nadvice, yet he would not do amiss to wait and be ruled by time, the wisest\r\ncounselor of all. This saying, at that time, was but slightly commended; but\r\nwithin a few days after, when news was brought that Tolmides himself had been\r\ndefeated and slain in battle near Coronea, and that many brave citizens had\r\nfallen with him, it gained him great repute as well as good-will among the\r\npeople, for wisdom and for love of his countrymen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut of all his expeditions, that to the Chersonese gave most satisfaction and\r\npleasure, having proved the safety of the Greeks who inhabited there. For not\r\nonly by carrying along with him a thousand fresh citizens of Athens he gave new\r\nstrength and vigor to the cities, but also by belting the neck of land, which\r\njoins the peninsula to the continent, with bulwarks and forts from sea to sea,\r\nhe put a stop to the inroads of the Thracians, who lay all about the\r\nChersonese, and closed the door against a continual and grievous war, with\r\nwhich that country had been long harassed, lying exposed to the encroachments\r\nand influx of barbarous neighbors, and groaning under the evils of a predatory\r\npopulation both upon and within its borders.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNor was he less admired and talked of abroad for his sailing round the\r\nPeloponnesus, having set out from Pegae, or The Fountains, the port of Megara,\r\nwith a hundred galleys. For he not only laid waste the sea- coast, as Tolmides\r\nhad done before, but also, advancing far up into main land with the soldiers he\r\nhad on board, by the terror of his appearance drove many within their walls;\r\nand at Nemea, with main force, routed and raised a trophy over the Sicyonians,\r\nwho stood their ground and joined battle with him. And having taken on board a\r\nsupply of soldiers into the galleys, out of Achaia, then in league with Athens\r\nhe crossed with the fleet to the opposite continent, and, sailing along by the\r\nmouth of the river Achelous overran Acarnania, and shut up the Oeniadae within\r\ntheir city walls, and having ravaged and wasted their country, weighed anchor\r\nfor home with the double advantage of having shown himself formidable to his\r\nenemies, and at the same time safe and energetic to his fellow-citizens; for\r\nthere was not so much as any chance-miscarriage that happened, the whole voyage\r\nthrough, to those who were under his charge.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nEntering also the Euxine Sea with a large and finely equipped fleet, he\r\nobtained for the Greek cities any new arrangements they wanted, and entered\r\ninto friendly relations with them; and to the barbarous nations, and kings and\r\nchiefs round about them, displayed the greatness of the power of the Athenians,\r\ntheir perfect ability and confidence to sail wherever they had a mind, and to\r\nbring the whole sea under their control. He left the Sinopians thirteen ships\r\nof war, with soldiers under the command of Lamachus, to assist them against\r\nTimesileus the tyrant; and when he and his accomplices had been thrown out,\r\nobtained a decree that six hundred of the Athenians that were willing should\r\nsail to Sinope and plant themselves there with the Sinopians, sharing among\r\nthem the houses and land which the tyrant and his party had previously held.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut in other things he did not comply with the giddy impulses of the citizens,\r\nnor quit his own resolutions to follow their fancies, when, carried away with\r\nthe thought of their strength and great success, they were eager to interfere\r\nagain in Egypt, and to disturb the king of Persia’s maritime dominions. Nay,\r\nthere were a good many who were, even then, possessed with that unblessed and\r\ninauspicious passion for Sicily, which afterward the orators of Alcibiades’s\r\nparty blew up into a flame. There were some also who dreamt of Tuscany and of\r\nCarthage, and not without plausible reason in their present large dominion and\r\nthe prosperous course of their affairs.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Pericles curbed this passion for foreign conquest, and unsparingly pruned\r\nand cut down their ever busy fancies for a multitude of undertakings; and\r\ndirected their power for the most part to securing and consolidating what they\r\nhad already got, supposing it would be quite enough for them to do, if they\r\ncould keep the Lacedaemonians in check; to whom he entertained all along a\r\nsense of opposition; which, as upon many other occasions, so he particularly\r\nshowed by what he did in the time of the holy war. The Lacedaemonians, having\r\ngone with an army to Delphi, restored Apollo’s temple, which the Phocians had\r\ngot into their possession, to the Delphians; immediately after their departure,\r\nPericles, with another army, came and restored the Phocians. And the\r\nLacedaemonians having engraven the record of their privilege of consulting the\r\noracle before others, which the Delphians gave them, upon the forehead of the\r\nbrazen wolf which stands there, he, also, having received from the Phocians the\r\nlike privilege for the Athenians, had it cut upon the same wolf of brass on his\r\nright side.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThat he did well and wisely in thus restraining the exertions of the Athenians\r\nwithin the compass of Greece, the events themselves that happened afterward\r\nbore sufficient witness. For, in the first place, the Euboeans revolted,\r\nagainst whom he passed over with forces; and then, immediately after, news came\r\nthat the Megarians were turned their enemies, and a hostile army was upon the\r\nborders of Attica, under the conduct of Plistoanax, king of the Lacedaemonians.\r\nWherefore Pericles came with his army back again in all haste out of Euboea, to\r\nmeet the war which threatened at home; and did not venture to engage a numerous\r\nand brave army eager for battle; but perceiving that Plistoanax was a very\r\nyoung man, and governed himself mostly by the counsel and advice of\r\nCleandrides, whom the ephors had sent with him, by reason of his youth, to be a\r\nkind of guardian and assistant to him, he privately made trial of this man’s\r\nintegrity, and, in a short time, having corrupted him with money, prevailed\r\nwith him to withdraw the Peloponnesians out of Attica. When the army had\r\nretired and dispersed into their several states, the Lacedaemonians in anger\r\nfined their king in so large a sum of money, that, unable to pay it, he quitted\r\nLacedaemon; while Cleandrides fled, and had sentence of death passed upon him\r\nin his absence. This was the father of Gylippus, who overpowered the Athenians\r\nin Sicily. And it seems that this covetousness was an hereditary disease\r\ntransmitted from father to son; for Gylippus also afterwards was caught in foul\r\npractices, and expelled from Sparta for it. But this we have told at large in\r\nthe account of Lysander.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Pericles, in giving up his accounts of this expedition, stated a\r\ndisbursement of ten talents, as laid out upon fit occasion, the people, without\r\nany question, nor troubling themselves to investigate the mystery, freely\r\nallowed of it. And some historians, in which number is Theophrastus the\r\nphilosopher, have given it as a truth that Pericles every year used to send\r\nprivately the sum of ten talents to Sparta, with which he complimented those in\r\noffice, to keep off the war; not to purchase peace neither, but time, that he\r\nmight prepare at leisure, and be the better able to carry on war hereafter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nImmediately after this, turning his forces against the revolters, and passing\r\nover into the island of Euboea with fifty sail of ships and five thousand men\r\nin arms, he reduced their cities, and drove out the citizens of the\r\nChalcidians, called Hippobotae, horse-feeders, the chief persons for wealth and\r\nreputation among them; and removing all the Histiaeans out of the country,\r\nbrought in a plantation of Athenians in their room; making them his one example\r\nof severity, because they had captured an Attic ship and killed all on board.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, having made a truce between the Athenians and Lacedaemonians for\r\nthirty years, he ordered, by public decree, the expedition against the Isle of\r\nSamos, on the ground, that, when they were bid to leave off their war with the\r\nMilesians, they had not complied. And as these measures against the Samians are\r\nthought to have been taken to please Aspasia, this may be a fit point for\r\ninquiry about the woman, what art or charming faculty she had that enabled her\r\nto captivate, as she did, the greatest statesmen, and to give the philosophers\r\noccasion to speak so much about her, and that, too, not to her disparagement.\r\nThat she was a Milesian by birth, the daughter of Axiochus, is a thing\r\nacknowledged. And they say it was in emulation of Thargelia, a courtesan of the\r\nold Ionian times, that she made her addresses to men of great power. Thargelia\r\nwas a great beauty, extremely charming, and at the same time sagacious; she had\r\nnumerous suitors among the Greeks, and brought all who had to do with her over\r\nto the Persian interest, and by their means, being men of the greatest power\r\nand station, sowed the seeds of the Median faction up and down in several\r\ncities. Aspasia, some say, was courted and caressed by Pericles upon account of\r\nher knowledge and skill in politics. Socrates himself would sometimes go to\r\nvisit her, and some of his acquaintance with him; and those who frequented her\r\ncompany would carry their wives with them to listen to her. Her occupation was\r\nany thing but creditable, her house being a home for young courtesans.\r\nAeschines tells us also, that Lysicles, a sheep-dealer, a man of low birth and\r\ncharacter, by keeping Aspasia company after Pericles’s death, came to be a\r\nchief man in Athens. And in Plato’s Menexenus, though we do not take the\r\nintroduction as quite serious, still thus much seems to be historical, that she\r\nhad the repute of being resorted to by many of the Athenians for instruction in\r\nthe art of speaking. Pericles’s inclination for her seems, however, to have\r\nrather proceeded from the passion of love. He had a wife that was near of kin\r\nto him, who had been married first to Hipponicus, by whom she had Callias,\r\nsurnamed the Rich; and also she brought Pericles, while she lived with him, two\r\nsons, Xanthippus and Paralus. Afterwards, when they did not well agree nor like\r\nto live together, he parted with her, with her own consent, to another man, and\r\nhimself took Aspasia, and loved her with wonderful affection; every day, both\r\nas he went out and as he came in from the marketplace, he saluted and kissed\r\nher.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the comedies she goes by the nicknames of the new Omphale and Deianira, and\r\nagain is styled Juno. Cratinus, in downright terms, calls her a harlot.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTo find him a Juno the goddess of lust\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBore that harlot past shame,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAspasia by name.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nIt should seem, also, that he had a son by her; Eupolis, in his Demi,\r\nintroduced Pericles asking after his safety, and Myronides replying,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“My son?” “He lives; a man he had been long,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut that the harlot-mother did him wrong.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAspasia, they say, became so celebrated and renowned, that Cyrus also, who made\r\nwar against Artaxerxes for the Persian monarchy, gave her whom he loved the\r\nbest of all his concubines the name of Aspasia, who before that was called\r\nMilto. She was a Phocaean by birth, the daughter of one Hermotimus, and, when\r\nCyrus fell in battle, was carried to the king, and had great influence at\r\ncourt. These things coming into my memory as I am writing this story, it would\r\nbe unnatural for me to omit them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPericles, however, was particularly charged with having proposed to the\r\nassembly the war against the Samians, from favor to the Milesians, upon the\r\nentreaty of Aspasia. For the two states were at war for the possession of\r\nPriene; and the Samians, getting the better, refused to lay down their arms and\r\nto have the controversy betwixt them decided by arbitration before the\r\nAthenians. Pericles, therefore, fitting out a fleet, went and broke up the\r\noligarchical government at Samos, and, taking fifty of the principal men of the\r\ntown as hostages, and as many of their children, sent them to the isle of\r\nLemnos, there to be kept, though he had offers, as some relate, of a talent a\r\npiece for himself from each one of the hostages, and of many other presents\r\nfrom those who were anxious not to have a democracy. Moreover, Pissuthnes the\r\nPersian, one of the king’s lieutenants, bearing some good-will to the Samians,\r\nsent him ten thousand pieces of gold to excuse the city. Pericles, however,\r\nwould receive none of all this; but after he had taken that course with the\r\nSamians which he thought fit, and set up a democracy among them, sailed back to\r\nAthens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut they, however, immediately revolted, Pissuthnes having privily got away\r\ntheir hostages for them, and provided them with means for the war. Whereupon\r\nPericles came out with a fleet a second time against them, and found them not\r\nidle nor slinking away, but manfully resolved to try for the dominion of the\r\nsea. The issue was, that, after a sharp sea-fight about the island called\r\nTragia, Pericles obtained a decisive victory, having with forty-four ships\r\nrouted seventy of the enemy’s, twenty of which were carrying soldiers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTogether with his victory and pursuit, having made himself master of the port,\r\nhe laid siege to the Samians, and blocked them up, who yet, one way or other,\r\nstill ventured to make sallies, and fight under the city walls. But after that\r\nanother greater fleet from Athens was arrived, and that the Samians were now\r\nshut up with a close leaguer on every side, Pericles, taking with him sixty\r\ngalleys, sailed out into the main sea, with the intention, as most authors give\r\nthe account, to meet a squadron of Phoenician ships that were coming for the\r\nSamians’ relief, and to fight them at as great distance as could be from the\r\nisland; but, as Stesimbrotus says, with a design of putting over to Cyprus;\r\nwhich does not seem to be probable. But whichever of the two was his intent, it\r\nseems to have been a miscalculation. For on his departure, Melissus, the son of\r\nIthagenes, a philosopher, being at that time general in Samos, despising either\r\nthe small number of the ships that were left or the inexperience of the\r\ncommanders, prevailed with the citizens to attack the Athenians. And the\r\nSamians having won the battle, and taken several of the men prisoners, and\r\ndisabled several of the ships, were masters of the sea, and brought into port\r\nall necessaries they wanted for the war, which they had not before. Aristotle\r\nsays, too, that Pericles himself had been once before this worsted by this\r\nMelissus in a sea-fight.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Samians, that they might requite an affront which had before been put upon\r\nthem, branded the Athenians, whom they took prisoners, in their foreheads, with\r\nthe figure of an owl. For so the Athenians had marked them before with a\r\nSamaena, which is a sort of ship, low and flat in the prow, so as to look\r\nsnub-nosed, but wide and large and well-spread in the hold, by which it both\r\ncarries a large cargo and sails well. And it was so called, because the first\r\nof that kind was seen at Samos, having been built by order of Polycrates the\r\ntyrant. These brands upon the Samians’ foreheads, they say, are the allusion in\r\nthe passage of Aristophanes, where he says, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFor, oh, the Samians are a lettered people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPericles, as soon as news was brought him of the disaster that had befallen his\r\narmy, made all the haste he could to come in to their relief, and having\r\ndefeated Melissus, who bore up against him, and put the enemy to flight, he\r\nimmediately proceeded to hem them in with a wall, resolving to master them and\r\ntake the town, rather with some cost and time, than with the wounds and hazards\r\nof his citizens. But as it was a hard matter to keep back the Athenians, who\r\nwere vexed at the delay, and were eagerly bent to fight, he divided the whole\r\nmultitude into eight parts, and arranged by lot that that part which had the\r\nwhite bean should have leave to feast and take their ease, while the other\r\nseven were fighting. And this is the reason, they say, that people, when at any\r\ntime they have been merry, and enjoyed themselves, call it white day, in\r\nallusion to this white bean.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nEphorus the historian tells us besides, that Pericles made use of engines of\r\nbattery in this siege, being much taken with the curiousness of the invention,\r\nwith the aid and presence of Artemon himself, the engineer, who, being lame,\r\nused to be carried about in a litter, where the works required his attendance,\r\nand for that reason was called Periphoretus. But Heraclides Ponticus disproves\r\nthis out of Anacreon’s poems, where mention is made of this Artemon\r\nPeriphoretus several ages before the Samian war, or any of these occurrences.\r\nAnd he says that Artemon, being a man who loved his ease, and had a great\r\napprehension of danger, for the most part kept close within doors, having two\r\nof his servants to hold a brazen shield over his head, that nothing might fall\r\nupon him from above; and if he were at any time forced upon necessity to go\r\nabroad, that he was carried about in a little hanging bed, close to the very\r\nground, and that for this reason he was called Periphoretus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the ninth month, the Samians surrendering themselves and delivering up the\r\ntown, Pericles pulled down their walls, and seized their shipping, and set a\r\nfine of a large sum of money upon them, part of which they paid down at once,\r\nand they agreed to bring in the rest by a certain time, and gave hostages for\r\nsecurity. Duris the Samian makes a tragical drama out of these events, charging\r\nthe Athenians and Pericles with a great deal of cruelty, which neither\r\nThucydides, nor Ephorus, nor Aristotle have given any relation of, and probably\r\nwith little regard to truth; how, for example, he brought the captains and\r\nsoldiers of the galleys into the market-place at Miletus, and there having\r\nbound them fast to boards for ten days, then, when they were already all but\r\nhalf dead, gave order to have them killed by beating out their brains with\r\nclubs, and their dead bodies to be flung out into the open streets and fields,\r\nunburied. Duris, however, who even where he has no private feeling concerned,\r\nis not wont to keep his narrative within the limits of truth, is the more\r\nlikely upon this occasion to have exaggerated the calamities which befell his\r\ncountry, to create odium against the Athenians. Pericles, however, after the\r\nreduction of Samos, returning back to Athens, took care that those who died in\r\nthe war should be honorably buried, and made a funeral harangue, as the custom\r\nis, in their commendation at their graves, for which he gained great\r\nadmiration. As he came down from the stage on which he spoke, the rest of the\r\nwomen came and complimented him, taking him by the hand, and crownings him with\r\ngarlands and ribbons, like a victorious athlete in the games; but Elpinice,\r\ncoming near to him, said, “These are brave deeds, Pericles, that you have done,\r\nand such as deserve our chaplets; who have lost us many a worthy citizen, not\r\nin a war with Phoenicians or Medes, like my brother Cimon, but for the\r\noverthrow of an allied and kindred city.” As Elpinice spoke these words, he,\r\nsmiling quietly, as it is said, returned her answer with this verse, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nOld women should not seek to be perfumed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nIon says of him, that, upon this exploit of his, conquering the Samians, he\r\nindulged very high and proud thoughts of himself: whereas Agamemnon was ten\r\nyears taking a barbarous city, he had in nine months’ time vanquished and taken\r\nthe greatest and most powerful of the Ionians. And indeed it was not without\r\nreason that he assumed this glory to himself, for, in real truth, there was\r\nmuch uncertainty and great hazard in this war, if so be, as Thucydides tells\r\nus, the Samian state were within a very little of wresting the whole power and\r\ndominion of the sea out of the Athenians’ hands.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this was over, the Peloponnesian war beginning to break out in full tide,\r\nhe advised the people to send help to the Corcyrseans, who were attacked by the\r\nCorinthians, and to secure to themselves an island possessed of great naval\r\nresources, since the Peloponnesians were already all but in actual hostilities\r\nagainst them. The people readily consenting to the motion, and voting an aid\r\nand succor for them, he dispatched Lacedaemonius, Cimon’s son, having only ten\r\nships with him, as it were out of a design to affront him; for there was a\r\ngreat kindness and friendship betwixt Cimon’s family and the Lacedaemonians;\r\nso, in order that Lacedaemonius might lie the more open to a charge, or\r\nsuspicion at least, of favoring the Lacedaemonians and playing false, if he\r\nperformed no considerable exploit in this service, he allowed him a small\r\nnumber of ships, and sent him out against his will; and indeed he made it\r\nsomewhat his business to hinder Cimon’s sons from rising in the state,\r\nprofessing that by their very names they were not to be looked upon as native\r\nand true Athenians, but foreigners and strangers, one being called\r\nLacedaemonius, another Thessalus, and the third Eleus; and they were all three\r\nof them, it was thought, born of an Arcadian woman. Being, however, ill spoken\r\nof on account of these ten galleys, as having afforded but a small supply to\r\nthe people that were in need, and yet given a great advantage to those who\r\nmight complain of the act of intervention, Pericles sent out a larger force\r\nafterward to Corcyra, which arrived after the fight was over. And when now the\r\nCorinthians, angry and indignant with the Athenians, accused them publicly at\r\nLacedaemon, the Megarians joined with them, complaining that they were,\r\ncontrary to common right and the articles of peace sworn to among the Greeks,\r\nkept out and driven away from every market and from all ports under the control\r\nof the Athenians. The Aeginetans, also, professing to be ill-used and treated\r\nwith violence, made supplications in private to the Lacedaemonians for redress,\r\nthough not daring openly to call the Athenians in question. In the meantime,\r\nalso, the city Potidaea, under the dominion of the Athenians, but a colony\r\nformerly of the Corinthians, had revolted, and was beset with a formal siege,\r\nand was a further occasion of precipitating the war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet notwithstanding all this, there being embassies sent to Athens, and\r\nArchidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, endeavoring to bring the greater\r\npart of the complaints and matters in dispute to a fair determination, and to\r\npacify and allay the heats of the allies, it is very likely that the war would\r\nnot upon any other grounds of quarrel have fallen upon the Athenians, could\r\nthey have been prevailed with to repeal the ordinance against the Megarians,\r\nand to be reconciled to them. Upon which account, since Pericles was the man\r\nwho mainly opposed it, and stirred up the people’s passions to persist in their\r\ncontention with the Megarians, he was regarded as the sole cause of the war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey say, moreover, that ambassadors went, by order from Lacedaemon to Athens\r\nabout this very business, and that when Pericles was urging a certain law which\r\nmade it illegal to take down or withdraw the tablet of the decree, one of the\r\nambassadors, Polyalces by name, said, “Well, do not take it down then, but turn\r\nit; there is no law, I suppose, which forbids that;” which, though prettily\r\nsaid, did not move Pericles from his resolution. There may have been, in all\r\nlikelihood, something of a secret grudge and private animosity which he had\r\nagainst the Megarians. Yet, upon a public and open charge against them, that\r\nthey had appropriated part of the sacred land on the frontier, he proposed a\r\ndecree that a herald should be sent to them, and the same also to the\r\nLacedaemonians, with an accusation of the Megarians; an order which certainly\r\nshows equitable and friendly proceeding enough. And after that the herald who\r\nwas sent, by name Anthemocritus, died, and it was believed that the Megarians\r\nhad contrived his death, then Charinus proposed a decree against them, that\r\nthere should be an irreconcilable and implacable enmity thenceforward betwixt\r\nthe two commonwealths; and that if any one of the Megarians should but set his\r\nfoot in Attica, he should be put to death; and that the commanders, when they\r\ntake the usual oath, should, over and above that, swear that they will twice\r\nevery year make an inroad into the Megarian country; and that Anthemocritus\r\nshould be buried near the Thriasian Gates, which are now called the Dipylon, or\r\nDouble Gate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the other hand, the Megarians, utterly denying and disowning the murder of\r\nAnthemocritus, throw the whole matter upon Aspasia and Pericles, availing\r\nthemselves of the famous verses in the Acharnians,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTo Megara some of our madcaps ran,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd stole Simaetha thence, their courtesan.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhich exploit the Megarians to outdo,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nCame to Aspasia’s house, and took off two.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe true occasion of the quarrel is not so easy to find out. But of inducing\r\nthe refusal to annul the decree, all alike charge Pericles. Some say he met the\r\nrequest with a positive refusal, out of high spirit and a view of the state’s\r\nbest interests, accounting that the demand made in those embassies was designed\r\nfor a trial of their compliance, and that a concession would be taken for a\r\nconfession of weakness, as if they durst not do otherwise; while other some\r\nthere are who say that it was rather out of arrogance and a willful spirit of\r\ncontention, to show his own strength, that he took occasion to slight the\r\nLacedaemonians. The worst motive of all, which is confirmed by most witnesses,\r\nis to the following effect. Phidias the Molder had, as has before been said,\r\nundertaken to make the statue of Minerva. Now he, being admitted to friendship\r\nwith Pericles, and a great favorite of his, had many enemies upon this account,\r\nwho envied and maligned him; who also, to make trial in a case of his, what\r\nkind of judges the commons would prove, should there be occasion to bring\r\nPericles himself before them, having tampered with Menon, one who had been a\r\nworkman with Phidias, stationed him ill the market-place, with a petition\r\ndesiring public security upon his discovery and impeachment of Phidias. The\r\npeople admitting the man to tell his story, and the prosecution proceeding in\r\nthe assembly, there was nothing of theft or cheat proved against him; for\r\nPhidias, from the very first beginning, by the advice of Pericles, had so\r\nwrought and wrapt the gold that was used in the work about the statue, that\r\nthey might take it all off and make out the just weight of it, which Pericles\r\nat that time bade the accusers do. But the reputation of his works was what\r\nbrought envy upon Phidias, especially that where he represents the fight of the\r\nAmazons upon the goddesses’ shield, he had introduced a likeness of himself as\r\na bald old man holding up a great stone with both hands, and had put in a very\r\nfine representation of Pericles fighting with an Amazon. And the position of\r\nthe hand, which holds out the spear in front of the face, was ingeniously\r\ncontrived to conceal in some degree the likeness, which, meantime, showed\r\nitself on either side.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPhidias then was carried away to prison, and there died of a disease; but, as\r\nsome say, of poison, administered by the enemies of Pericles, to raise a\r\nslander, or a suspicion, at least, as though he had procured it. The informer\r\nMenon, upon Glycon’s proposal, the people made free from payment of taxes and\r\ncustoms, and ordered the generals to take care that nobody should do him any\r\nhurt. About the same time, Aspasia was indicted of impiety, upon the complaint\r\nof Hermippus the comedian, who also laid further to her charge that she\r\nreceived into her house freeborn women for the uses of Pericles. And Diopithes\r\nproposed a decree, that public accusation should be laid against persons who\r\nneglected religion, or taught new doctrines about things above, directing\r\nsuspicion, by means of Anaxagoras, against Pericles himself. The people\r\nreceiving and admitting these accusations and complaints, at length, by this\r\nmeans, they came to enact a decree, at the motion of Dracontides, that Pericles\r\nshould bring in the accounts of the moneys he had expended, and lodge them with\r\nthe Prytanes; and that the judges, carrying their suffrage from the altar in\r\nthe Acropolis, should examine and determine the business in the city. This last\r\nclause Hagnon took out of the decree, and moved that the causes should be tried\r\nbefore fifteen hundred jurors, whether they should be styled prosecutions for\r\nrobbery, or bribery, or any kind of malversation. Aspasia, Pericles begged off,\r\nshedding, as Aeschines says, many tears at the trial, and personally entreating\r\nthe jurors. But fearing how it might go with Anaxagoras, he sent him out of the\r\ncity. And finding that in Phidias’s case he had miscarried with the people,\r\nbeing afraid of impeachment, he kindled the war, which hitherto had lingered\r\nand smothered, and blew it up into a flame; hoping, by that means, to disperse\r\nand scatter these complaints and charges, and to allay their jealousy; the city\r\nusually throwing herself upon him alone, and trusting to his sole conduct, upon\r\nthe urgency of great affairs and public dangers, by reason of his authority and\r\nthe sway he bore.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese are given out to have been the reasons which induced Pericles not to\r\nsuffer the people of Athens to yield to the proposals of the Lacedaemonians;\r\nbut their truth is uncertain.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Lacedaemonians, for their part, feeling sure that if they could once remove\r\nhim, they might be at what terms they pleased with the Athenians, sent them\r\nword that they should expel the “Pollution” with which Pericles on the mother’s\r\nside was tainted, as Thucydides tells us. But the issue proved quite contrary\r\nto what those who sent the message expected; instead of bringing Pericles under\r\nsuspicion and reproach, they raised him into yet greater credit and esteem with\r\nthe citizens, as a man whom their enemies most hated and feared. In the same\r\nway, also, before Archidamus, who was at the head of the Peloponnesians, made\r\nhis invasion into Attica, he told the Athenians beforehand, that if Archidamus,\r\nwhile he laid waste the rest of the country, should forbear and spare his\r\nestate, either on the ground of friendship or right of hospitality that was\r\nbetwixt them, or on purpose to give his enemies an occasion of traducing him,\r\nthat then he did freely bestow upon the state all that his land and the\r\nbuildings upon it for the public use. The Lacedaemonians, therefore, and their\r\nallies, with a great army, invaded the Athenian territories, under the conduct\r\nof king Archidamus, and laying waste the country, marched on as far as\r\nAcharnae, and there pitched their camp, presuming that the Athenians would\r\nnever endure that, but would come out and fight them for their country’s and\r\ntheir honor’s sake. But Pericles looked upon it as dangerous to engage in\r\nbattle, to the risk of the city itself, against sixty thousand men-at- arms of\r\nPeloponnesians and Boeotians; for so many they were in number that made the\r\ninroad at first; and he endeavored to appease those who were desirous to fight,\r\nand were grieved and discontented to see how things went, and gave them good\r\nwords, saying, that “trees, when they are lopped and cut, grow up again in a\r\nshort time but men, being once lost, cannot easily be recovered.” He did not\r\nconvene the people into an assembly, for fear lest they should force him to act\r\nagainst his judgment; but, like a skillful steersman or pilot of a ship, who,\r\nwhen a sudden squall comes on, out at sea, makes all his arrangements, sees\r\nthat all is tight and fast, and then follows the dictates of his skill, and\r\nminds the business of the ship, taking no notice of the tears and entreaties of\r\nthe sea-sick and fearful passengers, so he, having shut up the city gates, and\r\nplaced guards at all posts for security, followed his own reason and judgment,\r\nlittle regarding those that cried out against him and were angry at his\r\nmanagement, although there were a great many of his friends that urged him with\r\nrequests, and many of his enemies threatened and accused him for doing as he\r\ndid, and many made songs and lampoons upon him, which were sung about the town\r\nto his disgrace, reproaching him with the cowardly exercise of his office of\r\ngeneral, and the tame abandonment of everything to the enemy’s hands.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCleon, also, already was among his assailants, making use of the feeling\r\nagainst him as a step to the leadership of the people, as appears in the\r\nanapaestic verses of Hermippus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSatyr-king, instead of swords,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWill you always handle words?\u003cbr\u003e\r\nVery brave indeed we find them,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut a Teles lurks behind them.\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\r\nYet to gnash your teeth you’re seen,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhen the little dagger keen,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhetted every day anew,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOf sharp Cleon touches you.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPericles, however, was not at all moved by any attacks, but took all patiently,\r\nand submitted in silence to the disgrace they threw upon him and the ill-will\r\nthey bore him; and, sending out a fleet of a hundred galleys to Peloponnesus,\r\nhe did not go along with it in person, but stayed behind, that he might watch\r\nat home and keep the city under his own control, till the Peloponnesians broke\r\nup their camp and were gone. Yet to soothe the common people, jaded and\r\ndistressed with the war, he relieved them with distributions of public moneys,\r\nand ordained new divisions of subject land. For having turned out all the\r\npeople of Aegina, he parted the island among the Athenians, according to lot.\r\nSome comfort, also, and ease in their miseries, they might receive from what\r\ntheir enemies endured. For the fleet, sailing round the Peloponnese, ravaged a\r\ngreat deal of the country, and pillaged and plundered the towns and smaller\r\ncities; and by land he himself entered with an army the Megarian country, and\r\nmade havoc of it all. Whence it is clear that the Peloponnesians, though they\r\ndid the Athenians much mischief by land, yet suffering as much themselves from\r\nthem by sea, would not have protracted the war to such a length, but would\r\nquickly have given it over, as Pericles at first foretold they would, had not\r\nsome divine power crossed human purposes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the first place, the pestilential disease, or plague, seized upon the city,\r\nand ate up all the flower and prime of their youth and strength. Upon occasion\r\nof which, the people, distempered and afflicted in their souls, as well as in\r\ntheir bodies, were utterly enraged like madmen against Pericles, and, like\r\npatients grown delirious, sought to lay violent hands on their physician, or,\r\nas it were, their father. They had been possessed, by his enemies, with the\r\nbelief that the occasion of the plague was the crowding of the country people\r\ntogether into the town, forced as they were now, in the heat of the\r\nsummer-weather, to dwell many of them together even as they could, in small\r\ntenements and stifling hovels, and to be tied to a lazy course of life within\r\ndoors, whereas before they lived in a pure, open, and free air. The cause and\r\nauthor of all this, said they, is he who on account of the war has poured a\r\nmultitude of people from the country in upon us within the walls, and uses all\r\nthese many men that he has here upon no employ or service, but keeps them pent\r\nup like cattle, to be overrun with infection from one another, affording them\r\nneither shift of quarters nor any refreshment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWith the design to remedy these evils, and do the enemy some inconvenience,\r\nPericles got a hundred and fifty galleys ready, and having embarked many tried\r\nsoldiers, both foot and horse, was about to sail out, giving great hope to his\r\ncitizens, and no less alarm to his enemies, upon the sight of so great a force.\r\nAnd now the vessels having their complement of men, and Pericles being gone\r\naboard his own galley, it happened that the sun was eclipsed, and it grew dark\r\non a sudden, to the affright of all, for this was looked upon as extremely\r\nominous. Pericles, therefore, perceiving the steersman seized with fear and at\r\na loss what to do, took his cloak and held it up before the man’s face, and,\r\nscreening him with it so that he could not see, asked him whether he imagined\r\nthere was any great hurt, or the sign of any great hurt in this, and he\r\nanswering No, “Why,” said he, “and what does that differ from this, only that\r\nwhat has caused that darkness there, is something greater than a cloak?” This\r\nis a story which philosophers tell their scholars. Pericles, however after\r\nputting out to sea, seems not to have done any other exploit befitting such\r\npreparations, and when he had laid siege to the holy city Epidaurus, which gave\r\nhim some hope of surrender, miscarried in his design by reason of the sickness.\r\nFor it not only seized upon the Athenians, but upon all others, too, that held\r\nany sort of communication with the army. Finding after this the Athenians ill\r\naffected and highly displeased with him, he tried and endeavored what he could\r\nto appease and re-encourage them. But he could not pacify or allay their anger,\r\nnor persuade or prevail with them any way, till they freely passed their votes\r\nupon him, resumed their power, took away his command from him, and fined him in\r\na sum of money; which, by their account that say least, was fifteen talents,\r\nwhile they who reckon most, name fifty. The name prefixed to the accusation was\r\nCleon, as Idomeneus tells us; Simmias, according to Theophrastus; and\r\nHeraclides Ponticus gives it as Lacratidas.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, public troubles were soon to leave him unmolested; the people, so\r\nto say, discharged their passion in their stroke, and lost their stings in the\r\nwound. But his domestic concerns were in an unhappy condition many of his\r\nfriends and acquaintance having died in the plague time, and those of his\r\nfamily having long since been in disorder and in a kind of mutiny against him.\r\nFor the eldest of his lawfully begotten sons, Xanthippus by name, being\r\nnaturally prodigal, and marrying a young and expensive wife, the daughter of\r\nTisander, son of Epilycus, was highly offended at his father’s economy in\r\nmaking him but a scanty allowance, by little and little at a time. He sent,\r\ntherefore, to a friend one day, and borrowed some money of him in his father\r\nPericles’s name, pretending it was by his order. The man coming afterward to\r\ndemand the debt, Pericles was so far from yielding to pay it, that he entered\r\nan action against him. Upon which the young man, Xanthippus, thought himself so\r\nill used and disobliged, that he openly reviled his father; telling first, by\r\nway of ridicule, stories about his conversations at home, and the discourses he\r\nhad with the sophists and scholars that came to his house. As for instance, how\r\none who was a practicer of the five games of skill, having with a dart or\r\njavelin unawares against his will struck and killed Epitimus the Pharsalian,\r\nhis father spent a whole day with Protagoras in a serious dispute, whether the\r\njavelin, or the man that threw it, or the masters of the games who appointed\r\nthese sports, were, according to the strictest and best reason, to be accounted\r\nthe cause of this mischance. Besides this, Stesimbrotus tells us that it was\r\nXanthippus who spread abroad among the people the infamous story concerning his\r\nown wife; and in general that this difference of the young man’s with his\r\nfather, and the breach betwixt them, continued never to be healed or made up\r\ntill his death. For Xanthippus died in the plague time of the sickness. At\r\nwhich time Pericles also lost his sister, and the greatest part of his\r\nrelations and friends, and those who had been most useful and serviceable to\r\nhim in managing the affairs of state. However, he did not shrink or give in\r\nupon these occasions, nor betray or lower his high spirit and the greatness of\r\nhis mind under all his misfortunes; he was not even so much as seen to weep or\r\nto mourn, or even attend the burial of any of his friends or relations, till at\r\nlast he lost his only remaining legitimate son. Subdued by this blow and yet\r\nstriving still, as far as he could, to maintain his principle and to preserve\r\nand keep up the greatness of his soul when he came, however, to perform the\r\nceremony of putting a garland of flowers upon the head of the corpse, he was\r\nvanquished by his passion at the sight, so that he burst into exclamations, and\r\nshed copious tears, having never done any such thing in all his life before.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe city having made trial of other generals for the conduct of war, and\r\norators for business of state, when they found there was no one who was of\r\nweight enough for such a charge, or of authority sufficient to be trusted with\r\nso great a command, regretted the loss of him, and invited him again to address\r\nand advise them, and to reassume the office of general. He, however, lay at\r\nhome in dejection and mourning; but was persuaded by Alcibiades and others of\r\nhis friends to come abroad and show himself to the people; who having, upon his\r\nappearance, made their acknowledgments, and apologized for their untowardly\r\ntreatment of him, he undertook the public affairs once more; and, being chosen\r\ngeneral, requested that the statute concerning base-born children, which he\r\nhimself had formerly caused to be made, might be suspended; that so the name\r\nand race of his family might not, for absolute want of a lawful heir to\r\nsucceed, be wholly lost and extinguished. The case of the statute was thus:\r\nPericles, when long ago at the height of his power in the state, having then,\r\nas has been said, children lawfully begotten, proposed a law that those only\r\nshould be reputed true citizens of Athens who were born of such parents as were\r\nboth Athenians. After this, the king of Egypt having sent to the people, by way\r\nof present, forty thousand bushels of wheat, which were to be shared out among\r\nthe citizens, a great many actions and suits about legitimacy occurred, by\r\nvirtue of that edict; cases which, till that time, had not been known nor taken\r\nnotice of; and several persons suffered by false accusations. There were little\r\nless than five thousand who were convicted and sold for slaves; those who,\r\nenduring the test, remained in the government and passed muster for true\r\nAthenians were found upon the poll to be fourteen thousand and forty persons in\r\nnumber.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt looked strange, that a law, which had been carried so far against so many\r\npeople, should be canceled again by the same man that made it; yet the present\r\ncalamity and distress which Pericles labored under in his family broke through\r\nall objections, and prevailed with the Athenians to pity him, as one whose\r\nlosses and misfortunes had sufficiently punished his former arrogance and\r\nhaughtiness. His sufferings deserved, they thought, their pity, and even\r\nindignation, and his request was such as became a man to ask and men to grant;\r\nthey gave him permission to enroll his son in the register of his fraternity,\r\ngiving him his own name. This son afterward, after having defeated the\r\nPeloponnesians at Arginusae, was, with his fellow-generals, put to death by the\r\npeople.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout the time when his son was enrolled, it should seem, the plague seized\r\nPericles, not with sharp and violent fits, as it did others that had it, but\r\nwith a dull and lingering distemper, attended with various changes and\r\nalterations, leisurely, by little and little, wasting the strength of his body,\r\nand undermining the noble faculties of his soul. So that Theophrastus, in his\r\nMorals, when discussing whether men’s characters change with their\r\ncircumstances, and their moral habits, disturbed by the ailings of their\r\nbodies, start aside from the rules of virtue, has left it upon record, that\r\nPericles, when he was sick, showed one of his friends that came to visit him,\r\nan amulet or charm that the women had hung about his neck; as much as to say,\r\nthat he was very sick indeed when he would admit of such a foolery as that was.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he was now near his end, the best of the citizens and those of his friends\r\nwho were left alive, sitting about him, were speaking of the greatness of his\r\nmerit, and his power, and reckoning up his famous actions and the number of his\r\nvictories; for there were no less than nine trophies, which, as their chief\r\ncommander and conqueror of their enemies, he had set up, for the honor of the\r\ncity. They talked thus together among themselves, as though he were unable to\r\nunderstand or mind what they said, but had now lost his consciousness. He had\r\nlistened, however, all the while, and attended to all, and speaking out among\r\nthem, said, that he wondered they should commend and take notice of things\r\nwhich were as much owing to fortune as to anything else, and had happened to\r\nmany other commanders, and, at the same time, should not speak or make mention\r\nof that which was the most excellent and greatest thing of all. “For,” said he,\r\n“no Athenian, through my means, ever wore mourning.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was indeed a character deserving our high admiration, not only for his\r\nequitable and mild temper, which all along in the many affairs of his life, and\r\nthe great animosities which he incurred, he constantly maintained; but also for\r\nthe high spirit and feeling which made him regard it the noblest of all his\r\nhonors that, in the exercise of such immense power, he never had gratified his\r\nenvy or his passion, nor ever had treated any enemy as irreconcilably opposed\r\nto him. And to me it appears that this one thing gives that otherwise childish\r\nand arrogant title a fitting and becoming significance; so dispassionate a\r\ntemper, a life so pure and unblemished, in the height of power and place, might\r\nwell be called Olympian, in accordance with our conceptions of the divine\r\nbeings, to whom, as the natural authors of all good and of nothing evil, we\r\nascribe the rule and government of the world. Not as the poets represent, who,\r\nwhile confounding us with their ignorant fancies, are themselves confuted by\r\ntheir own poems and fictions, and call the place, indeed, where they say the\r\ngods make their abode, a secure and quiet seat, free from all hazards and\r\ncommotions, untroubled with winds or with clouds, and equally through all time\r\nillumined with a soft serenity and a pure light, as though such were a home\r\nmost agreeable for a blessed and immortal nature; and yet, in the meanwhile,\r\naffirm that the gods themselves are full of trouble and enmity and anger and\r\nother passions, which no way become or belong to even men that have any\r\nunderstanding. But this will, perhaps, seem a subject fitter for some other\r\nconsideration, and that ought to be treated of in some other place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe course of public affairs after his death produced a quick and speedy sense\r\nof the loss of Pericles. Those who, while he lived, resented his great\r\nauthority, as that which eclipsed themselves, presently after his quitting the\r\nstage, making trial of other orators and demagogues, readily acknowledged that\r\nthere never had been in nature such a disposition as his was, more moderate and\r\nreasonable in the height of that state he took upon him, or more grave and\r\nimpressive in the mildness which he used. And that invidious arbitrary power,\r\nto which formerly they gave the name of monarchy and tyranny, did then appear\r\nto have been the chief bulwark of public safety; so great a corruption and such\r\na flood of mischief and vice followed, which he, by keeping weak and low, had\r\nwithheld from notice, and had prevented from attaining incurable height through\r\na licentious impunity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap13\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eFABIUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving related the memorable actions of Pericles, our history now proceeds to\r\nthe life of Fabius. A son of Hercules and a nymph, or some woman of that\r\ncountry, who brought him forth on the banks of Tiber, was, it is said, the\r\nfirst Fabius, the founder of the numerous and distinguished family of the name.\r\nOthers will have it that they were first called Fodii, because the first of the\r\nrace delighted in digging pitfalls for wild beasts, fodere being still the\r\nLatin for to dig, and fossa for a ditch, and that in process of time, by the\r\nchange of the two letters they grew to be called Fabii. But be these things\r\ntrue or false, certain it is that this family for a long time yielded a great\r\nnumber of eminent persons. Our Fabius, who was fourth in descent from that\r\nFabius Rullus who first brought the honorable surname of Maximus into his\r\nfamily, was also, by way of personal nickname, called Verrucosus, from a wart\r\non his upper lip; and in his childhood they in like manner named him Ovicula,\r\nor The Lamb, on account of his extreme mildness of temper. His slowness in\r\nspeaking, his long labor and pains in learning, his deliberation in entering\r\ninto the sports of other children, his easy submission to everybody, as if he\r\nhad no will of his own, made those who judged superficially of him, the greater\r\nnumber, esteem him insensible and stupid; and few only saw that this tardiness\r\nproceeded from stability, and discerned the greatness of his mind, and the\r\nlionlikeness of his temper. But as soon as he came into employments, his\r\nvirtues exerted and showed themselves; his reputed want of energy then was\r\nrecognized by people in general, as a freedom of passion; his slowness in words\r\nand actions, the effect of a true prudence; his want of rapidity, and his\r\nsluggishness, as constancy and firmness.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLiving in a great commonwealth, surrounded by many enemies, he saw the wisdom\r\nof inuring his body (nature’s own weapon) to warlike exercises, and\r\ndisciplining his tongue for public oratory in a style comformable to his life\r\nand character. His eloquence, indeed, had not much of popular ornament, nor\r\nempty artifice, but there was in it great weight of sense; it was strong and\r\nsententious, much after the way of Thucydides. We have yet extant his funeral\r\noration upon the death of his son, who died consul, which he recited before the\r\npeople.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was five times consul, and in his first consulship had the honor of a\r\ntriumph for the victory he gained over the Ligurians, whom he defeated in a set\r\nbattle, and drove them to take shelter in the Alps, from whence they never\r\nafter made any inroad nor depredation upon their neighbors. After this,\r\nHannibal came into Italy, who, at his first entrance, having gained a great\r\nbattle near the river Trebia, traversed all Tuscany with his victorious army,\r\nand, desolating the country round about, filled Rome itself with astonishment\r\nand terror. Besides the more common signs of thunder and lightning then\r\nhappening, the report of several unheard of and utterly strange portents much\r\nincreased the popular consternation. For it was said that some targets sweated\r\nblood; that at Antium, when they reaped their corn, many of the ears were\r\nfilled with blood; that it had rained redhot stones; that the Falerians had\r\nseen the heavens open and several scrolls falling down, in one of which was\r\nplainly written, “Mars himself stirs his arms.” But these prodigies had no\r\neffect upon the impetuous and fiery temper of the consul Flaminius, whose\r\nnatural promptness had been much heightened by his late unexpected victory over\r\nthe Gauls, when he fought them contrary to the order of the senate and the\r\nadvice of his colleague. Fabius, on the other side, thought it not seasonable\r\nto engage with the enemy; not that he much regarded the prodigies, which he\r\nthought too strange to be easily understood, though many were alarmed by them;\r\nbut in regard that the Carthaginians were but few, and in want of money and\r\nsupplies, he deemed it best not to meet in the field a general whose army had\r\nbeen tried in many encounters, and whose object was a battle, but to send aid\r\nto their allies, control the movements of the various subject cities, and let\r\nthe force and vigor of Hannibal waste away and expire, like a flame, for want\r\nof aliment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese weighty reasons did not prevail with Flaminius, who protested he would\r\nnever suffer the advance of the enemy to the city, nor be reduced, like\r\nCamillus in former time, to fight for Rome within the walls of Rome.\r\nAccordingly he ordered the tribunes to draw out the army into the field; and\r\nthough he himself, leaping on horseback to go out, was no sooner mounted but\r\nthe beast, without any apparent cause, fell into so violent a fit of trembling\r\nand bounding that he cast his rider headlong on the ground, he was no ways\r\ndeterred; but proceeded as he had begun, and marched forward up to Hannibal,\r\nwho was posted near the Lake Thrasymene in Tuscany. At the moment of this\r\nengagement, there happened so great an earthquake, that it destroyed several\r\ntowns, altered the course of rivers, and carried off parts of high cliffs, yet\r\nsuch was the eagerness of the combatants, that they were entirely insensible of\r\nit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this battle Flaminius fell, after many proofs of his strength and courage,\r\nand round about him all the bravest of the army, in the whole, fifteen thousand\r\nwere killed, and as many made prisoners. Hannibal, desirous to bestow funeral\r\nhonors upon the body of Flaminius, made diligent search after it, but could not\r\nfind it among the dead, nor was it ever known what became of it. Upon the\r\nformer engagement near Trebia, neither the general who wrote, nor the express\r\nwho told the news, used straightforward and direct terms, nor related it\r\notherwise than as a drawn battle, with equal loss on either side; but on this\r\noccasion, as soon as Pomponius the praetor had the intelligence, he caused the\r\npeople to assemble, and, without disguising or dissembling the matter, told\r\nthem plainly, “We are beaten, O Romans, in a great battle; the consul Flaminius\r\nis killed; think, therefore, what is to be done for your safety.” Letting loose\r\nhis news like a gale of wind upon an open sea, he threw the city into utter\r\nconfusion: in such consternation, their thoughts found no support or stay. The\r\ndanger at hand at last awakened their judgments into a resolution to choose a\r\ndictator, who, by the sovereign authority of his office and by his personal\r\nwisdom and courage, might be able to manage the public affairs. Their choice\r\nunanimously fell upon Fabius, whose character seemed equal to the greatness of\r\nthe office; whose age was so far advanced as to give him experience, without\r\ntaking from him the vigor of action; his body could execute what his soul\r\ndesigned; and his temper was a happy compound of confidence and cautiousness.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFabius, being thus installed in the office of dictator, in the first place gave\r\nthe command of the horse to Lucius Minucius; and next asked leave of the senate\r\nfor himself, that in time of battle he might serve on horseback, which by an\r\nancient law amongst the Romans was forbid to their generals; whether it were,\r\nthat, placing their greatest strength in their foot, they would have their\r\ncommanders-in-chief posted amongst them, or else to let them know, that, how\r\ngreat and absolute soever their authority were, the people and senate were\r\nstill their masters, of whom they must ask leave. Fabius, however, to make the\r\nauthority of his charge more observable, and to render the people more\r\nsubmissive and obedient to him, caused himself to be accompanied with the full\r\nbody of four and twenty lictors; and, when the surviving consul came to visit\r\nhim, sent him word to dismiss his lictors with their fasces, the ensigns of\r\nauthority, and appear before him as a private person.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe first solemn action of his dictatorship was very fitly a religious one: an\r\nadmonition to the people, that their late overthrow had not befallen them\r\nthrough want of courage in their soldiers, but through the neglect of divine\r\nceremonies in the general. He therefore exhorted them not to fear the enemy,\r\nbut by extraordinary honor to propitiate the gods. This he did, not to fill\r\ntheir minds with superstition, but by religious feeling to raise their courage,\r\nand lessen their fear of the enemy by inspiring the belief that Heaven was on\r\ntheir side. With this view, the secret prophecies called the Sibylline Books\r\nwere consulted; sundry predictions found in them were said to refer to the\r\nfortunes and events of the time; but none except the consulter was informed.\r\nPresenting himself to the people, the dictator made a vow before them to offer\r\nin sacrifice the whole product of the next season, all Italy over, of the cows,\r\ngoats, swine, sheep, both in the mountains and the plains; and to celebrate\r\nmusical festivities with an expenditure of the precise sum of 333 sestertia and\r\n333 denarii, with one third of a denarius over. The sum total of which is, in\r\nour money, 83,583 drachmas and 2 obols. What the mystery might be in that exact\r\nnumber is not easy to determine, unless it were in honor of the perfection of\r\nthe number three, as being the first of odd numbers, the first that contains in\r\nitself multiplication, with all other properties whatsoever belonging to\r\nnumbers in general.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this manner Fabius having given the people better heart for the future, by\r\nmaking them believe that the gods took their side, for his own part placed his\r\nwhole confidence in himself, believing that the gods bestowed victory and good\r\nfortune by the instrumentality of valor and of prudence; and thus prepared he\r\nset forth to oppose Hannibal, not with intention to fight him, but with the\r\npurpose of wearing out and wasting the vigor of his arms by lapse of time, of\r\nmeeting his want of resources by superior means, by large numbers the smallness\r\nof his forces. With this design, he always encamped on the highest grounds,\r\nwhere the enemy’s horse could have no access to him. Still he kept pace with\r\nthem; when they marched he followed them, when they encamped he did the same,\r\nbut at such a distance as not to be compelled to an engagement, and always\r\nkeeping upon the hills, free from the insults of their horse; by which means he\r\ngave them no rest, but kept them in a continual alarm.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut this his dilatory way gave occasion in his own camp for suspicion of want\r\nof courage; and this opinion prevailed yet more in Hannibal’s army. Hannibal\r\nwas himself the only man who was not deceived, who discerned his skill and\r\ndetected his tactics, and saw, unless he could by art or force bring him to\r\nbattle, that the Carthaginians, unable to use the arms in which they were\r\nsuperior, and suffering the continual drain of lives and treasure in which they\r\nwere inferior, would in the end come to nothing. He resolved, therefore, with\r\nall the arts and subtilties of war to break his measures, and to bring Fabius\r\nto an engagement; like a cunning wrestler, watching every opportunity to get\r\ngood hold and close with his adversary. He at one time attacked, and sought to\r\ndistract his attention, tried to draw him off in various directions, endeavored\r\nin all ways to tempt him from his safe policy. All this artifice, though it had\r\nno effect upon the firm judgment and conviction of the dictator. yet upon the\r\ncommon soldier and even upon the general of the horse himself, it had too great\r\nan operation: Minucius, unseasonably eager for action, bold and confident,\r\nhumored the soldiery, and himself contributed to fill them with wild eagerness\r\nand empty hopes, which they vented in reproaches upon Fabius, calling him\r\nHannibal’s pedagogue, since he did nothing else but follow him up and down and\r\nwait upon him. At the same time, they cried up Minucius for the only captain\r\nworthy to command the Romans; whose vanity and presumption rose so high in\r\nconsequence, that he insolently jested at Fabius’s encampments upon the\r\nmountains, saying that he seated them there as on a theater, to behold the\r\nflames and desolation of their country. And he would sometimes ask the friends\r\nof the general, whether it were not his meaning, by thus leading them from\r\nmountain to mountain, to carry them at last (having no hopes on earth) up into\r\nheaven, or to hide them in the clouds from Hannibal’s army? When his friends\r\nreported these things to the dictator, persuading him that, to avoid the\r\ngeneral obloquy, he should engage the enemy, his answer was, “I should be more\r\nfainthearted than they make me, if, through fear of idle reproaches, I should\r\nabandon my own convictions. It is no inglorious thing to have fear for the\r\nsafety of our country, but to be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by\r\nblame, and by misrepresentation, shows a man unfit to hold an office such as\r\nthis, which, by such conduct, he makes the slave of those whose errors it is\r\nhis business to control.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAn oversight of Hannibal occurred soon after. Desirous to refresh his horse in\r\nsome good pasture-grounds, and to draw off his army, he ordered his guides to\r\nconduct him to the district of Casinum. They, mistaking his bad pronunciation,\r\nled him and his army to the town of Casilinum, on the frontier of Campania\r\nwhich the river Lothronus, called by the Romans Vulturnus, divides in two\r\nparts. The country around is enclosed by mountains, with a valley opening\r\ntowards the sea, in which the river overflowing forms a quantity of marsh land\r\nwith deep banks of sand, and discharges itself into the sea on a very unsafe\r\nand rough shore. While Hannibal was proceeding hither, Fabius, by his knowledge\r\nof the roads, succeeded in making his way around before him, and dispatched\r\nfour thousand choice men to seize the exit from it and stop him up, and lodged\r\nthe rest of his army upon the neighboring hills in the most advantageous\r\nplaces; at the same time detaching a party of his lightest armed men to fall\r\nupon Hannibal’s rear; which they did with such success, that they cut off eight\r\nhundred of them, and put the whole army in disorder. Hannibal, finding the\r\nerror and the danger he was fallen into, immediately crucified the guides; but\r\nconsidered the enemy to be so advantageously posted, that there was no hopes of\r\nbreaking through them; while his soldiers began to be despondent and terrified,\r\nand to think themselves surrounded with embarrassments too difficult to be\r\nsurmounted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus reduced, Hannibal had recourse to stratagem; he caused two thousand head\r\nof oxen which he had in his camp, to have torches or dry fagots well fastened\r\nto their horns, and lighting them in the beginning of the night, ordered the\r\nbeasts to be driven on towards the heights commanding the passages out of the\r\nvalley and the enemy’s posts; when this was done, he made his army in the dark\r\nleisurely march after them. The oxen at first kept a slow, orderly pace, and\r\nwith their lighted heads resembled an army marching by night, astonishing the\r\nshepherds and herds men of the hills about. But when the fire had burnt down\r\nthe horns of the beasts to the quick, they no longer observed their sober pace,\r\nbut, unruly and wild with their pain, ran dispersed about, tossing their heads\r\nand scattering the fire round about them upon each other and setting light as\r\nthey passed to the trees. This was a surprising spectacle to the Romans on\r\nguard upon the heights. Seeing flames which appeared to come from men advancing\r\nwith torches, they were possessed with the alarm that the enemy was approaching\r\nin various quarters, and that they were being surrounded; and, quitting their\r\npost, abandoned the pass, and precipitately retired to their camp on the hills.\r\nThey were no sooner gone, but the light-armed of Hannibal’s men, according to\r\nhis order, immediately seized the heights, and soon after the whole army, with\r\nall the baggage, came up and safely marched through the passes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFabius, before the night was over, quickly found out the trick; for some of the\r\nbeasts fell into his hands; but for fear of an ambush in the dark, he kept his\r\nmen all night to their arms in the camp. As soon as it was day, he attacked the\r\nenemy in the rear, where, after a good deal of skirmishing in the uneven\r\nground, the disorder might have become general, but that Hannibal detached from\r\nhis van a body of Spaniards, who, of themselves active and nimble, were\r\naccustomed to the climbing of mountains. These briskly attacked the Roman\r\ntroops who were in heavy armor, killed a good many, and left Fabius no longer\r\nin condition to follow the enemy. This action brought the extreme of obloquy\r\nand contempt upon the dictator; they said it was now manifest that he was not\r\nonly inferior to his adversary, as they had always thought, in courage, but\r\neven in that conduct, foresight, and generalship, by which he had proposed to\r\nbring the war to an end.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd Hannibal, to enhance their anger against him, marched with his army close\r\nto the lands and possessions of Fabius, and, giving orders to his soldiers to\r\nburn and destroy all the country about, forbade them to do the least damage in\r\nthe estates of the Roman general, and placed guards for their security. This,\r\nwhen reported at Rome, had the effect with the people which Hannibal desired.\r\nTheir tribunes raised a thousand stories against him, chiefly at the\r\ninstigation of Metilius, who, not so much out of hatred to him as out of\r\nfriendship to Minucius, whose kinsman he was, thought by depressing Fabius to\r\nraise his friend. The senate on their part were also offended with him, for the\r\nbargain he had made with Hannibal about the exchange of prisoners, the\r\nconditions of which were, that, after exchange made of man for man, if any on\r\neither side remained, they should be redeemed at the price of two hundred and\r\nfifty drachmas a head. Upon the whole account, there remained two hundred and\r\nforty Romans unexchanged, and the senate now not only refused to allow money\r\nfor the ransoms, but also reproached Fabius for making a contract, contrary to\r\nthe honor and interest of the commonwealth, for redeeming men whose cowardice\r\nhad put them in the hands of the enemy. Fabius heard and endured all this with\r\ninvincible patience; and, having no money by him, and on the other side being\r\nresolved to keep his word with Hannibal and not to abandon the captives, he\r\ndispatched his son to Rome to sell land, and to bring with him the price,\r\nsufficient to discharge the ransoms; which was punctually performed by his son,\r\nand delivery accordingly made to him of the prisoners, amongst whom many, when\r\nthey were released, made proposals to repay the money; which Fabius in all\r\ncases declined.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout this time, he was called to Rome by the priests, to assist, according to\r\nthe duty of his office, at certain sacrifices, and was thus forced to leave the\r\ncommand of the army with Minucius; but before he parted, not only charged him\r\nas his commander-in-chief, but besought and entreated him, not to come, in his\r\nabsence, to a battle with Hannibal. His commands, entreaties, and advice were\r\nlost upon Minucius; for his back was no sooner turned but the new general\r\nimmediately sought occasions to attack the enemy. And notice being brought him\r\nthat Hannibal had sent out a great part of his army to forage, he fell upon a\r\ndetachment of the remainder, doing great execution, and driving them to their\r\nvery camp, with no little terror to the rest, who apprehended their breaking in\r\nupon them; and when Hannibal had recalled his scattered forces to the camp, he,\r\nnevertheless, without any loss, made his retreat, a success which aggravated\r\nhis boldness and presumption, and filled the soldiers with rash confidence. The\r\nnews spread to Rome, where Fabius, on being told it, said that what he most\r\nfeared was Minucius’s success: but the people, highly elated, hurried to the\r\nforum to listen to an address from Metilius the tribune, in which he infinitely\r\nextolled the valor of Minucius, and fell bitterly upon Fabius, accusing him for\r\nwant not merely of courage, but even of loyalty; and not only him, but also\r\nmany other eminent and considerable persons; saying that it was they that had\r\nbrought the Carthaginians into Italy, with the design to destroy the liberty of\r\nthe people; for which end they had at once put the supreme authority into the\r\nhands of a single person, who by his slowness and delays might give Hannibal\r\nleisure to establish himself in Italy, and the people of Carthage time and\r\nopportunity to supply him with fresh succors to complete his conquests\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFabius came forward with no intention to answer the tribune, but only said,\r\nthat they should expedite the sacrifices, that so he might speedily return to\r\nthe army to punish Minucius, who had presumed to fight contrary to his orders;\r\nwords which immediately possessed the people with the belief that Minucius\r\nstood in danger of his life. For it was in the power of the dictator to\r\nimprison and to put to death, and they feared that Fabius, of a mild temper in\r\ngeneral, would be as hard to be appeased when once irritated, as he was slow to\r\nbe provoked. Nobody dared to raise his voice in opposition. Metilius alone,\r\nwhose office of tribune gave him security to say what he pleased (for in the\r\ntime of a dictatorship that magistrate alone preserves his authority), boldly\r\napplied himself to the people in the behalf of Minucius: that they should not\r\nsuffer him to be made a sacrifice to the enmity of Fabius, nor permit him to be\r\ndestroyed, like the son of Manlius Torquatus, who was beheaded by his father\r\nfor a victory fought and triumphantly won against order; he exhorted them to\r\ntake away from Fabius that absolute power of a dictator, and to put it into\r\nmore worthy hands, better able and more inclined to use it for the public good.\r\nThese impressions very much prevailed upon the people, though not so far as\r\nwholly to dispossess Fabius of the dictatorship. But they decreed that Minucius\r\nshould have an equal authority with the dictator in the conduct of the war;\r\nwhich was a thing then without precedent, though a little later it was again\r\npracticed after the disaster at Cannae; when the dictator, Marcus Junius, being\r\nwith the army, they chose at Rome Fabius Buteo dictator, that he might create\r\nnew senators, to supply the numerous places of those who were killed. But as\r\nsoon as, once acting in public, he had filled those vacant places with a\r\nsufficient number, he immediately dismissed his lictors, and withdrew from all\r\nhis attendance, and, mingling like a common person with the rest of the people,\r\nquietly went about his own affairs in the forum.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe enemies of Fabius thought they had sufficiently humiliated and subdued him\r\nby raising Minucius to be his equal in authority; but they mistook the temper\r\nof the man, who looked upon their folly as not his loss, but like Diogenes,\r\nwho, being told that some persons derided him, made answer, “But I am not\r\nderided,” meaning that only those were really insulted on whom such insults\r\nmade an impression, so Fabius, with great tranquillity and unconcern, submitted\r\nto what happened, and contributed a proof to the argument of the philosophers\r\nthat a just and good man is not capable of being dishonored. His only vexation\r\narose from his fear lest this ill counsel, by supplying opportunities to the\r\ndiseased military ambition of his subordinate, should damage the public cause.\r\nLest the rashness of Minucius should now at once run headlong into some\r\ndisaster, he returned back with all privacy and speed to the army; where he\r\nfound Minucius so elevated with his new dignity, that, a joint-authority not\r\ncontenting him, he required by turns to have the command of the army every\r\nother day. This Fabius rejected, but was contented that the army should be\r\ndivided; thinking each general singly would better command his part, than\r\npartially command the whole. The first and fourth legion he took for his own\r\ndivision, the second and third he delivered to Minucius; so also of the\r\nauxiliary forces each had an equal share.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMinucius, thus exalted, could not contain himself from boasting of his success\r\nin humiliating the high and powerful office of the dictatorship. Fabius quietly\r\nreminded him that it was, in all wisdom, Hannibal, and not Fabius, whom he had\r\nto combat; but if he must needs contend with his colleague, it had best be in\r\ndiligence and care for the preservation of Rome; that it might not be said, a\r\nman so favored by the people served them worse than he who had been ill-treated\r\nand disgraced by them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe young general, despising these admonitions as the false humility of age,\r\nimmediately removed with the body of his army, and encamped by himself.\r\nHannibal, who was not ignorant of all these passages, lay watching his\r\nadvantage from them. It happened that between his army and that of Minucius\r\nthere was a certain eminence, which seemed a very advantageous and not\r\ndifficult post to encamp upon; the level field around it appeared, from a\r\ndistance, to be all smooth and even, though it had many inconsiderable ditches\r\nand dips in it, not discernible to the eye. Hannibal, had he pleased, could\r\neasily have possessed himself of this ground; but he had reserved it for a\r\nbait, or train, in proper season, to draw the Romans to an engagement. Now that\r\nMinucius and Fabius were divided, he thought the opportunity fair for his\r\npurpose; and, therefore, having in the night time lodged a convenient number of\r\nhis men in these ditches and hollow places, early in the morning he sent forth\r\na small detachment, who, in the sight of Minucius, proceeded to possess\r\nthemselves of the rising ground. According to his expectation, Minucius\r\nswallowed the bait, and first sends out his light troops, and after them some\r\nhorse, to dislodge the enemy; and, at last, when he saw Hannibal in person\r\nadvancing to the assistance of his men, marched down with his whole army drawn\r\nup. He engaged with the troops on the eminence, and sustained their missiles;\r\nthe combat for some time was equal; but as soon as Hannibal perceived that the\r\nwhole army was now sufficiently advanced within the toils he had set for them,\r\nso that their backs were open to his men whom he had posted in the hollows, he\r\ngave the signal; upon which they rushed forth from various quarters, and with\r\nloud cries furiously attacked Minucius in the rear. The surprise and the\r\nslaughter was great, and struck universal alarm and disorder through the whole\r\narmy. Minucius himself lost all his confidence; he looked from officer to\r\nofficer, and found all alike unprepared to face the danger, and yielding to a\r\nflight, which, however, could not end in safety. The Numidian horsemen were\r\nalready in full victory riding about the plain, cutting down the fugitives.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFabius was not ignorant of this danger of his countrymen; he foresaw what would\r\nhappen from the rashness of Minucius, and the cunning of Hannibal; and,\r\ntherefore, kept his men to their arms, in readiness to wait the event; nor\r\nwould he trust to the reports of others, but he himself, in front of his camp,\r\nviewed all that passed. When, therefore, he saw the army of Minucius\r\nencompassed by the enemy, and that by their countenance and shifting their\r\nground, they appeared more disposed to flight than to resistance, with a great\r\nsigh, striking his hand upon his thigh, he said to those about him, “O\r\nHercules! how much sooner than I expected, though later than he seemed to\r\ndesire, hath Minucius destroyed himself!” He then commanded the ensigns to be\r\nled forward and the army to follow, telling them, “We must make haste to rescue\r\nMinucius, who is a valiant man, and a lover of his country; and if he hath been\r\ntoo forward to engage the enemy, at another time we will tell him of it.” Thus,\r\nat the head of his men, Fabius marched up to the enemy, and first cleared the\r\nplain of the Numidians; and next fell upon those who were charging the Romans\r\nin the rear, cutting down all that made opposition, and obliging the rest to\r\nsave themselves by a hasty retreat, lest they should be environed as the Romans\r\nhad been. Hannibal, seeing so sudden a change of affairs, and Fabius, beyond\r\nthe force of his age, opening his way through the ranks up the hill-side, that\r\nhe might join Minucius, warily forbore, sounded a retreat, and drew off his men\r\ninto their camp; while the Romans on their part were no less contented to\r\nretire in safety. It is reported that upon this occasion Hannibal said\r\njestingly to his friends: “Did not I tell you, that this cloud which always\r\nhovered upon the mountains would, at some time or other, come down with a storm\r\nupon us?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFabius, after his men had picked up the spoils of the field, retired to his own\r\ncamp, without saying any harsh or reproachful thing to his colleague; who also\r\non his part, gathering his army together, spoke and said to them: “To conduct\r\ngreat matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature; but\r\nto learn and improve by the faults we have committed, is that which becomes a\r\ngood and sensible man. Some reasons I may have to accuse fortune, but I have\r\nmany more to thank her; for in a few hours she hath cured a long mistake, and\r\ntaught me that I am not the man who should command others, but have need of\r\nanother to command me; and that we are not to contend for victory over those to\r\nwhom it is our advantage to yield. Therefore in everything else henceforth the\r\ndictator must be your commander; only in showing gratitude towards him I will\r\nstill be your leader, and always be the first to obey his orders.” Having said\r\nthis, he commanded the Roman eagles to move forward, and all his men to follow\r\nhim to the camp of Fabius. The soldiers, then, as he entered, stood amazed at\r\nthe novelty of the sight, and were anxious and doubtful what the meaning might\r\nbe. When he came near the dictator’s tent, Fabius went forth to meet him, on\r\nwhich he at once laid his standards at his feet, calling him with a loud voice\r\nhis father; while the soldiers with him saluted the soldiers here as their\r\npatrons, the term employed by freedmen to those who gave them their liberty.\r\nAfter silence was obtained, Minucius said, “You have this day, O dictator,\r\nobtained two victories; one by your valor and conduct over Hannibal, and\r\nanother by your wisdom and goodness over your colleague; by one victory you\r\npreserved, and by the other instructed us; and when we were already suffering\r\none shameful defeat from Hannibal, by another welcome one from you we were\r\nrestored to honor and safety. I can address you by no nobler name than that of\r\na kind father, though a father’s beneficence falls short of that I have\r\nreceived from you. From a father I individually received the gift of life; to\r\nyou I owe its preservation not for myself only, but for all these who are under\r\nme.” After this, he threw himself into the arms of the dictator; and in the\r\nsame manner the soldiers of each army embraced one another with gladness and\r\ntears of joy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after, Fabius laid down the dictatorship, and consuls were again\r\ncreated. Those who immediately succeeded, observed the same method in managing\r\nthe war, and avoided all occasions of fighting Hannibal in a pitched battle;\r\nthey only succored their allies, and preserved the towns from falling off to\r\nthe enemy. but afterwards, when Terentius Varro, a man of obscure birth, but\r\nvery popular and bold, had obtained the consulship, he soon made it appear that\r\nby his rashness and ignorance he would stake the whole commonwealth on the\r\nhazard. For it was his custom to declaim in all assemblies, that, as long as\r\nRome employed generals like Fabius there never would be an end of the war;\r\nvaunting that whenever he should get sight of the enemy, he would that same day\r\nfree Italy from the strangers. With these promises he so prevailed, that he\r\nraised a greater army than had ever yet been sent out of Rome. There were\r\nenlisted eighty-eight thousand fighting men; but what gave confidence to the\r\npopulace, only terrified the wise and experienced, and none more than Fabius;\r\nsince if so great a body, and the flower of the Roman youth, should be cut off,\r\nthey could not see any new resource for the safety of Rome. They addressed\r\nthemselves, therefore, to the other consul, Aemilius Paulus, a man of great\r\nexperience in war, but unpopular, and fearful also of the people, who once\r\nbefore upon some impeachment had condemned him; so that he needed encouragement\r\nto withstand his colleague’s temerity. Fabius told him, if he would profitably\r\nserve his country, he must no less oppose Varro’s ignorant eagerness than\r\nHannibal’s conscious readiness, since both alike conspired to decide the fate\r\nof Rome by a battle. “It is more reasonable,” he said to him, “that you should\r\nbelieve me than Varro, in matters relating to Hannibal, when I tell you, that\r\nif for this year you abstain from fighting with him, either his army will\r\nperish of itself, or else he will be glad to depart of his own will. This\r\nevidently appears, inasmuch as, notwithstanding his victories, none of the\r\ncountries or towns of Italy come in to him, and his army is not now the third\r\npart of what it was at first.” To this Paulus is said to have replied, “Did I\r\nonly consider myself, I should rather choose to be exposed to the weapons of\r\nHannibal than once more to the suffrages of my fellow-citizens, who are urgent\r\nfor what you disapprove; yet since the cause of Rome is at stake, I will rather\r\nseek in my conduct to please and obey Fabius than all the world besides.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese good measures were defeated by the importunity of Varro; whom, when they\r\nwere both come to the army, nothing would content but a separate command, that\r\neach consul should have his day; and when his turn came, he posted his army\r\nclose to Hannibal, at a village called Cannae, by the river Aufidus. It was no\r\nsooner day, but he set up the scarlet coat flying over his tent, which was the\r\nsignal of battle. This boldness of the consul, and the numerousness of his\r\narmy, double theirs, startled the Carthaginians; but Hannibal commanded them to\r\ntheir arms, and with a small train rode out to take a full prospect of the\r\nenemy as they were now forming in their ranks, from a rising ground not far\r\ndistant. One of his followers, called Gisco, a Carthaginian of equal rank with\r\nhimself, told him that the numbers of the enemy were astonishing; to which\r\nHannibal replied, with a serious countenance, “There is one thing, Gisco, yet\r\nmore astonishing, which you take no notice of;” and when Gisco inquired what,\r\nanswered, that “in all those great numbers before us, there is not one man\r\ncalled Gisco.” This unexpected jest of their general made all the company\r\nlaugh, and as they came down from the hill, they told it to those whom they\r\nmet, which caused a general laughter amongst them all, from which they were\r\nhardly able to recover themselves. The army, seeing Hannibal’s attendants come\r\nback from viewing the enemy in such a laughing condition, concluded that it\r\nmust be profound contempt of the enemy, that made their general at this moment\r\nindulge in such hilarity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAccording to his usual manner, Hannibal employed stratagems to advantage\r\nhimself. In the first place, he so drew up his men that the wind was at their\r\nbacks, which at that time blew with a perfect storm of violence, and, sweeping\r\nover the great plains of sand, carried before it a cloud of dust over the\r\nCarthaginian army into the faces of the Romans, which much disturbed them in\r\nthe fight. In the next place, all his best men he put into his wings; and in\r\nthe body, which was somewhat more advanced than the wings, placed the worst and\r\nthe weakest of his army. He commanded those in the wings, that, when the enemy\r\nhad made a thorough charge upon that middle advanced body, which he knew would\r\nrecoil, as not being able to withstand their shock, and when the Romans, in\r\ntheir pursuit, should be far enough engaged within the two wings, they should,\r\nboth on the right and the left, charge them in the flank, and endeavor to\r\nencompass them. This appears to have been the chief cause of the Roman loss.\r\nPressing upon Hannibal’s front, which gave ground, they reduced the form of his\r\narmy into a perfect half-moon, and gave ample opportunity to the captains of\r\nthe chosen troops to charge them right and left on their flanks, and to cut off\r\nand destroy all who did not fall back before the Carthaginian wings united in\r\ntheir rear. To this general calamity, it is also said, that a strange mistake\r\namong the cavalry much contributed. For the horse of Aemilius receiving a hurt\r\nand throwing his master, those about him immediately alighted to aid the\r\nconsul; and the Roman troops, seeing their commanders thus quitting their\r\nhorses, took it for a sign that they should all dismount and charge the enemy\r\non foot. At the sight of this, Hannibal was heard to say, “This pleases me\r\nbetter than if they had been delivered to me bound hand and foot.” For the\r\nparticulars of this engagement, we refer our reader to those authors who have\r\nwritten at large upon the subject.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe consul Varro, with a thin company, fled to Venusia; Aemilius Paulus, unable\r\nany longer to oppose the flight of his men, or the pursuit of the enemy, his\r\nbody all covered with wounds, and his soul no less wounded with grief, sat\r\nhimself down upon a stone, expecting the kindness of a dispatching blow. His\r\nface was so disfigured, and all his person so stained with blood, that his very\r\nfriends and domestics passing by knew him not. At last Cornelius Lentulus, a\r\nyoung man of patrician race, perceiving who he was, alighted from his horse,\r\nand, tendering it to him, desired him to get up and save a life so necessary to\r\nthe safety of the commonwealth, which, at this time, would dearly want so great\r\na captain. But nothing could prevail upon him to accept of the offer; he\r\nobliged young Lentulus, with tears in his eyes, to remount his horse; then\r\nstanding up, he gave him his hand, and commanded him to tell Fabius Maximus\r\nthat Aemilius Paulus had followed his directions to his very last, and had not\r\nin the least deviated from those measures which were agreed between them; but\r\nthat it was his hard fate to be overpowered by Varro in the first place, and\r\nsecondly by Hannibal. Having dispatched Lentulus with this commission, he\r\nmarked where the slaughter was greatest, and there threw himself upon the\r\nswords of the enemy. In this battle it is reported that fifty thousand Romans\r\nwere slain, four thousand prisoners taken in the field, and ten thousand in the\r\ncamp of both consuls.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe friends of Hannibal earnestly persuaded him to follow up his victory, and\r\npursue the flying Romans into the very gates of Rome, assuring him that in five\r\ndays’ time he might sup in the capitol; nor is it easy to imagine what\r\nconsideration hindered him from it. It would seem rather that some supernatural\r\nor divine intervention caused the hesitation and timidity which he now\r\ndisplayed, and which made Barcas, a Carthaginian, tell him with indignation,\r\n“You know, Hannibal, how to gain a victory, but not how to use it.” Yet it\r\nproduced a marvelous revolution in his affairs; he, who hitherto had not one\r\ntown, market, or seaport in his possession, who had nothing for the subsistence\r\nof his men but what he pillaged from day to day, who had no place of retreat or\r\nbasis of operation, but was roving, as it were, with a huge troop of banditti,\r\nnow became master of the best provinces and towns of Italy, and of Capua\r\nitself, next to Rome the most flourishing and opulent city, all which came over\r\nto him, and submitted to his authority.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is the saying of Euripides, that “a man is in ill-case when he must try a\r\nfriend,” and so neither, it would seem, is a state in a good one, when it needs\r\nan able general. And so it was with the Romans; the counsels and actions of\r\nFabius, which, before the battle, they had branded as cowardice and fear, now,\r\nin the other extreme they accounted to have been more than human wisdom; as\r\nthough nothing but a divine power of intellect could have seen so far, and\r\nforetold, contrary to the judgment of all others, a result which, even now it\r\nhad arrived, was hardly credible. In him, therefore, they placed their whole\r\nremaining hopes; his wisdom was the sacred altar and temple to which they fled\r\nfor refuge, and his counsels, more than anything, preserved them from\r\ndispersing and deserting their city, as in the time when the Gauls took\r\npossession of Rome. He, whom they esteemed fearful and pusillanimous when they\r\nwere, as they thought, in a prosperous condition, was now the only man, in this\r\ngeneral and unbounded dejection and confusion, who showed no fear, but walked\r\nthe streets with an assured and serene countenance, addressed his\r\nfellow-citizens, checked the women’s lamentations, and the public gatherings of\r\nthose who wanted thus to vent their sorrows. He caused the senate to meet, he\r\nheartened up the magistrates, and was himself as the soul and life of every\r\noffice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe placed guards at the gates of the city to stop the frighted multitude from\r\nflying; he regulated and controlled their mournings for their slain friends,\r\nboth as to time and place; ordering that each family should perform such\r\nobservances within private walls, and that they should continue only the space\r\nof one month, and then the whole city should be purified. The feast of Ceres\r\nhappening to fall within this time, it was decreed that the solemnity should be\r\nintermitted, lest the fewness, and the sorrowful countenance of those who\r\nshould celebrate it, might too much expose to the people the greatness of their\r\nloss; besides that, the worship most acceptable to the gods is that which comes\r\nfrom cheerful hearts. But those rites which were proper for appeasing their\r\nanger, and procuring auspicious signs and presages, were by the direction of\r\nthe augurs carefully performed. Fabius Pictor, a near kinsman to Maximus, was\r\nsent to consult the oracle of Delphi; and about the same time, two vestals\r\nhaving been detected to have been violated, the one killed herself, and the\r\nother, according to custom, was buried alive.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbove all, let us admire the high spirit and equanimity of this Roman\r\ncommonwealth; that when the consul Varro came beaten and flying home, full of\r\nshame and humiliation, after he had so disgracefully and calamitously managed\r\ntheir affairs, yet the whole senate and people went forth to meet him at the\r\ngates of the city, and received him with honor and respect. And, silence being\r\ncommanded, the magistrates and chief of the senate, Fabius amongst them,\r\ncommended him before the people, because he did not despair of the safety of\r\nthe commonwealth, after so great a loss, but was come to take the government\r\ninto his hands, to execute the laws, and aid his fellow-citizens in their\r\nprospect of future deliverance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen word was brought to Rome that Hannibal, after the fight, had marched with\r\nhis army into other parts of Italy, the hearts of the Romans began to revive,\r\nand they proceeded to send out generals and armies. The most distinguished\r\ncommands were held by Fabius Maximus and Claudius Marcellus, both generals of\r\ngreat fame, though upon opposite grounds. For Marcellus, as we have set forth\r\nin his life, was a man of action and high spirit, ready and bold with his own\r\nhand, and, as Homer describes his warriors, fierce, and delighting in fights.\r\nBoldness, enterprise, and daring, to match those of Hannibal, constituted his\r\ntactics, and marked his engagements. But Fabius adhered to his former\r\nprinciples, still persuaded that, by following close and not fighting him,\r\nHannibal and his army would at last be tired out and consumed, like a wrestler\r\nin too high condition, whose very excess of strength makes him the more likely\r\nsuddenly to give way and lose it. Posidonius tells us that the Romans called\r\nMarcellus their sword, and Fabius their buckler; and that the vigor of the one,\r\nmixed with the steadiness of the other, made a happy compound that proved the\r\nsalvation of Rome. So that Hannibal found by experience that, encountering the\r\none, he met with a rapid, impetuous river, which drove him back, and still made\r\nsome breach upon him; and by the other, though silently and quietly passing by\r\nhim, he was insensibly washed away and consumed; and, at last, was brought to\r\nthis, that he dreaded Marcellus when he was in motion, and Fabius when he sat\r\nstill. During the whole course of this war, he had still to do with one or both\r\nof these generals; for each of them was five times consul, and, as praetors or\r\nproconsuls or consuls, they had always a part in the government of the army,\r\ntill, at last, Marcellus fell into the trap which Hannibal had laid for him,\r\nand was killed in his fifth consulship. But all his craft and subtlety were\r\nunsuccessful upon Fabius, who only once was in some danger of being caught,\r\nwhen counterfeit letters came to him from the principal inhabitants of\r\nMetapontum, with promises to deliver up their town if he would come before it\r\nwith his army, and intimations that they should expect him, This train had\r\nalmost drawn him in; he resolved to march to them with part of his army, and\r\nwas diverted only by consulting the omens of the birds, which he found to be\r\ninauspicious; and not long after it was discovered that the letters had been\r\nforged by Hannibal, who, for his reception, had laid an ambush to entertain\r\nhim. This, perhaps, we must rather attribute to the favor of the gods than to\r\nthe prudence of Fabius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn preserving the towns and allies from revolt by fair and gentle treatment,\r\nand in not using rigor, or showing a suspicion upon every light suggestion, his\r\nconduct was remarkable. It is told of him, that, being informed of a certain\r\nMarsian, eminent for courage and good birth, who had been speaking underhand\r\nwith some of the soldiers about deserting, Fabius was so far from using\r\nseverity against him, that he called for him, and told him he was sensible of\r\nthe neglect that had been shown to his merit and good service, which, he said,\r\nwas a great fault in the commanders who reward more by favor than by desert;\r\n“but henceforward, whenever you are aggrieved,” said Fabius, “I shall consider\r\nit your fault, if you apply yourself to any but to me;” and when he had so\r\nspoken, he bestowed an excellent horse and other presents upon him; and, from\r\nthat time forwards, there was not a faithfuller and more trusty man in the\r\nwhole army. With good reason he judged, that, if those who have the government\r\nof horses and dogs endeavor by gentle usage to cure their angry and untractable\r\ntempers, rather than by cruelty and beating, much more should those who have\r\nthe command of men try to bring them to order and discipline by the mildest and\r\nfairest means, and not treat them worse than gardeners do those wild plants,\r\nwhich, with care and attention, lose gradually the savageness of their nature,\r\nand bear excellent fruit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt another time, some of his officers informed him that one of their men was\r\nvery often absent from his place, and out at nights; he asked them what kind of\r\nman he was; they all answered, that the whole army had not a better man, that\r\nhe was a native of Lucania, and proceeded to speak of several actions which\r\nthey had seen him perform. Fabius made strict inquiry, and discovered at last\r\nthat these frequent excursions which he ventured upon were to visit a young\r\ngirl, with whom he was in love. Upon which he gave private order to some of his\r\nmen to find out the woman and secretly convey her into his own tent; and then\r\nsent for the Lucanian, and, calling him aside, told him, that he very well knew\r\nhow often he had been out away from the camp at night, which was a capital\r\ntransgression against military discipline and the Roman laws, but he knew also\r\nhow brave he was, and the good services he had done; therefore, in\r\nconsideration of them, he was willing to forgive him his fault; but to keep him\r\nin good order, he was resolved to place one over him to be his keeper, who\r\nshould be accountable for his good behavior. Having said this, he produced the\r\nwoman, and told the soldier, terrified and amazed at the adventure, “This is\r\nthe person who must answer for you; and by your future behavior we shall see\r\nwhether your night rambles were on account of love, or for any other worse\r\ndesign.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnother passage there was, something of the same kind, which gained him\r\npossession of Tarentum. There was a young Tarentine in the army that had a\r\nsister in Tarentum, then in possession of the enemy, who entirely loved her\r\nbrother, and wholly depended upon him. He, being informed that a certain\r\nBruttian, whom Hannibal had made a commander of the garrison, was deeply in\r\nlove with his sister, conceived hopes that he might possibly turn it to the\r\nadvantage of the Romans. And having first communicated his design to Fabius, he\r\nleft the army as a deserter in show, and went over to Tarentum. The first days\r\npassed, and the Bruttian abstained from visiting the sister; for neither of\r\nthem knew that the brother had notice of the amour between them. The young\r\nTarentine, however, took an occasion to tell his sister how he had heard that a\r\nman of station and authority had made his addresses to her; and desired her,\r\ntherefore, to tell him who it was; “for,” said he, “if he be a man that has\r\nbravery and reputation, it matters not what countryman he is, since at this\r\ntime the sword mingles all nations, and makes them equal; compulsion makes all\r\nthings honorable; and in a time when right is weak, we may be thankful if might\r\nassumes a form of gentleness.” Upon this the woman sends for her friend, and\r\nmakes the brother and him acquainted; and whereas she henceforth showed more\r\ncountenance to her lover than formerly, in the same degrees that her kindness\r\nincreased, his friendship, also, with the brother advanced. So that at last our\r\nTarentine thought this Bruttian officer well enough prepared to receive the\r\noffers he had to make him; and that it would be easy for a mercenary man, who\r\nwas in love, to accept, upon the terms proposed, the large rewards promised by\r\nFabius. In conclusion, the bargain was struck, and the promise made of\r\ndelivering the town. This is the common tradition, though some relate the story\r\notherwise, and say, that this woman, by whom the Bruttian was inveigled, to\r\nbetray the town, was not a native of Tarentum, but a Bruttian born, and was\r\nkept by Fabius as his concubine; and being a countrywoman and an acquaintance\r\nof the Bruttian governor, he privately sent her to him to corrupt him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst these matters were thus in process, to draw off Hannibal from scenting\r\nthe design, Fabius sends orders to the garrison in Rhegium, that they should\r\nwaste and spoil the Bruttian country, and should also lay siege to Caulonia,\r\nand storm the place with all their might. These were a body of eight thousand\r\nmen, the worst of the Roman army, who had most of them been runaways, and had\r\nbeen brought home by Marcellus from Sicily, in dishonor, so that the loss of\r\nthem would not be any great grief to the Romans. Fabius, therefore, threw out\r\nthese men as a bait for Hannibal, to divert him from Tarentum; who instantly\r\ncaught at it, and led his forces to Caulonia; in the meantime, Fabius sat down\r\nbefore Tarentum. On the sixth day of the siege, the young Tarentine slips by\r\nnight out of the town, and, having carefully observed the place where the\r\nBruttian commander, according to agreement, was to admit the Romans, gave an\r\naccount of the whole matter to Fabius; who thought it not safe to rely wholly\r\nupon the plot, but, while proceeding with secrecy to the post, gave order for a\r\ngeneral assault to be made on the other side of the town, both by land and sea.\r\nThis being accordingly executed, while the Tarentines hurried to defend the\r\ntown on the side attacked, Fabius received the signal from the Bruttian, scaled\r\nthe walls, and entered the town unopposed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHere, we must confess, ambition seems to have overcome him. To make it appear\r\nto the world that he had taken Tarentum by force and his own prowess, and not\r\nby treachery, he commanded his men to kill the Bruttians before all others; yet\r\nhe did not succeed in establishing the impression he desired, but merely gained\r\nthe character of perfidy and cruelty. Many of the Tarentines were also killed,\r\nand thirty thousand of them were sold for slaves; the army had the plunder of\r\nthe town, and there was brought into the treasury three thousand talents.\r\nWhilst they were carrying off everything else as plunder, the officer who took\r\nthe inventory asked what should be done with their gods, meaning the pictures\r\nand statues; Fabius answered, “Let us leave their angry gods to the\r\nTarentines.” Nevertheless, he removed the colossal statue of Hercules, and had\r\nit set up in the capitol, with one of himself on horseback, in brass, near it;\r\nproceedings very different from those of Marcellus on a like occasion, and\r\nwhich, indeed, very much set off in the eyes of the world his clemency and\r\nhumanity, as appears in the account of his life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHannibal, it is said, was within five miles of Tarentum, when he was informed\r\nthat the town was taken. He said openly, “Rome, then, has also got a Hannibal;\r\nas we won Tarentum, so have we lost it.” And, in private with some of his\r\nconfidants, he told them, for the first time, that he always thought it\r\ndifficult, but now he held it impossible, with the forces he then had, to\r\nmaster Italy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this success, Fabius had a triumph decreed him at Rome, much more splendid\r\nthan his first; they looked upon him now as a champion who had learned to cope\r\nwith his antagonist, and could now easily foil his arts and prove his best\r\nskill ineffectual. And, indeed, the army of Hannibal was at this time partly\r\nworn away with continual action, and partly weakened and become dissolute with\r\noverabundance and luxury. Marcus Livius, who was governor of Tarentum when it\r\nwas betrayed to Hannibal, and then retired into the citadel, which he kept till\r\nthe town was retaken, was annoyed at these honors and distinctions, and, on one\r\noccasion, openly declared in the senate, that by his resistance, more than by\r\nany action of Fabius, Tarentum had been recovered; on which Fabius laughingly\r\nreplied: “You say very true, for if Marcus Livius had not lost Tarentum, Fabius\r\nMaximus had never recovered it.” The people, amongst other marks of gratitude,\r\ngave his son the consulship of the next year; shortly after whose entrance upon\r\nhis office, there being some business on foot about provision for the war, his\r\nfather, either by reason of age and infirmity, or perhaps out of design to try\r\nhis son, came up to him on horseback. While he was still at a distance, the\r\nyoung consul observed it, and bade one of his lictors command his father to\r\nalight, and tell him that, if be had any business with the consul, he should\r\ncome on foot. The standers by seemed offended at the imperiousness of the son\r\ntowards a father so venerable for his age and his authority, and turned their\r\neyes in silence towards Fabius. He, however, instantly alighted from his horse,\r\nand with open arms came up, almost running, and embraced his son, saying, “Yes,\r\nmy son, you do well, and understand well what authority you have received, and\r\nover whom you are to use it. This was the way by which we and our forefathers\r\nadvanced the dignity of Rome, preferring ever her honor and service to our own\r\nfathers and children.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, in fact, it is told that the great-grandfather of our Fabius, who was\r\nundoubtedly the greatest man of Rome in his time, both in reputation and\r\nauthority, who had been five times consul, and had been honored with several\r\ntriumphs for victories obtained by him, took pleasure in serving as lieutenant\r\nunder his own son, when he went as consul to his command. And when afterwards\r\nhis son had a triumph bestowed upon him for his good service, the old man\r\nfollowed, on horseback, his triumphant chariot, as one of his attendants; and\r\nmade it his glory, that while he really was, and was acknowledged to be, the\r\ngreatest man in Rome, and held a father’s full power over his son, he yet\r\nsubmitted himself to the laws and the magistrate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the praises of our Fabius are not bounded here. He afterwards lost this\r\nson, and was remarkable for bearing the loss with the moderation becoming a\r\npious father and a wise man, and, as it was the custom amongst the Romans, upon\r\nthe death of any illustrious person, to have a funeral oration recited by some\r\nof the nearest relations, he took upon himself that office, and delivered a\r\nspeech in the forum, which he committed afterwards to writing.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter Cornelius Scipio, who was sent into Spain, had driven the Carthaginians,\r\ndefeated by him in many battles, out of the country, and had gained over to\r\nRome many towns and nations with large resources, he was received at his coming\r\nhome with unexampled joy and acclamation of the people; who, to show their\r\ngratitude, elected him consul for the year ensuing. Knowing what high\r\nexpectation they had of him, he thought the occupation of contesting Italy with\r\nHannibal a mere old man’s employment, and proposed no less a task to himself\r\nthan to make Carthage the seat of the war, fill Africa with arms and\r\ndevastation, and so oblige Hannibal, instead of invading the countries of\r\nothers, to draw back and defend his own. And to this end he proceeded to exert\r\nall the influence he had with the people. Fabius, on the other side, opposed\r\nthe undertaking with all his might, alarming the city, and telling them that\r\nnothing but the temerity of a hot young man could inspire them with such\r\ndangerous counsels, and sparing no means, by word or deed, to prevent it. He\r\nprevailed with the senate to espouse his sentiments; but the common people\r\nthought that he envied the fame of Scipio, and that he was afraid lest this\r\nyoung conqueror should achieve some great and noble exploit, and have the\r\nglory, perhaps, of driving Hannibal out of Italy, or even of ending the war,\r\nwhich had for so many years continued and been protracted under his management.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo say the truth, when Fabius first opposed this project of Scipio, he probably\r\ndid it out of caution and prudence, in consideration only of the public safety,\r\nand of the danger which the commonwealth might incur; but when he found Scipio\r\nevery day increasing in the esteem of the people, rivalry and ambition led him\r\nfurther, and made him violent and personal in his opposition. For he even\r\napplied to Crassus, the colleague of Scipio, and urged him not to yield the\r\ncommand to Scipio, but that, if his inclinations were for it, he should himself\r\nin person lead the army to Carthage. He also hindered the giving money to\r\nScipio for the war; so that he was forced to raise it upon his own credit and\r\ninterest from the cities of Etruria, which were extremely attached to him. On\r\nthe other side, Crassus would not stir against him, nor remove out of Italy,\r\nbeing, in his own nature, averse to all contention, and also having, by his\r\noffice of high priest, religious duties to retain him. Fabius, therefore, tried\r\nother ways to oppose the design; he impeded the levies, and he declaimed, both\r\nin the senate and to the people, that Scipio was not only himself flying from\r\nHannibal, but was also endeavoring to drain Italy of all its forces, and to\r\nspirit away the youth of the country to a foreign war, leaving behind them\r\ntheir parents, wives, and children, and the city itself, a defenseless prey to\r\nthe conquering and undefeated enemy at their doors. With this he so far alarmed\r\nthe people, that at last they would only allow Scipio for the war the legions\r\nwhich were in Sicily, and three hundred, whom he particularly trusted, of those\r\nmen who had served with him in Spain. In these transactions, Fabius seems to\r\nhave followed the dictates of his own wary temper.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut, after that Scipio was gone over into Africa, when news almost immediately\r\ncame to Rome of wonderful exploits and victories, of which the fame was\r\nconfirmed by the spoils he sent home; of a Numidian king taken prisoner; of a\r\nvast slaughter of their men; of two camps of the enemy burnt and destroyed, and\r\nin them a great quantity of arms and horses; and when, hereupon, the\r\nCarthaginians were compelled to send envoys to Hannibal to call him home, and\r\nleave his idle hopes in Italy, to defend Carthage; when, for such eminent and\r\ntranscending services, the whole people of Rome cried up and extolled the\r\nactions of Scipio; even then, Fabius contended that a successor should be sent\r\nin his place, alleging for it only the old reason of the mutability of fortune,\r\nas if she would be weary of long favoring the same person. With this language\r\nmany did begin to feel offended; it seemed to be morosity and ill-will, the\r\npusillanimity of old age, or a fear, that had now become exaggerated, of the\r\nskill of Hannibal. Nay, when Hannibal had put his army on shipboard, and taken\r\nhis leave of Italy, Fabius still could not forbear to oppose and disturb the\r\nuniversal joy of Rome, expressing his fears and apprehensions, telling them\r\nthat the commonwealth was never in more danger than now, and that Hannibal was\r\na more formidable enemy under the walls of Carthage than ever he had been in\r\nItaly; that it would be fatal to Rome, whenever Scipio should encounter his\r\nvictorious army, still warm with the blood of so many Roman generals,\r\ndictators, and consuls slain. And the people were, in some degree, startled\r\nwith these declamations, and were brought to believe, that the further off\r\nHannibal was, the nearer was their danger. Scipio, however, shortly afterwards\r\nfought Hannibal, and utterly defeated him, humbled the pride of Carthage\r\nbeneath his feet, gave his countrymen joy and exultation beyond all their\r\nhopes, and\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“Long shaken on the seas restored the state.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFabius Maximus, however, did not live to see the prosperous end of this war,\r\nand the final overthrow of Hannibal, nor to rejoice in the reestablished\r\nhappiness and security of the commonwealth; for about the time that Hannibal\r\nleft Italy, he fell sick and died. At Thebes, Epaminondas died so poor that he\r\nwas buried at the public charge; one small iron coin was all, it is said, that\r\nwas found in his house. Fabius did not need this, but the people, as a mark of\r\ntheir affection, defrayed the expenses of his funeral by a private contribution\r\nfrom each citizen of the smallest piece of coin; thus owning him their common\r\nfather, and making his end no less honorable than his life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap14\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF PERICLES WITH FABIUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWe have here had two lives rich in examples, both of civil and military\r\nexcellence. Let us first compare the two men in their warlike capacity.\r\nPericles presided in his commonwealth when it was in its most flourishing and\r\nopulent condition, great and growing in power; so that it may be thought it was\r\nrather the common success and fortune that kept him from any fall or disaster.\r\nBut the task of Fabius, who undertook the government in the worst and most\r\ndifficult times, was not to preserve and maintain the well-established felicity\r\nof a prosperous state, but to raise and uphold a sinking and ruinous\r\ncommonwealth. Besides, the victories of Cimon, the trophies of Myronides and\r\nLeocrates, with the many famous exploits of Tolmides, were employed by Pericles\r\nrather to fill the city with festive entertainments and solemnities than to\r\nenlarge and secure its empire. Whereas Fabius, when he took upon him the\r\ngovernment, had the frightful object before his eyes of Roman armies destroyed,\r\nof their generals and consuls slain, of lakes and plains and forests strewed\r\nwith the dead bodies, and rivers stained with the blood of his fellow-citizens;\r\nand yet, with his mature and solid cousels, with the firmness of his\r\nresolution, he, as it were, put his shoulder to the falling commonwealth, and\r\nkept it up from foundering through the failings and weakness of others. Perhaps\r\nit may be more easy to govern a city broken and tamed with calamities and\r\nadversity, and compelled by danger and necessity to listen to wisdom, than to\r\nset a bridle on wantonness and temerity, and rule a people pampered and restive\r\nwith long prosperity as were the Athenians when Pericles held the reins of\r\ngovernment. But then again, not to be daunted nor discomposed with the vast\r\nheap of calamities under which the people of Rome at that time groaned and\r\nsuccumbed, argues a courage in Fabius and a strength of purpose more than\r\nordinary.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWe may set Tarentum retaken against Samos won by Pericles, and the conquest of\r\nEuboea we may well balance with the towns of Campania; though Capua itself was\r\nreduced by the consuls Fulvius and Appius. I do not find that Fabius won any\r\nset battle but that against the Ligurians, for which he had his triumph;\r\nwhereas Pericles erected nine trophies for as many victories obtained by land\r\nand by sea. But no action of Pericles can be compared to that memorable rescue\r\nof Minucius, when Fabius redeemed both him and his army from utter destruction;\r\na noble act, combining the highest valor, wisdom, and humanity. On the other\r\nside, it does not appear that Pericles was ever so overreached as Fabius was by\r\nHannibal with his flaming oxen. His enemy there had, without his agency, put\r\nhimself accidentally into his power, yet Fabius let him slip in the night, and,\r\nwhen day came, was worsted by him, was anticipated in the moment of success,\r\nand mastered by his prisoner. If it is the part of a good general, not only to\r\nprovide for the present, but also to have a clear foresight of things to come,\r\nin this point Pericles is the superior; for he admonished the Athenians, and\r\ntold them beforehand the ruin the war would bring upon them, by their grasping\r\nmore than they were able to manage. But Fabius was not so good a prophet, when\r\nhe denounced to the Romans that the undertaking of Scipio would be the\r\ndestruction of the commonwealth. So that Pericles was a good prophet of bad\r\nsuccess, and Fabius was a bad prophet of success that was good. And, indeed, to\r\nlose an advantage through diffidence is no less blamable in a general than to\r\nfall into danger for want of foresight; for both these faults, though of a\r\ncontrary nature, spring from the same root, want of judgment and experience.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for their civil policy, it is imputed to Pericles that he occasioned the\r\nwar, since no terms of peace, offered by the Lacedaemonians, would content him.\r\nIt is true, I presume, that Fabius, also, was not for yielding any point to the\r\nCarthaginians, but was ready to hazard all, rather than lessen the empire of\r\nRome. The mildness of Fabius towards his colleague Minucius does, by way of\r\ncomparison, rebuke and condemn the exertions of Pericles to banish Cimon and\r\nThucydides, noble, aristocratic men, who by his means suffered ostracism. The\r\nauthority of Pericles in Athens was much greater than that of Fabius in Rome.\r\nHence it was more easy for him to prevent miscarriages arising from the\r\nmistakes and insufficiency of other officers; only Tolmides broke loose from\r\nhim, and, contrary to his persuasions, unadvisedly fought with the Boeotians,\r\nand was slain. The greatness of his influence made all others submit and\r\nconform themselves to his judgment. Whereas Fabius, sure and unerring himself,\r\nfor want of that general power, had not the means to obviate the miscarriages\r\nof others; but it had been happy for the Romans if his authority had been\r\ngreater, for so, we may presume, their disasters had been fewer.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs to liberality and public spirit, Pericles was eminent in never taking any\r\ngifts, and Fabius, for giving his own money to ransom his soldiers, though the\r\nsum did not exceed six talents. Than Pericles, meantime, no man had ever\r\ngreater opportunities to enrich himself, having had presents offered him from\r\nso many kings and princes and allies, yet no man was ever more free from\r\ncorruption. And for the beauty and magnificence of temples and public edifices\r\nwith which he adorned his country, it must be confessed, that all the ornaments\r\nand structures of Rome, to the time of the Caesars, had nothing to compare,\r\neither in greatness of design or of expense, with the luster of those which\r\nPericles only erected at Athens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap15\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eALCIBIADES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlcibiades, as it is supposed, was anciently descended from Eurysaces, the son\r\nof Ajax, by his father’s side; and by his mother’s side from Alcmaeon.\r\nDinomache, his mother, was the daughter of Megacles. His father Clinias, having\r\nfitted out a galley at his own expense, gained great honor in the sea-fight at\r\nArtemisium, and was afterwards slain in the battle of Coronea, fighting against\r\nthe Boeotians. Pericles and Ariphron, the sons of Xanthippus, nearly related to\r\nhim, became the guardians of Alcibiades. It has been said not untruly that the\r\nfriendship which Socrates felt for him has much contributed to his fame; and\r\ncertain it is, that, though we have no account from any writer concerning the\r\nmother of Nicias or Demosthenes, of Lamachus or Phormion, of Thrasybulus or\r\nTheramenes, notwithstanding these were all illustrious men of the same period,\r\nyet we know even the nurse of Alcibiades, that her country was Lacedaemon, and\r\nher name Amycla; and that Zopyrus was his teacher and attendant; the one being\r\nrecorded by Antisthenes, and the other by Plato.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is not, perhaps, material to say anything of the beauty of Alcibiades, only\r\nthat it bloomed with him in all the ages of his life, in his infancy, in his\r\nyouth, and in his manhood; and, in the peculiar character becoming to each of\r\nthese periods, gave him, in every one of them, a grace and a charm. What\r\nEuripides says, that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“Of all fair things the autumn, too, is fair,”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nis by no means universally true. But it happened so with Alcibiades, amongst\r\nfew others, by reason of his happy constitution and natural vigor of body. It\r\nis said that his lisping, when he spoke, became him well, and gave a grace and\r\npersuasiveness to his rapid speech. Aristophanes takes notice of it in the\r\nverses in which he jests at Theorus; “How like a colax he is,” says Alcibiades,\r\nmeaning a corax; on which it is remarked,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“How very happily he lisped the truth.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nArchippus also alludes to it in a passage where he ridicules the son of\r\nAlcibiades;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“That people may believe him like his father,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nHe walks like one dissolved in luxury,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nLets his robe trail behind him on the ground,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nCarelessly leans his head, and in his talk affects to lisp.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis conduct displayed many great inconsistencies and variations, not\r\nunnaturally, in accordance with the many and wonderful vicissitudes of his\r\nfortunes; but among the many strong passions of his real character, the one\r\nmost prevailing of all was his ambition and desire of superiority, which\r\nappears in several anecdotes told of his sayings whilst he was a child. Once\r\nbeing hard pressed in wrestling, and fearing to be thrown, he got the hand of\r\nhis antagonist to his mouth, and bit it with all his force; and when the other\r\nloosed his hold presently, and said, “You bite, Alcibiades, like a woman.”\r\n“No,” replied he, “like a lion.” Another time as he played at dice in the\r\nstreet, being then but a child, a loaded cart came that way, when it was his\r\nturn to throw; at first he called to the driver to stop, because he was to\r\nthrow in the way over which the cart was to pass; but the man giving him no\r\nattention and driving on, when the rest of the boys divided and gave way,\r\nAlcibiades threw himself on his face before the cart, and, stretching himself\r\nout, bade the carter pass on now if he would; which so startled the man, that\r\nhe put back his horses, while all that saw it were terrified, and, crying out,\r\nran to assist Alcibiades. When he began to study, he obeyed all his other\r\nmasters fairly well, but refused to learn upon the flute, as a sordid thing,\r\nand not becoming a free citizen; saying, that to play on the lute or the harp\r\ndoes not in any way disfigure a man’s body or face, but one is hardly to be\r\nknown by the most intimate friends, when playing on the flute. Besides, one who\r\nplays on the harp may speak or sing at the same time; but the use of the flute\r\nstops the mouth, intercepts the voice, and prevents all articulation.\r\n“Therefore,” said he, “let the Theban youths pipe, who do not know how to\r\nspeak, but we Athenians, as our ancestors have told us, have Minerva for our\r\npatroness, and Apollo for our protector, one of whom threw away the flute, and\r\nthe other stripped the Flute-player of his skin.” Thus, between raillery and\r\ngood earnest, Alcibiades kept not only himself but others from learning, as it\r\npresently became the talk of the young boys, how Alcibiades despised playing on\r\nthe flute, and ridiculed those who studied it. In consequence of which, it\r\nceased to be reckoned amongst the liberal accomplishments, and became generally\r\nneglected.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is stated in the invective which Antiphon wrote against Alcibiades, that\r\nonce, when he was a boy, he ran away to the house of Democrates, one of those\r\nwho made a favorite of him, and that Ariphron had determined to cause\r\nproclamation to be made for him, had not Pericles diverted him from it, by\r\nsaying, that if he were dead, the proclaiming of him could only cause it to be\r\ndiscovered one day sooner, and if he were safe, it would be a reproach to him\r\nas long as he lived. Antiphon also says, that he killed one of his own servants\r\nwith the blow of a staff in Sibyrtius’s wrestling ground. But it is\r\nunreasonable to give credit to all that is objected by an enemy, who makes open\r\nprofession of his design to defame him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was manifest that the many well-born persons who were continually seeking\r\nhis company, and making their court to him, were attracted and captivated by\r\nhis brilliant and extraordinary beauty only. But the affection which Socrates\r\nentertained for him is a great evidence of the natural noble qualities and good\r\ndisposition of the boy, which Socrates, indeed, detected both in and under his\r\npersonal beauty; and, fearing that his wealth and station, and the great number\r\nboth of strangers and Athenians who flattered and caressed him, might at last\r\ncorrupt him, resolved, if possible, to interpose, and preserve so hopeful a\r\nplant from perishing in the flower, before its fruit came to perfection. For\r\nnever did fortune surround and enclose a man with so many of those things which\r\nwe vulgarly call goods, or so protect him from every weapon of philosophy, and\r\nfence him from every access of free and searching words, as she did Alcibiades;\r\nwho, from the beginning, was exposed to the flatteries of those who sought\r\nmerely his gratification, such as might well unnerve him, and indispose him to\r\nlisten to any real adviser or instructor. Yet such was the happiness of his\r\ngenius, that he discerned Socrates from the rest, and admitted him, whilst he\r\ndrove away the wealthy and the noble who made court to him. And, in a little\r\ntime, they grew intimate, and Alcibiades, listening now to language entirely\r\nfree from every thought of unmanly fondness and silly displays of affection,\r\nfinding himself with one who sought to lay open to him the deficiencies of his\r\nmind, and repress his vain and foolish arrogance,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“Dropped like the craven cock his conquered wing.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe esteemed these endeavors of Socrates as most truly a means which the gods\r\nmade use of for the care and preservation of youth, and began to think meanly\r\nof himself, and to admire him; to be pleased with his kindness, and to stand in\r\nawe of his virtue; and, unawares to himself, there became formed in his mind\r\nthat reflex image and reciprocation of Love, or Anteros, that Plato talks of.\r\nIt was a matter of general wonder, when people saw him joining Socrates in his\r\nmeals and his exercises, living with him in the same tent, whilst he was\r\nreserved and rough to all others who made their addresses to him, and acted,\r\nindeed, with great insolence to some of them. As in particular to Anytus, the\r\nson of Anthemion, one who was very fond of him, and invited him to an\r\nentertainment which he had prepared for some strangers. Alcibiades refused the\r\ninvitation; but, having drunk to excess at his own house with some of his\r\ncompanions, went thither with them to play some frolic; and, standing at the\r\ndoor of the room where the guests were enjoying themselves, and seeing the\r\ntables covered with gold and silver cups, he commanded his servants to take\r\naway the one half of them, and carry them to his own house; and then,\r\ndisdaining so much as to enter into the room himself, as soon as he had done\r\nthis, went away. The company was indignant, and exclaimed at his rude and\r\ninsulting conduct; Anytus, however, said, on the contrary he had shown great\r\nconsideration and tenderness in taking only a part, when he might have taken\r\nall.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe behaved in the same manner to all others who courted him, except only one\r\nstranger, who, as the story is told, having but a small estate, sold it all for\r\nabout a hundred staters, which he presented to Alcibiades, and besought him to\r\naccept. Alcibiades, smiling and well pleased at the thing, invited him to\r\nsupper, and, after a very kind entertainment, gave him his gold again,\r\nrequiring him, moreover, not to fail to be present the next day, when the\r\npublic revenue was offered to farm, and to outbid all others. The man would\r\nhave excused himself, because the contract was so large, and would cost many\r\ntalents; but Alcibiades, who had at that time a private pique against the\r\nexisting farmers of the revenue, threatened to have him beaten if he refused.\r\nThe next morning, the stranger, coming to the marketplace, offered a talent\r\nmore than the existing rate; upon which the farmers, enraged and consulting\r\ntogether, called upon him to name his sureties, concluding that he could find\r\nnone. The poor man, being startled at the proposal, began to retire; but\r\nAlcibiades, standing at a distance, cried out to the magistrates, “Set my name\r\ndown, he is a friend of mine; I will be security for him.” When the other\r\nbidders heard this, they perceived that all their contrivance was defeated; for\r\ntheir way was, with the profits of the second year to pay the rent for the year\r\npreceding; so that, not seeing any other way to extricate themselves out of the\r\ndifficulty, they began to entreat the stranger, and offered him a sum of money.\r\nAlcibiades would not suffer him to accept of less than a talent; but when that\r\nwas paid down, he commanded him to relinquish the bargain, having by this\r\ndevice relieved his necessity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThough Socrates had many and powerful rivals, yet the natural good qualities of\r\nAlcibiades gave his affection the mastery. His words overcame him so much, as\r\nto draw tears from his eyes, and to disturb his very soul. Yet sometimes he\r\nwould abandon himself to flatterers, when they proposed to him varieties of\r\npleasure, and would desert Socrates; who, then, would pursue him, as if he had\r\nbeen a fugitive slave. He despised everyone else, and had no reverence or awe\r\nfor any but him. Cleanthes the philosopher; speaking of one to whom he was\r\nattached, says his only hold on him was by his ears, while his rivals had all\r\nthe others offered them; and there is no question that Alcibiades was very\r\neasily caught by pleasures; and the expression used by Thucydides about the\r\nexcesses of his habitual course of living gives occasion to believe so. But\r\nthose who endeavored to corrupt Alcibiades, took advantage chiefly of his\r\nvanity and ambition, and thrust him on unseasonably to undertake great\r\nenterprises, persuading him, that as soon as he began to concern himself in\r\npublic affairs, he would not only obscure the rest of the generals and\r\nstatesmen, but outdo the authority and the reputation which Pericles himself\r\nhad gained in Greece. But in the same manner as iron which is softened by the\r\nfire grows hard with the cold, and all its parts are closed again; so, as often\r\nas Socrates observed Alcibiades to be misled by luxury or pride, he reduced and\r\ncorrected him by his addresses, and made him humble and modest, by showing him\r\nin how many things he was deficient, and how very far from perfection in\r\nvirtue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he was past his childhood, he went once to a grammar-school, and asked the\r\nmaster for one of Homer’s books; and he making answer that he had nothing of\r\nHomer’s, Alcibiades gave him a blow with his fist, and went away. Another\r\nschoolmaster telling him that he had Homer corrected by himself; “How,” said\r\nAlcibiades, “and do you employ your time in teaching children to read? You, who\r\nare able to amend Homer, may well undertake to instruct men.” Being once\r\ndesirous to speak with Pericles, he went to his house and was told there that\r\nhe was not at leisure, but busied in considering how to give up his accounts to\r\nthe Athenians; Alcibiades, as he went away, said, “It were better for him to\r\nconsider how he might avoid giving up his accounts at all.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst he was very young, he was a soldier in the expedition against Potidaea,\r\nwhere Socrates lodged in the same tent with him, and stood next him in battle.\r\nOnce there happened a sharp skirmish, in which they both behaved with signal\r\nbravery; but Alcibiades receiving a wound, Socrates threw himself before him to\r\ndefend him, and beyond any question saved him and his arms from the enemy, and\r\nso in all justice might have challenged the prize of valor. But the generals\r\nappearing eager to adjudge the honor to Alcibiades, because of his rank,\r\nSocrates, who desired to increase his thirst after glory of a noble kind, was\r\nthe first to give evidence for him, and pressed them to crown him, and to\r\ndecree to him the complete suit of armor. Afterwards, in the battle of Delium,\r\nwhen the Athenians were routed and Socrates with a few others was retreating on\r\nfoot, Alcibiades, who was on horseback, observing it, would not pass on, but\r\nstayed to shelter him from the danger, and brought him safe off, though the\r\nenemy pressed hard upon them, and cut off many. But this happened some time\r\nafter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe gave a box on the ear to Hipponicus, the father of Callias, whose birth and\r\nwealth made him a person of great influence and repute. And this he did\r\nunprovoked by any passion or quarrel between them, but only because, in a\r\nfrolic, he had agreed with his companions to do it. People were justly offended\r\nat this insolence, when it became known through the city; but early the next\r\nmorning, Alcibiades went to his house and knocked at the door, and, being\r\nadmitted to him, took off his outer garment, and, presenting his naked body,\r\ndesired him to scourge and chastise him as he pleased. Upon this Hipponicus\r\nforgot all his resentment, and not only pardoned him, but soon after gave him\r\nhis daughter Hipparete in marriage. Some say that it was not Hipponicus, but\r\nhis son Callias, who gave Hipparete to Alcibiades, together with a portion of\r\nten talents, and that after, when she had a child, Alcibiades forced him to\r\ngive ten talents more, upon pretense that such was the agreement if she brought\r\nhim any children. Afterwards, Callias, for fear of coming to his death by his\r\nmeans, declared, in a full assembly of the people, that if he should happen to\r\ndie without children, the state should inherit his house and all his goods.\r\nHipparete was a virtuous and dutiful wife, but, at last, growing impatient of\r\nthe outrages done to her by her husband’s continual entertaining of courtesans,\r\nas well strangers as Athenians, she departed from him and retired to her\r\nbrother’s house. Alcibiades seemed not at all concerned at this, and lived on\r\nstill in the same luxury; but the law requiring that she should deliver to the\r\narchon in person, and not by proxy, the instrument by which she claimed a\r\ndivorce, when, in obedience to the law, she presented herself before him to\r\nperform this, Alcibiades came in, caught her up, and carried her home through\r\nthe marketplace, no one daring to oppose him, nor to take her from him. She\r\ncontinued with him till her death, which happened not long after, when\r\nAlcibiades had gone to Ephesus. Nor is this violence to be thought so very\r\nenormous or unmanly. For the law, in making her who desires to be divorced\r\nappear in public, seems to design to give her husband an opportunity of\r\ntreating with her, and of endeavoring to retain her.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlcibiades had a dog which cost him seventy minas, and was a very large one,\r\nand very handsome. His tail, which was his principal ornament, he caused to be\r\ncut off, and his acquaintance exclaiming at him for it, and telling him that\r\nall Athens was sorry for the dog, and cried out upon him for this action, he\r\nlaughed, and said, “Just what I wanted has happened, then. I wished the\r\nAthenians to talk about this, that they might not say something worse of me.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is said that the first time he came into the assembly was upon occasion of a\r\nlargess of money which he made to the people. This was not done by design, but\r\nas he passed along he heard a shout, and inquiring the cause, and having\r\nlearned that there was a donative making to the people, he went in amongst them\r\nand gave money also. The multitude thereupon applauding him, and shouting, he\r\nwas so transported at it, that he forgot a quail which he had under his robe,\r\nand the bird, being frighted with the noise, flew off; upon which the people\r\nmade louder acclamations than before, and many of them started up to pursue the\r\nbird; and one Antiochus, a pilot, caught it and restored it to him, for which\r\nhe was ever after a favorite with Alcibiades.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe had great advantages for entering public life; his noble birth, his riches,\r\nthe personal courage he had shown in divers battles, and the multitude of his\r\nfriends and dependents, threw open, so to say, folding doors for his\r\nadmittance. But he did not consent to let his power with the people rest on any\r\nthing, rather than on his own gift of eloquence. That he was a master in the\r\nart of speaking, the comic poets bear him witness; and the most eloquent of\r\npublic speakers, in his oration against Midias, allows that Alcibiades, among\r\nother perfections, was a most accomplished orator. If, however, we give credit\r\nto Theophrastus, who of all philosophers was the most curious inquirer, and the\r\ngreatest lover of history, we are to understand that Alcibiades had the highest\r\ncapacity for inventing, for discerning what was the right thing to be said for\r\nany purpose, and on any occasion; but, aiming not only at saying what was\r\nrequired, but also at saying it well, in respect, that is, of words and\r\nphrases, when these did not readily occur, he would often pause in the middle\r\nof his discourse for want of the apt word, and would be silent and stop till he\r\ncould recollect himself, and had considered what to say.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis expenses in horses kept for the public games, and in the number of his\r\nchariots, were matter of great observation; never did anyone but he, either\r\nprivate person or king, send seven chariots to the Olympic games. And to have\r\ncarried away at once the first, the second, and the fourth prize, as Thucydides\r\nsays, or the third, as Euripides relates it, outdoes far away every distinction\r\nthat ever was known or thought of in that kind. Euripides celebrates his\r\nsuccess in this manner:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“—But my song to you, Son of Clinias, is due.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nVictory is noble; how much more\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo do as never Greek before;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo obtain in the great chariot race\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe first, the second, and third place;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWith easy step advanced to fame,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo bid the herald three times claim\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe olive for one victor’s name.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThe emulation displayed by the deputations of various states, in the presents\r\nwhich they made to him, rendered this success yet more illustrious. The\r\nEphesians erected a tent for him, adorned magnificently; the city of Chios\r\nfurnished him with provender for his horses and with great numbers of beasts\r\nfor sacrifice; and the Lesbians sent him wine and other provisions for the many\r\ngreat entertainments which he made. Yet in the midst of all this he escaped not\r\nwithout censure, occasioned either by the ill-nature of his enemies or by his\r\nown misconduct. For it is said, that one Diomedes, all Athenian, a worthy man\r\nand a friend to Alcibiades, passionately desiring to obtain the victory at the\r\nOlympic games, and having heard much of a chariot which belonged to the state\r\nat Argos, where he knew that Alcibiades had great power and many friends,\r\nprevailed with him to undertake to buy the chariot. Alcibiades did indeed buy\r\nit, but then claimed it for his own, leaving Diomedes to rage at him, and to\r\ncall upon the gods and men to bear witness to the injustice. It would seem\r\nthere was a suit at law commenced upon this occasion, and there is yet extant\r\nan oration concerning the chariot, written by Isocrates in defense of the son\r\nof Alcibiades. But the plaintiff in this action is named Tisias, and not\r\nDiomedes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as he began to intermeddle in the government, which was when he was\r\nvery young, he quickly lessened the credit of all who aspired to the confidence\r\nof the people, except Phaeax, the son of Erasistratus, and Nicias, the son of\r\nNiceratus, who alone could contest it with him. Nicias was arrived at a mature\r\nage, and was esteemed their first general. Phaeax was but a rising statesman\r\nlike Alcibiades; he was descended from noble ancestors, but was his inferior,\r\nas in many other things, so, principally, in eloquence. He possessed rather the\r\nart of persuading in private conversation than of debate before the people, and\r\nwas, as Eupolis said of him,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“The best of talkers, and of speakers worst.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThere is extant an oration written by Phaeax against Alcibiades, in which,\r\namongst other things, it is said, that Alcibiades made daily use at his table\r\nof many gold and silver vessels, which belonged to the commonwealth, as if they\r\nhad been his own.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was a certain Hyperbolus, of the township of Perithoedae, whom Thucydides\r\nalso speaks of as a man of bad character, a general butt for the mockery of all\r\nthe comic writers of the time, but quite unconcerned at the worst things they\r\ncould say, and, being careless of glory, also insensible of shame; a temper\r\nwhich some people call boldness and courage, whereas it is indeed impudence and\r\nrecklessness. He was liked by nobody, yet the people made frequent use of him,\r\nwhen they had a mind to disgrace or calumniate any persons in authority. At\r\nthis time, the people, by his persuasions, were ready to proceed to pronounce\r\nthe sentence of ten years’ banishment, called ostracism. This they made use of\r\nto humiliate and drive out of the city such citizens as outdid the rest in\r\ncredit and power, indulging not so much perhaps their apprehensions as their\r\njealousies in this way. And when, at this time, there was no doubt but that the\r\nostracism would fall upon one of those three, Alcibiades contrived to form a\r\ncoalition of parties, and, communicating his project to Nicias, turned the\r\nsentence upon Hyperbolus himself. Others say, that it was not with Nicias, but\r\nPhaeax, that he consulted, and, by help of his party, procured the banishment\r\nof Hyperbolus, when he suspected nothing less. For, before that time, no mean\r\nor obscure person had ever fallen under that punishment, so that Plato, the\r\ncomic poet, speaking of Hyperbolus, might well say,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“The man deserved the fate; deny ’t who can?\u003cbr\u003e\r\nYes, but the fate did not deserve the man;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nNot for the like of him and his slave-brands\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDid Athens put the sherd into our hands.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut we have given elsewhere a fuller statement of what is known to us of the\r\nmatter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlcibiades was not less disturbed at the distinctions which Nicias gained\r\namongst the enemies of Athens, than at the honors which the Athenians\r\nthemselves paid to him. For though Alcibiades was the proper appointed person\r\nto receive all Lacedaemonians when they came to Athens, and had taken\r\nparticular care of those that were made prisoners at Pylos, yet, after they had\r\nobtained the peace and restitution of the captives, by the procurement chiefly\r\nof Nicias, they paid him very special attentions. And it was commonly said in\r\nGreece, that the war was begun by Pericles, and that Nicias made an end of it,\r\nand the peace was generally called the peace of Nicias. Alcibiades was\r\nextremely annoyed at this, and, being full of envy, set himself to break the\r\nleague. First, therefore, observing that the Argives, as well out of fear as\r\nhatred to the Lacedaemonians, sought for protection against them, he gave them\r\na secret assurance of alliance with Athens. And communicating, as well in\r\nperson as by letters, with the chief advisers of the people there, he\r\nencouraged them not to fear the Lacedaemonians, nor make concessions to them,\r\nbut to wait a little, and keep their eyes on the Athenians, who, already, were\r\nall but sorry they had made peace, and would soon give it up. And, afterwards,\r\nwhen the Lacedaemonians had made a league with the Boeotians, and had not\r\ndelivered up Panactum entire, as they ought to have done by the treaty, but\r\nonly after first destroying it, which gave great offense to the people of\r\nAthens, Alcibiades laid hold of that opportunity to exasperate them more\r\nhighly. He exclaimed fiercely against Nicias, and accused him of many things,\r\nwhich seemed probable enough: as that, when he was general, he made no attempt\r\nhimself to capture their enemies that were shut up in the isle of Sphacteria,\r\nbut, when they were afterwards made prisoners by others, he procured their\r\nrelease and sent them back to the Lacedaemonians, only to get favor with them;\r\nthat he would not make use of his credit with them, to prevent their entering\r\ninto this confederacy with the Boeotians and Corinthians, and yet, on the other\r\nside, that he sought to stand in the way of those Greeks who were inclined to\r\nmake an alliance and friendship with Athens, if the Lacedaemonians did not like\r\nit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt happened, at the very time when Nicias was by these arts brought into\r\ndisgrace with the people, that ambassadors arrived from Lacedaemon, who, at\r\ntheir first coming, said what seemed very satisfactory, declaring that they had\r\nfull powers to arrange all matters in dispute upon fair and equal terms. The\r\ncouncil received their propositions, and the people was to assemble on the\r\nmorrow to give them audience. Alcibiades grew very apprehensive of this, and\r\ncontrived to gain a secret conference with the ambassadors. When they were met,\r\nhe said: “What is it you intend, you men of Sparta? Can you be ignorant that\r\nthe council always act with moderation and respect towards ambassadors, but\r\nthat the people are full of ambition and great designs? So that, if you let\r\nthem know what full powers your commission gives you, they will urge and press\r\nyou to unreasonable conditions. Quit therefore, this indiscreet simplicity, if\r\nyou expect to obtain equal terms from the Athenians, and would not have things\r\nextorted from you contrary to your inclinations, and begin to treat with the\r\npeople upon some reasonable articles, not avowing yourselves plenipotentiaries;\r\nand I will be ready to assist you, out of good-will to the Lacedaemonians.”\r\nWhen he had said thus, he gave them his oath for the performance of what he\r\npromised, and by this way drew them from Nicias to rely entirely upon himself,\r\nand left them full of admiration of the discernment and sagacity they had seen\r\nin him. The next day, when the people were assembled and the ambassadors\r\nintroduced, Alcibiades, with great apparent courtesy, demanded of them, With\r\nwhat powers they were come? They made answer that they were not come as\r\nplenipotentiaries.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nInstantly upon that, Alcibiades, with a loud voice, as though he had received\r\nand not done the wrong, began to call them dishonest prevaricators, and to urge\r\nthat such men could not possibly come with a purpose to say or do anything that\r\nwas sincere. The council was incensed, the people were in a rage, and Nicias,\r\nwho knew nothing of the deceit and the imposture, was in the greatest\r\nconfusion, equally surprised and ashamed at such a change in the men. So thus\r\nthe Lacedaemonian ambassadors were utterly rejected, and Alcibiades was\r\ndeclared general, who presently united the Argives, the Eleans, and the people\r\nof Mantinea, into a confederacy with the Athenians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNo man commended the method by which Alcibiades effected all this, yet it was a\r\ngreat political feat thus to divide and shake almost all Peloponnesus, and to\r\ncombine so many men in arms against the Lacedaemonians in one day before\r\nMantinea; and, moreover, to remove the war and the danger so far from the\r\nfrontier of the Athenians, that even success would profit the enemy but little,\r\nshould they be conquerors, whereas, if they were defeated, Sparta itself was\r\nhardly safe.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this battle at Mantinea, the select thousand of the army of the Argives\r\nattempted to overthrow the government of the people in Argos, and make\r\nthemselves masters of the city; and the Lacedaemonians came to their aid and\r\nabolished the democracy. But the people took arms again, and gained the\r\nadvantage, and Alcibiades came in to their aid and completed the victory, and\r\npersuaded them to build long walls, and by that means to join their city to the\r\nsea, and so to bring it wholly within the reach of the Athenian power. To this\r\npurpose, he procured them builders and masons from Athens, and displayed the\r\ngreatest zeal for their service, and gained no less honor and power to himself\r\nthan to the commonwealth of Athens. He also persuaded the people of Patrae to\r\njoin their city to the sea, by building long walls; and when some one told\r\nthem, by way of warning, that the Athenians would swallow them up at last\r\nAlcibiades made answer, “Possibly it may be so, but it will be by little and\r\nlittle, and beginning at the feet, whereas the Lacedaemonians will begin at the\r\nhead and devour you all at once.” Nor did he neglect either to advise the\r\nAthenians to look to their interests by land, and often put the young men in\r\nmind of the oath which they had made at Agraulos, to the effect that they would\r\naccount wheat and barley, and vines and olives, to be the limits of Attica; by\r\nwhich they were taught to claim a title to all land that was cultivated and\r\nproductive.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut with all these words and deeds, and with all this sagacity and eloquence,\r\nhe intermingled exorbitant luxury and wantonness in his eating and drinking and\r\ndissolute living; wore long purple robes like a woman, which dragged after him\r\nas he went through the market-place; caused the planks of his galley to be cut\r\naway, that so he might lie the softer, his bed not being placed on the boards,\r\nbut hanging upon girths. His shield, again, which was richly gilded, had not\r\nthe usual ensigns of the Athenians, but a Cupid, holding a thunderbolt in his\r\nhand, was painted upon it. The sight of all this made the people of good repute\r\nin the city feel disgust and abhorrence, and apprehension also, at his\r\nfree-living, and his contempt of law, as things monstrous in themselves, and\r\nindicating designs of usurpation. Aristophanes has well expressed the people’s\r\nfeeling towards him:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“They love, and hate, and cannot do without him.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd still more strongly, under a figurative expression,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“Best rear no lion in your state, ’tis true;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut treat him like a lion if you do.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe truth is, his liberalities, his public shows, and other munificence to the\r\npeople, which were such as nothing could exceed, the glory of his ancestors,\r\nthe force of his eloquence, the grace of his person, his strength of body,\r\njoined with his great courage and knowledge in military affairs, prevailed upon\r\nthe Athenians to endure patiently his excesses, to indulge many things to him,\r\nand, according to their habit, to give the softest names to his faults,\r\nattributing them to youth and good nature. As, for example, he kept Agatharcus,\r\nthe painter, a prisoner till he had painted his whole house, but then dismissed\r\nhim with a reward. He publicly struck Taureas, who exhibited certain shows in\r\nopposition to him and contended with him for the prize. He selected for himself\r\none of the captive Melian women, and had a son by her, whom he took care to\r\neducate. This the Athenians styled great humanity; and yet he was the principal\r\ncause of the slaughter of all the inhabitants of the isle of Melos who were of\r\nage to bear arms, having spoken in favor of that decree. When Aristophon, the\r\npainter, had drawn Nemea sitting and holding Alcibiades in her arms, the\r\nmultitude seemed pleased with the piece, and thronged to see it, but older\r\npeople disliked and disrelished it, and looked on these things as enormities,\r\nand movements towards tyranny. So that it was not said amiss by Archestratus,\r\nthat Greece could not support a second Alcibiades. Once, when Alcibiades\r\nsucceeded well in an oration which he made, and the whole assembly attended\r\nupon him to do him honor, Timon the misanthrope did not pass slightly by him,\r\nnor avoid him, as he did others, but purposely met him, and, taking him by the\r\nhand, said, “Go on boldly, my son, and increase in credit with the people, for\r\nthou wilt one day bring them calamities enough.” Some that were present laughed\r\nat the saying, and some reviled Timon; but there were others upon whom it made\r\na deep impression; so various was the judgment which was made of him, and so\r\nirregular his own character.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Athenians, even in the lifetime of Pericles, had already cast a longing eye\r\nupon Sicily; but did not attempt any thing till after his death. Then, under\r\npretense of aiding their confederates, they sent succors upon all occasions to\r\nthose who were oppressed by the Syracusans, preparing the way for sending over\r\na greater force. But Alcibiades was the person who inflamed this desire of\r\ntheirs to the height, and prevailed with them no longer to proceed secretly,\r\nand by little and little, in their design, but to sail out with a great fleet,\r\nand undertake at once to make themselves masters of the island. He possessed\r\nthe people with great hopes, and he himself entertained yet greater; and the\r\nconquest of Sicily, which was the utmost bound of their ambition, was but the\r\nmere outset of his expectation. Nicias endeavored to divert the people from the\r\nexpedition, by representing to them that the taking of Syracuse would be a work\r\nof great difficulty; but Alcibiades dreamed of nothing less than the conquest\r\nof Carthage and Libya, and by the accession of these conceiving himself at once\r\nmade master of Italy and of Peloponnesus, seemed to look upon Sicily as little\r\nmore than a magazine for the war. The young men were soon elevated with these\r\nhopes, and listened gladly to those of riper years, who talked wonders of the\r\ncountries they were going to; so that you might see great numbers sitting in\r\nthe wrestling grounds and public places, drawing on the ground the figure of\r\nthe island and the situation of Libya and Carthage. Socrates the philosopher\r\nand Meton the astrologer are said, however, never to have hoped for any good to\r\nthe commonwealth from this war; the one, it is to be supposed, presaging what\r\nwould ensue, by the intervention of his attendant Genius; and the other, either\r\nupon rational consideration of the project, or by use of the art of divination,\r\nconceived fears for its issue, and, feigning madness, caught up a burning\r\ntorch, and seemed as if he would have set his own house on fire. Others report,\r\nthat he did not take upon him to act the madman, but secretly in the night set\r\nhis house on fire, and the next morning besought the people, that for his\r\ncomfort, after such a calamity, they would spare his son from the expedition.\r\nBy which artifice, he deceived his fellow-citizens, and obtained of them what\r\nhe desired.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTogether with Alcibiades, Nicias, much against his will, was appointed general:\r\nand he endeavored to avoid the command, not the less on account of his\r\ncolleague. But the Athenians thought the war would proceed more prosperously,\r\nif they did not send Alcibiades free from all restraint, but tempered his heat\r\nwith the caution of Nicias. This they chose the rather to do, because Lamachus,\r\nthe third general, though he was of mature years, yet in several battles had\r\nappeared no less hot and rash than Alcibiades himself. When they began to\r\ndeliberate of the number of forces, and of the manner of making the necessary\r\nprovisions, Nicias made another attempt to oppose the design, and to prevent\r\nthe war; but Alcibiades contradicted him, and carried his point with the\r\npeople. And one Demostratus, an orator, proposing to give the generals absolute\r\npower over the preparations and the whole management of the war, it was\r\npresently decreed so. When all things were fitted for the voyage, many unlucky\r\nomens appeared. At that very time the feast of Adonis happened, in which the\r\nwomen were used to expose, in all parts of the city, images resembling dead men\r\ncarried out to their burial, and to represent funeral solemnities by\r\nlamentations and mournful songs. The mutilation, however, of the images of\r\nMercury, most of which, in one night, had their faces all disfigured, terrified\r\nmany persons who were wont to despise most things of that nature. It was given\r\nout that it was done by the Corinthians, for the sake of the Syracusans, who\r\nwere their colony, in hopes that the Athenians, by such prodigies, might be\r\ninduced to delay or abandon the war. But the report gained no credit with the\r\npeople, nor yet the opinion of those who would not believe that there was\r\nanything ominous in the matter, but that it was only an extravagant action,\r\ncommitted, in that sort of sport which runs into license, by wild young men\r\ncoming from a debauch. Alike enraged and terrified at the thing, looking upon\r\nit to proceed from a conspiracy of persons who designed some commotions in the\r\nstate, the council, as well as the assembly of the people, which was held\r\nfrequently in a few days’ space, examined diligently everything that might\r\nadminister ground for suspicion. During this examination, Androcles, one of the\r\ndemagogues, produced certain slaves and strangers before them, who accused\r\nAlcibiades and some of his friends of defacing other images in the same manner,\r\nand of having profanely acted the sacred mysteries at a drunken meeting, where\r\none Theodorus represented the herald, Polytion the torch- bearer, and\r\nAlcibiades the chief priest, while the rest of the party appeared as candidates\r\nfor initiation, and received the title of Initiates. These were the matters\r\ncontained in the articles of information, which Thessalus, the son of Cimon,\r\nexhibited against Alcibiades, for his impious mockery of the goddesses, Ceres\r\nand Proserpine. The people were highly exasperated and incensed against\r\nAlcibiades upon this accusation, which, being aggravated by Androcles, the most\r\nmalicious of all his enemies, at first disturbed his friends exceedingly. But\r\nwhen they perceived that all the sea-men designed for Sicily were for him, and\r\nthe soldiers also, and when the Argive and Mantinean auxiliaries, a thousand\r\nmen at arms, openly declared that they had undertaken this distant maritime\r\nexpedition for the sake of Alcibiades, and that, if he was ill-used, they would\r\nall go home, they recovered their courage, and became eager to make use of the\r\npresent opportunity for justifying him. At this his enemies were again\r\ndiscouraged, fearing lest the people should be more gentle to him in their\r\nsentence, because of the occasion they had for his service. Therefore, to\r\nobviate this, they contrived that some other orators, who did not appear to be\r\nenemies to Alcibiades, but really hated him no less than those who avowed it,\r\nshould stand up in the assembly and say, that it was a very absurd thing that\r\none who was created general of such an army with absolute power, after his\r\ntroops were assembled, and the confederates were come, should lose the\r\nopportunity, whilst the people were choosing his judges by lot, and appointing\r\ntimes for the hearing of the cause. And, therefore, let him set sail at once;\r\ngood fortune attend him; and when the war should be at an end, he might then in\r\nperson make his defense according to the laws.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlcibiades perceived the malice of this postponement, and, appearing in the\r\nassembly represented that it was monstrous for him to be sent with the command\r\nof so large an army, when he lay under such accusations and calumnies; that he\r\ndeserved to die, if he could not clear himself of the crimes objected to him;\r\nbut when he had so done, and had proved his innocence, he should then\r\ncheerfully apply himself to the war, as standing no longer in fear of false\r\naccusers. But he could not prevail with the people, who commanded him to sail\r\nimmediately. So he departed, together with the other generals, having with them\r\nnear 140 galleys, 5,100 men at arms, and about 1,300 archers, slingers, and\r\nlight-armed men, and all the other provisions corresponding.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nArriving on the coast of Italy, he landed at Rhegium, and there stated his\r\nviews of the manner in which they ought to conduct the war. He was opposed by\r\nNicias, but Lamachus being of his opinion, they sailed for Sicily forthwith,\r\nand took Catana. This was all that was done while he was there, for he was soon\r\nafter recalled by the Athenians to abide his trial. At first, as we before\r\nsaid, there were only some slight suspicions advanced against Alcibiades, and\r\naccusations by certain slaves and strangers. But afterwards, in his absence,\r\nhis enemies attacked him more violently, and confounded together the breaking\r\nthe images with the profanation of the mysteries, as though both had been\r\ncommitted in pursuance of the same conspiracy for changing the government. The\r\npeople proceeded to imprison all that were accused, without distinction, and\r\nwithout hearing them, and repented now, considering the importance of the\r\ncharge, that they had not immediately brought Alcibiades to his trial, and\r\ngiven judgment against him. Any of his friends or acquaintance who fell into\r\nthe people’s hands, whilst they were in this fury, did not fail to meet with\r\nvery severe usage. Thucydides has omitted to name the informers, but others\r\nmention Dioclides and Teucer. Amongst whom is Phrynichus, the comic poet, in\r\nwhom we find the following:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“O dearest Hermes! only do take care,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd mind you do not miss your footing there;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nShould you get hurt, occasion may arise\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFor a new Dioclides to tell lies.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nTo which he makes Mercury return this answer:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“I will so, for I feel no inclination\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo reward Teucer for more information.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThe truth is, his accusers alleged nothing that was certain or solid against\r\nhim. One of them, being asked how he knew the men who defaced the images,\r\nreplying, that he saw them by the light of the moon, made a palpable\r\nmisstatement, for it was just new moon when the fact was committed. This made\r\nall men of understanding cry out upon the thing; but the people were as eager\r\nas ever to receive further accusations, nor was their first heat at all abated,\r\nbut they instantly seized and imprisoned every one that was accused. Amongst\r\nthose who were detained in prison for their trials was Andocides the orator,\r\nwhose descent the historian Hellanicus deduces from Ulysses. He was always\r\nsupposed to hate popular government, and to support oligarchy. The chief ground\r\nof his being suspected of defacing the images was because the great Mercury,\r\nwhich stood near his house, and was an ancient monument of the tribe Aegeis,\r\nwas almost the only statue of all the remarkable ones, which remained entire.\r\nFor this cause, it is now called the Mercury of Andocides, all men giving it\r\nthat name, though the inscription is evidence to the contrary. It happened that\r\nAndocides, amongst the rest who were prisoners upon the same account,\r\ncontracted particular acquaintance and intimacy with one Timaeus, a person\r\ninferior to him in repute, but of remarkable dexterity and boldness. He\r\npersuaded Andocides to accuse himself and some few others of this crime, urging\r\nto him that, upon his confession, he would be, by the decree of the people,\r\nsecure of his pardon, whereas the event of judgment is uncertain to all men,\r\nbut to great persons, such as he was, most formidable. So that it was better\r\nfor him, if he regarded himself, to save his life by a falsity, than to suffer\r\nan infamous death, as really guilty of the crime. And if he had regard to the\r\npublic good, it was commendable to sacrifice a few suspected men, by that means\r\nto rescue many excellent persons from the fury of the people. Andocides was\r\nprevailed upon, and accused himself and some others, and, by the terms of the\r\ndecree, obtained his pardon, while all the persons named by him, except some\r\nfew who had saved themselves by flight, suffered death. To gain the greater\r\ncredit to his information, he accused his own servants amongst others. But\r\nnotwithstanding this, the people’s anger was not wholly appeased; and being now\r\nno longer diverted by the mutilators, they were at leisure to pour out their\r\nwhole rage upon Alcibiades. And, in conclusion, they sent the galley named the\r\nSalaminian, to recall him. But they expressly commanded those that were sent,\r\nto use no violence, nor seize upon his person, but address themselves to him in\r\nthe mildest terms, requiring him to follow them to Athens in order to abide his\r\ntrial, and clear himself before the people. For they feared mutiny and sedition\r\nin the army in an enemy’s country, which indeed it would have been easy for\r\nAlcibiades to effect, if he had wished it. For the soldiers were dispirited\r\nupon his departure, expecting for the future tedious delays, and that the war\r\nwould be drawn out into a lazy length by Nicias, when Alcibiades, who was the\r\nspur to action, was taken away. For though Lamachus was a soldier, and a man of\r\ncourage, poverty deprived him of authority and respect in the army. Alcibiades,\r\njust upon his departure, prevented Messena from falling into the hands of the\r\nAthenians. There were some in that city who were upon the point of delivering\r\nit up, but he, knowing the persons, gave information to some friends of the\r\nSyracusans, and so defeated the whole contrivance. When he arrived at Thurii,\r\nhe went on shore, and, concealing himself there, escaped those who searched\r\nafter him. But to one who knew him, and asked him if he durst not trust his own\r\nnative country, he made answer, “In everything else, yes; but in a matter that\r\ntouches my life, I would not even my own mother, lest she might by mistake\r\nthrow in the black ball instead of the white.” When, afterwards, he was told\r\nthat the assembly had pronounced judgment of death against him, all he said\r\nwas, “I will make them feel that I am alive.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe information against him was conceived in this form:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\n“Thessalus, the son of Cimon, of the township of Lacia, lays information that\r\nAlcibiades, the son of Clinias, of the township of the Scambonidae, has\r\ncommitted a crime against the goddesses Ceres and Proserpine, by representing\r\nin derision the holy mysteries, and showing them to his companions in his own\r\nhouse. Where, being habited in such robes as are used by the chief priest when\r\nhe shows the holy things, he named himself the chief priest, Polytion the\r\ntorch-bearer, and Theodorus, of the township of Phegaea, the herald; and\r\nsaluted the rest of his company as Initiates and Novices. All which was done\r\ncontrary to the laws and institutions of the Eumolpidae, and the heralds and\r\npriests of the temple at Eleusis.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was condemned as contumacious upon his not appearing, his property\r\nconfiscated, and it was decreed that all the priests and priestesses should\r\nsolemnly curse him. But one of them, Theano, the daughter of Menon, of the\r\ntownship of Agraule, is said to have opposed that part of the decree, saying\r\nthat her holy office obliged her to make prayers, but not execrations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlcibiades, lying under these heavy decrees and sentences, when first he fled\r\nfrom Thurii, passed over into Peloponnesus and remained some time at Argos. But\r\nbeing there in fear of his enemies and seeing himself utterly hopeless of\r\nreturn to his native country, he sent to Sparta, desiring safe conduct, and\r\nassuring them that he would make them amends by his future services for all the\r\nmischief he had done them while he was their enemy. The Spartans giving him the\r\nsecurity he desired, he went eagerly, was well received, and, at his very first\r\ncoming, succeeded in inducing them, without any further caution or delay, to\r\nsend aid to the Syracusans; and so roused and excited them, that they forthwith\r\ndispatched Gylippus into Sicily, to crush the forces which the Athenians had in\r\nSicily. A second point was, to renew the war upon the Athenians at home. But\r\nthe third thing, and the most important of all, was to make them fortify\r\nDecelea, which above everything reduced and wasted the resources of the\r\nAthenians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe renown which he earned by these public services was equaled by the\r\nadmiration he attracted to his private life; he captivated and won over\r\neverybody by his conformity to Spartan habits. People who saw him wearing his\r\nhair close cut, bathing in cold water, eating coarse meal, and dining on black\r\nbroth, doubted, or rather could not believe, that he ever had a cook in his\r\nhouse, or had ever seen a perfumer, or had worn a mantle of Milesian purple.\r\nFor he had, as it was observed, this peculiar talent and artifice for gaining\r\nmen’s affections, that he could at once comply with and really embrace and\r\nenter into their habits and ways of life, and change faster than the chameleon.\r\nOne color, indeed, they say the chameleon cannot assume; it cannot make itself\r\nappear white; but Alcibiades, whether with good men or with bad, could adapt\r\nhimself to his company, and equally wear the appearance of virtue or vice. At\r\nSparta, he was devoted to athletic exercises, was frugal and reserved; in\r\nIonia, luxurious, gay, and indolent; in Thrace, always drinking; in Thessaly,\r\never on horseback; and when he lived with Tisaphernes, the Persian satrap, he\r\nexceeded the Persians themselves in magnificence and pomp. Not that his natural\r\ndisposition changed so easily, nor that his real character was so very\r\nvariable, but, whenever he was sensible that by pursuing his own inclinations\r\nhe might give offense to those with whom he had occasion to converse, he\r\ntransformed himself into any shape, and adopted any fashion, that he observed\r\nto be most agreeable to them. So that to have seen him at Lacedaemon, a man,\r\njudging by the outward appearance, would have said, “’Tis not Achilles’s son,\r\nbut he himself, the very man” that Lycurgus designed to form; while his real\r\nfeelings and acts would have rather provoked the exclamation, “’Tis the same\r\nwoman still.” For while king Agis was absent, and abroad with the army, he\r\ncorrupted his wife Timaea, and had a child born by her. Nor did she even deny\r\nit, but when she was brought to bed of a son, called him in public Leotychides,\r\nbut, amongst her confidants and attendants, would whisper that his name was\r\nAlcibiades. To such a degree was she transported by her passion for him. He, on\r\nthe other side, would say, in his vain way, he had not done this thing out of\r\nmere wantonness of insult, nor to gratify a passion, but that his race might\r\none day be kings over the Lacedaemonians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were many who told Agis that this was so, but time itself gave the\r\ngreatest confirmation to the story. For Agis, alarmed by an earthquake, had\r\nquitted his wife, and, for ten months after, was never with her; Leotychides,\r\ntherefore, being born after those ten months, he would not acknowledge him for\r\nhis son; which was the reason that afterwards he was not admitted to the\r\nsuccession.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the defeat which the Athenians received in Sicily, ambassadors were\r\ndispatched to Sparta at once from Chios and Lesbos and Cyzicus, to signify\r\ntheir purpose of revolting from the Athenians. The Boeotians interposed in\r\nfavor of the Lesbians, and Pharnabazus of the Cyzicenes, but the\r\nLacedaemonians, at the persuasion of Alcibiades, chose to assist Chios before\r\nall others. He himself, also, went instantly to sea, procured the immediate\r\nrevolt of almost all Ionia, and, cooperating with the Lacedaemonian generals,\r\ndid great mischief to the Athenians. But Agis was his enemy, hating him for\r\nhaving dishonored his wife, and also impatient of his glory, as almost every\r\nenterprise and every success was ascribed to Alcibiades. Others, also, of the\r\nmost powerful and ambitious amongst the Spartans, were possessed with jealousy\r\nof him, and, at last, prevailed with the magistrates in the city to send orders\r\ninto Ionia that he should be killed. Alcibiades, however, had secret\r\nintelligence of this, and, in apprehension of the result, while he communicated\r\nall affairs to the Lacedaemonians, yet took care not to put himself into their\r\npower. At last he retired to Tisaphernes, the king of Persia’s satrap, for his\r\nsecurity, and immediately became the first and most influential person about\r\nhim. For this barbarian, not being himself sincere, but a lover of guile and\r\nwickedness, admired his address and wonderful subtlety. And, indeed, the charm\r\nof daily intercourse with him was more than any character could resist or any\r\ndisposition escape. Even those who feared and envied him could not but take\r\ndelight, and have a sort of kindness for him, when they saw him and were in his\r\ncompany. So that Tisaphernes, otherwise a cruel character, and, above all other\r\nPersians, a hater of the Greeks, was yet so won by the flatteries of\r\nAlcibiades, that he set himself even to exceed him in responding to them. The\r\nmost beautiful of his parks, containing salubrious streams and meadows, where\r\nhe had built pavilions, and places of retirement royally and exquisitely\r\nadorned, received by his direction the name of Alcibiades, and was always so\r\ncalled and so spoken of.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus Alcibiades, quitting the interests of the Spartans, whom he could no\r\nlonger trust, because he stood in fear of Agis, endeavored to do them ill\r\noffices, and render them odious to Tisaphernes, who, by his means, was hindered\r\nfrom assisting them vigorously, and from finally ruining the Athenians. For his\r\nadvice was to furnish them but sparingly with money, and so wear them out, and\r\nconsume them insensibly; when they had wasted their strength upon one another,\r\nthey would both become ready to submit to the king. Tisaphernes readily pursued\r\nhis counsel, and so openly expressed the liking and admiration which he had for\r\nhim, that Alcibiades was looked up to by the Greeks of both parties, and the\r\nAthenians, now in their misfortunes, repented them of their severe sentence\r\nagainst him. And he, on the other side, began to be troubled for them, and to\r\nfear lest, if that commonwealth were utterly destroyed, he should fall into the\r\nhands of the Lacedaemonians, his enemies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt that time the whole strength of the Athenians was in Samos. Their fleet\r\nmaintained itself here, and issued from these head-quarters to reduce such as\r\nhad revolted, and protect the rest of their territories; in one way or other\r\nstill contriving to be a match for their enemies at sea. What they stood in\r\nfear of, was Tisaphernes and the Phoenician fleet of one hundred and fifty\r\ngalleys, which was said to be already under sail; if those came, there remained\r\nthen no hopes for the commonwealth of Athens. Understanding this, Alcibiades\r\nsent secretly to the chief men of the Athenians, who were then at Samos, giving\r\nthem hopes that he would make Tisaphernes their friend; he was willing, he\r\nimplied, to do some favor, not to the people, nor in reliance upon them, but to\r\nthe better citizens, if only, like brave men, they would make the attempt to\r\nput down the insolence of the people, and, by taking upon them the government,\r\nwould endeavor to save the city from ruin. All of them gave a ready ear to the\r\nproposal made by Alcibiades, except only Phrynichus of the township of Dirades,\r\none of the generals, who suspected, as the truth was, that Alcibiades concerned\r\nnot himself whether the government were in the people or the better citizens,\r\nbut only sought by any means to make way for his return into his native\r\ncountry, and to that end inveighed against the people, thereby to gain the\r\nothers, and to insinuate himself into their good opinion. But when Phrynichus\r\nfound his counsel to be rejected, and that he was himself become a declared\r\nenemy of Alcibiades, he gave secret intelligence to Astyochus, the enemy’s\r\nadmiral, cautioning him to beware of Alcibiades, and to seize him as a double\r\ndealer, unaware that one traitor was making discoveries to another. For\r\nAstyochus, who was eager to gain the favor of Tisaphernes, observing the credit\r\nAlcibiades had with him, revealed to Alcibiades all that Phrynichus had said\r\nagainst him. Alcibiades at once dispatched messengers to Samos, to accuse\r\nPhrynichus of the treachery. Upon this, all the commanders were enraged with\r\nPhrynichus, and set themselves against him, and he, seeing no other way to\r\nextricate himself from the present danger, attempted to remedy one evil by a\r\ngreater. He sent to Astyochus to reproach him for betraying him, and to make an\r\noffer to him at the same time, to deliver into his hands both the army and the\r\nnavy of the Athenians. This occasioned no damage to the Athenians, because\r\nAstyochus repeated his treachery, and revealed also this proposal to\r\nAlcibiades. But this again was foreseen by Phrynichus, who, expecting a second\r\naccusation from Alcibiades, to anticipate him, advertised the Athenians\r\nbeforehand that the enemy was ready to sail in order to surprise them, and\r\ntherefore advised them to fortify their camp, and to be in a readiness to go\r\naboard their ships. While the Athenians were intent upon doing these things,\r\nthey received other letters from Alcibiades, admonishing them to beware of\r\nPhrynichus, as one who designed to betray their fleet to the enemy, to which\r\nthey then gave no credit at all, conceiving that Alcibiades, who knew perfectly\r\nthe counsels and preparations of the enemy, was merely making use of that\r\nknowledge, in order to impose upon them in this false accusation of Phrynichus.\r\nYet, afterwards, when Phrynichus was stabbed with a dagger in the market-place\r\nby Hermon, one of the guard, the Athenians, entering into an examination of the\r\ncause, solemnly condemned Phrynichus of treason, and decreed crowns to Hermon\r\nand his associates. And now the friends of Alcibiades, carrying all before them\r\nat Samos, dispatched Pisander to Athens, to attempt a change of government, and\r\nto encourage the aristocratical citizens to take upon themselves the\r\ngovernment, and overthrow the democracy, representing to them, that, upon these\r\nterms, Alcibiades would procure them the friendship and alliance of\r\nTisaphernes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was the color and pretense made use of by those who desired to change the\r\ngovernment of Athens to an oligarchy. But as soon as they prevailed, and had\r\ngot the administration of affairs into their hands, under the name of the Five\r\nThousand (whereas, indeed, they were but four hundred), they slighted\r\nAlcibiades altogether, and prosecuted the war with less vigor; partly because\r\nthey durst not yet trust the citizens, who secretly detested this change, and\r\npartly because they thought the Lacedaemonians, who always befriended the\r\ngovernment of the few, would be inclined to give them favorable terms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe people in the city were terrified into submission, many of those who had\r\ndared openly to oppose the four hundred having been put to death. But those who\r\nwere at Samos, indignant when they heard this news, were eager to set sail\r\ninstantly for the Piraeus; and, sending for Alcibiades, they declared him\r\ngeneral, requiring him to lead them on to put down the tyrants. He, however, in\r\nthat juncture, did not, as it might have been thought a man would, on being\r\nsuddenly exalted by the favor of a multitude, think himself under an obligation\r\nto gratify and submit to all the wishes of those who, from a fugitive and an\r\nexile, had created him general of so great an army, and given him the command\r\nof such a fleet. But, as became a great captain, he opposed himself to the\r\nprecipitate resolutions which their rage led them to, and, by restraining them\r\nfrom the great error they were about to commit, unequivocally saved the\r\ncommonwealth. For if they then had sailed to Athens, all Ionia and the islands\r\nand the Hellespont would have fallen into the enemies’ hands without\r\nopposition, while the Athenians, involved in civil war, would have been\r\nfighting with one another within the circuit of their own walls. It was\r\nAlcibiades alone, or, at least, principally, who prevented all this mischief;\r\nfor he not only used persuasion to the whole army, and showed them the danger,\r\nbut applied himself to them, one by one, entreating some, and constraining\r\nothers. He was much assisted, however, by Thrasybulus of Stiria, who, having\r\nthe loudest voice, as we are told of all the Athenians, went along with him,\r\nand cried out to those who were ready to be gone. A second great service which\r\nAlcibiades did for them was, his undertaking that the Phoenician fleet, which\r\nthe Lacedaemonians expected to be sent to them by the king of Persia, should\r\neither come in aid of the Athenians, or otherwise should not come at all. He\r\nsailed off with all expedition in order to perform this, and the ships, which\r\nhad already been seen as near as Aspendus, were not brought any further by\r\nTisaphernes, who thus deceived the Lacedaemonians; and it was by both sides\r\nbelieved that they had been diverted by the procurement of Alcibiades. The\r\nLacedaemonians, in particular, accused him, that he had advised the Barbarian\r\nto stand still, and suffer the Greeks to waste and destroy one another, as it\r\nwas evident that the accession of so great a force to either party would enable\r\nthem to take away the entire dominion of the sea from the other side.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSoon after this, the four hundred usurpers were driven out, the friends of\r\nAlcibiades vigorously assisting those who were for the popular government. And\r\nnow the people in the city not only desired, but commanded Alcibiades to return\r\nhome from his exile. He, however, desired not to owe his return to the mere\r\ngrace and commiseration of the people, and resolved to come back, not with\r\nempty hands, but with glory, and after some service done. To this end, he\r\nsailed from Samos with a few ships, and cruised on the sea of Cnidos, and about\r\nthe isle of Cos; but receiving intelligence there that Mindarus, the Spartan\r\nadmiral, had sailed with his whole army into the Hellespont, and that the\r\nAthenians had followed him, he hurried back to succor the Athenian commanders,\r\nand, by good fortune, arrived with eighteen galleys at a critical time. For\r\nboth the fleets having engaged near Abydos, the fight between them had lasted\r\ntill night, the one side having the advantage on one quarter, and the other on\r\nanother. Upon his first appearance, both sides formed a false impression; the\r\nenemy was encouraged, and the Athenians terrified. But Alcibiades suddenly\r\nraised the Athenian ensign in the admiral ship, and fell upon those galleys of\r\nthe Peloponnesians which had the advantage and were in pursuit. He soon put\r\nthese to flight, and followed them so close that he forced them on shore, and\r\nbroke the ships in pieces, the sailors abandoning them and swimming away, in\r\nspite of all the efforts of Pharnabazus, who had come down to their assistance\r\nby land, and did what he could to protect them from the shore. In fine, the\r\nAthenians, having taken thirty of the enemy’s ships, and recovered all their\r\nown, erected a trophy. After the gaining of so glorious a victory, his vanity\r\nmade him eager to show himself to Tisaphernes, and, having furnished himself\r\nwith gifts and presents, and an equipage suitable to his dignity, he set out to\r\nvisit him. But the thing did not succeed as he had imagined, for Tisaphernes\r\nhad been long suspected by the Lacedaemonians, and was afraid to fall into\r\ndisgrace with his king, upon that account, and therefore thought that\r\nAlcibiades arrived very opportunely, and immediately caused him to be seized,\r\nand sent away prisoner to Sardis; fancying, by this act of injustice, to clear\r\nhimself from all former imputations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut about thirty days after, Alcibiades escaped from his keepers, and, having\r\ngot a horse, fled to Clazomenae, where he procured Tisaphernes’ additional\r\ndisgrace by professing he was a party to his escape. From there he sailed to\r\nthe Athenian camp, and, being informed there that Mindarus and Pharnabazus were\r\ntogether at Cyzicus, he made a speech to the soldiers, telling them that\r\nsea-fighting, land-fighting, and, by the gods, fighting against fortified\r\ncities too, must be all one for them, as, unless they conquered everywhere,\r\nthere was no money for them. As soon as ever he got them on shipboard, he\r\nhasted to Proconnesus, and gave command to seize all the small vessels they\r\nmet, and guard them safely in the interior of the fleet, that the enemy might\r\nhave no notice of his coming; and a great storm of rain, accompanied with\r\nthunder and darkness, which happened at the same time, contributed much to the\r\nconcealment of his enterprise. Indeed, it was not only undiscovered by the\r\nenemy, but the Athenians themselves were ignorant of it, for he commanded them\r\nsuddenly on board, and set sail when they had abandoned all intention of it. As\r\nthe darkness presently passed away, the Peloponnesian fleet were seen riding\r\nout at sea in front of the harbor of Cyzicus. Fearing, if they discovered the\r\nnumber of his ships, they might endeavor to save themselves by land, he\r\ncommanded the rest of the captains to slacken, and follow him slowly, whilst\r\nhe, advancing with forty ships, showed himself to the enemy, and provoked them\r\nto fight. The enemy, being deceived as to their numbers; despised them, and,\r\nsupposing they were to contend with those only, made themselves ready and began\r\nthe fight. But as soon as they were engaged, they perceived the other part of\r\nthe fleet coming down upon them, at which they were so terrified that they fled\r\nimmediately. Upon that, Alcibiades, breaking through the midst of them with\r\ntwenty of his best ships, hastened to the shore, disembarked, and pursued those\r\nwho abandoned their ships and fled to land, and made a great slaughter of them.\r\nMindarus and Pharnabazus, coming to their succor, were utterly defeated.\r\nMindarus was slain upon the place, fighting valiantly; Pharnabazus saved\r\nhimself by flight. The Athenians slew great numbers of their enemies, won much\r\nspoil, and took all their ships. They also made themselves masters of Cyzicus,\r\nwhich was deserted by Pharnabazus, and destroyed its Peloponnesian garrison,\r\nand thereby not only secured to themselves the Hellespont, but by force drove\r\nthe Lacedaemonians from out of all the rest of the sea. They intercepted some\r\nletters written to the ephors, which gave an account of this fatal overthrow,\r\nafter their short laconic manner. “Our hopes are at an end. Mindarus is slain.\r\nThe men starve. We know not what to do.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe soldiers who followed Alcibiades in this last fight were so exalted with\r\ntheir success, and felt that degree of pride, that, looking on themselves as\r\ninvincible, they disdained to mix with the other soldiers, who had been often\r\novercome. For it happened not long before, Thrasyllus had received a defeat\r\nnear Ephesus, and, upon that occasion, the Ephesians erected their brazen\r\ntrophy to the disgrace of the Athenians. The soldiers of Alcibiades reproached\r\nthose who were under the command of Thrasyllus with this misfortune, at the\r\nsame time magnifying themselves and their own commander, and it went so far\r\nthat they would not exercise with them, nor lodge in the same quarters. But\r\nsoon after, Pharnabazus, with a great force of horse and foot, falling upon the\r\nsoldiers of Thrasyllus, as they were laying waste the territory of Abydos,\r\nAlcibiades came to their aid, routed Pharnabazus, and, together with\r\nThrasyllus, pursued him till it was night; and in this action the troops\r\nunited, and returned together to the camp, rejoicing and congratulating one\r\nanother. The next day he erected a trophy, and then proceeded to lay waste with\r\nfire and sword the whole province which was under Pharnabazus, where none\r\nventured to resist; and he took divers priests and priestesses, but released\r\nthem without ransom. He prepared next to attack the Chalcedonians, who had\r\nrevolted from the Athenians, and had received a Lacedaemonian governor and\r\ngarrison. But having intelligence that they had removed their corn and cattle\r\nout of the fields, and were conveying it all to the Bithynians, who were their\r\nfriends, he drew down his army to the frontier of the Bithynians, and then sent\r\na herald to charge them with this proceeding. The Bithynians, terrified at his\r\napproach, delivered up to him the booty, and entered into alliance with him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfterwards he proceeded to the siege of Chalcedon, and enclosed it with a wall\r\nfrom sea to sea. Pharnabazus advanced with his forces to raise the siege, and\r\nHippocrates, the governor of the town, at the same time, gathering together all\r\nthe strength he had, made a sally upon the Athenians. Alcibiades divided his\r\narmy so as to engage them both at once, and not only forced Pharnabazus to a\r\ndishonorable flight, but defeated Hippocrates, and killed him and a number of\r\nthe soldiers with him. After this he sailed into the Hellespont, in order to\r\nraise supplies of money, and took the city of Selymbria, in which action,\r\nthrough his precipitation, he exposed himself to great danger. For some within\r\nthe town had undertaken to betray it into his hands, and, by agreement, were to\r\ngive him a signal by a lighted torch about midnight. But one of the\r\nconspirators beginning to repent himself of the design, the rest, for fear of\r\nbeing discovered, were driven to give the signal before the appointed hour.\r\nAlcibiades, as soon as he saw the torch lifted up in the air, though his army\r\nwas not in readiness to march, ran instantly towards the walls, taking with him\r\nabout thirty men only, and commanding the rest of the army to follow him with\r\nall possible speed. When he came thither, he found the gate opened for him, and\r\nentered with his thirty men, and about twenty more light-armed men, who were\r\ncome up to them. They were no sooner in the city, but he perceived the\r\nSelymbrians all armed, coming down upon him; so that there was no hope of\r\nescaping if he stayed to receive them; and, on the other hand, having been\r\nalways successful till that day, wherever he commanded, he could not endure to\r\nbe defeated and fly. So, requiring silence by sound of a trumpet, he commanded\r\none of his men to make proclamation that the Selymbrians should not take arms\r\nagainst the Athenians. This cooled such of the inhabitants as were fiercest for\r\nthe fight, for they supposed that all their enemies were within the walls, and\r\nit raised the hopes of others who were disposed to an accommodation. Whilst\r\nthey were parleying, and propositions making on one side and the other,\r\nAlcibiades’s whole army came up to the town. And now, conjecturing rightly,\r\nthat the Selymbrians were well inclined to peace, and fearing lest the city\r\nmight be sacked by the Thracians, who came in great numbers to his army to\r\nserve as volunteers, out of kindness for him, he commanded them all to retreat\r\nwithout the walls. And upon the submission of the Selymbrians, he saved them\r\nfrom being pillaged, only taking of them a sum of money, and, after placing an\r\nAthenian garrison in the town, departed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDuring this action, the Athenian captains who besieged Chalcedon concluded a\r\ntreaty with Pharnabazus upon these articles: that he should give them a sum of\r\nmoney; that the Chalcedonians should return to the subjection of Athens; and\r\nthat the Athenians should make no inroad into the province whereof Pharnabazus\r\nwas governor; and Pharnabazus was also to provide safe conducts for the\r\nAthenian ambassadors to the king of Persia. Afterwards, when Alcibiades\r\nreturned thither, Pharnabazus required that he also should be sworn to the\r\ntreaty; but he refused it, unless Pharnabazus would swear at the same time.\r\nWhen the treaty was sworn to on both sides Alcibiades went against the\r\nByzantines, who had revolted from the Athenians, and drew a line of\r\ncircumvallation about the city. But Anaxilaus and Lycurgus, together with some\r\nothers, having undertaken to betray the city to him upon his engagement to\r\npreserve the lives and property of the inhabitants, he caused a report to be\r\nspread abroad, as if, by reason of some unexpected movement in Ionia, he should\r\nbe obliged to raise the siege. And, accordingly, that day he made a show to\r\ndepart with his whole fleet; but returned the same night, and went ashore with\r\nall his men at arms, and, silently and undiscovered, marched up to the walls.\r\nAt the same time, his ships rowed into the harbor with all possible violence,\r\ncoming on with much fury, and with great shouts and outcries. The Byzantines,\r\nthus surprised and astonished, while they all hurried to the defense of their\r\nport and shipping, gave opportunity to those who favored the Athenians,\r\nsecurely to receive Alcibiades into the city. Yet the enterprise was not\r\naccomplished without fighting, for the Peloponnesians, Boeotians, and Megarians\r\nnot only repulsed those who came out of the ships, and forced them on board\r\nagain, but, hearing that the Athenians were entered on the other side, drew up\r\nin order, and went to meet them. Alcibiades, however, gained the victory after\r\nsome sharp fighting, in which he himself had the command of the right wing, and\r\nTheramenes of the left, and took about three hundred, who survived of the\r\nenemy, prisoners of war. After the battle, not one of the Byzantines was slain,\r\nor driven out of the city, according to the terms upon which the city was put\r\ninto his hands, that they should receive no prejudice in life or property. And\r\nthus Anaxilaus, being afterwards accused at Lacedaemon for this treason,\r\nneither disowned nor professed to be ashamed of the action; for he urged that\r\nhe was not a Lacedaemonian, but a Byzantine and saw not Sparta, but Byzantium,\r\nin extreme danger; the city so blockaded that it was not possible to bring in\r\nany new provisions, and the Peloponnesians and Boeotians, who were in garrison,\r\ndevouring the old stores, whilst the Byzantines, with their wives and children,\r\nwere starving; that he had not, therefore, betrayed his country to enemies, but\r\nhad delivered it from the calamities of war, and had but followed the example\r\nof the most worthy Lacedaemonians, who esteemed nothing to be honorable and\r\njust, but what was profitable for their country. The Lacedaemonians, upon\r\nhearing his defense, respected it, and discharged all that were accused.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now Alcibiades began to desire to see his native country again, or rather\r\nto show his fellow-citizens a person who had gained so many victories for them.\r\nHe set sail for Athens, the ships that accompanied him being adorned with great\r\nnumbers of shields and other spoils, and towing after them many galleys taken\r\nfrom the enemy, and the ensigns and ornaments of many others which he had sunk\r\nand destroyed; all of them together amounting to two hundred. Little credit,\r\nperhaps, can be given to what Duris the Samian, who professed to be descended\r\nfrom Alcibiades, adds, that Chrysogonus, who had gained a victory at the\r\nPythian games, played upon his flute for the galleys, whilst the oars kept time\r\nwith the music; and that Callippides, the tragedian, attired in his buskins,\r\nhis purple robes, and other ornaments used in the theater, gave the word to the\r\nrowers, and that the admiral galley entered into the port with a purple sail.\r\nNeither Theopompus, nor Ephorus, nor Xenophon, mention them. Nor, indeed, is it\r\ncredible, that one who returned from so long an exile, and such variety of\r\nmisfortunes, should come home to his countrymen in the style of revelers\r\nbreaking up from a drinking-party. On the contrary, he entered the harbor full\r\nof fear, nor would he venture to go on shore, till, standing on the deck, he\r\nsaw Euryptolemus, his cousin, and others of his friends and acquaintance, who\r\nwere ready to receive him, and invited him to land. As soon as he was landed,\r\nthe multitude who came out to meet him scarcely seemed so much as to see any of\r\nthe other captains, but came in throngs about Alcibiades, and saluted him with\r\nloud acclamations, and still followed him; those who could press near him\r\ncrowned him with garlands, and they who could not come up so close yet stayed\r\nto behold him afar off, and the old men pointed him out, and showed him to the\r\nyoung ones. Nevertheless, this public joy was mixed with some tears, and the\r\npresent happiness was allayed by the remembrance of the miseries they had\r\nendured. They made reflections, that they could not have so unfortunately\r\nmiscarried in Sicily, or been defeated in any of their other expectations, if\r\nthey had left the management of their affairs formerly, and the command of\r\ntheir forces, to Alcibiades, since, upon his undertaking the administration,\r\nwhen they were in a manner driven from the sea, and could scarce defend the\r\nsuburbs of their city by land, and, at the same time, were miserably distracted\r\nwith intestine factions, he had raised them up from this low and deplorable\r\ncondition, and had not only restored them to their ancient dominion of the sea,\r\nbut had also made them everywhere victorious over their enemies on land.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere had been a decree for recalling him from his banishment already passed by\r\nthe people, at the instance of Critias, the son of Callaeschrus, as appears by\r\nhis elegies, in which he puts Alcibiades in mind of this service:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFrom my proposal did that edict come,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhich from your tedious exile brought you home;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe public vote at first was moved by me,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd my voice put the seal to the decree.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThe people being summoned to an assembly, Alcibiades came in amongst them, and\r\nfirst bewailed and lamented his own sufferings, and, in gentle terms\r\ncomplaining of the usage he had received, imputed all to his hard fortune, and\r\nsome ill genius that attended him: then he spoke at large of their prospects,\r\nand exhorted them to courage and good hope. The people crowned him with crowns\r\nof gold, and created him general, both at land and sea, with absolute power.\r\nThey also made a decree that his estate should be restored to him, and that the\r\nEumolpidae and the holy heralds should absolve him from the curses which they\r\nhad solemnly pronounced against him by sentence of the people. Which when all\r\nthe rest obeyed, Theodorus, the high-priest, excused himself, “For,” said he,\r\n“if he is innocent, I never cursed him.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut notwithstanding the affairs of Alcibiades went so prosperously, and so much\r\nto his glory, yet many were still somewhat disturbed, and looked upon the time\r\nof his arrival to be ominous. For on the day that he came into the port, the\r\nfeast of the goddess Minerva, which they call the Plynteria, was kept. It is\r\nthe twenty-fifth day of Thargelion, when the Praxiergidae solemnize their\r\nsecret rites, taking all the ornaments from off her image, and keeping the part\r\nof the temple where it stands close covered. Hence the Athenians esteem this\r\nday most inauspicious and never undertake any thing of importance upon it; and,\r\ntherefore, they imagined that the goddess did not receive Alcibiades graciously\r\nand propitiously, thus hiding her face and rejecting him. Yet, notwithstanding,\r\neverything succeeded according to his wish. When the one hundred galleys, that\r\nwere to return with him, were fitted out and ready to sail, an honorable zeal\r\ndetained him till the celebration of the mysteries was over. For ever since\r\nDecelea had been occupied, as the enemy commanded the roads leading from Athens\r\nto Eleusis, the procession, being conducted by sea, had not been performed with\r\nany proper solemnity; they were forced to omit the sacrifices and dances and\r\nother holy ceremonies, which had usually been performed in the way, when they\r\nled forth Iacchus. Alcibiades, therefore, judged it would be a glorious action,\r\nwhich would do honor to the gods and gain him esteem with men, if he restored\r\nthe ancient splendor to these rites, escorting the procession again by land,\r\nand protecting it with his army in the face of the enemy. For either, if Agis\r\nstood still and did not oppose, it would very much diminish and obscure his\r\nreputation, or, in the other alternative, Alcibiades would engage in a holy\r\nwar, in the cause of the gods, and in defense of the most sacred and solemn\r\nceremonies; and this in the sight of his country, where he should have all his\r\nfellow- citizens witnesses of his valor. As soon as he had resolved upon this\r\ndesign, and had communicated it to the Eumolpidae and heralds, he placed\r\nsentinels on the tops of the hills, and at the break of day sent forth his\r\nscouts. And then taking with him the priests and Initiates and the Initiators,\r\nand encompassing them with his soldiers, he conducted them with great order and\r\nprofound silence; an august and venerable procession, wherein all who did not\r\nenvy him said, he performed at once the office of a high-priest and of a\r\ngeneral. The enemy did not dare to attempt any thing against them, and thus he\r\nbrought them back in safety to the city. Upon which, as he was exalted in his\r\nown thought, so the opinion which the people had of his conduct was raised to\r\nthat degree, that they looked upon their armies as irresistible and invincible\r\nwhile he commanded them; and he so won, indeed, upon the lower and meaner sort\r\nof people, that they passionately desired to have him “tyrant” over them, and\r\nsome of them did not scruple to tell him so, and to advise him to put himself\r\nout of the reach of envy, by abolishing the laws and ordinances of the people,\r\nand suppressing the idle talkers that were ruining the state, that so he might\r\nact and take upon him the management of affairs, without standing in fear of\r\nbeing called to an account.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHow far his own inclinations led him to usurp sovereign power, is uncertain,\r\nbut the most considerable persons in the city were so much afraid of it, that\r\nthey hastened him on ship-board as speedily as they could, appointing the\r\ncolleagues whom he chose, and allowing him all other things as he desired.\r\nThereupon he set sail with a fleet of one hundred ships, and, arriving at\r\nAndros, he there fought with and defeated as well the inhabitants as the\r\nLacedaemonians who assisted them. He did not, however, take the city; which\r\ngave the first occasion to his enemies for all their accusations against him.\r\nCertainly, if ever man was ruined by his own glory, it was Alcibiades. For his\r\ncontinual success had produced such an idea of his courage and conduct, that,\r\nif he failed in anything he undertook, it was imputed to his neglect, and no\r\none would believe it was through want of power. For they thought nothing was\r\ntoo hard for him, if he went about it in good earnest. They fancied, every day,\r\nthat they should hear news of the reduction of Chios, and of the rest of Ionia,\r\nand grew impatient that things were not effected as fast and as rapidly as they\r\ncould wish for them. They never considered how extremely money was wanting, and\r\nthat, having to carry on war with an enemy who had supplies of all things from\r\na great king, he was often forced to quit his armament, in order to procure\r\nmoney and provisions for the subsistence of his soldiers. This it was which\r\ngave occasion for the last accusation which was made against him. For Lysander,\r\nbeing sent from Lacedaemon with a commission to be admiral of their fleet, and\r\nbeing furnished by Cyrus with a great sum of money, gave every sailor four\r\nobols a day, whereas before they had but three. Alcibiades could hardly allow\r\nhis men three obols, and therefore was constrained to go into Caria to furnish\r\nhimself with money. He left the care of the fleet, in his absence, to\r\nAntiochus, an experienced seaman, but rash and inconsiderate, who had express\r\norders from Alcibiades not to engage, though the enemy provoked him. But he\r\nslighted and disregarded these directions to that degree, that, having made\r\nready his own galley and another, he stood for Ephesus, where the enemy lay,\r\nand, as he sailed before the heads of their galleys, used every provocation\r\npossible, both in words and deeds. Lysander at first manned out a few ships,\r\nand pursued him. But all the Athenian ships coming in to his assistance,\r\nLysander, also, brought up his whole fleet, which gained an entire victory. He\r\nslew Antiochus himself, took many men and ships, and erected a trophy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as Alcibiades heard this news, he returned to Samos, and loosing from\r\nthence with his whole fleet, came and offered battle to Lysander. But Lysander,\r\ncontent with the victory he had gained, would not stir. Amongst others in the\r\narmy who hated Alcibiades, Thrasybulus, the son of Thrason, was his particular\r\nenemy, and went purposely to Athens to accuse him, and to exasperate his\r\nenemies in the city against him. Addressing the people, he represented that\r\nAlcibiades had ruined their affairs and lost their ships by mere self-conceited\r\nneglect of his duties, committing the government of the army, in his absence,\r\nto men who gained his favor by drinking and scurrilous talking, whilst he\r\nwandered up and down at pleasure to raise money, giving himself up to every\r\nsort of luxury and excess amongst the courtesans of Abydos and Ionia, at a time\r\nwhen the enemy’s navy were on the watch close at hand. It was also objected to\r\nhim, that he had fortified a castle near Bisanthe in Thrace, for a safe retreat\r\nfor himself, as one that either could not, or would not, live in his own\r\ncountry. The Athenians gave credit to these informations, and showed the\r\nresentment and displeasure which they had conceived against him, by choosing\r\nother generals.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as Alcibiades heard of this, he immediately forsook the army, afraid of\r\nwhat might follow; and, collecting a body of mercenary soldiers, made war upon\r\nhis own account against those Thracians who called themselves free, and\r\nacknowledged no king. By this means he amassed to himself a considerable\r\ntreasure, and, at the same time, secured the bordering Greeks from the\r\nincursions of the barbarians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTydeus, Menander, and Adimantus, the new-made generals, were at that time\r\nposted at Aegospotami, with all the ships which the Athenians had left. From\r\nwhence they were used to go out to sea every morning, and offer battle to\r\nLysander, who lay near Lampsacus; and when they had done so, returning back\r\nagain, lay, all the rest of the day, carelessly and without order, in contempt\r\nof the enemy. Alcibiades, who was not far off, did not think so slightly of\r\ntheir danger, nor neglect to let them know it, but, mounting his horse, came to\r\nthe generals, and represented to them that they had chosen a very inconvenient\r\nstation, where there was no safe harbor, and where they were distant from any\r\ntown; so that they were constrained to send for their necessary provisions as\r\nfar as Sestos. He also pointed out to them their carelessness in suffering the\r\nsoldiers, when they went ashore, to disperse and wander up and down at their\r\npleasure, while the enemy’s fleet, under the command of one general, and\r\nstrictly obedient to discipline, lay so very near them. He advised them to\r\nremove the fleet to Sestos. But the admirals not only disregarded what he said,\r\nbut Tydeus, with insulting expressions; commanded him to be gone, saying, that\r\nnow not he, but others, had the command of the forces. Alcibiades, suspecting\r\nsomething of treachery in them, departed, and told his friends, who accompanied\r\nhim out of the camp, that if the generals had not used him with such\r\ninsupportable contempt, he would within a few days have forced the\r\nLacedaemonians, however unwilling, either to have fought the Athenians at sea,\r\nor to have deserted their ships. Some looked upon this as a piece of\r\nostentation only; others said, the thing was probable, for that he might have\r\nbrought down by land great numbers of the Thracian cavalry and archers, to\r\nassault and disorder them in their camp. The event however, soon made it\r\nevident how rightly he had judged of the errors which the Athenians committed.\r\nFor Lysander fell upon them on a sudden, when they least suspected it, with\r\nsuch fury that Conon alone, with eight galleys, escaped him; all the rest,\r\nwhich were about two hundred, he took and carried away, together with three\r\nthousand prisoners, whom he put to death. And within a short time after, he\r\ntook Athens itself, burnt all the ships which he found there, and demolished\r\ntheir long walls.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Alcibiades, standing in dread of the Lacedaemonians, who were now\r\nmasters both at sea and land, retired into Bithynia. He sent thither great\r\ntreasure before him, took much with him, but left much more in the castle where\r\nhe had before resided. But he lost great part of his wealth in Bithynia, being\r\nrobbed by some Thracians who lived in those parts, and thereupon determined to\r\ngo to the court of Artaxerxes, not doubting but that the king, if he would make\r\ntrial of his abilities, would find him not inferior to Themistocles, besides\r\nthat he was recommended by a more honorable cause. For he went, not as\r\nThemistocles did, to offer his service against his fellow-citizens, but against\r\ntheir enemies, and to implore the king’s aid for the defense of his country. He\r\nconcluded that Pharnabazus would most readily procure him a safe conduct, and\r\ntherefore went into Phrygia to him, and continued to dwell there some time,\r\npaying him great respect, and being honorably treated by him. The Athenians, in\r\nthe meantime, were miserably afflicted at their loss of empire, but when they\r\nwere deprived of liberty also, and Lysander set up thirty despotic rulers in\r\nthe city, in their ruin now they began to turn to those thoughts which, while\r\nsafety was yet possible, they would not entertain; they acknowledged and\r\nbewailed their former errors and follies, and judged this second ill-usage of\r\nAlcibiades to be of all the most inexcusable. For he was rejected, without any\r\nfault committed by himself; and only because they were incensed against his\r\nsubordinate for having shamefully lost a few ships, they much more shamefully\r\ndeprived the commonwealth of its most valiant and accomplished general. Yet in\r\nthis sad state of affairs, they had still some faint hopes left them, nor would\r\nthey utterly despair of the Athenian commonwealth, while Alcibiades was safe.\r\nFor they persuaded themselves that if before, when he was an exile, he could\r\nnot content himself to live idly and at ease, much less now, if he could find\r\nany favorable opportunity, would he endure the insolence of the Lacedaemonians,\r\nand the outrages of the Thirty. Nor was it an absurd thing in the people to\r\nentertain such imaginations, when the Thirty themselves were so very solicitous\r\nto be informed and to get intelligence of all his actions and designs. In fine,\r\nCritias represented to Lysander that the Lacedaemonians could never securely\r\nenjoy the dominion of Greece, till the Athenian democracy was absolutely\r\ndestroyed; and though now the people of Athens seemed quietly and patiently to\r\nsubmit to so small a number of governors, yet so long as Alcibiades lived, the\r\nknowledge of this fact would never suffer them to acquiesce in their present\r\ncircumstances.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet Lysander would not be prevailed upon by these representations, till at last\r\nhe received secret orders from the magistrates of Lacedaemon, expressly\r\nrequiring him to get Alcibiades dispatched: whether it was that they feared his\r\nenergy and boldness in enterprising what was hazardous, or that it was done to\r\ngratify king Agis. Upon receipt of this order, Lysander sent away a messenger\r\nto Pharnabazus, desiring him to put it in execution. Pharnabazus committed the\r\naffair to Magaeus, his brother, and to his uncle Susamithres. Alcibiades\r\nresided at that time in a small village in Phrygia, together with Timandra, a\r\nmistress of his. As he slept, he had this dream: he thought himself attired in\r\nhis mistress’s habit, and that she, holding him in her arms, dressed his head\r\nand painted his face as if he had been a woman; others say, he dreamed that he\r\nsaw Magaeus cut off his head and burn his body; at any rate, it was but a\r\nlittle while before his death that he had these visions. Those who were sent to\r\nassassinate him had not courage enough to enter the house, but surrounded it\r\nfirst, and set it on fire. Alcibiades, as soon as he perceived it, getting\r\ntogether great quantities of clothes and furniture, threw them upon the fire to\r\nchoke it, and, having wrapped his cloak about his left arm, and holding his\r\nnaked sword in his right, he cast himself into the middle of the fire, and\r\nescaped securely through it, before his clothes were burnt. The barbarians, as\r\nsoon as they saw him, retreated, and none of them durst stay to expect him, or\r\nto engage with him, but, standing at a distance, they slew him with their darts\r\nand arrows. When he was dead, the barbarians departed, and Timandra took up his\r\ndead body, and, covering and wrapping it up in her own robes, she buried it as\r\ndecently and as honorably as her circumstances would allow. It is said, that\r\nthe famous Lais, who was called the Corinthian, though she was a native of\r\nHyccara, a small town in Sicily, from whence she was brought a captive, was the\r\ndaughter of this Timandra. There are some who agree with this account of\r\nAlcibiades’s death in all points, except that they impute the cause of it\r\nneither to Pharnabazus, nor Lysander, nor the Lacedaemonians: but, they say, he\r\nwas keeping with him a young lady of a noble house, whom he had debauched, and\r\nthat her brothers, not being able to endure the indignity, set fire by night to\r\nthe house where he was living, and, as he endeavored to save himself from the\r\nflames, slew him with their darts, in the manner just related.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap16\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCORIOLANUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe patrician house of the Marcii in Rome produced many men of distinction, and\r\namong the rest, Ancus Marcius, grandson to Numa by his daughter, and king after\r\nTullus Hostilius. Of the same family were also Publius and Quintus Marcius,\r\nwhich two conveyed into the city the best and most abundant supply of water\r\nthey have at Rome. As likewise Censorinus, who, having been twice chosen censor\r\nby the people, afterwards himself induced them to make a law that nobody should\r\nbear that office twice. But Caius Marcius, of whom I now write, being left an\r\norphan, and brought up under the widowhood of his mother, has shown us by\r\nexperience, that, although the early loss of a father may be attended with\r\nother disadvantages, yet it can hinder none from being either virtuous or\r\neminent in the world, and that it is no obstacle to true goodness and\r\nexcellence; however bad men may be pleased to lay the blame of their\r\ncorruptions upon that misfortune and the neglect of them in their minority. Nor\r\nis he less an evidence to the truth of their opinion, who conceive that a\r\ngenerous and worthy nature without proper discipline, like a rich soil without\r\nculture, is apt, with its better fruits, to produce also much that is bad and\r\nfaulty. While the force and vigor of his soul, and a persevering constancy in\r\nall he undertook, led him successfully into many noble achievements, yet, on\r\nthe other side, also, by indulging the vehemence of his passion, and through\r\nall obstinate reluctance to yield or accommodate his humors and sentiments to\r\nthose of people about him, he rendered himself incapable of acting and\r\nassociating with others. Those who saw with admiration how proof his nature was\r\nagainst all the softnesses of pleasure, the hardships of service, and the\r\nallurements of gain, while allowing to that universal firmness of his the\r\nrespective names of temperance, fortitude, and justice, yet, in the life of the\r\ncitizen and the statesman, could not choose but be disgusted at the severity\r\nand ruggedness of his deportment, and with his overbearing, haughty, and\r\nimperious temper. Education and study, and the favors of the muses, confer no\r\ngreater benefit on those that seek them, than these humanizing and civilizing\r\nlessons, which teach our natural qualities to submit to the limitations\r\nprescribed by reason, and to avoid the wildness of extremes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThose were times at Rome in which that kind of worth was most esteemed which\r\ndisplayed itself in military achievements; one evidence of which we find in the\r\nLatin word for virtue, which is properly equivalent to manly courage. As if\r\nvalor and all virtue had been the same thing, they used as the common term the\r\nname of the particular excellence. But Marcius, having a more passionate\r\ninclination than any of that age for feats of war, began at once, from his very\r\nchildhood, to handle arms; and feeling that adventitious implements and\r\nartificial arms would effect little, and be of small use to such as have not\r\ntheir native and natural weapons well fixed and prepared for service, he so\r\nexercised and inured his body to all sorts of activity and encounter, that,\r\nbesides the lightness of a racer, he had a weight in close seizures and\r\nwrestlings with an enemy, from which it was hard for any to disengage himself;\r\nso that his competitors at home in displays of bravery, loath to own themselves\r\ninferior in that respect, were wont to ascribe their deficiencies to his\r\nstrength of body, which they said no resistance and no fatigue could exhaust.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe first time he went out to the wars, being yet a stripling, was when\r\nTarquinius Superbus, who had been king of Rome and was afterwards expelled,\r\nafter many unsuccessful attempts, now entered upon his last effort, and\r\nproceeded to hazard all as it were upon a single throw. A great number of the\r\nLatins and other people of Italy joined their forces, and were marching with\r\nhim toward the city, to procure his restoration; not, however, so much out of a\r\ndesire to serve and oblige Tarquin, as to gratify their own fear and envy at\r\nthe increase of the Roman greatness, which they were anxious to check and\r\nreduce. The armies met and engaged in a decisive battle, in the vicissitudes of\r\nwhich, Marcius, while fighting bravely in the dictator’s presence, saw a Roman\r\nsoldier struck down at a little distance, and immediately stepped in and stood\r\nbefore him, and slew his assailant. The general, after having gained the\r\nvictory, crowned him for this act, one of the first, with a garland of oaken\r\nbranches; it being the Roman custom thus to adorn those who had saved the life\r\nof a citizen; whether that the law intended some special honor to the oak, in\r\nmemory of the Arcadians, a people the oracle had made famous by the name of\r\nacorn-eaters; or whether the reason of it was because they might easily, and in\r\nall places where they fought, have plenty of oak for that purpose; or, finally,\r\nwhether the oaken wreath, being sacred to Jupiter, the guardian of the city,\r\nmight, therefore, be thought a propel ornament for one who preserved a citizen.\r\nAnd the oak, in truth, is the tree which bears the most and the prettiest fruit\r\nof any that grow wild, and is the strongest of all that are under cultivation;\r\nits acorns were the principal diet of the first mortals, and the honey found in\r\nit gave them drink. I may say, too, it furnished fowl and other creatures as\r\ndainties, in producing mistletoe for birdlime to ensnare them. In this battle,\r\nmeantime, it is stated that Castor and Pollux appeared, and, immediately after\r\nthe battle, were seen at Rome just by the fountain where their temple now\r\nstands, with their horses foaming with sweat, and told the news of the victory\r\nto the people in the Forum. The fifteenth of July, being the day of this\r\nconquest, became consequently a solemn holiday sacred to the Twin Brothers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt may be observed in general, that when young men arrive early at fame and\r\nrepute, if they are of a nature but slightly touched with emulation, this early\r\nattainment is apt to extinguish their thirst and satiate their small appetite;\r\nwhereas the first distinctions of more solid and weighty characters do but\r\nstimulate and quicken them and take them away, like a wind, in the pursuit of\r\nhonor; they look upon these marks and testimonies to their virtue not as a\r\nrecompense received for what they have already done, but as a pledge given by\r\nthemselves of what they will perform hereafter, ashamed now to forsake or\r\nunderlive the credit they have won, or, rather, not to exceed and obscure all\r\nthat is gone before by the luster of their following actions. Marcius, having a\r\nspirit of this noble make, was ambitious always to surpass himself, and did\r\nnothing, how extraordinary soever, but he thought he was bound to outdo it at\r\nthe next occasion; and ever desiring to give continual fresh instances of his\r\nprowess he added one exploit to another, and heaped up trophies upon trophies,\r\nso as to make it a matter of contest also among his commanders, the later still\r\nvying with the earlier, which should pay him the greatest honor and speak\r\nhighest in his commendation. Of all the numerous wars and conflicts in those\r\ndays, there was not one from which he returned without laurels and rewards.\r\nAnd, whereas others made glory the end of their daring, the end of his glory\r\nwas his mother’s gladness; the delight she took to hear him praised and to see\r\nhim crowned, and her weeping for joy in his embraces, rendered him, in his own\r\nthoughts, the most honored and most happy person in the world. Epaminondas is\r\nsimilarly said to have acknowledged his feeling, that it was the greatest\r\nfelicity of his whole life that his father and mother survived to hear of his\r\nsuccessful generalship and his victory at Leuctra. And he had the advantage,\r\nindeed, to have both his parents partake with him, and enjoy the pleasure of\r\nhis good fortune. But Marcius, believing himself bound to pay his mother\r\nVolumnia all that gratitude and duty which would have belonged to his father,\r\nhad he also been alive, could never satiate himself in his tenderness and\r\nrespect to her. He took a wife, also, at her request and wish, and continued,\r\neven after he had children, to live still with his mother, without parting\r\nfamilies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe repute of his integrity and courage had, by this time, gained him a\r\nconsiderable influence and authority in Rome, when the senate, favoring the\r\nwealthier citizens, began to be at variance with the common people, who made\r\nsad complaints of the rigorous and inhuman usage they received from the\r\nmoney-lenders. For as many as were behind with them, and had any sort of\r\nproperty, they stripped of all they had, by the way of pledges and sales; and\r\nsuch as through former exactions were reduced already to extreme indigence, and\r\nhad nothing more to be deprived of, these they led away in person and put their\r\nbodies under constraint, notwithstanding the scars and wounds that they could\r\nshow in attestation of their public services in numerous campaigns; the last of\r\nwhich had been against the Sabines, which they undertook upon a promise made by\r\ntheir rich creditors that they would treat them with more gentleness for the\r\nfuture, Marcus Valerius, the consul, having, by order from the senate, engaged\r\nalso for the performance of it. But when, after they had fought courageously\r\nand beaten the enemy, there was, nevertheless, no moderation or forbearance\r\nused, and the senate also professed to remember nothing of that agreement, and\r\nsat without testifying the least concern to see them dragged away like slaves\r\nand their goods seized upon as formerly, there began now to be open disorders\r\nand dangerous meetings in the city; and the enemy, also, aware of the popular\r\nconfusion, invaded and laid waste the country. And when the consuls now gave\r\nnotice, that all who were of an age to bear arms should make their personal\r\nappearance, but found no one regard the summons, the members of the government,\r\nthen coming to consult what course should be taken, were themselves again\r\ndivided in opinion: some thought it most advisable to comply a little in favor\r\nof the poor, by relaxing their overstrained rights, and mitigating the extreme\r\nrigor of the law, while others withstood this proposal; Marcius in particular,\r\nwith more vehemence than the rest, alleging that the business of money on\r\neither side was not the main thing in question, urged that this disorderly\r\nproceeding was but the first insolent step towards open revolt against the\r\nlaws, which it would become the wisdom of the government to check at the\r\nearliest moment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere had been frequent assemblies of the whole senate, within a small compass\r\nof time, about this difficulty, but without any certain issue; the poor\r\ncommonalty, therefore, perceiving there was likely to be no redress of their\r\ngrievances, on a sudden collected in a body, and, encouraging each other in\r\ntheir resolution, forsook the city with one accord and seizing the hill which\r\nis now called the Holy Mount, sat down by the river Anio, without committing\r\nany sort of violence or seditious outrage, but merely exclaiming, as they went\r\nalong, that they had this long time past been, in fact, expelled and excluded\r\nfrom the city by the cruelty of the rich; that Italy would everywhere afford\r\nthem the benefit of air and water and a place of burial, which was all they\r\ncould expect in the city, unless it were, perhaps, the privilege of being\r\nwounded and killed in time of war for the defense of their creditors. The\r\nsenate, apprehending the consequences, sent the most moderate and popular men\r\nof their own order to treat with them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMenenius Agrippa, their chief spokesman, after much entreaty to the people, and\r\nmuch plain speaking on behalf of the senate, concluded, at length, with the\r\ncelebrated fable. “It once happened,” he said, “that all the other members of a\r\nman mutinied against the stomach, which they accused as the only idle,\r\nuncontributing part in the whole body, while the rest were put to hardships and\r\nthe expense of much labor to supply and minister to its appetites. The stomach,\r\nhowever, merely ridiculed the silliness of the members, who appeared not to be\r\naware that the stomach certainly does receive the general nourishment, but only\r\nto return it again, and redistribute it amongst the rest. Such is the case,” he\r\nsaid, “ye citizens, between you and the senate. The counsels and plans that are\r\nthere duly digested, convey and secure to all of you, your proper benefit and\r\nsupport.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA reconciliation ensued, the senate acceding to the request of the people for\r\nthe annual election of five protectors for those in need of succor, the same\r\nthat are now called the tribunes of the people; and the first two they pitched\r\nupon were Junius Brutus and Sicinnius Vellutus, their leaders in the secession.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe city being thus united, the commons stood presently to their arms, and\r\nfollowed their commanders to the war with great alacrity. As for Marcius,\r\nthough he was not a little vexed himself to see the populace prevail so far and\r\ngain ground of the senators, and might observe many other patricians have the\r\nsame dislike of the late concessions, he yet besought them not to yield at\r\nleast to the common people in the zeal and forwardness they now allowed for\r\ntheir country’s service, but to prove that they were superior to them, not so\r\nmuch in power and riches as in merit and worth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Romans were now at war with the Volscian nation, whose principal city was\r\nCorioli; when, therefore, Cominius the consul had invested this important\r\nplace, the rest of the Volscians, fearing it would be taken, mustered up\r\nwhatever force they could from all parts, to relieve it, designing to give the\r\nRomans battle before the city, and so attack them on both sides. Cominius, to\r\navoid this inconvenience, divided his army, marching himself with one body to\r\nencounter the Volscians on their approach from without, and leaving Titus\r\nLartius, one of the bravest Romans of his time, to command the other and\r\ncontinue the siege. Those within Corioli, despising now the smallness of their\r\nnumber, made a sally upon them, and prevailed at first, and pursued the Romans\r\ninto their trenches. Here it was that Marcius, flying out with a slender\r\ncompany, and cutting those in pieces that first engaged him, obliged the other\r\nassailants to slacken their speed; and then, with loud cries, called upon the\r\nRomans to renew the battle. For he had, what Cato thought a great point in a\r\nsoldier, not only strength of hand and stroke, but also a voice and look that\r\nof themselves were a terror to an enemy. Divers of his own party now rallying\r\nand making up to him, the enemies soon retreated; but Marcius, not content to\r\nsee them draw off and retire, pressed hard upon the rear, and drove them, as\r\nthey fled away in haste, to the very gates of their city; where, perceiving the\r\nRomans to fall back from their pursuit, beaten off by the multitude of darts\r\npoured in upon them from the walls, and that none of his followers had the\r\nhardiness to think of falling in pellmell among the fugitives and so entering a\r\ncity full of enemies in arms, he, nevertheless, stood and urged them to the\r\nattempt, crying out, that fortune had now set open Corioli, not so much to\r\nshelter the vanquished, as to receive the conquerors. Seconded by a few that\r\nwere willing to venture with him, he bore along through the crowd, made good\r\nhis passage, and thrust himself into the gate through the midst of them, nobody\r\nat first daring to resist him. But when the citizens, on looking about, saw\r\nthat a very small number had entered, they now took courage, and came up and\r\nattacked them. A combat ensued of the most extraordinary description, in which\r\nMarcius, by strength of hand, and swiftness of foot, and daring of soul,\r\noverpowering every one that he assailed, succeeded in driving the enemy to seek\r\nrefuge, for the most part, in the interior of the town, while the remainder\r\nsubmitted, and threw down their arms; thus affording Lartius abundant\r\nopportunity to bring in the rest of the Romans with ease and safety.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCorioli being thus surprised and taken, the greater part of the soldiers\r\nemployed themselves in spoiling and pillaging it, while Marcius indignantly\r\nreproached them, and exclaimed that it was a dishonorable and unworthy thing,\r\nwhen the consul and their fellow-citizens had now perhaps encountered the other\r\nVolscians, and were hazarding their lives in battle, basely to misspend the\r\ntime in running up and down for booty, and, under a pretense of enriching\r\nthemselves, keep out of danger. Few paid him any attention, but, putting\r\nhimself at the head of these, he took the road by which the consul’s army had\r\nmarched before him, encouraging his companions, and beseeching them, as they\r\nwent along, not to give up, and praying often to the gods, too, that he might\r\nbe so happy as to arrive before the fight was over, and come seasonably up to\r\nassist Cominius, and partake in the peril of the action.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was customary with the Romans of that age, when they were moving into battle\r\narray, and were on the point of taking up their bucklers, and girding their\r\ncoats about them, to make at the same time an unwritten will, or verbal\r\ntestament, and to name who should be their heirs, in the hearing of three or\r\nfour witnesses. In this precise posture Marcius found them at his arrival, the\r\nenemy being advanced within view.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey were not a little disturbed by his first appearance, seeing him covered\r\nwith blood and sweat, and attended with a small train; but when he hastily made\r\nup to the consul with gladness in his looks, giving him his hand, and\r\nrecounting to him how the city had been taken, and when they saw Cominius also\r\nembrace and salute him, every one took fresh heart; those that were near enough\r\nhearing, and those that were at a distance guessing, what had happened; and all\r\ncried out to be led to battle. First, however, Marcius desired to know of him\r\nhow the Volscians had arrayed their army, and where they had placed their best\r\nmen, and on his answering that he took the troops of the Antiates in the center\r\nto be their prime warriors, that would yield to none in bravery, “Let me then\r\ndemand and obtain of you,” said Marcius, “that we may be posted against them.”\r\nThe consul granted the request, with much admiration of his gallantry. And when\r\nthe conflict began by the soldiers darting at each other, and Marcius sallied\r\nout before the rest, the Volscians opposed to him were not able to make head\r\nagainst him; wherever he fell in, he broke their ranks, and made a lane through\r\nthem; but the parties turning again, and enclosing him on each side with their\r\nweapons, the consul, who observed the danger he was in, dispatched some of the\r\nchoicest men he had for his rescue. The conflict then growing warm and sharp\r\nabout Marcius, and many falling dead in a little space, the Romans bore so hard\r\nupon the enemies, and pressed them with such violence, that they forced them at\r\nlength to abandon their ground, and to quit the field. And, going now to\r\nprosecute the victory, they besought Marcius, tired out with his toils, and\r\nfaint and heavy through the loss of blood, that he would retire to the camp. He\r\nreplied, however, that weariness was not for conquerors, and joined with them\r\nin the pursuit. The rest of the Volscian army was in like manner defeated,\r\ngreat numbers killed, and no less taken captive.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe day after, when Marcius, with the rest of the army, presented themselves at\r\nthe consul’s tent, Cominius rose, and having rendered all due acknowledgment to\r\nthe gods for the success of that enterprise, turned next to Marcius, and first\r\nof all delivered the strongest encomium upon his rare exploits, which he had\r\npartly been an eyewitness of himself, in the late battle, and had partly\r\nlearned from the testimony of Lartius. And then he required him to choose a\r\ntenth part of all the treasure and horses and captives that had fallen into\r\ntheir hands, before any division should be made to others; besides which, he\r\nmade him the special present of a horse with trappings and ornaments, in honor\r\nof his actions. The whole army applauded; Marcius, however, stepped forth, and\r\ndeclaring his thankful acceptance of the horse, and his gratification at the\r\npraises of his general, said, that all other things, which he could only regard\r\nrather as mercenary advantages than any significations of honor, he must waive,\r\nand should be content with the ordinary proportion of such rewards. “I have\r\nonly,” said he; “one special grace to beg, and this I hope you will not deny\r\nme. There was a certain hospitable friend of mine among the Volscians, a man of\r\nprobity and virtue, who is become a prisoner, and from former wealth and\r\nfreedom is now reduced to servitude. Among his many misfortunes let my\r\nintercession redeem him from the one of being sold as a common slave.” Such a\r\nrefusal and such a request on the part of Marcius were followed with yet louder\r\nacclamations; and he had many more admirers of this generous superiority to\r\navarice, than of the bravery he had shown in battle. The very persons who\r\nconceived some envy and despite to see him so specially honored, could not but\r\nacknowledge, that one who so nobly could refuse reward, was beyond others\r\nworthy to receive it; and were more charmed with that virtue which made him\r\ndespise advantage, than with any of those former actions that had gained him\r\nhis title to it. It is the hither accomplishment to use money well than to use\r\narms; but not to need it is more noble than to use it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the noise of approbation and applause ceased, Cominius, resuming, said,\r\n“It is idle, fellow-soldiers, to force and obtrude those other gifts of ours on\r\none who is unwilling to accept them ; let us, therefore, give him one of such a\r\nkind that he cannot well reject it; let us pass a vote, I mean, that he shall\r\nhereafter be called Coriolanus, unless you think that his performance at\r\nCorioli has itself anticipated any such resolution.” Hence, therefore, he had\r\nhis third name of Coriolanus, making it all the plainer that Caius was a\r\npersonal proper name, and the second, or surname, Marcius, one common to his\r\nhouse and family; the third being a subsequent addition which used to be\r\nimposed either from some particular act or fortune, bodily characteristic, or\r\ngood quality of the bearer. Just as the Greeks, too, gave additional names in\r\nold time, in some cases from some achievement, Soter, for example, and\r\nCallinicus; or personal appearance, as Physcon and Grypus; good qualities,\r\nEuergetes and Philadelphus; good fortune, Eudaemon, the title of the second\r\nBattus. Several monarchs have also had names given them in mockery, as\r\nAntigonus was called Doson, and Ptolemy, Lathyrus. This sort of title was yet\r\nmore common among the Romans. One of the Metelli was surnamed Diadematus,\r\nbecause he walked about for a long time with a bandage on his head, to conceal\r\na scar; and another, of the same family, got the name of Celer, from the\r\nrapidity he displayed in giving a funeral entertainment of gladiators within a\r\nfew days after his father’s death, his speed and energy in doing which was\r\nthought extraordinary. There are some, too, who even at this day take names\r\nfrom certain casual incidents at their nativity; a child that is born when his\r\nfather is away from home is called Proculus; or Postumus, if after his decease;\r\nand when twins come into the world, and one dies at the birth, the survivor has\r\nthe name of Vopiscus. From bodily peculiarities they derive not only their\r\nSyllas and Nigers, but their Caeci and Claudii; wisely endeavoring to accustom\r\ntheir people not to reckon either the loss of sight, or any other bodily\r\nmisfortune, as a matter of disgrace to them, but to answer to such names\r\nwithout shame, as if they were really their own. But this discussion better\r\nbefits another place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe war against the Volscians was no sooner at an end, than the popular orators\r\nrevived domestic troubles, and raised another sedition, without any new cause\r\nof complaint or just grievance to proceed upon, but merely turning the very\r\nmischiefs that unavoidably ensued from their former contests into a pretext\r\nagainst the patricians. The greatest part of their arable land had been left\r\nunsown and without tillage, and the time of war allowing them no means or\r\nleisure to import provision from other countries, there was an extreme\r\nscarcity. The movers of the people then observing, that there was no corn to be\r\nbought, and that, if there had been, they had no money to buy it, began to\r\ncalumniate the wealthy with false stories, and whisper it about, as if they,\r\nout of malice, had purposely contrived the famine. Meanwhile, there came an\r\nembassy from the Velitrani, proposing to deliver up their city to the Romans,\r\nand desiring they would send some new inhabitants to people it, as a late\r\npestilential disease had swept away so many of the natives, that there was\r\nhardly a tenth part remaining of their whole community. This necessity of the\r\nVelitrani was considered by all more prudent people as most opportune in the\r\npresent state of affairs; since the dearth made it needful to ease the city of\r\nits superfluous members, and they were in hope also, at the same time, to\r\ndissipate the gathering sedition by ridding themselves of the more violent and\r\nheated partisans, and discharging, so to say, the elements of disease and\r\ndisorder in the state. The consuls, therefore, singled out such citizens to\r\nsupply the desolation at Velitrae, and gave notice to others, that they should\r\nbe ready to march against the Volscians, with the politic design of preventing\r\nintestine broils by employment abroad, and in the hope, that when rich as well\r\nas poor, plebeians and patricians, should be mingled again in the same army and\r\nthe same camp, and engage in one common service for the public, it would\r\nmutually dispose them to reconciliation and friendship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Sicinnius and Brutus, the popular orators, interposed, crying out, that the\r\nconsuls disguised the most cruel and barbarous action in the world under that\r\nmild and plausible name of a colony, and were simply precipitating so many poor\r\ncitizens into a mere pit of destruction, bidding them settle down in a country\r\nwhere the air was charged with disease, and the ground covered with dead\r\nbodies, and expose themselves to the evil influence of a strange and angered\r\ndeity. And then, as if it would not satisfy their hatred to destroy some by\r\nhunger, and offer others to the mercy of a plague, they must proceed to involve\r\nthem also in a needless war of their own making, that no calamity might be\r\nwanting to complete the punishment of the citizens for refusing to submit to\r\nthat of slavery to the rich.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBy such addresses, the people were so possessed, that none of them would appear\r\nupon the consular summons to be enlisted for the war; and they showed entire\r\naversion to the proposal for a new plantation; so that the senate was at a loss\r\nwhat to say or do. But Marcius, who began now to bear himself higher and to\r\nfeel confidence in his past actions, conscious, too, of the admiration of the\r\nbest and greatest men of Rome, openly took the lead in opposing the favorers of\r\nthe people. The colony was dispatched to Velitrae, those that were chosen by\r\nlot being compelled to depart upon high penalties; and when they obstinately\r\npersisted in refusing to enroll themselves for the Volscian service, he\r\nmustered up his own clients, and as many others as could be wrought upon by\r\npersuasion, and with these made an inroad into the territories of the Antiates,\r\nwhere, finding a considerable quantity of corn, and collecting much booty, both\r\nof cattle and prisoners, he reserved nothing for himself in private, but\r\nreturned safe to Rome, while those that ventured out with him were seen laden\r\nwith pillage, and driving their prey before them. This sight filled those that\r\nhad stayed at home with regret for their perverseness, with envy at their\r\nfortunate fellow-citizens, and with feelings of dislike to Marcius, and\r\nhostility to his growing reputation and power, which might probably be used\r\nagainst the popular interest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after he stood for the consulship; when, however, the people began to\r\nrelent and incline to favor him, being sensible what a shame it would be to\r\nrepulse and affront a man of his birth and merit, after he had done them so\r\nmany signal services. It was usual for those who stood for offices among them\r\nto solicit and address themselves personally to the citizens, presenting\r\nthemselves in the forum with the toga on alone, and no tunic under it; either\r\nto promote their supplications by the humility of their dress, or that such as\r\nhad received wounds might more readily display those marks of their fortitude.\r\nCertainly, it was not out of suspicion of bribery and corruption that they\r\nrequired all such petitioners for their favor to appear ungirt and open,\r\nwithout any close garment; as it was much later, and many ages after this, that\r\nbuying and selling crept in at their elections, and money became an ingredient\r\nin the public suffrages; proceeding thence to attempt their tribunals, and even\r\nattack their camps, till, by hiring the valiant, and enslaving iron to silver,\r\nit grew master of the state, and turned their commonwealth into a monarchy. For\r\nit was well and truly said that the first destroyer of the liberties of a\r\npeople is he who first gave them bounties and largesses. At Rome the mischief\r\nseems to have stolen secretly in, and by little and little, not being at once\r\ndiscerned and taken notice of. It is not certainly known who the man was that\r\ndid there first either bribe the citizens, or corrupt the courts; whereas, in\r\nAthens, Anytus, the son of Anthemion, is said to have been the first that gave\r\nmoney to the judges, when on his trial, toward the latter end of the\r\nPeloponnesian war, for letting the fort of Pylos fall into the hands of the\r\nenemy; in a period while the pure and golden race of men were still in\r\npossession of the Roman forum.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcius, therefore, as the fashion of candidates was showing the scars and\r\ngashes that were still visible on his body, from the many conflicts in which he\r\nhad signalized himself during a service of seventeen years together they were,\r\nso to say, put out of countenance at this display of merit, and told one\r\nanother that they ought in common modesty to create him consul. But when the\r\nday of election was now come, and Marcius appeared in the forum, with a pompous\r\ntrain of senators attending him; and the patricians all manifested greater\r\nconcern, and seemed to be exerting greater efforts, than they had ever done\r\nbefore on the like occasion, the commons then fell off again from the kindness\r\nthey had conceived for him, and in the place of their late benevolence, began\r\nto feel something of indignation and envy; passions assisted by the fear they\r\nentertained, that if a man of such aristocratic temper, and so influential\r\namong the patricians, should be invested with the power which that office would\r\ngive him, he might employ it to deprive the people of all that liberty which\r\nwas yet left them. In conclusion, they rejected Marcius. Two other names were\r\nannounced, to the great mortification of the senators, who felt as if the\r\nindignity reflected rather upon themselves than on Marcius. He, for his part,\r\ncould not bear the affront with any patience. He had always indulged his\r\ntemper, and had regarded the proud and contentious element of human nature as a\r\nsort of nobleness and magnanimity; reason and discipline had not imbued him\r\nwith that solidity and equanimity which enters so largely into the virtues of\r\nthe statesman. He had never learned how essential it is for any one who\r\nundertakes public business, and desires to deal with mankind, to avoid above\r\nall things that self-will, which, as Plato says, belongs to the family of\r\nsolitude; and to pursue, above all things, that capacity so generally\r\nridiculed, of submission to ill treatment. Marcius, straightforward and direct,\r\nand possessed with the idea that to vanquish and overbear all apposition is the\r\ntrue part of bravery, and never imagining that it was the weakness and\r\nwomanishness of his nature that broke out, so to say, in these ulcerations of\r\nanger, retired, full of fury and bitterness against the people. The young\r\npatricians, too, all that were proudest and most conscious of their noble\r\nbirth, had always been devoted to his interest, and, adhering to him now, with\r\na fidelity that did him no good, aggravated his resentment with the expression\r\nof their indignation and condolence. He had been their captain, and their\r\nwilling instructor in the arts of war, when out upon expeditions, and their\r\nmodel in that true emulation and love of excellence which makes men extol,\r\nwithout envy or jealousy, each other’s brave achievements.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the midst of these distempers, a large quantity of corn reached Rome, a\r\ngreat part bought up in Italy, but an equal amount sent as a present from\r\nSyracuse, from Gelo, then reigning there. Many began now to hope well of their\r\naffairs, supposing the city, by this means, would be delivered at once, both of\r\nits want and discord. A council, therefore, being presently held, the people\r\ncame flocking about the senate-house, eagerly awaiting the issue of that\r\ndeliberation, expecting that the market prices would now be less cruel, and\r\nthat what had come as a gift would be distributed as such. There were some\r\nwithin who so advised the senate; but Marcius, standing up, sharply inveighed\r\nagainst those who spoke in favor of the multitude, calling them flatterers of\r\nthe rabble traitors to the nobility, and alleging, that, by such\r\ngratifications, they did but cherish those ill seeds of boldness and petulance\r\nthat had been sown among the people, to their own prejudice, which they should\r\nhave done well to observe and stifle at their first appearance, and not have\r\nsuffered the plebeians to grow so strong, by granting them magistrates of such\r\nauthority as the tribunes. They were, indeed, even now formidable to the state,\r\nsince everything they desired was granted them; no constraint was put on their\r\nwill; they refused obedience to the consuls, and, overthrowing all law and\r\nmagistracy, gave the title of magistrate to their private factious leaders.\r\n“When things are come to such a pass, for us to sit here and decree largesses\r\nand bounties for them, like those Greeks where the populace is supreme and\r\nabsolute, what would it be else,” said he, “but to take their disobedience into\r\npay, and maintain it for the common ruin of us all? They certainly cannot look\r\nupon these liberalities as a reward of public service, which they know they\r\nhave so often deserted; nor yet of those secessions, by which they openly\r\nrenounced their country; much less of the calumnies and slanders they have been\r\nalways so ready to entertain against the senate; but will rather conclude that\r\na bounty which seems to have no other visible cause or reason, must needs be\r\nthe effect of our fear and flattery; and will, therefore, set no limit to their\r\ndisobedience, nor ever cease from disturbances and sedition. Concession is mere\r\nmadness; if we have any wisdom and resolution at all, we shall, on the\r\ncontrary, never rest till we have recovered from them that tribunician power\r\nthey have extorted from us; as being a plain subversion of the consulship, and\r\na perpetual ground of separation in our city, that is no longer one, as\r\nheretofore, but has in this received such a wound and rupture, as is never\r\nlikely to close and unite again, or suffer us to be of one mind, and to give\r\nover inflaming our distempers, and being a torment to each other.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcius, with much more to this purpose, succeeded, to an extraordinary degree,\r\nin inspiring the younger men with the same furious sentiments, and had almost\r\nall the wealthy on his side, who cried him up as the only person their city\r\nhad, superior alike to force and flattery; some of the older men, however,\r\nopposed him, suspecting the consequences. As, indeed, there came no good of it;\r\nfor the tribunes, who were present, perceiving how the proposal of Marcius\r\ntook, ran out into the crowd with exclamations, calling on the plebeians to\r\nstand together, and come in to their assistance. The assembly met, and soon\r\nbecame tumultuous. The sum of what Marcius had spoken, having been reported to\r\nthe people, excited them to such fury, that they were ready to break in upon\r\nthe senate. The tribunes prevented this, by laying all the blame on Coriolanus,\r\nwhom, therefore, they cited by their messengers to come before them, and defend\r\nhimself. And when he contemptuously repulsed the officers who brought him the\r\nsummons, they came themselves, with the Aediles, or overseers of the market,\r\nproposing to carry him away by force, and, accordingly, began to lay hold on\r\nhis person. The patricians, however, coming to his rescue, not only thrust off\r\nthe tribunes, but also beat the Aediles, that were their seconds in the\r\nquarrel; night, approaching, put an end to the contest. But, as soon as it was\r\nday, the consuls, observing the people to be highly exasperated, and that they\r\nran from all quarters and gathered in the forum, were afraid for the whole\r\ncity, so that, convening the senate afresh, they desired them to advise how\r\nthey might best compose and pacify the incensed multitude by equitable language\r\nand indulgent decrees; since, if they wisely considered the state of things,\r\nthey would find that it was no time to stand upon terms of honor, and a mere\r\npoint of glory; such a critical conjuncture called for gentle methods, and for\r\ntemperate and humane counsels. The majority, therefore, of the senators giving\r\nway, the consuls proceeded to pacify the people in the best manner they were\r\nable, answering gently to such imputations and charges as had been cast upon\r\nthe senate, and using much tenderness and moderation in the admonitions and\r\nreproof they gave them. On the point of the price of provisions, they said,\r\nthere should be no difference at all between them. When a great part of the\r\ncommonalty was grown cool, and it appeared from their orderly and peaceful\r\nbehavior that they had been very much appeased by what they had heard, the\r\ntribunes, standing up, declared, in the name of the people, that since the\r\nsenate was pleased to act soberly and do them reason, they, likewise, should be\r\nready to yield in all that was fair and equitable on their side; they must\r\ninsist, however, that Marcius should give in his answer to the several charges\r\nas follows: first, could he deny that he instigated the senate to overthrow the\r\ngovernment and annul the privileges of the people? and, in the next place, when\r\ncalled to account for it, did he not disobey their summons? and, lastly, by the\r\nblows and other public affronts to the Aediles, had he not done all he could to\r\ncommence a civil war?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese articles were brought in against him, with a design either to humble\r\nMarcius, and show his submission if, contrary to his nature, he should now\r\ncourt and sue the people; or, if he should follow his natural disposition,\r\nwhich they rather expected from their judgment of his character, then that he\r\nmight thus make the breach final between himself and the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe came, therefore, as it were, to make his apology, and clear himself; in\r\nwhich belief the people kept silence, and gave him a quiet hearing. But when,\r\ninstead of the submissive and deprecatory language expected from him, he began\r\nto use not only an offensive kind of freedom, seeming rather to accuse than\r\napologize, but, as well by the tone of his voice as the air of his countenance,\r\ndisplayed a security that was not far from disdain and contempt of them, the\r\nwhole multitude then became angry, and gave evident signs of impatience and\r\ndisgust; and Sicinnius, the most violent of the tribunes, after a little\r\nprivate conference with his colleagues, proceeded solemnly to pronounce before\r\nthem all, that Marcius was condemned to die by the tribunes of the people, and\r\nbid the Aediles take him to the Tarpeian rock, and without delay throw him\r\nheadlong from the precipice. When they, however, in compliance with the order,\r\ncame to seize upon his body, many, even of the plebeian party, felt it to be a\r\nhorrible and extravagant act; the patricians, meantime, wholly beside\r\nthemselves with distress and horror, hurried up with cries to the rescue; and\r\nwhile some made actual use of their hands to hinder the arrest, and,\r\nsurrounding Marcius, got him in among them, others, as in so great a tumult no\r\ngood could be done by words, stretched out theirs, beseeching the multitude\r\nthat they would not proceed to such furious extremities; and at length, the\r\nfriends and acquaintance of the tribunes, wisely perceiving how impossible it\r\nwould be to carry off Marcius to punishment without much bloodshed and\r\nslaughter of the nobility, persuaded them to forbear everything unusual and\r\nodious; not to dispatch him by any sudden violence, or without regular process,\r\nbut refer the cause to the general suffrage of the people. Sicinnius then,\r\nafter a little pause, turning to the patricians, demanded what their meaning\r\nwas, thus forcibly to rescue Marcius out of the people’s hands, as they were\r\ngoing to punish him; when it was replied by them, on the other side, and the\r\nquestion put, “Rather, how came it into your minds, and what is it you design,\r\nthus to drag one of the worthiest men of Rome, without trial, to a barbarous\r\nand illegal execution?” “Very well,” said Sicinnius, “you shall have no ground\r\nin this respect for quarrel or complaint against the people. The people grant\r\nyour request, and your partisan shall be tried. We appoint you, Marcius,”\r\ndirecting his speech to him, “the third market-day ensuing, to appear and\r\ndefend yourself, and to try if you can satisfy the Roman citizens of your\r\ninnocence, who will then judge your case by vote.” The patricians were content\r\nwith such a truce and respite for that time, and gladly returned home, having\r\nfor the present brought off Marcius in safety.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDuring the interval before the appointed time (for the Romans hold their\r\nsessions every ninth day, which from that cause are called nundinae in Latin),\r\na war fell out with the Antiates, likely to be of some continuance, which gave\r\nthem hope they might one way or other elude the judgment. The people, they\r\npresumed, would become tractable, and their indignation lessen and languish by\r\ndegrees in so long a space, if occupation and war did not wholly put it out of\r\ntheir mind. But when, contrary to expectation, they made a speedy agreement\r\nwith the people of Antium, and the army came back to Rome, the patricians were\r\nagain in great perplexity, and had frequent meetings to consider how things\r\nmight be arranged, without either abandoning Marcius, or yet giving occasion to\r\nthe popular orators to create new disorders. Appius Claudius, whom they counted\r\namong the senators most averse to the popular interest, made a solemn\r\ndeclaration, and told them beforehand, that the senate would utterly destroy\r\nitself and betray the government, if they should once suffer the people to\r\nassume the authority of pronouncing sentence upon any of the patricians; but\r\nthe oldest senators and most favorable to the people maintained, on the other\r\nside, that the people would not be so harsh and severe upon them, as some were\r\npleased to imagine, but rather become more gentle and humane upon the\r\nconcession of that power, since it was not contempt of the senate, but the\r\nimpression of being contemned by it, which made them pretend to such a\r\nprerogative. Let that be once allowed them as a mark of respect and kind\r\nfeeling, and the mere possession of this power of voting would at once\r\ndispossess them of their animosity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen, therefore, Marcius saw that the senate was in pain and suspense upon his\r\naccount, divided, as it were, betwixt their kindness for him and their\r\napprehensions from the people, he desired to know of the tribunes what the\r\ncrimes were they intended to charge him with, and what the heads of the\r\nindictment they would oblige him to plead to before the people; and being told\r\nby them that he was to be impeached for attempting usurpation, and that they\r\nwould prove him guilty of designing to establish arbitrary government, stepping\r\nforth upon this, “Let me go then,” he said, “to clear myself from that\r\nimputation before an assembly of them; I freely offer myself to any sort of\r\ntrial, nor do I refuse any kind of punishment whatsoever; only,” he continued,\r\n“let what you now mention be really made my accusation, and do not you play\r\nfalse with the senate.” On their consenting to these terms, he came to his\r\ntrial. But when the people met together, the tribunes, contrary to all former\r\npractice, extorted first, that votes should be taken, not by centuries, but\r\ntribes; a change, by which the indigent and factious rabble, that had no\r\nrespect for honesty and justice, would be sure to carry it against those who\r\nwere rich and well known, and accustomed to serve the state in war. In the next\r\nplace, whereas they had engaged to prosecute Marcius upon no other head but\r\nthat of tyranny, which could never be made out against him, they relinquished\r\nthis plea, and urged instead, his language in the senate against an abatement\r\nof the price of corn, and for the overthrow of the tribunician power; adding\r\nfurther, as a new impeachment, the distribution that was made by him of the\r\nspoil and booty he had taken from the Antiates, when he overran their country,\r\nwhich he had divided among those that had followed him, whereas it ought rather\r\nto have been brought into the public treasury; which last accusation did, they\r\nsay, more discompose Marcius than all the rest, as he had not anticipated he\r\nshould ever be questioned on that subject, and, therefore, was less provided\r\nwith any satisfactory answer to it on the sudden. And when, by way of excuse,\r\nhe began to magnify the merits of those who had been partakers with him in the\r\naction, those that had stayed at home, being more numerous than the other,\r\ninterrupted him with outcries. In conclusion, when they came to vote, a\r\nmajority of three tribes condemned him; the penalty being perpetual banishment.\r\nThe sentence of his condemnation being pronounced, the people went away with\r\ngreater triumph and exultation than they had ever shown for any victory over\r\nenemies; while the senate was in grief and deep dejection, repenting now and\r\nvexed to the soul that they had not done and suffered all things rather than\r\ngive way to the insolence of the people, and permit them to assume and abuse so\r\ngreat an authority. There was no need then to look at men’s dresses, or other\r\nmarks of distinction, to know one from another: any one who was glad was,\r\nbeyond all doubt, a plebeian; any one who looked sorrowful, a patrician.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcius alone, himself, was neither stunned nor humiliated. In mien, carriage,\r\nand countenance, he bore the appearance of entire composure, and while all his\r\nfriends were full of distress, seemed the only man that was not touched with\r\nhis misfortune. Not that either reflection taught him, or gentleness of temper\r\nmade it natural for him, to submit: he was wholly possessed, on the contrary,\r\nwith a profound and deep- seated fury, which passes with many for no pain at\r\nall. And pain, it is true, transmuted, so to say, by its own fiery heat into\r\nanger, loses every appearance of depression and feebleness; the angry man makes\r\na show of energy, as the man in a high fever does of natural heat, while, in\r\nfact, all this action of the soul is but mere diseased palpitation, distention,\r\nand inflammation. That such was his distempered state appeared presently\r\nplainly enough in his actions. On his return home, after saluting his mother\r\nand his wife, who were all in tears and full of loud lamentations, and\r\nexhorting them to moderate the sense they had of his calamity, he proceeded at\r\nonce to the city gates, whither all the nobility came to attend him; and so,\r\nnot so much as taking anything with him, or making any request to the company,\r\nhe departed from them, having only three or four clients with him. He continued\r\nsolitary for a few days in a place in the country, distracted with a variety of\r\ncounsels, such as rage and indignation suggested to him; and proposing to\r\nhimself no honorable or useful end, but only how he might best satisfy his\r\nrevenge on the Romans, he resolved at length to raise up a heavy war against\r\nthem from their nearest neighbors. He determined, first to make trial of the\r\nVolscians, whom he knew to be still vigorous and flourishing, both in men and\r\ntreasure, and he imagined their force and power was not so much abated, as\r\ntheir spite and auger increased, by the late overthrows they had received from\r\nthe Romans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was a man of Antium, called Tullus Aufidius, who, for his wealth and\r\nbravery and the splendor of his family, had the respect and privilege of a king\r\namong the Volscians, but whom Marcius knew to have a particular hostility to\r\nhimself, above all other Romans. Frequent menaces and challenges had passed in\r\nbattle between them, and those exchanges of defiance to which their hot and\r\neager emulation is apt to prompt young soldiers had added private animosity to\r\ntheir national feelings of opposition. Yet for all this, considering Tullus to\r\nhave a certain generosity of temper, and knowing that no Volscian, so much as\r\nhe, desired an occasion to requite upon the Romans the evils they had done, he\r\ndid what much confirms the saying, that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHard and unequal is with wrath the strife,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhich makes us buy its pleasure with our life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nPutting on such a dress as would make him appear to any whom he might meet most\r\nunlike what he really was, thus, like Ulysses, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe town he entered of his mortal foes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nHis arrival at Antium was about evening, and though several met him in the\r\nstreets, yet he passed along without being known to any, and went directly to\r\nthe house of Tullus, and, entering undiscovered, went up to the fire-hearth,\r\nand seated himself there without speaking a word, covering up his head. Those\r\nof the family could not but wonder, and yet they were afraid either to raise or\r\nquestion him, for there was a certain air of majesty both in his posture and\r\nsilence, but they recounted to Tullus, being then at supper, the strangeness of\r\nthis accident. He immediately rose from table and came in, and asked him who he\r\nwas, and for what business he came thither; and then Marcius, unmuffling\r\nhimself, and pausing awhile, “If,” said he, “you cannot yet call me to mind,\r\nTullus, or do not believe your eyes concerning me, I must of necessity be my\r\nown accuser. I am Caius Marcius, the author of so much mischief to the\r\nVolscians; of which, were I seeking to deny it, the surname of Coriolanus I now\r\nbear would be a sufficient evidence against me. The one recompense I received\r\nfor all the hardships and perils I have gone through, was the title that\r\nproclaims my enmity to your nation, and this is the only thing which is still\r\nleft me. Of all other advantages, I have been stripped and deprived by the envy\r\nand outrage of the Roman people, and the cowardice and treachery of the\r\nmagistrates and those of my own order. I am driven out as an exile, and become\r\nan humble suppliant at your hearth, not so much for safety and protection\r\n(should I have come hither, had I been afraid to die?), as to seek vengeance\r\nagainst those that expelled me; which, methinks, I have already obtained, by\r\nputting myself into your hands. If, therefore, you have really a mind to attack\r\nyour enemies, come then, make use of that affliction you see me in to assist\r\nthe enterprise, and convert my personal infelicity into a common blessing to\r\nthe Volscians; as, indeed, I am likely to be more serviceable in fighting for\r\nthan against you, with the advantage, which I now possess, of knowing all the\r\nsecrets of the enemy that I am attacking. But if you decline to make any\r\nfurther attempts, I am neither desirous to live myself, nor will it be well in\r\nyou to preserve a person who has been your rival and adversary of old, and now,\r\nwhen he offers you his service, appears unprofitable and useless to you.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTullus, on hearing this, was extremely rejoiced, and giving him his right hand,\r\nexclaimed, “Rise, Marcius, and be of good courage; it is a great happiness you\r\nbring to Antium, in the present you make us of yourself; expect everything that\r\nis good from the Volscians.” He then proceeded to feast and entertain him with\r\nevery display of kindness, and for several days after they were in close\r\ndeliberation together on the prospects of a war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile this design was forming, there were great troubles and commotions at\r\nRome, from the animosity of the senators against the people, heightened just\r\nnow by the late condemnation of Marcius. Besides that, their soothsayers and\r\npriests, and even private persons, reported signs and prodigies not to be\r\nneglected; one of which is stated to have occurred as follows: Titus Latinus, a\r\nman of ordinary condition, but of a quiet and virtuous character, free from all\r\nsuperstitious fancies, and yet more from vanity and exaggeration, had an\r\napparition in his sleep, as if Jupiter came and bade him tell the senate, that\r\nit was with a bad and unacceptable dancer that they had headed his procession.\r\nHaving beheld the vision, he said, he did not much attend to it at the first\r\nappearance; but after he had seen and slighted it a second and third time, he\r\nhad lost a hopeful son, and was himself struck with palsy. He was brought into\r\nthe senate on a litter to tell this, and the story goes, that he had no sooner\r\ndelivered his message there, but he at once felt his strength return, and got\r\nupon his legs, and went home alone, without need of any support. The senators,\r\nin wonder and surprise, made a diligent search into the matter. That which his\r\ndream alluded to was this: some citizen had, for some heinous offense, given up\r\na servant of his to the rest of his fellows, with charge to whip him first\r\nthrough the market, and then to kill him; and while they were executing this\r\ncommand, and scourging the wretch, who screwed and turned himself into all\r\nmanner of shapes and unseemly motions, through the pain he was in, the solemn\r\nprocession in honor of Jupiter chanced to follow at their heels. Several of the\r\nattendants on which were, indeed, scandalized at the sight, yet no one of them\r\ninterfered, or acted further in the matter than merely to utter some common\r\nreproaches and execrations on a master who inflicted so cruel a punishment. For\r\nthe Romans treated their slaves with great humanity in these times, when,\r\nworking and laboring themselves, and living together among them, they naturally\r\nwere more gentle and familiar with them. It was one of the severest punishments\r\nfor a slave who had committed a fault, to have to take the piece of wood which\r\nsupports the pole of a wagon, and carry it about through the neighborhood; a\r\nslave who had once undergone the shame of this, and been thus seen by the\r\nhousehold and the neighbors, had no longer any trust or credit among them, and\r\nhad the name of furcifer; furca being the Latin word for a prop, or support.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen, therefore, Latinus had related his dream, and the senators were\r\nconsidering who this disagreeable and ungainly dancer could be, some of the\r\ncompany, having been struck with the strangeness of the punishment, called to\r\nmind and mentioned the miserable slave who was lashed through the streets and\r\nafterward put to death. The priests, when consulted, confirmed the conjecture;\r\nthe master was punished; and orders given for a new celebration of the\r\nprocession and the spectacles in honor of the god. Numa, in other respects also\r\na wise arranger of religious offices, would seem to have been especially\r\njudicious in his direction, with a view to the attentiveness of the people,\r\nthat, when the magistrates or priests performed any divine worship, a herald\r\nshould go before, and proclaim with a loud voice, Hoc age, Do this you are\r\nabout, and so warn them to mind whatever sacred action they were engaged in,\r\nand not suffer any business or worldly avocation to disturb and interrupt it;\r\nmost of the things which men do of this kind, being in a manner forced from\r\nthem, and effected by constraint. It is usual with the Romans to recommence\r\ntheir sacrifices and processions and spectacles, not only upon such a cause as\r\nthis, but for any slighter reason. If but one of the horses which drew the\r\nchariots called Tensae, upon which the images of their gods were placed,\r\nhappened to fail and falter, or if the driver took hold of the reins with his\r\nleft hand, they would decree that the whole operation should commence anew;\r\nand, in latter ages, one and the same sacrifice was performed thirty times\r\nover, because of the occurrence of some defect or mistake or accident in the\r\nservice. Such was the Roman reverence and caution in religious matters.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcius and Tullus were now secretly discoursing of their project with the\r\nchief men of Antium, advising them to invade the Romans while they were at\r\nvariance among themselves. And when shame appeared to hinder them from\r\nembracing the motion, as they had sworn to a truce and cessation of arms for\r\nthe space of two years, the Romans themselves soon furnished them with a\r\npretense, by making proclamation, out of some jealousy or slanderous report, in\r\nthe midst of the spectacles, that all the Volscians who had come to see them\r\nshould depart the city before sunset. Some affirm that this was a contrivance\r\nof Marcius, who sent a man privately to the consuls, falsely to accuse the\r\nVolscians of intending to fall upon the Romans during the games, and to set the\r\ncity on fire. This public affront roused and inflamed their hostility to the\r\nRomans, and Tullus, perceiving it, made his advantage of it, aggravating the\r\nfact, and working on their indignation, till he persuaded them, at last, to\r\ndispatch ambassadors to Rome, requiring the Romans to restore that part of\r\ntheir country and those towns which they had taken from the Volscians in the\r\nlate war. When the Romans heard the message, they indignantly replied, that the\r\nVolscians were the first that took up arms, but the Romans would be the last to\r\nlay them down. This answer being brought back, Tullus called a general assembly\r\nof the Volscians; and the vote passing for a war, he then proposed that they\r\nshould call in Marcius, laying aside the remembrance of former grudges, and\r\nassuring themselves that the services they should now receive from him as a\r\nfriend and associate, would abundantly outweigh any harm or damage he had done\r\nthem when he was their enemy. Marcius was accordingly summoned, and having made\r\nhis entrance, and spoken to the people, won their good opinion of his capacity,\r\nhis skill, counsel, and boldness, not less by his present words than by his\r\npast actions. They joined him in commission with Tullus, to have full power as\r\ngeneral of their forces in all that related to the war. And he, fearing lest\r\nthe time that would be requisite to bring all the Volscians together in full\r\npreparation might be so long as to lose him the opportunity of action, left\r\norder with the chief persons and magistrates of the city to provide other\r\nthings, while he himself, prevailing upon the most forward to assemble and\r\nmarch out with him as volunteers without staying to be enrolled, made a sudden\r\ninroad into the Roman confines, when nobody expected him, and possessed himself\r\nof so much booty, that the Volscians found they had more than they could either\r\ncarry away or use in the camp. The abundance of provision which he gained, and\r\nthe waste and havoc of the country which he made, were, however, of themselves\r\nand in his account, the smallest results of that invasion; the great mischief\r\nhe intended, and his special object in all, was to increase at Rome the\r\nsuspicions entertained of the patricians, and to make them upon worse terms\r\nwith the people. With this view, while spoiling all the fields and destroying\r\nthe property of other men, he took special care to preserve their farms and\r\nlands untouched, and would not allow his soldiers to ravage there, or seize\r\nupon anything which belonged to them. From hence their invectives and quarrels\r\nagainst one another broke out afresh, and rose to a greater height than ever;\r\nthe senators reproaching those of the commonalty with their late injustice to\r\nMarcius; while the plebeians, on their side, did not hesitate to accuse them of\r\nhaving, out of spite and revenge, solicited him to this enterprise, and thus,\r\nwhen others were involved in the miseries of a war by their means, they sat\r\nlike unconcerned spectators, as being furnished with a guardian and protector\r\nabroad of their wealth and fortunes, in the very person of the public enemy.\r\nAfter this incursion and exploit, which was of great advantage to the\r\nVolscians, as they learned by it to grow more hardy and to contemn their enemy,\r\nMarcius drew them off, and returned in safety.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when the whole strength of the Volscians was brought together into the\r\nfield, with great expedition and alacrity, it appeared so considerable a body,\r\nthat they agreed to leave part in garrison, for the security of their towns,\r\nand with the other part to march against the Romans. Marcius now desired Tullus\r\nto choose which of the two charges would be most agreeable to him. Tullus\r\nanswered, that since he knew Marcius to be equally valiant with himself, and\r\nfar more fortunate, he would have him take the command of those that were going\r\nout to the war, while he made it his care to defend their cities at home, and\r\nprovide all conveniences for the army abroad. Marcius thus reinforced, and much\r\nstronger than before, moved first towards the city called Circaeum, a Roman\r\ncolony. He received its surrender, and did the inhabitants no injury; passing\r\nthence, he entered and laid waste the country of the Latins, where he expected\r\nthe Romans would meet him, as the Latins were their confederates and allies,\r\nand had often sent to demand succors from them. The people, however, on their\r\npart, showing little inclination for the service, and the consuls themselves\r\nbeing unwilling to run the hazard of a battle, when the time of their office\r\nwas almost ready to expire, they dismissed the Latin ambassadors without any\r\neffect; so that Marcius, finding no army to oppose him, marched up to their\r\ncities, and, having taken by force Toleria, Lavici, Peda, and Bola, all of\r\nwhich offered resistance, not only plundered their houses, but made a prey\r\nlikewise of their persons. Meantime, he showed particular regard for all such\r\nas came over to his party, and, for fear they might sustain any damage against\r\nhis will, encamped at the greatest distance he could, and wholly abstained from\r\nthe lands of their property.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter, however, that he had made himself master of Bola, a town not above ten\r\nmiles from Rome, where he found great treasure, and put almost all the adults\r\nto the sword; and when, on this, the other Volscians that were ordered to stay\r\nbehind and protect their cities, hearing of his achievements and success, had\r\nnot patience to remain any longer at home, but came hastening in their arms to\r\nMarcius, saying that he alone was their general and the sole commander they\r\nwould own; with all this, his name and renown spread throughout all Italy, and\r\nuniversal wonder prevailed at the sudden and mighty revolution in the fortunes\r\nof two nations which the loss and the accession of a single man had effected.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll at Rome was in great disorder; they were utterly averse from fighting, and\r\nspent their whole time in cabals and disputes and reproaches against each\r\nother; until news was brought that the enemy had laid close siege to Lavinium,\r\nwhere were the images and sacred things of their tutelar gods, and from whence\r\nthey derived the origin of their nation, that being the first city which Aeneas\r\nbuilt in Italy. These tidings produced a change as universal as it was\r\nextraordinary in the thoughts inclinations of the people, but occasioned a yet\r\nstranger revulsion of feeling among the patricians. The people now were for\r\nrepealing the sentence against Marcius, an calling him back into the city;\r\nwhereas the senate, being assembled to preconsider the decree, opposed and\r\nfinally rejected the proposal, either out of the mere humor of contradicting\r\nand withstanding the people in whatever they should desire, or because they\r\nwere unwilling, perhaps, that he should owe his restoration to their kindness\r\nor having now conceived a displeasure against Marcius himself, who was bringing\r\ndistress upon all alike, though he had not been ill treated by all, and was\r\nbecome, declared enemy to his whole country, though he knew well enough that\r\nthe principal and all the better men condoled with him, and suffered in his\r\ninjuries.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis resolution of theirs being made public, the people could proceed no\r\nfurther, having no authority to pass anything by suffrage, and enact it for a\r\nlaw, without a previous decree from the senate. When Marcius heard of this, he\r\nwas more exasperated than ever, and, quitting the seige of Lavinium, marched\r\nfuriously towards Rome, and encamped at a place called the Cluilian ditches,\r\nabout five miles from the city. The nearness of his approach did, indeed,\r\ncreate much terror and disturbance, yet it also ended their dissensions for the\r\npresent; as nobody now, whether consul or senator, durst any longer contradict\r\nthe people in their design of recalling Marcius but, seeing their women running\r\naffrighted up and down the streets, and the old men at prayer in every temple\r\nwith tears and supplications, and that, in short, there was a general absence\r\namong them both of courage and wisdom to provide for their own safety, they\r\ncame at last to be all of one mind, that the people had been in the right to\r\npropose as they did a reconciliation with Marcius, and that the senate was\r\nguilty of a fatal error to begin a quarrel with him when it was a time to\r\nforget offenses, and they should have studied rather to appease him. It was,\r\ntherefore, unanimously agreed by all parties, that ambassadors should be\r\ndispatched, offering him return to his country, and desiring he would free them\r\nfrom the terrors and distresses of the war. The persons sent by the senate with\r\nthis message were chosen out of his kindred and acquaintance, who naturally\r\nexpected a very kind reception at their first interview, upon the score of that\r\nrelation and their old familiarity and friendship with him; in which, however,\r\nthey were much mistaken. Being led through the enemy’s camp, they found him\r\nsitting in state amidst the chief men of the Volscians, looking insupportably\r\nproud and arrogant. He bade them declare the cause of their coming, which they\r\ndid in the most gentle and tender terms, and with a behavior suitable to their\r\nlanguage. When they had made an end of speaking, he returned them a sharp\r\nanswer, full of bitterness and angry resentment, as to what concerned himself,\r\nand the ill usage he had received from them; but as general of the Volscians,\r\nhe demanded restitution of the cities and the lands which had been seized upon\r\nduring the late war, and that the same rights and franchises should be granted\r\nthem at Rome, which had been before accorded to the Latins; since there could\r\nbe no assurance that a peace would be firm and lasting, without fair and just\r\nconditions on both sides. He allowed them thirty days to consider and resolve.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe ambassadors being departed, he withdrew his forces out of the Roman\r\nterritory. This, those of the Volscians who had long envied his reputation, and\r\ncould not endure to see the influence he had with the people laid hold of, as\r\nthe first matter of complaint against him. Among them was also Tullus himself,\r\nnot for any wrong done him personally by Marcius, but through the weakness\r\nincident to human nature. He could not help feeling mortified to find his own\r\nglory thus totally obscured, and himself overlooked and neglected now by the\r\nVolscians, who had so great an opinion of their new leader that he alone was\r\nall to them, while other captains, they thought, should be content with that\r\nshare of power, which he might think fit to accord. From hence the first seeds\r\nof complaint and accusation were scattered about in secret, and the malcontents\r\nmet and heightened each other’s indignation, saying, that to retreat as he did\r\nwas in effect to betray and deliver up, though not their cities and their arms,\r\nyet what was as bad, the critical times and opportunities for action, on which\r\ndepend the preservation or the loss of everything else; since in less than\r\nthirty days’ space, for which he had given a respite from the war, there might\r\nhappen the greatest changes in the world. Yet Marcius spent not any part of the\r\ntime idly, but attacked the confederates of the enemy ravaged their land, and\r\ntook from them seven great and populous cities in that interval. The Romans, in\r\nthe meanwhile, durst not venture out to their relief; but were utterly fearful,\r\nand showed no more disposition or capacity for action, than if their bodies had\r\nbeen struck with a palsy, and become destitute of sense and motion. But when\r\nthe thirty days were expired, and Marcius appeared again with his whole army,\r\nthey sent another embassy- to beseech him that he would moderate his\r\ndispleasure, and would withdraw the Volscian army, and then make any proposals\r\nhe thought best for both parties; the Romans would make no concessions to\r\nmenaces, but if it were his opinion that the Volscians ought to have any favor\r\nshown them, upon laying down their arms they might obtain all they could in\r\nreason desire.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe reply of Marcius was, that he should make no answer to this as general of\r\nthe Volscians, but, in the quality still of a Roman citizen, he would advise\r\nand exhort them, as the case stood, not to carry it so high, but think rather\r\nof just compliance, and return to him, before three days were at an end, with a\r\nratification of his previous demands; otherwise, they must understand that they\r\ncould not have any further freedom of passing through his camp upon idle\r\nerrands.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the ambassadors were come back, and had acquainted the senate with the\r\nanswer, seeing the whole state now threatened as it were by a tempest, and the\r\nwaves ready to overwhelm them, they were forced, as we say in extreme perils,\r\nto let down the sacred anchor. A decree was made, that the whole order of their\r\npriests, those who initiated in the mysteries or had the custody of them, and\r\nthose who, according to the ancient practice of the country, divined from\r\nbirds, should all and every one of them go in full procession to Marcius with\r\ntheir pontifical array, and the dress and habit which they respectively used in\r\ntheir several functions, and should urge him, as before, to withdraw his\r\nforces, and then treat with his countrymen in favor of the Volscians. He\r\nconsented so far, indeed, as to give the deputation an admittance into his\r\ncamp, but granted nothing at all, nor so much as expressed himself more mildly;\r\nbut, without capitulating or receding, bade them once for all choose whether\r\nthey would yield or fight, since the old terms were the only terms of peace.\r\nWhen this solemn application proved ineffectual, the priests, too, returning\r\nunsuccessful, they determined to sit still within the city, and keep watch\r\nabout their walls, intending only to repulse the enemy, should he offer to\r\nattack them, and placing their hopes chiefly in time and in extraordinary\r\naccidents of fortune; as to themselves, they felt incapable of doing any thing\r\nfor their own deliverance; mere confusion and terror and ill-boding reports\r\npossessed the whole city; till at last a thing happened not unlike what we so\r\noften find represented, without, however, being accepted as true by people in\r\ngeneral, in Homer. On some great and unusual occasion we find him say: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBut him the blue-eyed goddess did inspire;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand elsewhere: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBut some immortal turned my mind away,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo think what others of the deed would say;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand again: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWere ’t his own thought or were ’t a god’s command.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nPeople are apt, in such passages, to censure and disregard the poet, as if, by\r\nthe introduction of mere impossibilities and idle fictions, he were denying the\r\naction of a man’s own deliberate thought and free choice; which is not, in the\r\nleast, the case in Homer’s representation, where the ordinary, probable, and\r\nhabitual conclusions that common reason leads to are continually ascribed to\r\nour own direct agency. He certainly says frequently enough: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBut I consulted with my own great soul;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nor, as in another passage: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHe spoke. Achilles, with quick pain possessed,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nRevolved two purposes in his strong breast;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand in a third: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n— Yet never to her wishes won\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe just mind of the brave Bellerophon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut where the act is something out of the way and extraordinary, and seems in a\r\nmanner to demand some impulse of divine possession and sudden inspiration to\r\naccount for it here he does introduce divine agency, not to destroy, but to\r\nprompt the human will; not to create in us another agency, but offering images\r\nto stimulate our own; images that in no sort or kind make our action\r\ninvoluntary, but give occasion rather to spontaneous action, aided and\r\nsustained by feelings of confidence and hope. For either we must totally\r\ndismiss and exclude divine influences from every kind of causality and\r\norigination in what we do, or else what other way can we conceive in which\r\ndivine aid and cooperation can act? Certainly we cannot suppose that the divine\r\nbeings actually and literally turn our bodies and direct our hands and our feet\r\nthis way or that, to do what is right: it is obvious that they must actuate the\r\npractical and elective element of our nature, by certain initial occasions, by\r\nimages presented to the imagination, and thoughts suggested to the mind, such\r\neither as to excite it to, or avert and withhold it from, any particular\r\ncourse.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the perplexity which I have described, the Roman women went, some to other\r\ntemples, but the greater part, and the ladies of highest rank, to the altar of\r\nJupiter Capitolinus. Among these suppliants was Valeria, sister to the great\r\nPoplicola, who did the Romans eminent service both in peace and war. Poplicola\r\nhimself was now deceased, as is told in the history of his life; but Valeria\r\nlived still, and enjoyed great respect and honor at Rome, her life and conduct\r\nno way disparaging her birth. She, suddenly seized with the sort of instinct or\r\nemotion of mind which I have described, and happily lighting, not without\r\ndivine guidance, on the right expedient, both rose herself, and bade the others\r\nrise, and went directly with them to the house of Volumnia, the mother of\r\nMarcius. And coming in and finding her sitting with her daughter-in- law, and\r\nwith her little grandchildren on her lap, Valeria, then surrounded by her\r\nfemale companions, spoke in the name of them all:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\n“We that now make our appearance, O Volumnia, and you, Vergilia, are come as\r\nmere women to women, not by direction of the senate, or an order from the\r\nconsuls, or the appointment of any other magistrate; but the divine being\r\nhimself, as I conceive, moved to compassion by prayers, prompted us to visit\r\nyou in a body, and request a thing on which our own and the common safety\r\ndepends, and which, if you consent to it, will raise your glory above that of\r\nthe daughters of the Sabines, who won over their fathers and their husbands\r\nfrom mortal enmity to peace and friendship. Arise and come with us to Marcius;\r\njoin in our supplication, and bear for your country this true and just\r\ntestimony on her behalf: that, notwithstanding the many mischiefs that have\r\nbeen done her, yet she has never outraged you, nor so much as thought of\r\ntreating you ill, in all her resentment, but does now restore you safe into his\r\nhands, though there be small likelihood she should obtain from him any\r\nequitable terms.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe words of Valeria were seconded by the acclamations of the other women, to\r\nwhich Volumnia made answer:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\n“I and Vergilia, my countrywomen, have an equal share with you all in the\r\ncommon miseries, and we have the additional sorrow, which is wholly ours, that\r\nwe have lost the merit and good fame of Marcius, and see his person confined,\r\nrather than protected, by the arms of the enemy. Yet I account this the\r\ngreatest of all misfortunes, if indeed the affairs of Rome be sunk to so feeble\r\na state as to have their last dependence upon us. For it is hardly imaginable\r\nhe should have any consideration left for us, when he has no regard for the\r\ncountry which he was wont to prefer before his mother and wife and children.\r\nMake use, however, of our service; and lead us, if you please, to him; we are\r\nable, if nothing more, at least to spend our last breath in making suit to him\r\nfor our country.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving spoken thus, she took Vergilia by the hand, and the young children, and\r\nso accompanied them to the Volscian camp. So lamentable a sight much affected\r\nthe enemies themselves, who viewed them in respectful silence. Marcius was then\r\nsitting in his place, with his chief officers about him, and, seeing the party\r\nof women advance toward them, wondered what should be the matter; but\r\nperceiving at length that his mother was at the head of them, he would fain\r\nhave hardened himself in his former inexorable temper, but, overcome by his\r\nfeelings, and confounded at what he saw, he did not endure they should approach\r\nhim sitting in state, but came down hastily to meet them, saluting his mother\r\nfirst, and embracing her a long time, and then his wife and children, sparing\r\nneither tears nor caresses, but suffering himself to be borne away and carried\r\nheadlong, as it were, by the impetuous violence of his passion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he had satisfied himself, and observed that his mother Volumnia was\r\ndesirous to say something, the Volscian council being first called in, he heard\r\nher to the following effect: “Our dress and our very persons, my son, might\r\ntell you, though we should say nothing ourselves, in how forlorn a condition we\r\nhave lived at home since your banishment and absence from us; and now consider\r\nwith yourself, whether we may not pass for the most unfortunate of all women,\r\nto have that sight, which should be the sweetest that we could see, converted,\r\nthrough I know not what fatality, to one of all others the most formidable and\r\ndreadful, — Volumnia to behold her son, and Vergilia her husband, in arms\r\nagainst the walls of Rome. Even prayer itself, whence others gain comfort and\r\nrelief in all manner of misfortunes, is that which most adds to our confusion\r\nand distress; since our best wishes are inconsistent with themselves, nor can\r\nwe at the same time petition the gods for Rome’s victory and your preservation,\r\nbut what the worst of our enemies would imprecate as a curse, is the very\r\nobject of our vows. Your wife and children are under the sad necessity, that\r\nthey must either be deprived of you, or of their native soil. As for myself, I\r\nam resolved not to wait till war shall determine this alternative for me; but\r\nif I cannot prevail with you to prefer amity and concord to quarrel and\r\nhostility, and to be the benefactor to both parties, rather than the destroyer\r\nof one of them, be assured of this from me, and reckon steadfastly upon it,\r\nthat you shall not be able to reach your country, unless you trample first upon\r\nthe corpse of her that brought you into life. For it will be ill in me to wait\r\nand loiter in the world till the day come wherein I shall see a child of mine,\r\neither led in triumph by his own countrymen, or triumphing over them. Did I\r\nrequire you to save your country by ruining the Volscians, then, I confess, my\r\nson, the case would be hard for you to solve. It is base to bring destitution\r\non our fellow- citizens; it is unjust to betray those who have placed their\r\nconfidence in us. But, as it is, we do but desire a deliverance equally\r\nexpedient for them and us; only more glorious and honorable on the Volscian\r\nside, who, as superior in arms, will be thought freely to bestow the two\r\ngreatest of blessings, peace and friendship, even when they themselves receive\r\nthe same. If we obtain these, the common thanks will be chiefly due to you as\r\nthe principal cause; but if they be not granted, you alone must expect to bear\r\nthe blame from both nations. The chance of all war is uncertain, yet thus much\r\nis certain in the present, that you, by conquering Rome, will only get the\r\nreputation of having undone your country; but if the Volscians happen to be\r\ndefeated under your conduct, then the world will say, that, to satisfy a\r\nrevengeful humor, you brought misery on your friends and patrons.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcius listened to his mother while she spoke, without answering her a word;\r\nand Volumnia, seeing him stand mute also for a long time after she had ceased,\r\nresumed: “O my son,” said she, “what is the meaning of this silence? Is it a\r\nduty to postpone everything to a sense of injuries, and wrong to gratify a\r\nmother in a request like this? Is it the characteristic of a great man to\r\nremember wrongs that have been done him, and not the part of a great and good\r\nman to remember benefits such as those that children receive from parents, and\r\nto requite them with honor and respect? You, methinks, who are so relentless in\r\nthe punishment of the ungrateful, should not be more careless than others to be\r\ngrateful yourself. You have punished your country already; you have not yet\r\npaid your debt to me. Nature and religion, surely, unattended by any\r\nconstraint, should have won your consent to petitions so worthy and so just as\r\nthese; but if it must be so, I will even use my last resource.” Having said\r\nthis, she threw herself down at his feet, as did also his wife and children;\r\nupon which Marcius, crying out, “O mother! what is it you have done to me?”\r\nraised her up from the ground, and pressing her right hand with more than\r\nordinary vehemence, “You have gained a victory,” said he, “fortunate enough for\r\nthe Romans, but destructive to your son; whom you, though none else, have\r\ndefeated.” After which, and a little private conference with his mother and his\r\nwife, he sent them back again to Rome, as they desired of him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe next morning, he broke up his camp, and led the Volscians homeward,\r\nvariously affected with what he had done; some of them complaining of him and\r\ncondemning his act, others, who were inclined to a peaceful conclusion,\r\nunfavorable to neither. A third party, while much disliking his proceedings,\r\nyet could not look upon Marcius as a treacherous person, but thought it\r\npardonable in him to be thus shaken and driven to surrender at last, under such\r\ncompulsion. None, however, opposed his commands; they all obediently followed\r\nhim, though rather from admiration of his virtue, than any regard they now had\r\nto his authority. The Roman people, meantime, more effectually manifested how\r\nmuch fear and danger they had been in while the war lasted, by their deportment\r\nafter they were freed from it. Those that guarded the walls had no sooner given\r\nnotice that the Volscians were dislodged and drawn off, but they set open all\r\ntheir temples in a moment, and began to crown themselves with garlands and\r\nprepare for sacrifice, as they were wont to do upon tidings brought of any\r\nsignal victory. But the joy and transport of the whole city was chiefly\r\nremarkable in the honors and marks of affection paid to the women, as well by\r\nthe senate as the people in general; every one declaring that they were, beyond\r\nall question, the instruments of the public safety. And the senate having\r\npassed a decree that whatsoever they would ask in the way of any favor or honor\r\nshould be allowed and done for them by the magistrates, they demanded simply\r\nthat a temple might be erected to Female Fortune, the expense of which they\r\noffered to defray out of their own contributions, if the city would be at the\r\ncost of sacrifices, and other matters pertaining to the due honor of the gods,\r\nout of the common treasury. The senate, much commending their public spirit,\r\ncaused the temple to be built and a statue set up in it at the public charge;\r\nthey, however, made up a sum among themselves, for a second image of Fortune,\r\nwhich the Romans say uttered, as it was putting up, words to this effect,\r\n“Blessed of the gods, O women, is your gift.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese words they profess were repeated a second time, expecting our belief for\r\nwhat seems pretty nearly an impossibility. It may be possible enough, that\r\nstatues may seem to sweat, and to run with tears, and to stand with certain\r\ndewy drops of a sanguine color; for timber and stones are frequently known to\r\ncontract a kind of scurf and rottenness, productive of moisture; and various\r\ntints may form on the surfaces, both from within and from the action of the air\r\noutside; and by these signs it is not absurd to imagine that the deity may\r\nforewarn us. It may happen, also, that images and statues may sometimes make a\r\nnoise not unlike that of a moan or groan, through a rupture or violent internal\r\nseparation of the parts; but that an articulate voice, and such express words,\r\nand language so clear and exact and elaborate, should proceed from inanimate\r\nthings, is, in my judgment, a thing utterly out of possibility. For it was\r\nnever known that either the soul of man, or the deity himself, uttered vocal\r\nsounds and language, alone, without an organized body and members fitted for\r\nspeech. But where history seems in a manner to force our assent by the\r\nconcurrence of numerous and credible witnesses, we are to conclude that an\r\nimpression distinct from sensation affects the imaginative part of our nature,\r\nand then carries away the judgment, so as to believe it to be a sensation: just\r\nas in sleep we fancy we see and hear, without really doing either. Persons,\r\nhowever, whose strong feelings of reverence to the deity, and tenderness for\r\nreligion, will not allow them to deny or invalidate anything of this kind, have\r\ncertainly a strong argument for their faith, in the wonderful and transcendent\r\ncharacter of the divine power; which admits no manner of comparison with ours,\r\neither in its nature or its action, the modes or the strength of its\r\noperations. It is no contradiction to reason that it should do things that we\r\ncannot do, and effect what for us is impracticable: differing from us in all\r\nrespects, in its acts yet more than in other points we may well believe it to\r\nbe unlike us and remote from us. Knowledge of divine things for the most part,\r\nas Heraclitus says, is lost to us by incredulity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Marcius came back to Antium, Tullus, who thoroughly hated and greatly\r\nfeared him, proceeded at once to contrive how he might immediately dispatch\r\nhim; as, if he escaped now, he was never likely to give him such another\r\nadvantage. Having, therefore, got together and suborned several partisans\r\nagainst him, he required Marcius to resign his charge, and give the Volscians\r\nall account of his administration. He, apprehending the danger of a private\r\ncondition, while Tullus held the office of general and exercised the greatest\r\npower among his fellow- citizens, made answer, that he was ready to lay down\r\nhis commission, whenever those from whose common authority he had received it,\r\nshould think fit to recall it; and that in the meantime he was ready to give\r\nthe Antiates satisfaction, as to all particulars of his conduct, if they were\r\ndesirous of it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAn assembly was called, and popular speakers, as had been concerted, came\r\nforward to exasperate and incense the multitude; but when Marcius stood up to\r\nanswer, the more unruly and tumultuous part of the people became quiet on a\r\nsudden, and out of reverence allowed him to speak without the least\r\ndisturbance; while all the better people, and such as were satisfied with a\r\npeace, made it evident by their whole behavior, that they would give him a\r\nfavorable hearing, and judge and pronounce according to equity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTullus, therefore, began to dread the issue of the defense he was going to make\r\nfor himself; for he was an admirable speaker, and the former services he had\r\ndone the Volscians had procured and still preserved for him greater kindness\r\nthan could be outweighed by any blame for his late conduct. Indeed, the very\r\naccusation itself was a proof and testimony of the greatness of his merits,\r\nsince people could never have complained or thought themselves wronged, because\r\nRome was not brought into their power, but that by his means they had come so\r\nnear to taking it. For these reasons, the conspirators judged it prudent not to\r\nmake any further delays, nor to test the general feeling; but the boldest of\r\ntheir faction, crying out that they ought not to listen to a traitor, nor allow\r\nhim still to retain office and play the tyrant among them, fell upon Marcius in\r\na body, and slew him there, none of those that were present offering to defend\r\nhim. But it quickly appeared that the action was in nowise approved by the\r\nmajority of the Volscians, who hurried out of their several cities to show\r\nrespect to his corpse; to which they gave honorable interment, adorning his\r\nsepulchre with arms and trophies, as the monument of a noble hero and a famous\r\ngeneral. When the Romans heard tidings of his death, they gave no other\r\nsignification either of honor or of anger towards him, but simply granted the\r\nrequest of the women, that they might put themselves into mourning and bewail\r\nhim for ten months, as the usage was upon the loss of a father or a son or a\r\nbrother; that being the period fixed for the longest lamentation by the laws of\r\nNuma Pompilius, as is more amply told in the account of him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcius was no sooner deceased, but the Volscians felt the need of his\r\nassistance. They quarreled first with the Aequians, their confederates and\r\ntheir friends, about the appointment of the general of their joint forces, and\r\ncarried their dispute to the length of bloodshed and slaughter; and were then\r\ndefeated by the Romans in a pitched battle, where not only Tullus lost his\r\nlife, but the principal flower of their whole army was cut in pieces; so that\r\nthey were forced to submit and accept of peace upon very dishonorable terms,\r\nbecoming subjects of Rome, and pledging themselves to submission.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap17\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF ALCIBIADES WITH CORIOLANUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving described all their actions that seem to deserve commemoration, their\r\nmilitary ones, we may say, incline the balance very decidedly upon neither\r\nside. They both, in pretty equal measure, displayed on numerous occasions the\r\ndaring and courage of the soldier, and the skill and foresight of the general;\r\nunless, indeed, the fact that Alcibiades was victorious and successful in many\r\ncontests both by sea and land, ought to gain him the title of a more complete\r\ncommander. That so long as they remained and held command in their respective\r\ncountries, they eminently sustained, and when they were driven into exile, yet\r\nmore eminently damaged the fortunes of those countries, is common to both. All\r\nthe sober citizens felt disgust at the petulance, the low flattery, and base\r\nseductions which Alcibiades, in his public life, allowed himself to employ with\r\nthe view of winning the people’s favor; and the ungraciousness, pride, and\r\noligarchical haughtiness which Marcius, on the other hand, displayed in his,\r\nwere the abhorrence of the Roman populace. Neither of these courses can be\r\ncalled commendable; but a man who ingratiates himself by indulgence and\r\nflattery, is hardly so censurable as one who, to avoid the appearance of\r\nflattering, insults. To seek power by servility to the people is a disgrace,\r\nbut to maintain it by terror, violence, and oppression, is not a disgrace only,\r\nbut an injustice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcius, according to our common conceptions of his character, was undoubtedly\r\nsimple and straightforward; Alcibiades, unscrupulous as a public man, and\r\nfalse. He is more especially blamed for the dishonorable and treacherous way in\r\nwhich, as Thucydides relates, he imposed upon the Lacedaemonian ambassadors,\r\nand disturbed the continuance of the peace. Yet this policy, which engaged the\r\ncity again in war, nevertheless placed it in a powerful and formidable\r\nposition, by the accession, which Alcibiades obtained for it, of the alliance\r\nof Argos and Mantinea. And Coriolanus also, Dionysius relates, used unfair\r\nmeans to excite war between the Romans and the Volscians, in the false report\r\nwhich he spread about the visitors at the Games; and the motive of this action\r\nseems to make it the worse of the two; since it was not done, like the other,\r\nout of ordinary political jealousy, strife, and competition. Simply to gratify\r\nanger, from which, as Ion says, no one ever yet got any return, he threw whole\r\ndistricts of Italy into confusion, and sacrificed to his passion against his\r\ncountry numerous innocent cities. It is true, indeed, that Alcibiades also, by\r\nhis resentment, was the occasion of great disasters to his country, but he\r\nrelented as soon as he found their feelings to be changed; and after he was\r\ndriven out a second time, so far from taking pleasure in the errors and\r\ninadvertencies of their commanders, or being indifferent to the danger they\r\nwere thus incurring, he did the very thing that Aristides is so highly\r\ncommended for doing to Themistocles: he came to the generals who were his\r\nenemies, and pointed out to them what they ought to do. Coriolanus, on the\r\nother hand, first of all attacked the whole body of his countrymen, though only\r\none portion of them had done him any wrong, while the other, the better and\r\nnobler portion, had actually suffered, as well as sympathized, with him. And,\r\nsecondly, by the obduracy with which he resisted numerous embassies and\r\nsupplications, addressed in propitiation of his single anger and offense, he\r\nshowed that it had been to destroy and overthrow, not to recover and regain his\r\ncountry, that he had excited bitter and implacable hostilities against it.\r\nThere is, indeed, one distinction that may be drawn. Alcibiades, it may be\r\nsaid, was not safe among the Spartans, and had the inducements at once of fear\r\nand of hatred to lead him again to Athens; whereas Marcius could not honorably\r\nhave left the Volscians, when they were behaving so well to him: he, in the\r\ncommand of their forces and the enjoyment of their entire confidence, was in a\r\nvery different position from Alcibiades, whom the Lacedaemonians did not so\r\nmuch wish to adopt into their service, as to use, and then abandon. Driven\r\nabout from house to house in the city, and from general to general in the camp,\r\nthe latter had no resort but to place himself in the hands of Tisaphernes;\r\nunless, indeed, we are to suppose that his object in courting favor with him\r\nwas to avert the entire destruction of his native city, whither he wished\r\nhimself to return.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs regards money, Alcibiades, we are told, was often guilty of procuring it by\r\naccepting bribes, and spent it in in luxury and dissipation. Coriolanus\r\ndeclined to receive it, even when pressed upon him by his commanders as all\r\nhonor; and one great reason for the odium he incurred with the populace in the\r\ndiscussions about their debts was, that he trampled upon the poor, not for\r\nmoney’s sake, but out of pride and insolence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntipater, in a letter written upon the death of Aristotle the philosopher,\r\nobserves, “Amongst his other gifts he had that of persuasiveness;” and the\r\nabsence of this in the character of Marcius made all his great actions and\r\nnoble qualities unacceptable to those whom they benefited: pride, and\r\nself-will, the consort, as Plato calls it, of solitude, made him insufferable.\r\nWith the skill which Alcibiades on the contrary, possessed to treat every one\r\nin the way most agreeable to him, we cannot wonder that all his successes were\r\nattended with the most exuberant favor and honor; his very errors, at times,\r\nbeing accompanied by something of grace and felicity. And so, in spite of great\r\nand frequent hurt that he had done the city, he was repeatedly appointed to\r\noffice and command; while Coriolanus stood in vain for a place which his great\r\nservices had made his due. The one, in spite of the harm he occasioned, could\r\nnot make himself hated, nor the other, with all the admiration he attracted,\r\nsucceed in being beloved by his countrymen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCoriolanus, moreover, it should be said, did not as a general obtain any\r\nsuccesses for his country, but only for his enemies against his country.\r\nAlcibiades was often of service to Athens, both as a soldier and as a\r\ncommander. So long as he was personally present, he had the perfect mastery of\r\nhis political adversaries; calumny only succeeded in his absence. Coriolanus\r\nwas condemned in person at Rome; and in like manner killed by the Volscians,\r\nnot indeed with any right or justice, yet not without some pretext occasioned\r\nby his own acts; since, after rejecting all conditions of peace in public, in\r\nprivate he yielded to the solicitations of the women, and, without establishing\r\npeace, threw up the favorable chances of war. He ought, before retiring, to\r\nhave obtained the consent of those who had placed their trust in him; if indeed\r\nhe considered their claims on him to be the strongest. Or, if we say that he\r\ndid not care about the Volscians, but merely had prosecuted the war, which he\r\nnow abandoned, for the satisfaction of his own resentment, then the noble thing\r\nwould have been, not to spare his country for his mother’s sake, but his mother\r\nin and with his country; since both his mother and his wife were part and\r\nparcel of that endangered country. After harshly repelling public\r\nsupplications, the entreaties of ambassadors, and the prayers of priests, to\r\nconcede all as a private favor to his mother was less an honor to her than a\r\ndishonor to the city which thus escaped, in spite, it would seem, of its own\r\ndemerits, through the intercession of a single woman. Such a grace could,\r\nindeed, seem merely invidious, ungracious, and unreasonable in the eyes of both\r\nparties; he retreated without listening to the persuasions of his opponents, or\r\nasking the consent of his friends. The origin of all lay in his unsociable,\r\nsupercilious, and self-willed disposition, which, in all cases, is offensive to\r\nmost people; and when combined with a passion for distinction passes into\r\nabsolute savageness and mercilessness. Men decline to ask favors of the people,\r\nprofessing not to need any honors from them; and then are indignant if they do\r\nnot obtain them. Metellus, Aristides, and Epaminondas certainly did not beg\r\nfavors of the multitude; but that was because they, in real truth, did not\r\nvalue the gifts which a popular body can either confer or refuse; and when they\r\nwere more than once driven into exile, rejected at elections, and condemned in\r\ncourts of justice, they showed no resentment at the ill-humor of their\r\nfellow-citizens, but were willing and contented to return and be reconciled\r\nwhen the feeling altered and they were wished for. He who least likes courting\r\nfavor, ought also least to think of resenting neglect: to feel wounded at being\r\nrefused a distinction can only arise from an overweening appetite to have it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlcibiades never professed to deny that it was pleasant to him to be honored,\r\nand distasteful to him to be overlooked; and, accordingly, he always tried to\r\nplace himself upon good terms with all that he met; Coriolanus’s pride forbade\r\nhim to pay attentions to those who could have promoted his advancement, and yet\r\nhis love of distinction made him feel hurt and angry when he was disregarded.\r\nSuch are the faulty parts of his character, which in all other respects was a\r\nnoble one. For his temperance, continence, and probity, he might claim to be\r\ncompared with the best and purest of the Greeks; not in any sort or kind with\r\nAlcibiades, the least scrupulous and most entirely careless of human beings in\r\nall these points.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap18\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eTIMOLEON\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was for the sake of others that I first commenced writing biographies; but I\r\nfind myself proceeding and attaching myself to it for my own; the virtues of\r\nthese great men serving me as a sort of looking-glass, in which I may see how\r\nto adjust and adorn my own life. Indeed, it can be compared to nothing but\r\ndaily living and associating together; we receive, as it were, in our inquiry,\r\nand entertain each successive guest, view\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTheir stature and their qualities,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand select from their actions all that is noblest and worthiest to know.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAh, and what greater pleasure could one have?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nor, what more effective means to one’s moral improvement? Democritus tells us\r\nwe ought to pray that of the phantasms appearing in the circumambient air, such\r\nmay present themselves to us as are propitious, and that we may rather meet\r\nwith those that are agreeable to our natures and are good, than the evil and\r\nunfortunate; which is simply introducing into philosophy a doctrine untrue in\r\nitself, and leading to endless superstitions. My method, on the contrary, is,\r\nby the study of history, and by the familiarity acquired in writing, to\r\nhabituate my memory to receive and retain images of the best and worthiest\r\ncharacters. I thus am enabled to free myself from any ignoble, base, or vicious\r\nimpressions, contracted from the contagion of ill company that I may be\r\nunavoidably engaged in, by the remedy of turning my thoughts in a happy and\r\ncalm temper to view these noble examples. Of this kind are those of Timoleon\r\nthe Corinthian, and Paulus Aemilius, to write whose lives is my present\r\nbusiness; men equally famous, not only for their virtues, but success; insomuch\r\nthat they have left it doubtful whether they owe their greatest achievements to\r\ngood fortune, or their own prudence and conduct.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe affairs of the Syracusans, before Timoleon was sent into Sicily, were in\r\nthis posture: after Dion had driven out Dionysius the tyrant, he was slain by\r\ntreachery, and those that had assisted him in delivering Syracuse were divided\r\namong themselves; and thus the city, by a continual change of governors, and a\r\ntrain of mischiefs that succeeded each other, became almost abandoned; while of\r\nthe rest of Sicily, part was now utterly depopulated and desolate through long\r\ncontinuance of war, and most of the cities that had been left standing were in\r\nthe hands of barbarians and soldiers out of employment, that were ready to\r\nembrace every turn of government. Such being the state of things, Dionysius\r\ntakes the opportunity, and in the tenth year of his banishment, by the help of\r\nsome mercenary troops he had got together, forces out Nysaeus, then master of\r\nSyracuse, recovers all afresh, and is again settled in his dominion; and as at\r\nfirst he had been strangely deprived of the greatest and most absolute power\r\nthat ever was, by a very small party, so now in a yet stranger manner; when in\r\nexile and of mean condition, he became the sovereign of those who had ejected\r\nhim. All, therefore, that remained in Syracuse, had to serve under a tyrant,\r\nwho at the best was of an ungentle nature, and exasperated now to a degree of\r\nsavageness by the late misfortunes and calamities he had suffered. The better\r\nand more distinguished citizens, having timely retired thence to Hicetes, ruler\r\nof the Leontines, put themselves under his protection, and chose him for their\r\ngeneral in the war; not that he was much preferable to any open and avowed\r\ntyrant; but they had no other sanctuary at present, and it gave them some\r\nground of confidence, that he was of a Syracusan family, and had forces able to\r\nencounter those of Dionysius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime, the Carthaginians appeared before Sicily with a great navy,\r\nwatching when and where they might make a descent upon the island; and terror\r\nat this fleet made the Sicilians incline to send an embassy into Greece to\r\ndemand succors from the Corinthians, whom they confided in rather than others,\r\nnot only upon the account of their near kindred, and the great benefits they\r\nhad often received by trusting them, but because Corinth had ever shown herself\r\nattached to freedom and averse from tyranny, and had engaged in many noble\r\nwars, not for empire or aggrandizement, but for the sole liberty of the Greeks.\r\nBut Hicetes, who made it the business of his command not so much to deliver the\r\nSyracusans from other tyrants, as to enslave them to himself, had already\r\nentered into some secret conferences with those of Carthage, while in public he\r\ncommended the design of his Syracusan clients, and dispatched ambassadors from\r\nhimself, together with theirs, into Peloponnesus; not that he really desired\r\nany relief to come from there, but, in case the Corinthians, as was likely\r\nenough, on account of the troubles of Greece and occupation at home, should\r\nrefuse their assistance, hoping then he should be able with less difficulty to\r\ndispose and incline things for the Carthaginian interest, and so make use of\r\nthese foreign pretenders, as instruments and auxiliaries for himself, either\r\nagainst the Syracusans or Dionysius, as occasion served. This was discovered a\r\nwhile after.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe ambassadors being arrived, and their request known, the Corinthians, who\r\nhad always a great concern for all their colonies and plantations, but\r\nespecially for Syracuse, since by good fortune there was nothing to molest them\r\nin their own country, where they were enjoying peace and leisure at that time,\r\nreadily and with one accord passed a vote for their assistance. And when they\r\nwere deliberating about the choice of a captain for the expedition, and the\r\nmagistrates were urging the claims of various aspirants for reputation, one of\r\nthe crowd stood up and named Timoleon, son of Timodemus, who had long absented\r\nhimself from public business, and had neither any thoughts of, nor the least\r\npretension to, an employment of that nature. Some god or other, it might rather\r\nseem, had put it in the man’s heart to mention him; such favor and good-will on\r\nthe part of Fortune seemed at once to be shown in his election, and to\r\naccompany all his following actions, as though it were on purpose to commend\r\nhis worth, and add grace and ornament to his personal virtues. As regards his\r\nparentage, both Timodemus his father, and his mother Demariste, were of high\r\nrank in the city; and as for himself, he was noted for his love of his country,\r\nand his gentleness of temper, except in his extreme hatred to tyrants and\r\nwicked men. His natural abilities for war were so happily tempered, that while\r\na rare prudence might be seen in all the enterprises of his younger years, an\r\nequal courage showed itself in the last exploits of his declining age. He had\r\nan elder brother, whose name was Timophanes, who was every way unlike him,\r\nbeing indiscreet and rash, and infected by the suggestions of some friends and\r\nforeign soldiers, whom he kept always about him, with a passion for absolute\r\npower. He seemed to have a certain force and vehemence in all military service,\r\nand even to delight in dangers, and thus he took much with the people, and was\r\nadvanced to the highest charges, as a vigorous and effective warrior; in the\r\nobtaining of which offices and promotions, Timoleon much assisted him, helping\r\nto conceal or at least to extenuate his errors, embellishing by his praise\r\nwhatever was commendable in him, and setting off his good qualities to the best\r\nadvantage.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt happened once in the battle fought by the Corinthians against the forces of\r\nArgos and Cleonae, that Timoleon served among the infantry, when Timophanes,\r\ncommanding their cavalry, was brought into extreme danger; as his horse being\r\nwounded fell forward, and threw him headlong amidst the enemies, while part of\r\nhis companions dispersed at once in a panic, and the small number that\r\nremained, bearing up against a great multitude, had much ado to maintain any\r\nresistance. As soon, therefore, as Timoleon was aware of the accident, he ran\r\nhastily in to his brother’s rescue, and covering the fallen Timophanes with his\r\nbuckler, after having received abundance of darts, and several strokes by the\r\nsword upon his body and his armor, he at length with much difficulty obliged\r\nthe enemies to retire, and brought off his brother alive and safe. But when the\r\nCorinthians, for fear of losing their city a second time, as they had once\r\nbefore, by admitting their allies, made a decree to maintain four hundred\r\nmercenaries for its security, and gave Timophanes the command over them, he,\r\nabandoning all regard to honor and equity, at once proceeded to put into\r\nexecution his plans for making himself absolute, and bringing the place under\r\nhis own power; and having cut off many principal citizens, uncondemned and\r\nwithout trial, who were most likely to hinder his design, he declared himself\r\ntyrant of Corinth; a procedure that infinitely afflicted Timoleon, to whom the\r\nwickedness of such a brother appeared to be his own reproach and calamity. He\r\nundertook to persuade him by reasoning, that, desisting from that wild and\r\nunhappy ambition, he would bethink himself how he should make the Corinthians\r\nsome amends, and find out an expedient to remedy and correct the evils he had\r\ndone them. When his single admonition was rejected and contemned by him, he\r\nmakes a second attempt, taking with him Aeschylus his kinsman, brother to the\r\nwife of Timophanes, and a certain diviner, that was his friend, whom Theopompus\r\nin his history calls Satyrus, but Ephorus and Timaeus mention in theirs by the\r\nname of Orthagoras. After a few days, then, he returns to his brother with this\r\ncompany, all three of them surrounding and earnestly importuning him upon the\r\nsame subject, that now at length he would listen to reason, and be of another\r\nmind. But when Timophanes began first to laugh at the men’s simplicity, and\r\npresently broke out into rage and indignation against them, Timoleon stepped\r\naside from him and stood weeping with his face covered, while the other two,\r\ndrawing out their swords, dispatched him in a moment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the rumor of this act being soon scattered about, the better and more\r\ngenerous of the Corinthians highly applauded Timoleon for the hatred of wrong\r\nand the greatness of soul that had made him, though of a gentle disposition and\r\nfull of love and kindness for his family, think the obligations to his country\r\nstronger than the ties of consanguinity, and prefer that which is good and just\r\nbefore gain and interest and his own particular advantage. For the same\r\nbrother, who with so much bravery had been saved by him when he fought\r\nvaliantly in the cause of Corinth, he had now as nobly sacrificed for enslaving\r\nher afterward by a base and treacherous usurpation. But then, on the other\r\nside, those that knew not how to live in a democracy, and had been used to make\r\ntheir humble court to the men of power, though they openly professed to rejoice\r\nat the death of the tyrant, nevertheless, secretly reviling Timoleon, as one\r\nthat had committed an impious and abominable act, drove him into melancholy and\r\ndejection. And when he came to understand how heavily his mother took it, and\r\nthat she likewise uttered the saddest complaints and most terrible imprecations\r\nagainst him, he went to satisfy and comfort her as to what had happened; and\r\nfinding that she would not endure so much as to look upon him, but caused her\r\ndoors to be shut, that he might have no admission into her presence, with grief\r\nat this he grew so disordered in his mind and so disconsolate, that he\r\ndetermined to put an end to his perplexity with his life, by abstaining from\r\nall manner of sustenance. But through the care and diligence of his friends,\r\nwho were very instant with him, and added force to their entreaties, he came to\r\nresolve and promise at last, that he would endure living, provided it might be\r\nin solitude, and remote from company; so that, quitting all civil transactions\r\nand commerce with the world, for a long while after his first retirement he\r\nnever came into Corinth, but wandered up and down the fields, full of anxious\r\nand tormenting thoughts, and spent his time in desert places, at the farthest\r\ndistance from society and human intercourse. So true it is that the minds of\r\nmen are easily shaken and carried off from their own sentiments through the\r\ncasual commendation or reproof of others, unless the judgments that we make,\r\nand the purposes we conceive, be confirmed by reason and philosophy, and thus\r\nobtain strength and steadiness. An action must not only be just and laudable in\r\nits own nature, but it must proceed likewise from solid motives and a lasting\r\nprinciple, that so we may fully and constantly approve the thing, and be\r\nperfectly satisfied in what we do; for otherwise, after having put our\r\nresolution into practice, we shall out of pure weakness come to be troubled at\r\nthe performance, when the grace and goodliness, which rendered it before so\r\namiable and pleasing to us, begin to decay and wear out of our fancy; like\r\ngreedy people, who, seizing on the more delicious morsels of any dish with a\r\nkeen appetite, are presently disgusted when they grow full, and find themselves\r\noppressed and uneasy now by what they before so greedily desired. For a\r\nsucceeding dislike spoils the best of actions, and repentance makes that which\r\nwas never so well done, become base and faulty; whereas the choice that is\r\nfounded upon knowledge and wise reasoning, does not change by disappointment,\r\nor suffer us to repent, though it happen perchance to be less prosperous in the\r\nissue. And thus Phocion, of Athens, having always vigorously opposed the\r\nmeasures of Leosthenes, when success appeared to attend them, and he saw his\r\ncountrymen rejoicing and offering sacrifice in honor of their victory, “I\r\nshould have been as glad,” said he to them, “that I myself had been the author\r\nof what Leosthenes has achieved for you, as I am that I gave you my own counsel\r\nagainst it.” A more vehement reply is recorded to have been made by Aristides\r\nthe Locrian, one of Plato’s companions, to Dionysius the elder, who demanded\r\none of his daughters in marriage: “I had rather,” said he to him, “see the\r\nvirgin in her grave, than in the palace of a tyrant.” And when Dionysius,\r\nenraged at the affront, made his sons be put to death a while after, and then\r\nagain insultingly asked, whether he were still in the same mind as to the\r\ndisposal of his daughters, his answer was, “I cannot but grieve at the cruelty\r\nof your deeds, but am not sorry for the freedom of my own words.” Such\r\nexpressions as these may belong perhaps to a more sublime and accomplished\r\nvirtue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe grief, however, of Timoleon at what had been done, whether it arose from\r\ncommiseration of his brother’s fate, or the reverence he bore his mother, so\r\nshattered and broke his spirits, that for the space of almost twenty years, he\r\nhad not offered to concern himself in any honorable or public action. When,\r\ntherefore, he was pitched upon for a general, and joyfully accepted as such by\r\nthe suffrages of the people, Teleclides, who was at that time the most powerful\r\nand distinguished man in Corinth, began to exhort him that he would act now\r\nlike a man of worth and gallantry: “For,” said he, “if you do bravely in this\r\nservice, we shall believe that you delivered us from a tyrant; but if\r\notherwise, that you killed your brother.” While he was yet preparing to set\r\nsail, and enlisting soldiers to embark with him, there came letters to the\r\nCorinthians from Hicetes, plainly disclosing his revolt and treachery. For his\r\nambassadors were no sooner gone for Corinth, but he openly joined the\r\nCarthaginians, negotiating that they might assist him to throw out Dionysius,\r\nand become master of Syracuse in his room. And fearing he might be disappointed\r\nof his aim, if troops and a commander should come from Corinth before this were\r\neffected, he sent a letter of advice thither, in all haste, to prevent their\r\nsetting out, telling them they need not be at any cost and trouble upon his\r\naccount, or run the hazard of a Sicilian voyage, especially since the\r\nCarthaginians, alliance with whom against Dionysius the slowness of their\r\nmotions had compelled him to embrace, would dispute their passage, and lay in\r\nwait to attack them with a numerous fleet. This letter being publicly read, if\r\nany had been cold and indifferent before as to the expedition in hand, the\r\nindignation they now conceived against Hicetes so exasperated and inflamed them\r\nall, that they willingly contributed to supply Timoleon, and endeavored, with\r\none accord, to hasten his departure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the vessels were equipped, and his soldiers every way provided for, the\r\nfemale priests of Proserpina had a dream or vision, wherein she and her mother\r\nCeres appeared to them in a traveling garb, and were heard to say that they\r\nwere going to sail with Timoleon into Sicily; whereupon the Corinthians, having\r\nbuilt a sacred galley, devoted it to them, and called it the galley of the\r\ngoddesses. Timoleon went in person to Delphi, where he sacrificed to Apollo,\r\nand, descending into the place of prophecy, was surprised with the following\r\nmarvelous occurrence. A riband with crowns and figures of victory embroidered\r\nupon it, slipped off from among the gifts that were there consecrated and hung\r\nup in the temple, and fell directly down upon his head; so that Apollo seemed\r\nalready to crown him with success, and send him thence to conquer and triumph.\r\nHe put to sea only with seven ships of Corinth, two of Corcyra, and a tenth\r\nwhich was furnished by the Leucadians; and when he was now entered into the\r\ndeep by night, and carried with a prosperous gale, the heaven seemed all on a\r\nsudden to break open, and a bright spreading flame to issue forth from it, and\r\nhover over the ship he was in; and, having formed itself into a torch, not\r\nunlike those that are used in the mysteries, it began to steer the same course,\r\nand run along in their company, guiding them by its light to that quarter of\r\nItaly where they designed to go ashore. The soothsayers affirmed, that this\r\napparition agreed with the dream of the holy women, since the goddesses were\r\nnow visibly joining in the expedition, and sending this light from heaven\r\nbefore them: Sicily being thought sacred to Proserpina, as poets feign that the\r\nrape was committed there, and that the island was given her in dowry when she\r\nmarried Pluto.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese early demonstrations of divine favor greatly encouraged his whole army;\r\nso that, making all the speed they were able, by a voyage across the open sea,\r\nthey were soon passing along the coast of Italy. But the tidings that came from\r\nSicily much perplexed Timoleon, and disheartened his soldiers. For Hicetes,\r\nhaving already beaten Dionysius out of the field, and reduced most of the\r\nquarters of Syracuse itself, now hemmed him in and besieged him in the citadel\r\nand what is called the Island, whither he was fled for his last refuge; while\r\nthe Carthaginians, by agreement, were to make it their business to hinder\r\nTimoleon from landing in any port of Sicily; so that he and his party being\r\ndriven back, they might with ease and at their own leisure divide the island\r\namong themselves. In pursuance of which design, the Carthaginians sent away\r\ntwenty of their galleys to Rhegium, having aboard them certain ambassadors from\r\nHicetes to Timoleon, who carried instructions suitable to these proceedings,\r\nspecious amusements and plausible stories, to color and conceal dishonest\r\npurposes. They had order to propose and demand that Timoleon himself, if he\r\nliked the offer, should come to advise with Hicetes, and partake of all his\r\nconquests, but that he might send back his ships and forces to Corinth, since\r\nthe war was in a manner finished, and the Carthaginians had blocked up the\r\npassage, determined to oppose them if they should try to force their way\r\ntowards the shore. When, therefore, the Corinthians met with these envoys at\r\nRhegium, and received their message, and saw the Phoenician vessels riding at\r\nanchor in the bay, they became keenly sensible of the abuse that was put upon\r\nthem, and felt a general indignation against Hicetes, and great apprehensions\r\nfor the Siceliots, whom they now plainly perceived to be as it were a prize and\r\nrecompense to Hicetes on one side for his perfidy, and to the Carthaginians on\r\nthe other for the sovereign power they secured to him. For it seemed utterly\r\nimpossible to force and overbear the Carthaginian ships that lay before them\r\nand were double their number, as also to vanquish the victorious troops which\r\nHicetes had with him in Syracuse, to take the lead of which very troops they\r\nhad undertaken their voyage.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe case being thus, Timoleon, after some conference with the envoys of Hicetes\r\nand the Carthaginian captains, told them he should readily submit to their\r\nproposals (to what purpose would it be to refuse compliance?): he was desirous\r\nonly, before his return to Corinth, that what had passed between them in\r\nprivate might be solemnly declared before the people of Rhegium, a Greek city,\r\nand a common friend to the parties; this, he said, would very much conduce to\r\nhis own security and discharge; and they likewise would more strictly observe\r\narticles of agreement, on behalf of the Syracusans, which they had obliged\r\nthemselves to in the presence of so many witnesses. The design of all which\r\nwas, only to divert their attention, while he got an opportunity of slipping\r\naway from their fleet: a contrivance that all the principal Rhegians were privy\r\nand assisting to, who had a great desire that the affairs of Sicily should fall\r\ninto Corinthian hands, and dreaded the consequences of having barbarian\r\nneighbors. An assembly was therefore called, and the gates shut, that the\r\ncitizens might have no liberty to turn to other business; and a succession of\r\nspeakers came forward, addressing the people at great length, to the same\r\neffect, without bringing the subject to any conclusion, making way each for\r\nanother and purposely spinning out the time, till the Corinthian galleys should\r\nget clear of the haven; the Carthaginian commanders being detained there\r\nwithout any suspicion, as also Timoleon still remained present, and gave signs\r\nas if he were just preparing to make an oration. But upon secret notice that\r\nthe rest of the galleys were already gone on, and that his alone remained\r\nwaiting for him, by the help and concealment of those Rhegians that were about\r\nthe hustings and favored his departure, he made shift to slip away through the\r\ncrowd, and, running down to the port, set sail with all speed; and having\r\nreached his other vessels, they came all safe to Tauromenium in Sicily, whither\r\nthey had been formerly invited, and where they were now kindly received by\r\nAndromachus, then ruler of the city. This man was father of Timaeus the\r\nhistorian, and incomparably the best of all those that bore sway in Sicily at\r\nthat time, governing his citizens according to law and justice, and openly\r\nprofessing an aversion and enmity to all tyrants; upon which account he gave\r\nTimoleon leave to muster up his troops there, and to make that city the seat of\r\nwar, persuading the inhabitants to join their arms with the Corinthian forces,\r\nand assist them in the design of delivering Sicily.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the Carthaginians who were left in Rhegium perceiving, when the assembly\r\nwas dissolved, that Timoleon had given them the go by, were not a little vexed\r\nto see themselves outwitted, much to the amusement of the Rhegians, who could\r\nnot but smile to find Phoenicians complain of being cheated. However, they\r\ndispatched a messenger aboard one of their galleys to Tauromenium, who, after\r\nmuch blustering in the insolent barbaric way, and many menaces to Andromachus\r\nif he did not forthwith send the Corinthians off, stretched out his hand with\r\nthe inside upward, and then turning it down again, threatened he would handle\r\ntheir city even so, and turn it topsy-turvy in as little time, and with as much\r\nease. Andromachus, laughing at the man’s confidence, made no other reply, but,\r\nimitating his gesture, bid him hasten his own departure, unless he had a mind\r\nto see that kind of dexterity practiced first upon the galley which brought him\r\nthither.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHicetes, informed that Timoleon had made good his passage, was in great fear of\r\nwhat might follow, and sent to desire the Carthaginians that a large number of\r\ngalleys might be ordered to attend and secure the coast. And now it was that\r\nthe Syracusans began wholly to despair of safety, seeing the Carthaginians\r\npossessed of their haven, Hicetes master of the town, and Dionysius supreme in\r\nthe citadel; while Timoleon had as yet but a slender hold of Sicily, as it were\r\nby the fringe or border of it, in the small city of the Tauromenians, with a\r\nfeeble hope and a poor company; having but a thousand soldiers at the most, and\r\nno more provisions, either of corn or money, than were just necessary for the\r\nmaintenance and the pay of that inconsiderable number. Nor did the other towns\r\nof Sicily confide in him, overpowered as they were with violence and outrage,\r\nand embittered against all that should offer to lead armies, by the treacherous\r\nconduct chiefly of Callippus, an Athenian, and Pharax, a Lacedaemonian captain,\r\nboth of whom, after giving out that the design of their coming was to introduce\r\nliberty and depose tyrants, so tyrannized themselves, that the reign of former\r\noppressors seemed to be a golden age in comparison, and the Sicilians began to\r\nconsider those more happy who had expired in servitude, than any that had lived\r\nto see such a dismal freedom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLooking, therefore, for no better usage from the Corinthian general, but\r\nimagining that it was only the same old course of things once more, specious\r\npresences and false professions to allure them by fair hopes and kind promises\r\ninto the obedience of a new master, they all, with one accord, unless it were\r\nthe people of Adranum, suspected the exhortations, and rejected the overtures\r\nthat were made them in his name. These were inhabitants of a small city,\r\nconsecrated to Adranus, a certain god that was in high veneration throughout\r\nSicily, and, as it happened, they were then at variance among themselves,\r\ninsomuch that one party called in Hicetes and the Carthaginians to assist them,\r\nwhile the other sent proposals to Timoleon. It so fell out that these\r\nauxiliaries, striving which should be soonest, both arrived at Adranum about\r\nthe same time; Hicetes bringing with him at least five thousand fighting men,\r\nwhile all the force Timoleon could make did not exceed twelve hundred. With\r\nthese he marched out of Tauromenium, which was about three hundred and forty\r\nfurlongs distant from that city. The first day he moved but slowly, and took up\r\nhis quarters betimes after a short journey; but the day following he quickened\r\nhis pace, and, having passed through much difficult ground, towards evening\r\nreceived advice that Hicetes was just approaching Adranum, and pitching his\r\ncamp before it; upon which intelligence, his captains and other officers caused\r\nthe vanguard to halt, that the army being refreshed, and having reposed a\r\nwhile, might engage the enemy with better heart. But Timoleon, coming up in\r\nhaste, desired them not to stop for that reason, but rather use all possible\r\ndiligence to surprise the enemy, whom probably they would now find in disorder,\r\nas having lately ended their march, and being taken up at present in erecting\r\ntents and preparing supper; which he had no sooner said, but laying hold of his\r\nbuckler and putting himself in the front, he led them on as it were to certain\r\nvictory. The braveness of such a leader made them all follow him with like\r\ncourage and assurance. They were now within less than thirty furlongs of\r\nAdranum, which they quickly traversed, and immediately fell in upon the enemy,\r\nwho were seized with confusion, and began to retire at their first approaches;\r\none consequence of which was that amidst so little opposition, and so early and\r\ngeneral a flight, there were not many more than three hundred slain, and about\r\ntwice the number made prisoners. Their camp and baggage, however, was all\r\ntaken. The fortune of this onset soon induced the Adranitans to unlock their\r\ngates, and embrace the interest of Timoleon, to whom they recounted, with a\r\nmixture of affright and admiration, how, at the very minute of the encounter,\r\nthe doors of their temple flew open of their own accord, that the javelin also,\r\nwhich their god held in his hand, was observed to tremble at the point, and\r\nthat drops of sweat had been seen running down his face: prodigies that not\r\nonly presaged the victory then obtained, but were an omen, it seems, of all his\r\nfuture exploits, to which this first happy action gave the occasion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor now the neighboring cities and potentates sent deputies, one upon another,\r\nto seek his friendship and make offer of their service. Among the rest,\r\nMamercus, the tyrant of Catana, an experienced warrior and a wealthy prince,\r\nmade proposals of alliance with him, and, what was of greater importance still,\r\nDionysius himself being now grown desperate, and wellnigh forced to surrender,\r\ndespising Hicetes who had been thus shamefully baffled, and admiring the valor\r\nof Timoleon, found means to advertise him and his Corinthians that he should be\r\ncontent to deliver up himself and the citadel into their hands. Timoleon,\r\ngladly embracing this unlooked for advantage, sends away Euclides and\r\nTelemachus, two Corinthian captains, with four hundred men, for the seizure and\r\ncustody of the castle, with directions to enter not all at once, or in open\r\nview, that being impracticable so long as the enemy kept guard, but by stealth,\r\nand in small companies. And so they took possession of the fortress, and the\r\npalace of Dionysius, with all the stores and ammunition he had prepared and\r\nlaid up to maintain the war. They found a good number of horses, every variety\r\nof engines, a multitude of darts, and weapons to arm seventy thousand men (a\r\nmagazine that had been formed from ancient time), besides two thousand soldiers\r\nthat were then with him, whom he gave up with the rest for Timoleon’s service.\r\nDionysius himself, putting his treasure aboard, and taking a few friends,\r\nsailed away unobserved by Hicetes, and being brought to the camp of Timoleon,\r\nthere first appeared in the humble dress of a private person, and was shortly\r\nafter sent to Corinth with a single ship and a small sum of money. Born and\r\neducated in the most splendid court and the most absolute monarchy that ever\r\nwas, which he held and kept up for the space of ten years succeeding his\r\nfather’s death, he had, after Dion’s expedition, spent twelve other years in a\r\ncontinual agitation of wars and contests, and great variety of fortune, during\r\nwhich time all the mischiefs he had committed in his former reign were more\r\nthan repaid by the ills he himself then suffered; since he lived to see the\r\ndeaths of his sons in the prime and vigor of their age, and the rape of his\r\ndaughters in the flower of their virginity, and the wicked abuse of his sister\r\nand his wife, who, after being first exposed to all the lawless insults of the\r\nsoldiery, was then murdered with her children, and cast into the sea; the\r\nparticulars of which are more exactly given in the life of Dion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon the news of his landing at Corinth, there was hardly a man in Greece who\r\nhad not the curiosity to come and view the late formidable tyrant, and say some\r\nwords to him; part, rejoicing at his disasters, were led thither out of mere\r\nspite and hatred, that they might have the pleasure of trampling, as it were,\r\non the ruins of his broken fortune; but others, letting their attention and\r\ntheir sympathy turn rather to the changes and revolutions of his life, could\r\nnot but see in them a proof of the strength and potency with which divine and\r\nunseen causes operate amidst the weakness of human and visible things. For\r\nneither art nor nature did in that age produce anything comparable to this work\r\nand wonder of fortune, which showed the very same man, that was not long before\r\nsupreme monarch of Sicily, loitering about perhaps in the fish-market, or\r\nsitting in a perfumer’s shop, drinking the diluted wine of taverns, or\r\nsquabbling in the street with common women, or pretending to instruct the\r\nsinging women of the theater, and seriously disputing with them about the\r\nmeasure and harmony of pieces of music that were performed there. Such behavior\r\non his part was variously criticized. He was thought by many to act thus out of\r\npure compliance with his own natural indolent and vicious inclinations; while\r\nfiner judges were of opinion, that in all this he was playing a politic part,\r\nwith a design to be contemned among them, and that the Corinthians might not\r\nfeel any apprehension or suspicion of his being uneasy under his reverse of\r\nfortune, or solicitous to retrieve it; to avoid which dangers, he purposely and\r\nagainst his true nature affected an appearance of folly and want of spirit in\r\nhis private life and amusements.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever it be, there are sayings and repartees of his left still upon record,\r\nwhich seem to show that he not ignobly accommodated himself to his present\r\ncircumstances; as may appear in part from the ingenuousness of the avowal he\r\nmade on coming to Leucadia, which, as well as Syracuse, was a Corinthian\r\ncolony, where he told the inhabitants, that he found himself not unlike boys\r\nwho have been in fault, who can talk cheerfully with their brothers, but are\r\nashamed to see their father; so, likewise, he, he said, could gladly reside\r\nwith them in that island, whereas he felt a certain awe upon his mind, which\r\nmade him averse to the sight of Corinth, that was a common mother to them both.\r\nThe thing is further evident from the reply he once made to a stranger in\r\nCorinth, who deriding him in a rude and scornful manner about the conferences\r\nhe used to have with philosophers, whose company had been one of his pleasures\r\nwhile yet a monarch, and demanding, in fine, what he was the better now for all\r\nthose wise and learned discourses of Plato, “Do you think,” said he, “I have\r\nmade no profit of his philosophy, when you see me bear my change of fortune as\r\nI do?” And when Aristoxenus the musician, and several others, desired to know\r\nhow Plato offended him, and what had been the ground of his displeasure with\r\nhim, he made answer, that, of the many evils attaching to the condition of\r\nsovereignty, the one greatest infelicity was that none of those who were\r\naccounted friends would venture to speak freely, or tell the plain truth; and\r\nthat by means of such he had been deprived of Plato’s kindness. At another\r\ntime, when one of those pleasant companions that are desirous to pass for wits,\r\nin mockery to Dionysius, as if he were still the tyrant, shook out the folds of\r\nhis cloak, as he was entering into the room where he was, to show there were no\r\nconcealed weapons about him, Dionysius, by way of retort, observed, that he\r\nwould prefer he would do so on leaving the room, as a security that he was\r\ncarrying nothing off with him. And when Philip of Macedon, at a drinking party,\r\nbegan to speak in banter about the verses and tragedies which his father,\r\nDionysius the elder, had left behind him, and pretended to wonder how he could\r\nget any time from his other business to compose such elaborate and ingenious\r\npieces, he replied, very much to the purpose, “It was at those leisurable\r\nhours, which such as you and I, and those we call happy men, bestow upon our\r\ncups.” Plato had not the opportunity to see Dionysius at Corinth, being already\r\ndead before he came thither; but Diogenes of Sinope, at their first meeting in\r\nthe street there, saluted him with the ambiguous expression, “O Dionysius, how\r\nlittle you deserve your present life!” Upon which Dionysius stopped and\r\nreplied, “I thank you, Diogenes, for your condolence.” “Condole with you!”\r\nreplied Diogenes; “do you not suppose that, on the contrary, I am indignant\r\nthat such a slave as you, who, if you had your due, should have been let alone\r\nto grow old, and die in the state of tyranny, as your father did before you,\r\nshould now enjoy the ease of private persons, and be here to sport and frolic\r\nit in our society?” So that when I compare those sad stories of Philistus,\r\ntouching the daughters of Leptines, where he makes pitiful moan on their\r\nbehalf, as fallen from all the blessings and advantages of powerful greatness\r\nto the miseries of a humble life, they seem to me like the lamentations of a\r\nwoman who has lost her box of ointment, her purple dresses, and her golden\r\ntrinkets. Such anecdotes will not, I conceive, be thought either foreign to my\r\npurpose of writing Lives, or unprofitable in themselves, by such readers as are\r\nnot in too much haste, or busied and taken up with other concerns.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut if the misfortune of Dionysius appear strange and extraordinary, we shall\r\nhave no less reason to wonder at the good fortune of Timoleon, who, within\r\nfifty days after his landing in Sicily, both recovered the citadel of Syracuse,\r\nand sent Dionysius an exile into Peloponnesus. This lucky beginning so animated\r\nthe Corinthians, that they ordered him a supply of two thousand foot and two\r\nhundred horse, who, reaching Thurii, intended to cross over thence into Sicily;\r\nbut finding the whole sea beset with Carthaginian ships, which made their\r\npassage impracticable, they were constrained to stop there, and watch their\r\nopportunity: which time, however, was employed in a noble action. For the\r\nThurians, going out to war against their Bruttian enemies, left their city in\r\ncharge with these Corinthian strangers, who defended it as carefully as if it\r\nhad been their own country, and faithfully resigned it up again.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHicetes, in the interim, continued still to besiege the castle of Syracuse, and\r\nhindered all provisions from coming in by sea to relieve the Corinthians that\r\nwere in it. He had engaged also, and dispatched towards Adranum, two unknown\r\nforeigners to assassinate Timoleon, who at no time kept any standing guard\r\nabout his person, and was then altogether secure, diverting himself, without\r\nany apprehension, among the citizens of the place, it being a festival in honor\r\nof their gods. The two men that were sent, having casually heard that Timoleon\r\nwas about to sacrifice, came directly into the temple with poniards under their\r\ncloaks, and pressing in among the crowd, by little and little got up close to\r\nthe altar; but, as they were just looking for a sign from each other to begin\r\nthe attempt, a third person struck one of them over the head with a sword, upon\r\nwhose sudden fall, neither he that gave the blow, nor the partisan of him that\r\nreceived it, kept their stations any longer; but the one, making way with his\r\nbloody sword, put no stop to his flight, till he gained the top of a certain\r\nlofty precipice, while the other, laying hold of the altar, besought Timoleon\r\nto spare his life, and he would reveal to him the whole conspiracy. His pardon\r\nbeing granted, he confessed that both himself and his dead companion were sent\r\nthither purposely to slay him. While this discovery was made, he that killed\r\nthe other conspirator had been fetched down from his sanctuary of the rock,\r\nloudly and often protesting, as he came along, that there was no injustice in\r\nthe fact, as he had only taken righteous vengeance for his father’s blood, whom\r\nthis man had murdered before in the city of Leontini; the truth of which was\r\nattested by several there present, who could not choose but wonder too at the\r\nstrange dexterity of fortune’s operations, the facility with which she makes\r\none event the spring and motion to something wholly different, uniting every\r\nscattered accident and lose particular and remote action, and interweaving them\r\ntogether to serve her purposes; so that things that in themselves seem to have\r\nno connection or interdependence whatsoever, become in her hands, so to say,\r\nthe end and the beginning of each other. The Corinthians, satisfied as to the\r\ninnocence of this seasonable feat, honored and rewarded the author with a\r\npresent of ten pounds in their money, since he had, as it were, lent the use of\r\nhis just resentment to the tutelar genius that seemed to be protecting\r\nTimoleon, and had not preexpended this anger, so long ago conceived, but had\r\nreserved and deferred, under fortune’s guidance, for his preservation, the\r\nrevenge of a private quarrel.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut this fortunate escape had effects and consequences beyond the present, as\r\nit inspired the highest hopes and future expectations of Timoleon, making\r\npeople reverence and protect him as a sacred person sent by heaven to avenge\r\nand redeem Sicily. Hicetes, having missed his aim in this enterprise, and\r\nperceiving, also, that many went off and sided with Timoleon, began to chide\r\nhimself for his foolish modesty, that, when so considerable a force of the\r\nCarthaginians lay ready to be commanded by him, he had employed them hitherto\r\nby degrees and in small numbers, introducing their reinforcements by stealth\r\nand clandestinely, as if he had been ashamed of the action. Therefore, now\r\nlaying aside his former nicety, he calls in Mago, their admiral, with his whole\r\nnavy, who presently set sail, and seized upon the port with a formidable fleet\r\nof at least a hundred and fifty vessels, landing there sixty thousand foot\r\nwhich were all lodged within the city of Syracuse; so that, in all men’s\r\nopinion, the time anciently talked of and long expected, wherein Sicily should\r\nbe subjugated by barbarians, was now come to its fatal period. For in all their\r\npreceding wars and many desperate conflicts with Sicily, the Carthaginians had\r\nnever been able, before this, to take Syracuse; whereas Hicetes now receiving\r\nthem, and putting the city into their hands, you might see it become now as it\r\nwere a camp of barbarians. By this means, the Corinthian soldiers that kept the\r\ncastle found themselves brought into great danger and hardship; as, besides\r\nthat their provision grew scarce, and they began to be in want, because the\r\nhavens were strictly guarded and blocked up, the enemy exercised them still\r\nwith skirmishes and combats about their walls, and they were not only obliged\r\nto be continually in arms, but to divide and prepare themselves for assaults\r\nand encounters of every kind, and to repel every variety of the means of\r\noffense employed by a besieging army.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTimoleon made shift to relieve them in these straits, sending corn from Catana\r\nby small fishing-boats and little skiffs, which commonly gained a passage\r\nthrough the Carthaginian galleys in times of storm, stealing up when the\r\nblockading ships were driven apart and dispersed by the stress of weather;\r\nwhich Mago and Hicetes observing, they agreed to fall upon Catana, from whence\r\nthese supplies were brought in to the besieged, and accordingly put off from\r\nSyracuse, taking with them the best soldiers in their whole army. Upon this,\r\nNeon the Corinthian, who was captain of those that kept the citadel, taking\r\nnotice that the enemies who stayed there behind were very negligent and\r\ncareless in keeping guard, made a sudden sally upon them as they lay scattered,\r\nand, killing some and putting others to flight, he took and possessed himself\r\nof that quarter which they call Acradina, and was thought to be the strongest\r\nand most impregnable part of Syracuse, a city made up and compacted as it were,\r\nof several towns put together. Having thus stored himself with corn and money,\r\nhe did not abandon the place, nor retire again into the castle, but fortifying\r\nthe precincts of Acradina, and joining it by works to the citadel, he undertook\r\nthe defense of both. Mago and Hicetes were now come near to Catana, when a\r\nhorseman, dispatched from Syracuse, brought them tidings that Acradina was\r\ntaken; upon which they returned, in all haste, with great disorder and\r\nconfusion, having neither been able to reduce the city they went against, nor\r\nto preserve that they were masters of.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese successes, indeed, were such as might leave foresight and courage a\r\npretence still of disputing it with fortune, which contributed most to the\r\nresult. But the next following event can scarcely be ascribed to anything but\r\npure felicity. The Corinthian soldiers who stayed at Thurii, partly for fear of\r\nthe Carthaginian galleys which lay in wait for them under the command of Hanno,\r\nand partly because of tempestuous weather which had lasted for many days, and\r\nrendered the sea dangerous, took a resolution to march by land over the\r\nBruttian territories, and, what with persuasion and force together, made good\r\ntheir passage through those barbarians to the city of Rhegium, the sea being\r\nstill rough and raging as before. But Hanno, not expecting the Corinthians\r\nwould venture out, and supposing it would be useless to wait there any longer,\r\nbethought himself, as he imagined, of a most ingenious and clever stratagem apt\r\nto delude and ensnare the enemy; in pursuance of which he commanded the seamen\r\nto crown themselves with garlands, and, adorning his galleys with bucklers both\r\nof the Greek and Carthaginian make, he sailed away for Syracuse in this\r\ntriumphant equipage, and using all his oars as he passed under the castle with\r\nmuch shouting and laughter, cried out, on purpose to dishearten the besieged,\r\nthat he was come from vanquishing and taking the Corinthian succors, which he\r\nfell upon at sea as they were passing over into Sicily. While he was thus\r\nbiding and playing his tricks before Syracuse, the Corinthians, now come as far\r\nas Rhegium, observing the coast clear, and that the wind was laid as it were by\r\nmiracle, to afford them in all appearance a quiet and smooth passage, went\r\nimmediately aboard on such little barks and fishing-boats as were then at hand,\r\nand got over to Sicily with such complete safety and in such an extraordinary\r\ncalm, that they drew their horses by the reins, swimming along by them as the\r\nvessels went across.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen they were all landed, Timoleon came to receive them, and by their means at\r\nonce obtained possession of Messena, from whence he marched in good order to\r\nSyracuse, trusting more to his late prosperous achievements than his present\r\nstrength, as the whole army he had then with him did not exceed the number of\r\nfour thousand; Mago, however, was troubled and fearful at the first notice of\r\nhis coming, and grew more apprehensive and jealous still upon the following\r\noccasion. The marshes about Syracuse, that receive a great deal of fresh water,\r\nas well from springs as from lakes and rivers discharging themselves into the\r\nsea, breed abundance of eels, which may be always taken there in great\r\nquantities by any that will fish for them. The mercenary soldiers that served\r\non both sides, were wont to follow the sport together at their vacant hours,\r\nand upon any cessation of arms, who being all Greeks, and having no cause of\r\nprivate enmity to each other, as they would venture bravely in fight, so in\r\ntimes of truce used to meet and converse amicably together. And at this present\r\ntime, while engaged about this common business of fishing, they fell into talk\r\ntogether; and some expressing their admiration of the neighboring sea, and\r\nothers telling how much they were taken with the convenience and commodiousness\r\nof the buildings and public works, one of the Corinthian party took occasion to\r\ndemand of the others: “And is it possible that you who are Grecians born,\r\nshould be so forward to reduce a city of this greatness, and enjoying so many\r\nrare advantages, into the state of barbarism; and lend your assistance to plant\r\nCarthaginians, that are the worst and bloodiest of men, so much the nearer to\r\nus? whereas you should rather wish there were many more Sicilies to lie between\r\nthem and Greece. Have you so little sense as to believe, that they come hither\r\nwith an army, from the Pillars of Hercules and the Atlantic Sea, to hazard\r\nthemselves for the establishment of Hicetes? who, if he had had the\r\nconsideration which becomes a general, would never have thrown out his\r\nancestors and founders to bring in the enemies of his country in the room of\r\nthem, when he might have enjoyed all suitable honor and command, with consent\r\nof Timoleon and the rest of Corinth.” The Greeks that were in pay with Hicetes,\r\nnoising these discourses about their camp, gave Mago some ground to suspect, as\r\nindeed he had long sought for a pretence to be gone, that there was treachery\r\ncontrived against him; so that, although Hicetes entreated him to tarry, and\r\nmade it appear how much stronger they were than the enemy, yet, conceiving they\r\ncame far more short of Timoleon in respect of courage and fortune, than they\r\nsurpassed him in number, he presently went aboard, and set sail for Africa,\r\nletting Sicily escape out of his hands with dishonor to himself, and for such\r\nuncertain causes, that no human reason could give an account of his departure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe day after he went away, Timoleon came up before the city, in array for a\r\nbattle. But when he and his company heard of this sudden flight, and saw the\r\ndocks all empty, they could not forbear laughing at the cowardice of Mago, and\r\nin mockery caused proclamation to be made through the city, that a reward would\r\nbe given to any one who could bring them tidings whither the Carthaginian fleet\r\nhad conveyed itself from them. However, Hicetes resolving to fight it out\r\nalone, and not quitting his hold of the city, but sticking close to the\r\nquarters he was in possession of, places that were well fortified and not easy\r\nto be attacked, Timoleon divided his forces into three parts, and fell himself\r\nupon the side where the river Anapus ran, which was most strong and difficult\r\nof access; and he commanded those that were led by Isias, a Corinthian captain,\r\nto make their assault from the post of Acradina, while Dinarchus and Demaretus,\r\nthat brought him the last supply from Corinth, were, with a third division, to\r\nattempt the quarter called Epipolae. A considerable impression being made from\r\nevery side at once, the soldiers of Hicetes were beaten off and put to flight;\r\nand this, — that the city came to be taken by storm, and fall suddenly into\r\ntheir hands, upon the defeat and rout of the enemy, — we must in all justice\r\nascribe to the valor of the assailants, and the wise conduct of their general;\r\nbut that not so much as a man of the Corinthians was either slain or wounded in\r\nthe action, this the good fortune of Timoleon seems to challenge for her own\r\nwork, as though, in a sort of rivalry with his own personal exertions, she made\r\nit her aim to exceed and obscure his actions by her favors, that those who\r\nheard him commended for his noble deeds might rather admire the happiness, than\r\nthe merit of them. For the fame of what was done not only passed through all\r\nSicily, and filled Italy with wonder, but even Greece itself, after a few days,\r\ncame to ring with the greatness of his exploit; insomuch that those of Corinth,\r\nwho had as yet no certainty that their auxiliaries were landed on the island,\r\nhad tidings brought them at the same time that they were safe and were\r\nconquerors. In so prosperous a course did affairs run, and such was the speed\r\nand celerity of execution with which fortune, as with a new ornament, set off\r\nthe native lustres of the performance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTimoleon, being master of the citadel, avoided the error which Dion had been\r\nguilty of. He spared not the place for the beauty and sumptuousness of its\r\nfabric, and, keeping clear of those suspicions which occasioned first the\r\nunpopularity and afterwards the fall of Dion, made a public crier give notice,\r\nthat all the Syracusans who were willing to have a hand in the work, should\r\nbring pick-axes and mattocks, and other instruments, and help him to demolish\r\nthe fortifications of the tyrants. When they all came up with one accord,\r\nlooking upon that order and that day as the surest foundation of their liberty,\r\nthey not only pulled down the castle, but overturned the palaces and monuments\r\nadjoining, and whatever else might preserve any memory of former tyrants.\r\nHaving soon leveled and cleared the place, he there presently erected courts\r\nfor administration of justice, gratifying the citizens by this means, and\r\nbuilding popular government on the fall and ruin of tyranny. But since he had\r\nrecovered a city destitute of inhabitants, some of them dead in civil wars and\r\ninsurrections, and others being fled to escape tyrants, so that through\r\nsolitude and want of people the great marketplace of Syracuse was overgrown\r\nwith such quantity of rank herbage that it became a pasture for their horses,\r\nthe grooms lying along in the grass as they fed by them; while also other\r\ntowns, very few excepted, were become full of stags and wild boars, so that\r\nthose who had nothing else to do went frequently a hunting, and found game in\r\nthe suburbs and about the walls; and not one of those who had possessed\r\nthemselves of castles, or made garrisons in the country, could be persuaded to\r\nquit their present abode, or would accept an invitation to return back into the\r\ncity, so much did they all dread and abhor the very name of assemblies and\r\nforms of government and public speaking, that had produced the greater part of\r\nthose usurpers who had successively assumed a dominion over them, — Timoleon,\r\ntherefore, with the Syracusans that remained, considering this vast desolation,\r\nand how little hope there was to have it otherwise supplied, thought good to\r\nwrite to the Corinthians, requesting that they would send a colony out of\r\nGreece to repeople Syracuse. For else the land about it would lie unimproved;\r\nand besides this, they expected to be involved in a greater war from Africa,\r\nhaving news brought them that Mago had killed himself, and that the\r\nCarthaginians, out of rage for his ill conduct in the late expedition, had\r\ncaused his body to be nailed upon a cross, and that they were raising a mighty\r\nforce, with design to make their descent upon Sicily the next summer.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese letters from Timoleon being delivered at Corinth, and the ambassadors of\r\nSyracuse beseeching them at the same time, that they would take upon them the\r\ncare of their poor city, and once again become the founders of it, the\r\nCorinthians were not tempted by any feeling of cupidity to lay hold of the\r\nadvantage. Nor did they seize and appropriate the city to themselves, but going\r\nabout first to the games that are kept as sacred in Greece, and to the most\r\nnumerously attended religious assemblages, they made publication by heralds,\r\nthat the Corinthians, having destroyed the usurpation at Syracuse and driven\r\nout the tyrant, did thereby invite the Syracusan exiles, and any other\r\nSiceliots, to return and inhabit the city, with full enjoyment of freedom under\r\ntheir own laws, the land being divided among them in just and equal\r\nproportions. And after this, sending messengers into Asia and the several\r\nislands where they understood that most of the scattered fugitives were then\r\nresiding, they bade them all repair to Corinth, engaging that the Corinthians\r\nwould afford them vessels and commanders, and a safe convoy, at their own\r\ncharges, to Syracuse. Such generous proposals, being thus spread about, gained\r\nthem the just and honorable recompense of general praise and benediction, for\r\ndelivering the country from oppressors, and saving it from barbarians, and\r\nrestoring it at length to the rightful owners of the place. These, when they\r\nwere assembled at Corinth, and found how insufficient their company was,\r\nbesought the Corinthians that they might have a supplement of other persons, as\r\nwell out of their city as the rest of Greece, to go with them as\r\njoint-colonists; and so raising themselves to the number of ten thousand, they\r\nsailed together to Syracuse. By this time great multitudes, also, from Italy\r\nand Sicily, had flocked in to Timoleon, so that, as Athanis reports, their\r\nentire body amounted now to sixty thousand men. Among these he divided the\r\nwhole territory, and sold the houses for a thousand talents; by which method,\r\nhe both left it in the power of the old Syracusans to redeem their own, and\r\nmade it a means also for raising a stock for the community, which had been so\r\nmuch impoverished of late, and was so unable to defray other expenses, and\r\nespecially those of a war, that they exposed their very statues to sale, a\r\nregular process being observed, and sentence of auction passed upon each of\r\nthem by majority of votes, as if they had been so many criminals taking their\r\ntrial: in the course of which it is said that while condemnation was pronounced\r\nupon all other statues, that of the ancient usurper Gelo was exempted, out of\r\nadmiration and honor and for the sake of the victory he gained over the\r\nCarthaginian forces at the river Himera.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSyracuse being thus happily revived, and replenished again by the general\r\nconcourse of inhabitants from all parts, Timoleon was desirous now to rescue\r\nother cities from the like bondage, and wholly and once for all to extirpate\r\narbitrary government out of Sicily. And for this purpose, marching into the\r\nterritories of those that used it, he compelled Hicetes first to renounce the\r\nCarthaginian interest, and, demolishing the fortresses which were held by him,\r\nto live henceforth among the Leontinians as a private person. Leptines, also,\r\nthe tyrant of Apollonia and divers other little towns, after some resistance\r\nmade, seeing the danger he was in of being taken by force, surrendered himself;\r\nupon which Timoleon spared his life, and sent him away to Corinth, counting it\r\na glorious thing that the mother city should expose to the view of other Greeks\r\nthese Sicilian tyrants, living now in an exiled and a low condition. After this\r\nhe returned to Syracuse, that he might have leisure to attend to the\r\nestablishment of the new constitution, and assist Cephalus and Dionysius, who\r\nwere sent from Corinth to make laws, in determining the most important points\r\nof it. In the meanwhile, desirous that his hired soldiers should not want\r\naction, but might rather enrich themselves by some plunder from the enemy, he\r\ndispatched Dinarchus and Demaretus with a portion of them into the part of the\r\nisland belonging to the Carthaginians, where they obliged several cities to\r\nrevolt from the barbarians, and not only lived in great abundance themselves,\r\nbut raised money from their spoil to carry on the war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMeantime, the Carthaginians landed at the promontory of Lilybaeum, bringing\r\nwith them an army of seventy thousand men on board two hundred galleys, besides\r\na thousand other vessels laden with engines of battery, chariots, corn, and\r\nother military stores, as if they did not intend to manage the war by piecemeal\r\nand in parts as heretofore, but to drive the Greeks altogether and at once out\r\nof all Sicily. And indeed it was a force sufficient to overpower the Siceliots,\r\neven though they had been at perfect union among themselves, and had never been\r\nenfeebled by intestine quarrels. Hearing that part of their subject territory\r\nwas suffering devastation, they forthwith made toward the Corinthians with\r\ngreat fury, having Asdrubal and Hamilcar for their generals; the report of\r\nwhose numbers and strength coming suddenly to Syracuse, the citizens were so\r\nterrified, that hardly three thousand, among so many myriads of them, had the\r\ncourage to take up arms and join Timoleon. The foreigners, serving for pay,\r\nwere not above four thousand in all, and about a thousand of these grew\r\nfainthearted by the way, and forsook Timoleon in his march towards the enemy,\r\nlooking on him as frantic and distracted, destitute of the sense which might\r\nhave been expected from his time of life, thus to venture out against an army\r\nof seventy thousand men, with no more than five thousand foot and a thousand\r\nhorse; and, when he should have kept those forces to defend the city, choosing\r\nrather to remove them eight days’ journey from Syracuse, so that if they were\r\nbeaten from the field, they would have no retreat, nor any burial if they fell\r\nupon it. Timoleon, however, reckoned it some kind of advantage, that these had\r\nthus discovered themselves before the battle, and, encouraging the rest, led\r\nthem with all speed to the river Crimesus, where it was told him the\r\nCarthaginians were drawn together.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs he was marching up an ascent, from the top of which they expected to have a\r\nview of the army and of the strength of the enemy, there met him by chance a\r\ntrain of mules loaded with parsley; which his soldiers conceived to be an\r\nominous occurrence or ill-boding token, because this is the herb with which we\r\nnot unfrequently adorn the sepulchres of the dead; and there is a proverb\r\nderived from the custom, used of one who is dangerously sick, that he has need\r\nof nothing but parsley. So, to ease their minds, and free them from any\r\nsuperstitious thoughts or forebodings of evil, Timoleon halted, and concluded\r\nan address, suitable to the occasion, by saying, that a garland of triumph was\r\nhere luckily brought them, and had fallen into their hands of its own accord,\r\nas an anticipation of victory: the same with which the Corinthians crown the\r\nvictors in the Isthmian games, accounting chaplets of parsley the sacred wreath\r\nproper to their country; parsley being at that time still the emblem of victory\r\nat the Isthmian, as it is now at the Nemean sports; and it is not so very long\r\nago that the pine first began to be used in its place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTimoleon, therefore, having thus bespoke his soldiers, took part of the\r\nparsley, and with it made himself a chaplet first, his captains and their\r\ncompanies all following the example of their leader. The soothsayers then,\r\nobserving also two eagles on the wing towards them, one of which bore a snake\r\nstruck through with her talons, and the other, as she flew, uttered a loud cry\r\nindicating boldness and assurance, at once showed them to the soldiers, who\r\nwith one consent fell to supplicate the gods, and call them in to their\r\nassistance. It was now about the beginning of summer, and conclusion of the\r\nmonth called Thargelion, not far from the solstice; and the river sending up a\r\nthick mist, all the adjacent plain was at first darkened with the fog, so that\r\nfor a while they could discern nothing from the enemy’s camp; only a confused\r\nbuzz and undistinguished mixture of voices came up to the hill from the distant\r\nmotions and clamors of so vast a multitude. When the Corinthians had mounted,\r\nand stood on the top, and had laid down their bucklers to take breath and\r\nrepose themselves, the sun coming round and drawing up the vapors from below,\r\nthe gross foggy air that was now gathered and condensed above formed in a cloud\r\nupon the mountains; and, all the under places being clear and open, the river\r\nCrimesus appeared to them again, and they could descry the enemies passing over\r\nit, first with their formidable four horse chariots of war, and then ten\r\nthousand footmen bearing white shields, whom they guessed to be all\r\nCarthaginians, from the splendor of their arms, and the slowness and order of\r\ntheir march. And when now the troops of various other nations, flowing in\r\nbehind them, began to throng for passage in a tumultuous and unruly manner,\r\nTimoleon, perceiving that the river gave them opportunity to single off\r\nwhatever number of their enemies they had a mind to engage at once, and bidding\r\nhis soldiers observe how their forces were divided into two separate bodies by\r\nthe intervention of the stream, some being already over, and others still to\r\nford it, gave Demaretus command to fall in upon the Carthaginians with his\r\nhorse, and disturb their ranks before they should be drawn up into form of\r\nbattle; and coming down into the plain himself, forming his right and left wing\r\nof other Sicilians, intermingling only a few strangers in each, he placed the\r\nnatives of Syracuse in the middle, with the stoutest mercenaries he had about\r\nhis own person; and, waiting a little to observe the action of his horse, when\r\nhe saw they were not only hindered from grappling with the Carthaginians by the\r\narmed chariots that ran to and fro before the army, but forced continually to\r\nwheel about to escape having their ranks broken, and so to repeat their charges\r\nanew, he took his buckler in his hand, and crying out to the foot that they\r\nshould follow him with courage and confidence, he seemed to speak with a more\r\nthan human accent, and a voice stronger than ordinary; whether it were that he\r\nnaturally raised it so high in the vehemence and ardor of his mind to assault\r\nthe enemy, or else, as many then thought, some god or other spoke with him.\r\nWhen his soldiers quickly gave an echo to it, all besought him to lead them on\r\nwithout any further delay, he made a sign to the horse, that they should draw\r\noff from the front where the chariots were, and pass sidewards to attack their\r\nenemies in the flank; then, making his vanguard firm by joining man to man and\r\nbuckler to buckler, he caused the trumpet to sound, and so bore in upon the\r\nCarthaginians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey, for their part, stoutly received and sustained his first onset; and\r\nhaving their bodies armed with breastplates of iron, and helmets of brass on\r\ntheir heads, besides great bucklers to cover and secure them, they could easily\r\nrepel the charge of the Greek spears. But when the business came to a decision\r\nby the sword, where mastery depends no less upon art than strength, all on a\r\nsudden from the mountain tops violent peals of thunder and vivid dashes of\r\nlightning broke out; following upon which the darkness, that had been hovering\r\nabout the higher grounds and the crests of the hills, descending to the place\r\nof battle and bringing a tempest of rain and of wind and hail along with it,\r\nwas driven upon the Greeks behind, and fell only at their backs, but discharged\r\nitself in the very faces of the barbarians, the rain beating on them, and the\r\nlightning dazzling them without cessation; annoyances that in many ways\r\ndistressed at any rate the inexperienced, who had not been used to such\r\nhardships, and, in particular, the claps of thunder, and the noise of the rain\r\nand hail beating on their arms, kept them from hearing the commands of their\r\nofficers. Besides which, the very mud also was a great hindrance to the\r\nCarthaginians, who were not lightly equipped, but, as I said before, loaded\r\nwith heavy armor; and then their shirts underneath getting drenched, the\r\nfoldings about the bosom filled with water, grew unwieldy and cumbersome to\r\nthem as they fought, and made it easy for the Greeks to throw them down, and,\r\nwhen they were once down, impossible for them, under that weight, to disengage\r\nthemselves and rise again with weapons in their hand. The river Crimesus, too,\r\nswollen partly by the rain, and partly by the stoppage of its course with the\r\nnumbers that were passing through, overflowed its banks; and the level ground\r\nby the side of it, being so situated as to have a number of small ravines and\r\nhollows of the hill-side descending upon it, was now filled with rivulets and\r\ncurrents that had no certain channel, in which the Carthaginians stumbled and\r\nrolled about, and found themselves in great difficulty. So that, in fine, the\r\nstorm bearing still upon them, and the Greeks having cut in pieces four hundred\r\nmen of their first ranks, the whole body of their army began to fly. Great\r\nnumbers were overtaken in the plain, and put to the sword there; and many of\r\nthem, as they were making their way back through the river, falling foul upon\r\nothers that were yet coming over, were borne away and overwhelmed by the\r\nwaters; but the major part, attempting to get up the hills and so make their\r\nescape, were intercepted and destroyed by the light-armed troops. It is said,\r\nthat of ten thousand who lay dead after the fight, three thousand, at least,\r\nwere Carthaginian citizens; a heavy loss and great grief to their countrymen;\r\nthose that fell being men inferior to none among them as to birth, wealth, or\r\nreputation. Nor do their records mention that so many native Carthaginians were\r\never cut off before in any one battle; as they usually employed Africans,\r\nSpaniards, and Numidians in their wars, so that if they chanced to be defeated,\r\nit was still at the cost and damage of other nations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Greeks easily discovered of what condition and account the slain were, by\r\nthe richness of their spoils; for when they came to collect the booty, there\r\nwas little reckoning made either of brass or iron, so abundant were better\r\nmetals, and so common were silver and gold Passing over the river, they became\r\nmasters of their camp and carriages. As for captives, a great many of them were\r\nstolen away, and sold privately by the soldiers, but about five thousand were\r\nbrought in and delivered up for the benefit of the public; two hundred of their\r\nchariots of war were also taken. The tent of Timoleon then presented a most\r\nglorious and magnificent appearance, being heaped up and hung round with every\r\nvariety of spoils and military ornaments, among which there were a thousand\r\nbreastplates of rare workmanship and beauty, and bucklers to the number of ten\r\nthousand. The victors being but few to strip so many that were vanquished, and\r\nhaving such valuable booty to occupy them, it was the third day after the fight\r\nbefore they could erect and finish the trophy of their conquest. Timoleon sent\r\ntidings of his victory to Corinth, with the best and goodliest arms he had\r\ntaken as a proof of it; that he thus might render his country an object of\r\nemulation to the whole world, when, of all the cities of Greece, men should\r\nthere alone behold the chief temples adorned, not with Grecian spoils, nor\r\nofferings obtained by the bloodshed and plunder of their own countrymen and\r\nkindred, and attended, therefore, with sad and unhappy remembrances, but with\r\nsuch as had been stripped from barbarians and enemies to their nation, with the\r\nnoblest titles inscribed upon them, titles telling of the justice as well as\r\nfortitude of the conquerors; namely, that the people of Corinth, and Timoleon\r\ntheir general, having redeemed the Greeks of Sicily from Carthaginian bondage,\r\nmade oblation of these to the gods, in grateful acknowledgment of their favor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving done this, he left his hired soldiers in the enemy’s country, to drive\r\nand carry away all they could throughout the subject-territory of Carthage, and\r\nso marched with the rest of his army to Syracuse, where he issued an edict for\r\nbanishing the thousand mercenaries who had basely deserted him before the\r\nbattle, and obliged them to quit the city before sunset. They, sailing into\r\nItaly, lost their lives there by the hands of the Bruttians, in spite of a\r\npublic assurance of safety previously given them; thus receiving, from the\r\ndivine power, a just reward of their own treachery. Mamercus, however, the\r\ntyrant of Catana, and Hicetes, after all, either envying Timoleon the glory of\r\nhis exploits, or fearing him as one that would keep no agreement, nor have any\r\npeace with tyrants, made a league with the Carthaginians, and pressed them much\r\nto send a new army and commander into Sicily, unless they would be content to\r\nhazard all, and to be wholly ejected out of that island. And in consequence of\r\nthis, Gisco was dispatched with a navy of seventy sail. He took numerous Greek\r\nmercenaries also into pay, that being the first time they had ever been\r\nenlisted for the Carthaginian service; but then it seems the Carthaginians\r\nbegan to admire them, as the most irresistible soldiers of all mankind. Uniting\r\ntheir forces in the territory of Messena, they cut off four hundred of\r\nTimoleon’s paid soldiers, and within the dependencies of Carthage, at a place\r\ncalled Hierae, destroyed, by an ambuscade, the whole body of mercenaries that\r\nserved under Euthymus the Leucadian; which accidents, however, made the good\r\nfortune of Timoleon accounted all the more remarkable, as these were the men\r\nthat, with Philomelus of Phocis and Onomarchus, had forcibly broken into the\r\ntemple of Apollo at Delphi, and were partakers with them in the sacrilege; so\r\nthat, being hated and shunned by all, as persons under a curse, they were\r\nconstrained to wander about in Peloponnesus; when, for want of others, Timoleon\r\nwas glad to take them into service in his expedition for Sicily, where they\r\nwere successful in whatever enterprise they attempted under his conduct. But\r\nnow, when all the important dangers were past, on his sending them out for the\r\nrelief and defense of his party in several places, they perished and were\r\ndestroyed at a distance from him, not all together, but in small parties; and\r\nthe vengeance which was destined for them, so accommodating itself to the good\r\nfortune which guarded Timoleon as not to allow any harm or prejudice for good\r\nmen to arise from the punishment of the wicked, the benevolence and kindness\r\nwhich the gods had for Timoleon was thus as distinctly recognized in his\r\ndisasters as in his successes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhat most annoyed the Syracusans was their being insulted and mocked by the\r\ntyrants; as, for example, by Mamercus, who valued himself much upon his gift\r\nfor writing poems and tragedies, and took occasion, when coming to present the\r\ngods with the bucklers of the hired soldiers whom he had killed, to make a\r\nboast of his victory in an insulting elegiac inscription:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThese shields, with purple, gold, and ivory wrought,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWere won by us that but with poor ones fought.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, while Timoleon marched to Calauria, Hicetes made an inroad into the\r\nborders of Syracuse, where he met with considerable booty, and having done much\r\nmischief and havoc, returned back by Calauria itself, in contempt of Timoleon,\r\nand the slender force he had then with him. He, suffering Hicetes to pass\r\nforward, pursued him with his horsemen and light infantry, which Hicetes\r\nperceiving, crossed the river Damyrias, and then stood in a posture to receive\r\nhim; the difficulty of the passage, and the height and steepness of the bank on\r\neach side, giving advantage enough to make him confident. A strange contention\r\nand dispute, meantime, among the officers of Timoleon, a little retarded the\r\nconflict; no one of them was willing to let another pass over before him to\r\nengage the enemy; each man claiming it as a right, to venture first and begin\r\nthe onset; so that their fording was likely to be tumultuous and without order,\r\na mere general struggle which should be the foremost. Timoleon, therefore,\r\ndesiring to decide the quarrel by lot, took a ring from each of the pretenders,\r\nwhich he cast into his own cloak, and, after he had shaken all together, the\r\nfirst he drew out had, by good fortune, the figure of a trophy engraved as a\r\nseal upon it; at the sight of which the young captains all shouted for joy,\r\nand, without waiting any longer to see how chance would determine it for the\r\nrest, took every man his way through the river with all the speed they could\r\nmake, and fell to blows with the enemies, who were not able to bear up against\r\nthe violence of their attack, but fled in haste and left their arms behind them\r\nall alike, and a thousand dead upon the place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after, Timoleon, marching up to the city of the Leontines, took\r\nHicetes alive, and his son Eupolemus, and Euthymus, the commander of his horse,\r\nwho were bound and brought to him by their own soldiers. Hicetes and the\r\nstripling his son were then executed as tyrants and traitors; and Euthymus,\r\nthough a brave man, and one of singular courage, could obtain no mercy, because\r\nhe was charged with contemptuous language in disparagement of the Corinthians\r\nwhen they first sent their forces into Sicily: it is said that he told the\r\nLeontini in a speech, that the news did not sound terrible, nor was any great\r\ndanger to be feared because of\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nCorinthian women coming out of doors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nSo true is it that men are usually more stung and galled by reproachful words\r\nthan hostile actions; and they bear an affront with less patience than an\r\ninjury: to do harm and mischief by deeds is counted pardonable from enemies, as\r\nnothing less can be expected in a state of war whereas virulent and\r\ncontumelious words appear to be the expression of needless hatred, and to\r\nproceed from an excess of rancor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Timoleon came back to Syracuse, the citizens brought the wives and\r\ndaughters of Hicetes and his son to a public trial, and condemned and put them\r\nto death. This seems to be the least pleasing action of Timoleon’s life; since\r\nif he had interposed, the unhappy women would have been spared. He would appear\r\nto have disregarded the thing, and to have given them up to the citizens, who\r\nwere eager to take vengeance for the wrongs done to Dion, who expelled\r\nDionysius; since it was this very Hicetes, who took Arete the wife, and\r\nAristomache the sister of Dion, with a son that had not yet passed his\r\nchildhood, and threw them all together into the sea alive, as related in the\r\nlife of Dion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, he moved towards Catana against Mamercus, who gave him battle near\r\nthe river Abolus, and was overthrown and put to flight, losing above two\r\nthousand men, a considerable part of whom were the Phoenician troops sent by\r\nGisco to his assistance. After this defeat, the Carthaginians sued for peace;\r\nwhich was granted on the conditions that they should confine themselves to the\r\ncountry within the river Lycus, that those of the inhabitants who wished to\r\nremove to the Syracusan territories should be allowed to depart with their\r\nwhole families and fortunes, and, lastly, that Carthage should renounce all\r\nengagements to the tyrants. Mamercus, now forsaken and despairing of success,\r\ntook ship for Italy with the design of bringing in the Lucanians against\r\nTimoleon and the people of Syracuse; but the men in his galleys turning back\r\nand landing again and delivering up Catana to Timoleon, thus obliged him to fly\r\nfor his own safety to Messena, where Hippo was tyrant. Timoleon, however,\r\ncoming up against them, and besieging the city both by sea and land, Hippo,\r\nfearful of the event, endeavored to slip away in a vessel; which the people of\r\nMessena surprised as it was putting off, and seizing on his person, and\r\nbringing all their children from school into the theater, to witness the\r\nglorious spectacle of a tyrant punished, they first publicly scourged and then\r\nput him to death. Mamercus made surrender of himself to Timoleon, with the\r\nproviso, that he should be tried at Syracuse, and Timoleon should take no part\r\nin his accusation. Thither he was brought accordingly, and presenting himself\r\nto plead before the people, he essayed to pronounce an oration he had long\r\nbefore composed in his own defense; but finding himself interrupted by noise\r\nand clamors, and observing from their aspect and demeanor that the assembly was\r\ninexorable, he threw off his upper garment, and running across the theater as\r\nhard as he could, dashed his head against one of the stones under the seats\r\nwith intention to have killed himself; but he had not the fortune to perish, as\r\nhe designed, but was taken up alive, and suffered the death of a robber.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus did Timoleon cut the nerves of tyranny, and put a period to their wars;\r\nand, whereas, at his first entering upon Sicily, the island was as it were\r\nbecome wild again, and was hateful to the very natives on account of the evils\r\nand miseries they suffered there, he so civilized and restored it, and rendered\r\nit so desirable to all men, that even strangers now came by sea to inhabit\r\nthose towns and places which their own citizens had formerly forsaken and left\r\ndesolate. Agrigentum and Gela, two famous cities that had been ruined and laid\r\nwaste by the Carthaginians after the Attic war, were then peopled again, the\r\none by Megellus and Pheristus from Elea, the other by Gorgus, from the island\r\nof Ceos, partly with new settlers, partly with the old inhabitants whom they\r\ncollected again from various parts; to all of whom Timoleon not only afforded a\r\nsecure and peaceable abode after so obstinate a war, but was further so zealous\r\nin assisting and providing for them that he was honored among them as their\r\nfounder. Similar feelings also possessed to such a degree all the rest of the\r\nSicilians, that there was no proposal for peace, nor reformation of laws, nor\r\nassignation of land, nor reconstitution of government, which they could think\r\nwell of, unless he lent his aid as a chief architect, to finish and adorn the\r\nwork, and superadd some touches from his own hand, which might render it\r\npleasing both to God and man.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlthough Greece had in his time produced several persons of extraordinary\r\nworth, and much renowned for their achievements, such as Timotheus and\r\nAgesilaus and Pelopidas and (Timoleon’s chief model) Epaminondas, yet the\r\nlustre of their best actions was obscured by a degree of violence and labor,\r\ninsomuch that some of them were matter of blame and of repentance; whereas\r\nthere is not any one act of Timoleon’s, setting aside the necessity he was\r\nplaced under in reference to his brother, to which, as Timaeus observes, we may\r\nnot fitly apply that exclamation of Sophocles:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nO gods! what Venus, or what grace divine,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDid here with human workmanship combine?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor as the poetry of Antimachus, and the painting of Dionysius, the artists of\r\nColophon, though full of force and vigor, yet appeared to be strained and\r\nelaborate in comparison with the pictures of Nicomachus and the verses of\r\nHomer, which, besides their general strength and beauty, have the peculiar\r\ncharm of seeming to have been executed with perfect ease and readiness; so the\r\nexpeditions and acts of Epaminondas or Agesilaus, that were full of toil and\r\neffort, when compared with the easy and natural as well as noble and glorious\r\nachievements of Timoleon, compel our fair and unbiased judgment to pronounce\r\nthe latter not indeed the effect of fortune, but the success of fortunate\r\nmerit. Though he himself indeed ascribed that success to the sole favor of\r\nfortune; and both in the letters which he wrote to his friends at Corinth, and\r\nin the speeches he made to the people of Syracuse, he would say, that he was\r\nthankful unto God, who, designing to save Sicily, was pleased to honor him with\r\nthe name and title of the deliverance he vouchsafed it. And having built a\r\nchapel in his house, he there sacrificed to Good Hap, as a deity that had\r\nfavored him, and devoted the house itself to the Sacred Genius; it being a\r\nhouse which the Syracusans had selected for him, as a special reward and\r\nmonument of his brave exploits, granting him together with it the most\r\nagreeable and beautiful piece of land in the whole country, where he kept his\r\nresidence for the most part, and enjoyed a private life with his wife and\r\nchildren, who came to him from Corinth. For he returned thither no more,\r\nunwilling to be concerned in the broils and tumults of Greece, or to expose\r\nhimself to public envy (the fatal mischief which great commanders continually\r\nrun into, from the insatiable appetite for honors and authority); but wisely\r\nchose to spend the remainder of his days in Sicily, and there partake of the\r\nblessings he himself had procured, the greatest of which was, to behold so many\r\ncities flourish, and so many thousands of people live happy through his means.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs, however, not only, as Simonides says, “On every lark must grow a crest,”\r\nbut also in every democracy there must spring up a false accuser, so was it at\r\nSyracuse: two of their popular spokesmen, Laphystius and Demaenetus by name,\r\nfell to slander Timoleon. The former of whom requiring him to put in sureties\r\nthat he would answer to an indictment that would be brought against him,\r\nTimoleon would not suffer the citizens, who were incensed at this demand, to\r\noppose it or hinder the proceeding, since he of his own accord had been, he\r\nsaid, at all that trouble, and run so many dangerous risks for this very end\r\nand purpose, that every one who wished to try matters by law should freely have\r\nrecourse to it. And when Demaenetus, in a full audience of the people, laid\r\nseveral things to his charge which had been done while he was general, he made\r\nno other reply to him, but only said he was much indebted to the gods for\r\ngranting the request he had so often made them, namely, that he might live to\r\nsee the Syracusans enjoy that liberty of speech which they now seemed to be\r\nmasters of.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTimoleon, therefore, having by confession of all done the greatest and the\r\nnoblest things of any Greek of his age, and alone distinguished himself in\r\nthose actions to which their orators and philosophers, in their harangues and\r\npanegyrics at their solemn national assemblies, used to exhort and incite the\r\nGreeks, and being withdrawn beforehand by happy fortune, unspotted and without\r\nblood, from the calamities of civil war, in which ancient Greece was soon after\r\ninvolved; having also given full proof, as of his sage conduct and manly\r\ncourage to the barbarians and tyrants, so of his justice and gentleness to the\r\nGreeks, and his friends in general; having raised, too, the greater part of\r\nthose trophies he won in battle, without any tears shed or any mourning worn by\r\nthe citizens either of Syracuse or Corinth, and within less than eight years’\r\nspace delivered Sicily from its inveterate grievances and intestine distempers,\r\nand given it up free to the native inhabitants, began, as he was now growing\r\nold, to find his eyes fail, and awhile after became perfectly blind. Not that\r\nhe had done anything himself which might occasion this defect, or was deprived\r\nof his sight by any outrage of fortune; it seems rather to have been some\r\ninbred and hereditary weakness that was founded in natural causes, which by\r\nlength of time came to discover itself. For it is said, that several of his\r\nkindred and family were subject to the like gradual decay, and lost all use of\r\ntheir eyes, as he did, in their declining years. Athanis the historian tells\r\nus, that even during the war against Hippo and Mamercus, while he was in his\r\ncamp at Mylae, there appeared a white speck within his eye, from whence all\r\ncould foresee the deprivation that was coming on him; this, however, did not\r\nhinder him then from continuing the siege, and prosecuting the war, till he got\r\nboth the tyrants into his power; but upon his coming back to Syracuse, he\r\npresently resigned the authority of sole commander, and besought the citizens\r\nto excuse him from any further service, since things were already brought to so\r\nfair an issue. Nor is it so much to be wondered, that he himself should bear\r\nthe misfortune without any marks of trouble; but the respect and gratitude\r\nwhich the Syracusans showed him when he was entirely blind, may justly deserve\r\nour admiration. They used to go themselves to visit him in troops, and brought\r\nall the strangers that traveled through their country to his house and manor,\r\nthat they also might have the pleasure to see their noble benefactor; making it\r\nthe great matter of their joy and exultation, that when, after so many brave\r\nand happy exploits, he might have returned with triumph into Greece, he should\r\ndisregard all the glorious preparations that were there made to receive him,\r\nand choose rather to stay here and end his days among them. Of the various\r\nthings decreed and done in honor of Timoleon, I consider one most signal\r\ntestimony to have been the vote which they passed, that, whenever they should\r\nbe at war with any foreign nation, they should make use of none but a\r\nCorinthian general. The method, also, of their proceeding in council, was a\r\nnoble demonstration of the same deference for his person. For, determining\r\nmatters of less consequence themselves, they always called him to advise in the\r\nmore difficult cases, and such as were of greater moment. He was, on these\r\noccasions, carried through the market-place in a litter, and brought in,\r\nsitting, into the theater, where the people with one voice saluted him by his\r\nname; and then, after returning the courtesy, and pausing for a time, till the\r\nnoise of their gratulations and blessings began to cease, he heard the business\r\nin debate, and delivered his opinion. This being confirmed by a general\r\nsuffrage, his servants went back with the litter through the midst of the\r\nassembly, the people waiting on him out with acclamations and applauses, and\r\nthen returning to consider other public matters, which they could dispatch in\r\nhis absence. Being thus cherished in his old age, with all the respect and\r\ntenderness due to a common father, he was seized with a very slight\r\nindisposition, which however was sufficient, with the aid of time, to put a\r\nperiod to his life. There was an allotment then of certain days given, within\r\nthe space of which the Syracusans were to provide whatever should be necessary\r\nfor his burial, and all the neighboring country people and strangers were to\r\nmake their appearance in a body; so that the funeral pomp was set out with\r\ngreat splendor and magnificence in all other respects, and the bier, decked\r\nwith ornaments and trophies, was borne by a select body of young men over that\r\nground where the palace and castle of Dionysius stood, before they were\r\ndemolished by Timoleon. There attended on the solemnity several thousands of\r\nmen and women, all crowned with flowers, and arrayed in fresh and clean attire,\r\nwhich made it look like the procession of a public festival; while the language\r\nof all, and their tears mingling with their praise and benediction of the dead\r\nTimoleon, manifestly showed that it was not any superficial honor, or commanded\r\nhomage, which they paid him, but the testimony of a just sorrow for his death,\r\nand the expression of true affection. The bier at length being placed upon the\r\npile of wood that was kindled to consume his corpse, Demetrius, one of their\r\nloudest criers, proceeded to read a proclamation to the following purpose: “The\r\npeople of Syracuse has made a special decree to inter Timoleon, the son of\r\nTimodemus, the Corinthian, at the common expense of two hundred minas, and to\r\nhonor his memory forever, by the establishment of annual prizes to be competed\r\nfor in music, and horse races, and all sorts of bodily exercise; and this,\r\nbecause he suppressed the tyrants, overthrew the barbarians, replenished the\r\nprincipal cities, that were desolate, with new inhabitants, and then restored\r\nthe Sicilian Greeks to the privilege of living by their own laws.” Besides\r\nthis, they made a tomb for him in the marketplace, which they afterwards built\r\nround with colonnades, and attached to it places of exercise for the young men,\r\nand gave it the name of the Timoleonteum. And keeping to that form and order of\r\ncivil policy and observing those laws and constitutions which he left them,\r\nthey lived themselves a long time in great prosperity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap19\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eAEMILIUS PAULUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlmost all historians agree that the Aemilii were one of the ancient and\r\npatrician houses in Rome; and those authors who affirm that king Numa was pupil\r\nto Pythagoras, tell us that the first who gave the name to his posterity was\r\nMamercus, the son of Pythagoras, who, for his grace and address in speaking,\r\nwas called Aemilius. Most of this race that have risen through their merit to\r\nreputation, also enjoyed good fortune; and even the misfortune of Lucius Paulus\r\nat the battle of Cannae, gave testimony to his wisdom and valor. For, not being\r\nable to persuade his colleague not to hazard the battle, he, though against his\r\njudgment, joined with him in the contest, but was no companion in his flight:\r\non the contrary, when he that was so resolute to engage deserted him in the\r\nmidst of danger, he kept the field, and died fighting. This Aemilius had a\r\ndaughter named Aemilia, who was married to Scipio the Great, and a son Paulus,\r\nwho is the subject of my present history.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn his early manhood, which fell at a time when Rome was flourishing with\r\nillustrious characters, he was distinguished for not attaching himself to the\r\nstudies usual with the young men of mark of that age, nor treading the same\r\npaths to fame. For he did not practice oratory with a view to pleading causes,\r\nnor would he stoop to salute, embrace, and entertain the vulgar, which were the\r\nusual insinuating arts by which many grew popular. Not that he was incapable of\r\neither, but he chose to purchase a much more lasting glory by his valor,\r\njustice, and integrity, and in these virtues he soon outstripped all his\r\nequals.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe first honorable office he aspired to was that of aedile, which he carried\r\nagainst twelve competitors of such merit, that all of them in process of time\r\nwere consuls. Being afterwards chosen into the number of priests called augurs,\r\nappointed amongst the Romans to observe and register divinations made by the\r\nflight of birds or prodigies in the air, he so carefully studied the ancient\r\ncustoms of his country, and so thoroughly understood the religion of his\r\nancestors, that this office, which was before only esteemed a title of honor\r\nand merely upon that account sought after, by his means rose to the rank of one\r\nof the highest arts, and gave a confirmation to the correctness of the\r\ndefinition which some philosophers have given of religion, that it is the\r\nscience of worshiping the gods. When he performed any part of his duty, he did\r\nit with great skill and utmost care, making it, when he was engaged in it, his\r\nonly business, not omitting any one ceremony, or adding the least circumstance,\r\nbut always insisting, with his companions of the same order, even on points\r\nthat might seem inconsiderable, and urging upon them, that though they might\r\nthink the deity was easily pacified, and ready to forgive faults of\r\ninadvertency, yet any such laxity was a very dangerous thing for a commonwealth\r\nto allow: because no man ever began the disturbance of his country’s peace by a\r\nnotorious breach of its laws; and those who are careless in trifles, give a\r\nprecedent for remissness in important duties. Nor was he less severe, in\r\nrequiring and observing the ancient Roman discipline in military affairs; not\r\nendeavoring, when he had the command, to ingratiate himself with his soldiers\r\nby popular flattery, though this custom prevailed at that time amongst many,\r\nwho, by favor and gentleness to those that were under them in their first\r\nemployment, sought to be promoted to a second; but, by instructing them in the\r\nlaws of military discipline with the same care and exactness a priest would use\r\nin teaching ceremonies and dreadful mysteries, and by severity to such as\r\ntransgressed and contemned those laws, he maintained his country in its former\r\ngreatness, esteeming victory over enemies itself but as an accessory to the\r\nproper training and disciplining of the citizens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst the Romans were engaged in war with Antiochus the Great, against whom\r\ntheir most experienced commanders were employed, there arose another war in the\r\nwest, and they were all up in arms in Spain. Thither they sent Aemilius, in the\r\nquality of praetor, not with six axes, which number other praetors were\r\naccustomed to have carried before them, but with twelve; so that in his\r\npraetorship he was honored with the dignity of a consul. He twice overcame the\r\nbarbarians in battle, thirty thousand of whom were slain: successes chiefly to\r\nbe ascribed to the wisdom and conduct of the commander, who by his great skill\r\nin choosing the advantage of the ground, and making the onset at the passage of\r\na river, gave his soldiers an easy victory. Having made himself master of two\r\nhundred and fifty cities, whose inhabitants voluntarily yielded, and bound\r\nthemselves by oath to fidelity, he left the province in peace, and returned to\r\nRome, not enriching himself a drachma by the war. And, indeed, in general, he\r\nwas but remiss in making money; though he always lived freely and generously on\r\nwhat he had, which was so far from being excessive, that after his death there\r\nwas but barely enough left to answer his wife’s dowry.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis first wife was Papiria, the daughter of Maso, who had formerly been consul.\r\nWith her he lived a considerable time in wedlock, and then divorced her, though\r\nshe had made him the father of noble children; being mother of the renowned\r\nScipio, and Fabius Maximus. The reason of this separation has not come to our\r\nknowledge; but there seems to be a truth conveyed in the account of another\r\nRoman’s being divorced from his wife, which may be applicable here. This person\r\nbeing highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, Was she not chaste? was she\r\nnot fair? was she not fruitful? holding out his shoe, asked them, Whether it\r\nwas not new? and well made? Yet, added he, none of you can tell where it\r\npinches me. Certain it is, that great and open faults have often led to no\r\nseparation; while mere petty repeated annoyances, arising from unpleasantness\r\nor incongruity of character, have been the occasion of such estrangement as to\r\nmake it impossible for man and wife to live together with any content.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAemilius, having thus put away Papiria, married a second wife, by whom he had\r\ntwo sons, whom he brought up in his own house, transferring the two former into\r\nthe greatest and most noble families of Rome. The elder was adopted into the\r\nhouse of Fabius Maximus, who was five times consul; the younger, by the son of\r\nScipio Africanus, his cousin-german, and was by him named Scipio.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf the daughters of Aemilius, one was married to the son of Cato, the other to\r\nAelius Tubero, a most worthy man, and the one Roman who best succeeded in\r\ncombining liberal habits with poverty. For there were sixteen near relations,\r\nall of them of the family of the Aelii, possessed of but one farm, which\r\nsufficed them all, whilst one small house, or rather cottage, contained them,\r\ntheir numerous offspring, and their wives; amongst whom was the daughter of our\r\nAemilius, who, although her father had been twice consul, and had twice\r\ntriumphed, was not ashamed of her husband’s poverty, but proud of his virtue\r\nthat kept him poor. Far otherwise it is with the brothers and relations of this\r\nage, who, unless whole tracts of land, or at least walls and rivers, part their\r\ninheritances, and keep them at a distance, never cease from mutual quarrels.\r\nHistory suggests a variety of good counsel of this sort, by the way, to those\r\nwho desire to learn and improve.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo proceed: Aemilius, being chosen consul, waged war with the Ligurians, or\r\nLigustines, a people near the Alps. They were a bold and warlike nation, and\r\ntheir neighborhood to the Romans had begun to give them skill in the arts of\r\nwar. They occupy the further parts of Italy ending under the Alps, and those\r\nparts of the Alps themselves which are washed by the Tuscan sea and face\r\ntowards Africa, mingled there with Gauls and Iberians of the coast. Besides, at\r\nthat time they had turned their thoughts to the sea, and sailing as far as the\r\nPillars of Hercules in light vessels fitted for that purpose, robbed and\r\ndestroyed all that trafficked in those parts. They, with an army of forty\r\nthousand, waited the coming of Aemilius, who brought with him not above eight\r\nthousand, so that the enemy was five to one when they engaged; yet he\r\nvanquished and put them to flight, forcing them to retire into their walled\r\ntowns, and in this condition offered them fair conditions of accommodation; it\r\nbeing the policy of the Romans not utterly to destroy the Ligurians, because\r\nthey were a sort of guard and bulwark against the frequent attempts of the\r\nGauls to overrun Italy. Trusting wholly therefore to Aemilius, they delivered\r\nup their towns and shipping into his hands. He, at the utmost, razed only the\r\nfortifications, and delivered their towns to them again, but took away all\r\ntheir shipping with him, leaving them no vessels bigger than those of three\r\noars, and set at liberty great numbers of prisoners they had taken both by sea\r\nand land, strangers as well as Romans. These were the acts most worthy of\r\nremark in his first consulship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfterwards he frequently intimated his desire of being a second time consul,\r\nand was once candidate; but, meeting with a repulse and being passed by, he\r\ngave up all thought of it, and devoted himself to his duties as augur, and to\r\nthe education of his children, whom he not only brought up, as he himself had\r\nbeen, in the Roman and ancient discipline, but also with unusual zeal in that\r\nof Greece. To this purpose he not only procured masters to teach them grammar,\r\nlogic, and rhetoric, but had for them also preceptors in modeling and drawing,\r\nmanagers of horses and dogs, and instructors in field sports, all from Greece.\r\nAnd, if he was not hindered by public affairs, he himself would be with them at\r\ntheir studies, and see them perform their exercises, being the most\r\naffectionate father in Rome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was the time, in public matters, when the Romans were engaged in war with\r\nPerseus, king of the Macedonians, and great complaints were made of their\r\ncommanders, who, either through their want of skill or courage, were conducting\r\nmatters so shamefully, that they did less hurt to the enemy than they received\r\nfrom him. They that not long before had forced Antiochus the Great to quit the\r\nrest of Asia, to retire beyond Mount Taurus, and confine himself to Syria, glad\r\nto buy his peace with fifteen thousand talents; they that not long since had\r\nvanquished king Philip in Thessaly, and freed the Greeks from the Macedonian\r\nyoke; nay, had overcome Hannibal himself, who far surpassed all kings in daring\r\nand power,thought it scorn that Perseus should think himself an enemy fit to\r\nmatch the Romans, and to be able to wage war with them so long on equal terms,\r\nwith the remainder only of his father’s routed forces; not being aware that\r\nPhilip after his defeat had greatly improved both the strength and discipline\r\nof the Macedonian army. To make which appear, I shall briefly recount the story\r\nfrom the beginning.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntigonus, the most powerful amongst the captains and successors of Alexander,\r\nhaving obtained for himself and his posterity the title of king, had a son\r\nnamed Demetrius, father to Antigonus, called Gonatas, and he had a son\r\nDemetrius, who, reigning some short time, died and left a young son called\r\nPhilip. The chief men of Macedon, fearing great confusion might arise in his\r\nminority, called in Antigonus, cousin-german to the late king, and married him\r\nto the widow, the mother of Philip. At first they only styled him regent and\r\ngeneral, but, when they found by experience that he governed the kingdom with\r\nmoderation and to general advantage, gave him the title of king. This was he\r\nthat was surnamed Doson, as if he was a great promiser, and a bad performer. To\r\nhim succeeded Philip, who in his youth gave great hopes of equaling the best of\r\nkings, and that he one day would restore Macedon to its former state and\r\ndignity, and prove himself the one man able to check the power of the Romans,\r\nnow rising and extending over the whole world. But, being vanquished in a\r\npitched battle by Titus Flamininus near Scotussa, his resolution failed, and he\r\nyielded himself and all that he had to the mercy of the Romans, well contented\r\nthat he could escape with paying a small tribute. Yet afterwards, recollecting\r\nhimself, he bore it with great impatience, and thought he lived rather like a\r\nslave that was pleased with ease, than a man of sense and courage, whilst he\r\nheld his kingdom at the pleasure of his conquerors; which made him turn his\r\nwhole mind to war, and prepare himself with as much cunning and privacy as\r\npossible. To this end, he left his cities on the high roads and sea-coast\r\nungarrisoned, and almost desolate, that they might seem inconsiderable; in the\r\nmean time, collecting large forces up the country, and furnishing his inland\r\nposts, strongholds, and towns, with arms, money, and men fit for service, he\r\nthus provided himself for war, and yet kept his preparations close. He had in\r\nhis armory arms for thirty thousand men; in granaries in places of strength,\r\neight millions of bushels of corn, and as much ready money as would defray the\r\ncharge of maintaining ten thousand mercenary soldiers for ten years in defense\r\nof the country. But before he could put these things into motion, and carry his\r\ndesigns into effect, he died for grief and anguish of mind, being sensible he\r\nhad put his innocent son Demetrius to death, upon the calumnies of one that was\r\nfar more guilty. Perseus, his son that survived, inherited his hatred to the\r\nRomans as well as his kingdom, but was incompetent to carry out his designs,\r\nthrough want of courage, and the viciousness of a character in which, among\r\nfaults and diseases of various sorts, covetousness bore the chief place. There\r\nis a statement also of his not being true born; that the wife of king Philip\r\ntook him from his mother Gnathaenion (a woman of Argos, that earned her living\r\nas a seamstress), as soon as he was born, and passed him upon her husband as\r\nher own. And this might be the chief cause of his contriving the death of\r\nDemetrius; as he might well fear, that so long as there was a lawful successor\r\nin the family, there was no security that his spurious birth might not be\r\nrevealed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNotwithstanding all this, and though his spirit was so mean, and temper so\r\nsordid, yet, trusting to the strength of his resources, he engaged in a war\r\nwith the Romans, and for a long time maintained it; repulsing and even\r\nvanquishing some generals of consular dignity, and some great armies and\r\nfleets. He routed Publius Licinius, who was the first that invaded Macedonia,\r\nin a cavalry battle, slew twenty-five hundred practiced soldiers, and took six\r\nhundred prisoners; and, surprising their fleet as they rode at anchor before\r\nOreus, he took twenty ships of burden with all their lading, sunk the rest that\r\nwere freighted with corn, and, besides this, made himself master of four\r\ngalleys with five banks of oars. He fought a second battle with Hostilius, a\r\nconsular officer, as he was making his way into the country at Elimiae, and\r\nforced him to retreat; and, when he afterwards by stealth designed an invasion\r\nthrough Thessaly, challenged him to fight, which the other feared to accept.\r\nNay more, to show his contempt of the Romans, and that he wanted employment, as\r\na war by the by, he made an expedition against the Dardanians, in which he slew\r\nten thousand of those barbarian people, and brought a great spoil away. He\r\nprivately, moreover, solicited the Gauls (also called Basternae), a warlike\r\nnation, and famous for horsemen, dwelling near the Danube; and incited the\r\nIllyrians, by the means of Genthius their king, to join with him in the war. It\r\nwas also reported, that the barbarians, allured by promise of rewards, were to\r\nmake an irruption into Italy, through the lower Gaul by the shore of the\r\nAdriatic Sea.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Romans, being advertised of these things, thought it necessary no longer to\r\nchoose their commanders by favor or solicitation, but of their own motion to\r\nselect a general of wisdom and capacity for the management of great affairs.\r\nAnd such was Paulus Aemilius, advanced in years, being nearly threescore, yet\r\nvigorous in his own person, and rich in valiant sons and sons-in-law, besides a\r\ngreat number of influential relations and friends, all of whom joined in urging\r\nhim to yield to the desires of the people, who called him to the consulship. He\r\nat first manifested some shyness of the people, and withdrew himself from their\r\nimportunity, professing reluctance to hold office; but, when they daily came to\r\nhis doors, urging him to come forth to the place of election, and pressing him\r\nwith noise and clamor, he acceded to their request. When he appeared amongst\r\nthe candidates, it did not look as if it were to sue for the consulship, but to\r\nbring victory and success, that he came down into the Campus; they all received\r\nhim there with such hopes and such gladness, unanimously choosing him a second\r\ntime consul; nor would they suffer the lots to be cast, as was usual, to\r\ndetermine which province should fall to his share, but immediately decreed him\r\nthe command of the Macedonian war. It is told, that when he had been proclaimed\r\ngeneral against Perseus, and was honorably accompanied home by great numbers of\r\npeople, he found his daughter Tertia, a very little girl, weeping, and taking\r\nher to him asked her why she was crying. She, catching him about the neck and\r\nkissing him, said, “O father, do you not know that Perseus is dead?” meaning a\r\nlittle dog of that name that was brought up in the house with her; to which\r\nAemilius replied, “Good fortune, my daughter; I embrace the omen.” This Cicero,\r\nthe orator, relates in his book on divination.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was the custom for such as were chosen consuls, from a stage designed for\r\nsuch purposes, to address the people, and return them thanks for their favor.\r\nAemilius, therefore, having gathered an assembly, spoke and said, that he sued\r\nfor the first consulship, because he himself stood in need of such honor; but\r\nfor the second, because they wanted a general; upon which account he thought\r\nthere was no thanks due: if they judged they could manage the war by any other\r\nto more advantage, he would willingly yield up his charge; but, if they\r\nconfided in him, they were not to make themselves his colleagues in his office,\r\nor raise reports, and criticize his actions, but, without talking, supply him\r\nwith means and assistance necessary to the carrying on of the war; for, if they\r\nproposed to command their own commander, they would render this expedition more\r\nridiculous than the former. By this speech he inspired great reverence for him\r\namongst the citizens, and great expectations of future success; all were well\r\npleased, that they had passed by such as sought to be preferred by flattery,\r\nand fixed upon a commander endued with wisdom and courage to tell them the\r\ntruth. So entirely did the people of Rome, that they might rule, and become\r\nmasters of the world, yield obedience and service to reason and superior\r\nvirtue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThat Aemilius, setting forward to the war, by a prosperous voyage and\r\nsuccessful journey, arrived with speed and safety at his camp, I attribute to\r\ngood fortune; but, when I see how the war under his command was brought to a\r\nhappy issue, partly by his own daring boldness, partly by his good counsel,\r\npartly by the ready administration of his friends, partly by his presence of\r\nmind and skill to embrace the most proper advice in the extremity of danger, I\r\ncannot ascribe any of his remarkable and famous actions (as I can those of\r\nother commanders) to his so much celebrated good fortune; unless you will say\r\nthat the covetousness of Perseus was the good fortune of Aemilius. The truth\r\nis, Perseus’ fear of spending his money was the destruction and utter ruin of\r\nall those splendid and great preparations with which the Macedonians were in\r\nhigh hopes to carry on the war with success. For there came at his request ten\r\nthousand horsemen of the Basternae, and as many foot, who were to keep pace\r\nwith them, and supply their places in case of failure; all of them professed\r\nsoldiers, men skilled neither in tilling of land, nor in navigation of ships,\r\nnor able to get their livings by grazing, but whose only business and single\r\nart and trade it was to fight and conquer all that resisted them. When these\r\ncame into the district of Maedica, and encamped and mixed with the king’s\r\nsoldiers, being men of great stature, admirable at their exercises, great\r\nboasters, and loud in their threats against their enemies, they gave new\r\ncourage to the Macedonians, who were ready to think the Romans would not be\r\nable to confront them, but would be struck with terror at their looks and\r\nmotions, they were so strange and so formidable to behold. When Perseus had\r\nthus encouraged his men, and elevated them with these great hopes, as soon as a\r\nthousand gold pieces were demanded for each captain, he was so amazed and\r\nbeside himself at the vastness of the amount, that out of mere stinginess he\r\ndrew back and let himself lose their assistance, as if he had been some\r\nsteward, not the enemy of the Romans, and would have to give an exact account\r\nof the expenses of the war, to those with whom he waged it. Nay, when he had\r\nhis foes as tutors, to instruct him what he had to do, who, besides their other\r\npreparations, had a hundred thousand men drawn together and in readiness for\r\ntheir service; yet he that was to engage against so considerable a force, and\r\nin a war that was maintaining such numbers as this, nevertheless doled out his\r\nmoney, and put seals on his bags, and was as fearful of touching it, as if it\r\nhad belonged to some one else. And all this was done by one, not descended from\r\nLydians or Phoenicians, but who could pretend to some share of the virtues of\r\nAlexander and Philip, whom he was allied to by birth; men who conquered the\r\nworld by judging that empire was to be purchased by money, not money by empire.\r\nCertainly it became a proverb, that not Philip, but his gold took the cities of\r\nGreece. And Alexander, when he undertook his expedition against the Indians,\r\nand found his Macedonians encumbered, and appear to march heavily with their\r\nPersian spoils, first set fire to his own carriages, and thence persuaded the\r\nrest to imitate his example, that thus freed they might proceed to the war\r\nwithout hindrance. Whereas Perseus, abounding in wealth, would not preserve\r\nhimself; his children, and his kingdom, at the expense of a small part of his\r\ntreasure; but chose rather to be carried away with numbers of his subjects with\r\nthe name of the wealthy captive, and show the Romans what great riches he had\r\nhusbanded and preserved for them. For he not only played false with the Gauls,\r\nand sent them away, but also, after alluring Genthius, king of the Illyrians,\r\nby the hopes of three hundred talents, to assist him in the war, he caused the\r\nmoney to be counted out in the presence of his messengers, and to be sealed up.\r\nUpon which Genthius, thinking himself possessed of what he desired, committed a\r\nwicked and shameful act: he seized and imprisoned the ambassadors sent to him\r\nfrom the Romans. Whence Perseus, concluding that there was now no need of money\r\nto make Genthius an enemy to the Romans, but that he had given a lasting\r\nearnest of his enmity, and by his flagrant injustice sufficiently involved\r\nhimself in the war, defrauded the unfortunate king of his three hundred\r\ntalents, and without any concern beheld him, his wife, and children, in a short\r\ntime after, carried out of their kingdom, as from their nest, by Lucius\r\nAnicius, who was sent against him with an army.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAemilius, coming against such an adversary, made light indeed of him, but\r\nadmired his preparation and power. For he had four thousand horse, and not much\r\nfewer than forty thousand full-armed foot of the phalanx; and planting himself\r\nalong the seaside, at the foot of Mount Olympus, in ground with no access on\r\nany side, and on all sides fortified with fences and bulwarks of wood, remained\r\nin great security, thinking by delay and expense to weary out Aemilius. But he,\r\nin the meantime, busy in thought, weighed all counsels and all means of attack,\r\nand perceiving his soldiers, from their former want of discipline, to be\r\nimpatient of delay, and ready on all occasions to teach their general his duty,\r\nrebuked them, and bade them not meddle with what was not their concern, but\r\nonly take care that they and their arms were in readiness, and to use their\r\nswords like Romans when their commander should think fit to employ them.\r\nFurther he ordered, that the sentinels by night should watch without javelins,\r\nthat thus they might be more careful and surer to resist sleep, having no arms\r\nto defend themselves against any attacks of an enemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhat most annoyed the army was the want of water; for only a little, and that\r\nfoul, flowed out, or rather came by drops from a spring adjoining the sea; but\r\nAemilius, considering that he was at the foot of the high and woody mountain\r\nOlympus, and conjecturing by the flourishing growth of the trees that there\r\nwere springs that had their course under ground, dug a great many holes and\r\nwells along the foot of the mountain, which were presently filled with pure\r\nwater escaping from its confinement into the vacuum they afforded. Although\r\nthere are some, indeed, who deny that there are reservoirs of water lying ready\r\nprovided out of sight, in the places from whence springs flow, and that when\r\nthey appear, they merely issue and run out; on the contrary, they say, they are\r\nthen formed and come into existence for the first time, by the liquefaction of\r\nthe surrounding matter; and that this change is caused by density and cold,\r\nwhen the moist vapor, by being closely pressed together, becomes fluid. As\r\nwomen’s breasts are not like vessels full of milk always prepared and ready to\r\nflow from them; but their nourishment being changed in their breasts, is there\r\nmade milk, and from thence is pressed out. In like manner, places of the earth\r\nthat are cold and full of springs, do not contain any hidden waters or\r\nreceptacles which are capable, as from a source always ready and furnished, of\r\nsupplying all the brooks and deep rivers; but, by compressing and condensing\r\nthe vapors and air, they turn them into that substance. And thus places that\r\nare dug open flow by that pressure, and afford the more water (as the breasts\r\nof women do milk by their being sucked), the vapor thus moistening and becoming\r\nfluid; whereas ground that remains idle and undug is not capable of producing\r\nany water, whilst it wants that motion which is the cause of liquefaction. But\r\nthose that assert this opinion, give occasion to the doubtful to argue, that on\r\nthe same ground there should be no blood in living creatures, but that it must\r\nbe formed by the wound, some sort of spirit or flesh being changed into a\r\nliquid and flowing matter. Moreover, they are refuted by the fact that men who\r\ndig mines, either in sieges or for metals, meet with rivers, which are not\r\ncollected by little and little (as must necessarily be, if they had their being\r\nat the very instant the earth was opened), but break out at once with violence;\r\nand upon the cutting through a rock, there often gush out great quantities of\r\nwater, which then as suddenly cease. But of this enough.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAemilius lay still for some days, and it is said, that there were never two\r\ngreat armies so nigh, that enjoyed so much quiet. When he had tried and\r\nconsidered all things, he was informed that there was yet one passage left\r\nunguarded, through Perrhaebia by the temple of Apollo and the Rock. Gathering,\r\ntherefore, more hope from the place being left defenseless than fear from the\r\nroughness and difficulty of the passage, he proposed it for consultation.\r\nAmongst those that were present at the council, Scipio, surnamed Nasica,\r\nson-in-law to Scipio Africanus, who afterwards was so powerful in the\r\nsenate-house, was the first that offered himself to command those that should\r\nbe sent to encompass the enemy. Next to him, Fabius Maximus, eldest son of\r\nAemilius, although yet very young, offered himself with great zeal. Aemilius,\r\nrejoicing, gave them, not so many as Polybius states, but, as Nasica himself\r\ntells us in a brief letter which he wrote to one of the kings with an account\r\nof the expedition, three thousand Italians that were not Romans, and his left\r\nwing consisting of five thousand. Taking with him, besides these, one hundred\r\nand twenty horsemen, and two hundred Thracians and Cretans intermixed that\r\nHarpalus had sent, he began his journey towards the sea, and encamped near the\r\ntemple of Hercules, as if he designed to embark, and so to sail round and\r\nenviron the enemy. But when the soldiers had supped and it was dark, he made\r\nthe captains acquainted with his real intentions, and marching all night in the\r\nopposite direction, away from the sea, till he came under the temple of Apollo,\r\nthere rested his army. At this place Mount Olympus rises in height more than\r\nten furlongs, as appears by the epigram made by the man that measured it:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe summit of Olympus, at the site\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhere stands Apollo’s temple, has a height\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOf full ten furlongs by the line, and more,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTen furlongs, and one hundred feet, less four.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nEumelus’ son Xenagoras, reached the place.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAdieu, O king, and do thy pilgrim grace.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is allowed, say the geometricians, that no mountain in height or sea in\r\ndepth exceeds ten furlongs, and yet it seems probable that Xenagoras did not\r\ntake his admeasurement carelessly, but according to the rules of art, and with\r\ninstruments for the purpose. Here it was that Nasica passed the night.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA Cretan deserter, who fled to the enemy during the march, discovered to\r\nPerseus the design which the Romans had to encompass him: for he, seeing that\r\nAemilius lay still, had not suspected any such attempt. He was startled at the\r\nnews, yet did not put his army in motion, but sent ten thousand mercenary\r\nsoldiers and two thousand Macedonians, under command of Milo, with order to\r\nhasten and possess themselves of the passes. Polybius relates that the Romans\r\nfound these men asleep when they attacked them; but Nasica says there was a\r\nsharp and severe conflict on the top of the mountain, that he himself\r\nencountered a mercenary Thracian, pierced him through with his javelin, and\r\nslew him; and that the enemy being forced to retreat, Milo stripped to his coat\r\nand fled shamefully without his armor, while he followed without danger, and\r\nconveyed the whole army down into the country.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this event, Perseus, now grown fearful, and fallen from his hopes,\r\nremoved his camp in all haste; he was under the necessity either to stop before\r\nPydna, and there run the hazard of a battle, or disperse his army into cities,\r\nand there expect the event of the war, which, having once made its way into his\r\ncountry, could not be driven out without great slaughter and bloodshed. But\r\nPerseus, being told by his friends that he was much superior in number, and\r\nthat men fighting in the defense of their wives and children must needs feel\r\nall the more courage, especially when all was done in the sight of their king,\r\nwho himself was engaged in equal danger, was thus again encouraged; and,\r\npitching his camp, prepared himself to fight, viewed the country, and gave out\r\nthe commands, as if he designed to set upon the Romans as soon as they\r\napproached. The place was a field fit for the action of a phalanx, which\r\nrequires smooth standing and even ground, and also had divers little hills, one\r\njoining another, fit for the motions whether in retreat or advance of light\r\ntroops and skirmishers. Through the middle ran the rivers Aeson and Leucus,\r\nwhich, though not very deep, it being the latter end of summer, yet were likely\r\nenough to give the Romans some trouble.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as Aemilius had rejoined Nasica, he advanced in battle array against\r\nthe enemy; but when he found how they were drawn up, and the number of their\r\nforces, he regarded them with admiration and surprise, and halted, considering\r\nwithin himself. The young commanders, eager to fight, riding along, by his\r\nside, pressed him not to delay, and most of all Nasica, flushed with his late\r\nsuccess on Olympus. To whom Aemilius answered with a smile: “So would I do,\r\nwere I of your age; but many victories have taught me the ways in which men are\r\ndefeated, and forbid me to engage soldiers weary with a long march, against an\r\narmy drawn up and prepared for battle.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen he gave command that the front of his army, and such as were in sight of\r\nthe enemy, should form as if ready to engage, and those in the rear should cast\r\nup the trenches and fortify the camp; so that the hindmost in succession\r\nwheeling off by degrees and withdrawing, their whole order was insensibly\r\nbroken up, and the army encamped without noise or trouble.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen it was night, and, supper being over, all were turning to sleep and rest,\r\non a sudden the moon, which was then at full and high in the heavens, grew\r\ndark, and by degrees losing her light, passed through various colors, and at\r\nlength was totally eclipsed. The Romans, according to their custom, clattering\r\nbrass pans and lifting up firebrands and torches into the air, invoked the\r\nreturn of her light; the Macedonians behaved far otherwise: terror and\r\namazement seized their whole army, and a rumor crept by degrees into their camp\r\nthat this eclipse portended even that of their king. Aemilius was no novice in\r\nthese things, nor was ignorant of the nature of the seeming irregularities of\r\neclipses, that in a certain revolution of time, the moon in her course enters\r\nthe shadow of the earth and is there obscured, till, passing the region of\r\ndarkness, she is again enlightened by the Sun. Yet being a devout man, a\r\nreligious observer of sacrifices and the art of divination, as soon as he\r\nperceived the moon beginning to regain her former lustre, he offered up to her\r\neleven heifers. At the break of day he sacrificed as many as twenty in\r\nsuccession to Hercules, without any token that his offering was accepted; but\r\nat the one and twentieth, the signs promised victory to defenders. He then\r\nvowed a hecatomb and solemn sports to Hercules, and commanded his captains to\r\nmake ready for battle, staying only till the sun should decline and come round\r\nto the west, lest, being in their faces in the morning, it should dazzle the\r\neyes of his soldiers. Thus he whiled away the time in his tent, which was open\r\ntowards the plain where his enemies were encamped.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen it grew towards evening, some tell us, Aemilius himself used a stratagem\r\nto induce the enemy to begin the fight; that he turned loose a horse without a\r\nbridle, and sent some of the Romans to catch him, upon whose following the\r\nbeast, the battle began. Others relate that the Thracians, under the command of\r\none Alexander, set upon the Roman beasts of burden that were bringing forage to\r\nthe camp; that to oppose these, a party of seven hundred Ligurians were\r\nimmediately detached; and that, relief coming still from both armies, the main\r\nbodies at last engaged. Aemilius, like a wise pilot, foreseeing by the present\r\nwaves and motion of the armies, the greatness of the following storm, came out\r\nof his tent, went through the legions, and encouraged his soldiers. Nasica, in\r\nthe mean time, who had ridden out to the skirmishers, saw the whole force of\r\nthe enemy on the point of engaging. First marched the Thracians, who, he\r\nhimself tells us, inspired him with most terror; they were of great stature,\r\nwith bright and glittering shields and black frocks under them, their legs\r\narmed with greaves, and they brandished, as they moved, straight and\r\nheavily-ironed spears over their right shoulders. Next the Thracians marched\r\nthe mercenary soldiers, armed after different fashions; with these the\r\nPaeonians were mingled. These were succeeded by a third division, of picked\r\nmen, native Macedonians, the choicest for courage and strength, in the prime of\r\nlife, gleaming with gilt armor and scarlet coats. As these were taking their\r\nplaces they were followed from the camp by the troops in phalanx called the\r\nBrazen Shields, so that the whole plain seemed alive with the flashing of steel\r\nand the glistening of brass; and the hills also with their shouts, as they\r\ncheered each other on. In this order they marched, and with such boldness and\r\nspeed, that those that were first slain died at but two furlongs distance from\r\nthe Roman camp.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe battle being begun, Aemilius came in and found that the foremost of the\r\nMacedonians had already fixed the ends of their spears into the shields of his\r\nRomans, so that it was impossible to come near them with their swords. When he\r\nsaw this, and observed that the rest of the Macedonians took the targets that\r\nhung on their left shoulders, and brought them round before them, and all at\r\nonce stooped their pikes against their enemies’ shields, and considered the\r\ngreat strength of this wall of shields, and the formidable appearance of a\r\nfront thus bristling with arms, he was seized with amazement and alarm; nothing\r\nhe had ever seen before had been equal to it; and in after times he frequently\r\nused to speak both of the sight and of his own sensations. These, however, he\r\ndissembled, and rode through his army without either breast-plate or helmet,\r\nwith a serene and cheerful countenance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the contrary, as Polybius relates, no sooner was the battle begun, but the\r\nMacedonian king basely withdrew to the city Pydna, under a pretence of\r\nsacrificing to Hercules: a God that is not wont to regard the faint offerings\r\nof cowards, or to fulfill unsanctioned vows. For truly it can hardly be a thing\r\nthat heaven would sanction, that he that never shoots should carry away the\r\nprize; he triumph that slinks from the battle; he that takes no pains meet with\r\nsuccess, or the wicked man prosper. But to Aemilius’s petitions the god\r\nlistened; he prayed for victory with his sword in his hand, and fought while\r\nentreating divine assistance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA certain Posidonius, who has at some length written a history of Perseus, and\r\nprofesses to have lived at the time, and to have been himself engaged in these\r\nevents, denies that Perseus left the field either through fear or pretence of\r\nsacrificing, but that, the very day before the fight, he received a kick from a\r\nhorse on his thigh; that though very much disabled, and dissuaded by all his\r\nfriends, he commanded one of his riding-horses to be brought, and entered the\r\nfield unarmed; that amongst an infinite number of darts that flew about on all\r\nsides, one of iron lighted on him, and though not with the point, yet by a\r\nglance struck him with such force on his left side, that it tore his clothes\r\nand so bruised his flesh that the mark remained a long time after. This is what\r\nPosidonius says in defense of Perseus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Romans not being able to make a breach in the phalanx, one Salius, a\r\ncommander of the Pelignians, snatched the ensign of his company and threw it\r\namongst the enemies; on seeing which, the Pelignians (as amongst the Italians\r\nit is always thought the greatest breach of honor to abandon a standard) rushed\r\nwith great violence towards the place, where the conflict grew very fierce, and\r\nthe slaughter terrible on both sides. For these endeavored to cut the spears\r\nasunder with their swords, or to beat them back with their shields, or put them\r\nby with their hands; and, on the other side, the Macedonians held their long\r\nsarissas in both hands, and pierced those that came in their way quite through\r\ntheir armor, no shield or corslet being able to resist the force of that\r\nweapon. The Pelignians and Marrucinians were thrown headlong to the ground,\r\nhaving without consideration, with mere animal fury, rushed upon a certain\r\ndeath. Their first ranks being slain, those that were behind were forced to\r\ngive back; it cannot be said they fled, but they retreated towards Mount\r\nOlocrus. When Aemilius saw this, Posidonius relates, he rent his clothes, some\r\nof his men being ready to fly, and the rest not willing to engage with a\r\nphalanx into which they could not hope to make any entrance, a sort of\r\npalisade, as it were, impregnable and unapproachable, with its close array of\r\nlong spears everywhere meeting the assailant. Nevertheless, the unequalness of\r\nthe ground would not permit a widely extended front to be so exactly drawn up\r\nas to have their shields everywhere joined; and Aemilius perceived that there\r\nwere a great many interstices and breaches in the Macedonian phalanx; as it\r\nusually happens in all great armies, according to the different efforts of the\r\ncombatants, who in one part press forward with eagerness, and in another are\r\nforced to fall back. Taking, therefore, this occasion, with all speed he broke\r\nup his men into their cohorts, and gave them order to fall into the intervals\r\nand openings of the enemy’s body, and not to make one general attack upon them\r\nall, but to engage, as they were divided, in several partial battles. These\r\ncommands Aemilius gave to his captains, and they to their soldiers; and no\r\nsooner had they entered the spaces and separated their enemies, but they\r\ncharged them, some on their side where they were naked and exposed, and others,\r\nmaking a circuit, behind; and thus destroyed the force of the phalanx, which\r\nconsisted in common action and close union. And now, come to fight man to man,\r\nor in small parties, the Macedonians smote in vain upon firm and long shields\r\nwith their little swords, whilst their slight bucklers were not able to sustain\r\nthe weight and force of the Roman swords, which pierced through all their armor\r\nto their bodies; they turned, in fine, and fled.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe conflict was obstinate. And here Marcus, the son of Cato, and son- in-law\r\nof Aemilius, whilst he showed all possible courage, let fall his sword. Being a\r\nyoung man, carefully brought up and disciplined, and, as son of so renowned a\r\nfather, bound to give proof of more than ordinary virtue, he thought his life\r\nbut a burden, should he live and permit his enemies to enjoy this spoil. He\r\nhurried hither and thither, and wherever he espied a friend or companion,\r\ndeclared his misfortune, and begged their assistance; a considerable number of\r\nbrave men being thus collected, with one accord they made their way through\r\ntheir fellows after their leader, and fell upon the enemy; whom, after a sharp\r\nconflict, many wounds, and much slaughter, they repulsed, possessed the place\r\nthat was now deserted and free, and set themselves to search for the sword,\r\nwhich at last they found covered with a great heap of arms and dead bodies.\r\nOverjoyed with this success, they raised the song of triumph, and with more\r\neagerness than ever, charged the foes that yet remained firm and unbroken. In\r\nthe end, three thousand of the chosen men, who kept their ground and fought\r\nvaliantly to the last, were all cut in pieces, while the slaughter of such as\r\nfled was also very great. The plain and the lower part of the hills were filled\r\nwith dead bodies, and the water of the river Leucus, which the Romans did not\r\npass till the next day after the battle, was then mingled with blood. For it is\r\nsaid there fell more than twenty-five thousand of the enemy; of the Romans, as\r\nPosidonius relates, a hundred; as Nasica, only fourscore. This battle, though\r\nso great, was very quickly decided, it being three in the afternoon when they\r\nfirst engaged, and not four when the enemy was vanquished; the rest of the day\r\nwas spent in the pursuit of the fugitives, whom they followed about thirteen or\r\nfourteen miles, so that it was far in the night when they returned.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll the others were met by their servants with torches, and brought back with\r\njoy and great triumph to their tents, which were set out with lights, and\r\ndecked with wreaths of ivy and laurel. But the general himself was in great\r\ngrief. Of the two sons that served under him in the war, the youngest was\r\nmissing, whom he held most dear, and whose courage and good qualities he\r\nperceived much to excel those of his brothers. Bold and eager for distinction,\r\nand still a mere child in age, he concluded that he had perished, whilst for\r\nwant of experience he had engaged himself too far amongst his enemies. His\r\nsorrow and fears became known to the army; the soldiers, quitting their\r\nsuppers, ran about with lights, some to Aemilius’s tent, some out of the\r\ntrenches, to seek him amongst such as were slain in the first onset. There was\r\nnothing but grief in the camp, and the plain was filled with the cries of men\r\ncalling out for Scipio; for, from his very youth, he was an object of\r\nadmiration; endowed above any of his equals with the good qualities requisite\r\neither for command or counsel. At length, when it was late, and they almost\r\ndespaired, he returned from the pursuit with only two or three of his\r\ncompanions, all covered with the fresh blood of his enemies, having been, like\r\nsome dog of noble breed, carried away by the pleasure, greater than he could\r\ncontrol, of his first victory. This was that Scipio that afterwards destroyed\r\nCarthage and Numantia, and was, without dispute, the first of the Romans in\r\nmerit, and had the greatest authority amongst them. Thus Fortune, deferring her\r\ndispleasure and jealousy of such great success to some other time, let Aemilius\r\nat present enjoy this victory, without any detraction or diminution.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for Perseus, from Pydna he fled to Pella with his cavalry, which was as yet\r\nalmost entire. But when the foot came up with them, and, upbraiding them as\r\ncowards and traitors, tried to pull them off their horses, and fell to blows,\r\nPerseus, fearing the tumult, forsook the common road, and, lest he should be\r\nknown, pulled off his purple, and carried it before him, and took his crown in\r\nhis hand, and, that he might the better converse with his friends, alighted\r\nfrom his horse and led him. Of those that were about him, one stopped,\r\npretending to tie his shoe that was loose, another to water his horse, a third\r\nto drink himself; and thus lagging behind, by degrees left him, they having not\r\nso much reason to fear their enemies, as his cruelty; for he, disordered by his\r\nmisfortune, sought to clear himself by laying the cause of the overthrow upon\r\neverybody else. He arrived at Pella in the night, where Euctus and Eudaeus, two\r\nof his treasurers, came to him, and, what with their reflecting on his former\r\nfaults, and their free and ill-timed admonitions and counsels, so exasperated\r\nhim, that he killed them both, stabbing them with his own dagger. After this,\r\nnobody stuck to him but Evander the Cretan, Archedemus the Aetolian, and Neon\r\nthe Boeotian. Of the common soldiers there followed him only those from Crete,\r\nnot out of any good-will, but because they were as constant to his riches as\r\nthe bees to their hive. For he carried a great treasure with him, out of which\r\nhe had suffered them to take cups, bowls, and other vessels of silver and gold,\r\nto the value of fifty talents. But when he was come to Amphipolis, and\r\nafterwards to Galepsus, and his fears were a little abated, he relapsed into\r\nhis old and constitutional disease of covetousness, and lamented to his friends\r\nthat he had, through inadvertency, allowed some gold plate which had belonged\r\nto Alexander the Great to go into the hands of the Cretans, and besought those\r\nthat had it, with tears in his eyes, to exchange with him again for money.\r\nThose that understood him thoroughly knew very well he only played the Cretan\r\nwith the Cretans, but those that believed him, and restored what they had, were\r\ncheated; as he not only did not pay the money, but by craft got thirty talents\r\nmore of his friends into his hands (which in a short time after fell to the\r\nenemy), and with them sailed to Samothrace, and there fled to the temple of\r\nCastor and Pollux for refuge.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Macedonians were always accounted great lovers of their kings, but now, as\r\nif their chief prop was broken, they all gave way together, and submitted to\r\nAemilius, and in two days made him master of their whole country. This seems to\r\nconfirm the opinion which ascribes whatever he did to good fortune. The omen,\r\nalso, that happened at Amphipolis, has a supernatural character. When he was\r\nsacrificing there, and the holy rites were just begun, on a sudden, lightning\r\nfell upon the altar, set the wood on fire, and completed the immolation of the\r\nsacrifice. The most signal manifestation, however, of preternatural agency\r\nappears in the story of the rumor of his success. For on the fourth day after\r\nPerseus was vanquished at Pydna, whilst the people at Rome were seeing the\r\nhorse-races, a report suddenly arose at the entrance of the theater that\r\nAemilius had defeated Perseus in a great battle, and was reducing all Macedonia\r\nunder his power; and from thence it spread amongst the people, and created\r\ngeneral joy, with shoutings and acclamations for that whole day through the\r\ncity. But when no certain author was found of the news, and every one alike had\r\ntaken it at random, it was abandoned for the present and thought no more of,\r\nuntil, a few days after, certain intelligence came, and then the first was\r\nlooked upon as no less than a miracle, having, under an appearance of fiction,\r\ncontained what was real and true. It is reported, also, that the news of the\r\nbattle fought in Italy, near the river Sagra, was conveyed into Peloponnesus\r\nthe same day, and of that at Mycale against the Medes, to Plataea. When the\r\nRomans had defeated the Tarquins, who were combined with the Latins, a little\r\nafter, there were seen at Rome two tall and comely men, who professed to bring\r\nthe news from the camp. They were conjectured to be Castor and Pollux. The\r\nfirst man that spoke to them in the forum, near the fountain where they were\r\ncooling their horses, which were all of a foam, expressed surprise at the\r\nreport of the victory, when, it is said, they smiled, and gently touched his\r\nbeard with their hands, the hair of which from being black was, on the spot,\r\nchanged to yellow. This gave credit to what they said, and fixed the name of\r\nAhenobarbus, or Brazen-beard, on the man. And a thing which happened in our own\r\ntime will make all these credible. For when Antonius rebelled against Domitian,\r\nand Rome was in consternation, expecting great wars from the quarter of\r\nGermany, all on a sudden, and nobody knows upon what account, the people\r\nspontaneously gave out a rumor of victory, and the news ran current through the\r\ncity, that Antonius himself was slain, his whole army destroyed, and not so\r\nmuch as a part of it escaped; nay, this belief was so strong and positive, that\r\nmany of the magistrates offered up sacrifice. But when, at length, the author\r\nwas sought for, and none was to be found, it vanished by degrees, every one\r\nshifting it off from himself to another, and, at last, was lost in the\r\nnumberless crowd, as in a vast ocean, and, having no solid ground to support\r\nits credit, was, in a short time, not so much as named in the city.\r\nNevertheless, when Domitian marched out with his forces to the war, he met with\r\nmessengers and letters that gave him a relation of the victory; and the rumor,\r\nit was found, had come the very day it was gained, though the distance between\r\nthe places was more than twenty-five hundred miles. The truth of this no man of\r\nour time is ignorant of.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut to proceed. Cnaeus Octavius, who was joined in command with Aemilius, came\r\nto an anchor with his fleet under Samothrace, where, out of respect to the\r\ngods, he permitted Perseus to enjoy the benefit of refuge, but took care that\r\nhe should not escape by sea. Notwithstanding, Perseus secretly persuaded\r\nOroandes of Crete, master of a small vessel, to convey him and his treasure\r\naway. He, however, playing the true Cretan, took in the treasure, and bade him\r\ncome, in the night, with his children and most necessary attendants, to the\r\nport by the temple of Ceres; but, as soon as it was evening, set sail without\r\nhim. It had been sad enough for Perseus to be forced to let down himself, his\r\nwife and children, through a narrow window by a wall, — people altogether\r\nunaccustomed to hardship and flying; but that which drew a far sadder sigh from\r\nhis heart was, when he was told by a man, as he wandered on the shore, that he\r\nhad seen Oroandes under sail in the main sea; it being now about daybreak. So,\r\nthere being no hopes left of escaping, he fled back again to the wall, which he\r\nand his wife recovered, though they were seen by the Romans, before they could\r\nreach them. His children he himself had delivered into the hands of Ion, one\r\nthat had been his favorite, but now proved his betrayer, and was the chief\r\ncause that forced him (beasts themselves will do so when their young ones are\r\ntaken) to come and yield himself up to those that had them in their power. His\r\ngreatest confidence was in Nasica, and it was for him he called, but he not\r\nbeing there, he bewailed his misfortune, and, seeing there was no possible\r\nremedy, surrendered himself to Octavius. And here, in particular, he made it\r\nmanifest that he was possessed with a vice more sordid than covetousness\r\nitself, namely, the fondness of life; by which he deprived himself even of\r\npity, the only thing that fortune never takes away from the most wretched. He\r\ndesired to be brought to Aemilius, who arose from his seat, and accompanied\r\nwith his friends went to receive him, with tears in his eyes, as a great man\r\nfallen by the anger of the gods and his own ill fortune; when Perseus — the\r\nmost shameful of sights — threw himself at his feet, embraced his knees, and\r\nuttered unmanly cries and petitions, such as Aemilius was not able to bear, nor\r\nwould vouchsafe to hear: but looking on him with a sad and angry countenance he\r\nsaid, “Why, unhappy man, do you thus take pains to exonerate fortune of your\r\nheaviest charge against her, by conduct that will make it seem that you are not\r\nunjustly in calamity, and that it is not your present condition, but your\r\nformer happiness, that was more than your deserts? And why depreciate also my\r\nvictory, and make my conquests insignificant, by proving yourself a coward, and\r\na foe beneath a Roman? Distressed valor challenges great respect, even from\r\nenemies; but cowardice, though never so successful, from the Romans has always\r\nmet with scorn.” Yet for all this he took him up, gave him his hand, and\r\ndelivered him into the custody of Tubero. Meantime, he himself carried his\r\nsons, his son-in-law, and others of chief rank, especially of the younger sort,\r\nback with him into his tent, where for a long time he sat down without speaking\r\none word, insomuch that they all wondered at him. At last, he began to\r\ndiscourse of fortune and human affairs. “Is it meet,” said he, “for him that\r\nknows he is but man, in his greatest prosperity to pride himself, and be\r\nexalted at the conquest of a city, nation, or kingdom, and not rather well to\r\nweigh this change of fortune, in which all warriors may see an example of their\r\ncommon frailty, and learn a lesson that there is nothing durable or constant?\r\nFor what time can men select to think themselves secure, when that of victory\r\nitself forces us more than any to dread our own fortune? and a very little\r\nconsideration on the law of things, and how all are hurried round, and each\r\nman’s station changed, will introduce sadness in the midst of the greatest joy.\r\nOr can you, when you see before your eyes the succession of Alexander himself,\r\nwho arrived at the height of power and ruled the greatest empire, in the short\r\nspace of an hour trodden under foot, — when you behold a king, that was but\r\neven now surrounded with so numerous an army, receiving nourishment to support\r\nhis life from the hands of his conquerors, — can you, I say, believe there is\r\nany certainty in what we now possess, whilst there is such a thing as chance?\r\nNo, young men, cast off that vain pride and empty boast of victory; sit down\r\nwith humility, looking always for what is yet to come, and the possible future\r\nreverses which the divine displeasure may eventually make the end of our\r\npresent happiness.” It is said that Aemilius, having spoken much more to the\r\nsame purpose, dismissed the young men properly humbled, and with their\r\nvain-glory and insolence thoroughly chastened and curbed by his address.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen this was done, he put his army into garrisons, to refresh themselves, and\r\nwent himself to visit Greece, and to spend a short time in relaxations equally\r\nhonorable and humane. For, as he passed, he eased the people’s grievances,\r\nreformed their governments, and bestowed gifts upon them; to some, corn, to\r\nothers, oil out of the king’s storehouses, in which, they report, there were\r\nsuch vast quantities laid up, that receivers and petitioners were lacking\r\nbefore they could be exhausted. In Delphi he found a great square pillar of\r\nwhite marble, designed for the pedestal of king Perseus’ golden statue, on\r\nwhich he commanded his own to be placed, alleging that it was but just that the\r\nconquered should give place to the conquerors. In Olympia he is said to have\r\nuttered the saying everybody has heard, that Phidias had carved Homer’s\r\nJupiter. When the ten commissioners arrived from Rome, he delivered up again to\r\nthe Macedonians their cities and country, granting them to live at liberty, and\r\naccording to their own laws, only paying the Romans the tribute of a hundred\r\ntalents, double which sum they had been wont to pay to their kings. Then he\r\ncelebrated all manner of shows and games, and sacrifices to the gods, and made\r\ngreat entertainments and feasts; the charge of all which he liberally defrayed\r\nout of the king’s treasury; and showed that he understood the ordering and\r\nplacing of his guests, and how every man should be received, answerably to\r\ntheir rank and quality, with such nice exactness, that the Greeks were full of\r\nwonder, finding the care of these matters of pleasure did not escape him, and\r\nthat though involved in such important business, he could observe correctness\r\nin these bides. Nor was it least gratifying to him, that, amidst all the\r\nmagnificent and splendid preparations, he himself was always the most grateful\r\nsight, and greatest pleasure to those he entertained. And he told those that\r\nseemed to wonder at his diligence, that there was the same spirit shown in\r\nmarshaling a banquet as an army; in rendering the one formidable to the enemy,\r\nthe other acceptable to the guests. Nor did men less praise his liberality, and\r\nthe greatness of his soul, than his other virtues; for he would not so much as\r\nsee those great quantities of silver and gold, which were heaped together out\r\nof the king’s palaces, but delivered them to the quaestors, to be put into the\r\npublic treasury. He only permitted his own sons, who were great lovers of\r\nlearning, to take the king’s books; and when he distributed rewards due to\r\nextraordinary valor, he gave his son-in-law, Aelius Tubero, a bowl that weighed\r\nfive pounds. This is that Tubero we have already mentioned, who was one of\r\nsixteen relations that lived together, and were all maintained out of one\r\nlittle farm; and it is said, that this was the first plate that ever entered\r\nthe house of the Aelii, brought thither as an honor and reward of virtue;\r\nbefore this time, neither they nor their wives ever made use either of silver\r\nor gold.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving thus settled everything well, taking his leave of the Greeks, and\r\nexhorting the Macedonians, that, mindful of the liberty they had received from\r\nthe Romans, they should endeavor to maintain it by their obedience to the laws,\r\nand concord amongst themselves, he departed for Epirus, having orders from the\r\nsenate, to give the soldiers that followed him in the war against Perseus the\r\npillage of the cities of that country. That he might set upon them all at once\r\nby surprise and unawares, he summoned ten of the principal men out of each,\r\nwhom he commanded, on such an appointed day, to bring all the gold and silver\r\nthey had either in their private houses or temples; and, with every one of\r\nthese, as if it were for this very purpose, and under a presence of searching\r\nfor and receiving the gold, he sent a centurion and a guard of soldiers; who,\r\nthe set day being come, rose all at once, and at the very self-same time fell\r\nupon them, and proceeded to ransack the cities; so that in one hour a hundred\r\nand fifty thousand persons were made slaves, and threescore and ten cities\r\nsacked. Yet what was given to each soldier, out of so vast a destruction and\r\nutter ruin, amounted to no more than eleven drachmas; so that men could only\r\nshudder at the issue of a war, where the wealth of a whole nation, thus\r\ndivided, turned to so little advantage and profit to each particular man.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Aemilius had done this, — an action perfectly contrary to his gentle and\r\nmild nature, — he went down to Oricus, where he embarked his army for Italy. He\r\nsailed up the river Tiber in the king’s galley, that had sixteen banks of oars,\r\nand was richly adorned with captured arms and with cloths of purple and\r\nscarlet; so that, the vessel rowing slowly against the stream, the Romans that\r\ncrowded on the shore to meet him had a foretaste of his following triumph. But\r\nthe soldiers, who had cast a covetous eye on the treasures of Perseus, when\r\nthey did not obtain as much as they thought they deserved, were secretly\r\nenraged and angry with Aemilius for this, but openly complained that he had\r\nbeen a severe and tyrannical commander over them; nor were they ready to show\r\ntheir desire of his triumph. When Servius Galba, who was Aemilius’s enemy,\r\nthough he commanded as tribune under him, understood this, he had the boldness\r\nplainly to affirm that a triumph was not to be allowed him; and sowed various\r\ncalumnies amongst the soldiers, which yet further increased their ill-will. Nay\r\nmore, he desired the tribunes of the people, because the four hours that were\r\nremaining of the day could not suffice for the accusation, to let him put it\r\noff till another. But when the tribunes commanded him to speak then, if he had\r\nanything to say, he began a long oration, filled with all manner of reproaches,\r\nin which he spent the remaining part of the time, and the tribunes, when it was\r\ndark, dismissed the assembly. The soldiers, growing more vehement on this,\r\nthronged all to Galba, and entering into a conspiracy, early in the morning\r\nbeset the capitol, where the tribunes had appointed the following assembly to\r\nbe held.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as it was day, it was put to the vote, and the first tribe was\r\nproceeding to refuse the triumph; and the news spread amongst the people and to\r\nthe senate. The people were indeed much grieved that Aemilius should meet with\r\nsuch ignominy; but this was only in words, which had no effect. The chief of\r\nthe senate exclaimed against it as a base action, and excited one another to\r\nrepress the boldness and insolence of the soldiers, which would erelong become\r\naltogether ungovernable and violent, were they now permitted to deprive\r\nAemilius of his triumph. Forcing a passage through the crowd, they came up in\r\ngreat numbers, and desired the tribunes to defer polling, till they had spoken\r\nwhat they had to say to the people. All things thus suspended, and silence\r\nbeing made, Marcus Servilius stood up, a man of consular dignity, and who had\r\nkilled twenty-three of his enemies that had challenged him in single combat.\r\n“It is now more than ever,” said he, “clear to my mind how great a commander\r\nour Aemilius Paulus is, when I see he was able to perform such famous and great\r\nexploits with an army so full of sedition and baseness; nor can I sufficiently\r\nwonder, that a people that seemed to glory in the triumphs over Illyrians and\r\nLigurians, should now through envy refuse to see the Macedonian king led alive,\r\nand all the glory of Philip and Alexander in captivity to the Roman power. For\r\nis it not a strange thing for you who, upon a slight rumor of victory that came\r\nby chance into the city, did offer sacrifices and put up your requests unto the\r\ngods that you might see the report verified, now, when the general is returned\r\nwith an undoubted conquest, to defraud the gods of honor, and yourselves of\r\njoy, as if you feared to behold the greatness of his warlike deed, or were\r\nresolved to spare your enemy? And of the two, much better were it to put a stop\r\nto the triumph, out of pity to him, than out of envy to your general; yet to\r\nsuch a height of power is malice arrived amongst you, that a man without one\r\nscar to show on his skin, that is smooth and sleek with ease and home-keeping\r\nhabits, will undertake to define the office and duties of a general before us,\r\nwho with our own wounds have been taught how to judge of the valor or the\r\ncowardice of commanders.” And, at the same time, putting aside his garment, he\r\nshowed an infinite number of scars upon his breast, and, turning about, he\r\nexposed some parts of his person which it is usual to conceal; and, addressing\r\nGalba, said: “You deride me for these, in which I glory before my\r\nfellow-citizens, for it is in their service, in which I have ridden night and\r\nday, that I received them; but go collect the votes, whilst I follow after, and\r\nnote the base and ungrateful, and such as choose rather to be flattered and\r\ncourted than commanded by their general.” It is said, this speech so stopped\r\nthe soldiers’ mouths, and altered their minds, that all the tribes decreed a\r\ntriumph for Aemilius; which was performed after this manner.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe people erected scaffolds in the Forum, in the circuses, as they call their\r\nbuildings for horse-races, and in all other parts of the city where they could\r\nbest behold the show. The spectators were clad in white garments; all the\r\ntemples were open, and full of garlands and perfumes; the ways were cleared and\r\nkept open by numerous officers, who drove back all who crowded into or ran\r\nacross the main avenue. This triumph lasted three days. On the first, which was\r\nscarcely long enough for the sight, were to be seen the statues, pictures, and\r\ncolossal images, which were taken from the enemy, drawn upon two hundred and\r\nfifty chariots. On the second, was carried in a great many wagons the finest\r\nand richest armor of the Macedonians, both of brass and steel, all newly\r\npolished and glittering; the pieces of which were piled up and arranged\r\npurposely with the greatest art, so as to seem to be tumbled in heaps\r\ncarelessly and by chance; helmets were thrown upon shields, coats of mail upon\r\ngreaves; Cretan targets, and Thracian bucklers and quivers of arrows, lay\r\nhuddled amongst horses’ bits, and through these there appeared the points of\r\nnaked swords, intermixed with long Macedonian sarissas. All these arms were\r\nfastened together with just so much looseness that they struck against one\r\nanother as they were drawn along, and made a harsh and alarming noise, so that,\r\neven as spoils of a conquered enemy, they could not be beheld without dread.\r\nAfter these wagons loaded with armor, there followed three thousand men who\r\ncarried the silver that was coined, in seven hundred and fifty vessels, each of\r\nwhich weighed three talents, and was carried by four men. Others brought silver\r\nbowls and goblets and cups, all disposed in such order as to make the best\r\nshow, and all curious as well for their size as the solidity of their embossed\r\nwork.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the third day, early in the morning, first came the trumpeters, who did not\r\nsound as they were wont in a procession or solemn entry, but such a charge as\r\nthe Romans use when they encourage the soldiers to fight. Next followed young\r\nmen wearing frocks with ornamented borders, who led to the sacrifice a hundred\r\nand twenty stalled oxen, with their horns gilded, and their heads adorned with\r\nribbons and garlands; and with these were boys that carried basins for\r\nlibation, of silver and gold. After this was brought the gold coin, which was\r\ndivided into vessels that weighed three talents, like those that contained the\r\nsilver; they were in number seventy-seven. These were followed by those that\r\nbrought the consecrated bowl which Aemilius had caused to be made, that weighed\r\nten talents, and was set with precious stones. Then were exposed to view the\r\ncups of Antigonus and Seleucus, and those of the Thericlean make, and all the\r\ngold plate that was used at Perseus’ table. Next to these came Perseus’\r\nchariot, in which his armor was placed, and on that his diadem. And, after a\r\nlittle intermission, the king’s children were led captives, and with them a\r\ntrain of their attendants, masters, and teachers, all shedding tears, and\r\nstretching out hands to the spectators, and making the children themselves also\r\nbeg and entreat their compassion. There were two sons and a daughter, whose\r\ntender age made them but little sensible of the greatness of their misery,\r\nwhich very insensibility of their condition rendered it the more deplorable;\r\ninsomuch that Perseus himself was scarcely regarded as he went along, whilst\r\npity fixed the eyes of the Romans upon the infants; and many of them could not\r\nforbear tears, and all beheld the sight with a mixture of sorrow and pleasure,\r\nuntil the children were passed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter his children and their attendants came Perseus himself, clad all in\r\nblack, and wearing the boots of his country; and looking like one altogether\r\nstunned and deprived of reason, through the greatness of his misfortunes. Next\r\nfollowed a great company of his friends and familiars, whose countenances were\r\ndisfigured with grief, and who let the spectators see, by their tears and their\r\ncontinual looking upon Perseus, that it was his fortune they so much lamented,\r\nand that they were regardless of their own. Perseus sent to Aemilius to entreat\r\nthat he might not be led in pomp, but be left out of the triumph; who,\r\nderiding, as was but just, his cowardice and fondness of life, sent him this\r\nanswer, that as for that, it had been before, and was now, in his own power;\r\ngiving him to understand that the disgrace could be avoided by death; which the\r\nfainthearted man not having the spirit for, and made effeminate by I know not\r\nwhat hopes, allowed himself to appear as a part of his own spoils. After these\r\nwere carried four hundred crowns, all made of gold, sent from the cities by\r\ntheir respective deputations to Aemilius, in honor of his victory. Then he\r\nhimself came, seated on a chariot magnificently adorned (a man well worthy to\r\nbe looked at, even without these ensigns of power), dressed in a robe of\r\npurple, interwoven with gold, and holding a laurel branch in his right hand.\r\nAll the army, in like manner, with boughs of laurel in their hands, divided\r\ninto their bands and companies, followed the chariot of their commander; some\r\nsinging verses, according to the usual custom, mingled with raillery; others,\r\nsongs of triumph, and the praise of Aemilius’s deeds; who, indeed, was admired\r\nand accounted happy by all men, and unenvied by every one that was good; except\r\nso far as it seems the province of some god to lessen that happiness which is\r\ntoo great and inordinate, and so to mingle the affairs of human life that no\r\none should be entirely free and exempt from calamities; but, as we read in\r\nHomer, that those should think themselves truly blessed to whom fortune has\r\ngiven an equal share of good and evil.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAemilius had four sons, of whom Scipio and Fabius, as is already related, were\r\nadopted into other families; the other two, whom he had by a second wife, and\r\nwho were yet but young, he brought up in his own house. One of these died at\r\nfourteen years of age, five days before his father’s triumph; the other at\r\ntwelve, three days after: so that there was no Roman without a deep sense of\r\nhis suffering, and who did not shudder at the cruelty of fortune, that had not\r\nscrupled to bring so much sorrow into a house replenished with happiness,\r\nrejoicing, and sacrifices, and to intermingle tears and laments with songs of\r\nvictory and triumph.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAemilius, however, reasoning justly that courage and resolution was not merely\r\nto resist armor and spears, but all the shocks of ill fortune, so met and so\r\nadapted himself to these mingled and contrasting circumstances, as to\r\noutbalance the evil with the good, and his private concerns with those of the\r\npublic; and thus did not allow anything either to take away from the grandeur,\r\nor sully the dignity of his victory. For as soon as he had buried the first of\r\nhis sons, (as we have already said,) he triumphed; and the second dying almost\r\nas soon as his triumph was over, he gathered together an assembly of the\r\npeople, and made an oration to them, not like a man that stood in need of\r\ncomfort from others, but one that undertook to support his fellow-citizens in\r\ntheir grief for the sufferings he himself underwent.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\n“I,” he said, “who never yet feared anything that was human, have, amongst such\r\nas were divine, always had a dread of fortune as faithless and inconstant; and,\r\nfor the very reason that in this war she had been as a favorable gale in all my\r\naffairs, I still expected some change and reflux of things. In one day I passed\r\nthe Ionian sea, and reached Corcyra from Brundisium; thence in five more I\r\nsacrificed at Delphi, and in other five days came to my forces in Macedonia,\r\nwhere, after I had finished the usual sacrifices for the purifying of the army,\r\nI entered on my duties, and, in the space of fifteen days, put an honorable\r\nperiod to the war. Still retaining a jealousy of fortune, even from the smooth\r\ncurrent of my affairs, and seeing myself secure and free from the danger of any\r\nenemy, I chiefly dreaded the change of the goddess at sea, whilst conveying\r\nhome my victorious army, vast spoils, and a captive king. Nay, indeed, after I\r\nwas returned to you safe, and saw the city full of joy, congratulating, and\r\nsacrifices, yet still I distrusted, well knowing that fortune never conferred\r\nany great benefits that were unmixed and unattended with probabilities of\r\nreverse. Nor could my mind, that was still as it were in labor, and always\r\nforeseeing something to befall this city, free itself from this fear, until\r\nthis great misfortune befell me in my own family, and till, in the midst of\r\nthose days set apart for triumph, I carried two of the best of sons, my only\r\ndestined successors, one after another to their funerals. Now, therefore, I am\r\nmyself safe from danger, at least as to what was my greatest care; and I trust\r\nand am verily persuaded, that for the time to come Fortune will prove constant\r\nand harmless unto you; since she has sufficiently wreaked her jealousy at our\r\ngreat successes on me and mine, and has made the conqueror as marked an example\r\nof human instability as the captive whom he led in triumph, with this only\r\ndifference, that Perseus, though conquered, does yet enjoy his children, while\r\nthe conqueror, Aemilius, is deprived of his.” This was the generous and\r\nmagnanimous oration Aemilius is said to have spoken to the people, from a heart\r\ntruly sincere and free from all artifice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlthough he very much pitied the condition of Perseus, and studied to befriend\r\nhim in what he was able, yet he could procure no other favor, than his removal\r\nfrom the common prison, the Carcer, into a more cleanly and humane place of\r\nsecurity, where, whilst he was guarded, it is said, he starved himself to\r\ndeath. Others state his death to have been of the strangest and most unusual\r\ncharacter: that the soldiers who were his guard, having conceived a spite and\r\nhatred against him for some reason, and finding no other way to grieve and\r\nafflict him, kept him from sleep, took pains to disturb him when he was\r\ndisposed to rest, and found out contrivances to keep him continually awake, by\r\nwhich means at length he was utterly worn out, and expired. Two of his\r\nchildren, also, died soon after him; the third, who was named Alexander, they\r\nsay proved an exquisite artist in turning and graving small figures, and\r\nlearned so perfectly to speak and write the Roman language, that he became\r\nclerk to the magistrates, and behaved himself in his office with great skill\r\nand conduct.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey ascribe to Aemilius’s conquest of Macedonia, this most acceptable benefit\r\nto the people, that he brought so vast a quantity of money into the public\r\ntreasury, that they never paid any taxes, until Hirtius and Pansa were consuls,\r\nwhich was in the first war between Antony and Caesar. This also was peculiar\r\nand remarkable in Aemilius, that though he was extremely beloved and honored by\r\nthe people, yet he always sided with the nobles; nor would he either say or do\r\nanything to ingratiate himself with the multitude, but constantly adhered to\r\nthe nobility, in all political matters, which in after-times was cast in Scipio\r\nAfricanus’s teeth by Appius; these two being in their time the most\r\nconsiderable men in the city, and standing in competition for the office of\r\ncensor. The one had on his side the nobles and the senate, to which party the\r\nAppii were always attached; the other, although his own interest was great, yet\r\nmade use of the favor and love of the people. When, therefore, Appius saw\r\nScipio come to the market-place, surrounded with men of mean rank, and such as\r\nwere but newly made free, yet were very fit to manage a debate, to gather\r\ntogether the rabble, and to carry whatsoever they designed by importunity and\r\nnoise, crying out with a loud voice: “Groan now,” said he, “O Aemilius Paulus,\r\nif you have knowledge in your grave of what is done above, that your son\r\naspires to be censor, by the help of Aemilius, the common crier, and Licinius\r\nPhilonicus.” Scipio always had the good-will of the people, because he was\r\nconstantly heaping favors on them; but Aemilius, although he still took part\r\nwith the nobles, yet was as much the people’s favorite as those who most sought\r\npopularity and used every art to obtain it. This they made manifest, when,\r\namongst other dignities, they thought him worthy of the office of censor, a\r\ntrust accounted most sacred and of great authority, as well in other things, as\r\nin the strict examination into men’s lives. For the censors had power to expel\r\na senator, and enroll whom they judged most fit in his room, and to disgrace\r\nsuch young men as lived licentiously, by taking away their horses. Besides\r\nthis, they were to value and assess each man’s estate, and register the number\r\nof the people. There were numbered by Aemilius, 337,452 men. He declared Marcus\r\nAemilius Lepidus first senator, who had already four times held that honor, and\r\nhe removed from their office three of the senators of the least note. The same\r\nmoderation he and his fellow censor, Marcius Philippus, used at the muster of\r\nthe knights.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst he was thus busy about many and weighty affairs, he fell sick of a\r\ndisease, which at first seemed hazardous; and although after awhile it proved\r\nwithout danger, yet was troublesome and difficult to be cured: so that by the\r\nadvice of his physicians he sailed to Velia, in South Italy, and there dwelt a\r\nlong time near the sea, where he enjoyed all possible quietness. The Romans, in\r\nthe meanwhile, longed for his return, and oftentimes by their expressions in\r\nthe theaters, gave public testimony of their great desire and impatience to see\r\nhim. When, therefore, the time drew nigh that a solemn sacrifice was of\r\nnecessity to be offered, and he found, as he thought, his body strong enough,\r\nhe came back again to Rome, and there performed the holy rites with the rest of\r\nthe priests, the people in the mean time crowding about him, and congratulating\r\nhis return. The next day he sacrificed again to the gods for his recovery; and,\r\nhaving finished the sacrifice, returned to his house and sat down to dinner,\r\nwhen, all on a sudden and when no change was expected, he fell into a fit of\r\ndelirium, and, being quite deprived of his senses, the third day after ended a\r\nlife, in which he had wanted no manner of thing which is thought to conduce to\r\nhappiness. Nay, his very funeral pomp had something in it remarkable and to be\r\nadmired, and his virtue was graced with the most solemn and happy rites at his\r\nburial; consisting, not in gold and ivory, or in the usual sumptuousness and\r\nsplendor of such preparations, but in the good-will, honor, and love, not only\r\nof his fellow-citizens, but of his enemies themselves. For as many Spaniards,\r\nLigurians, and Macedonians, as happened to be present at the solemnity, that\r\nwere young and of vigorous bodies, took up the bier and carried it whilst the\r\nmore aged followed, calling Aemilius the benefactor and preserver of their\r\ncountries. For not only at the time of his conquest had he acted to all with\r\nkindness and clemency, but, through the whole course of his life, he continued\r\nto do them good and look after their concerns, as if they had been his\r\nfamiliars and relations. They report, that the whole of his estate scarce\r\namounted to three hundred and seventy thousand drachmas; to which he left his\r\ntwo sons coheirs; but Scipio, who was the youngest, being adopted into the more\r\nwealthy family of Africanus, gave it all to his brother. Such are said to have\r\nbeen the life and manners of Aemilius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap20\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF TIMOLEON WITH AEMILIUS PAULUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSuch being the story of these two great men’s lives, without doubt in the\r\ncomparison very little difference will be found between them. They made war\r\nwith two powerful enemies: the one against the Macedonians, and the other with\r\nthe Carthaginians; and the success was in both cases glorious. One conquered\r\nMacedon from the seventh succeeding heir of Antigonus; the other freed Sicily\r\nfrom usurping tyrants, and restored the island to its former liberty. Unless,\r\nindeed, it be made a point on Aemilius’s side, that he engaged with Perseus\r\nwhen his forces were entire, and composed of men that had often successfully\r\nfought with the Romans; whereas, Timoleon found Dionysius in a despairing\r\ncondition, his affairs being reduced to the last extremity: or, on the\r\ncontrary, it be urged in favor of Timoleon, that he vanquished several tyrants,\r\nand a powerful Carthaginian army, with an inconsiderable number of men gathered\r\ntogether from all parts, not with such an army as Aemilius had, of well\r\ndisciplined soldiers, experienced in war, and accustomed to obey; but with such\r\nas through the hopes of gain resorted to him, unskilled in fighting and\r\nungovernable. And when actions are equally glorious, and the means to compass\r\nthem unequal, the greatest esteem is certainly due to that general who conquers\r\nwith the smaller power.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBoth have the reputation of having behaved themselves with an uncorrupted\r\nintegrity, in all the affairs they managed: but Aemilius had the advantage of\r\nbeing, from his infancy, by the laws and customs of his country, brought up to\r\nthe proper management of public affairs, which Timoleon brought himself to by\r\nhis own efforts. And this is plain; for at that time all the Romans were\r\nuniformly orderly and obedient, respectful to the laws and to their\r\nfellow-citizens: whereas it is remarkable, that not one of the Greek generals\r\ncommanding in Sicily, could keep himself uncorrupted, except Dion, and of him\r\nmany entertained a jealousy that he would establish a monarchy there, after the\r\nLacedaemonian manner. Timaeus writes, that the Syracusans sent even Gylippus\r\nhome dishonorably, and with a reputation lost by the unsatiable covetousness he\r\ndisplayed when he commanded the army. And numerous historians tell us of the\r\nwicked and perfidious acts committed by Pharax the Spartan, and Callippus the\r\nAthenian, with the view of making themselves kings of Sicily. Yet what were\r\nthese men, and what strength had they, to entertain such a thought? The first\r\nof them was a follower of Dionysius, when he was expelled from Syracuse, and\r\nthe other a hired captain of foot under Dion, and came into Sicily with him.\r\nBut Timoleon at the request and prayers of the Syracusans, was sent to be their\r\ngeneral, and had no need to seek for power, but had a perfect title, founded on\r\ntheir own offers, to hold it; and yet no sooner had he freed Sicily from her\r\noppressors, but he willingly surrendered it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is truly worthy our admiration in Aemilius, that, though he conquered so\r\ngreat and so rich a realm as that of Macedon, yet he would not touch, nor see\r\nany of the money, nor did he advantage himself one farthing by it, though he\r\nwas very generous of his own to others. I would not intend any reflection on\r\nTimoleon, for accepting of a house and handsome estate in the country, which\r\nthe Syracusans presented him with; there is no dishonor in accepting; but yet\r\nthere is greater glory in a refusal, and the supremest virtue is shown in not\r\nwanting what it might fairly take. And as that body is, without doubt, the most\r\nstrong and healthful, which can the easiest support extreme cold and excessive\r\nheat in the change of seasons, and that the most firm and collected mind which\r\nis not puffed up with prosperity, nor dejected with adversity; so the virtue of\r\nAemilius was eminently seen in his countenance and behavior continuing as noble\r\nand lofty upon the loss of two dear sons, as when he achieved his greatest\r\nvictories and triumphs. But Timoleon, after he had justly punished his brother,\r\na truly heroic action, let his reason yield to a causeless sorrow, and,\r\nhumiliated with grief and remorse, forbore for twenty years to appear in any\r\npublic place, or meddle with any affairs of the commonwealth. It is truly very\r\ncommendable to abhor and shun the doing any base action; but to stand in fear\r\nof every kind of censure or disrepute, may argue a gentle and open-hearted, but\r\nnot a heroic temper.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap21\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003ePELOPIDAS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato Major, hearing some commend one that was rash, and inconsiderately daring\r\nin a battle, said, “There is a difference between a man’s prizing valor at a\r\ngreat rate, and valuing life at little;” a very just remark. Antigonus, we\r\nknow, at least, had a soldier, a venturous fellow, but of wretched health and\r\nconstitution; the reason of whose ill looks he took the trouble to inquire\r\ninto; and, on understanding from him that it was a disease, commanded his\r\nphysicians to employ their utmost skill, and if possible recover him; which\r\nbrave hero, when once cured, never afterwards sought danger or showed himself\r\nventurous in battle; and, when Antigonus wondered and upbraided him with his\r\nchange, made no secret of the reason, and said, “Sir, you are the cause of my\r\ncowardice, by freeing me from those miseries which made me care little for\r\nlife.” With the same feeling, the Sybarite seems to have said of the Spartans,\r\nthat it was no commendable thing in them to be so ready to die in the wars,\r\nsince by that they were freed from such hard labor, and miserable living. In\r\ntruth, the Sybarites, a soft and dissolute people, might very well imagine they\r\nhated life, because in their eager pursuit of virtue and glory, they were not\r\nafraid to die: but, in fact, the Lacedaemonians found their virtue secured them\r\nhappiness alike in living or in dying; as we see in the epitaph that says:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThey died, but not as lavish of their blood,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOr thinking death itself was simply good;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTheir wishes neither were to live nor die,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut to do both alike commendably.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAn endeavor to avoid death is not blamable, if we do not basely desire to live;\r\nnor a willingness to die good and virtuous, if it proceeds from a contempt of\r\nlife. And therefore Homer always takes care to bring his bravest and most\r\ndaring heroes well armed into battle; and the Greek lawgivers punished those\r\nthat threw away their shields, but not him that lost his sword or spear;\r\nintimating that self-defense is more a man’s business than offense. This is\r\nespecially true of a governor of a city, or a general; for if, as Iphicrates\r\ndivides it out, the light-armed are the hands; the horse the feet; the infantry\r\nthe breast; and the general the head; he, when he puts himself upon danger, not\r\nonly ventures his own person, but all those whose safety depends on his; and so\r\non the contrary. Callicratidas, therefore, though otherwise a great man, was\r\nwrong in his answer to the augur who advised him, the sacrifice being unlucky,\r\nto be careful of his life; “Sparta,” said he, “will not miss one man.” It was\r\ntrue, Callicratidas, when simply serving in any engagement either at sea or\r\nland, was but a single person, but as general, he united in his life the lives\r\nof all, and could hardly be called one, when his death involved the ruin of so\r\nmany. The saying of old Antigonus was better, who, when he was to fight at\r\nAndros, and one told him, “The enemy’s ships are more than ours;” replied, “For\r\nhow many then wilt thou reckon me?” intimating that a brave and experienced\r\ncommander is to be highly valued, one of the first duties of whose office\r\nindeed it is to save him on whose safety depends that of others. And therefore\r\nI applaud Timotheus, who, when Chares showed the wounds he had received, and\r\nhis shield pierced by a dart, told him, “Yet how ashamed I was, at the siege of\r\nSamos, when a dart fell near me, for exposing myself, more like a boy than like\r\na general in command of a large army. “Indeed, where the general’s hazarding\r\nhimself will go far to decide the result, there he must fight and venture his\r\nperson, and not mind their maxims, who would have a general die, if not of, at\r\nleast in old age; but when the advantage will be but small if he gets the\r\nbetter, and the loss considerable if he falls, who then would desire, at the\r\nrisk of the commander’s life, a piece of success which a common soldier might\r\nobtain? This I thought fit to premise before the lives of Pelopidas and\r\nMarcellus, who were both great men, but who both fell by their own rashness.\r\nFor, being gallant men, and having gained their respective countries great\r\nglory and reputation by their conduct in war against terrible enemies, the one,\r\nas history relates, overthrowing Hannibal, who was till then invincible; the\r\nother, in a set battle beating the Lacedaemonians, then supreme both at sea and\r\nland; they ventured at last too far, and were heedlessly prodigal of their\r\nlives, when there was the greatest need of men and commanders such as they. And\r\nthis agreement in their characters and their deaths, is the reason why I\r\ncompare their lives.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPelopidas, the son of Hippoclus, was descended, as likewise Epaminondas was,\r\nfrom an honorable family in Thebes; and, being brought up to opulence, and\r\nhaving a fair estate left him whilst he was young, he made it his business to\r\nrelieve the good and deserving amongst the poor, that he might show himself\r\nlord and not slave of his estate. For amongst men, as Aristotle observes, some\r\nare too narrow-minded to use their wealth, and some are loose and abuse it; and\r\nthese live perpetual slaves to their pleasures, as the others to their gain.\r\nOthers permitted themselves to be obliged by Pelopidas, and thankfully made use\r\nof his liberality and kindness; but amongst all his friends, he could never\r\npersuade Epaminondas to be a sharer in his wealth. He, however, stepped down\r\ninto his poverty, and took pleasure in the same poor attire, spare diet,\r\nunwearied endurance of hardships, and unshrinking boldness in war: like\r\nCapaneus in Euripides, who had\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAbundant wealth and in that wealth no pride;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nhe was ashamed any one should think that he spent more upon his person than the\r\nmeanest Theban. Epaminondas made his familiar and hereditary poverty more light\r\nand easy, by his philosophy and single life; but Pelopidas married a woman of\r\ngood family, and had children; yet still thinking little of his private\r\ninterests, and devoting all his time to the public, he ruined his estate: and,\r\nwhen his friends admonished and told him how necessary that money which he\r\nneglected was; “Yes,” he replied, “necessary to Nicodemus,” pointing to a blind\r\ncripple.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBoth seemed equally fitted by nature for all sorts of excellence; but bodily\r\nexercises chiefly delighted Pelopidas, learning Epaminondas; and the one spent\r\nhis spare hours in hunting, and the Palaestra, the other in hearing lectures or\r\nphilosophizing. And, amongst a thousand points for praise in both, the\r\njudicious esteem nothing equal to that constant benevolence and friendship,\r\nwhich they inviolably preserved in all their expeditions, public actions, and\r\nadministration of the commonwealth. For if any one looks on the administrations\r\nof Aristides and Themistocles, of Cimon and Pericles, of Nicias and Alcibiades,\r\nwhat confusion, what envy, what mutual jealousy appears? And if he then casts\r\nhis eye on the kindness and reverence that Pelopidas showed Epaminondas, he\r\nmust needs confess, that these are more truly and more justly styled colleagues\r\nin government and command than the others, who strove rather to overcome one\r\nanother, than their enemies The true cause of this was their virtue; whence it\r\ncame that they did not make their actions aim at wealth and glory, an endeavor\r\nsure to lead to bitter and contentious jealousy; but both from the beginning\r\nbeing inflamed with a divine desire of seeing their country glorious by their\r\nexertions, they used to that end one another’s excellences as their own. Many,\r\nindeed, think this strict and entire affection is to be dated from the battle\r\nat Mantinea, where they both fought, being part of the succors that were sent\r\nfrom Thebes to the Lacedaemonians, their then friends and allies. For, being\r\nplaced together amongst the infantry, and engaging the Arcadians, when the\r\nLacedaemonian wing, in which they fought, gave ground, and many fled, they\r\nclosed their shields together and resisted the assailants. Pelopidas, having\r\nreceived seven wounds in the forepart of his body, fell upon a heap of slain\r\nfriends and enemies; but Epaminondas, though he thought him past recovery,\r\nadvanced to defend his arms and body, and singly fought a multitude, resolving\r\nrather to die than forsake his helpless Pelopidas. And now, he being much\r\ndistressed, being wounded in the breast by a spear, and in the arm by a sword,\r\nAgesipolis, the king of the Spartans, came to his succor from the other wing,\r\nand beyond hope delivered both.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this the Lacedaemonians pretended to be friends to Thebes, but in truth\r\nlooked with jealous suspicions on the designs and power of the city, and\r\nchiefly hated the party of Ismenias and Androclides, in which Pelopidas also\r\nwas an associate, as tending to liberty, and the advancement of the commonalty.\r\nTherefore Archias, Leontidas, and Philip, all rich men, and of oligarchical\r\nprinciples, and immoderately ambitious, urged Phoebidas the Spartan, as he was\r\non his way past the city with a considerable force, to surprise the Cadmea,\r\nand, banishing the contrary faction, to establish an oligarchy, and by that\r\nmeans subject the city to the supremacy of the Spartans. He, accepting the\r\nproposal, at the festival of Ceres unexpectedly fell on the Thebans, and made\r\nhimself master of the citadel. Ismenias was taken, carried to Sparta, and in a\r\nshort time murdered; but Pelopidas, Pherenicus, Androclides, and many more that\r\nfled were publicly proclaimed outlaws. Epaminondas stayed at home, being not\r\nmuch looked after, as one whom philosophy had made inactive, and poverty\r\nincapable.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Lacedaemonians cashiered Phoebidas, and fined him one hundred thousand\r\ndrachmas, yet still kept a garrison in the Cadmea; which made all Greece wonder\r\nat their inconsistency, since they punished the doer, but approved the deed.\r\nAnd though the Thebans, having lost their polity, and being enslaved by Archias\r\nand Leontidas, had no hopes to get free from this tyranny, which they saw\r\nguarded by the whole military power of the Spartans, and had no means to break\r\nthe yoke, unless these could be deposed from their command of sea and land; yet\r\nLeontidas and his associates, understanding that the exiles lived at Athens in\r\nfavor with the people, and with honor from all the good and virtuous, formed\r\nsecret designs against their lives, and, suborning some unknown fellows,\r\ndispatched Androclides, but were not successful on the rest. Letters, besides,\r\nwere sent from Sparta to the Athenians, warning them neither to receive nor\r\ncountenance the exiles, but expel them as declared common enemies of the\r\nconfederacy. But the Athenians, from their natural hereditary inclination to be\r\nkind, and also to make a grateful return to the Thebans, who had very much\r\nassisted them in restoring their democracy, and had publicly enacted, that if\r\nany Athenian would march armed through Boeotia against the tyrants, that no\r\nBoeotian should either see or hear it, did the Thebans no harm.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPelopidas, though one of the youngest, was active in privately exciting each\r\nsingle exile; and often told them at their meetings, that it was both\r\ndishonorable and impious to neglect their enslaved and engarrisoned country,\r\nand, lazily contented with their own lives and safety, depend on the decrees of\r\nthe Athenians, and through fear fawn on every smooth-tongued orator that was\r\nable to work upon the people: now they must venture for this great prize,\r\ntaking Thrasybulus’ bold courage for example, and as he advanced from Thebes\r\nand broke the power of the Athenian tyrants, so they should march from Athens\r\nand free Thebes. When by this method he had persuaded them, they privately\r\ndispatched some persons to those friends they had left at Thebes, and\r\nacquainted them with their designs. Their plans being approved, Charon, a man\r\nof the greatest distinction, offered his house for their reception; Phillidas\r\ncontrived to get himself made secretary to Archias and Philip, who then held\r\nthe office of polemarch or chief captain; and Epaminondas had already inflamed\r\nthe youth. For, in their exercises, he had encouraged them to challenge and\r\nwrestle with the Spartans, and again, when he saw them puffed up with victory\r\nand success, sharply told them, it was the greater shame to be such cowards as\r\nto serve those whom in strength they so much excelled.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe day for action being fixed, it was agreed upon by the exiles, that\r\nPherenicus with the rest should stay in the Thriasian plain, while some few of\r\nthe younger men tried the first danger, by endeavoring to get into the city;\r\nand, if they were surprised by their enemies, the others should take care to\r\nprovide for their children and parents. Pelopidas first offered to undertake\r\nthe business; then Melon, Damoclides, and Theopompus, men of noble families,\r\nwho, in other things loving and faithful to one another, were constant rivals\r\nonly in glory and courageous exploits. They were twelve in all, and having\r\ntaken leave of those that stayed behind, and sent a messenger to Charon, they\r\nwent forward, clad in short coats, and carrying hounds and hunting poles with\r\nthem, that they might be taken for hunters beating over the fields, and prevent\r\nall suspicion in those that met them on the way. When the messenger came to\r\nCharon, and told him they were approaching, he did not change his resolution at\r\nthe sight of danger, but, being a man of his word, offered them his house. But\r\none Hipposthenidas, a man of no ill principles, a lover of his country, and a\r\nfriend to the exiles, but not of as much resolution as the shortness of time\r\nand the character of the action required, being as it were dizzied at the\r\ngreatness of the approaching enterprise; and beginning now for the first time\r\nto comprehend that, relying on that weak assistance which could be expected\r\nfrom the exiles, they were undertaking no less a task than to shake the\r\ngovernment, and overthrow the whole power of Sparta; went privately to his\r\nhouse, and sent a friend to Melon and Pelopidas, desiring them to forbear for\r\nthe present, to return to Athens and expect a better opportunity. The\r\nmessenger’s name was Chlidon, who, going home in haste and bringing out his\r\nhorse, asked for the bridle; but, his wife not knowing where it was, and, when\r\nit could not be found, telling him she had lent it to a friend, first they\r\nbegan to chide, then to curse one another, and his wife wished the journey\r\nmight prove ill to him, and those that sent him; insomuch that Chlidon’s\r\npassion made him waste a great part of the day in this quarreling, and then,\r\nlooking on this chance as an omen, he laid aside all thoughts of his journey,\r\nand went away to some other business. So nearly had these great and glorious\r\ndesigns, even in their very birth, lost their opportunity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Pelopidas and his companions, dressing themselves like countrymen, divided,\r\nand, whilst it was yet day, entered at different quarters of the city. It was,\r\nbesides, a windy day, and it now just began to snow, which contributed much to\r\ntheir concealment, because most people were gone in doors to avoid the weather.\r\nThose, however, that were concerned in the design, received them as they came,\r\nand conducted them to Charon’s house, where the exiles and the others made up\r\nforty-eight in number. The tyrants’ affairs stood thus: the secretary,\r\nPhillidas, as I have already observed, was an accomplice in, and privy to all\r\nthe contrivance of the exiles, and he a while before had invited Archias, with\r\nothers, to an entertainment on that day, to drink freely, and meet some women\r\nof the town, on purpose that when they were drunk, and given up to their\r\npleasures, he might deliver them over to the conspirators. But before Archias\r\nwas thoroughly heated, notice was given him that the exiles were privately in\r\nthe town; a true report indeed, but obscure, and not well confirmed:\r\nnevertheless, though Phillidas endeavored to divert the discourse, Archias sent\r\none of his guard to Charon, and commanded him to attend immediately. It was\r\nevening, and Pelopidas and his friends with him in the house, were putting\r\nthemselves into a fit posture for action, having their breastplates on already,\r\nand their swords girt: but at the sudden knocking at the door, one stepping\r\nforth to inquire the matter, and learning from the officer that Charon was sent\r\nfor by the polemarchs, returned in great confusion and acquainted those within;\r\nand all immediately conjectured that the whole plot was discovered, and they\r\nshould be cut in pieces, before so much as achieving any action to do credit to\r\ntheir bravery; yet all agreed that Charon should obey, and attend the\r\npolemarchs, to prevent suspicion. Charon was, indeed, a man of courage and\r\nresolution in all dangers, yet in this case he was extremely concerned, lest\r\nany should suspect that he was the traitor, and the death of so many brave\r\ncitizens be laid on him. And, therefore, when he was ready to depart, he\r\nbrought his son out of the women’s apartment, a little boy as yet, but one of\r\nthe best looking and strongest of all those of his age, and delivered him to\r\nPelopidas with these words: “If you find me a traitor, treat this boy as an\r\nenemy without any mercy.” The concern which Charon showed, drew tears from\r\nmany; but all protested vehemently against his supposing any one of them so\r\nmean-spirited and base, at the appearance of approaching danger, as to suspect\r\nor blame him; and therefore, desired him not to involve his son, but to set him\r\nout of harm’s way; that so he, perhaps, escaping the tyrant’s power, might live\r\nto revenge the city and his friends. Charon, however, refused to remove him,\r\nand asked, “What life, what safety could be more honorable, than to die bravely\r\nwith his father, and such generous companions?” Thus, imploring the protection\r\nof the gods, and saluting and encouraging them all, he departed, considering\r\nwith himself, and composing his voice and countenance, that he might look as\r\nlittle like as possible to what in fact he really was.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he was come to the door, Archias with Phillidas came out to him, and said,\r\n“I have heard, Charon, that there are some men just come, and lurking in the\r\ntown, and that some of the citizens are resorting to them.” Charon was at first\r\ndisturbed, but asking, “Who are they? and who conceals them?” and finding\r\nArchias did not thoroughly understand the matter, he concluded that none of\r\nthose privy to the design had given this information, and replied, “Do not\r\ndisturb yourselves for an empty rumor: I will look into it, however, for no\r\nreport in such a case is to be neglected.” Phillidas, who stood by, commended\r\nhim, and leading back Archias, got him deep in drink, still prolonging the\r\nentertainment with the hopes of the women’s company at last. But when Charon\r\nreturned, and found the men prepared, not as if they hoped for safety and\r\nsuccess, but to die bravely and with the slaughter of their enemies, he told\r\nPelopidas and his friends the truth, but pretended to others in the house that\r\nArchias talked to him about something else, inventing a story for the occasion.\r\nThis storm was just blowing over, when fortune brought another; for a messenger\r\ncame with a letter from one Archias, the Hierophant at Athens, to his namesake\r\nArchias, who was his friend and guest. This did not merely contain a vague\r\nconjectural suspicion, but, as appeared afterwards, disclosed every particular\r\nof the design. The messenger being brought in to Archias, who was now pretty\r\nwell drunk, and delivering the letter, said to him, “The writer of this desired\r\nit might be read at once; it is on urgent business.” Archias, with a smile,\r\nreplied, “Urgent business tomorrow,” and so receiving the letter, he put it\r\nunder his pillow, and returned to what he had been speaking of with Phillidas;\r\nand these words of his are a proverb to this day amongst the Greeks.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow when the opportunity seemed convenient for action, they set out in two\r\ncompanies; Pelopidas and Damoclides with their party went against Leontidas and\r\nHypates, that lived near together; Charon and Melon against Archias and Philip,\r\nhaving put on women’s apparel over their breastplates, and thick garlands of\r\nfir and pine to shade their faces; and so, as soon as they came to the door,\r\nthe guests clapped and gave a huzza, supposing them to be the women they\r\nexpected. But when the conspirators had looked about the room, and carefully\r\nmarked all that were at the entertainment, they drew their swords, and making\r\nat Archias and Philip amongst the tables, disclosed who they were. Phillidas\r\npersuaded some few of his guests to sit still, and those that got up and\r\nendeavored to assist the polemarchs, being drunk were easily dispatched. But\r\nPelopidas and his party met with a harder task; as they attempted Leontidas, a\r\nsober and formidable man, and when they came to his house found his doors shut,\r\nhe being already gone to bed. They knocked a long time before any one would\r\nanswer, but, at last, a servant that heard them, coming out and unbarring the\r\ndoor, as soon as the gate gave way, they rushed in, and, overturning the man,\r\nmade all haste to Leontidas’s chamber. But Leontidas, guessing at the matter by\r\nthe noise and running, leaped from his bed and drew his dagger, but forgot to\r\nput out the lights, and by that means make them fall foul on one another in the\r\ndark. As it was, being easily seen by reason of the light, he received them at\r\nhis chamber door, and stabbed Cephisodorus, the first man that entered: on his\r\nfalling, the next that he engaged was Pelopidas; and the passage being narrow\r\nand Cephisodorus’s body lying in the way, there was a fierce and dangerous\r\nconflict. At last Pelopidas prevailed, and having killed Leontidas, he and his\r\ncompanions went in pursuit of Hypates, and after the same manner broke into his\r\nhouse. He perceived the design, and fled to his neighbors; but they closely\r\nfollowed, and caught and killed him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis done they joined Melon, and sent to hasten the exiles they had left in\r\nAttica: and called upon the citizens to maintain their liberty, and taking down\r\nthe spoils from the porches, and breaking open all the armorers’ shops that\r\nwere near, equipped those that came to their assistance. Epaminondas and\r\nGorgidas came in already armed, with a gallant train of young men, and the best\r\nof the old. Now the city was in a great excitement and confusion, a great noise\r\nand hurry, lights set up in every house, men running here and there; however,\r\nthe people did not as yet gather into a body, but, amazed at the proceedings,\r\nand not clearly understanding the matter waited for the day. And, therefore,\r\nthe Spartan officers were thought to have been in fault for not falling on at\r\nonce, since their garrison consisted of about fifteen hundred men, and many of\r\nthe citizens ran to them; but, alarmed with the noise, the fires, and the\r\nconfused running of the people, they kept quietly within the Cadmea. As soon as\r\nday appeared, the exiles from Attica came in armed, and there was a general\r\nassembly of the people. Epaminondas and Gorgidas brought forth Pelopidas and\r\nhis party, encompassed by the priests, who held out garlands, and exhorted the\r\npeople to fight for their country and their gods. The assembly, at their\r\nappearance, rose up in a body, and with shouts and acclamations received the\r\nmen as their deliverers and benefactors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen Pelopidas, being chosen chief captain of Boeotia, together with Melon and\r\nCharon, proceeded at once to blockade the citadel, and stormed it on all sides,\r\nbeing extremely desirous to expel the Lacedaemonians, and free the Cadmea,\r\nbefore an army could come from Sparta to their relief. And he just so narrowly\r\nsucceeded, that they, having surrendered on terms and departed, on their way\r\nhome met Cleombrotus at Megara marching towards Thebes with a considerable\r\nforce. The Spartans condemned and executed Herippidas and Arcissus, two of\r\ntheir governors at Thebes, and Lysanoridas the third being severely fined, fled\r\nPeloponnesus. This action so closely resembling that of Thrasybulus, in the\r\ncourage of the actors, the danger, the encounters, and equally crowned with\r\nsuccess, was called the sister of it by the Greeks. For we can scarcely find\r\nany other examples where so small and weak a party of men by bold courage\r\novercame such numerous and powerful enemies, or brought greater blessings to\r\ntheir country by so doing. But the subsequent change of affairs made this\r\naction the more famous; for the war which forever ruined the pretensions of\r\nSparta to command, and put an end to the supremacy she then exercised alike by\r\nsea and by land, proceeded from that night, in which Pelopidas not surprising\r\nany fort, or castle, or citadel, but coming, the twelfth man, to a private\r\nhouse, loosed and broke, if we may speak truth in metaphor, the chains of the\r\nSpartan sway, which before seemed of adamant and indissoluble.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut now the Lacedaemonians invading Boeotia with a great army, the Athenians,\r\naffrighted at the danger, declared themselves no allies to Thebes, and\r\nprosecuting those that stood for the Boeotian interest, executed some, and\r\nbanished and fined others: and the cause of Thebes, destitute of allies, seemed\r\nin a desperate condition. But Pelopidas and Gorgidas, holding the office of\r\ncaptains of Boeotia, designing to breed a quarrel between the Lacedaemonians\r\nand Athenians, made this contrivance. One Sphodrias, a Spartan, a man famous\r\nindeed for courage in battle, but of no sound judgment, full of ungrounded\r\nhopes and foolish ambition, was left with an army at Thespiae, to receive and\r\nsuccor the Theban renegades. To him Pelopidas and his colleagues privately sent\r\na merchant, one of their friends, with money, and, what proved more efficient,\r\nadvice, — that it more became a man of his worth to set upon some great\r\nenterprise, and that he should, making a sudden incursion on the unprotected\r\nAthenians, surprise the Piraeus; since nothing could be so grateful to Sparta,\r\nas to take Athens; and the Thebans, of course, would not stir to the assistance\r\nof men whom they now hated and looked upon as traitors. Sphodrias, being at\r\nlast wrought upon, marched into Attica by night with his army, and advanced as\r\nfar as Eleusis; but there his soldiers’ hearts failing, after exposing his\r\nproject and involving the Spartans in a dangerous war, he retreated to\r\nThespiae. After this, the Athenians zealously sent supplies to Thebes, and\r\nputting to sea, sailed to many places, and offered support and protection to\r\nall those of the Greeks who were willing to revolt.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Thebans, meantime, singly, having many skirmishes with the Spartans in\r\nBoeotia, and fighting some battles, not great indeed, but important as training\r\nand instructing them, thus had their minds raised, and their bodies inured to\r\nlabor, and gained both experience and courage by these frequent encounters;\r\ninsomuch that we have it related that Antalcidas, the Spartan, said to\r\nAgesilaus, returning wounded from Boeotia, “Indeed, the Thebans have paid you\r\nhandsomely for instructing them in the art of war, against their wills.” In\r\nreal truth, however, Agesilaus was not their master in this, but those that\r\nprudently and opportunely, as men do young dogs, set them on their enemies, and\r\nbrought them safely off after they had tasted the sweets of victory and\r\nresolution. Of all those leaders, Pelopidas deserves the most honor: as after\r\nthey had once chosen him general, he was every year in command as long as he\r\nlived; either captain of the sacred band, or, what was most frequent, chief\r\ncaptain of Boeotia. About Plataea and Thespiae the Spartans were routed and put\r\nto flight, and Phoebidas, that surprised the Cadmea, slain; and at Tanagra a\r\nconsiderable force was worsted, and the leader Panthoides killed. But these\r\nencounters, though they raised the victor’s spirits, did not thoroughly\r\ndishearten the unsuccessful; for there was no set battle, or regular fighting,\r\nbut mere incursions on advantage, in which, according to occasion, they\r\ncharged, retired again, or pursued. But the battle at Tegyrae, which seemed a\r\nprelude to Leuctra, won Pelopidas a great reputation; for none of the other\r\ncommanders could claim any hand in the design, nor the enemies any show of\r\nvictory. The city of the Orchomenians siding with the Spartans, and having\r\nreceived two companies for its guard, he kept a constant eye upon it, and\r\nwatched his opportunity. Hearing that the garrison had moved into Locris, and\r\nhoping to find Orchomenus defenseless, he marched with his sacred band, and\r\nsome few horsemen. But when he approached the city, and found that a\r\nreinforcement of the garrison was on its march from Sparta, he made a circuit\r\nround the foot of the mountains, and retreated with his little army through\r\nTegyrae, that being the only way he could pass. For the river Melas, almost as\r\nsoon as it rises, spreads itself into marshes and navigable pools, and makes\r\nall the plain between impassable. A little below the marshes stands the temple\r\nand oracle of Apollo Tegyraeus, forsaken not long before that time, having\r\nflourished till the Median wars, Echecrates then being priest. Here they\r\nprofess that the god was born; the neighboring mountain is called Delos, and\r\nthere the river Melas comes again into a channel; behind the temple rise two\r\nsprings, admirable for the sweetness, abundance, and coolness of the streams;\r\none they call Phoenix, the other Elaea, even to the present time, as if Lucina\r\nhad not been delivered between two trees, but fountains. A place hard by,\r\ncalled Ptoum, is shown, where they say she was affrighted by the appearance of\r\na boar; and the stories of the Python and Tityus are in like manner\r\nappropriated by these localities. I omit many of the points that are used as\r\narguments. For our tradition does not rank this god amongst those that were\r\nborn, and then made immortal, as Hercules and Bacchus, whom their virtue raised\r\nabove a mortal and passable condition; but Apollo is one of the eternal\r\nunbegotten deities, if we may collect any certainty concerning these things,\r\nfrom the statements of the oldest and wisest in such subjects.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs Thebans were retreating from Orchomenus towards Tegyrae, the Spartans, at\r\nthe same time marching from Locris, met them. As soon as they came in view,\r\nadvancing through the straits, one told Pelopidas, “We are fallen into our\r\nenemy’s hands;” he replied, “And why not they into ours?” and immediately\r\ncommanded his horse to come up from the rear and charge, while he himself drew\r\nhis infantry, being three hundred in number, into a close body, hoping by that\r\nmeans, at whatsoever point he made the attack, to break his way through his\r\nmore numerous enemies. The Spartans had two companies, (the company consisting,\r\nas Ephorus states, of five hundred; Callisthenes says seven hundred; others, as\r\nPolybius, nine hundred) and their leaders, Gorgoleon and Theopompus, confident\r\nof success, advanced upon the Thebans. The charge being made with much fury,\r\nchiefly where the commanders were posted, the Spartan captains that engaged\r\nPelopidas were first killed; and those immediately around them suffering\r\nseverely, the whole army was thus disheartened, and opened a lane for the\r\nThebans, as if they desired to pass through and escape. But when Pelopidas\r\nentered, and turning against those that stood their ground, still went on with\r\na bloody slaughter, an open fight ensued amongst the Spartans. The pursuit was\r\ncarried but a little way, because they feared the neighboring Orchomenians, and\r\nthe reinforcement from Lacedaemon; they had succeeded, however, in fighting a\r\nway through their enemies, and overpowering their whole force; and, therefore,\r\nerecting a trophy, and spoiling the slain, they returned home extremely\r\nencouraged with their achievements. For in all the great wars there had ever\r\nbeen against Greeks or barbarians, the Spartans were never before beaten by a\r\nsmaller company than their own; nor, indeed, in a set battle, when their number\r\nwas equal. Hence their courage was thought irresistible, and their high repute\r\nbefore the battle made a conquest already of enemies, who thought themselves no\r\nmatch for the men of Sparta even on equal terms. But this battle first taught\r\nthe other Greeks, that not only Eurotas, or the country between Babyce and\r\nCnacion, breeds men of courage and resolution; but that where the youth are\r\nashamed of baseness, and ready to venture in a good cause, where they fly\r\ndisgrace more than danger, there, wherever it be, are found the bravest and\r\nmost formidable opponents.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nGorgidas, according to some, first formed the Sacred Band of three hundred\r\nchosen men, to whom, as being a guard for the citadel, the State allowed\r\nprovision, and all things necessary for exercise: and hence they were called\r\nthe city band, as citadels of old were usually called cities. Others say that\r\nit was composed of young men attached to each other by personal affection, and\r\na pleasant saying of Pammenes is current, that Homer’s Nestor was not well\r\nskilled in ordering an army, when he advised the Greeks to rank tribe and\r\ntribe, and family and family together, that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSo tribe might tribe, and kinsmen kinsmen aid,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nbut that he should have joined lovers and their beloved. For men of the same\r\ntribe or family little value one another when dangers press; but a band\r\ncemented by friendship grounded upon love, is never to be broken, and\r\ninvincible; since the lovers, ashamed to be base in sight of their beloved, and\r\nthe beloved before their lovers, willingly rush into danger for the relief of\r\none another. Nor can that be wondered at; since they have more regard for their\r\nabsent lovers than for others present; as in the instance of the man, who, when\r\nhis enemy was going to kill him, earnestly requested him to run him through the\r\nbreast, that his lover might not blush to see him wounded in the back. It is a\r\ntradition likewise, that Iolaus, who assisted Hercules in his labors and fought\r\nat his side, was beloved of him; and Aristotle observes, that even in his time,\r\nlovers plighted their faith at Iolaus’s tomb. It is likely, therefore, that\r\nthis band was called sacred on this account; as Plato calls a lover a divine\r\nfriend. It is stated that it was never beaten till the battle at Chaeronea: and\r\nwhen Philip, after the fight, took a view of the slain, and came to the place\r\nwhere the three hundred that fought his phalanx lay dead together, he wondered,\r\nand understanding that it was the band of lovers, he shed tears and said,\r\n“Perish any man who suspects that these men either did or suffered anything\r\nthat was base.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was not the disaster of Laius, as the poets imagine, that first gave rise to\r\nthis form of attachment amongst the Thebans, but their law-givers, designing to\r\nsoften, whilst they were young, their natural fierceness, brought, for example,\r\nthe pipe into great esteem, both in serious and sportive occasions, and gave\r\ngreat encouragement to these friendships in the Palaestra, to temper the\r\nmanners and characters of the youth. With a view to this they did well, again,\r\nto make Harmony, the daughter of Mars and Venus, their tutelar deity; since,\r\nwhere force and courage is joined with gracefulness and winning behavior a\r\nharmony ensues that combines all the elements of society in perfect consonance\r\nand order. — Gorgidas distributed this Sacred Band all through the front ranks\r\nof the infantry and thus made their gallantry less conspicuous; not being\r\nunited in one body, but mingled with so many others of inferior resolution,\r\nthey had no fair opportunity of showing what they could do. But Pelopidas,\r\nhaving sufficiently tried their bravery at Tegyrae, where they had fought\r\nalone, and around his own person, never afterward divided them, but keeping\r\nthem entire, and as one man, gave them the first duty in the greatest battles.\r\nFor as horses run brisker in a chariot than singly, not that their joint force\r\ndivides the air with greater ease, but because being matched one against the\r\nother, emulation kindles and inflames their courage; thus he thought, brave\r\nmen, provoking one another to noble actions, would prove most serviceable and\r\nmost resolute, where all were united together.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow when the Lacedaemonians had made peace with the other Greeks, and united\r\nall their strength against the Thebans only, and their king, Cleombrotus, had\r\npassed the frontier with ten thousand foot and one thousand horse, and not only\r\nsubjection, as heretofore, but total dispersion and annihilation threatened,\r\nand Boeotia was in a greater fear than ever, — Pelopidas, leaving his house,\r\nwhen his wife followed him on his way, and with tears begged him to be careful\r\nof his life, made answer, “Private men, my wife, should be advised to look to\r\nthemselves, generals to save others.” And when he came to the camp, and found\r\nthe chief captains disagreeing, he, first, joined the side of Epaminondas, who\r\nadvised to fight the enemy; though Pelopidas himself was not then in office as\r\nchief captain of Boeotia, but in command of the Sacred Band, and trusted as it\r\nwas fit a man should be, who had given his country such proofs of his zeal for\r\nits freedom. And so, when a battle was agreed on, and they encamped in front of\r\nthe Spartans at Leuctra, Pelopidas saw a vision, which much discomposed him. In\r\nthat plain lie the bodies of the daughters of one Scedasus, called from the\r\nplace Leuctridae, having been buried there, after having been ravished by some\r\nSpartan strangers. When this base and lawless deed was done, and their father\r\ncould get no satisfaction at Lacedaemon, with bitter imprecations on the\r\nSpartans, he killed himself at his daughters’ tombs: and, from that time, the\r\nprophecies and oracles still warned them to have a great care of the divine\r\nvengeance at Leuctra. Many, however, did not understand the meaning, being\r\nuncertain about the place, because there was a little maritime town of Laconia\r\ncalled Leuctron, and near Megalopolis in Arcadia a place of the same name; and\r\nthe villainy was committed long before this battle.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Pelopidas, being asleep in the camp, thought he saw the maidens weeping\r\nabout their tombs, and cursing the Spartans, and Scedasus commanding, if they\r\ndesired the victory, to sacrifice a virgin with chestnut hair to his daughters.\r\nPelopidas looked on this as an harsh and impious injunction, but rose and told\r\nit to the prophets and commanders of the army, some of whom contended, that it\r\nwas fit to obey, and adduced as examples from the ancients, Menoeceus, son of\r\nCreon; Macaria, daughter of Hercules; and from later times, Pherecydes the\r\nphilosopher, slain by the Lacedaemonians, and his skin, as the oracles advised,\r\nstill kept by their kings. Leonidas, again, warned by the oracle, did as it\r\nwere sacrifice himself for the good of Greece; Themistocles offered human\r\nvictims to Bacchus Omestes, before the engagement at Salamis; and success\r\nshowed their actions to be good. On the contrary, Agesilaus going from the same\r\nplace, and against the same enemies that Agamemnon did, and, being commanded in\r\na dream at Aulis to sacrifice his daughter, was so weak as to disobey; the\r\nconsequence of which was, that his expedition was unsuccessful and inglorious.\r\nBut some on the other side urged, that such a barbarous and impious oblation\r\ncould not be pleasing to any Superior Beings: that typhons and giants did not\r\npreside over the world, but the general father of gods and men; that it was\r\nabsurd to imagine any divinities or powers delighted in slaughter and\r\nsacrifices of men; or, if there were an, such, they were to be neglected, as\r\nweak and unable to assist; such unreasonable and cruel desires could only\r\nproceed from, and live in weak and depraved minds.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe commanders thus disputing, and Pelopidas being in a great perplexity, a\r\nmare colt, breaking from the herd, ran through the camp, and when she came to\r\nthe place where they were, stood still; and whilst some admired her bright\r\nchestnut color, others her mettle, or the strength and fury of her neighing,\r\nTheocritus, the augur, took thought, and cried out to Pelopidas, “O good\r\nfriend! look, the sacrifice is come; expect no other virgin, but use that which\r\nthe gods have sent thee.” With that they took the colt, and, leading her to the\r\nmaidens’ sepulchres, with the usual solemnity and prayers, offered her with\r\njoy, and spread through the whole army the account of Pelopidas’s dream, and\r\nhow they had given the required sacrifice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the battle, Epaminondas, bending his phalanx to the left, that, as much as\r\npossible, he might divide the right wing, composed of Spartans, from the other\r\nGreeks, and distress Cleombrotus, by a fierce charge in column on that wing,\r\nthe enemies perceived the design, and began to change their order, to open and\r\nextend their right wing, and, as they far exceeded him in number, to encompass\r\nEpaminondas. But Pelopidas with the three hundred came rapidly up, before\r\nCleombrotus could extend his line, and close up his divisions, and so fell upon\r\nthe Spartans while in disorder; though the Lacedaemonians, the expertest and\r\nmost practiced soldiers of all mankind, used to train and accustom themselves\r\nto nothing so much as to keep themselves from confusion upon any change of\r\nposition, and to follow any leader, or right hand man, and form in order, and\r\nfight on what part soever dangers press. In this battle, however, Epaminondas\r\nwith his phalanx, neglecting the other Greeks, and charging them alone, and\r\nPelopidas coming up with such incredible speed and fury, so broke their\r\ncourage, and baffled their art, that there began such a flight and slaughter\r\namongst the Spartans, as was never before known. And so Pelopidas, though in no\r\nhigh office, but only captain of a small band, got as much reputation by the\r\nvictory, as Epaminondas, who was general and chief captain of Boeotia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nInto Peloponnesus, however, they both advanced together as colleagues in\r\nsupreme command, and gained the greater part of the nations there from the\r\nSpartan confederacy; Elis, Argo, all Arcadia, and much of Laconia itself. It\r\nwas the dead of winter, and but few of the last days of the month remained,\r\nand, in the beginning of the next, new officers were to succeed, and whoever\r\nfailed to deliver up his charge, forfeited his head. Therefore, the other chief\r\ncaptains fearing the law, and to avoid the sharpness of the winter, advised a\r\nretreat. But Pelopidas joined with Epaminondas, and, encouraging his\r\ncountrymen, led them against Sparta, and, passing the Eurotas, took many of the\r\ntowns, and wasted the country as far as the sea. This army consisted of seventy\r\nthousand Greeks, of which number the Thebans could not make the twelfth part;\r\nbut the reputation of the men made all their allies contented to follow them as\r\nleaders, though no articles to that effect had been made. For, indeed, it seems\r\nthe first and paramount law, that he that wants a defender, is naturally a\r\nsubject to him that is able to defend: as mariners, though in a calm or in the\r\nport they grow insolent, and brave the pilot, yet when a storm comes, and\r\ndanger is at hand, they all attend, and put their hopes in him. So the Argives,\r\nEleans, and Arcadians, in their congresses, would contend with the Thebans for\r\nsuperiority in command, yet in a battle, or any hazardous undertaking, of their\r\nown will followed their Theban captains. In this expedition, they united all\r\nArcadia into one body, and, expelling the Spartans that inhabited Messenia,\r\nthey called back the old Messenians, and established them in Ithome in one\r\nbody; — and, returning through Cenchreae, they dispersed the Athenians, who\r\ndesigned to set upon them in the straits, and hinder their march.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor these exploits, all the other Greeks loved their courage, and admired their\r\nsuccess; but among their own citizens, envy, still increasing with their glory,\r\nprepared them no pleasing nor agreeable reception. Both were tried for their\r\nlives, because they did not deliver up their command in the first month,\r\nBucatius, as the law required, but kept it four months longer, in which time\r\nthey did these memorable actions in Messenia, Arcadia, and Laconia. Pelopidas\r\nwas first tried, and therefore in greatest danger, but both were acquitted.\r\nEpaminondas bore the accusation and trial very patiently, esteeming it a great\r\nand essential part of courage and generosity, not to resent injuries in\r\npolitical life. But Pelopidas, being a man of a fiercer temper, and stirred on\r\nby his friends to revenge the affront, took the following occasion. Meneclidas,\r\nthe orator, was one of those that had met with Melon and Pelopidas at Charon’s\r\nhouse; but not receiving equal honor, and being powerful in his speech, but\r\nloose in his manners, and ill-natured, he abused his natural endowments, even\r\nafter this trial, to accuse and calumniate his betters. He excluded Epaminondas\r\nfrom the chief captaincy, and for a long time kept the upper hand of him; but\r\nhe was not powerful enough to bring Pelopidas out of the people’s favor, and\r\ntherefore endeavored to raise a quarrel between him and Charon. And since it is\r\nsome comfort to the envious, to make those men, whom themselves cannot excel,\r\nappear worse than others, he studiously enlarged upon Charon’s actions in his\r\nspeeches to the people, and made panegyrics on his expeditions and victories;\r\nand, of the victory which the horsemen won at Plataea, before the battle at\r\nLeuctra, under Charon’s command, he endeavored to make the following sacred\r\nmemorial. Androcydes, the Cyzicenian, had undertaken to paint a previous battle\r\nfor the city, and was at work in Thebes; and when the revolt began, and the war\r\ncame on, the Thebans kept the picture that was then almost finished. This\r\npicture Meneclidas persuaded them to dedicate, inscribed with Charon’s name,\r\ndesigning by that means to obscure the glory of Epaminondas and Pelopidas. This\r\nwas a ludicrous piece of pretension; to set a single victory, where only one\r\nGerandas, an obscure Spartan, and forty more were slain, above such numerous\r\nand important battles. This motion Pelopidas opposed, as contrary to law,\r\nalleging that it was not the custom of the Thebans to honor any single man, but\r\nto attribute the victory to their country; yet in all the contest, he extremely\r\ncommended Charon, and confined himself to showing Meneclidas to be a\r\ntroublesome and envious fellow, asking the Thebans, if they had done nothing\r\nthat was excellent, …. insomuch that Meneclidas was severely fined; and he,\r\nbeing unable to pay, endeavored afterwards to disturb the government. These\r\nthings give us some light into Pelopidas’s life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow when Alexander, the tyrant of Pherae, made open war against some of the\r\nThessalians, and had designs against all, the cities sent an embassy to Thebes,\r\nto desire succors and a general; and Pelopidas, knowing that Epaminondas was\r\ndetained by the Peloponnesian affairs, offered himself to lead the Thessalians,\r\nbeing unwilling to let his courage and skill lie idle, and thinking it unfit\r\nthat Epaminondas should be withdrawn from his present duties. When he came into\r\nThessaly with his army, he presently took Larissa, and endeavored to reclaim\r\nAlexander, who submitted, and bring him, from being a tyrant, to govern gently,\r\nand according to law; but finding him untractable and brutish, and hearing\r\ngreat complaints of his lust and cruelty, Pelopidas began to be severe, and\r\nused him roughly, insomuch that the tyrant stole away privately with his guard.\r\nBut Pelopidas, leaving the Thessalians fearless of the tyrant, and friends\r\namongst themselves, marched into Macedonia, where Ptolemy was then at war with\r\nAlexander, the king of Macedon; both parties having sent for him to hear and\r\ndetermine their differences, and assist the one that appeared injured. When he\r\ncame, he reconciled them, called back the exiles, and, receiving for hostages\r\nPhilip the king’s brother, and thirty children of the nobles, he brought them\r\nto Thebes; showing the other Greeks how wide a reputation the Thebans had\r\ngained for honesty and courage. This was that Philip who afterward endeavored\r\nto enslave the Greeks: then he was a boy, and lived with Pammenes in Thebes;\r\nand hence some conjecture, that he took Epaminondas’s actions for the rule of\r\nhis own; and perhaps, indeed, he did take example from his activity and skill\r\nin war, which, however, was but a small portion of his virtues; of his\r\ntemperance, justice, generosity, and mildness, in which he was truly great,\r\nPhilip enjoyed no share, either by nature or imitation.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, upon a second complaint of the Thessalians against Alexander of\r\nPherae, as a disturber of the cities, Pelopidas was joined with Ismenias, in an\r\nembassy to him; but led no forces from Thebes, not expecting any war, and\r\ntherefore was necessitated to make use of the Thessalians upon the emergency.\r\nAt the same time, also, Macedon was in confusion again, as Ptolemy had murdered\r\nthe king, and seized the government: but the king’s friends sent for Pelopidas,\r\nand he, being willing to interpose in the matter, but having no soldiers of his\r\nown, enlisted some mercenaries in the country, and with them marched against\r\nPtolemy. When they faced one another, Ptolemy corrupted these mercenaries with\r\na sum of money, and persuaded them to revolt to him; but yet, fearing the very\r\nname and reputation of Pelopidas, he came to him as his superior, submitted,\r\nbegged his pardon, and protested that he kept the government only for the\r\nbrothers of the dead king, and would prove a friend to the friends, and an\r\nenemy to the enemies of Thebes; and, to confirm this, he gave his son,\r\nPhiloxenus, and fifty of his companions, for hostages. These Pelopidas sent to\r\nThebes; but he himself, being vexed at the treachery of the mercenaries, and\r\nunderstanding that most of their goods, their wives and children, lay at\r\nPharsalus, so that if he could take them, the injury would be sufficiently\r\nrevenged, got together some of the Thessalians, and marched to Pharsalus. When\r\nhe had just entered the city, Alexander, the tyrant, appeared before it with an\r\narmy; but Pelopidas and his friends, thinking that he came to clear himself\r\nfrom those crimes that were laid to his charge, went to him; and though they\r\nknew very well that he was profligate and cruel, yet they imagined that the\r\nauthority of Thebes, and their own dignity and reputation, would secure them\r\nfrom violence. But the tyrant, seeing them come unarmed and alone, seized them,\r\nand made himself master of Pharsalus. Upon this his subjects were much\r\nintimidated, thinking that after so great and so bold an iniquity, he would\r\nspare none, but behave himself toward all, and in all matters, as one\r\ndespairing of his life. The Thebans, when they heard of this, were very much\r\nenraged, and dispatched an army, Epaminondas being then in disgrace, under the\r\ncommand of other leaders. When the tyrant brought Pelopidas to Pherae, at first\r\nhe permitted those that desired it to speak with him, imagining that this\r\ndisaster would break his spirit, and make him appear contemptible. But when\r\nPelopidas advised the complaining Pheraeans to be comforted, as if the tyrant\r\nwas now certain in a short time to smart for his injuries, and sent to tell\r\nhim, “That it was absurd daily to torment and murder his wretched innocent\r\nsubjects, and yet spare him, who, he well knew, if ever he got his liberty,\r\nwould be bitterly revenged;” the tyrant, wondering at his boldness and freedom\r\nof speech, replied, “And why is Pelopidas in haste to die?” He, hearing of it,\r\nrejoined, “That you may be the sooner ruined, being then more hated by the gods\r\nthan now.” From that time he forbade any to converse with him; but Thebe, the\r\ndaughter of Jason and wife to Alexander, hearing from the keepers of the\r\nbravery and noble behavior of Pelopidas, had a great desire to see and speak\r\nwith him. Now when she came into the prison, and, as a woman, could not at once\r\ndiscern his greatness in his calamity, only, judging by the meanness of his\r\nattire and general appearance, that he was used basely and not befitting a man\r\nof his reputation, she wept. Pelopidas, at first not knowing who she was, stood\r\namazed; but when he understood, saluted her by her father’s name — Jason and he\r\nhaving been friends and familiars — and she saying, “I pity your wife, Sir,” he\r\nreplied, “And I you, that though not in chains, can endure Alexander.” This\r\ntouched the woman, who already hated Alexander for his cruelty and injustice,\r\nfor his general debaucheries, and for his abuse of her youngest brother. She,\r\ntherefore, often went to Pelopidas, and, speaking freely of the indignities she\r\nsuffered, grew more enraged, and more exasperated against Alexander.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Theban generals that were sent into Thessaly did nothing, but, being either\r\nunskillful or unfortunate, made a dishonorable retreat, for which the city\r\nfined each of them ten thousand drachmas, and sent Epaminondas with their\r\nforces. The Thessalians, inspirited by the fame of this general, at once began\r\nto stir, and the tyrant’s affairs were at the verge of destruction; so great\r\nwas the fear that possessed his captains and his friends, and so eager the\r\ndesire of his subjects to revolt, in hope of his speedy punishment. But\r\nEpaminondas, more solicitous for the safety of Pelopidas than his own glory,\r\nand fearing that if things came to extremity, Alexander would grow desperate,\r\nand, like a wild beast, turn and worry him, did not prosecute the war to the\r\nutmost; but, hovering still over him with his army, he so handled the tyrant as\r\nnot to leave him any confidence, and yet not to drive him to despair and fury.\r\nHe was aware of his savageness, and the little value he had for right and\r\njustice, insomuch that sometimes he buried men alive, and sometimes dressed\r\nthem in bear’s and boar’s skins, and then baited them with dogs, or shot at\r\nthem for his divertisement. At Meliboea and Scotussa, two cities, his allies,\r\nhe called all the inhabitants to an assembly, and then surrounded them and cut\r\nthem to pieces with his guards. He consecrated the spear with which he killed\r\nhis uncle Polyphron, and, crowning it with garlands, sacrificed to it as a god,\r\nand called it Tychon. And once seeing a tragedian act Euripides’s Troades, he\r\nleft the theater; but sending for the actor, bade him not to be concerned at\r\nhis departure, but act as he had been used to do, as it was not in contempt of\r\nhim that he departed, but because he was ashamed that his citizens should see\r\nhim, who never pitied any man that he murdered, weep at the sufferings of\r\nHecuba and Andromache. This tyrant, however, alarmed at the very name, report,\r\nand appearance of an expedition under the conduct of Epaminondas, presently\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nDropped like a craven cock his conquered wing,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand sent an embassy to entreat and offer satisfaction. Epaminondas refused to\r\nadmit such a man as an ally to the Thebans, but granted him a truce of thirty\r\ndays, and, Pelopidas and Ismenias being delivered up, returned home.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow the Thebans, understanding that the Spartans and Athenians had sent an\r\nembassy to the Persians for assistance, themselves, likewise, sent Pelopidas;\r\nan excellent design to increase his glory, no man having ever before passed\r\nthrough the dominions of the king with greater fame and reputation. For the\r\nglory that he won against the Spartans, did not creep slowly or obscurely; but,\r\nafter the fame of the first battle at Leuctra was gone abroad, the report of\r\nnew victories continually following, exceedingly increased, and spread his\r\ncelebrity far and near. Whatever satraps or generals or commanders he met, he\r\nwas the object of their wonder and discourse; “This is the man,” they said,\r\n“who hath beaten the Lacedaemonians from sea and land, and confined that Sparta\r\nwithin Taygetus and Eurotas, which, but a little before, under the conduct of\r\nAgesilaus, was entering upon a war with the great king about Susa and\r\nEcbatana.” This pleased Artaxerxes, and he was the more inclined to show\r\nPelopidas attention and honor, being desirous to seem reverenced, and attended\r\nby the greatest. But when he saw him and heard his discourse, more solid than\r\nthe Athenians, and not so haughty as the Spartans, his regard was heightened,\r\nand, truly acting like a king, he openly showed the respect that he felt for\r\nhim; and this the other ambassadors perceived. Of all other Greeks he had been\r\nthought to have done Antalcidas, the Spartan, the greatest honor, by sending\r\nhim that garland dipped in an unguent, which he himself had worn at an\r\nentertainment. Indeed, he did not deal so delicately with Pelopidas, but,\r\naccording to the custom, gave him the most splendid and considerable presents,\r\nand granted him his desires, that the Grecians should be free, Messenia\r\ninhabited, and the Thebans accounted the king’s hereditary friends. With these\r\nanswers, but not accepting one of the presents, except what was a pledge of\r\nkindness and good-will, he returned. This behavior of Pelopidas ruined the\r\nother ambassadors: the Athenians condemned and executed their Timagoras, and,\r\nindeed, if they did it for receiving so many presents from the king, their\r\nsentence was just and good; as he not only took gold and silver, but a rich\r\nbed, and slaves to make it, as if the Greeks were unskillful in that art;\r\nbesides eighty cows and herdsmen, professing he needed cow’s milk for some\r\ndistemper; and, lastly, he was carried in a litter to the seaside, with a\r\npresent of four talents for his attendants. But the Athenians, perhaps, were\r\nnot so much irritated at his greediness for the presents. For Epicrates the\r\nbaggage-carrier not only confessed to the people that he had received gifts\r\nfrom the king, but made a motion, that instead of nine archons, they should\r\nyearly choose nine poor citizens to be sent ambassadors to the king, and\r\nenriched by his presents, and the people only laughed at the joke. But they\r\nwere vexed that the Thebans obtained their desires, never considering that\r\nPelopidas’s fame was more powerful than all their rhetorical discourse, with a\r\nman who still inclined to the victorious in arms. This embassy, having obtained\r\nthe restitution of Messenia, and the freedom of the other Greeks, got Pelopidas\r\na great deal of good-will at his return.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt this time, Alexander the Pheraean falling back to his old nature, and having\r\nseized many of the Thessalian cities, and put garrisons upon the Achaeans of\r\nPhthiotis, and the Magnesians, the cities, hearing that Pelopidas was returned,\r\nsent an embassy to Thebes, requesting succors, and him for their leader. The\r\nThebans willingly granted their desire; and now when all things were prepared,\r\nand the general beginning to march, the sun was eclipsed, and darkness spread\r\nover the city at noonday. Now when Pelopidas saw them startled at the prodigy,\r\nhe did not think it fit to force on men who were afraid and out of heart, nor\r\nto hazard seven thousand of his citizens; and therefore with only three hundred\r\nhorse volunteers, set forward himself to Thessaly, much against the will of the\r\naugurs and his fellow-citizens in general, who all imagined this marked portent\r\nto have reference to this great man. But he was heated against Alexander for\r\nthe injuries he had received, and hoped likewise, from the discourse which\r\nformerly he had with Thebe, that his family by this time was divided and in\r\ndisorder. But the glory of the expedition chiefly excited him; for he was\r\nextremely desirous at this time, when the Lacedaemonians were sending out\r\nmilitary officers to assist Dionysius the Sicilian tyrant, and the Athenians\r\ntook Alexander’s pay, and honored him with a brazen statue as a benefactor,\r\nthat the Thebans should be seen, alone, of all the Greeks, undertaking the\r\ncause of those who were oppressed by tyrants, and destroying the violent and\r\nillegal forms of government in Greece.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Pelopidas was come to Pharsalus, he formed an army, and presently marched\r\nagainst Alexander; and Alexander understanding that Pelopidas had few Thebans\r\nwith him, and that his own infantry was double the number of the Thessalians,\r\nfaced him at Thetidium. Some one told Pelopidas, “The tyrant meets us with a\r\ngreat army;” “So much the better,” he replied, “for then we shall overcome the\r\nmore.” Between the two armies lay some steep high hills about Cynoscephalae,\r\nwhich both parties endeavored to take by their foot. Pelopidas commanded his\r\nhorse, which were good and many, to charge that of the enemies; they routed and\r\npursued them through the plain. But Alexander, meantime, took the hills, and\r\ncharging the Thessalian foot that came up later, and strove to climb the steep\r\nand craggy ascent, killed the foremost, and the others, much distressed, could\r\ndo the enemies no harm. Pelopidas, observing this, sounded a retreat to his\r\nhorse, and gave orders that they should charge the enemies that kept their\r\nground; and he himself, taking his shield, quickly joined those that fought\r\nabout the hills, and, advancing to the front, filled his men with such courage\r\nand alacrity, that the enemies imagined they came with other spirits and other\r\nbodies to the onset. They stood two or three charges, but finding these come on\r\nstoutly, and the horse, also, returning from the pursuit, gave ground, and\r\nretreated in order. Pelopidas now perceiving, from the rising ground, that the\r\nenemy’s army was, though not yet routed, full of disorder and confusion, stood\r\nand looked about for Alexander; and when he saw him in the right wing,\r\nencouraging and ordering his mercenaries, he could not moderate his anger, but\r\ninflamed at the sight, and blindly following his passion, regardless alike of\r\nhis own life and his command, advanced far before his soldiers, crying out and\r\nchallenging the tyrant who did not dare to receive him, but retreating, hid\r\nhimself amongst his guard. The foremost of the mercenaries that came hand to\r\nhand were driven back by Pelopidas, and some killed; but many at a distance\r\nshot through his armor and wounded him, till the Thessalians, in anxiety for\r\nthe result, ran down from the hill to his relief, but found him already slain.\r\nThe horse came up, also, and routed the phalanx, and, following the pursuit a\r\ngreat way, filled the whole country with the slain, which were above three\r\nthousand.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNo one can wonder that the Thebans then present, should show great grief at the\r\ndeath of Pelopidas, calling him their father, deliverer, and instructor in all\r\nthat was good and commendable. But the Thessalians and the allies out-doing in\r\ntheir public edicts all the just honors that could be paid to human courage,\r\ngave, in their display of feeling, yet stronger demonstrations of the kindness\r\nthey had for him. It is stated, that none of the soldiers, when they heard of\r\nhis death, would put off their armor, unbridle their horses, or dress their\r\nwounds, but, still hot and with their arms on, ran to the corpse, and, as if he\r\nhad been yet alive and could see what they did, heaped up spoils about his\r\nbody. They cut off their horses’ manes and their own hair, many kindled no fire\r\nin their tents, took no supper, and silence and sadness was spread over all the\r\narmy; as if they had not gained the greatest and most glorious victory, but\r\nwere overcome by the tyrant, and enslaved. As soon as it was known in the\r\ncities, the magistrates, youths, children, and priests, came out to meet the\r\nbody, and brought trophies, crowns, and suits of golden armor; and, when he was\r\nto be interred, the elders of the Thessalians came and begged the Thebans, that\r\nthey might give the funeral; and one of them said, “Friends, we ask a favor of\r\nyou, that will prove both an honor and comfort to us in this our great\r\nmisfortune. The Thessalians shall never again wait on the living Pelopidas,\r\nnever give honors, of which he can be sensible, but if we may have his body,\r\nadorn his funeral, and inter him, we shall hope to show that we esteem his\r\ndeath a greater loss to the Thessalians than to the Thebans. You have lost only\r\na good general, we both a general and our liberty. For how shall we dare to\r\ndesire from you another captain, since we cannot restore Pelopidas?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Thebans granted their request, and there was never a more splendid funeral\r\nin the opinion of those, who do not think the glory of such solemnities\r\nconsists only in gold, ivory, and purple; as Philistus did, who extravagantly\r\ncelebrates the funeral of Dionysius, in which his tyranny concluded like the\r\npompous exit of some great tragedy. Alexander the Great, at the death of\r\nHephaestion, not only cut off the manes of his horses and his mules, but took\r\ndown the battlements from the city walls, that even the towns might seem\r\nmourners, and, instead of their former beauteous appearance, look bald at his\r\nfuneral. But such honors, being commanded and forced from the mourners,\r\nattended with feelings of jealousy towards those who received them, and of\r\nhatred towards those who exacted them, were no testimonies of love and respect,\r\nbut of the barbaric pride, luxury, and insolence of those who lavished their\r\nwealth in these vain and undesirable displays. But that a man of common rank,\r\ndying in a strange country, neither his wife, children, nor kinsmen present,\r\nnone either asking or compelling it, should be attended, buried, and crowned by\r\nso many cities that strove to exceed one another in the demonstrations of their\r\nlove, seems to be the sum and completion of happy fortune. For the death of\r\nhappy men is not, as Aesop observes, most grievous, but most blessed, since it\r\nsecures their felicity, and puts it out of fortune’s power. And that Spartan\r\nadvised well, who, embracing Diagoras, that had himself been crowned in the\r\nOlympic Games, and saw his sons and grandchildren victors, said, “Die,\r\nDiagoras, for thou canst not be a god.” And yet who would compare all the\r\nvictories in the Pythian and Olympian Games put together, with one of those\r\nenterprises of Pelopidas, of which he successfully performed so many? Having\r\nspent his life in brave and glorious actions, he died at last in the chief\r\ncommand, for the thirteenth time, of the Boeotians, fighting bravely and in the\r\nact of slaying a tyrant, in defense of the liberty of the Thessalians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis death, as it brought grief, so likewise it produced advantage to the\r\nallies; for the Thebans, as soon as they heard of his fall, delayed not their\r\nrevenge, but presently sent seven thousand foot and seven hundred horse, under\r\nthe command of Malcitas and Diogiton. And they, finding Alexander weak and\r\nwithout forces, compelled him to restore the cities he had taken, to withdraw\r\nhis garrisons from the Magnesians and Achaeans of Phthiotis, and swear to\r\nassist the Thebans against whatsoever enemies they should require. This\r\ncontented the Thebans, but punishment overtook the tyrant for his wickedness,\r\nand the death of Pelopidas was revenged by Heaven in the following manner.\r\nPelopidas, as I have already mentioned, had taught his wife Thebe not to fear\r\nthe outward splendor and show of the tyrant’s defenses, since she was admitted\r\nwithin them. She, of herself, too, dreaded his inconstancy, and hated his\r\ncruelty; and, therefore, conspiring with her three brothers, Tisiphonus,\r\nPytholaus, and Lycophron, made the following attempt upon him. All the other\r\napartments were full of the tyrant’s night guards, but their bed-chamber was an\r\nupper room, and before the door lay a chained dog to guard it, which would fly\r\nat all but the tyrant and his wife and one servant that fed him. When Thebe,\r\ntherefore, designed to kill her husband, she hid her brothers all day in a room\r\nhard by, and she, going in alone, according to her usual custom, to Alexander\r\nwho was asleep already, in a little time came out again, and commanded the\r\nservant to lead away the dog, for Alexander wished to rest quietly. She covered\r\nthe stairs with wool, that the young men might make no noise as they came up;\r\nand then, bringing up her brothers with their weapons, and leaving them at the\r\nchamber door, she went in, and brought away the tyrant’s sword that hung over\r\nhis head and showed it them for a confirmation that he was fast asleep. The\r\nyoung men appearing fearful, and unwilling to do the murder, she chid them, and\r\nangrily vowed she would wake Alexander, and discover the conspiracy; and so,\r\nwith a lamp in her hand, she conducted them in, they being both ashamed and\r\nafraid, and brought them to the bed; when one of them caught him by the feet,\r\nthe other pulled him backward by the hair, and the third ran him through. The\r\ndeath was more speedy, perhaps, than was fit; but, in that he was the first\r\ntyrant that was killed by the contrivance of his wife, and as his corpse was\r\nabused, thrown out, and trodden under foot by the Pheraeans, he seems to have\r\nsuffered what his villainies deserved.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap22\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eMARCELLUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey say that Marcus Claudius, who was five times consul of the Romans, was the\r\nson of Marcus; and that he was the first of his family called Marcellus; that\r\nis, martial, as Posidonius affirms. He was, indeed, by long experience skillful\r\nin the art of war, of a strong body, valiant of hand, and by natural\r\ninclination addicted to war. This high temper and heat he showed conspicuously\r\nin battle; in other respects he was modest and obliging, and so far studious of\r\nGreek learning and discipline, as to honor and admire those that excelled in\r\nit, though he did not himself attain a proficiency in them equal to his desire,\r\nby reason of his employments. For if ever there were any men, whom, as Homer\r\nsays, Heaven,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFrom their first youth unto their utmost age\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAppointed the laborious wars to wage,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\ncertainly they were the chief Romans of that time; who in their youth had war\r\nwith the Carthaginians in Sicily, in their middle age with the Gauls in the\r\ndefense of Italy itself; and, at last, when now grown old, struggled again with\r\nHannibal and the Carthaginians, and wanted in their latest years what is\r\ngranted to most men, exemption from military toils; their rank and their great\r\nqualities still making them be called upon to undertake the command.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcellus, ignorant or unskillful of no kind of fighting, in single combat\r\nsurpassed himself; he never declined a challenge, and never accepted without\r\nkilling his challenger. In Sicily, he protected and saved his brother Otacilius\r\nwhen surrounded in battle, and slew the enemies that pressed upon him; for\r\nwhich act he was by the generals, while he was yet but young, presented with\r\ncrowns and other honorable rewards; and, his good qualities more and more\r\ndisplaying themselves, he was created Curule Aedile by the people, and by the\r\nhigh-priests Augur; which is that priesthood to which chiefly the law assigns\r\nthe observation of auguries. In his aedileship, a certain mischance brought him\r\nto the necessity of bringing an impeachment into the senate. He had a son named\r\nMarcus, of great beauty, in the flower of his age, and no less admired for the\r\ngoodness of his character. This youth, Capitolinus, a bold and ill-mannered\r\nman, Marcellus’s colleague, sought to abuse. The boy at first himself repelled\r\nhim; but when the other again persecuted him, told his father. Marcellus,\r\nhighly indignant, accused the man in the senate, where he, having appealed to\r\nthe tribunes of the people, endeavored by various shifts and exceptions to\r\nelude the impeachment; and, when the tribunes refused their protection, by flat\r\ndenial rejected the charge. As there was no witness of the fact, the senate\r\nthought fit to call the youth himself before them; on witnessing whose blushes\r\nand tears, and shame mixed with the highest indignation, seeking no further\r\nevidence of the crime, they condemned Capitolinus, and set a fine upon him; of\r\nthe money of which, Marcellus caused silver vessels for libation to be made,\r\nwhich he dedicated to the gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the end of the first Punic war, which lasted one and twenty years, the\r\nseeds of Gallic tumults sprang up, and began again to trouble Rome. The\r\nInsubrians, a people inhabiting the subalpine region of Italy, strong in their\r\nown forces, raised from among the other Gauls aids of mercenary soldiers,\r\ncalled Gaesatae. And it was a sort of miracle, and special good fortune for\r\nRome, that the Gallic war was not coincident with the Punic, but that the Gauls\r\nhad with fidelity stood quiet as spectators, while the Punic war continued, as\r\nthough they had been under engagements to await and attack the victors, and now\r\nonly were at liberty to come forward. Still the position itself, and the\r\nancient renown of the Gauls, struck no little fear into the minds of the\r\nRomans, who were about to undertake a war so near home and upon their own\r\nborders; and regarded the Gauls, because they had once taken their city, with\r\nmore apprehension than any people, as is apparent from the enactment which from\r\nthat time forth provided, that the high-priests should enjoy an exemption from\r\nall military duty, except only in Gallic insurrections.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe great preparations, also, made by the Romans for war, (for it is not\r\nreported that the people of Rome ever had at one time so many legions in arms,\r\neither before or since,) and their extraordinary sacrifices, were plain\r\narguments of their fear. For though they were most averse to barbarous and\r\ncruel rites, and entertained more than any nation the same pious and reverent\r\nsentiments of the gods with the Greeks; yet, when this war was coming upon\r\nthem, they then, from some prophecies in the Sibyls’ books, put alive under\r\nground a pair of Greeks, one male, the other female; and likewise two Gauls,\r\none of each sex, in the market called the beast-market: continuing even to this\r\nday to offer to these Greeks and Gauls certain secret ceremonial observances in\r\nthe month of November.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the beginning of this war, in which the Romans sometimes obtained remarkable\r\nvictories, sometimes were shamefully beaten, nothing was done toward the\r\ndetermination of the contest, until Flaminius and Furius, being consuls, led\r\nlarge forces against the Insubrians. At the time of their departure, the river\r\nthat runs through the country of Picenum was seen flowing with blood; there was\r\na report, that three moons had been seen at once at Ariminum; and, in the\r\nconsular assembly, the augurs declared, that the consuls had been unduly and\r\ninauspiciously created. The senate, therefore, immediately sent letters to the\r\ncamp, recalling the consuls to Rome with all possible speed, and commanding\r\nthem to forbear from acting against the enemies, and to abdicate the consulship\r\non the first opportunity. These letters being brought to Flaminius, he deferred\r\nto open them till, having defeated and put to flight the enemy’s forces, he\r\nwasted and ravaged their borders. The people, therefore, did not go forth to\r\nmeet him when he returned with huge spoils; nay, because he had not instantly\r\nobeyed the command in the letters, by which he was recalled, but slighted and\r\ncontemned them, they were very near denying him the honor of a triumph. Nor was\r\nthe triumph sooner passed than they deposed him, with his colleague, from the\r\nmagistracy, and reduced them to the state of private citizens. So much were all\r\nthings at Rome made to depend upon religion; they would not allow any contempt\r\nof the omens and the ancient rites, even though attended with the highest\r\nsuccess; thinking it to be of more importance to the public safety, that the\r\nmagistrates should reverence the gods, than that they should overcome their\r\nenemies. Thus Tiberius Sempronius, whom for his probity and virtue the citizens\r\nhighly esteemed, created Scipio Nasica and Caius Marcius, consuls to succeed\r\nhim: and when they were gone into their provinces, lit upon books concerning\r\nthe religious observances, where he found something he had not known before;\r\nwhich was this. When the consul took his auspices, he sat without the city in a\r\nhouse, or tent, hired for that occasion; but, if it happened that he, for any\r\nurgent cause, returned into the city, without having yet seen any certain\r\nsigns, he was obliged to leave that first building, or tent, and to seek\r\nanother to repeat the survey from. Tiberius, it appears, in ignorance of this,\r\nhad twice used the same building before announcing the new consuls. Now,\r\nunderstanding his error, he referred the matter to the senate: nor did the\r\nsenate neglect this minute fault, but soon wrote expressly of it to Scipio\r\nNasica and Caius Marcius; who, leaving their provinces and without delay\r\nreturning to Rome, laid down their magistracy. This happened at a later period.\r\nAbout the same time, too, the priesthood was taken away from two men of very\r\ngreat honor, Cornelius Cethegus and Quintus Sulpicius: from the former, because\r\nhe had not rightly held out the entrails of a beast slain for sacrifice; from\r\nthe latter, because, while he was immolating, the tufted cap which the Flamens\r\nwear had fallen from his head. Minucius, the dictator, who had already named\r\nCaius Flaminius master of the horse, they deposed from his command, because the\r\nsqueak of a mouse was heard, and put others into their places. And yet,\r\nnotwithstanding, by observing so anxiously these little niceties they did not\r\nrun into any superstition, because they never varied from nor exceeded the\r\nobservances of their ancestors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo soon as Flaminius with his colleague had resigned the consulate, Marcellus\r\nwas declared consul by the presiding officers called Interrexes; and, entering\r\ninto the magistracy, chose Cnaeus Cornelius his colleague. There was a report\r\nthat, the Gauls proposing a pacification, and the senate also inclining to\r\npeace, Marcellus inflamed the people to war; but a peace appears to have been\r\nagreed upon, which the Gaesatae broke; who, passing the Alps, stirred up the\r\nInsubrians, (they being thirty thousand in number, and the Insubrians more\r\nnumerous by far) and, proud of their strength, marched directly to Acerrae, a\r\ncity seated on the north of the river Po. From thence Britomartus, king of the\r\nGaesatae, taking with him ten thousand soldiers, harassed the country round\r\nabout. News of which being brought to Marcellus, leaving his colleague at\r\nAcerrae with the foot and all the heavy arms and a third part of the horse, and\r\ncarrying with him the rest of the horse and six hundred light armed foot,\r\nmarching night and day without remission, he staid not till he came up to these\r\nten thousand near a Gaulish village called Clastidium, which not long before\r\nhad been reduced under the Roman jurisdiction. Nor had he time to refresh his\r\nsoldiers, or to give them rest. For the barbarians, that were then present,\r\nimmediately observed his approach, and contemned him, because he had very few\r\nfoot with him. The Gauls were singularly skillful in horsemanship, and thought\r\nto excel in it; and as at present they also exceeded Marcellus in number, they\r\nmade no account of him. They, therefore, with their king at their head,\r\ninstantly charged upon him, as if they would trample him under their horses’\r\nfeet, threatening all kind of cruelties. Marcellus, because his men were few,\r\nthat they might not be encompassed and charged on all sides by the enemy,\r\nextended his wings of horse, and, riding about, drew out his wings of foot in\r\nlength, till he came near to the enemy. Just as he was in the act of turning\r\nround to face the enemy, it so happened that his horse, startled with their\r\nfierce look and their cries, gave back, and carried him forcibly aside. Fearing\r\nlest this accident, if converted into an omen, might discourage his soldiers,\r\nhe quickly brought his horse round to confront the enemy, and made a gesture of\r\nadoration to the sun, as if he had wheeled about not by chance, but for a\r\npurpose of devotion. For it was customary to the Romans, when they offered\r\nworship to the gods, to turn round; and in this moment of meeting the enemy, he\r\nis said to have vowed the best of the arms to Jupiter Feretrius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe king of the Gauls beholding Marcellus, and from the badges of his authority\r\nconjecturing him to be the general, advanced some way before his embattled\r\narmy, and with a loud voice challenged him, and, brandishing his lance,\r\nfiercely ran in full career at him; exceeding the rest of the Gauls in stature,\r\nand with his armor, that was adorned with gold and silver and various colors,\r\nshining like lightning. These arms seeming to Marcellus, while he viewed the\r\nenemy’s army drawn up in battalia, to be the best and fairest, and thinking\r\nthem to be those he had vowed to Jupiter, he instantly ran upon the king, and\r\npierced through his breastplate with his lance; then pressing upon him with the\r\nweight of his horse, threw him to the ground, and with two or three strokes\r\nmore, slew him. Immediately he leapt from his horse, laid his hand upon the\r\ndead king’s arms, and, looking up toward Heaven, thus spoke: “O Jupiter\r\nFeretrius, arbiter of the exploits of captains, and of the acts of commanders\r\nin war and battles, be thou witness that I, a general, have slain a general; I,\r\na consul, have slain a king with my own hand, third of all the Romans; and that\r\nto thee I consecrate these first and most excellent of the spoils. Grant to us\r\nto dispatch the relics of the war, with the same course of fortune.” Then the\r\nRoman horse joining battle not only with the enemy’s horse, but also with the\r\nfoot who attacked them, obtained a singular and unheard of victory. For never\r\nbefore or since have so few horse defeated such numerous forces of horse and\r\nfoot together. The enemies being to a great number slain, and the spoils\r\ncollected, he returned to his colleague, who was conducting the war, with ill\r\nsuccess, against the enemies near the greatest and most populous of the Gallic\r\ncities, Milan. This was their capital, and, therefore, fighting valiantly in\r\ndefense of it, they were not so much besieged by Cornelius, as they besieged\r\nhim. But Marcellus having returned, and the Gaesatae retiring as soon as they\r\nwere certified of the death of the king and the defeat of his army, Milan was\r\ntaken. The rest of their towns, and all they had, the Gauls delivered up of\r\ntheir own accord to the Romans, and had peace upon equitable conditions granted\r\nto them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcellus alone, by a decree of the senate, triumphed. The triumph was in\r\nmagnificence, opulence, spoils, and the gigantic bodies of the captives, most\r\nremarkable. But the most grateful and most rare spectacle of all was the\r\ngeneral himself, carrying the arms of the barbarian king to the god to whom he\r\nhad vowed them. He had taken a tall and straight stock of an oak, and had\r\nlopped and formed it to a trophy. Upon this he fastened and hung round about\r\nthe arms of the king, arranging all the pieces in their suitable places. The\r\nprocession advancing solemnly, he, carrying this trophy, ascended the chariot;\r\nand thus, himself the fairest and most glorious triumphant image, was conveyed\r\ninto the city. The army adorned with shining armor followed in order, and with\r\nverses composed for the occasion and with songs of victory celebrated the\r\npraises of Jupiter and of their general. Then entering the temple of Jupiter\r\nFeretrius, he dedicated his gift; the third, and to our memory the last, that\r\never did so. The first was Romulus, after having slain Acron, king of the\r\nCaeninenses: the second, Cornelius Cossus, who slew Tolumnius the Etruscan:\r\nafter them Marcellus, having killed Britomartus king of the Gauls; after\r\nMarcellus, no man. The god to whom these spoils were consecrated is called\r\nJupiter Feretrius, from the trophy carried on the feretrum, one of the Greek\r\nwords which at that time still existed in great numbers in Latin: or, as others\r\nsay, it is the surname of the Thundering Jupiter, derived from ferire, to\r\nstrike. Others there are who would have the name to be deduced from the strokes\r\nthat are given in fight; since even now in battles, when they press upon their\r\nenemies, they constantly call out to each other, strike, in Latin, feri. Spoils\r\nin general they call Spolia, and these in particular Opima; though, indeed,\r\nthey say that Numa Pompilius in his commentaries, makes mention of first,\r\nsecond, and third Spolia Opima; and that he prescribes that the first taken be\r\nconsecrated to Jupiter Feretrius, the second to Mars, the third to Quirinus; as\r\nalso that the reward of the first be three hundred asses; of the second, two\r\nhundred; of the third, one hundred. The general account, however, prevails,\r\nthat those spoils only are Opima, which the general first takes in set battle,\r\nand takes from the enemy’s chief captain whom he has slain with his own hand.\r\nBut of this enough. The victory and the ending of the war was so welcome to the\r\npeople of Rome, that they sent to Apollo of Delphi, in testimony of their\r\ngratitude, a present of a golden cup of a hundred pound weight, and gave a\r\ngreat part of the spoil to their associate cities, and took care that many\r\npresents should be sent also to Hiero, king of the Syracusans, their friend and\r\nally.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Hannibal invaded Italy, Marcellus was dispatched with a fleet into Sicily.\r\nAnd when the army had been defeated at Cannae, and many thousands of them\r\nperished, and few had saved themselves by flying to Canusium, and all feared\r\nlest Hannibal, who had destroyed the strength of the Roman army, should advance\r\nat once with his victorious troops to Rome, Marcellus first sent for the\r\nprotection of the city fifteen hundred solders, from the fleet. Then, by decree\r\nof the senate, going to Canusium, having heard that many of the soldiers had\r\ncome together in that place, he led them out of the fortifications to prevent\r\nthe enemy from ravaging the country. The chief Roman commanders had most of\r\nthem fallen in battles; and the citizens complained, that the extreme caution\r\nof Fabius Maximus, whose integrity and wisdom gave him the highest authority,\r\nverged upon timidity and inaction. They confided in him to keep them out of\r\ndanger, but could not expect that he would enable them to retaliate. Fixing,\r\ntherefore, their thoughts upon Marcellus, and hoping to combine his boldness,\r\nconfidence, and promptitude with Fabius’s caution and prudence, and to temper\r\nthe one by the other, they sent, sometimes both with consular command,\r\nsometimes one as consul, the other as proconsul, against the enemy. Posidonius\r\nwrites, that Fabius was called the buckler, Marcellus the sword of Rome.\r\nCertainly, Hannibal himself confessed that he feared Fabius as a schoolmaster,\r\nMarcellus as an adversary: the former, lest he should be hindered from doing\r\nmischief; the latter, lest he should receive harm himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd first, when among Hannibal’s soldiers, proud of their victory, carelessness\r\nand boldness had grown to a great height, Marcellus, attacking all their\r\nstragglers and plundering parties, cut them off, and by little and little\r\ndiminished their forces. Then carrying aid to the Neapolitans and Nolans, he\r\nconfirmed the minds of the former, who, indeed, were of their own accord\r\nfaithful enough to the Romans; but in Nola he found a state of discord, the\r\nsenate not being able to rule and keep in the common people, who were generally\r\nfavorers of Hannibal. There was in the town one Bantius, a man renowned for his\r\nhigh birth and courage. This man, after he had fought most fiercely at Cannae,\r\nand had killed many of the enemies, at last was found lying in a heap of dead\r\nbodies, covered with darts, and was brought to Hannibal, who so honored him,\r\nthat he not only dismissed him without ransom, but also contracted friendship\r\nwith him, and made him his guest. In gratitude for this great favor, he became\r\none of the strongest of the partisans of Hannibal, and urged the people to\r\nrevolt. Marcellus could not be induced to put to death a man of such eminence,\r\nand who had endured such dangers in fighting on the Roman side; but, knowing\r\nhimself able, by the general kindliness of his disposition and in particular by\r\nthe attractiveness of his address, to gain over a character whose passion was\r\nfor honor, one day when Bantius saluted him, he asked him who he was; not that\r\nhe knew him not before, but seeking an occasion of further conference. When\r\nBantius had told who he was, Marcellus, seeming surprised with joy and wonder,\r\nreplied: “Are you that Bantius, whom the Romans commend above the rest that\r\nfought at Cannae, and praise as the one man that not only did not forsake the\r\nconsul Paulus Aemilius, but received in his own body many darts thrown at him?”\r\nBantius owning himself to be that very man, and showing his scars: “Why then,”\r\nsaid Marcellus, “did not you, having such proofs to show of your affection to\r\nus, come to me at my first arrival here? Do you think that we are unwilling to\r\nrequite with favor those who have well deserved, and who are honored even by\r\nour enemies?” He followed up his courtesies by a present of a war-horse, and\r\nfive hundred drachmas in money. From that time Bantius became the most faithful\r\nassistant and ally of Marcellus, and a most keen discoverer of those that\r\nattempted innovation and sedition.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese were many, and had entered into a conspiracy to plunder the baggage of\r\nthe Romans, when they should make an irruption against the enemy. Marcellus,\r\ntherefore, having marshaled his army within the city, placed the baggage near\r\nto the gates, and, by an edict, forbade the Nolans to go to the walls. Thus,\r\noutside the city, no arms could be seen; by which prudent device he allured\r\nHannibal to move with his army in some disorder to the city, thinking that\r\nthings were in a tumult there. Then Marcellus, the nearest gate being, as he\r\nhad commanded, thrown open, issuing forth with the flower of his horse in\r\nfront, charged the enemy. By and by the foot, sallying out of another gate,\r\nwith a loud shout joined in the battle. And while Hannibal opposes part of his\r\nforces to these, the third gate also is opened, out of which the rest break\r\nforth, and on all quarters fall upon the enemies, who were dismayed at this\r\nunexpected encounter, and did but feebly resist those with whom they had been\r\nfirst engaged, because of their attack by these others that sallied out later.\r\nHere Hannibal’s soldiers, with much bloodshed and many wounds, were beaten back\r\nto their camp, and for the first time turned their backs to the Romans. There\r\nfell in this action, as it is related, more than five thousand of them; of the\r\nRomans, not above five hundred. Livy does not affirm, that either the victory,\r\nor the slaughter of the enemy was so great; but certain it is, that the\r\nadventure brought great glory to Marcellus, and to the Romans, after their\r\ncalamities, a great revival of confidence, as they began now to entertain a\r\nhope, that the enemy with whom they contended was not invincible, but liable\r\nlike themselves to defeats.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTherefore, the other consul being deceased, the people recalled Marcellus, that\r\nthey might put him into his place; and, in spite of the magistrates, succeeded\r\nin postponing the election till his arrival, when he was by all the suffrages\r\ncreated consul. But because it happened to thunder, the augurs accounting that\r\nhe was not legitimately created, and yet not daring, for fear of the people, to\r\ndeclare their sentence openly, Marcellus voluntarily resigned the consulate,\r\nretaining however his command. Being created proconsul, and returning to the\r\ncamp at Nola, he proceeded to harass those that followed the party of the\r\nCarthaginian; on whose coming with speed to succor them, Marcellus declined a\r\nchallenge to a set battle, but when Hannibal had sent out a party to plunder,\r\nand now expected no fight, he broke out upon him with his army. He had\r\ndistributed to the foot long lances, such as are commonly used in naval fights;\r\nand instructed them to throw them with great force at convenient distance\r\nagainst the enemies who were inexperienced in that way of darting, and used to\r\nfight with short darts hand to hand. This seems to have been the cause of the\r\ntotal rout and open flight of all the Carthaginians who were then engaged:\r\nthere fell of them five thousand; four elephants were killed, and two taken;\r\nbut, what was of greatest moment, on the third day after, more than three\r\nhundred horse, Spaniards and Numidians mixed, deserted to him, a disaster that\r\nhad never to that day happened to Hannibal, who had long kept together in\r\nharmony an army of barbarians, collected out of many various and discordant\r\nnations. Marcellus and his successors in all this war made good use of the\r\nfaithful service of these horsemen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe now was a third time created consul, and sailed over into Sicily. For the\r\nsuccess of Hannibal had excited the Carthaginians to lay claim to that whole\r\nisland; chiefly because after the murder of the tyrant Hieronymus, all things\r\nhad been in tumult and confusion at Syracuse. For which reason the Romans also\r\nhad sent before to that city a force under the conduct of Appius, as praetor.\r\nWhile Marcellus was receiving that army, a number of Roman soldiers cast\r\nthemselves at his feet, upon occasion of the following calamity. Of those that\r\nsurvived the battle at Cannae, some had escaped by flight, and some were taken\r\nalive by the enemy; so great a multitude, that it was thought there were not\r\nremaining Romans enough to defend the walls of the city. And yet the\r\nmagnanimity and constancy of the city was such, that it would not redeem the\r\ncaptives from Hannibal, though it might have done so for a small ransom; a\r\ndecree of the senate forbade it, and chose rather to leave them to be killed by\r\nthe enemy, or sold out of Italy; and commanded that all who had saved\r\nthemselves by flight should be transported into Sicily, and not permitted to\r\nreturn into Italy, until the war with Hannibal should be ended. These,\r\ntherefore, when Marcellus was arrived in Sicily, addressed themselves to him in\r\ngreat numbers; and casting themselves at his feet, with much lamentation and\r\ntears humbly besought him to admit them to honorable service; and promised to\r\nmake it appear by their future fidelity and exertions, that that defeat had\r\nbeen received rather by misfortune than by cowardice. Marcellus, pitying them,\r\npetitioned the senate by letters, that he might have leave at all times to\r\nrecruit his legions out of them. After much debate about the thing, the senate\r\ndecreed they were of opinion that the commonwealth did not require the service\r\nof cowardly soldiers; if Marcellus perhaps thought otherwise, he might make use\r\nof them, provided no one of them be honored on any occasion with a crown or\r\nmilitary gift, as a reward of his virtue or courage. This decree stung\r\nMarcellus; and on his return to Rome, after the Sicilian war was ended, he\r\nupbraided the senate, that they had denied to him, who had so highly deserved\r\nof the republic, liberty to relieve so great a number of citizens in great\r\ncalamity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt this time Marcellus, first incensed by injures done him by Hippocrates,\r\ncommander of the Syracusans, (who, to give proof of his good affection to the\r\nCarthaginians, and to acquire the tyranny to himself, had killed a number of\r\nRomans at Leontini,) besieged and took by force the city of Leontini; yet\r\nviolated none of the townsmen; only deserters, as many as he took, he subjected\r\nto the punishment of the rods and axe. But Hippocrates, sending a report to\r\nSyracuse, that Marcellus had put all the adult population to the sword, and\r\nthen coming upon the Syracusans, who had risen in tumult upon that false\r\nreport, made himself master of the city. Upon this Marcellus moved with his\r\nwhole army to Syracuse, and, encamping near the wall, sent ambassadors into the\r\ncity to relate to the Syracusans the truth of what had been done in Leontini.\r\nWhen these could not prevail by treaty, the whole power being now in the hands\r\nof Hippocrates, he proceeded to attack the city both by land and by sea. The\r\nland forces were conducted by Appius Marcellus, with sixty galleys, each with\r\nfive rows of oars, furnished with all sorts of arms and missiles, and a huge\r\nbridge of planks laid upon eight ships chained together, upon which was carried\r\nthe engine to cast stones and darts, assaulted the walls, relying on the\r\nabundance and magnificence of his preparations, and on his own previous glory;\r\nall which, however, were, it would seem, but trifles for Archimedes and his\r\nmachines.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese machines he had designed and contrived, not as matters of any importance,\r\nbut as mere amusements in geometry; in compliance with king Hiero’s desire and\r\nrequest, some little time before, that he should reduce to practice some part\r\nof his admirable speculations in science, and by accommodating the theoretic\r\ntruth to sensation and ordinary use, bring it more within the appreciation of\r\npeople in general. Eudoxus and Archytas had been the first originators of this\r\nfar-famed and highly prized art of mechanics, which they employed as an elegant\r\nillustration of geometrical truths, and as a means of sustaining\r\nexperimentally, to the satisfaction of the senses, conclusions too intricate\r\nfor proof by words and diagrams. As, for example, to solve the problem, so\r\noften required in constructing geometrical figures, given the two extreme, to\r\nfind the two mean lines of a proportion, both these mathematicians had recourse\r\nto the aid of instruments, adapting to their purpose certain curves and\r\nsections of lines. But what with Plato’s indignation at it, and his invectives\r\nagainst it as the mere corruption and annihilation of the one good of geometry,\r\n— which was thus shamefully turning its back upon the unembodied objects of\r\npure intelligence to recur to sensation, and to ask help (not to be obtained\r\nwithout base subservience and depravation) from matter; so it was that\r\nmechanics came to be separated from geometry, and, repudiated and neglected by\r\nphilosophers, took its place as a military art. Archimedes, however, in writing\r\nto king Hiero, whose friend and near relation he was, had stated, that given\r\nthe force, any given weight might be moved, and even boasted, we are told,\r\nrelying on the strength of demonstration, that if there were another earth, by\r\ngoing into it he could remove this. Hiero being struck with amazement at this,\r\nand entreating him to make good this problem by actual experiment, and show\r\nsome great weight moved by a small engine, he fixed accordingly upon a ship of\r\nburden out of the king’s arsenal, which could not be drawn out of the dock\r\nwithout great labor and many men; and, loading her with many passengers and a\r\nfull freight, sitting himself the while far off, with no great endeavor, but\r\nonly holding the head of the pulley in his hand and drawing the cord by\r\ndegrees, he drew the ship in a straight line, as smoothly and evenly, as if she\r\nhad been in the sea. The king, astonished at this, and convinced of the power\r\nof the art, prevailed upon Archimedes to make him engines accommodated to all\r\nthe purposes, offensive and defensive, of a siege. These the king himself never\r\nmade use of, because he spent almost all his life in a profound quiet, and the\r\nhighest affluence. But the apparatus was, in a most opportune time, ready at\r\nhand for the Syracusans, and with it also the engineer himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen, therefore, the Romans assaulted the walls in two places at once, fear and\r\nconsternation stupefied the Syracusans, believing that nothing was able to\r\nresist that violence and those forces. But when Archimedes began to ply his\r\nengines, he at once shot against the land forces all sorts of missile weapons,\r\nand immense masses of stone that came down with incredible noise and violence,\r\nagainst which no man could stand; for they knocked down those upon whom they\r\nfell, in heaps, breaking all their ranks and files. In the meantime huge poles\r\nthrust out from the walls over the ships, sunk some by the great weights which\r\nthey let down from on high upon them; others they lifted up into the air by an\r\niron hand or beak like a crane’s beak, and, when they had drawn them up by the\r\nprow, and set them on end upon the poop, they plunged them to the bottom of the\r\nsea; or else the ships, drawn by engines within, and whirled about, were dashed\r\nagainst steep rocks that stood jutting out under the walls, with great\r\ndestruction of the soldiers that were aboard them. A ship was frequently lifted\r\nup to a great height in the air (a dreadful thing to behold), and was rolled to\r\nand fro, and kept swinging, until the mariners were all thrown out, when at\r\nlength it was dashed against the rocks, or let fall. At the engine that\r\nMarcellus brought upon the bridge of ships, which was called Sambuca from some\r\nresemblance it had to an instrument of music, while it was as yet approaching\r\nthe wall, there was discharged a piece of a rock of ten talents’ weight, then a\r\nsecond and a third, which, striking upon it with immense force and with a noise\r\nlike thunder, broke all its foundation to pieces, shook out all its fastenings,\r\nand completely dislodged it from the bridge. So Marcellus, doubtful what\r\ncounsel to pursue, drew off his ships to a safer distance, and sounded a\r\nretreat to his forces on land. They then took a resolution of coming up under\r\nthe walls, if it were possible, in the night; thinking that as Archimedes used\r\nropes stretched at length in playing his engines, the soldiers would now be\r\nunder the shot, and the darts would, for want of sufficient distance to throw\r\nthem, fly over their heads without effect. But he, it appeared, had long before\r\nframed for such occasion engines accommodated to any distance, and shorter\r\nweapons; and had made numerous small openings in the walls, through which, with\r\nengines of a shorter range, unexpected blows were inflicted on the assailants.\r\nThus, when they who thought to deceive the defenders came close up to the\r\nwalls, instantly a shower of darts and other missile weapons was again cast\r\nupon them. And when stones came tumbling down perpendicularly upon their heads,\r\nand, as it were, the whole wall shot out arrows at them, they retired. And now,\r\nagain, as they were going off, arrows and darts of a longer range indicted a\r\ngreat slaughter among them, and their ships were driven one against another;\r\nwhile they themselves were not able to retaliate in any way. For Archimedes had\r\nprovided and fixed most of his engines immediately under the wall; whence the\r\nRomans, seeing that infinite mischiefs overwhelmed them from no visible means,\r\nbegan to think they were fighting with the gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet Marcellus escaped unhurt, and, deriding his own artificers and engineers,\r\n“What,” said he, “must we give up fighting with this geometrical Briareus, who\r\nplays pitch and toss with our ships, and, with the multitude of darts which he\r\nshowers at a single moment upon us, really outdoes the hundred-handed giants of\r\nmythology?” And, doubtless, the rest of the Syracusans were but the body of\r\nArchimedes’ designs, one soul moving and governing all; for, laying aside all\r\nother arms, with his alone they infested the Romans, and protected themselves.\r\nIn fine, when such terror had seized upon the Romans, that, if they did but see\r\na little rope or a piece of wood from the wall, instantly crying out, that\r\nthere it was again, Archimedes was about to let fly some engine at them, they\r\nturned their backs and fled, Marcellus desisted from conflicts and assaults,\r\nputting all his hope in a long siege. Yet Archimedes possessed so high a\r\nspirit, so profound a soul, and such treasures of scientific knowledge, that\r\nthough these inventions had now obtained him the renown of more than human\r\nsagacity, he yet would not deign to leave behind him any commentary or writing\r\non such subjects; but, repudiating as sordid and ignoble the whole trade of\r\nengineering, and every sort of art that lends itself to mere use and profit, he\r\nplaced his whole affection and ambition in those purer speculations where there\r\ncan be no reference to the vulgar needs of life; studies, the superiority of\r\nwhich to all others is unquestioned, and in which the only doubt can be,\r\nwhether the beauty and grandeur of the subjects examined, or the precision and\r\ncogency of the methods and means of proof, most deserve our admiration. It is\r\nnot possible to find in all geometry more difficult and intricate questions, or\r\nmore simple and lucid explanations. Some ascribe this to his natural genius;\r\nwhile others think that incredible effort and toil produced these, to all\r\nappearance, easy and unlabored results. No amount of investigation of yours\r\nwould succeed in attaining the proof, and yet, once seen, you immediately\r\nbelieve you would have discovered it; by so smooth and so rapid a path he leads\r\nyou to the conclusion required. And thus it ceases to be incredible that (as is\r\ncommonly told of him), the charm of his familiar and domestic Siren made him\r\nforget his food and neglect his person, to that degree that when he was\r\noccasionally carried by absolute violence to bathe, or have his body anointed,\r\nhe used to trace geometrical figures in the ashes of the fire, and diagrams in\r\nthe oil on his body, being in a state of entire preoccupation, and, in the\r\ntruest sense, divine possession with his love and delight in science. His\r\ndiscoveries were numerous and admirable; but he is said to have requested his\r\nfriends and relations that when he was dead, they would place over his tomb a\r\nsphere containing a cylinder, inscribing it with the ratio which the containing\r\nsolid bears to the contained.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSuch was Archimedes, who now showed himself, and, so far as lay in him, the\r\ncity also, invincible. While the siege continued, Marcellus took Megara, one of\r\nthe earliest founded of the Greek cities in Sicily, and capturing also the camp\r\nof Hippocrates at Acilae, killed above eight thousand men, having attacked them\r\nwhilst they were engaged in forming their fortifications. He overran a great\r\npart of Sicily; gained over many towns from the Carthaginians, and overcame all\r\nthat dared to encounter him. As the siege went on, one Damippus, a\r\nLacedaemonian, putting to sea in a ship from Syracuse, was taken. When the\r\nSyracusans much desired to redeem this man, and there were many meetings and\r\ntreaties about the matter betwixt them and Marcellus, he had opportunity to\r\nnotice a tower into which a body of men might be secretly introduced, as the\r\nwall near to it was not difficult to surmount, and it was itself carelessly\r\nguarded. Coming often thither, and entertaining conferences about the release\r\nof Damippus, he had pretty well calculated the height of the tower, and got\r\nladders prepared. The Syracusans celebrated a feast to Diana; this juncture of\r\ntime, when they were given up entirely to wine and sport, Marcellus laid hold\r\nof, and, before the citizens perceived it, not only possessed himself of the\r\ntower, but, before the break of day, filled the wall around with soldiers, and\r\nmade his way into the Hexapylum. The Syracusans now beginning to stir, and to\r\nbe alarmed at the tumult, he ordered the trumpets everywhere to sound, and thus\r\nfrightened them all into flight, as if all parts of the city were already won,\r\nthough the most fortified, and the fairest, and most ample quarter was still\r\nungained. It is called Acradina, and was divided by a wall from the outer city,\r\none part of which they call Neapolis, the other Tycha. Possessing himself of\r\nthese, Marcellus, about break of day, entered through the Hexapylum, all his\r\nofficers congratulating him. But looking down from the higher places upon the\r\nbeautiful and spacious city below, he is said to have wept much, commiserating\r\nthe calamity that hung over it, when his thoughts represented to him, how\r\ndismal and foul the face of the city would in a few hours be, when plundered\r\nand sacked by the soldiers. For among the officers of his army there was not\r\none man that durst deny the plunder of the city to the soldiers’ demands; nay,\r\nmany were instant that it should be set on fire and laid level to the ground:\r\nbut this Marcellus would not listen to. Yet he granted, but with great\r\nunwillingness and reluctance, that the money and slaves should be made prey;\r\ngiving orders, at the same time, that none should violate any free person, nor\r\nkill, misuse, or make a slave of any of the Syracusans. Though he had used this\r\nmoderation, he still esteemed the condition of that city to be pitiable, and,\r\neven amidst the congratulations and joy, showed his strong feelings of sympathy\r\nand commiseration at seeing all the riches accumulated during a long felicity,\r\nnow dissipated in an hour. For it is related, that no less prey and plunder was\r\ntaken here, than afterward in Carthage. For not long after, they obtained also\r\nthe plunder of the other parts of the city, which were taken by treachery;\r\nleaving nothing untouched but the king’s money, which was brought into the\r\npublic treasury. But nothing afflicted Marcellus so much as the death of\r\nArchimedes; who was then, as fate would have it, intent upon working out some\r\nproblem by a diagram, and having fixed his mind alike and his eyes upon the\r\nsubject of his speculation, he never noticed the incursion of the Romans, nor\r\nthat the city was taken. In this transport of study and contemplation, a\r\nsoldier, unexpectedly coming up to him, commanded him to follow to Marcellus;\r\nwhich he declining to do before he had worked out his problem to a\r\ndemonstration, the soldier, enraged, drew his sword and ran him through. Others\r\nwrite, that a Roman soldier, running upon him with a drawn sword, offered to\r\nkill him; and that Archimedes, looking back, earnestly besought him to hold his\r\nhand a little while, that he might not leave what he was then at work upon\r\ninconclusive and imperfect; but the soldier, nothing moved by his entreaty,\r\ninstantly killed him. Others again relate, that as Archimedes was carrying to\r\nMarcellus mathematical instruments, dials, spheres, and angles, by which the\r\nmagnitude of the sun might be measured to the sight, some soldiers seeing him,\r\nand thinking that he carried gold in a vessel, slew him. Certain it is, that\r\nhis death was very afflicting to Marcellus; and that Marcellus ever after\r\nregarded him that killed him as a murderer; and that he sought for his kindred\r\nand honored them with signal favors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIndeed, foreign nations had held the Romans to be excellent soldiers and\r\nformidable in battle; but they had hitherto given no memorable example of\r\ngentleness, or humanity, or civil virtue; and Marcellus seems first to have\r\nshown to the Greeks, that his countrymen were most illustrious for their\r\njustice. For such was his moderation to all with whom he had anything to do,\r\nand such his benignity also to many cities and private men, that, if anything\r\nhard or severe was decreed concerning the people of Enna, Megara, or Syracuse,\r\nthe blame was thought to belong rather to those upon whom the storm fell, than\r\nto those who brought it upon them. One example of many I will commemorate. In\r\nSicily there is a town called Engyium, not indeed great, but very ancient and\r\nennobled by the presence of the goddesses, called the Mothers. The temple, they\r\nsay, was built by the Cretans; and they show some spears and brazen helmets,\r\ninscribed with the names of Meriones, and (with the same spelling as in Latin)\r\nof Ulysses, who consecrated them to the goddesses. This city highly favoring\r\nthe party of the Carthaginians, Nicias, the most eminent of the citizens,\r\ncounseled them to go over to the Romans; to that end acting freely and openly\r\nin harangues to their assemblies, arguing the imprudence and madness of the\r\nopposite course. They, fearing his power and authority, resolved to deliver him\r\nin bonds to the Carthaginians. Nicias, detecting the design, and seeing that\r\nhis person was secretly kept in watch, proceeded to speak irreligiously to the\r\nvulgar of the Mothers, and showed many signs of disrespect, as if he denied and\r\ncontemned the received opinion of the presence of those goddesses; his enemies\r\nthe while rejoicing, that he, of his own accord, sought the destruction hanging\r\nover his head. When they were just now about to lay hands upon him, an assembly\r\nwas held, and here Nicias, making a speech to the people concerning some affair\r\nthen under deliberation, in the midst of his address, cast himself upon the\r\nground; and soon after, while amazement (as usually happens on such surprising\r\noccasions) held the assembly immovable, raising and turning his head round, he\r\nbegan in a trembling and deep tone, but by degrees raised and sharpened his\r\nvoice. When he saw the whole theater struck with horror and silence, throwing\r\noff his mantle and rending his tunic, he leaps up half naked, and runs towards\r\nthe door, crying out aloud that he was driven by the wrath of the Mothers. When\r\nno man durst, out of religious fear, lay hands upon him or stop him, but all\r\ngave way before him, he ran out of the gate, not omitting any shriek or gesture\r\nof men possessed and mad. His wife, conscious of his counterfeiting, and privy\r\nto his design, taking her children with her, first cast herself as a suppliant\r\nbefore the temple of the goddesses; then, pretending to seek her wandering\r\nhusband, no man hindering her, went out of the town in safety; and by this\r\nmeans they all escaped to Marcellus at Syracuse. After many other such affronts\r\noffered him by the men of Engyium, Marcellus, having taken them all prisoners\r\nand cast them into bonds, was preparing to inflict upon them the last\r\npunishment; when Nicias, with tears in his eyes, addressed himself to him. In\r\nfine, casting himself at Marcellus’s feet, and deprecating for his citizens, he\r\nbegged most earnestly their lives, chiefly those of his enemies. Marcellus,\r\nrelenting, set them all at liberty, and rewarded Nicias with ample lands and\r\nrich presents. This history is recorded by Posidonius the philosopher.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcellus, at length recalled by the people of Rome to the immediate war at\r\nhome, to illustrate his triumph, and adorn the city, carried away with him a\r\ngreat number of the most beautiful ornaments of Syracuse. For, before that,\r\nRome neither had, nor had seen, any of those fine and exquisite rarities; nor\r\nwas any pleasure taken in graceful and elegant pieces of workmanship. Stuffed\r\nwith barbarous arms and spoils stained with blood, and everywhere crowned with\r\ntriumphal memorials and trophies, she was no pleasant or delightful spectacle\r\nfor the eyes of peaceful or refined spectators: but, as Epaminondas named the\r\nfields of Boeotia the stage of Mars; and Xenophon called Ephesus the workhouse\r\nof war; so, in my judgment, may you call Rome, at that time, (to use the words\r\nof Pindar,) “the precinct of the peaceless Mars.” Whence Marcellus was more\r\npopular with the people in general, because he had adorned the city with\r\nbeautiful objects that had all the charms of Grecian grace and symmetry; but\r\nFabius Maximus, who neither touched nor brought away anything of this kind from\r\nTarentum, when he had taken it, was more approved of by the elder men. He\r\ncarried off the money and valuables, but forbade the statues to be moved;\r\nadding, as it is commonly related, “Let us leave to the Tarentines these\r\noffended gods.” They blamed Marcellus, first, for placing the city in an\r\ninvidious position, as it seemed now to celebrate victories and lead\r\nprocessions of triumph, not only over men, but also over the gods as captives;\r\nthen, that he had diverted to idleness, and vain talk about curious arts and\r\nartificers, the common people, which, bred up in wars and agriculture, had\r\nnever tasted of luxury and sloth, and, as Euripides said of Hercules, had been\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nRude, unrefined, only for great things good,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nso that now they misspent much of their time in examining and criticizing\r\ntrifles. And yet, notwithstanding this reprimand, Marcellus made it his glory\r\nto the Greeks themselves, that he had taught his ignorant countrymen to esteem\r\nand admire the elegant and wonderful productions of Greece.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when the envious opposed his being brought triumphant into the city,\r\nbecause there were some relics of the war in Sicily, and a third triumph would\r\nbe looked upon with jealousy, he gave way. He triumphed upon the Alban mount,\r\nand thence entered the city in ovation, as it is called in Latin, in Greek eua;\r\nbut in this ovation he was neither carried in a chariot, nor crowned with\r\nlaurel, nor ushered by trumpets sounding; but went afoot with shoes on, many\r\nflutes or pipes sounding in concert, while he passed along, wearing a garland\r\nof myrtle, in a peaceable aspect, exciting rather love and respect than fear.\r\nWhence I am, by conjecture, led to think that, originally, the difference\r\nobserved betwixt ovation and triumph, did not depend upon the greatness of the\r\nachievements, but the manner of performing them. For they who, having fought a\r\nset battle, and slain the enemy, returned victors, led that martial, terrible\r\ntriumph, and, as the ordinary custom then was, in lustrating the army, adorned\r\nthe arms and the soldiers with a great deal of laurel. But they who, without\r\nforce, by colloquy, persuasion, and reasoning, had done the business, to these\r\ncaptains custom gave the honor of the unmilitary and festive ovation. For the\r\npipe is the badge of peace, and myrtle the plant of Venus, who more than the\r\nrest of the gods and goddesses abhors force and war. It is called ovation, not,\r\nas most think, from the Greek euasmus, because they act it with shouting and\r\ncries of Eau: for so do they also the proper triumphs. The Greeks have wrested\r\nthe word to their own language, thinking that this honor, also, must have some\r\nconnection with Bacchus, who in Greek has the titles of Euius and Thriambus.\r\nBut the thing is otherwise. For it was the custom for commanders, in their\r\ntriumph, to immolate an ox, but in their ovation, a sheep: hence they named it\r\nOvation, from the Latin ovis. It is worth observing, how exactly opposite the\r\nsacrifices appointed by the Spartan legislator are, to those of the Romans. For\r\nat Lacedaemon, a captain, who had performed the work he undertook by cunning,\r\nor courteous treaty, on laying down his command immolated an ox; he that did\r\nthe business by battle, offered a cock; the Lacedaemonians, though most\r\nwarlike, thinking an exploit performed by reason and wisdom, to be more\r\nexcellent and more congruous to man, than one effected by mere force and\r\ncourage. Which of the two is to be preferred, I leave to the determination of\r\nothers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcellus being the fourth time consul, his enemies suborned the Syracusans to\r\ncome to Rome to accuse him, and to complain that they had suffered indignities\r\nand wrongs, contrary to the conditions granted them. It happened that Marcellus\r\nwas in the capitol offering sacrifice when the Syracusans petitioned the\r\nsenate, yet sitting, that they might have leave to accuse him and present their\r\ngrievances. Marcellus’s colleague, eager to protect him in his absence, put\r\nthem out of the court. But Marcellus himself came as soon as he heard of it.\r\nAnd first, in his curule chair as consul, he referred to the senate the\r\ncognizance of other matters; but when these were transacted, rising from his\r\nseat, he passed as a private man into the place where the accused were wont to\r\nmake their defense, and gave free liberty to the Syracusans to impeach him. But\r\nthey, struck with consternation by his majesty and confidence, stood\r\nastonished, and the power of his presence now, in his robe of state, appeared\r\nfar more terrible and severe than it had done when he was arrayed in armor. Yet\r\nreanimated at length by Marcellus’s rivals, they began their impeachment, and\r\nmade an oration in which pleas of justice mingled with lamentation and\r\ncomplaint; the sum of which was, that being allies and friends of the people of\r\nRome, they had, notwithstanding, suffered things which other commanders had\r\nabstained from inflicting upon enemies. To this Marcellus answered; that they\r\nhad committed many acts of hostility against the people of Rome, and had\r\nsuffered nothing but what enemies conquered and captured in war cannot possibly\r\nbe protected from suffering: that it was their own fault they had been made\r\ncaptives, because they refused to give ear to his frequent attempts to persuade\r\nthem by gentle means: neither were they forced into war by the power of\r\ntyrants, but had rather chosen the tyrants themselves for the express object\r\nthat they might make war. The orations ended, and the Syracusans, according to\r\nthe custom, having retired, Marcellus left his colleague to ask the sentences,\r\nand withdrawing with the Syracusans, staid expecting at the doors of the\r\nsenate-house; not in the least discomposed in spirit, either with alarm at the\r\naccusation, or by anger against the Syracusans; but with perfect calmness and\r\nserenity attending the issue of the cause. The sentences at length being all\r\nasked, and a decree of the senate made in vindication of Marcellus, the\r\nSyracusans, with tears flowing from their eyes, cast themselves at his knees,\r\nbeseeching him to forgive themselves there present, and to be moved by the\r\nmisery of the rest of their city, which would ever be mindful of, and grateful\r\nfor, his benefits. Thus Marcellus, softened by their tears and distress, was\r\nnot only reconciled to the deputies, but ever afterwards continued to find\r\nopportunity of doing kindness to the Syracusans. The liberty which he had\r\nrestored to them, and their rights, laws, and goods that were left, the senate\r\nconfirmed. Upon which account the Syracusans, besides other signal honors, made\r\na law, that if Marcellus should at anytime come into Sicily, or any of his\r\nposterity, the Syracusans should wear garlands and offer public sacrifice to\r\nthe gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this he moved against Hannibal. And whereas the other consuls and\r\ncommanders, since the defeat received at Cannae, had all made use of the same\r\npolicy against Hannibal, namely, to decline coming to a battle with him; and\r\nnone had had the courage to encounter him in the field, and put themselves to\r\nthe decision by the sword; Marcellus entered upon the opposite course, thinking\r\nthat Italy would be destroyed by the very delay by which they looked to wear\r\nout Hannibal; and that Fabius, who, adhering to his cautious policy, waited to\r\nsee the war extinguished, while Rome itself meantime wasted away, (like timid\r\nphysicians, who, dreading to administer remedies, stay waiting, and believe\r\nthat what is the decay of the patient’s strength is the decline of the\r\ndisease,) was not taking a right course to heal the sickness of his country.\r\nAnd first, the great cities of the Samnites, which had revolted, came into his\r\npower; in which he found a large quantity of corn and money, and three thousand\r\nof Hannibal’s soldiers, that were left for the defense. After this, the\r\nproconsul Cnaeus Fulvius with eleven tribunes of the soldiers being slain in\r\nApulia, and the greatest part of the army also at the same time cut off, he\r\ndispatched letters to Rome, and bade the people be of good courage, for that he\r\nwas now upon the march against Hannibal, to turn his triumph into sadness. On\r\nthese letters being read, Livy writes, that the people were not only not\r\nencouraged, but more discouraged, than before. For the danger, they thought,\r\nwas but the greater in proportion as Marcellus was of more value than Fulvius.\r\nHe, as he had written, advancing into the territories of the Lucanians, came up\r\nto him at Numistro, and, the enemy keeping himself upon the hills, pitched his\r\ncamp in a level plain, and the next day drew forth his army in order for fight.\r\nNor did Hannibal refuse the challenge. They fought long and obstinately on both\r\nsides, victory yet seeming undecided, when, after three hours conflict, night\r\nhardly parted them. The next day, as soon as the sun was risen, Marcellus again\r\nbrought forth his troops, and ranged them among the dead bodies of the slain,\r\nchallenging Hannibal to solve the question by another trial. When he dislodged\r\nand drew off, Marcellus, gathering up the spoils of the enemies, and burying\r\nthe bodies of his slain soldiers, closely followed him. And though Hannibal\r\noften used stratagems, and laid ambushes to entrap Marcellus, yet he could\r\nnever circumvent him. By skirmishes, meantime, in all of which he was superior,\r\nMarcellus gained himself such high repute, that, when the time of the Comitia\r\nat Rome was near at hand, the senate thought fit rather to recall the other\r\nconsul from Sicily, than to withdraw Marcellus from his conflict with Hannibal;\r\nand on his arrival they bid him name Quintus Fulvius dictator. For the dictator\r\nis created neither by the people, nor by the senate; but the consul or the\r\npraetor, before the popular assembly, pronounces him to be dictator, whom he\r\nhimself chooses. Hence he is called dictator, dicere meaning to name. Others\r\nsay, that he is named dictator, because his word is a law, and he orders what\r\nhe pleases, without submitting it to the vote. For the Romans call the orders\r\nof magistrates, Edicts.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now because Marcellus’s colleague, who was recalled from Sicily, had a mind\r\nto name another man dictator, and would not be forced to change his opinion, he\r\nsailed away by night back to Sicily. So the common people made an order, that\r\nQuintus Fulvius should be chosen dictator: and the senate, by an express,\r\ncommanded Marcellus to nominate him. He obeying proclaimed him dictator\r\naccording to the order of the people; but the office of proconsul was continued\r\nto himself for a year. And having arranged with Fabius Maximus, that while he\r\nbesieged Tarentum, he himself would, by following Hannibal and drawing him up\r\nand down, detain him from coming to the relief of the Tarentines, he overtook\r\nhim at Canusium: and as Hannibal often shifted his camp, and still declined the\r\ncombat, he everywhere sought to engage him. At last pressing upon him while\r\nencamping, by light skirmishes he provoked him to a battle; but night again\r\ndivided them in the very heat of the conflict. The next day Marcellus again\r\nshowed himself in arms, and brought up his forces in array. Hannibal, in\r\nextreme grief, called his Carthaginians together to an harangue; and vehemently\r\nprayed them, to fight today worthily of all their former successes; “For you\r\nsee,” said he, “how, after such great victories, we have not liberty to\r\nrespire, nor to repose ourselves, though victors; unless we drive this man\r\nback.” Then the two armies joining battle, fought fiercely; when the event of\r\nan untimely movement showed Marcellus to have been guilty of an error. The\r\nright wing being hard pressed upon, he commanded one of the legions to be\r\nbrought up to the front. This change disturbing the array and posture of the\r\nlegions, gave the victory to the enemies; and there fell two thousand seven\r\nhundred Romans. Marcellus, after he had retreated into his camp, called his\r\nsoldiers together; “I see,” said he, “many Roman arms and bodies, but I see not\r\nso much as one Roman.” To their entreaties for his pardon, he returned a\r\nrefusal while they remained beaten, but promised to give it so soon as they\r\nshould overcome; and he resolved to bring them into the field again the next\r\nday, that the fame of their victory might arrive at Rome before that of their\r\nflight. Dismissing the assembly, he commanded barley instead of wheat to be\r\ngiven to those companies that had turned their backs. These rebukes were so\r\nbitter to the soldiers, that though a great number of them were grievously\r\nwounded, yet they relate there was not one to whom the general’s oration was\r\nnot more painful and smarting than his wounds.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe day breaking, a scarlet toga, the sign of instant battle, was displayed.\r\nThe companies marked with ignominy, begged they might be posted in the foremost\r\nplace, and obtained their request. Then the tribunes bring forth the rest of\r\nthe forces, and draw them up. On news of which, “O strange!” said Hannibal,\r\n“what will you do with this man, who can bear neither good nor bad fortune? He\r\nis the only man who neither suffers us to rest when he is victor, nor rests\r\nhimself when he is overcome. We shall have, it seems, perpetually to fight with\r\nhim; as in good success his confidence, and in ill success his shame, still\r\nurges him to some further enterprise?” Then the armies engaged. When the fight\r\nwas doubtful, Hannibal commanded the elephants to be brought into the first\r\nbattalion, and to be driven upon the van of the Romans. When the beasts,\r\ntrampling upon many, soon caused disorder, Flavius, a tribune of soldiers,\r\nsnatching an ensign, meets them, and wounding the first elephant with the spike\r\nat the bottom of the ensign staff, puts him to flight. The beast turned round\r\nupon the next, and drove back both him and the rest that followed. Marcellus,\r\nseeing this, pours in his horse with great force upon the elephants, and upon\r\nthe enemy disordered by their flight. The horse, making a fierce impression,\r\npursued the Carthaginians home to their camp, while the elephants, wounded, and\r\nrunning upon their own party, caused a considerable slaughter. It is said, more\r\nthan eight thousand were slain; of the Roman army three thousand, and almost\r\nall wounded. This gave Hannibal opportunity to retire in the silence of the\r\nnight, and to remove to greater distance from Marcellus; who was kept from\r\npursuing by the number of his wounded men, and removed, by gentle marches, into\r\nCampania, and spent the summer at Sinuessa, engaged in restoring them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut as Hannibal, having disentangled himself from Marcellus, ranged with his\r\narmy round about the country, and wasted Italy free from all fear, at Rome\r\nMarcellus was evil spoken of. His detractors induced Publicius Bibulus, tribune\r\nof the people, an eloquent and violent man, to undertake his accusation. He, by\r\nassiduous harangues, prevailed upon the people to withdraw from Marcellus the\r\ncommand of the army; “Seeing that Marcellus,” said he, “after brief exercise in\r\nthe war, has withdrawn as it might be from the wrestling ground to the warm\r\nbaths to refresh himself.” Marcellus, on hearing this, appointed lieutenants\r\nover his camp, and hasted to Rome to refute the charges against him: and there\r\nfound ready drawn up an impeachment consisting of these calumnies. At the day\r\nprefixed, in the Flaminian circus, into which place the people had assembled\r\nthemselves, Bibulus rose and accused him. Marcellus himself answered, briefly\r\nand simply: but the first and most approved men of the city spoke largely and\r\nin high terms, very freely advising the people not to show themselves worse\r\njudges than the enemy, condemning Marcellus of timidity, from whom alone of all\r\ntheir captains the enemy fled, and as perpetually endeavored to avoid fighting\r\nwith him, as to fight with others. When they made an end of speaking, the\r\naccuser’s hope to obtain judgment so far deceived him, that Marcellus was not\r\nonly absolved, but the fifth time created consul.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNo sooner had he entered upon this consulate, but he suppressed a great\r\ncommotion in Etruria, that had proceeded near to revolt, and visited and\r\nquieted the cities. Then, when the dedication of the temple, which he had vowed\r\nout of his Sicilian spoils to Honor and Virtue, was objected to by the priests,\r\nbecause they denied that one temple could be lawfully dedicated to two gods, he\r\nbegan to adjoin another to it, resenting the priests’ opposition, and almost\r\nconverting the thing into an omen. And, truly, many other prodigies also\r\naffrighted him; some temples had been struck with lightning, and in Jupiter’s\r\ntemple mice had gnawed the gold; it was reported also, that an ox had spoke,\r\nand that a boy had been born with a head like an elephant’s. All which\r\nprodigies had indeed been attended to, but due reconciliation had not been\r\nobtained from the gods. The aruspices therefore detained him at Rome, glowing\r\nand burning with desire to return to the war. For no man was ever inflamed with\r\nso great desire of any thing, as was he to fight a battle with Hannibal. It was\r\nthe subject of his dreams in the night, the topic of all his consultations with\r\nhis friends and familiars, nor did he present to the gods any other wish, but\r\nthat he might meet Hannibal in the field. And I think, that he would most\r\ngladly have set upon him, with both armies environed within a single camp. Had\r\nhe not been even loaded with honors, and had he not given proofs in many ways\r\nof his maturity of judgment and of prudence equal to that of any commander, you\r\nmight have said, that he was agitated by a youthful ambition, above what became\r\na man of that age: for he had passed the sixtieth year of his life when he\r\nbegan his fifth consulship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe sacrifices having been offered, and all that belonged to the propitiation\r\nof the gods performed, according to the prescription of the diviners, he at\r\nlast with his colleague went forth to carry on the war. He tried all possible\r\nmeans to provoke Hannibal, who at that time had a standing camp betwixt Bantia\r\nand Venusia. Hannibal declined an engagement, but having obtained intelligence\r\nthat some troops were on their way to the town of Locri Epizephyrii, placing an\r\nambush under the little hill of Petelia, he slew two thousand five hundred\r\nsoldiers. This incensed Marcellus to revenge; and he therefore moved nearer\r\nHannibal. Betwixt the two camps was a little hill, a tolerably secure post,\r\ncovered with wood; it had steep descents on either side, and there were springs\r\nof water seen trickling down. This place was so fit and advantageous, that the\r\nRomans wondered that Hannibal, who had come thither before them, had not seized\r\nupon it, but had left it to the enemies. But to him the place had seemed\r\ncommodious indeed for a camp, but yet more commodious for an ambuscade; and to\r\nthat use he chose to put it. So in the wood and the hollows he hid a number of\r\narchers and spearmen, confident that the commodiousness of the place would\r\nallure the Romans. Nor was he deceived in his expectation. For presently in the\r\nRoman camp they talked and disputed, as if they had all been captains, how the\r\nplace ought to be seized, and what great advantage they should thereby gain\r\nupon the enemies, chiefly if they transferred their camp thither, at any rate,\r\nif they strengthened the place with a fort. Marcellus resolved to go, with a\r\nfew horse, to view it. Having called a diviner he proceeded to sacrifice. In\r\nthe first victim the aruspex showed him the liver without a head; in the second\r\nthe head appeared of unusual size, and all the other indications highly\r\npromising. When these seemed sufficient to free them from the dread of the\r\nformer, the diviners declared, that they were all the more terrified by the\r\nlatter: because entrails too fair and promising, when they appear after others\r\nthat are maimed and monstrous, render the change doubtful and suspicious But\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nNor fire nor brazen wall can keep out fate;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nas Pindar observes. Marcellus, therefore, taking with him his colleague\r\nCrispinus, and his son, a tribune of soldiers, with two hundred and twenty\r\nhorse at most, (among whom there was not one Roman, but all were Etruscans,\r\nexcept forty Fregellans, of whose courage and fidelity he had on all occasions\r\nreceived full proof,) goes to view the place. The hill was covered with woods\r\nall over; on the top of it sat a scout concealed from the sight of the enemy,\r\nbut having the Roman camp exposed to his view. Upon signs received from him,\r\nthe men that were placed in ambush, stirred not till Marcellus came near; and\r\nthen all starting up in an instant, and encompassing him from all sides,\r\nattacked him with darts, struck about and wounded the backs of those that fled,\r\nand pressed upon those who resisted. These were the forty Fregellans. For\r\nthough the Etruscans fled in the very beginning of the fight, the Fregellans\r\nformed themselves into a ring, bravely defending the consuls, till Crispinus,\r\nstruck with two darts, turned his horse to fly away; and Marcellus’s side was\r\nrun through with a lance with a broad head. Then the Fregellans, also, the few\r\nthat remained alive, leaving the fallen consul, and rescuing young Marcellus,\r\nwho also was wounded, got into the camp by flight. There were slain not much\r\nabove forty; five lictors and eighteen horsemen came alive into the enemy’s\r\nhands. Crispinus also died of his wounds a few days after. Such a disaster as\r\nthe loss of both consuls in a single engagement, was one that had never before\r\nbefallen the Romans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHannibal, little valuing the other events, so soon as he was told of\r\nMarcellus’s death, immediately hasted to the hilt. Viewing the body, and\r\ncontinuing for some time to observe its strength and shape, he allowed not a\r\nword to fall from him expressive of the least pride or arrogancy, nor did he\r\nshow in his countenance any sign of gladness, as another perhaps would have\r\ndone, when his fierce and troublesome enemy had been taken away; but amazed by\r\nso sudden and unexpected an end, taking off nothing but his ring, gave order to\r\nhave the body properly clad and adorned, and honorably burned. The relics, put\r\ninto a silver urn, with a crown of gold to cover it, he sent back to his son.\r\nBut some of the Numidians setting upon those that were carrying the urn, took\r\nit from them by force, and cast away the bones; which being told to Hannibal,\r\n“It is impossible, it seems then,” he said, “to do anything against the will of\r\nGod!” He punished the Numidians; but took no further care of sending or\r\nrecollecting the bones; conceiving that Marcellus so fell, and so lay unburied,\r\nby a certain fate. So Cornelius Nepos and Valerius Maximus have left upon\r\nrecord: but Livy and Augustus Caesar affirm, that the urn was brought to his\r\nson, and honored with a magnificent funeral. Besides the monuments raised for\r\nhim at Rome, there was dedicated to his memory at Catana in Sicily, an ample\r\nwrestling place called after him; statues and pictures, out of those he took\r\nfrom Syracuse, were set up in Samothrace, in the temple of the gods, named\r\nCabiri, and in that of Minerva at Lindus, where also there was a statue of him,\r\nsays Posidonius, with the following inscription:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThis was, O stranger, once Rome’s star divine,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nClaudius Marcellus of an ancient line;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo fight her wars seven times her consul made,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nLow in the dust her enemies he laid.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThe writer of the inscription has added to Marcellus’s five consulates, his two\r\nproconsulates. His progeny continued in high honor even down to Marcellus, son\r\nof Octavia, sister of Augustus, whom she bore to her husband Caius Marcellus;\r\nand who died, a bridegroom, in the year of his aedileship, having not long\r\nbefore married Caesar’s daughter. His mother, Octavia, dedicated the library to\r\nhis honor and memory, and Caesar, the theater which bears his name.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap23\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISION OF PELOPIDAS WITH MARCELLUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese are the memorable things I have found in historians, concerning Marcellus\r\nand Pelopidas. Betwixt which two great men, though in natural character and\r\nmanners they nearly resembled each other, because both were valiant and\r\ndiligent, daring and high-spirited, there was yet some diversity in the one\r\npoint, that Marcellus in many cities which he reduced under his power,\r\ncommitted great slaughter; but Epaminondas and Pelopidas never after any\r\nvictory put men to death, or reduced citizens to slavery. And we are told, too,\r\nthat the Thebans would not, had these been present, have taken the measures\r\nthey did, against the Orchomenians. Marcellus’s exploits against the Gauls are\r\nadmirable and ample; when, accompanied by a few horse, he defeated and put to\r\nfight a vast number of horse and foot together, (an action you cannot easily in\r\nhistorians find to have been done by any other captain,) and took their king\r\nprisoner. To which honor Pelopidas aspired, but did not attain; he was killed\r\nby the tyrant in the attempt. But to these you may perhaps oppose those two\r\nmost glorious battles at Leuctra and Tegyrae; and we have no statement of any\r\nachievement of Marcellus, by stealth or ambuscade, such as were those of\r\nPelopidas, when he returned from exile, and killed the tyrants at Thebes;\r\nwhich, indeed, may claim to be called the first in rank of all achievements\r\never performed by secrecy and cunning. Hannibal was, indeed, a most formidable\r\nenemy for the Romans but so for that matter were the Lacedaemonians for the\r\nThebans. And that these were, in the fights of Leuctra and Tegyrae, beaten and\r\nput to fight by Pelopidas, is confessed; whereas, Polybius writes, that\r\nHannibal was never so much as once vanquished by Marcellus, but remained\r\ninvincible in all encounters, till Scipio came. I myself, indeed, have followed\r\nrather Livy, Caesar, Cornelius Nepos, and, among the Greeks, king Juba, in\r\nstating that the troops of Hannibal were in some encounters routed and put to\r\nflight by Marcellus; but certainly these defeats conduced little to the sum of\r\nthe war. It would seem as if they had been merely feints of some sort on the\r\npart of the Carthaginian. What was indeed truly and really admirable was, that\r\nthe Romans, after the defeat of so many armies, the slaughter of so many\r\ncaptains, and, in fine, the confusion of almost the whole Roman empire, still\r\nshowed a courage equal to their losses, and were as willing as their enemies to\r\nengage in new battles. And Marcellus was the one man who overcame the great and\r\ninveterate fear and dread, and revived, raised, and confirmed the spirits of\r\nthe soldiers to that degree of emulation and bravery, that would not let them\r\neasily yield the victory, but made them contend for it to the last. For the\r\nsame men, whom continual defeats had accustomed to think themselves happy, if\r\nthey could but save themselves by running from Hannibal, were by him taught to\r\nesteem it base and ignominious to return safe but unsuccessful; to be ashamed\r\nto confess that they had yielded one step in the terrors of the fight; and to\r\ngrieve to extremity if they were not victorious.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn short, as Pelopidas was never overcome in any battle, where himself was\r\npresent and commanded in chief, and as Marcellus gained more victories than any\r\nof his contemporaries, truly he that could not be easily overcome, considering\r\nhis many successes, may fairly be compared with him who was undefeated.\r\nMarcellus took Syracuse; whereas Pelopidas was frustrated of his hope of\r\ncapturing Sparta. But in my judgment, it was more difficult to advance his\r\nstandard even to the walls of Sparta, and to be the first of mortals that ever\r\npassed the river Eurotas in arms, than it was to reduce Sicily; unless, indeed,\r\nwe say that that adventure is with more of right to be attributed to\r\nEpaminondas, as was also the Leuctrian battle; whereas Marcellus’s renown, and\r\nthe glory of his brave actions came entire and undiminished to him alone. For\r\nhe alone took Syracuse; and without his colleague’s help defeated the Gauls,\r\nand, when all others declined, alone, without one companion, ventured to engage\r\nwith Hannibal; and changing the aspect of the war first showed the example of\r\ndaring to attack him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nI cannot commend the death of either of these great men; the suddenness and\r\nstrangeness of their ends gives me a feeling rather of pain and distress.\r\nHannibal has my admiration, who, in so many severe conflicts, more than can be\r\nreckoned in one day, never received so much as one wound. I honor Chrysantes\r\nalso, (in Xenophon’s Cyropaedia,) who, having raised his sword in the act of\r\nstriking his enemy, so soon as a retreat was sounded, left him, and retired\r\nsedately and modestly. Yet the anger which provoked Pelopidas to pursue revenge\r\nin the heat of fight, may excuse him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe first thing for a captain is to gain\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSafe victory; the next to be with honor slain,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nas Euripides says. For then he cannot be said to suffer death; it is rather to\r\nbe called an action. The very object, too, of Pelopidas’s victory, which\r\nconsisted in the slaughter of the tyrant, presenting itself to his eyes, did\r\nnot wholly carry him away unadvisedly: he could not easily expect again to have\r\nanother equally glorious occasion for the exercise of his courage, in a noble\r\nand honorable cause. But Marcellus, when it made little to his advantage, and\r\nwhen no such violent ardor as present danger naturally calls out transported\r\nhim to passion, throwing himself into danger, fell into an unexplored ambush;\r\nhe, namely, who had borne five consulates, led three triumphs, won the spoils\r\nand glories of kings and victories, to act the part of a mere scout or\r\nsentinel, and to expose all his achievements to be trod under foot by the\r\nmercenary Spaniards and Numidians, who sold themselves and their lives to the\r\nCarthaginians; so that even they themselves felt unworthy, and almost grudged\r\nthemselves the unhoped for success of having cut off, among a few Fregellan\r\nscouts, the most valiant, the most potent, and most renowned of the Romans. Let\r\nno man think that we have thus spoken out of a design to accuse these noble\r\nmen; it is merely an expression of frank indignation in their own behalf, at\r\nseeing them thus wasting all their other virtues upon that of bravery, and\r\nthrowing away their lives, as if the loss would be only felt by themselves, and\r\nnot by their country, allies, and friends.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter Pelopidas’s death, his friends, for whom he died, made a funeral for him;\r\nthe enemies, by whom he had been killed, made one for Marcellus. A noble and\r\nhappy lot indeed the former, yet there is something higher and greater in the\r\nadmiration rendered by enemies to the virtue that had been their own obstacle,\r\nthan in the grateful acknowledgments of friends. Since, in the one case, it is\r\nvirtue alone that challenges itself the honor; while, in the other, it may be\r\nrather men’s personal profit and advantage that is the real origin of what they\r\ndo.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap24\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eARISTIDES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAristides, the son of Lysimachus, was of the tribe Antiochis, and township of\r\nAlopece. As to his wealth, statements differ; some say he passed his life in\r\nextreme poverty, and left behind him two daughters whose indigence long kept\r\nthem unmarried: but Demetrius, the Phalerian, in opposition to this general\r\nreport, professes in his Socrates, to know a farm at Phalerum going by\r\nAristides’s name, where he was interred; and, as marks of his opulence, adduces\r\nfirst, the office of archon eponymus, which he obtained by the lot of the bean;\r\nwhich was confined to the highest assessed families, called the\r\nPentacosiomedimni; second, the ostracism, which was not usually inflicted on\r\nthe poorer citizens, but on those of great houses, whose elation exposed them\r\nto envy; third and last, that he left certain tripods in the temple of Bacchus,\r\nofferings for his victory in conducting the representation of dramatic\r\nperformances, which were even in our age still to be seen, retaining this\r\ninscription upon them, “The tribe Antiochis obtained the victory: Aristides\r\ndefrayed the charges: Archestratus’s play was acted.” But this argument, though\r\nin appearance the strongest, is of the least moment of any. For Epaminondas,\r\nwho all the world knows was educated, and lived his whole life, in much\r\npoverty, and also Plato, the philosopher, exhibited magnificent shows, the one\r\nan entertainment of flute-players the other of dithyrambic singers; Dion, the\r\nSyracusan, supplying the expenses of the latter, and Pelopidas those of\r\nEpaminondas. For good men do not allow themselves in any inveterate and\r\nirreconcilable hostility to receiving presents from their friends, but while\r\nlooking upon those that are accepted to be hoarded up and with avaricious\r\nintentions, as sordid and mean, they do not refuse such as, apart from all\r\nprofit, gratify the pure love of honor and magnificence. Panaetius, again,\r\nshows that Demetrius was deceived concerning the tripod by an identity of name.\r\nFor, from the Persian war to the end of the Peloponnesian, there are upon\r\nrecord only two of the name of Aristides, who defrayed the expense of\r\nrepresenting plays and gained the prize neither of which was the same with the\r\nson of Lysimachus; but the father of the one was Xenophilus, and the other\r\nlived at a much later time, as the way of writing, which is that in use since\r\nthe time of Euclides, and the addition of the name of Archestratus prove, a\r\nname which, in the time of the Persian war, no writer mentions, but which\r\nseveral, during the Peloponnesian war, record as that of a dramatic poet. The\r\nargument of Panaetius requires to be more closely considered. But as for the\r\nostracism, everyone was liable to it, whom his reputation, birth, or eloquence\r\nraised above the common level; insomuch that even Damon, preceptor to Pericles,\r\nwas thus banished, because he seemed a man of more than ordinary sense. And,\r\nmoreover, Idomeneus says, that Aristides was not made archon by the lot of the\r\nbean, but the free election of the people. And if he held the office after the\r\nbattle of Plataea, as Demetrius himself has written, it is very probable that\r\nhis great reputation and success in the war, made him be preferred for his\r\nvirtue to an office which others received in consideration of their wealth. But\r\nDemetrius manifestly is eager not only to exempt Aristides but Socrates\r\nlikewise, from poverty, as from a great evil; telling us that the latter had\r\nnot only a house of his own, but also seventy minae put out at interest with\r\nCrito.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAristides being the friend and supporter of that Clisthenes, who settled the\r\ngovernment after the expulsion of the tyrants, and emulating and admiring\r\nLycurgus the Lacedaemonian above all politicians, adhered to the aristocratical\r\nprinciples of government; and had Themistocles, son to Neocles, his adversary\r\non the side of the populace. Some say that, being boys and bred up together\r\nfrom their infancy, they were always at variance with each other in all their\r\nwords and actions as well serious as playful, and that in this their early\r\ncontention they soon made proof of their natural inclinations; the one being\r\nready, adventurous, and subtle, engaging readily and eagerly in everything; the\r\nother of a staid and settled temper, intent on the exercise of justice, not\r\nadmitting any degree of falsity, indecorum, or trickery, no, not so much as at\r\nhis play. Ariston of Chios says the first origin of the enmity which rose to so\r\ngreat a height, was a love affair; they were rivals for the affection of the\r\nbeautiful Stesilaus of Ceos, and were passionate beyond all moderation, and did\r\nnot lay aside their animosity when the beauty that had excited it passed away;\r\nbut, as if it had only exercised them in it, immediately carried their heats\r\nand differences into public business.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThemistocles, therefore, joining an association of partisans, fortified himself\r\nwith considerable strength; insomuch that when some one told him that were he\r\nimpartial, he would make a good magistrate; “I wish,” replied he, “I may never\r\nsit on that tribunal where my friends shall not plead a greater privilege than\r\nstrangers.” But Aristides walked, so to say, alone on his own path in politics,\r\nbeing unwilling, in the first place, to go along with his associates in ill\r\ndoing, or to cause them vexation by not gratifying their wishes; and, secondly,\r\nobserving that many were encouraged by the support they had in their friends to\r\nact injuriously, he was cautious; being of opinion that the integrity of his\r\nwords and actions was the only right security for a good citizen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, Themistocles making many dangerous alterations, and withstanding and\r\ninterrupting him in the whole series of his actions, Aristides also was\r\nnecessitated to set himself against all Themistocles did, partly in\r\nself-defense, and partly to impede his power from still increasing by the favor\r\nof the multitude; esteeming it better to let slip some public conveniences,\r\nrather than that he by prevailing should become powerful in all things. In\r\nfine, when he once had opposed Themistocles in some measures that were\r\nexpedient, and had got the better of him, he could not refrain from saying,\r\nwhen he left the assembly, that unless they sent Themistocles and himself to\r\nthe barathrum, there could be no safety for Athens. Another time, when urging\r\nsome proposal upon the people, though there were much opposition and stirring\r\nagainst it, he yet was gaining the day; but just as the president of the\r\nassembly was about to put it to the vote, perceiving by what had been said in\r\ndebate the inexpediency of his advice, he let it fall. Also he often brought in\r\nhis bills by other persons, lest Themistocles, through party spirit against\r\nhim, should be any hindrance to the good of the public.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn all the vicissitudes of public affairs, the constancy he showed was\r\nadmirable, not being elated with honors, and demeaning himself tranquilly and\r\nsedately in adversity; holding the opinion that he ought to offer himself to\r\nthe service of his country without mercenary news and irrespectively of any\r\nreward, not only of riches, but even of glory itself. Hence it came, probably,\r\nthat at the recital of these verses of Aeschylus in the theater, relating to\r\nAmphiaraus,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFor not at seeming just, but being so\u003cbr\u003e\r\nHe aims; and from his depth of soil below,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nHarvests of wise and prudent counsels grow,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nthe eyes of all the spectators turned on Aristides, as if this virtue, in an\r\nespecial manner, belonged to him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was a most determined champion for justice, not only against feelings of\r\nfriendship and favor, but wrath and malice. Thus it is reported of him that\r\nwhen prosecuting the law against one who was his enemy, on the judges after\r\naccusation refusing to hear the criminal, and proceeding immediately to pass\r\nsentence upon him, he rose in haste from his seat and joined in petition with\r\nhim for a hearing, and that he might enjoy the privilege of the law. Another\r\ntime, when judging between two private persons, on the one declaring his\r\nadversary had very much injured Aristides; “Tell me rather, good friend,” he\r\nsaid, “what wrong he has done you: for it is your cause, not my own, which I\r\nnow sit judge of.” Being chosen to the charge of the public revenue, he made it\r\nappear that not only those of his time, but the preceding officers, had\r\nalienated much treasure, and especially Themistocles:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWell known he was an able man to be,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut with his fingers apt to be too flee.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nTherefore, Themistocles associating several persons against Aristides, and\r\nimpeaching him when he gave in his accounts, caused him to be condemned of\r\nrobbing the public; so Idomeneus states; but the best and chiefest men of the\r\ncity much resenting it, he was not only exempted from the fine imposed upon\r\nhim, but likewise again called to the same employment. Pretending now to repent\r\nhim of his former practice, and carrying himself with more remissness, he\r\nbecame acceptable to such as pillaged the treasury, by not detecting or calling\r\nthem to an exact account. So that those who had their fill of the public money\r\nbegan highly to applaud Aristides, and sued to the people, making interest to\r\nhave him once more chosen treasurer. But when they were upon the point of\r\nelection, he reproved the Athenians. “When I discharged my office well and\r\nfaithfully,” said he, “I was insulted and abused; but now that I have allowed\r\nthe public thieves in a variety of malpractices, I am considered an admirable\r\npatriot. I am more ashamed, therefore, of this present honor than of the former\r\nsentence; and I commiserate your condition, with whom it is more praiseworthy\r\nto oblige ill men than to conserve the revenue of the public.” Saying thus, and\r\nproceeding to expose the thefts that had been committed, he stopped the mouths\r\nof those who cried him up and vouched for him, but gained real and true\r\ncommendation from the best men.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Datis, being sent by Darius under pretense of punishing the Athenians for\r\ntheir burning of Sardis, but in reality to reduce the Greeks under his\r\ndominion, landed at Marathon and laid waste the country, among the ten\r\ncommanders appointed by the Athenians for the war, Militiades was of the\r\ngreatest name; but the second place, both for reputation and power, was\r\npossessed by Aristides: and when his opinion to join battle was added to that\r\nof Miltiades, it did much to incline the balance. Every leader by his day\r\nhaving the command in chief when it came to Aristides’ turn, he delivered it\r\ninto the hands of Miltiades, showing his fellow officers, that it is not\r\ndishonorable to obey and follow wise and able men, but, on the contrary, noble\r\nand prudent. So appeasing their rivalry, and bringing them to acquiesce in one\r\nand the best advice, he confirmed Miltiades in the strength of an undivided and\r\nunmolested authority. For now everyone, yielding his day of command, looked for\r\norders only to him. During the fight the main body of the Athenians being the\r\nhardest put to it, the barbarians, for a long time, making opposition there\r\nagainst the tribes Leontis and Antiochis, Themistocles and Aristides being\r\nranged together, fought valiantly; the one being of the tribe Leontis, the\r\nother of the Antiochis. But after they had beaten the barbarians back to their\r\nships, and perceived that they sailed not for the isles, but were driven in by\r\nthe force of sea and wind towards the country of Attica; fearing lest they\r\nshould take the city, unprovided of defense, they hurried away thither with\r\nnine tribes, and reached it the same day. Aristides, being left with his tribe\r\nat Marathon to guard the plunder and prisoners, did not disappoint the opinion\r\nthey had of him. Amidst the profusion of gold and silver, all sorts of apparel,\r\nand other property, more than can be mentioned, that were in the tents and the\r\nvessels which they had taken, he neither felt the desire to meddle with\r\nanything himself, nor suffered others to do it; unless it might be some who\r\ntook away anything unknown to him; as Callias, the torchbearer, did. One of the\r\nbarbarians, it seems, prostrated himself before this man, supposing him to be a\r\nking by his hair and fillet; and, when he had so done, taking him by the hand,\r\nshowed him a great quantity of gold hid in a ditch. But Callias, most cruel and\r\nimpious of men, took away the treasure, but slew the man, lest he should tell\r\nof him. Hence, they say, the comic poets gave his family the name of\r\nLaccopluti, or enriched by the ditch, alluding to the place where Callias found\r\nthe gold. Aristides, immediately after this, was archon; although Demetrius,\r\nthe Phalerian, says he held the office a little before he died, after the\r\nbattle of Plataea. But in the records of the successors of Xanthippides, in\r\nwhose year Mardonius was overthrown at Plataea, amongst very many there\r\nmentioned, there is not so much as one of the same name as Aristides: while\r\nimmediately after Phaenippus, during whose term of office they obtained the\r\nvictory of Marathon, Aristides is registered.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf all his virtues, the common people were most affected with his justice,\r\nbecause of its continual and common use; and thus, although of mean fortune and\r\nordinary birth, he possessed himself of the most kingly and divine appellation\r\nof Just; which kings, however, and tyrants have never sought after; but have\r\ntaken delight to be surnamed besiegers of cities, thunderers, conquerors, or\r\neagles again, and hawks ; affecting, it seems, the reputation which proceeds\r\nfrom power and violence, rather than that of virtue. Although the divinity, to\r\nwhom they desire to compare and assimilate themselves, excels, it is supposed,\r\nin three things, immortality, power, and virtue; of which three, the noblest\r\nand divinest is virtue. For the elements and vacuum have an everlasting\r\nexistence; earthquakes, thunders, storms, and torrents have great power; but in\r\njustice and equity nothing participates except by means of reason and the\r\nknowledge of that which is divine. And thus, taking the three varieties of\r\nfeeling commonly entertained towards the deity, the sense of his happiness,\r\nfear, and honor of him, people would seem to think him blest and happy for his\r\nexemption from death and corruption, to fear and dread him for his power and\r\ndominion, but to love, honor, and adore him for his justice. Yet though thus\r\ndisposed, they covet that immortality which our nature is not capable of, and\r\nthat power the greatest part of which is at the disposal of fortune; but give\r\nvirtue, the only divine good really in our reach, the last place, most\r\nunwisely; since justice makes the life of such as are in prosperity, power, and\r\nauthority the life of a god, and injustice turns it to that of a beast.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAristides, therefore, had at first the fortune to be beloved for this surname,\r\nbut at length envied. Especially when Themistocles spread a rumor amongst the\r\npeople, that, by determining and judging all matters privately, he had\r\ndestroyed the courts of judicature, and was secretly making way for a monarchy\r\nin his own person, without the assistance of guards. Moreover, the spirit of\r\nthe people, now grown high, and confident with their late victory, naturally\r\nentertained feelings of dislike to all of more than common fame and reputation.\r\nComing together, therefore, from all parts into the city, they banished\r\nAristides by the ostracism, giving their jealousy of his reputation the name of\r\nfear of tyranny. For ostracism was not the punishment of any criminal act, but\r\nwas speciously said to be the mere depression and humiliation of excessive\r\ngreatness and power; and was in fact a gentle relief and mitigation of envious\r\nfeeling, which was thus allowed to vent itself in inflicting no intolerable\r\ninjury, only a ten years’ banishment. But after it came to be exercised upon\r\nbase and villainous fellows, they desisted from it; Hyperbolus, being the last\r\nwhom they banished by the ostracism.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe cause of Hyperbolus’s banishment is said to have been this. Alcibiades and\r\nNicias, men that bore the greatest sway in the city, were of different\r\nfactions. As the people, therefore, were about to vote the ostracism, and\r\nobviously to decree it against one of them, consulting together and uniting\r\ntheir parties, they contrived the banishment of Hyperbolus. Upon which the\r\npeople, being offended, as if some contempt or affront was put upon the thing,\r\nleft off and quite abolished it. It was performed, to be short, in this manner.\r\nEvery one taking an ostracon, a sherd, that is, or piece of earthenware, wrote\r\nupon it the citizen’s name he would have banished, and carried it to a certain\r\npart of the market-place surrounded with wooden rails. First, the magistrates\r\nnumbered all the sherds in gross (for if there were less than six thousand, the\r\nostracism was imperfect); then, laying every name by itself, they pronounced\r\nhim whose name was written by the larger number, banished for ten years, with\r\nthe enjoyment of his estate. As, therefore, they were writing the names on the\r\nsherds, it is reported that an illiterate clownish fellow, giving Aristides his\r\nsherd, supposing him a common citizen, begged him to write Aristides upon it;\r\nand he being surprised and asking if Aristides had ever done him any injury,\r\n“None at all,” said he, “neither know I the man; but I am tired of hearing him\r\neverywhere called the Just.” Aristides, hearing this, is said to have made no\r\nreply, but returned the sherd with his own name inscribed. At his departure\r\nfrom the city, lifting up his hands to heaven, he made a prayer, (the reverse,\r\nit would seem, of that of Achilles,) that the Athenians might never have any\r\noccasion which should constrain them to remember Aristides.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNevertheless, three years after, when Xerxes marched through Thessaly and\r\nBoeotia into the country of Attica, repealing the law, they decreed the return\r\nof the banished: chiefly fearing Aristides, lest, joining himself to the enemy,\r\nhe should corrupt and bring over many of his fellow-citizens to the party of\r\nthe barbarians; much mistaking the man, who, already before the decree, was\r\nexerting himself to excite and encourage the Greeks to the defense of their\r\nliberty. And afterwards, when Themistocles was general with absolute power, he\r\nassisted him in all ways both in action and counsel; rendering, in\r\nconsideration of the common security, the greatest enemy he had the most\r\nglorious of men. For when Eurybiades was deliberating to desert the isle of\r\nSalamis, and the gallies of the barbarians putting out by night to sea\r\nsurrounded and beset the narrow passage and islands, and nobody was aware how\r\nthey were environed, Aristides, with great hazard, sailed from Aegina through\r\nthe enemy’s fleet; and coming by night to Themistocles’s tent, and calling him\r\nout by himself; “If we have any discretion,” said he, “Themistocles, laying\r\naside at this time our vain and childish contention, let us enter upon a safe\r\nand honorable dispute, vying with each other for the preservation of Greece;\r\nyou in the ruling and commanding, I in the subservient and advising part; even,\r\nindeed, as I now understand you to be alone adhering to the best advice, in\r\ncounseling without any delay to engage in the straits. And in this, though our\r\nown party oppose, the enemy seems to assist you. For the sea behind, and all\r\naround us, is covered with their fleet; so that we are under a necessity of\r\napproving ourselves men of courage, and fighting, whether we will or no; for\r\nthere is no room left us for flight.” To which Themistocles answered, “I would\r\nnot willingly, Aristides, be overcome by you on this occasion; and shall\r\nendeavor, in emulation of this good beginning, to outdo it in my actions.” Also\r\nrelating to him the stratagem he had framed against the barbarians, he\r\nentreated him to persuade Eurybiades and show him how it was impossible they\r\nshould save themselves without an engagement; as he was the more likely to be\r\nbelieved. Whence, in the council of war, Cleocritus, the Corinthian, telling\r\nThemistocles that Aristides did not like his advice, as he was present and said\r\nnothing, Aristides answered, That he should not have held his peace if\r\nThemistocles had not been giving the best advice; and that he was now silent\r\nnot out of any good-will to the person, but in approbation of his counsel.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus the Greek captains were employed. But Aristides perceiving Psyttalea, a\r\nsmall island that lies within the straits over against Salamis, to be filled by\r\na body of the enemy, put aboard his small boats the most forward and courageous\r\nof his countrymen, and went ashore upon it; and, joining battle with the\r\nbarbarians, slew them all, except such more remarkable persons as were taken\r\nalive. Amongst these were three children of Sandauce, the king’s sister, whom\r\nhe immediately sent away to Themistocles, and it is stated that in accordance\r\nwith a certain oracle, they were, by the command of Euphrantides, the seer,\r\nsacrificed to Bacchus, called Omestes, or the devourer. But Aristides, placing\r\narmed men all around the island, lay in wait for such as were cast upon it, to\r\nthe intent that none of his friends should perish, nor any of his enemies\r\nescape. For the closest engagement of the ships, and the main fury of the whole\r\nbattle, seems to have been about this place; for which reason a trophy was\r\nerected in Psyttalea.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the fight, Themistocles, to sound Aristides, told him they had performed\r\na good piece of service, but there was a better yet to be done, the keeping\r\nAsia in Europe, by sailing forthwith to the Hellespont, and cutting in sunder\r\nthe bridge. But Aristides, with an exclamation, bid him think no more of it,\r\nbut deliberate and find out means for removing the Mede, as quickly as\r\npossible, out of Greece; lest being enclosed, through want of means to escape,\r\nnecessity should compel him to force his way with so great an army. So\r\nThemistocles once more dispatched Arnaces, the eunuch, his prisoner, giving him\r\nin command privately to advertise the king that he had diverted the Greeks from\r\ntheir intention of setting sail for the bridges, out of the desire he felt to\r\npreserve him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nXerxes, being much terrified with this, immediately hasted to the Hellespont.\r\nBut Mardonius was left with the most serviceable part of the army, about three\r\nhundred thousand men, and was a formidable enemy, confident in his infantry,\r\nand writing messages of defiance to the Greeks: “You have overcome by sea men\r\naccustomed to fight on land, and unskilled at the oar; but there lies now the\r\nopen country of Thessaly; and the plains of Boeotia offer a broad and worthy\r\nfield for brave men, either horse or foot, to contend in.” But he sent\r\nprivately to the Athenians, both by letter and word of mouth from the king,\r\npromising to rebuild their city, to give them a vast sum of money, and\r\nconstitute them lords of all Greece on condition they were not engaged in the\r\nwar. The Lacedaemonians, receiving news of this, and fearing, dispatched an\r\nembassy to the Athenians, entreating that they would send their wives and\r\nchildren to Sparta, and receive support from them for their superannuated. For,\r\nbeing despoiled both of their city and country, the people were suffering\r\nextreme distress. Having given audience to the ambassadors, they returned an\r\nanswer, upon the motion of Aristides, worthy of the highest admiration;\r\ndeclaring, that they forgave their enemies if they thought all things\r\npurchasable by wealth, than which they knew nothing of greater value; but that\r\nthey felt offended at the Lacedaemonians, for looking only to their present\r\npoverty and exigence, without any remembrance of their valor and magnanimity,\r\noffering them their victuals, to fight in the cause of Greece. Aristides,\r\nmaking this proposal and bringing back the ambassadors into the assembly,\r\ncharged them to tell the Lacedaemonians that all the treasure on the earth or\r\nunder it, was of less value with the people of Athens, than the liberty of\r\nGreece. And, showing the sun to those who came from Mardonius, “as long as that\r\nretains the same course, so long,” said he, “shall the citizens of Athens wage\r\nwar with the Persians for the country which has been wasted, and the temples\r\nthat have been profaned and burnt by them.” Moreover, he proposed a decree,\r\nthat the priests should anathematize him who sent any herald to the Medes, or\r\ndeserted the alliance of Greece.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Mardonius made a second incursion into the country of Attica, the people\r\npassed over again into the isle of Salamis. Aristides, being sent to\r\nLacedaemon, reproved them for their delay and neglect in abandoning Athens once\r\nmore to the barbarians; and demanded their assistance for that part of Greece,\r\nwhich was not yet lost. The Ephori, hearing this, made show of sporting all\r\nday, and of carelessly keeping holy day, (for they were then celebrating the\r\nHyacinthian festival,) but in the night, selecting five thousand Spartans, each\r\nof whom was attended by seven Helots, they sent them forth unknown to those\r\nfrom Athens. And when Aristides again reprehended them, they told him in\r\nderision that he either doted or dreamed, for the army was already at Oresteum,\r\nin their march towards the strangers; as they called the Persians. Aristides\r\nanswered that they jested unseasonably, deluding their friends, instead of\r\ntheir enemies. Thus says Idomeneus. But in the decree of Aristides, not\r\nhimself, but Cimon, Xanthippus, and Myronides are appointed ambassadors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBeing chosen general for the war, he repaired to Plattea, with eight thousand\r\nAthenians, where Pausanias, generalissimo of all Greece, joined him with the\r\nSpartans; and the forces of the other Greeks came in to them. The whole\r\nencampment of the barbarians extended all along the bank of the river Asopus,\r\ntheir numbers being so great, there was no enclosing them all, but their\r\nbaggage and most valuable things were surrounded with a square bulwark, each\r\nside of which was the length of ten furlongs.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTisamenus, the Elean, had prophesied to Pausanias and all the Greeks, and\r\nforetold them victory if they made no attempt upon the enemy, but stood on\r\ntheir defense. But Aristides sending to Delphi, the god answered, that the\r\nAthenians should overcome their enemies, in case they made supplication to\r\nJupiter and Juno of Cithaeron, Pan, and the nymphs Sphragitides, and sacrificed\r\nto the heroes Androcrates, Leucon, Pisander, Damocrates, Hypsion, Actaeon, and\r\nPolyidus; and if they fought within their own territories in the plain of Ceres\r\nEleusinia and Proserpine. Aristides was perplexed upon the tidings of this\r\noracle: since the heroes to whom it commanded him to sacrifice had been\r\nchieftains of the Plataeans, and the cave of the nymphs Sphragitides was on the\r\ntop of Mount Cithaeron, on the side facing the setting sun of summer time; in\r\nwhich place, as the story goes, there was formerly an oracle, and many that\r\nlived in the district were inspired with it, whom they called Nympholepti,\r\npossessed with the nymphs. But the plain of Ceres Eleusinia, and the offer of\r\nvictory to the Athenians, if they fought in their own territories, recalled\r\nthem again, and transferred the war into the country of Attica. In this\r\njuncture, Arimnestus, who commanded the Plataeans, dreamed that Jupiter, the\r\nSaviour, asked him what the Greeks had resolved upon; and that he answered,\r\n“Tomorrow, my Lord, we march our army to Eleusis, and there give the barbarians\r\nbattle according to the directions of the oracle of Apollo.” And that the god\r\nreplied, they were utterly mistaken, for that the places spoken of by the\r\noracle were within the bounds of Plataea, and if they sought there they should\r\nfind them. This manifest vision having appeared to Arimnestus, when he awoke he\r\nsent for the most aged and experienced of his countrymen, with whom\r\ncommunicating and examining the matter, he found that near Hysiae, at the foot\r\nof Mount Cithaeron, there was a very ancient temple called the temple of Ceres\r\nEleusinia and Proserpine. He therefore forthwith took Aristides to the place,\r\nwhich was very convenient for drawing up an army of foot, because the slopes at\r\nthe bottom of the mountain Cithaeron rendered the plain, where it comes up to\r\nthe temple, unfit for the movements of cavalry. Also, in the same place, there\r\nwas the fane of Androcrates, environed with a thick shady grove. And that the\r\noracle might be accomplished in all particulars for the hope of victory,\r\nArimnestus proposed, and the Plataeans decreed, that the frontiers of their\r\ncountry towards Attica should be removed, and the land given to the Athenians,\r\nthat they might fight in defense of Greece in their own proper territory. This\r\nzeal and liberality of the Plataeans became so famous, that Alexander, many\r\nyears after, when he had obtained the dominion of all Asia, upon erecting the\r\nwalls of Plataea, caused proclamation to be made by the herald at the Olympic\r\ngames, that the king did the Plataeans this favor in consideration of their\r\nnobleness and magnanimity, because, in the war with the Medes, they freely gave\r\nup their land and zealously fought with the Greeks.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Tegeatans, contesting the post of honor with the Athenians, demanded, that,\r\naccording to custom, the Lacedaemonians being ranged on the right wing of the\r\nbattle, they might have the left, alleging several matters in commendation of\r\ntheir ancestors. The Athenians being indignant at the claim, Aristides came\r\nforward; “To contend with the Tegeatans,” said he, “for noble descent and\r\nvalor, the present time permits not: but this we say to you, O you Spartans,\r\nand you the rest of the Greeks, that place neither takes away nor contributes\r\ncourage: we shall endeavor by crediting and maintaining the post you assign us,\r\nto reflect no dishonor on our former performances. For we are come, not to\r\ndiffer with our friends, but to fight our enemies; not to extol our ancestors,\r\nbut ourselves to behave as valiant men. This battle will manifest how much each\r\ncity, captain, and private soldier is worth to Greece.” The council of war,\r\nupon this address, decided for the Athenians, and gave them the other wing of\r\nthe battle.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll Greece being in suspense, and especially the affairs of the Athenians\r\nunsettled, certain persons of great families and possessions having been\r\nimpoverished by the war, and seeing all their authority and reputation in the\r\ncity vanished with their wealth, and others in possession of their honors and\r\nplaces, convened privately at a house in Plataea, and conspired for the\r\ndissolution of the democratic government; and, if the plot should not succeed,\r\nto ruin the cause and betray all to the barbarians. These matters being in\r\nagitation in the camp, and many persons already corrupted, Aristides,\r\nperceiving the design, and dreading the present juncture of time, determined\r\nneither to let the business pass unanimadverted upon, nor yet altogether to\r\nexpose it; not knowing how many the accusation might reach, and willing to set\r\nbounds to his justice with a view to the public convenience. Therefore, of many\r\nthat were concerned, he apprehended eight only, two of whom, who were first\r\nproceeded against and most guilty, Aeschines of Lampra, and Agesias of\r\nAcharnae, made their escape out of the camp. The rest he dismissed; giving\r\nopportunity to such as thought themselves concealed, to take courage and\r\nrepent; intimating that they had in the war a great tribunal, where they might\r\nclear their guilt by manifesting their sincere and good intentions towards\r\ntheir country.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Mardonius made trial of the Grecian courage, by sending his whole\r\nnumber of horse, in which he thought himself much the stronger, against them,\r\nwhile they were all pitched at the foot of Mount Cithaeron, in strong and rocky\r\nplaces, except the Megarians. They, being three thousand in number, were\r\nencamped on the plain, where they were damaged by the horse charging and making\r\ninroads upon them on all hands. They sent, therefore, in haste to Pausanias,\r\ndemanding relief, as not being able alone to sustain the great numbers of the\r\nbarbarians. Pausanias, hearing this, and perceiving the tents of the Megarians\r\nalready hid by the multitude of darts and arrows, and themselves driven\r\ntogether into a narrow space, was at a loss himself how to aid them with his\r\nbattalion of heavy-armed Lacedaemonians. He proposed it, therefore, as a point\r\nof emulation in valor and love of distinction, to the commanders and captains\r\nwho were around him, if any would voluntarily take upon them the defense and\r\nsuccor of the Megarians. The rest being backward, Aristides undertook the\r\nenterprise for the Athenians, and sent Olympiodorus, the most valiant of his\r\ninferior officers, with three hundred chosen men and some archers under his\r\ncommand. These being soon in readiness, and running upon the enemy, as soon as\r\nMasistius, who commanded the barbarians’ horse, a man of wonderful courage and\r\nof extraordinary bulk and comeliness of person, perceived it, turning his steed\r\nhe made towards them. And they sustaining the shock and joining battle with\r\nhim, there was a sharp conflict, as though by this encounter they were to try\r\nthe success of the whole war. But after Masistius’s horse received a wound, and\r\nflung him, and he falling could hardly raise himself through the weight of his\r\narmor, the Athenians, pressing upon him with blows, could not easily get at his\r\nperson, armed as he was, his breast, his head, and his limbs all over, with\r\ngold and brass and iron; but one of them at last, running him in at the visor\r\nof his helmet, slew him; and the rest of the Persians, leaving the body, fled.\r\nThe greatness of the Greek success was known, not by the multitude of the\r\nslain, (for an inconsiderable number were killed,) but by the sorrow the\r\nbarbarians expressed. For they shaved themselves, their horses, and mules for\r\nthe death of Masistius, and filled the plain with howling and lamentation;\r\nhaving lost a person, who, next to Mardonius himself, was by many degrees the\r\nchief among them, both for valor and authority.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this skirmish of the horse, they kept from fighting a long time; for the\r\nsoothsayers, by the sacrifices, foretold the victory both to Greeks and\r\nPersians, if they stood upon the defensive part only, but if they became\r\naggressors, the contrary. At length Mardonius, when he had but a few days’\r\nprovision, and the Greek forces increased continually by some or other that\r\ncame in to them, impatient of delay, determined to lie still no longer, but,\r\npassing Asopus by daybreak, to fall unexpectedly upon the Greeks; and signified\r\nthe same over night to the captains of his host. But about midnight, a certain\r\nhorseman stole into the Greek camp, and coming to the watch, desired them to\r\ncall Aristides, the Athenian, to him. He coming speedily; “I am,” said the\r\nstranger, “Alexander, king of the Macedonians, and am arrived here through the\r\ngreatest danger in the world for the good-will I bear you, lest a sudden onset\r\nshould dismay you, so as to behave in the fight worse than usual. For tomorrow\r\nMardonius will give you battle, urged, not by any hope of success or courage,\r\nbut by want of victuals; since, indeed, the prophets prohibit him the battle,\r\nthe sacrifices and oracles being unfavorable; and the army is in despondency\r\nand consternation; but necessity forces him to try his fortune, or sit still\r\nand endure the last extremity of want.” Alexander, thus saying, entreated\r\nAristides to take notice and remember him, but not to tell any other. But he\r\ntold him, it was not convenient to conceal the matter from Pausanias (because\r\nhe was general); as for any other, he would keep it secret from them till the\r\nbattle was fought; but if the Greeks obtained the victory, that then no one\r\nshould be ignorant of Alexander’s good-will and kindness towards them. After\r\nthis, the king of the Macedonians rode back again, and Aristides went to\r\nPausanias’s tent and told him; and they sent for the rest of the captains and\r\ngave orders that the army should be in battle array.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHere, according to Herodotus, Pausanias spoke to Aristides, desiring him to\r\ntransfer the Athenians to the right wing of the army opposite to the Persians,\r\n(as they would do better service against them, having been experienced in their\r\nway of combat, and emboldened with former victories,) and to give him the left,\r\nwhere the Medizing Greeks were to make their assault. The rest of the Athenian\r\ncaptains regarded this as an arrogant and interfering act on the part of\r\nPausanias; because, while permitting the rest of the army to keep their\r\nstations, he removed them only from place to place, like so many Helots,\r\nopposing them to the greatest strength of the enemy. But Aristides said, they\r\nwere altogether in the wrong. If so short a time ago they contested the left\r\nwing with the Tegeatans, and gloried in being preferred before them, now, when\r\nthe Lacedaemonians give them place in the right, and yield them in a manner the\r\nleading of the army, how is it they are discontented with the honor that is\r\ndone them, and do not look upon it as an advantage to have to fight, not\r\nagainst their countrymen and kindred, but barbarians, and such as were by\r\nnature their enemies? After this, the Athenians very readily changed places\r\nwith the Lacedaemonians, and there went words amongst them as they were\r\nencouraging each other, that the enemy approached with no better arms or\r\nstouter hearts than those who fought the battle of Marathon; but had the same\r\nbows and arrows, and the same embroidered coats and gold, and the same delicate\r\nbodies and effeminate minds within; “while we have the same weapons and bodies,\r\nand our courage augmented by our victories; and fight not like others in\r\ndefense of our country only, but for the trophies of Salamis and Marathon; that\r\nthey may not be looked upon as due to Miltiades or fortune, but to the people\r\nof Athens.” Thus, therefore, were they making haste to change the order of\r\ntheir battle. But the Thebans, understanding it by some deserters, forthwith\r\nacquainted Mardonius; and he, either for fear of the Athenians, or a desire to\r\nengage the Lacedaemonians, marched over his Persians to the other wing, and\r\ncommanded the Greeks of his party to be posted opposite to the Athenians. But\r\nthis change was observed on the other side, and Pausanias, wheeling about\r\nagain, ranged himself on the right, and Mardonius, also, as at first, took the\r\nleft wing over against the Lacedaemonians. So the day passed without action.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, the Greeks determined in council to remove their camp some\r\ndistance, to possess themselves of a place convenient for watering; because the\r\nsprings near them were polluted and destroyed by the barbarian cavalry. But\r\nnight being come, and the captains setting out towards the place designed for\r\ntheir encamping, the soldiers were not very ready to follow, and keep in a\r\nbody, but, as soon as they had quitted their first entrenchments, made towards\r\nthe city of Plataea; and there was much tumult and disorder as they dispersed\r\nto various quarters and proceeded to pitch their tents. The Lacedaemonians,\r\nagainst their will, had the fortune to be left by the rest. For Amompharetus, a\r\nbrave and daring man, who had long been burning with desire of the fight, and\r\nresented their many lingerings and delays, calling the removal of the camp a\r\nmere running away and flight, protested he would not desert his post, but would\r\nthere remain with his company, and sustain the charge of Mardonius. And when\r\nPausanias came to him and told him he did these things by the common vote and\r\ndetermination of the Greeks, Amompharetus taking up a great stone and flinging\r\nit at Pausanias’ feet, and “by this token,” said he, “do I give my suffrage for\r\nthe battle, nor have I any concern with the cowardly consultations and decrees\r\nof other men.” Pausanias, not knowing what to do in the present juncture, sent\r\nto the Athenians, who were drawing off, to stay to accompany him; and so he\r\nhimself set off with the rest of the army for Plataea, hoping thus to make\r\nAmompharetus move.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMeantime, day came upon them; and Mardonius (for he was not ignorant of their\r\ndeserting their camp) having his army in array, fell upon the Lacedaemonians\r\nwith great shouting and noise of barbarous people, as if they were not about to\r\njoin battle, but crush the Greeks in their flight. Which within a very little\r\ncame to pass. For Pausanias, perceiving what was done, made a halt, and\r\ncommanded every one to put themselves in order for the battle; but either\r\nthrough his anger with Amompharetus, or the disturbance he was in by reason of\r\nthe sudden approach of the enemy, he forgot to give the signal to the Greeks in\r\ngeneral. Whence it was, that they did not come in immediately, or in a body, to\r\ntheir assistance, but by small companies and straggling, when the fight was\r\nalready begun. Pausanias, offering sacrifice, could not procure favorable\r\nomens, and so commanded the Lacedaemonians, setting down their shields at their\r\nfeet to abide quietly and attend his directions, making no resistance to any of\r\ntheir enemies. And, he sacrificing again a second time, the horse charged, and\r\nsome of the Lacedaemonians were wounded. At this time, also, Callicrates, who,\r\nwe are told, was the most comely man in the army, being shot with an arrow and\r\nupon the point of expiring, said, that he lamented not his death (for he came\r\nfrom home to lay down his life in the defense of Greece) but that he died\r\nwithout action. The case was indeed hard, and the forbearance of the men\r\nwonderful; for they let the enemy charge without repelling them; and, expecting\r\ntheir proper opportunity from the gods and their general, suffered themselves\r\nto be wounded and slain in their ranks. And some say, that while Pausanias was\r\nat sacrifice and prayers, some space out of the battle-array, certain Lydians,\r\nfalling suddenly upon him, plundered and scattered the sacrifice: and that\r\nPausanias and his company, having no arms, beat them with staves and whips; and\r\nthat in imitation of this attack, the whipping the boys about the altar, and\r\nafter it the Lydian procession, are to this day practiced in Sparta.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPausanias, therefore, being troubled at these things, while the priest went on\r\noffering one sacrifice after another, turns himself towards the temple with\r\ntears in his eyes, and, lifting up his hands to heaven, besought Juno of\r\nCithaeron, and the other tutelar gods of the Plataeans, if it were not in the\r\nfates for the Greeks to obtain the victory, that they might not perish, without\r\nperforming some remarkable thing, and by their actions demonstrating to their\r\nenemies, that they waged war with men of courage, and soldiers. While Pausanias\r\nwas thus in the act of supplication, the sacrifices appeared propitious, and\r\nthe soothsayers foretold victory. The word being given, the Lacedaemonian\r\nbattalion of foot seemed, on the sudden, like some one fierce animal, setting\r\nup his bristles, and betaking himself to the combat; and the barbarians\r\nperceived that they encountered with men who would fight it to the death.\r\nTherefore, holding their wicker-shields before them, they shot their arrows\r\namongst the Lacedaemonians. But they, keeping together in the order of a\r\nphalanx, and falling upon the enemies, forced their shields out of their hands,\r\nand, striking with their pikes at the breasts and faces of the Persians,\r\noverthrew many of them; who, however, fell not either unrevenged or without\r\ncourage. For taking hold of the spears with their bare hands, they broke many\r\nof them, and betook themselves not without effect to the sword; and making use\r\nof their falchions and scimitars, and wresting the Lacedaemonians’ shields from\r\nthem, and grappling with them, it was a long time that they made resistance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMeanwhile, for some time, the Athenians stood still, waiting for the\r\nLacedaemonians to come up. But when they heard much noise as of men engaged in\r\nfight, and a messenger, they say, came from Pausanias, to advertise them of\r\nwhat was going on, they soon hasted to their assistance. And as they passed\r\nthrough the plain to the place where the noise was, the Greeks, who took part\r\nwith the enemy, came upon them. Aristides, as soon as he saw them, going a\r\nconsiderable space before the rest, cried out to them, conjuring them by the\r\nguardian gods of Greece to forbear the fight, and be no impediment or stop to\r\nthose, who were going to succor the defenders of Greece. But when he perceived\r\nthey gave no attention to him, and had prepared themselves for the battle, then\r\nturning from the present relief of the Lacedaemonians, he engaged them, being\r\nfive thousand in number. But the greatest part soon gave way and retreated, as\r\nthe barbarians also were put to flight. The sharpest conflict is said to have\r\nbeen against the Thebans, the chiefest and most powerful persons among them at\r\nthat time siding zealously with the Medes, and leading the multitude not\r\naccording to their own inclinations, but as being subjects of an oligarchy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe battle being thus divided, the Lacedaemonians first beat off the Persians;\r\nand a Spartan, named Arimnestus, slew Mardonius by a blow on the head with a\r\nstone, as the oracle in the temple of Amphiaraus had foretold to him. For\r\nMardonius sent a Lydian thither, and another person, a Carian, to the cave of\r\nTrophonius. This latter, the priest of the oracle answered in his own language.\r\nBut the Lydian sleeping in the temple of Amphiaraus, it seemed to him that a\r\nminister of the divinity stood before him and commanded him to be gone; and on\r\nhis refusing to do it, flung a great stone at his head, so that he thought\r\nhimself slain with the blow. Such is the story. — They drove the fliers within\r\ntheir walls of wood; and, a little time after, the Athenians put the Thebans to\r\nflight, killing three hundred of the chiefest and of greatest note among them\r\nin the actual fight itself. For when they began to fly, news came that the army\r\nof the barbarians was besieged within their palisade: and so giving the Greeks\r\nopportunity to save themselves, they marched to assist at the fortifications;\r\nand coming in to the Lacedaemonians, who were altogether unhandy and\r\ninexperienced in storming, they took the camp with great slaughter of the\r\nenemy. For of three hundred thousand, forty thousand only are said to have\r\nescaped with Artabazus; while on the Greeks’ side there perished in all\r\nthirteen hundred and sixty: of which fifty-two were Athenians, all of the tribe\r\nAeantis, that fought, says Clidemus, with the greatest courage of any; and for\r\nthis reason the men of this tribe used to offer sacrifice for the victory, as\r\nenjoined by the oracle, to the nymphs Sphragitides at the expense of the\r\npublic: ninety-one were Lacedaemonians and sixteen Tegeatans. It is strange,\r\ntherefore, upon what grounds Herodotus can say, that they only, and none other,\r\nencountered the enemy; for the number of the slain and their monuments testify\r\nthat the victory was obtained by all in general; and if the rest had been\r\nstanding still, while the inhabitants of three cities only had been engaged in\r\nthe fight, they would not have set on the altar the inscription: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe Greeks, when by their courage and their might,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThey had repelled the Persian in the fight,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe common altar of freed Greece to be,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nReared this to Jupiter who guards the free.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThey fought this battle on the fourth day of the month Boedromion, according to\r\nthe Athenians, but according to the Boeotians, on the twenty-seventh of\r\nPanemus; — on which day there is still a convention of the Greeks at Plataea,\r\nand the Plataeans still offer sacrifice for the victory to Jupiter of freedom.\r\nAs for the difference of days, it is not to be wondered at, since even at the\r\npresent time, when there is a far more accurate knowledge of astronomy, some\r\nbegin the month at one time, and some at another.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, the Athenians not yielding the honor of the day to the\r\nLacedaemonians, nor consenting they should erect a trophy, things were not far\r\nfrom being ruined by dissension amongst the armed Greeks; had not Aristides, by\r\nmuch soothing and counseling the commanders, especially Leocrates and\r\nMyronides, pacified and persuaded them to leave the thing to the decision of\r\nthe Greeks. And on their proceeding to discuss the matter, Theogiton, the\r\nMegarian, declared the honor of the victory was to be given some other city, if\r\nthey would prevent a civil war; after him Cleocritus of Corinth rising up, made\r\npeople think he would ask the palm for the Corinthians, (for next to Sparta and\r\nAthens, Corinth was in greatest estimation); but he delivered his opinion, to\r\nthe general admiration, in favor of the Plataeans; and counseled to take away\r\nall contention by giving them the reward and glory of the victory, whose being\r\nhonored could be distasteful to neither party. This being said, first Aristides\r\ngave consent in the name of the Athenians, and Pausanias, then, for the\r\nLacedaemonians. So, being reconciled, they set apart eighty talents for the\r\nPlataeans, with which they built the temple and dedicated the image to Minerva,\r\nand adorned the temple with pictures, which even to this very day retain their\r\nluster. But the Lacedaemonians and Athenians each erected a trophy apart by\r\nthemselves. On their consulting the oracle about offering sacrifice, Apollo\r\nanswered that they should dedicate an altar to Jupiter of freedom, but should\r\nnot sacrifice till they had extinguished the fires throughout the country, as\r\nhaving been defiled by the barbarians, and had kindled unpolluted fire at the\r\ncommon altar at Delphi. The magistrates of Greece, therefore, went forthwith\r\nand compelled such as had fire to put it out; and Euchidas, a Plataean,\r\npromising to fetch fire, with all possible speed, from the altar of the god,\r\nwent to Delphi, and having sprinkled and purified his body, crowned himself\r\nwith laurel; and taking the fire from the altar ran back to Plataea, and got\r\nback there before sunset, performing in one day a journey of a thousand\r\nfurlongs; and saluting his fellow-citizens and delivering them the fire, he\r\nimmediately fell down, and in a short time after expired. But the Plataeans,\r\ntaking him up, interred him in the temple of Diana Euclia, setting this\r\ninscription over him: “Euchidas ran to Delphi and back again in one day.” Most\r\npeople believe that Euclia is Diana, and call her by that name. But some say\r\nshe was the daughter of Hercules, by Myrto, the daughter of Menoetius, and\r\nsister of Patroclus, and, dying a virgin, was worshipped by the Boeotians and\r\nLocrians. Her altar and image are set up in all their marketplaces, and those\r\nof both sexes that are about marrying, sacrifice to her before the nuptials.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA general assembly of all the Greeks being called, Aristides proposed a decree,\r\nthat the deputies and religious representatives of the Greek states should\r\nassemble annually at Plataea, and every fifth year celebrate the Eleutheria, or\r\ngames of freedom. And that there should be a levy upon all Greece, for the war\r\nagainst the barbarians, of ten thousand spearmen, one thousand horse, and a\r\nhundred sail of ships; but the Plataeans to be exempt, and sacred to the\r\nservice of the gods, offering sacrifice for the welfare of Greece. These things\r\nbegin ratified, the Plataeans undertook the performance of annual sacrifice to\r\nsuch as were slain and buried in that place; which they still perform in the\r\nfollowing manner. On the sixteenth day of Maemacterion (which with the\r\nBoeotians is Alalcomenus) they make their procession, which, beginning by break\r\nof day, is led by a trumpeter sounding for onset; then follow certain chariots\r\nloaded with myrrh and garlands; and then a black bull; then come the young men\r\nof free birth carrying libations of wine and milk in large two-handed vessels,\r\nand jars of oil and precious ointments, none of servile condition being\r\npermitted to have any hand in this ministration, because the men died in\r\ndefense of freedom; after all comes the chief magistrate of Plataea, (for whom\r\nit is unlawful at other times either to touch iron, or wear any other colored\r\ngarment but white,) at that time appareled in a purple robe; and, taking a\r\nwater-pot out of the city record-office, he proceeds, bearing a sword in his\r\nhand, through the middle of the town to the sepulchres. Then drawing water out\r\nof a spring, he washes and anoints the monument, and sacrificing the bull upon\r\na pile of wood, and making supplication to Jupiter and Mercury of the earth,\r\ninvites those valiant men who perished in the defense of Greece, to the banquet\r\nand the libations of blood. After this, mixing a bowl of wine, and pouring out\r\nfor himself, he says, “I drink to those who lost their lives for the liberty of\r\nGreece.” These solemnities the Plataeans observe to this day.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAristides perceived that the Athenians, after their return into the city, were\r\neager for a democracy; and deeming the people to deserve consideration on\r\naccount of their valiant behavior, as also that it was a matter of difficulty,\r\nthey being well armed, powerful, and full of spirit with their victories, to\r\noppose them by force, he brought forward a decree, that every one might share\r\nin the government, and the archons be chosen out of the whole body of the\r\nAthenians. And on Themistocles telling the people in assembly that he had some\r\nadvice for them, which could not be given in public, but was most important for\r\nthe advantage and security of the city, they appointed Aristides alone to hear\r\nand consider it with him. And on his acquainting Aristides that his intent was\r\nto set fire to the arsenal of the Greeks, for by that means should the\r\nAthenians become supreme masters of all Greece, Aristides, returning to the\r\nassembly, told them, that nothing was more advantageous than what Themistocles\r\ndesigned, and nothing more unjust. The Athenians, hearing this, gave\r\nThemistocles order to desist; such was the love of justice felt by the people,\r\nand such the credit and confidence they reposed in Aristides.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBeing sent in joint commission with Cimon to the war, he took notice that\r\nPausanias and the other Spartan captains made themselves offensive by\r\nimperiousness and harshness to the confederates; and by being himself gentle\r\nand considerate with them and by the courtesy and disinterested temper which\r\nCimon, after his example, manifested in the expeditions, he stole away the\r\nchief command from the Lacedaemonians, neither by weapons, ships, or horses,\r\nbut by equity and wise policy. For the Athenians being endeared to the Greeks\r\nby the justice of Aristides and by Cimon’s moderation, the tyranny and\r\nselfishness of Pausanias rendered them yet more desirable. He on all occasions\r\ntreated the commanders of the confederates haughtily and roughly; and the\r\ncommon soldiers he punished with stripes, or standing under the iron anchor for\r\na whole day together; neither was it permitted for any to provide straw for\r\nthemselves to lie on, or forage for their horses, or to come near the springs\r\nto water before the Spartans were furnished, but servants with whips drove away\r\nsuch as approached. And when Aristides once was about to complain and\r\nexpostulate with Pausanias, he told him, with an angry look, that he was not at\r\nleisure, and gave no attention to him. The consequence was that the sea\r\ncaptains and generals of the Greeks, in particular, the Chians, Samians, and\r\nLesbians, came to Aristides and requested him to be their general, and to\r\nreceive the confederates into his command, who had long desired to relinquish\r\nthe Spartans and come over to the Athenians. But he answered, that he saw both\r\nequity and necessity in what they said, but their fidelity required the test of\r\nsome action, the commission of which would make it impossible for the multitude\r\nto change their minds again. Upon which Uliades, the Samian, and Antagoras of\r\nChios, conspiring together, ran in near Byzantium on Pausanias’s galley,\r\ngetting her between them as she was sailing before the rest. But when\r\nPausanias, beholding them, rose up and furiously threatened soon to make them\r\nknow that they had been endangering not his galley, but their own countries,\r\nthey bid him go his way, and thank Fortune that fought for him at Plataea; for\r\nhitherto, in reverence to that, the Greeks had forborne from indicting on him\r\nthe punishment he deserved. In fine, they all went off and joined the\r\nAthenians. And here the magnanimity of the Lacedaemonians was wonderful. For\r\nwhen they perceived that their generals were becoming corrupted by the\r\ngreatness of their authority, they voluntarily laid down the chief command, and\r\nleft off sending any more of them to the wars, choosing rather to have citizens\r\nof moderation and consistent in the observance of their customs, than to\r\npossess the dominion of all Greece.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nEven during the command of the Lacedaemonians, the Greeks paid a certain\r\ncontribution towards the maintenance of the war; and being desirous to be rated\r\ncity by city in their due proportion, they desired Aristides of the Athenians,\r\nand gave him command, surveying the country and revenue, to assess every one\r\naccording to their ability and what they were worth. But he, being so largely\r\nempowered, Greece as it were submitting all her affairs to his sole management,\r\nwent out poor, and returned poorer; laying the tax not only without corruption\r\nand injustice, but to the satisfaction and convenience of all. For as the\r\nancients celebrated the age of Saturn, so did the confederates of Athens\r\nAristides’s taxation, terming it the happy time of Greece; and that more\r\nespecially, as the sum was in a short time doubled, and afterwards trebled. For\r\nthe assessment which Aristides made, was four hundred and sixty talents. But to\r\nthis Pericles added very near one third part more; for Thucydides says, that in\r\nthe beginning of the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians had coming in from their\r\nconfederates six hundred talents. But after Pericles’s death, the demagogues,\r\nincreasing by little and little, raised it to the sum of thirteen hundred\r\ntalents; not so much through the war’s being so expensive and chargeable either\r\nby its length or ill success, as by their alluring the people to spend upon\r\nlargesses and play-house allowances, and in erecting statues and temples.\r\nAristides, therefore, having acquired a wonderful and great reputation by this\r\nlevy of the tribute, Themistocles is said to have derided him, as if this had\r\nbeen not the commendation of a man, but a money-bag; a retaliation, though not\r\nin the same kind, for some free words which Aristides had used. For he, when\r\nThemistocles once was saying that he thought the highest virtue of a general\r\nwas to understand and foreknow the measures the enemy would take, replied,\r\n“This, indeed, Themistocles, is simply necessary, but the excellent thing in a\r\ngeneral is to keep his hands from taking money.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAristides, moreover, made all the people of Greece swear to keep the league,\r\nand himself took the oath in the name of the Athenians, flinging wedges of red\r\nhot iron into the sea, after curses against such as should make breach of their\r\nvow. But afterwards, it would seem, when things were in such a state as\r\nconstrained them to govern with a stronger hand, he bade the Athenians to throw\r\nthe perjury upon him, and manage affairs as convenience required. And, in\r\ngeneral, Theophrastus tells us, that Aristides was, in his own private affairs,\r\nand those of his fellow-citizens, rigorously just, but that in public matters\r\nhe acted often in accordance with his country’s policy, which demanded,\r\nsometimes, not a little injustice. It is reported of him that he said in a\r\ndebate, upon the motion of the Samians for removing the treasure from Delos to\r\nAthens, contrary to the league, that the thing indeed was not just, but was\r\nexpedient.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn fine, having established the dominion of his city over so many people, he\r\nhimself remained indigent; and always delighted as much in the glory of being\r\npoor, as in that of his trophies; as is evident from the following story.\r\nCallias, the torchbearer, was related to him: and was prosecuted by his enemies\r\nin a capital cause, in which, after they had slightly argued the matters on\r\nwhich they indicted him, they proceeded, beside the point, to address the\r\njudges: “You know,” said they, “Aristides, the son of Lysimachus, who is the\r\nadmiration of all Greece. In what a condition do you think his family is in at\r\nhis house, when you see him appear in public in such a threadbare cloak? Is it\r\nnot probable that one who, out of doors, goes thus exposed to the cold, must\r\nwant food and other necessaries at home? Callias, the wealthiest of the\r\nAthenians, does nothing to relieve either him or his wife and children in their\r\npoverty, though he is his own cousin, and has made use of him in many cases,\r\nand often reaped advantage by his interest with you.” But Callias, perceiving\r\nthe judges were moved more particularly by this, and were exasperated against\r\nhim, called in Aristides, requiring him to testify that when he frequently\r\noffered him divers presents, and entreated him to accept them, he had refused,\r\nanswering, that it became him better to be proud of his poverty than Callias of\r\nhis wealth: since there are many to be seen that make a good, or a bad use of\r\nriches, but it is difficult, comparatively, to meet with one who supports\r\npoverty in a noble spirit; those only should be ashamed of it who incurred it\r\nagainst their wills. On Aristides deposing these facts in favor of Callias,\r\nthere was none who heard them, that went not away desirous rather to be poor\r\nlike Aristides, than rich as Callias. Thus Aeschines, the scholar of Socrates,\r\nwrites. But Plato declares, that of all the great and renowned men in the city\r\nof Athens, he was the only one worthy of consideration; for Themistocles,\r\nCimon, and Pericles filled the city with porticoes, treasure, and many other\r\nvain things, but Aristides guided his public life by the rule of justice. He\r\nshowed his moderation very plainly in his conduct towards Themistocles himself.\r\nFor though Themistocles had been his adversary in all his undertakings, and was\r\nthe cause of his banishment, yet when he afforded a similar opportunity of\r\nrevenge, being accused to the city, Aristides bore him no malice; but while\r\nAlcmaeon, Cimon, and many others, were prosecuting and impeaching him,\r\nAristides alone, neither did, nor said any ill against him, and no more\r\ntriumphed over his enemy in his adversity, than he had envied him his\r\nprosperity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome say Aristides died in Pontus, during a voyage upon the affairs of the\r\npublic. Others that he died of old age at Athens, being in great honor and\r\nveneration amongst his fellow-citizens. But Craterus, the Macedonian, relates\r\nhis death as follows. After the banishment of Themistocles, he says, the people\r\ngrowing insolent, there sprung up a number of false and frivolous accusers,\r\nimpeaching the best and most influential men and exposing them to the envy of\r\nthe multitude, whom their good fortune and power had filled with self-conceit.\r\nAmongst these, Aristides was condemned of bribery, upon the accusation of\r\nDiophantus of Amphitrope, for taking money from the Ionians when he was\r\ncollector of the tribute; and being unable to pay the fine, which was fifty\r\nminae, sailed to Ionia, and died there. But of this Craterus brings no written\r\nproof, neither the sentence of his condemnation, nor the decree of the people;\r\nthough in general it is tolerably usual with him to set down such things and to\r\ncite his authors. Almost all others who have spoken of the misdeeds of the\r\npeople towards their generals, collect them all together, and tell us of the\r\nbanishment of Themistocles, Miltiades’s bonds, Pericles’s fine, and the death\r\nof Paches in the judgment hall, who, upon receiving sentence, killed himself on\r\nthe hustings, with many things of the like nature. They add the banishment of\r\nAristides; but of this his condemnation, they make no mention.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMoreover, his monument is to be seen at Phalerum, which they say was built him\r\nby the city, he not having left enough even to defray funeral charges. And it\r\nis stated, that his two daughters were publicly married out of the prytaneum,\r\nor state-house, by the city, which decreed each of them three thousand drachmas\r\nfor her portion; and that upon his son Lysimachus, the people bestowed a\r\nhundred minas of money, and as many acres of planted land, and ordered him\r\nbesides, upon the motion of Alcibiades, four drachmas a day. Furthermore,\r\nLysimachus leaving a daughter, named Polycrite, as Callisthenes says, the\r\npeople voted her, also, the same allowance for food with those that obtained\r\nthe victory in the Olympic Games. But Demetrius the Phalerian, Hieronymus the\r\nRhodian, Aristoxenus the musician, and Aristotle, (if the Treatise of Nobility\r\nis to be reckoned among the genuine pieces of Aristotle,) say that Myrto,\r\nAristides’s granddaughter, lived with Socrates the philosopher, who indeed had\r\nanother wife, but took her into his house, being a widow, by reason of her\r\nindigence, and want of the necessaries of life. But Panaetius sufficiently\r\nconfutes this in his books concerning Socrates. Demetrius the Phalerian, in his\r\nSocrates, says, he knew one Lysimachus, son to the daughter of Aristides,\r\nextremely poor, who used to sit near what is called the Iaccheum, and sustained\r\nhimself by a table for interpreting dreams; and that, upon his proposal and\r\nrepresentations, a decree was passed by the people, to give the mother and aunt\r\nof this man half a drachma a day. The same Demetrius, when he was legislating\r\nhimself, decreed each of these women a drachma per diem. And it is not to be\r\nwondered at, that the people of Athens should take such care of people living\r\nin the city, since hearing the granddaughter of Aristogiton was in a low\r\ncondition in the isle of Lemnos, and so poor nobody would marry her they\r\nbrought her back to Athens, and, marrying her to a man of good birth, gave a\r\nfarm at Potamus as her marriage-portion; and of similar humanity and bounty the\r\ncity of Athens, even in our age, has given numerous proofs, and is justly\r\nadmired and respected in consequence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap25\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eMARCUS CATO\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcus Cato, we are told, was born at Tusculum, though (till he betook himself\r\nto civil and military affairs) he lived and was bred up in the country of the\r\nSabines, where his father’s estate lay. His ancestors seeming almost entirely\r\nunknown, he himself praises his father Marcus, as a worthy man and a brave\r\nsoldier, and Cato, his great grandfather too, as one who had often obtained\r\nmilitary prizes, and who, having lost five horses under him, received, on the\r\naccount of his valor, the worth of them out of the public exchequer. Now it\r\nbeing the custom among the Romans to call those who, having no repute by birth,\r\nmade themselves eminent by their own exertions, new men or upstarts, they\r\ncalled even Cato himself so, and so he confessed himself to be as to any public\r\ndistinction or employment, but yet asserted that in the exploits and virtues of\r\nhis ancestors he was very ancient. His third name originally was not Cato, but\r\nPriscus, though afterwards he had the surname of Cato, by reason of his\r\nabilities; for the Romans call a skillful or experienced man, Catus. He was of\r\na ruddy complexion, and gray-eyed; as the writer, who, with no good-will, made\r\nthe following epigram upon him, lets us see:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nPorcius, who snarls at all in every place,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWith his gray eyes, and with his fiery face,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nEven after death will scarce admitted be\u003cbr\u003e\r\nInto the infernal realms by Hecate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe gained, in early life, a good habit of body by working with his own hands,\r\nand living temperately, and serving in war; and seemed to have an equal\r\nproportion troth of health and strength. And he exerted and practiced his\r\neloquence through all the neighborhood and little villages; thinking it as\r\nrequisite as a second body, and an all but necessary organ to one who looks\r\nforward to something above a mere humble and inactive life. He would never\r\nrefuse to be counsel for those who needed him, and was, indeed, early reckoned\r\na good lawyer, and, ere long, a capable orator.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHence his solidity and depth of character showed itself gradually, more and\r\nmore to those with whom he was concerned, and claimed, as it were, employment\r\nin great affairs, and places of public command. Nor did he merely abstain from\r\ntaking fees for his counsel and pleading, but did not even seem to put any high\r\nprice on the honor which proceeded from such kind of combats, seeming much more\r\ndesirous to signalize himself in the camp and in real fights; and while yet but\r\na youth, had his breast covered with scars he had received from the enemy;\r\nbeing (as he himself says) but seventeen years old, when he made his first\r\ncampaign; in the time when Hannibal, in the height of his success, was burning\r\nand pillaging all Italy. In engagements he would strike boldly, without\r\nflinching, stand firm to his ground, fix a bold countenance upon his enemies,\r\nand with a harsh threatening voice accost them, justly thinking himself and\r\ntelling others, that such a rugged kind of behavior sometimes terrifies the\r\nenemy more than the sword itself. In his marches, he bore his own arms on foot,\r\nwhilst one servant only followed, to carry the provisions for his table, with\r\nwhom he is said never to have been angry or hasty, whilst he made ready his\r\ndinner or supper, but would, for the most part, when he was free from military\r\nduty, assist and help him himself to dress it. When he was with the army, he\r\nused to drink only water; unless, perhaps, when extremely thirsty, he might\r\nmingle it with a little vinegar; or if he found his strength fail him, take a\r\nlittle wine.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe little country house of Manius Curius, who had been thrice carried in\r\ntriumph, happened to be near his farm; so that often going thither, and\r\ncontemplating the small compass of the place, and plainness of the dwelling, he\r\nformed an idea of the mind of the person, who, being one of the greatest of the\r\nRomans, and having subdued the most warlike nations, nay, had driven Pyrrhus\r\nout of Italy, now, after three triumphs, was contented to dig in so small a\r\npiece of ground, and live in such a cottage. Here it was that the ambassadors\r\nof the Samnites, finding him boiling turnips in the chimney corner, offered him\r\na present of gold; but he sent them away with this saying; that he, who was\r\ncontent with such a supper, had no need of gold; and that he thought it more\r\nhonorable to conquer those who possessed the gold, than to possess the gold\r\nitself. Cato, after reflecting upon these things, used to return, and reviewing\r\nhis own farm, his servants, and housekeeping, increase his labor, and retrench\r\nall superfluous expenses.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Fabius Maximus took Tarentum, Cato, being then but a youth, was a soldier\r\nunder him; and being lodged with one Nearchus, a Pythagorean, desired to\r\nunderstand some of his doctrine, and hearing from him the language, which Plato\r\nalso uses, — that pleasure is evil’s chief bait; the body the principal\r\ncalamity of the soul; and that those thoughts which most separate and take it\r\noff from the affections of the body, most enfranchise and purify it; he fell in\r\nlove the more with frugality and temperance. With this exception, he is said\r\nnot to have studied Greek until when he was pretty old; and rhetoric, to have\r\nthen profited a little by Thucydides, but more by Demosthenes: his writings,\r\nhowever, are considerably embellished with Greek sayings and stories; nay, many\r\nof these, translated word for word, are placed with his own apothegms and\r\nsentences.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was a man of the highest rank, and very influential among the Romans,\r\ncalled Valerius Flaccus, who was singularly skillful in discerning excellence\r\nyet in the bud, and, also, much disposed to nourish and advance it. He, it\r\nseems, had lands bordering upon Cato’s; nor could he but admire, when he\r\nunderstood from his servants the manner of his living, how he labored with his\r\nown hands, went on foot betimes in the morning to the courts to assist those\r\nwho wanted his counsel; how, returning home again, when it was winter, he would\r\nthrow a loose frock over his shoulders, and in the summer time would work\r\nwithout anything on among his domestics, sit down with them, eat of the same\r\nbread, and drink of the same wine. When they spoke, also, of other good\r\nqualities, his fair dealing and moderation, mentioning also some of his wise\r\nsayings, he ordered, that he should be invited to supper; and thus becoming\r\npersonally assured of his fine temper and his superior character which, like a\r\nplant, seemed only to require culture and a better situation, he urged and\r\npersuaded him to apply himself to state affairs at Rome. Thither, therefore, he\r\nwent, and by his pleading soon gained many friends and admirers; but, Valerius\r\nchiefly assisting his promotion, he first of all got appointed tribune in the\r\narmy, and afterwards was made quaestor, or treasurer. And now becoming eminent\r\nand noted, he passed, with Valerius himself, through the greatest commands,\r\nbeing first his colleague as consul, and then censor. But among all the ancient\r\nsenators, he most attached himself to Fabius Maximus; not so much for the honor\r\nof his person, and greatness of his power, as that he might have before him his\r\nhabit and manner of life, as the best examples to follow: and so he did not\r\nhesitate to oppose Scipio the Great, who, being then but a young man, seemed to\r\nset himself against the power of Fabius, and to be envied by him. For being\r\nsent together with him as treasurer, when he saw him, according to his natural\r\ncustom, make great expenses, and distribute among the soldiers without sparing,\r\nhe freely told him that the expense in itself was not the greatest thing to be\r\nconsidered, but that he was corrupting the ancient frugality of the soldiers,\r\nby giving them the means to abandon themselves to unnecessary pleasures and\r\nluxuries. Scipio answered, that he had no need for so accurate a treasurer,\r\n(bearing on as he was, so to say, full sail to the war,) and that he owed the\r\npeople an account of his actions, and not of the money he spent. Hereupon Cato\r\nreturned from Sicily, and, together with Fabius, made loud complaints in the\r\nopen senate of Scipio’s lavishing unspeakable sums, and childishly loitering\r\naway his time in wrestling matches and comedies, as if he were not to make war,\r\nbut holiday; and thus succeeded in getting some of the tribunes of the people\r\nsent to call him back to Rome, in case the accusations should prove true. But\r\nScipio demonstrating, as it were, to them, by his preparations, the coming\r\nvictory, and, being found merely to be living pleasantly with his friends, when\r\nthere was nothing else to do, but in no respect because of that easiness and\r\nliberality at all the more negligent in things of consequence and moment,\r\nwithout impediment, set sail towards the war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato grew more and more powerful by his eloquence, so that he was commonly\r\ncalled the Roman Demosthenes; but his manner of life was yet more famous and\r\ntalked of. For oratorical skill was, as an accomplishment, commonly studied and\r\nsought after by all young men; but he was very rare who would cultivate the old\r\nhabits of bodily labor, or prefer a light supper, and a breakfast which never\r\nsaw the fire; or be in love with poor clothes and a homely lodging, or could\r\nset his ambition rather on doing without luxuries than on possessing them. For\r\nnow the state, unable to keep its purity by reason of its greatness, and having\r\nso many affairs, and people from all parts under its government, was fain to\r\nadmit many mixed customs, and new examples of living. With reason, therefore,\r\neverybody admired Cato, when they saw others sink under labors, and grow\r\neffeminate by pleasures; and yet beheld him unconquered by either, and that not\r\nonly when he was young and desirous of honor, but also when old and greyheaded,\r\nafter a consulship and triumph; like some famous victor in the games,\r\npersevering in his exercise and maintaining his character to the very last. He\r\nhimself says, that he never wore a suit of clothes which cost more than a\r\nhundred drachmas; and that, when he was general and consul, he drank the same\r\nwine which his workmen did; and that the meat or fish which was bought in the\r\nmarket for his dinner, did not cost above thirty asses. All which was for the\r\nsake of the commonwealth, that so his body might be the hardier for the war.\r\nHaving a piece of embroidered Babylonian tapestry left him, he sold it; because\r\nnone of his farm-houses were so much as plastered. Nor did he ever buy a slave\r\nfor above fifteen hundred drachmas; as he did not seek for effeminate and\r\nhandsome ones, but able, sturdy workmen, horse-keepers and cow-herds: and these\r\nhe thought ought to be sold again, when they grew old, and no useless servants\r\nfed in a house. In short, he reckoned nothing a good bargain, which was\r\nsuperfluous; but whatever it was, though sold for a farthing, he would think it\r\na great price, if you had no need of it; and was for the purchase of lands for\r\nsowing and feeding, rather than grounds for sweeping and watering.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome imputed these things to petty avarice, but others approved of him, as if\r\nhe had only the more strictly denied himself for the rectifying and amending of\r\nothers. Yet certainly, in my judgment, it marks an over-rigid temper, for a man\r\nto take the work out of his servants as out of brute beasts, turning them off\r\nand selling them in their old age, and thinking there ought to be no further\r\ncommerce between man and man, than whilst there arises some profit by it. We\r\nsee that kindness or humanity has a larger field than bare justice to exercise\r\nitself in; law and justice we cannot, in the nature of things, employ on others\r\nthan men; but we may extend our goodness and charity even to irrational\r\ncreatures; and such acts flow from a gentle nature, as water from an abundant\r\nspring. It is doubtless the part of a kind-natured man to keep even worn-out\r\nhorses and dogs, and not only take care of them when they are foals and whelps,\r\nbut also when they are grown old. The Athenians, when they built their\r\nHecatompedon, turned those mules loose to feed freely, which they had observed\r\nto have done the hardest labor. One of these (they say) came once of itself to\r\noffer its service, and ran along with, nay, and went before, the teams which\r\ndrew the wagons up to the acropolis, as if it would incite and encourage them\r\nto draw more stoutly; upon which there passed a vote, that the creature should\r\nbe kept at the public charge even till it died. The graves of Cimon’s horses,\r\nwhich thrice won the Olympian races, are yet to be seen close by his own\r\nmonument. Old Xanthippus, too, (amongst many others who buried the dogs they\r\nhad bred up,) entombed his which swam after his galley to Salamis, when the\r\npeople fled from Athens, on the top of a cliff, which they call the dog’s tomb\r\nto this day. Nor are we to use living creatures like old shoes or dishes, and\r\nthrow them away when they are worn out or broken with service; but if it were\r\nfor nothing else, but by way of study and practice in humanity, a man ought\r\nalways to prehabituate himself in these things to be of a kind and sweet\r\ndisposition. As to myself, I would not so much as sell my draught ox on the\r\naccount of his age, much less for a small piece of money sell a poor old man,\r\nand so chase him, as it were, from his own country, by turning him not only out\r\nof the place where he has lived a long while, but also out of the manner of\r\nliving he has been accustomed to, and that more especially when he would be as\r\nuseless to the buyer as to the seller. Yet Cato for all this glories that he\r\nleft that very horse in Spain, which he used in the wars when he was consul,\r\nonly because he would not put the public to the charge of his freight. Whether\r\nthese acts are to be ascribed to the greatness or pettiness of his spirit, let\r\nevery one argue as they please.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor his general temperance, however, and self-control, he really deserves the\r\nhighest admiration. For when he commanded the army, he never took for himself,\r\nand those that belonged to him, above three bushels of wheat for a month, and\r\nsomewhat less than a bushel and a half a day of barley for his baggage-cattle.\r\nAnd when he entered upon the government of Sardinia, where his predecessors had\r\nbeen used to require tents, bedding, and clothes upon the public account, and\r\nto charge the state heavily with the cost of provisions and entertainments for\r\na great train of servants and friends, the difference he showed in his economy\r\nwas something incredible. There was nothing of any sort for which he put the\r\npublic to expense; he would walk without a carriage to visit the cities, with\r\none only of the common town officers, who carried his dress, and a cup to offer\r\nlibation with. Yet, though he seemed thus easy and sparing to all who were\r\nunder his power, he, on the other hand, showed most inflexible severity and\r\nstrictness, in what related to public justice, and was rigorous, and precise in\r\nwhat concerned the ordinances of the commonwealth; so that the Roman\r\ngovernment, never seemed more terrible, nor yet more mild, than under his\r\nadministration.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis very manner of speaking seemed to have such a kind of idea with it; for it\r\nwas courteous, and yet forcible; pleasant, yet overwhelming; facetious, yet\r\naustere; sententious, and yet vehement: like Socrates, in the description of\r\nPlato, who seemed outwardly to those about him to be but a simple, talkative,\r\nblunt fellow; whilst at the bottom he was full of such gravity and matter, as\r\nwould even move tears, and touch the very hearts of his auditors. And,\r\ntherefore, I know not what has persuaded some to say, that Cato’s style was\r\nchiefly like that of Lysias. However, let us leave those to judge of these\r\nthings, who profess most to distinguish between the several kinds of oratorical\r\nstyle in Latin; whilst we write down some of his memorable sayings; being of\r\nthe opinion that a man’s character appears much more by his words, than, as\r\nsome think it does, by his looks.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBeing once desirous to dissuade the common people of Rome, from their\r\nunseasonable and impetuous clamor for largesses and distributions of corn, he\r\nbegan thus to harangue them: “It is a difficult task, O citizens, to make\r\nspeeches to the belly, which has no ears.” Reproving, also, their sumptuous\r\nhabits, he said, it was hard to preserve a city, where a fish sold for more\r\nthan an ox. He had a saying, also, that the Roman people were like sheep; for\r\nthey, when single, do not obey, but when altogether in a flock, they follow\r\ntheir leaders: “So you,” said he, “when you have got together in a body, let\r\nyourselves be guided by those whom singly you would never think of being\r\nadvised by.” Discoursing of the power of women: “Men,” said he, “usually\r\ncommand women; but we command all men, and the women command us.” But this,\r\nindeed, is borrowed from the sayings of Themistocles, who, when his son was\r\nmaking many demands of him by means of the mother, said, “O woman, the\r\nAthenians govern the Greeks; I govern the Athenians, but you govern me, and\r\nyour son governs you; so let him use his power sparingly, since, simple as he\r\nis, he can do more than all the Greeks together.” Another saying of Cato’s was,\r\nthat the Roman people did not only fix the value of such and such purple dyes,\r\nbut also of such and such habits of life: “For,” said he, “as dyers most of all\r\ndye such colors as they see to be most agreeable, so the young men learn, and\r\nzealously affect what is most popular with you.” He also exhorted them, that if\r\nthey were grown great by their virtue and temperance, they should not change\r\nfor the worse; but if intemperance and vice had made them great, they should\r\nchange for the better; for by that means they were grown indeed quite great\r\nenough. He would say, likewise, of men who wanted to be continually in office,\r\nthat apparently they did not know their road; since they could not do without\r\nbeadles to guide them on it. He also reproved the citizens for choosing still\r\nthe same men as their magistrates: “For you will seem,” said he, “either not to\r\nesteem government worth much, or to think few worthy to hold it.” Speaking,\r\ntoo, of a certain enemy of his, who lived a very base and discreditable life:\r\n“It is considered,” he said, “rather as a curse than a blessing on him, that\r\nthis fellow’s mother prays that she may leave him behind her.” Pointing at one\r\nwho had sold the land which his father had left him, and which lay near the\r\nsea-side, he pretended to express his wonder at his being stronger even than\r\nthe sea itself; for what it washed away with a great deal of labor, he with a\r\ngreat deal of ease drank away. When the senate, with a great deal of splendor,\r\nreceived king Eumenes on his visit to Rome, and the chief citizens strove who\r\nshould be most about him, Cato appeared to regard him with suspicion and\r\napprehension; and when one that stood by, too, took occasion to say, that he\r\nwas a very good prince, and a great lover of the Romans: “It may be so,” said\r\nCato, “but by nature this same animal of a king, is a kind of man-eater;” nor,\r\nindeed, were there ever kings who deserved to be compared with Epaminondas,\r\nPericles, Themistocles, Manius Curius, or Hamilcar, surnamed Barcas. He used to\r\nsay, too, that his enemies envied him; because he had to get up every day\r\nbefore light, and neglect his own business to follow that of the public. He\r\nwould also tell you, that he had rather be deprived of the reward for doing\r\nwell, than not to suffer the punishment for doing ill; and that he could pardon\r\nall offenders but himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Romans having sent three ambassadors to Bithynia, of whom one was gouty,\r\nanother had his skull trepanned, and the other seemed little better than a\r\nfool; Cato, laughing, gave out, that the Romans had sent an embassy, which had\r\nneither feet, head, nor heart. His interest being entreated by Scipio, on\r\naccount of Polybius, for the Achaean exiles, and there happening to be a great\r\ndiscussion in the senate about it, some being for, and some against their\r\nreturn; Cato, standing up, thus delivered himself: “Here do we sit all day\r\nlong, as if we had nothing to do, but beat our brains whether these old Greeks\r\nshould be carried to their graves by the bearers here or by those in Achaea.”\r\nThe senate voting their return, it seems that a few days after Polybius’s\r\nfriends further wished that it should be moved in the senate, that the said\r\nbanished persons should receive again the honors which they first had in\r\nAchaea; and, to this purpose, they sounded Cato for his opinion; but he,\r\nsmiling, answered, that Polybius, Ulysses-like, having escaped out of the\r\nCyclops’ den, wanted, it would seem, to go back again because he had left his\r\ncap and belt behind him. He used to assert, also, that wise men profited more\r\nby fools, than fools by wise men; for that wise men avoided the faults of\r\nfools, but that fools would not imitate the good examples of wise men. He would\r\nprofess, too, that he was more taken with young men that blushed, than with\r\nthose who looked pale; and that he never desired to have a soldier that moved\r\nhis hands too much in marching, and his feet too much in fighting; or snored\r\nlouder than he shouted. Ridiculing a fat overgrown man: “What use,” said he,\r\n“can the state turn a man’s body to, when all between the throat and groin is\r\ntaken up by the belly?” When one who was much given to pleasures desired his\r\nacquaintance, begging his pardon, he said, he could not live with a man whose\r\npalate was of a quicker sense than his heart. He would likewise say, that the\r\nsoul of a lover lived in the body of another: and that in his whole life he\r\nmost repented of three things; one was, that he had trusted a secret to a\r\nwoman; another, that he went by water when he might have gone by land; the\r\nthird, that he had remained one whole day without doing any business of moment.\r\nApplying himself to an old man who was committing some vice: “Friend,” said he,\r\n“old age has of itself blemishes enough; do not you add to it the deformity of\r\nvice.” Speaking to a tribune, who was reputed a poisoner, and was very violent\r\nfor the bringing in of a bill, in order to make a certain law: “Young man,”\r\ncried he, “I know not which would be better, to drink what you mix, or confirm\r\nwhat you would put up for a law.” Being reviled by a fellow who lived a\r\nprofligate and wicked life: “A contest,” replied he, “is unequal between you\r\nand me; for you can hear ill words easily, and can as easily give them; but it\r\nis unpleasant to me to give such, and unusual to hear them.” Such was his\r\nmanner of expressing himself in his memorable sayings.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBeing chosen consul, with his friend and familiar Valerius Flaccus, the\r\ngovernment of that part of Spain which the Romans call the Hither Spain, fell\r\nto his lot. Here, as he was engaged in reducing some of the tribes by force,\r\nand bringing over others by good words, a large army of barbarians fell upon\r\nhim, so that there was danger of being disgracefully forced out again. He\r\ntherefore called upon his neighbors, the Celtiberians, for help; and on their\r\ndemanding two hundred talents for their assistance, everybody else thought it\r\nintolerable, that ever the Romans should promise barbarians a reward for their\r\naid; but Cato said, there was no discredit or harm in it; for if they overcame,\r\nthey would pay them out of the enemy’s purse, and not out of their own; but if\r\nthey were overcome, there would be nobody left either to demand the reward or\r\nto pay it. However, he won that battle completely, and after that, all his\r\nother affairs succeeded splendidly. Polybius says, that by his command the\r\nwalls of all the cities, on this side the river Baetis, were in one day’s time\r\ndemolished, and yet there were a great many of them full of brave and warlike\r\nmen. Cato himself says, that he took more cities than he stayed days in Spain.\r\nNeither is this a mere rhodomontade, if it be true, that the number was four\r\nhundred. And though the soldiers themselves had got much in the fights, yet he\r\ndistributed a pound of silver to every man of them, saying, it was better, that\r\nmany of the Romans should return home with silver, rather than a few with gold.\r\nFor himself he affirms, that of all the things that were taken, nothing came to\r\nhim beyond what he ate and drank. “Neither do I find fault,” continued he,\r\n“with those that seek to profit by these spoils, but I had rather compete in\r\nvalor with the best, than in wealth with the richest, or with the most covetous\r\nin love of money.” Nor did he merely keep himself clear from taking anything,\r\nbut even all those who more immediately belonged to him. He had five servants\r\nwith him in the army; one of whom called Paccus, bought three boys, out of\r\nthose who were taken captive; which Cato coming to understand, the man rather\r\nthan venture into his presence, hanged himself. Cato sold the boys, and carried\r\nthe price he got for them into the public exchequer.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nScipio the Great, being his enemy, and desiring, whiles he was carrying all\r\nthings so successfully, to obstruct him, and take the affairs of Spain into his\r\nown hands, succeeded in getting himself appointed his successor in the\r\ngovernment, and, making all possible haste, put a term to Cato’s authority. But\r\nhe, taking with him a convoy of five cohorts of foot, and five hundred horse to\r\nattend him home, overthrew by the way the Lacetanians, and salting from them\r\nsix hundred deserters, caused them all to be beheaded; upon which Scipio seemed\r\nto be in indignation, but Cato, in mock disparagement of himself, said, “Rome\r\nwould become great indeed, if the most honorable and great men would not yield\r\nup the first place of valor to those who were more obscure, and when they who\r\nwere of the commonalty (as he himself was) would contend in valor with those\r\nwho were most eminent in birth and honor.” The senate having voted to change\r\nnothing of what had been established by Cato, the government passed away under\r\nScipio to no manner of purpose, in idleness and doing nothing; and so\r\ndiminished his credit much more than Cato’s. Nor did Cato, who now received a\r\ntriumph, remit after this and slacken the reins of virtue, as many do, who\r\nstrive not so much for virtue’s sake, as for vainglory, and having attained the\r\nhighest honors, as the consulship and triumphs, pass the rest of their life in\r\npleasure and idleness, and quit all public affairs. But he, like those who are\r\njust entered upon public life for the first time, and thirst after gaining\r\nhonor and glory in some new office, strained himself, as if he were but just\r\nsetting out; and offering still publicly his service to his friends and\r\ncitizens, would give up neither his pleadings nor his soldiery.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe accompanied and assisted Tiberius Sempronius, as his lieutenant, when he\r\nwent into Thrace and to the Danube; and, in the quality of tribune, went with\r\nManius Acilius into Greece, against Antiochus the Great, who, after Hannibal,\r\nmore than anyone struck terror into the Romans. For having reduced once more\r\nunder a single command almost the whole of Asia, all, namely, that Seleucus\r\nNicator had possessed, and having brought into obedience many warlike nations\r\nof the barbarians, he longed to fall upon the Romans, as if they only were now\r\nworthy to fight with him. So across he came with his forces, pretending, as a\r\nspecious cause of the war, that it was to free the Greeks, who had indeed no\r\nneed of it, they having been but newly delivered from the power of king Philip\r\nand the Macedonians, and made independent, with the free use of their own laws,\r\nby the goodness of the Romans themselves; so that all Greece was in commotion\r\nand excitement, having been corrupted by the hopes of royal aid which the\r\npopular leaders in their cities put them into. Manius, therefore, sent\r\nambassadors to the different cities; and Titus Flamininus (as is written in the\r\naccount of him) suppressed and quieted most of the attempts of the innovators,\r\nwithout any trouble. Cato brought over the Corinthians, those of Patrae and of\r\nAegium, and spent a good deal of time at Athens. There is also an oration of\r\nhis said to be extant, which he spoke in Greek to the people; in which he\r\nexpressed his admiration of the virtue of the ancient Athenians, and signified\r\nthat he came with a great deal of pleasure to be a spectator of the beauty and\r\ngreatness of their city. But this is a fiction; for he spoke to the Athenians\r\nby an interpreter, though he was able to have spoken himself; but he wished to\r\nobserve the usage of his own country, and laughed at those who admired nothing\r\nbut what was in Greek. Jesting upon Postumius Albinus, who had written a\r\nhistorical work in Greek, and requested that allowances might be made for his\r\nattempt, he said, that allowance indeed might be made, if he had done it under\r\nthe express compulsion of an Amphictyonic decree. The Athenians, he says,\r\nadmired the quickness and vehemence of his speech; for an interpreter would be\r\nvery long in repeating what he expressed with a great deal of brevity; but on\r\nthe whole he professed to believe, that the words of the Greeks came only from\r\ntheir lips, whilst those of the Romans came from their hearts.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Antiochus, having occupied with his army the narrow passages about\r\nThermopylae, and added palisades and walls to the natural fortifications of the\r\nplace, sat down there, thinking he had done enough to divert the war; and the\r\nRomans, indeed, seemed wholly to despair of forcing the passage; but Cato,\r\ncalling to mind the compass and circuit which the Persians had formerly made to\r\ncome at this place, went forth in the night, taking along with him part of the\r\narmy. Whilst they were climbing up, the guide, who was a prisoner, missed the\r\nway, and wandering up and down by impracticable and precipitous paths, filled\r\nthe soldiers with fear and despondency. Cato, perceiving the danger, commanded\r\nall the rest to halt, and stay where they were, whilst he himself, taking along\r\nwith him one Lucius Manlius, a most expert man at climbing mountains, went\r\nforward with a great deal of labor and danger, in the dark night, and without\r\nthe least moonshine, among the wild olive trees, and steep craggy rocks, there\r\nbeing nothing but precipices and darkness before their eyes, till they struck\r\ninto a little pass which they thought might lead down into the enemy’s camp.\r\nThere they put up marks upon some conspicuous peaks which surmount the hill\r\ncalled Callidromon, and returning again, they led the army along with them to\r\nthe said marks, till they got into their little path again, and there once made\r\na halt; but when they began to go further, the path deserted them at a\r\nprecipice, where they were in another strait and fear; nor did they perceive\r\nthat they were all this while near the enemy. And now the day began to give\r\nsome light, when they seemed to hear a noise, and presently after to see the\r\nGreek trenches and the guard at the foot of the rock. Here, therefore, Cato\r\nhalted his forces, and commanded the troops from Firmum only, without the rest,\r\nto stick by him, as he had always found them faithful and ready. And when they\r\ncame up and formed around him in close order, he thus spoke to them. “I\r\ndesire,” he said, “to take one of the enemy alive, that so I may understand\r\nwhat men these are who guard the passage; their number; and with what\r\ndiscipline, order, and preparation they expect us; but this feat,” continued\r\nhe, “must be an act of a great deal of quickness and boldness, such as that of\r\nlions, when they dart upon some timorous animal.” Cato had no sooner thus\r\nexpressed himself, but the Firmans forthwith rushed down the mountain, just as\r\nthey were, upon the guard, and, falling unexpectedly upon them, affrighted and\r\ndispersed them all. One armed man they took, and brought to Cato, who quickly\r\nlearned from him, that the rest of the forces lay in the narrow passage about\r\nthe king; that those who kept the tops of the rocks were six hundred choice\r\nAetolians. Cato, therefore, despising the smallness of their number and\r\ncarelessness, forthwith drawing his sword, fell upon them with a great noise of\r\ntrumpets and shouting. The enemy, perceiving them thus tumbling, as it were,\r\nupon them from the precipices, flew to the main body, and put all things into\r\ndisorder there.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime, whilst Manius was forcing the works below, and pouring the\r\nthickest of his forces into the narrow passages, Antiochus was hit in the mouth\r\nwith a stone, so that his teeth being beaten out by it, he felt such excessive\r\npain, that he was fain to turn away with his horse; nor did any part of his\r\narmy stand the shock of the Romans. Yet, though there seemed no reasonable hope\r\nof flight, where all paths were so difficult, and where there were deep marshes\r\nand steep rocks, which looked as if they were ready to receive those who should\r\nstumble, the fugitives, nevertheless, crowding and pressing together. In the\r\nnarrow passages, destroyed even one another in their terror of the swords and\r\nblows of the enemy. Cato (as it plainly appears) was never oversparing of his\r\nown praises, and seldom shunned boasting of any exploit; which quality, indeed,\r\nhe seems to have thought the natural accompaniment of great actions; and with\r\nthese particular exploits he was highly puffed up; he says, that those who saw\r\nhim that day pursuing and slaying the enemies, were ready to assert, that Cato\r\nowed not so much to the public, as the public did to Cato; nay, he adds, that\r\nManius the consul, coming hot from the fight, embraced him for a great while,\r\nwhen both were all in a sweat; and then cried out with joy, that neither he\r\nhimself, no, nor all the people together, could make him a recompense equal to\r\nhis actions. After the fight he was sent to Rome, that he himself might be the\r\nmessenger of it; and so, with a favorable wind, he sailed to Brundusium, and in\r\none day got from thence to Tarentum; and having traveled four days more, upon\r\nthe fifth, counting from the time of his landing, he arrived at Rome, and so\r\nbrought the first news of the victory himself; and filled the whole city with\r\njoy and sacrifices, and the people with the belief, that they were able to\r\nconquer every sea and every land.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese are pretty nearly all the eminent actions of Cato, relating to military\r\naffairs: in civil policy, he was of opinion, that one chief duty consisted in\r\naccusing and indicting criminals. He himself prosecuted many, and he would also\r\nassist others who prosecuted them, nay would even procure such, as he did the\r\nPetilii against Scipio; but not being able to destroy him, by reason of the\r\nnobleness of his family, and the real greatness of his mind, which enabled him\r\nto trample all calumnies underfoot, Cato at last would meddle no more with him;\r\nyet joining with the accusers against Scipio’s brother Lucius, he succeeded in\r\nobtaining a sentence against him, which condemned him to the payment of a large\r\nsum of money to the state; and being insolvent, and in danger of being thrown\r\ninto jail, he was, by the interposition of the tribunes of the people, with\r\nmuch ado dismissed. It is also said of Cato, that when he met a certain youth,\r\nwho had effected the disgrace of one of his father’s enemies, walking in the\r\nmarket-place, he shook him by the hand, telling him, that this was what we\r\nought to sacrifice to our dead parents— not lambs and goats, but the tears and\r\ncondemnations of their adversaries. But neither did he himself escape with\r\nimpunity in his management of affairs; for if he gave his enemies but the least\r\nhold, he was still in danger, and exposed to be brought to justice. He is\r\nreported to have escaped at least fifty indictments; and one above the rest,\r\nwhich was the last, when he was eighty-six years old, about which time he\r\nuttered the well-known saying, that it was hard for him who had lived with one\r\ngeneration of men, to plead now before another. Neither did he make this the\r\nlast of his lawsuits; for, four years after, when he was fourscore and ten, he\r\naccused Servilius Galba: so that his life and actions extended, we may say, as\r\nNestor’s did, over three ordinary ages of man. For, having had many contests,\r\nas we have related, with Scipio the Great, about affairs of state, he continued\r\nthem down even to Scipio the younger, who was the adopted grandson of the\r\nformer, and the son of that Paulus, who overthrew Perseus and the Macedonians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTen years after his consulship, Cato stood for the office of censor, which was\r\nindeed the summit of all honor, and in a manner the highest step in civil\r\naffairs; for besides all other power, it had also that of an inquisition into\r\neveryone’s life and manners. For the Romans thought that no marriage, or\r\nrearing of children, nay, no feast or drinking-bout ought to be permitted\r\naccording to everyone’s appetite or fancy, without being examined and inquired\r\ninto; being indeed of opinion, that a man’s character was much sooner perceived\r\nin things of this sort, than in what is done publicly and in open day. They\r\nchose, therefore, two persons, one out of the patricians, the other out of the\r\ncommons, who were to watch, correct, and punish, if any one ran too much into\r\nvoluptuousness, or transgressed the usual manner of life of his country; and\r\nthese they called Censors. They had power to take away a horse, or expel out of\r\nthe senate any one who lived intemperately and out of order. It was also their\r\nbusiness to take an estimate of what everyone was worth, and to put down in\r\nregisters everybody’s birth and quality; besides many other prerogatives. And\r\ntherefore the chief nobility opposed his pretensions to it. Jealousy prompted\r\nthe patricians, who thought that it would be a stain to everybody’s nobility,\r\nif men of no original honor should rise to the highest dignity and power; while\r\nothers, conscious of their own evil practices, and of the violation of the laws\r\nand customs of their country, were afraid of the austerity of the man; which,\r\nin an office of such great power was likely to prove most uncompromising and\r\nsevere. And so consulting among themselves, they brought forward seven\r\ncandidates in opposition to him, who sedulously set themselves to court the\r\npeople’s favor by fair promises, as though what they wished for was indulgent\r\nand easy government. Cato, on the contrary, promising no such mildness, but\r\nplainly threatening evil livers, from the very hustings openly declared\r\nhimself; and exclaiming, that the city needed a great and thorough purgation,\r\ncalled upon the people, if they were wise, not to choose the gentlest, but the\r\nroughest of physicians; such a one, he said, he was, and Valerius Flaccus, one\r\nof the patricians, another; together with him, he doubted not but he should do\r\nsomething worth the while, and that, by cutting to pieces and burning like a\r\nhydra, all luxury and voluptuousness. He added, too, that he saw all the rest\r\nendeavoring after the office with ill intent, because they were afraid of those\r\nwho would exercise it justly, as they ought. And so truly great and so worthy\r\nof great men to be its leaders was, it would seem, the Roman people, that they\r\ndid not fear the severity end grim countenance of Cato, but rejecting those\r\nsmooth promisers who were ready to do all things to ingratiate themselves, they\r\ntook him, together with Flaccus; obeying his recommendations not as though he\r\nwere a candidate, but as if he had had the actual power of commanding and\r\ngoverning already.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato named as chief of the senate, his friend and colleague Lucius Valerius\r\nFlaccus, and expelled, among many others, Lucius Quintius, who had been consul\r\nseven years before, and (which was greater honor to him than the consulship)\r\nbrother to that Titus Flamininus, who overthrew king Philip. The reason he had\r\nfor his expulsion, was this. Lucius, it seems, took along with him in all his\r\ncommands, a youth, whom he had kept as his companion from the flower of his\r\nage, and to whom he gave as much power and respect as to the chiefest of his\r\nfriends and relations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow it happened that Lucius being consular governor of one of the provinces,\r\nthe youth setting himself down by him, as he used to do, among other flatteries\r\nwith which he played upon him, when he wee in his cups, told him he loved him\r\nso dearly that, “though there was a show of gladiators to be seen at Rome, and\r\nI,” he said, “had never beheld one in my life; and though I, as it were, longed\r\nto see a man killed, yet I made all possible haste to come to you.” Upon this\r\nLucius, returning his fondness, replied, “Do not be melancholy on that account;\r\nI can remedy that.” Ordering therefore, forthwith, one of those condemned to\r\ndie to be brought to the feast, together with the headsman and axe, he asked\r\nthe youth if he wished to see him executed. The boy answering that he did,\r\nLucius commanded the executioner to cut off his neck; and this several\r\nhistorians mention; and Cicero, indeed, in his dialogue de Senectute,\r\nintroduces Cato relating it himself. But Livy says, that he that was killed was\r\na Gaulish deserter, and that Lucius did not execute him by the stroke of the\r\nexecutioner, but with his own hand; and that it is so stated in Cato’s speech.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucius being thus expelled out of the senate by Cato, his brother took it very\r\nill, and appealing to the people, desired that Cato should declare his reasons;\r\nand when he began to relate this transaction of the feast, Lucius endeavored to\r\ndeny it; but Cato challenging him to a formal investigation, he fell off and\r\nrefused it, so that he was then acknowledged to suffer deservedly. Afterwards,\r\nhowever, when there was some show at the theater, he passed by the seats where\r\nthose who had been consuls used to be placed, and taking his seat a great way\r\noff, excited the compassion of the common people, who presently with a great\r\nnoise made him go forward, and as much as they could, tried to set right and\r\nsalve over what had happened. Manilius, also, who, according to the public\r\nexpectation, would have been next consul, he threw out of the senate, because,\r\nin the presence of his daughter, and in open day, he had kissed his wife. He\r\nsaid, that as for himself, his wife never came into his arms except when there\r\nwas great thunder; so that it was a jest with him, that it was a pleasure for\r\nhim, when Jupiter thundered.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis treatment of Lucius, likewise, the brother of Scipio, and one who had been\r\nhonored with a triumph, occasioned some odium against Cato; for he took his\r\nhorse from him, and was thought to do it with a design of putting an affront on\r\nScipio Africanus, now dead. But he gave most general annoyance, by retrenching\r\npeople’s luxury; for though (most of the youth being thereby already corrupted)\r\nit seemed almost impossible to take it away with an open hand and directly, yet\r\ngoing, as it were, obliquely around, he caused all dress, carriages, women’s\r\nornaments, household furniture, whose price exceeded one thousand five hundred\r\ndrachmas, to be rated at ten times as much as they were worth; intending by\r\nthus making the assess-ments greater, to increase the taxes paid upon them. He\r\nalso ordained that upon every thousand asses of property of this kind, three\r\nshould be paid, so that people, burdened with these extra charges, and seeing\r\nothers of as good estates, but more frugal and sparing, paying less into the\r\npublic exchequer, might be tired out of their prodigality. And thus, on the one\r\nside, not only those were disgusted at Cato, who bore the taxes for the sake of\r\ntheir luxury, but those, too, who on the other side laid by their luxury for\r\nfear of the taxes. For people in general reckon, that an order not to display\r\ntheir riches, is equivalent to the taking away their riches; because riches are\r\nseen much more in superfluous, than in necessary, things. Indeed, this was what\r\nexcited the wonder of Ariston the philosopher; that we account those who\r\npossess superfluous things more happy than those who abound with what is\r\nnecessary and useful. But when one of his friends asked Scopas, the rich\r\nThessalian, to give him some article of no great utility, saying that it was\r\nnot a thing that he had any great need or use for himself, “In truth,” replied\r\nhe, “it is just these useless and unnecessary things that make my wealth and\r\nhappiness.” Thus the desire of riches does not proceed from a natural passion\r\nwithin us, but arises rather from vulgar out-of-doors opinion of other people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato, notwithstanding, being little solicitous as to those who exclaimed\r\nagainst him, increased his austerity. He caused the pipes, through which some\r\npersons brought the public water into their own houses and gardens, to be cut,\r\nand threw down all buildings which jutted out into the common streets. He beat\r\ndown also the price in contracts for public works to the lowest, and raised it\r\nin contracts for farming the taxes to the highest sum; by which proceedings he\r\ndrew a great deal of hatred on himself. Those who were of Titus Flamininus’s\r\nparty canceled in the senate all the bargains and contracts made by him for the\r\nrepairing and carrying on of the sacred and public buildings, as unadvantageous\r\nto the commonwealth. They incited also the boldest of the tribunes of the\r\npeople to accuse him, and to fine him two talents. They likewise much opposed\r\nhim in building the court or basilica, which he caused to be erected at the\r\ncommon charge, just by the senate-house, in the market-place, and called by his\r\nown name, the Porcian. However, the people, it seems, liked his censorship\r\nwondrously well; for, setting up a statue for him in the temple of the goddess\r\nof Health, they put an inscription under it, not recording his commands in war\r\nor his triumph, but to the effect, that this was Cato the Censor, who, by his\r\ngood discipline and wise and temperate ordinances, reclaimed the Roman\r\ncommonwealth when it was declining and sinking down into vice. Before this\r\nhonor was done to himself, he used to laugh at those who loved such kind of\r\nthings, saying, that they did not see that they were taking pride in the\r\nworkmanship of brass-founders and painters; whereas the citizens bore about his\r\nbest likeness in their breasts. And when any seemed to wonder, that he should\r\nhave never a statue, while many ordinary persons had one; “I would,” said he,\r\n“much rather be asked, why I have not one, than why I have one.” In short, he\r\nwould not have any honest citizen endure to be praised, except it might prove\r\nadvantageous to the commonwealth. Yet still he had passed the highest\r\ncommendation on himself; for he tells us that those who did anything wrong, and\r\nwere found fault with, used to say, it was not worthwhile to blame them; for\r\nthey were not Catos. He also adds, that they who awkwardly mimicked some of his\r\nactions, were called left-handed Catos; and that the senate in perilous times\r\nwould cast their eyes on him, as upon a pilot in a ship, and that often when he\r\nwas not present they put off affairs of greatest consequence. These things are\r\nindeed also testified of him by others; for he had a great authority in the\r\ncity, alike for his life, his eloquence, and his age.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was also a good father, an excellent husband to his wife, and an\r\nextraordinary economist; and as he did not manage his affairs of this kind\r\ncarelessly, and as things of little moment, I think I ought to record a little\r\nfurther whatever was commendable in him in these points. He married a wife more\r\nnoble than rich; being of opinion that the rich and the high-born are equally\r\nhaughty and proud; but that those of noble blood, would be more ashamed of base\r\nthings, and consequently more obedient to their husbands in all that was fit\r\nand right. A man who beat his wife or child, laid violent hands, he said, on\r\nwhat was most sacred; and a good husband he reckoned worthy of more praise than\r\na great senator; and he admired the ancient Socrates for nothing so much as for\r\nhaving lived a temperate and contented life with a wife who was a scold, and\r\nchildren who were half-witted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as he had a son born, though he had never such urgent business upon his\r\nhands, unless it were some public matter, he would be by when his wife washed\r\nit, and dressed it in its swaddling clothes. For she herself suckled it, nay,\r\nshe often too gave her breast to her servants’ children, to produce, by sucking\r\nthe same milk, a kind of natural love in them to her son. When he began to come\r\nto years of discretion, Cato himself would teach him to read, although he had a\r\nservant, a very good grammarian, called Chilo, who taught many others; but he\r\nthought not fit, as he himself said, to have his son reprimanded by a slave, or\r\npulled, it may be, by the ears when found tardy in his lesson: nor would he\r\nhave him owe to a servant the obligation of so great a thing as his learning;\r\nhe himself, therefore, (as we were saying,) taught him his grammar, law, and\r\nhis gymnastic exercises. Nor did he only show him, too, how to throw a dart, to\r\nfight in armor, and to ride, but to box also and to endure both heat and cold,\r\nand to swim over the most rapid and rough rivers. He says, likewise, that he\r\nwrote histories, in large characters, with his own hand, that so his son,\r\nwithout stirring out of the house, might learn to know about his countrymen and\r\nforefathers: nor did he less abstain from speaking anything obscene before his\r\nson, than if it had been in the presence of the sacred virgins, called vestals.\r\nNor would he ever go into the bath with him; which seems indeed to have been\r\nthe common custom of the Romans. Sons-in-law used to avoid bathing with\r\nfathers-in-law, disliking to see one another naked: but having, in time,\r\nlearned of the Greeks to strip before men, they have since taught the Greeks to\r\ndo it even with the women themselves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus, like an excellent work, Cato formed and fashioned his son to virtue; nor\r\nhad he any occasion to find fault with his readiness and docility; but as he\r\nproved to be of too weak a constitution for hardships, he did not insist on\r\nrequiring of him any very austere way of living. However, though delicate in\r\nhealth, he proved a stout man in the field, and behaved himself valiantly when\r\nPaulus Aemilius fought against Perseus; where when his sword was struck from\r\nhim by a blow, or rather slipped out of his hand by reason of its moistness, he\r\nso keenly resented it, that he turned to some of his friends about him, and\r\ntaking them along with him again, fell upon the enemy; and having by a long\r\nfight and much force cleared the place, at length found it among great heaps of\r\narms, and the dead bodies of friends as well as enemies piled one upon another.\r\nUpon which Paulus, his general, much commended the youth; and there is a letter\r\nof Cato’s to his son, which highly praises his honorable eagerness for the\r\nrecovery of his sword. Afterwards he married Tertia, Aemilius Paulus’s\r\ndaughter, and sister to Scipio; nor was he admitted into this family less for\r\nhis own worth than his father’s. So that Cato’s care in his son’s education\r\ncame to a very fitting result.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe purchased a great many slaves out of the captives taken in war, but chiefly\r\nbought up the young ones, who were capable to be, as it were, broken and taught\r\nlike whelps and colts. None of these ever entered another man’s house, except\r\nsent either by Cato himself or his wife. If any one of them were asked what\r\nCato did, they answered merely, that they did not know. When a servant was at\r\nhome, he was obliged either to do some work or sleep; for indeed Cato loved\r\nthose most who used to lie down often to sleep, accounting them more docile\r\nthan those who were wakeful, and more fit for anything when they were refreshed\r\nwith a little slumber. Being also of opinion, that the great cause of the\r\nlaziness and misbehavior of slaves was their running after their pleasures, he\r\nfixed a certain price for them to pay for permission amongst themselves, but\r\nwould suffer no connections out of the house. At first, when he was but a poor\r\nsoldier, he would not be difficult in anything which related to his eating, but\r\nlooked upon it as a pitiful thing to quarrel with a servant for the belly’s\r\nsake; but afterwards, when he grew richer, and made any feasts for his friends\r\nand colleagues in office, as soon as supper was over he used to go with a\r\nleathern thong and scourge those who had waited or dressed the meat carelessly.\r\nHe always contrived, too, that his servants should have some difference one\r\namong another, always suspecting and fearing a good understanding between them.\r\nThose who had committed anything worthy of death, he punished, if they were\r\nfound guilty by the verdict of their fellow-servants. But being after all much\r\ngiven to the desire of gain, he looked upon agriculture rather as a pleasure\r\nthan profit; resolving, therefore, to lay out his money in safe and solid\r\nthings, he purchased ponds, hot baths, grounds full of fuller’s earth,\r\nremunerative lands, pastures, and woods; from all which he drew large returns,\r\nnor could Jupiter himself, he used to say, do him much damage. He was also\r\ngiven to the form of usury, which is considered most odious, in traffic by sea;\r\nand that thus: — he desired that those whom he put out his money to, should\r\nhave many partners; and when the number of them and their ships came to be\r\nfifty, he himself took one share through Quintio his freedman, who therefore\r\nwas to sail with the adventurers, and take a part in all their proceedings; so\r\nthat thus there was no danger of losing his whole stock, but only a little\r\npart, and that with a prospect of great profit. He likewise lent money to those\r\nof his slaves who wished to borrow, with which they bought also other young\r\nones, whom, when they had taught and bred up at his charges, they would sell\r\nagain at the year’s end; but some of them Cato would keep for himself, giving\r\njust as much for them as another had offered. To incline his son to be of this\r\nkind of temper, he used to tell him, that it was not like a man, but rather\r\nlike a widow woman, to lessen an estate. But the strongest indication of Cato’s\r\navaricious humor was when he took the boldness to affirm, that he was a most\r\nwonderful, nay, a godlike man, who left more behind him than he had received.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was now grown old, when Carneades the Academic, and Diogenes the Stoic, came\r\nas deputies from Athens to Rome, praying for release from a penalty of five\r\nhundred talents laid on the Athenians, in a suit, to which they did not appear,\r\nin which the Oropians were plaintiffs, and Sicyonians judges. All the most\r\nstudious youth immediately waited on these philosophers, and frequently, with\r\nadmiration, heard them speak. But the gracefulness of Carneades’s oratory,\r\nwhose ability was really greatest, and his reputation equal to it, gathered\r\nlarge and favorable audiences, and erelong filled, like a wind, all the city\r\nwith the sound of it. So that it soon began to be told, that a Greek, famous\r\neven to admiration, winning and carrying all before him, had impressed so\r\nstrange a love upon the young men, that quitting all their pleasures and\r\npastimes, they ran mad, as it were, after philosophy; which indeed much pleased\r\nthe Romans in general; nor could they but with much pleasure see the youth\r\nreceive so welcomely the Greek literature, and frequent the company of learned\r\nmen. But Cato, on the other side, seeing this passion for words flowing into\r\nthe city, from the beginning, took it ill, fearing lest the youth should be\r\ndiverted that way, and so should prefer the glory of speaking well before that\r\nof arms, and doing well. And when the fame of the philosophers increased in the\r\ncity, and Caius Acilius, a person of distinction, at his own request, became\r\ntheir interpreter to the senate at their first audience, Cato resolved, under\r\nsome specious presence, to have all philosophers cleared out of the city; and,\r\ncoming into the senate, blamed the magistrates for letting these deputies stay\r\nso long a time without being dispatched, though they were persons that could\r\neasily persuade the people to what they pleased; that therefore in all haste\r\nsomething should be determined about their petition, that so they might go home\r\nagain to their own schools, and declaim to the Greek children, and leave the\r\nRoman youth, to be obedient, as hitherto, to their own laws and governors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet he did this not out of any anger, as some think, to Carneades; but because\r\nhe wholly despised philosophy, and out of a kind of pride, scoffed at the Greek\r\nstudies and literature; as, for example, he would say, that Socrates was a\r\nprating seditious fellow, who did his best to tyrannize over his country, to\r\nundermine the ancient customs, and to entice and withdraw the citizens to\r\nopinions contrary to the laws. Ridiculing the school of Isocrates, he would\r\nadd, that his scholars grew old men before they had done learning with him, as\r\nif they were to use their art and plead causes in the court of Minos in the\r\nnext world. And to frighten his son from anything that was Greek, in a more\r\nvehement tone than became one of his age, he pronounced, as it were, with the\r\nvoice of an oracle, that the Romans would certainly be destroyed when they\r\nbegan once to be infected with Greek literature; though time indeed has shown\r\nthe vanity of this his prophecy; as, in truth, the city of Rome has risen to\r\nits highest fortune, while entertaining Grecian learning. Nor had he an\r\naversion only against the Greek philosophers, but the physicians also; for\r\nhaving, it seems, heard how Hippocrates, when the king of Persia sent for him,\r\nwith offers of a fee of several talents, said, that he would never assist\r\nbarbarians who were enemies to the Greeks; he affirmed, that this was now\r\nbecome a common oath taken by all physicians, and enjoined his son to have a\r\ncare and avoid them; for that he himself had written a little book of\r\nprescriptions for curing those who were sick in his family; he never enjoined\r\nfasting to anyone, but ordered them either vegetables, or the meat of a duck,\r\npigeon, or leveret; such kind of diet being of light digestion, and fit for\r\nsick folks, only it made those who ate it dream a little too much; and by the\r\nuse of this kind of physic, he said, he not only made himself and those about\r\nhim well, but kept them so.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, for this his presumption, he seemed not to have escaped unpunished;\r\nfor he lost both his wife and his son; though he himself, being of a strong\r\nrobust constitution, held out longer; so that he would often, even in his old\r\ndays, address himself to women, and when he was past a lover’s age, married a\r\nyoung woman, upon the following pretense. Having lost his own wife, he married\r\nhis son to the daughter of Paulus Aemilius, who was sister to Scipio; so that\r\nbeing now a widower himself, he had a young girl who came privately to visit\r\nhim; but the house being very small, and a daughter-in-law also in it, this\r\npractice was quickly discovered; for the young woman seeming once to pass\r\nthrough it a little too boldly, the youth, his son, though he said nothing,\r\nseemed to look somewhat indignantly upon her. The old man perceiving and\r\nunderstanding that what he did was disliked, without finding any fault, or\r\nsaying a word, went away as his custom was, with his usual companions to the\r\nmarket: and among the rest, he called aloud to one Salonius, who had been a\r\nclerk under him, and asked him whether he had married his daughter? He\r\nanswered, no, nor would he, till he had consulted him. Said Cato, “Then I have\r\nfound out a fit son-in-law for you, if he should not displease by reason of his\r\nage; for in all other points there is no fault to be found in him; but he is\r\nindeed, as I said, extremely old.” However, Salonius desired him to undertake\r\nthe business, and to give the young girl to whom he pleased, she being a humble\r\nservant of his, who stood in need of his care and patronage. Upon this Cato,\r\nwithout any more ado, told him, he desired to have the damsel himself. These\r\nwords, as may well be imagined, at first astonished the man, conceiving that\r\nCato was as far off from marrying, as he from a likelihood of being allied to\r\nthe family of one who had been consul, and had triumphed; but perceiving him in\r\nearnest, he consented willingly; and, going onwards to the forum, they quickly\r\ncompleted the bargain.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst the marriage was in hand, Cato’s son, taking some of his friends along\r\nwith him, went and asked his father if it were for any offense he brought in a\r\nstepmother upon him? But Cato cried out, “Far from it, my son, I have no fault\r\nto find with you nor anything of yours; only I desire to have many children,\r\nand to leave the commonwealth more such citizens as you are.” Pisistratus, the\r\ntyrant of Athens, made, they say, this answer to his sons, when they were grown\r\nmen, when he married his second wife, Timonassa of Argos, by whom he had, it is\r\nsaid, Iophon and Thessalus. Cato had a son by this second wife, to whom from\r\nhis mother, he gave the surname of Salonius. In the mean time, his eldest died\r\nin his praetorship; of whom Cato often makes mention in his books, as having\r\nbeen a good man. He is said, however, to have borne the loss moderately, and\r\nlike a philosopher, and was nothing the more remiss in attending to affairs of\r\nstate; so that he did not, as Lucius Lucullus and Metellus Pius did, grow\r\nlanguid in his old age, as though public business were a duty once to be\r\ndischarged, and then quitted; nor did he, like Scipio Africanus, because envy\r\nhad struck at his glory, turn from the public, and change and pass away the\r\nrest of his life without doing anything; but as one persuaded Dionysius, that\r\nthe most honorable tomb he could have, would be to die in the exercise of his\r\ndominion; so Cato thought that old age to be the most honorable, which was\r\nbusied in public affairs; though he would, now and then, when he had leisure,\r\nrecreate himself with husbandry and writing.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, indeed, he composed various books and histories; and in his youth, he\r\naddicted himself to agriculture for profit’s sake; for he used to say, he had\r\nbut two ways of getting — agriculture and parsimony; and now, in his old age,\r\nthe first of these gave him both occupation and a subject of study. He wrote\r\none book on country matters, in which he treated particularly even of making\r\ncakes, and preserving fruit; it being his ambition to be curious and singular\r\nin all things. His suppers, at his country-house, used also to be plentiful; he\r\ndaily invited his friends and neighbors about him, and passed the time merrily\r\nwith them; so that his company was not only agreeable to those of the same age,\r\nbut even to younger men; for he had had experience in many things, and had been\r\nconcerned in much, both by word and deed, that was worth the hearing. He looked\r\nupon a good table, as the best place for making friends; where the\r\ncommendations of brave and good citizens were usually introduced, and little\r\nsaid of base and unworthy ones; as Cato would not give leave in his company to\r\nhave anything, either good or ill, said about them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome will have the overthrow of Carthage to have been one of his last acts of\r\nstate; when, indeed, Scipio the younger, did by his valor give it the last\r\nblow, but the war, chiefly by the counsel and advice of Cato, was undertaken on\r\nthe following occasion. Cato was sent to the Carthaginians and Masinissa, king\r\nof Numidia, who were at war with one another, to know the cause of their\r\ndifference. He, it seems, had been a friend of the Romans from the beginning;\r\nand they, too, since they were conquered by Scipio, were of the Roman\r\nconfederacy, having been shorn of their power by loss of territory, and a heavy\r\ntax. Finding Carthage, not (as the Romans thought) low and in an ill condition,\r\nbut well manned, full of riches and all sorts of arms and ammunition, and\r\nperceiving the Carthaginians carry it high, he conceived that it was not a time\r\nfor the Romans to adjust affairs between them and Masinissa; but rather that\r\nthey themselves would fall into danger, unless they should find means to check\r\nthis rapid new growth of Rome’s ancient irreconcilable enemy. Therefore,\r\nreturning quickly to Rome, he acquainted the senate, that the former defeats\r\nand blows given to the Carthaginians, had not so much diminished their\r\nstrength, as it had abated their imprudence and folly; that they were not\r\nbecome weaker, but more experienced in war, and did only skirmish with the\r\nNumidians, to exercise themselves the better to cope with the Romans: that the\r\npeace and league they had made was but a kind of suspension of war which\r\nawaited a fairer opportunity to break out again.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMoreover, they say that, shaking his gown, he took occasion to let drop some\r\nAfrican figs before the senate. And on their admiring the size and beauty of\r\nthem, he presently added, that the place that bore them was but three days’\r\nsail from Rome. Nay, he never after this gave his opinion, but at the end he\r\nwould be sure to come out with this sentence, “Also, Carthage, methinks, ought\r\nutterly to be destroyed.” But Publius Scipio Nasica would always declare his\r\nopinion to the contrary, in these words, “It seems requisite to me that\r\nCarthage should still stand.” For seeing his countrymen to be grown wanton and\r\ninsolent, and the people made, by their prosperity, obstinate and disobedient\r\nto the senate, and drawing the whole city, whither they would, after them, he\r\nwould have had the fear of Carthage to serve as a bit to hold in the contumacy\r\nof the multitude; and he looked upon the Carthaginians as too weak to overcome\r\nthe Romans, and too great to be despised by them. On the other side, it seemed\r\na perilous thing to Cato, that a city which had been always great, and was now\r\ngrown sober and wise, by reason of its former calamities, should still lie, as\r\nit were, in wait for the follies and dangerous excesses of the overpowerful\r\nRoman people; so that he thought it the wisest course to have all outward\r\ndangers removed, when they had so many inward ones among themselves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus Cato, they say, stirred up the third and last war against the\r\nCarthaginians: but no sooner was the said war begun, than he died, prophesying\r\nof the person that should put an end to it, who was then only a young man; but,\r\nbeing tribune in the army, he in several fights gave proof of his courage and\r\nconduct. The news of which being brought to Cato’s ears at Rome, he thus\r\nexpressed himself: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe only wise man of them all is he,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe others e’en as shadows flit and flee.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThis prophecy Scipio soon confirmed by his actions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato left no posterity, except one son by his second wife, who was named, as we\r\nsaid, Cato Salonius; and a grandson by his eldest son, who died. Cato Salonius\r\ndied when he was praetor, but his son Marcus was afterwards consul, and he was\r\ngrandfather of Cato the philosopher, who for virtue and renown was one of the\r\nmost eminent personages of his time.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap26\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF ARISTIDES WITH MARCUS CATO.\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving mentioned the most memorable actions of these great men, if we now\r\ncompare the whole life of the one with that of the other, it will not be easy\r\nto discern the difference between them, lost as it is amongst such a number of\r\ncircumstances in which they resemble each other. If, however, we examine them\r\nin detail as we might some piece of poetry, or some picture, we shall find this\r\ncommon to them both, that they advanced themselves to great honor and dignity\r\nin the commonwealth, by no other means than their own virtue and industry. But\r\nit seems when Aristides appeared, Athens was not at its height of grandeur and\r\nplenty, the chief magistrates and officers of his time being men only of\r\nmoderate and equal fortunes among themselves. The estimate of the greatest\r\nestates then, was five hundred medimns; that of the second, or knights, three\r\nhundred; of the third and last called Zeugitae, two hundred. But Cato, out of a\r\npetty village from a country life, leaped into the commonwealth, as it were\r\ninto a vast ocean; at a time when there were no such governors as the Curii,\r\nFabricii, and Hostilii. Poor laboring men were not then advanced from the plow\r\nand spade to be governors and magistrates; but greatness of family, riches,\r\nprofuse gifts, distributions, and personal application were what the city\r\nlooked to; keeping a high hand, and, in a manner, insulting over those that\r\ncourted preferment. It was not as great a matter to have Themistocles for an\r\nadversary, a person of mean extraction and small fortune, (for he was not\r\nworth, it is said, more than four or five talents when he first applied himself\r\nto public affairs,) as to contest with a Scipio Africanus, a Servius Galba, and\r\na Quintius Flamininus, having no other aid but a tongue free to assert right.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBesides, Aristides at Marathon, and again at Plataea, was but one commander out\r\nof ten; whereas Cato was chosen consul with a single colleague, having many\r\ncompetitors, and with a single colleague, also, was preferred before seven most\r\nnoble and eminent pretenders to be censor. But Aristides was never principal in\r\nany action; for Miltiades carried the day at Marathon, at Salamis Themistocles,\r\nand at Plataea, Herodotus tells us, Pausanias got the glory of that noble\r\nvictory: and men like Sophanes, and Aminias, Callimachus, and Cynaegyrus,\r\nbehaved themselves so well in all those engagements, as to contest it with\r\nAristides even for the second place. But Cato not only in his consulship was\r\nesteemed the chief in courage and conduct in the Spanish war, but even whilst\r\nhe was only serving as tribune at Thermopylae, under another’s command, he\r\ngained the glory of the victory, for having, as it were, opened a wide gate for\r\nthe Romans to rush in upon Antiochus, and for having brought the war on his\r\nback, whilst he only minded what was before his face. For that victory, which\r\nwas beyond dispute all Cato’s own work, cleared Asia out of Greece, and by that\r\nmeans made way afterwards for Scipio into Asia. Both of them, indeed, were\r\nalways victorious in war; but at home Aristides stumbled, being banished and\r\noppressed by the faction of Themistocles; yet Cato, notwithstanding he had\r\nalmost all the chief and most powerful of Rome for his adversaries, and\r\nwrestled with them even to his old age, kept still his footing. Engaging also\r\nin many public suits, sometimes plaintiff, sometimes defendant, he cast the\r\nmost, and came off clear with all; thanks to his eloquence, that bulwark and\r\npowerful instrument to which more truly, than to chance or his fortune, he owed\r\nit, that he sustained himself unhurt to the last. Antipater justly gives it as\r\na high commendation to Aristotle the philosopher, writing of him after his\r\ndeath, that among his other virtues, he was endowed with a faculty of\r\npersuading people which way he pleased.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nQuestionless, there is no perfecter endowment in man than political virtue, and\r\nof this Economics is commonly esteemed not the least part; for a city, which is\r\na collection of private households, grows into a stable commonwealth by the\r\nprivate means of prosperous citizens that compose it. Lycurgus by prohibiting\r\ngold and silver in Sparta, and making iron, spoiled by the fire, the only\r\ncurrency, did not by these measures discharge them from minding their household\r\naffairs, but cutting off luxury, the corruption and tumor of riches, he\r\nprovided there should be an abundant supply of all necessary and useful things\r\nfor all persons, as much as any other lawmaker ever did; being more\r\napprehensive of a poor, needy, and indigent member of a community, than of the\r\nrich and haughty. And in this management of domestic concerns, Cato was as\r\ngreat as in the government of public affairs; for he increased his estate, and\r\nbecame a master to others in economy and husbandry; upon which subjects he\r\ncollected in his writings many useful observations. On the contrary Aristides,\r\nby his poverty, made justice odious, as if it were the pest and impoverisher of\r\na family and beneficial to all, rather than to those that were endowed with it.\r\nYet Hesiod urges us alike to just dealing and to care of our households, and\r\ninveighs against idleness as the origin of injustice; and Homer admirably says:\r\n—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWork was not dear, nor household cares to me,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhose increase rears the thriving family;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut well-rigged ships were always my delight,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd wars, and darts, and arrows of the fight:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nas if the same characters carelessly neglected their own estates, and lived by\r\ninjustice and rapine from others. For it is not as the physicians say of oil,\r\nthat outwardly applied, it is very wholesome, but taken inwardly detrimental,\r\nthat thus a just man provides carefully for others, and is heedless of himself\r\nand his own affairs: but in this Aristides’s political virtues seem to be\r\ndefective; since, according to most authors, he took no care to leave his\r\ndaughters a portion, or himself enough to defray his funeral charges: whereas\r\nCato’s family produced senators and generals to the fourth generation; his\r\ngrandchildren, and their children, came to the highest preferments. But\r\nAristides, who was the principal man of Greece, through extreme poverty reduced\r\nsome of his to get their living by juggler’s tricks, others, for want, to hold\r\nout their hands for public alms; leaving none means to perform any noble\r\naction, or worthy his dignity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet why should this needs follow? since poverty is dishonorable not in itself,\r\nbut when it is a proof of laziness, intemperance, luxury, and carelessness;\r\nwhereas in a person that is temperate, industrious, just, and valiant, and who\r\nuses all his virtues for the public good, it shows a great and lofty mind. For\r\nhe has no time for great matters, who concerns himself with petty ones; nor can\r\nhe relieve many needs of others, who himself has many needs of his own. What\r\nmost of all enables a man to serve the public is not wealth, but content and\r\nindependence; which, requiring no superfluity at home, distracts not the mind\r\nfrom the common good. God alone is entirely exempt from all want: of human\r\nvirtues, that which needs least, is the most absolute and most divine. For as a\r\nbody bred to a good habit requires nothing exquisite either in clothes or food,\r\nso a sound man and a sound household keep themselves up with a small matter.\r\nRiches ought to be proportioned to the use we have of them; for he that scrapes\r\ntogether a great deal, making use of but little, is not independent; for if he\r\nwants them not, it is folly in him to make provision for things which he does\r\nnot desire; or if he does desire them, and restrains his enjoyment out of\r\nsordidness, he is miserable. I would fain know of Cato himself, if we seek\r\nriches that we may enjoy them, why is he proud of having a great deal, and\r\nbeing contented with little? But if it be noble, as it is, to feed on coarse\r\nbread, and drink the same wine with our hinds, and not to covet purple, and\r\nplastered houses, neither Aristides, nor Epaminondas, nor Manius Curius, nor\r\nCaius Fabricius wanted necessaries, who took no pains to get those things whose\r\nuse they approved not. For it was not worth the while of a man who esteemed\r\nturnips a most delicate food, and who boiled them himself, whilst his wife made\r\nbread, to brag so often of a halfpenny, and write a book to show how a man may\r\nsoonest grow rich; the very good of being contented with little is because it\r\ncuts off at once the desire and the anxiety for superfluities. Hence Aristides,\r\nit is told, said, on the trial of Callias, that it was for them to blush at\r\npoverty, who were poor against their wills; they who like him were willingly\r\nso, might glory in it. For it is ridiculous to think Aristides’s neediness\r\nimputable to his sloth, who might fairly enough by the spoil of one barbarian,\r\nor seizing one tent, have become wealthy. But enough of this.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato’s expeditions added no great matter to the Roman empire, which already was\r\nso great, as that in a manner it could receive no addition; but those of\r\nAristides are the noblest, most splendid, and distinguished actions the\r\nGrecians ever did, the battles at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea. Nor indeed is\r\nAntiochus, nor the destruction of the walls of the Spanish towns, to be\r\ncompared with Xerxes, and the destruction by sea and land of so many myriads of\r\nenemies; in all of which noble exploits Aristides yielded to none, though he\r\nleft the glory and the laurels, like the wealth and money, to those who needed\r\nand thirsted more greedily after them: because he was superior to those also. I\r\ndo not blame Cato for perpetually boasting and preferring himself before all\r\nothers, though in one of his orations he says, that it is equally absurd to\r\npraise and dispraise one’s self: yet he who does not so much as desire others’\r\npraises, seems to me more perfectly virtuous, than he who is always extolling\r\nhimself. A mind free from ambition is a main help to political gentleness:\r\nambition, on the contrary, is hard-hearted, and the greatest fomenter of envy;\r\nfrom which Aristides was wholly exempt; Cato very subject to it. Aristides\r\nassisted Themistocles in matters of highest importance, and, as his subordinate\r\nofficer, in a manner raised Athens: Cato, by opposing Scipio, almost broke and\r\ndefeated his expedition against the Carthaginians, in which he overthrew\r\nHannibal, who till then was even invincible; and, at last, by continually\r\nraising suspicions and calumnies against him, he chased him from the city, and\r\ninflicted a disgraceful sentence on his brother for robbing the state.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFinally, that temperance which Cato always highly cried up, Aristides preserved\r\ntruly pure and untainted. But Cato’s marriage, unbecoming his dignity and age,\r\nis a considerable disparagement, in this respect, to his character. For it was\r\nnot decent for him at that age to bring home to his son and his wife a young\r\nwoman, the daughter of a common paid clerk in the public service: but whether\r\nit were for his own gratification or out of anger at his son, both the fact and\r\nthe presence were unworthy. For the reason he pretended to his son was false:\r\nfor if he desired to get more as worthy children, he ought to have married a\r\nwell-born wife; not to have contented himself, so long as it was unnoticed,\r\nwith a woman to whom he was not married; and, when it was discovered, he ought\r\nnot to have chosen such a father-in-law as was easiest to be got, instead of\r\none whose affinity might be honorable to him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap27\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003ePHILOPOEMEN\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCleander was a man of high birth and great power in the city of Mantinea, but\r\nby the chances of the time happened to be driven from thence. There being an\r\nintimate friendship betwixt him and Craugis, the father of Philopoemen, who was\r\na person of great distinction, he settled at Megalopolis, where, while his\r\nfriend lived, he had all he could desire. When Craugis died, he repaid the\r\nfather’s hospitable kindness in the care of the orphan son; by which means\r\nPhilopoemen was educated by him, as Homer says Achilles was by Phoenix, and\r\nfrom his infancy molded to lofty and noble inclinations. But Ecdemus and\r\nDemophanes had the principal tuition of him, after he was past the years of\r\nchildhood. They were both Megalopolitans; they had been scholars in the\r\nacademic philosophy, and friends to Arcesilaus, and had, more than any of their\r\ncontemporaries, brought philosophy to bear upon action, and state affairs. They\r\nhad freed their country from tyranny by the death of Aristodemus, whom they\r\ncaused to be killed; they had assisted Aratus in driving out the tyrant\r\nNicocles from Sicyon; and, at the request of the Cyreneans, whose city was in a\r\nstate of extreme disorder and confusion, went thither by sea, and succeeded in\r\nestablishing good government and happily settling their commonwealth. And among\r\ntheir best actions they themselves counted the education of Philopoemen,\r\nthinking they had done a general good to Greece, by giving him the nurture of\r\nphilosophy. And indeed all Greece (which looked upon him as a kind of latter\r\nbirth brought forth, after so many noble leaders, in her decrepit age) loved\r\nhim wonderfully; and, as his glory grew, increased his power. And one of the\r\nRomans, to praise him, calls him the last of the Greeks; as if after him Greece\r\nhad produced no great man, nor who deserved the name of Greek.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis person was not, as some fancy, deformed; for his likeness is yet to be seen\r\nat Delphi. The mistake of the hostess of Megara was occasioned, it would seem,\r\nmerely by his easiness of temper and his plain manners. This hostess having\r\nword brought her, that the General of the Achaeans was coming to her house in\r\nthe absence of her husband, was all in a hurry about providing his supper.\r\nPhilopoemen, in an ordinary cloak, arriving in this point of time, she took him\r\nfor one of his own train who had been sent on before, and bid him lend her his\r\nhand in her household work. He forthwith threw off his cloak, and fell to\r\ncutting up the fire-wood. The husband returning, and seeing him at it, “What,”\r\nsays he, “may this mean, O Philopoemen?” “I am,” replied he in his Doric\r\ndialect, “paying the penalty of my ugly looks.” Titus Flamininus, jesting with\r\nhim upon his figure, told him one day, he had well-shaped hands and feet, but\r\nno belly: and he was indeed slender in the waist. But this raillery was meant\r\nto the poverty of his fortune; for he had good horse and foot, but often wanted\r\nmoney to entertain and pay them. These are the common anecdotes told of\r\nPhilopoemen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe love of honor and distinction was, in his character, not unalloyed with\r\nfeelings of personal rivalry and resentment. He made Epaminondas his great\r\nexample, and came not far behind him in activity, sagacity, and incorruptible\r\nintegrity; but his hot contentious temper continually carried him out of the\r\nbounds of that gentleness, composure, and humanity which had marked\r\nEpaminondas, and this made him thought a pattern rather of military than of\r\ncivil virtue. He was strongly inclined to the life of a soldier even from his\r\nchildhood, and he studied and practiced all that belonged to it, taking great\r\ndelight in managing of horses, and handling of weapons. Because he was\r\nnaturally fitted to excel in wrestling, some of his friends and tutors\r\nrecommended his attention to athletic exercises. But he would first be\r\nsatisfied whether it would not interfere with his becoming a good soldier. They\r\ntold him, as was the truth, that the one life was directly opposite to the\r\nother; the requisite state of body, the ways of living, and the exercises all\r\ndifferent: the professed athlete sleeping much, and feeding plentifully,\r\npunctually regular in his set times of exercise and rest, and apt to spoil all\r\nby every little excess, or breach of his usual method; whereas the soldier\r\nought to train himself in every variety of change and irregularity, and, above\r\nall, to bring himself to endure hunger and loss of sleep without difficulty.\r\nPhilopoemen, hearing this, not only laid by all thoughts of wrestling and\r\ncontemned it then, but when he came to be general, discouraged it by all marks\r\nof reproach and dishonor he could imagine, as a thing which made men, otherwise\r\nexcellently fit for war, to be utterly useless and unable to fight on necessary\r\noccasions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he left off his masters and teachers, and began to bear arms in the\r\nincursions which his citizens used to make upon the Lacedaemonians for pillage\r\nand plunder, he would always march out the first, and return the last. When\r\nthere was nothing to do, he sought to harden his body, and make it strong and\r\nactive by hunting, or laboring in his ground. He had a good estate about twenty\r\nfurlongs from the town, and thither he would go every day after dinner and\r\nsupper; and when night came, throw himself upon the first mattress in his way,\r\nand there sleep as one of the laborers. At break of day he would rise with the\r\nrest, and work either in the vineyard or at the plow; from thence return again\r\nto the town, and employ his time with his friends, or the magistrates in public\r\nbusiness. What he got in the wars, he laid out on horses, or arms, or in\r\nransoming captives; but endeavored to improve his own property the justest way,\r\nby tillage; and this not slightly, by way of diversion, but thinking it his\r\nstrict duty, so to manage his own fortune, as to be out of the temptation of\r\nwronging others.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe spent much time on eloquence and philosophy, but selected his authors, and\r\ncared only for those by whom he might profit in virtue. In Homer’s fictions his\r\nattention was given to whatever he thought apt to raise the courage. Of all\r\nother books he was most devoted to the commentaries of Evangelus on military\r\ntactics, and also took delight, at leisure hours, in the histories of\r\nAlexander; thinking that such reading, unless undertaken for mere amusement and\r\nidle conversation, was to the purpose for action. Even in speculations on\r\nmilitary subjects it was his habit to neglect maps and diagrams, and to put the\r\ntheorems to practical proof on the ground itself. He would be exercising his\r\nthoughts, and considering, as he traveled, and arguing with those about him of\r\nthe difficulties of steep or broken ground, what might happen at rivers,\r\nditches, or mountain-passes, in marching in close or in open, in this or in\r\nthat particular form of battle. The truth is, he indeed took an immoderate\r\npleasure in military operations and in warfare, to which he devoted himself, as\r\nthe special means for exercising all sorts of virtue, and utterly contemned\r\nthose who were not soldiers, as drones and useless in the commonwealth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he was thirty years of age, Cleomenes, king of the Lacedaemonians,\r\nsurprised Megalopolis by night, forced the guards, broke in, and seized the\r\nmarketplace. Philopoemen came out upon the alarm, and fought with desperate\r\ncourage, but could not beat the enemy out again; yet he succeeded in effecting\r\nthe escape of the citizens, who got away while he made head against the\r\npursuers, and amused Cleomenes, till, after losing his horse and receiving\r\nseveral wounds, with much ado he came off himself, being the last man in the\r\nretreat. The Megalopolitans escaped to Messene, whither Cleomenes sent to offer\r\nthem their town and goods again. Philopoemen perceiving them to be only too\r\nglad at the news, and eager to return, checked them with a speech, in which he\r\nmade them sensible, that what Cleomenes called restoring the city, was, rather,\r\npossessing himself of the citizens, and through their means securing also the\r\ncity for the future. The mere solitude would, of itself, erelong force him\r\naway, since there was no staying to guard empty houses and naked walls. These\r\nreasons withheld the Megalopolitans, but gave Cleomenes a pretext to pillage\r\nand destroy a great part of the city, and carry away a great booty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAwhile after king Antigonus coming down to succor the Achaeans, they marched\r\nwith their united forces against Cleomenes; who, having seized the avenues, lay\r\nadvantageously posted on the hills of Sellasia. Antigonus drew up close by him,\r\nwith a resolution to force him in his strength. Philopoemen, with his citizens,\r\nwas that day placed among the horse, next to the Illyrian foot, a numerous body\r\nof bold fighters, who completed the line of battle, forming, together with the\r\nAchaeans, the reserve. Their orders were to keep their ground, and not engage\r\ntill from the other wing, where the king fought in person, they should see a\r\nred coat lifted up on the point of a spear. The Achaeans obeyed their order,\r\nand stood fast; but the Illyrians were led on by their commanders to the\r\nattack. Euclidas, the brother of Cleomenes, seeing the foot thus severed from\r\nthe horse, detached the best of his light-armed men, commanding them to wheel\r\nabout, and charge the unprotected Illyrians in the rear. This charge putting\r\nthings in confusion, Philopoemen, considering those light-armed men would be\r\neasily repelled, went first to the king’s officers to make them sensible what\r\nthe occasion required. But they not minding what he said, but slighting him as\r\na hare-brained fellow, (as indeed he was not yet of any repute sufficient to\r\ngive credit to a proposal of such importance,) he charged with his own\r\ncitizens, and at the first encounter disordered, and soon after put the troops\r\nto flight with great slaughter. Then, to encourage the king’s army further, to\r\nbring them all upon the enemy while he was in confusion, he quitted his horse,\r\nand fighting with extreme difficulty in his heavy horseman’s dress, in rough\r\nuneven ground, full of watercourses and hollows, had both his thighs struck\r\nthrough with a thonged javelin. It was thrown with great force, so that the\r\nhead came out on the other side, and made a severe, though not a mortal, wound.\r\nThere he stood awhile, as if he had been shackled, unable to move. The\r\nfastening which joined the thong to the javelin made it difficult to get it\r\ndrawn out, nor would any about him venture to do it. But the fight being now at\r\nthe hottest, and likely to be quickly decided, he was transported with the\r\ndesire of partaking in it, and struggled and strained so violently, setting one\r\nleg forward, the other back, that at last he broke the shaft in two; and thus\r\ngot the pieces pulled out. Being in this manner set at liberty, he caught up\r\nhis sword, and running through the midst of those who were fighting in the\r\nfirst ranks, animated his men, and set them afire with emulation. Antigonus,\r\nafter the victory, asked the Macedonians, to try them, how it happened the\r\nhorse had charged without orders before the signal? They answering, that they\r\nwere against their wills forced to it by a young man of Megalopolis, who had\r\nfallen in before his time: “that young man,” replied Antigonus, smiling, “did\r\nlike an experienced commander.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis, as was natural, brought Philopoemen into great reputation. Antigonus was\r\nearnest to have him in his service, and offered him very advantageous\r\nconditions, both as to command and pay. But Philopoemen, who knew that his\r\nnature brooked not to be under another, would not accept them; yet not enduring\r\nto live idle, and hearing of wars in Crete, for practice’ sake he passed over\r\nthither. He spent some time among those very warlike, and, at the same time,\r\nsober and temperate men, improving much by experience in all sorts of service;\r\nand then returned with so much fame, that the Achaeans presently chose him\r\ncommander of the horse. These horsemen at that time had neither experience nor\r\nbravery, it being the custom to take any common horses, the first and cheapest\r\nthey could procure, when they were to march; and on almost all occasions they\r\ndid not go themselves, but hired others in their places, and staid at home.\r\nTheir former commanders winked at this, because, it being an honor among the\r\nAchaeans to serve on horseback, these men had great power in the commonwealth,\r\nand were able to gratify or molest whom they pleased. Philopoemen, finding them\r\nin this condition, yielded not to any such considerations, nor would pass it\r\nover as formerly; but went himself from town to town, where, speaking with the\r\nyoung men, one by one, he endeavored to excite a spirit of ambition and love of\r\nhonor among them, using punishment also, where it was necessary. And then by\r\npublic exercises, reviews, and contests in the presence of numerous spectators,\r\nin a little time he made them wonderfully strong and bold, and, which is\r\nreckoned of greatest consequence in military service, light and agile. With use\r\nand industry they grew so perfect, to such a command of their horses, such a\r\nready exactness in wheeling round in their troops, that in any change of\r\nposture the whole body seemed to move with all the facility and promptitude,\r\nand, as it were, with the single will of one man. In the great battle, which\r\nthey fought with the Aetolians and Eleans by the river Larissus, he set them an\r\nexample himself. Damophantus, general of the Elean horse, singled out\r\nPhilopoemen, and rode with full speed at him. Philopoemen awaited his charge,\r\nand, before receiving the stroke, with a violent blow of his spear threw him\r\ndead to the ground: upon whose fall the enemy fled immediately. And now\r\nPhilopoemen was in everybody’s mouth, as a man who in actual fighting with his\r\nown hand yielded not to the youngest, nor in good conduct to the oldest, and\r\nthan whom there came not into the field any better soldier or commander.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAratus, indeed, was the first who raised the Achaeans, inconsiderable till\r\nthen, into reputation and power, by uniting their divided cities into one\r\ncommonwealth, and establishing amongst them a humane and truly Grecian form of\r\ngovernment; and hence it happened, as in running waters, where when a few\r\nlittle particles of matter once stop, others stick to them, and one part\r\nstrengthening another, the whole becomes firm and solid; so in a general\r\nweakness, when every city relying only on itself, all Greece was giving way to\r\nan easy dissolution, the Achaeans, first forming themselves into a body, then\r\ndrawing in their neighbors round about, some by protection, delivering them\r\nfrom their tyrants, others by peaceful consent and by naturalization, designed\r\nat last to bring all Peloponnesus into one community. Yet while Aratus lived,\r\nthey depended much on the Macedonians, courting first Ptolemy, then Antigonus\r\nand Philip, who all took part continually in whatever concerned the affairs of\r\nGreece. But when Philopoemen came to command, the Achaeans, feeling themselves\r\na match for the most powerful of their enemies, declined foreign support. The\r\ntruth is, Aratus, as we have written in his life, was not of so warlike a\r\ntemper, but did most by policy and gentleness, and friendships with foreign\r\nprinces; but Philopoemen being a man both of execution and command, a great\r\nsoldier, and fortunate in his first attempts, wonderfully heightened both the\r\npower and courage of the Achaeans, accustomed to victory under his conduct.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut first he altered what he found amiss in their arms, and form of battle.\r\nHitherto they had used light, thin bucklers, too narrow to cover the body, and\r\njavelins much shorter than pikes. By which means they were skillful in\r\nskirmishing at a distance, but in a close fight had much the disadvantage. Then\r\nin drawing their forces up for battle, they were never accustomed to form in\r\nregular divisions; and their line being unprotected either by the thick array\r\nof projecting spears or by their shields, as in the Macedonian phalanx, where\r\nthe soldiers shoulder close and their shields touch, they were easily opened,\r\nand broken. Philopoemen reformed all this, persuading them to change the narrow\r\ntarget and short javelin, into a large shield and long pike; to arm their\r\nheads, bodies, thighs, and legs; and instead of loose skirmishing, fight firmly\r\nand foot to foot. After he had brought them all to wear full armor, and by that\r\nmeans into the confidence of thinking themselves now invincible, he turned what\r\nbefore had been idle profusion and luxury into an honorable expense. For being\r\nlong used to vie with each other in their dress, the furniture of their houses,\r\nand service of their tables, and to glory in outdoing one another, the disease\r\nby custom was grown incurable, and there was no possibility of removing it\r\naltogether. But he diverted the passion, and brought them, instead of these\r\nsuperfluities, to love useful and more manly display, and, reducing their other\r\nexpenses, to take delight in appearing magnificent in their equipage of war.\r\nNothing then was to be seen in the shops but plate breaking up, or melting\r\ndown, gilding of breastplates, and studding bucklers and bits with silver;\r\nnothing in the places of exercise, but horses managing, and young men\r\nexercising their arms; nothing in the hands of the women, but helmets and\r\ncrests of feathers to be dyed, and military cloaks and riding-frocks to be\r\nembroidered; the very sight of all which quickening and raising their spirits,\r\nmade them contemn dangers, and feel ready to venture on any honorable dangers.\r\nOther kinds of sumptuosity give us pleasure, but make us effeminate; the\r\ntickling of the sense slackening the vigor of the mind; but magnificence of\r\nthis kind strengthens and heightens the courage; as Homer makes Achilles at the\r\nsight of his new arms exulting with joy, and on fire to use them. When\r\nPhilopoemen had obtained of them to arm, and set themselves out in this manner,\r\nhe proceeded to train them, mustering and exercising them perpetually; in which\r\nthey obeyed him with great zeal and eagerness. For they were wonderfully\r\npleased with their new form of battle, which, being so knit and cemented\r\ntogether, seemed almost incapable of being broken. And then their arms, which\r\nfor their riches and beauty they wore with pleasure, becoming light and easy to\r\nthem with constant use, they longed for nothing more than to try them with an\r\nenemy, and fight in earnest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Achaeans at that time were at war with Machanidas, the tyrant of\r\nLacedaemon, who, having a strong army watched all opportunities of becoming\r\nentire master of Peloponnesus. When intelligence came that he was fallen upon\r\nthe Mantineans, Philopoemen forthwith took the field, and marched towards him.\r\nThey met near Mantinea, and drew up in sight of the city. Both, besides the\r\nwhole strength of their several cities, had a good number of mercenaries in\r\npay. When they came to fall on, Machanidas, with his hired soldiers, beat the\r\nspearmen and the Tarentines whom Philopoemen had placed in the front. But when\r\nhe should have charged immediately into the main battle, which stood close and\r\nfirm, he hotly followed the chase; and instead of attacking the Achaeans,\r\npassed on beyond them, while they remained drawn up in their place. With so\r\nuntoward a beginning the rest of the confederates gave themselves up for lost;\r\nbut Philopoemen, professing to make it a matter of small consequence, and\r\nobserving the enemy’s oversight, who had thus left an opening in their main\r\nbody, and exposed their own phalanx, made no sort of motion to oppose them, but\r\nlet them pursue the chase freely, till they had placed themselves at a great\r\ndistance from him. Then seeing the Lacedaemonians before him deserted by their\r\nhorse, with their flanks quite bare, he charged suddenly, and surprised them\r\nwithout a commander, and not so much as expecting an encounter, as, when they\r\nsaw Machanidas driving the beaten enemy before him, they thought the victory\r\nalready gained. He overthrew them with great slaughter, (they report above four\r\nthousand killed in the place,) and then faced about against Machanidas, who was\r\nreturning with his mercenaries from the pursuit. There happened to be a broad\r\ndeep ditch between them, along side of which both rode their horses for awhile,\r\nthe one trying to get over and fly, the other to hinder him. It looked less\r\nlike the contest between two generals than like the last defense of some wild\r\nbeast, brought to bay by the keen huntsman Philopoemen, and forced to fight for\r\nhis life. The tyrant’s horse was mettled and strong; and feeling the bloody\r\nspurs in his sides, ventured to take the ditch. He had already so far reached\r\nthe other side, as to have planted his fore-feet upon it, and was struggling to\r\nraise himself with these, when Simmias and Polyaenus, who used to fight by the\r\nside of Philopoemen, came up on horseback to his assistance. But Philopoemen,\r\nbefore either of them, himself met Machanidas; and perceiving that the horse\r\nwith his head high reared, covered his master’s body, he turned his own a\r\nlittle, and holding his javelin by the middle, drove it against the tyrant with\r\nall his force, and tumbled him dead into the ditch. Such is the precise posture\r\nin which he stands at Delphi in the brazen statue which the Achaeans set up of\r\nhim, in admiration of his valor in this single combat, and conduct during the\r\nwhole day.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWe are told that at the Nemean games, a little after this victory, Philopoemen\r\nbeing then General the second time, and at leisure on the occasion of the\r\nsolemnity, first showed the Greeks his army drawn up in full array as if they\r\nwere to fight, and executed with it all the maneuvers of a battle with\r\nwonderful order, strength, and celerity. After which he went into the theater,\r\nwhile the musicians were singing for the prize, followed by the young soldiers\r\nin their military cloaks and their scarlet frocks under their armor, all in the\r\nvery height of bodily vigor, and much alike in age, showing a high respect to\r\ntheir general; yet breathing at the same time a noble confidence in themselves,\r\nraised by success in many glorious encounters. Just at their coming in, it so\r\nhappened, that the musician Pylades, with a voice well suited to the lofty\r\nstyle of the poet, was in the act of commencing the Persians of Timotheus,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nUnder his conduct Greece was glorious and was free.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThe whole theater at once turned to look at Philopoemen, and clapped with\r\ndelight; their hopes venturing once more to return to their country’s former\r\nreputation; and their feelings almost rising to the height of their ancient\r\nspirit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was with the Achaeans as with young horses, which go quietly with their\r\nusual riders, but grow unruly and restive under strangers. The soldiers, when\r\nany service was in hand, and Philopoemen not at their head, grew dejected and\r\nlooked about for him; but if he once appeared, came presently to themselves,\r\nand recovered their confidence and courage, being sensible that this was the\r\nonly one of their commanders whom the enemy could not endure to face; but, as\r\nappeared in several occasions, were frighted with his very name. Thus we find\r\nthat Philip, king of Macedon, thinking to terrify the Achaeans into subjection\r\nagain, if he could rid his hands of Philopoemen, employed some persons\r\nprivately to assassinate him. But the treachery coming to light, he became\r\ninfamous, and lost his character through Greece. The Boeotians besieging\r\nMegara, and ready to carry the town by storm, upon a groundless rumor that\r\nPhilopoemen was at hand with succor, ran away, and left their scaling ladders\r\nat the wall behind them. Nabis, (who was tyrant of Lacedaemon after\r\nMachanidas,) had surprised Messene at a time when Philopoemen was out of\r\ncommand. He tried to persuade Lysippus, then General of the Achaeans, to succor\r\nMessene: but not prevailing with him, because, he said, the enemy being now\r\nwithin it, the place was irrecoverably lost, he resolved to go himself, without\r\norder or commission, followed merely by his own immediate fellow-citizens who\r\nwent with him as their general by commission from nature, which had made him\r\nfittest to command. Nabis, hearing of his coming, though his army quartered\r\nwithin the town, thought it not convenient to stay; but stealing out of the\r\nfurthest gate with his men, marched away with all the speed he could, thinking\r\nhimself a happy man if he could get off with safety. And he did escape; but\r\nMessene was rescued.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll hitherto makes for the praise and honor of Philopoemen. But when at the\r\nrequest of the Gortynians he went away into Crete to command for them, at a\r\ntime when his own country was distressed by Nabis, he exposed himself to the\r\ncharge of either cowardice, or unseasonable ambition of honor amongst\r\nforeigners. For the Megalopolitans were then so pressed, that, the enemy being\r\nmaster of the field and encamping almost at their gates, they were forced to\r\nkeep themselves within their walls, and sow their very streets. And he in the\r\nmean time, across the seas, waging war and commanding in chief in a foreign\r\nnation, furnished his ill-wishers with matter enough for their reproaches. Some\r\nsaid he took the offer of the Gortynians, because the Achaeans chose other\r\ngenerals, and left him but a private man. For he could not endure to sit still,\r\nbut looking upon war and command in it as his great business, always coveted to\r\nbe employed. And this agrees with what he once aptly said of king Ptolemy.\r\nSomebody was praising him for keeping his army and himself in an admirable\r\nstate of discipline and exercise: “And what praise,” replied Philopoemen, “for\r\na king of his years, to be always preparing, and never performing?” However,\r\nthe Megalopolitans, thinking themselves betrayed, took it so ill, that they\r\nwere about to banish him. But the Achaeans put an end to that design, by\r\nsending their General, Aristaeus, to Megalopolis, who, though he were at\r\ndifference with Philopoemen about affairs of the commonwealth, yet would not\r\nsuffer him to be banished. Philopoemen finding himself upon this account out of\r\nfavor with his citizens, induced divers of the little neighboring places to\r\nrenounce obedience to them, suggesting to them to urge that from the beginning\r\nthey were not subject to their taxes, or laws, or any way under their command.\r\nIn these pretenses he openly took their part, and fomented seditious movements\r\namongst the Achaeans in general against Megalopolis. But these things happened\r\na while after.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile he stayed in Crete, in the service of the Gortynians, he made war not\r\nlike a Peloponnesian and Arcadian, fairly in the open field, but fought with\r\nthem at their own weapon, and turning their stratagems and tricks against\r\nthemselves, showed them they played craft against skill, and were but children\r\nto an experienced soldier. Having acted here with great bravery, and great\r\nreputation to himself, he returned into Peloponnesus, where he found Philip\r\nbeaten by Titus Quintius, and Nabis at war both with the Romans and Achaeans.\r\nHe was at once chosen general against Nabis, but venturing to fight by sea,\r\nmet, like Epaminondas, with a result very contrary to the general expectation,\r\nand his own former reputation. Epaminondas, however, according to some\r\nstatements, was backward by design, unwilling to give his countrymen an\r\nappetite for the advantages of the sea, lest from good soldiers, they should by\r\nlittle and little turn, as Plato says, to ill mariners. And therefore he\r\nreturned from Asia and the Islands without doing any thing, on purpose. Whereas\r\nPhilopoemen, thinking his skill in land-service would equally avail at sea,\r\nlearned how great a part of valor experience is, and how much it imports in the\r\nmanagement of things to be accustomed to them. For he was not only put to the\r\nworst in the fight for want of skill, but having rigged up an old ship, which\r\nhad been a famous vessel forty years before, and shipped his citizens in her,\r\nshe foundering, he was in danger of losing them all. But finding the enemy, as\r\nif he had been driven out of the sea, had, in contempt of him, besieged\r\nGythium, he presently set sail again, and, taking them unexpectedly, dispersed\r\nand careless after their victory, landed in the night, burnt their camp, and\r\nkilled a great number.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA few days after, as he was marching through a rough country, Nabis came\r\nsuddenly upon him. The Achaeans were dismayed, and in such difficult ground\r\nwhere the enemy had secured the advantage, despaired to get off with safety.\r\nPhilopoemen made a little halt, and, viewing the ground, soon made it appear,\r\nthat the one important thing in war is skill in drawing up an army. For by\r\nadvancing only a few paces, and, without any confusion or trouble, altering his\r\norder according to the nature of the place, he immediately relieved himself\r\nfrom every difficulty, and then charging, put the enemy to flight. But when he\r\nsaw they fled, not towards the city, but dispersed every man a different way\r\nall over the field, which for wood and hills, brooks and hollows was not\r\npassable by horse, he sounded a retreat, and encamped by broad daylight. Then\r\nforeseeing the enemy would endeavor to steal scatteringly into the city in the\r\ndark, he posted strong parties of the Achaeans all along the watercourses and\r\nsloping ground near the walls. Many of Nabis’s men fell into their hands. For\r\nreturning not in a body, but as the chance of flight had disposed of every one,\r\nthey were caught like birds ere they could enter into the town.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese actions obtained him distinguished marks of affection and honor in all\r\nthe theaters of Greece, but not without the secret ill-will of Titus\r\nFlamininus, who was naturally eager for glory, and thought it but reasonable a\r\nconsul of Rome should be otherwise esteemed by the Achaeans, than a common\r\nArcadian; especially as there was no comparison between what he, and what\r\nPhilopoemen had done for them, he having by one proclamation restored all\r\nGreece, as much as had been subject to Philip and the Macedonians, to liberty.\r\nAfter this, Titus made peace with Nabis, and Nabis was circumvented and slain\r\nby the Aetolians. Things being then in confusion at Sparta, Philopoemen laid\r\nhold of the occasion, and coming upon them with an army, prevailed with some by\r\npersuasion, with others by fear, till he brought the whole city over to the\r\nAchaeans. As it was no small matter for Sparta to become a member of Achaea,\r\nthis action gained him infinite praise from the Achaeans, for having\r\nstrengthened their confederacy by the addition of so great and powerful a city,\r\nand not a little good-will from the nobility of Sparta itself, who hoped they\r\nhad now procured an ally, who would defend their freedom. Accordingly, having\r\nraised a sum of one hundred and twenty silver talents by the sale of the house\r\nand goods of Nabis, they decreed him the money, and sent a deputation in the\r\nname of the city to present it. But here the honesty of Philopoemen showed\r\nitself clearly to be a real, uncounterfeited virtue. For first of all, there\r\nwas not a man among them who would undertake to make him this offer of a\r\npresent, but every one excusing himself, and shifting it off upon his fellow,\r\nthey laid the office at last on Timolaus, with whom he had lodged at Sparta.\r\nThen Timolaus came to Megalopolis, and was entertained by Philopoemen; but\r\nstruck into admiration with the dignity of his life and manners, and the\r\nsimplicity of his habits, judging him to be utterly inaccessible to any such\r\nconsiderations, he said nothing, but pretending other business, returned\r\nwithout a word mentioned of the present. He was sent again, and did just as\r\nformerly. But the third time with much ado, and faltering in his words, he\r\nacquainted Philopoemen with the good-will of the city of Sparta to him.\r\nPhilopoemen listened obligingly and gladly; and then went himself to Sparta,\r\nwhere he advised them, not to bribe good men and their friends, of whose virtue\r\nthey might be sure without charge to themselves; but to buy off and silence ill\r\ncitizens, who disquieted the city with their seditious speeches in the public\r\nassemblies; for it was better to bar liberty of speech in enemies, than\r\nfriends. Thus it appeared how much Philopoemen was above bribery.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDiophanes being afterwards General of the Achaeans, and hearing the\r\nLacedaemonians were bent on new commotions, resolved to chastise them; they, on\r\nthe other side, being set upon war, were embroiling all Peloponnesus.\r\nPhilopoemen on this occasion did all he could to keep Diophanes quiet and to\r\nmake him sensible that as the times went, while Antiochus and the Romans were\r\ndisputing their pretensions with vast armies in the heart of Greece, it\r\nconcerned a man in his position to keep a watchful eye over them, and\r\ndissembling, and putting up with any less important grievances, to preserve all\r\nquiet at home. Diophanes would not be ruled, but joined with Titus, and both\r\ntogether falling into Laconia, marched directly to Sparta. Philopoemen, upon\r\nthis, took, in his indignation, a step which certainly was not lawful, nor in\r\nthe strictest sense just, but boldly and loftily conceived. Entering into the\r\ntown himself, he, a private man as he was, refused admission to both the consul\r\nof Rome, and the General of the Achaeans, quieted the disorders in the city,\r\nand reunited it on the same terms as before to the Achaean confederacy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet afterwards, when he was General himself, upon some new misdemeanor of the\r\nLacedaemonians, he brought back those who had been banished, put, as Polybius\r\nwrites, eighty, according to Aristocrates three hundred and fifty, Spartans to\r\ndeath, razed the walls, took away a good part of their territory and\r\ntransferred it to the Megalopolitans, forced out of the country and carried\r\ninto Achaea all who had been made citizens of Sparta by tyrants, except three\r\nthousand who would not submit to banishment. These he sold for slaves, and with\r\nthe money, as if to insult over them, built a colonnade at Megalopolis. Lastly,\r\nunworthily trampling upon the Lacedaemonians in their calamities, and\r\ngratifying his hostility by a most oppressive and arbitrary action, he\r\nabolished the laws of Lycurgus, and forced them to educate their children, and\r\nlive after the manner of the Achaeans; as though, while they kept to the\r\ndiscipline of Lycurgus, there was no humbling their haughty spirits. In their\r\npresent distress and adversity they allowed Philopoemen thus to cut the sinews\r\nof their commonwealth asunder, and behaved themselves humbly and submissively.\r\nBut afterwards in no long time, obtaining the support of the Romans, they\r\nabandoned their new Achaean citizenship; and as much as in so miserable and\r\nruined a condition they could, reestablished their ancient discipline.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the war betwixt Antiochus and the Romans broke out in Greece, Philopoemen\r\nwas a private man. He repined grievously, when he saw Antiochus lay idle at\r\nChalcis, spending his time in unseasonable courtship and weddings, while his\r\nmen lay dispersed in several towns, without order or commanders, and minding\r\nnothing but their pleasures. He complained much that he was not himself in\r\noffice, and said he envied the Romans their victory; and that if he had had the\r\nfortune to be then in command, he would have surprised and killed the whole\r\narmy in the taverns.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Antiochus was overcome, the Romans pressed harder upon Greece, and\r\nencompassed the Achaeans with their power; the popular leaders in the several\r\ncities yielded before them; and their power speedily, under the divine\r\nguidance, advanced to the consummation due to it in the revolutions of fortune.\r\nPhilopoemen, in this conjuncture, carried himself like a good pilot in a high\r\nsea, sometimes shifting sail, and sometimes yielding, but still steering\r\nsteady; and omitting no opportunity nor effort to keep all who were\r\nconsiderable, whether for eloquence or riches, fast to the defense of their\r\ncommon liberty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAristaenus, a Megalopolitan of great credit among the Achaeans, but always a\r\nfavorer of the Romans, saying one day in the senate, that the Romans should not\r\nbe opposed, or displeased in any way, Philopoemen heard him with an impatient\r\nsilence; but at last, not able to hold longer, said angrily to him, “And why be\r\nin such haste, wretched man, to behold the end of Greece?” Manius, the Roman\r\nconsul, after the defeat of Antiochus, requested the Achaeans to restore the\r\nbanished Lacedaemonians to their country, which motion was seconded and\r\nsupported by all the interest of Titus. But Philopoemen crossed it, not from\r\nill-will to the men, but that they might be beholden to him and the Achaeans,\r\nnot to Titus and the Romans. For when he came to be General himself, he\r\nrestored them. So impatient was his spirit of any subjection, and so prone his\r\nnature to contest everything with men in power.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBeing now threescore and ten, and the eighth time General, he was in hope to\r\npass in quiet, not only the year of his magistracy, but his remaining life. For\r\nas our diseases decline, as it is supposed, with our declining bodily strength,\r\nso the quarreling humor of the Greeks abated much with their failing political\r\ngreatness. But fortune or some divine retributive power threw him down the in\r\nclose of his life, like a successful runner who stumbles at the goal. It is\r\nreported, that being in company where one was praised for a great commander, he\r\nreplied, there was no great account to be made of a man, who had suffered\r\nhimself to be taken alive by his enemies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA few days after, news came that Dinocrates the Messenian, a particular enemy\r\nto Philopoemen, and for his wickedness and villanies generally hated, had\r\ninduced Messene to revolt from the Achaeans, and was about to seize upon a\r\nlittle place called Colonis. Philopoemen lay then sick of a fever at Argos.\r\nUpon the news he hasted away, and reached Megalopolis, which was distant above\r\nfour hundred furlongs, in a day. From thence he immediately led out the horse,\r\nthe noblest of the city, young men in the vigor of their age, and eager to\r\nproffer their service, both from attachment to Philopoemen, and zeal for the\r\ncause. As they marched towards Messene, they met with Dinocrates, near the hill\r\nof Evander, charged and routed him. But five hundred fresh men, who, being left\r\nfor a guard to the country, came in late, happening to appear, the flying enemy\r\nrallied again about the hills. Philopoemen, fearing to be enclosed, and\r\nsolicitous for his men, retreated over ground extremely disadvantageous,\r\nbringing up the rear himself. As he often faced, and made charges upon the\r\nenemy, he drew them upon himself; though they merely made movements at a\r\ndistance, and shouted about him, nobody daring to approach him. In his care to\r\nsave every single man, he left his main body so often, that at last he found\r\nhimself alone among the thickest of his enemies. Yet even then none durst come\r\nup to him, but being pelted at a distance, and driven to stony steep places, he\r\nhad great difficulty, with much spurring, to guide his horse aright. His age\r\nwas no hindrance to him, for with perpetual exercise it was both strong and\r\nactive; but being weakened with sickness, and tired with his long journey, his\r\nhorse stumbling, he fell encumbered with his arms, and faint, upon a hard and\r\nrugged piece of ground. His head received such a shock with the fall, that he\r\nlay awhile speechless, so that the enemy, thinking him dead, began to turn and\r\nstrip him. But when they saw him lift up his head and open his eyes, they threw\r\nthemselves all together upon him, bound his hands behind him, and carried him\r\noff, every kind of insult and contumely being lavished on him who truly had\r\nnever so much as dreamed of being led in triumph by Dinocrates.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Messenians, wonderfully elated with the news, thronged in swarms to the\r\ncity gates. But when they saw Philopoemen in a posture so unsuitable to the\r\nglory of his great actions and famous victories, most of them, struck with\r\ngrief and cursing the deceitful vanity of human fortune, even shed tears of\r\ncompassion at the spectacle. Such tears by little and little turned to kind\r\nwords, and it was almost in everybody’s mouth that they ought to remember what\r\nhe had done for them, and how he had preserved the common liberty, by driving\r\naway Nabis. Some few, to make their court to Dinocrates, were for torturing and\r\nthen putting him to death as a dangerous and irreconcilable enemy; all the more\r\nformitable to Dinocrates, who had taken him prisoner, should he after this\r\nmisfortune, regain his liberty. They put him at last into a dungeon\r\nunderground, which they called the treasury, a place into which there came no\r\nair nor light from abroad; and, which, having no doors, was closed with a great\r\nstone. This they rolled into the entrance and fixed, and placing a guard about\r\nit, left him. In the mean time Philopoemen’s soldiers, recovering themselves\r\nafter their flight, and fearing he was dead when he appeared nowhere, made a\r\nstand, calling him with loud cries, and reproaching one another with their\r\nunworthy and shameful escape; having betrayed their general, who, to preserve\r\ntheir lives, had lost his own. Then returning after much inquiry and search,\r\nhearing at last that he was taken, they sent away messengers round about with\r\nthe news. The Achaeans resented the misfortune deeply, and decreed to send and\r\ndemand him; and, in the meantime, drew their army together for his rescue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile these things passed in Achaea, Dinocrates, fearing that any delay would\r\nsave Philopoemen, and resolving to be beforehand with the Achaeans, as soon as\r\nnight had dispersed the multitude, sent in the executioner with poison, with\r\norders not to stir from him till he had taken it. Philopoemen had then laid\r\ndown, wrapt up in his cloak, not sleeping, but oppressed with grief and\r\ntrouble; but seeing light, and a man with poison by him, struggled to sit up;\r\nand, taking the cup, asked the man if he heard anything of the horsemen,\r\nparticularly Lycortas? The fellow answering, that the most part had got off\r\nsafe, he nodded, and looking cheerfully upon him, “It is well,” he said, “that\r\nwe have not been every way unfortunate;” and without a word more, drank it off,\r\nand laid him down, again. His weakness offering but little resistance to the\r\npoison, it dispatched him presently.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe news of his death filled all Achaea with grief and lamentation. The youth,\r\nwith some of the chief of the several cities, met at Megalopolis with a\r\nresolution to take revenge without delay. They chose Lycortas general, and\r\nfalling upon the Messenians, put all to fire and sword, till they all with one\r\nconsent made their submission. Dinocrates, with as many as had voted for\r\nPhilopoemen’s death, anticipated their vengeance and killed themselves. Those\r\nwho would have had him tortured, Lycortas put in chains and reserved for\r\nseverer punishment. They burnt his body, and put the ashes into an urn, and\r\nthen marched homeward, not as in an ordinary march, but with a kind of solemn\r\npomp, half triumph, half funeral, crowns of victory on their heads, and tears\r\nin their eyes, and their captive enemies in fetters by them. Polybius, the\r\ngeneral’s son, carried the urn, so covered with garlands and ribbons as\r\nscarcely to be visible; and the noblest of the Achaeans accompanied him. The\r\nsoldiers followed fully armed and mounted, with looks neither altogether sad as\r\nin mourning, nor lofty as in victory. The people from all towns and villages in\r\ntheir way, flocked out to meet him, as at his return from conquest, and,\r\nsaluting the urn, fell in with the company, and followed on to Megalopolis;\r\nwhere, when the old men, the women and children were mingled with the rest, the\r\nwhole city was filled with sighs, complaints, and cries, the loss of\r\nPhilopoemen seeming to them the loss of their own greatness, and of their rank\r\namong the Achaeans. Thus he was honorably buried according to his worth, and\r\nthe prisoners were stoned about his tomb.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMany statues were set up, and many honors decreed to him by the several cities.\r\nOne of the Romans in the time of Greece’s affliction, after the destruction of\r\nCorinth, publicly accusing Philopoemen, as if he had been still alive, of\r\nhaving been the enemy of Rome, proposed that these memorials should all be\r\nremoved. A discussion ensued, speeches were made, and Polybius answered the\r\nsycophant at large. And neither Mummius nor the lieutenants would suffer the\r\nhonorable monuments of so great a man to be defaced, though he had often\r\ncrossed both Titus and Manius. They justly distinguished, and as became honest\r\nmen, betwixt usefulness and virtue, — what is good in itself, and what is\r\nprofitable to particular parties, — judging thanks and reward due to him who\r\ndoes a benefit, from him who receives it, and honor never to be denied by the\r\ngood to the good. And so much concerning Philopoemen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap28\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eFLAMININUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhat Titus Quintius Flamininus, whom we select as a parallel to Philopoemen,\r\nwas in personal appearance, those who are curious may see by the brazen statue\r\nof him, which stands in Rome near that of the great Apollo, brought from\r\nCarthage, opposite to the Circus Maximus, with a Greek inscription upon it. The\r\ntemper of his mind is said to have been of the warmest both in anger and in\r\nkindness; not indeed equally so in both respects; as in punishing, he was ever\r\nmoderate, never inflexible; but whatever courtesy or good turn he set about, he\r\nwent through with it, and was as perpetually kind and obliging to those on whom\r\nhe had poured his favors, as if they, not he, had been the benefactors:\r\nexerting himself for the security and preservation of what he seemed to\r\nconsider his noblest possessions, those to whom he had done good. But being\r\never thirsty after honor, and passionate for glory, if anything of a greater\r\nand more extraordinary nature were to be done, he was eager to be the doer of\r\nit himself; and took more pleasure in those that needed, than in those that\r\nwere capable of conferring favors; looking on the former as objects for his\r\nvirtue, and on the latter as competitors in glory.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nRome had then many sharp contests going on, and her youth betaking themselves\r\nearly to the wars, learned betimes the art of commanding; and Flamininus,\r\nhaving passed through the rudiments of soldiery, received his first charge in\r\nthe war against Hannibal, as tribune under Marcellus, then consul. Marcellus,\r\nindeed, falling into an ambuscade, was cut off. But Titus, receiving the\r\nappointment of governor, as well of Tarentum, then retaken, as of the country\r\nabout it, grew no less famous for his administration of justice, than for his\r\nmilitary skill. This obtained him the office of leader and founder of two\r\ncolonies which were sent into the cities of Narnia and Cossa; which filled him\r\nwith loftier hopes, and made him aspire to step over those previous honors\r\nwhich it was usual first to pass through, the offices of tribune of the people,\r\npraetor and aedile, and to level his aim immediately at the consulship. Having\r\nthese colonies, and all their interest ready at his service, he offered himself\r\nas candidate; but the tribunes of the people, Fulvius and Manius, and their\r\nparty, strongly opposed him; alleging how unbecoming a thing it was, that a man\r\nof such raw years, one who was yet, as it were, untrained, uninitiated in the\r\nfirst sacred rites and mysteries of government, should, in contempt of the\r\nlaws, intrude and force himself into the sovereignty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, the senate remitted it to the people’s choice and suffrage; who\r\nelected him (though not then arrived at his thirtieth year) consul with Sextus\r\nAelius. The war against Philip and the Macedonians fell to Titus by lot, and\r\nsome kind fortune, propitious at that time to the Romans, seems to have so\r\ndetermined it; as neither the people nor the state of things which were now to\r\nbe dealt with, were such as to require a general who would always be upon the\r\npoint of force and mere blows, but rather were accessible to persuasion and\r\ngentle usage. It is true that the kingdom of Macedon furnished supplies enough\r\nto Philip for actual battle with the Romans; but to maintain a long and\r\nlingering war, he must call in aid from Greece; must thence procure his\r\nsupplies; there find his means of retreat; Greece, in a word, would be his\r\nresource for all the requisites of his army. Unless, therefore, the Greeks\r\ncould be withdrawn from siding with Philip, this war with him must not expect\r\nits decision from a single battle. Now Greece (which had not hitherto held much\r\ncorrespondence with the Romans, but first began an intercourse on this\r\noccasion) would not so soon have embraced a foreign authority, instead of the\r\ncommanders she had been inured to, had not the general of these strangers been\r\nof a kind gentle nature, one who worked rather by fair means than force; of a\r\npersuasive address in all applications to others, and no less courteous, and\r\nopen to all addresses of others to him; and above all bent and determined on\r\njustice. But the story of his actions will best illustrate these particulars.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTitus observed that both Sulpicius and Publius, who had been his predecessors\r\nin that command, had not taken the field against the Macedonians till late in\r\nthe year; and then, too, had not set their hands properly to the war, but had\r\nkept skirmishing and scouting here and there for passes and provisions, and\r\nnever came to close fighting with Philip. He resolved not to trifle away a\r\nyear, as they had done, at home in ostentation of the honor, and in domestic\r\nadministration, and only then to join the army, with the pitiful hope of\r\nprotracting the term of office through a second year, acting as consul in the\r\nfirst, and as general in the latter. He was, moreover, infinitely desirous to\r\nemploy his authority with effect upon the war, which made him slight those\r\nhome-honors and prerogatives. Requesting, therefore, of the senate, that his\r\nbrother Lucius might act with him as admiral of the navy, and taking with him\r\nto be the edge, as it were, of the expedition three thousand still young and\r\nvigorous soldiers, of those who, under Scipio, had defeated Asdrubal in Spain,\r\nand Hannibal in Africa, he got safe into Epirus; and found Publius encamped\r\nwith his army, over against Philip, who had long made good the pass over the\r\nriver Apsus, and the straits there; Publius not having been able, for the\r\nnatural strength of the place, to effect anything against him. Titus therefore\r\ntook upon himself the conduct of the army, and, having dismissed Publius,\r\nexamined the ground. The place is in strength not inferior to Tempe, though it\r\nlacks the trees and green woods, and the pleasant meadows and walks that adorn\r\nTempe. The Apsus, making its way between vast and lofty mountains which all but\r\nmeet above a single deep ravine in the midst, is not unlike the river Peneus,\r\nin the rapidity of its current, and in its general appearance. It covers the\r\nfoot of those hills, and leaves only a craggy, narrow path cut out beside the\r\nstream, not easily passable at any time for an army, but not at all when\r\nguarded by an enemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were some, therefore, who would have had Titus make a circuit through\r\nDassaretis, and take an easy and safe road by the district of Lyncus. But he,\r\nfearing that if he should engage himself too far from the sea in barren and\r\nuntilled countries, and Philip should decline fighting, he might, through want\r\nof provisions, be constrained to march back again to the seaside without\r\neffecting anything, as his predecessor had done before him, embraced the\r\nresolution of forcing his way over the mountains. But Philip, having possessed\r\nhimself of them with his army, showered down his darts and arrows from all\r\nparts upon the Romans. Sharp encounters took place, and many fell wounded and\r\nslain on both sides, and there seemed but little likelihood of thus ending the\r\nwar; when some of the men, who fed their cattle thereabouts, came to Titus with\r\na discovery, that there was a roundabout way which the enemy neglected to\r\nguard; through which they undertook to conduct his army, and to bring it within\r\nthree days at furthest, to the top of the hills. To gain the surer credit with\r\nhim, they said that Charops, son of Machatas, a leading man in Epirus, who was\r\nfriendly to the Romans, and aided them (though, for fear of Philip, secretly),\r\nwas privy to the design. Titus gave their information belief, and sent a\r\ncaptain with four thousand foot, and three hundred horse; these herdsmen being\r\ntheir guides, but kept in bonds. In the daytime they lay still under the covert\r\nof the hollow and woody places, but in the night they marched by moonlight, the\r\nmoon being then at the full. Titus, having detached this party, lay quiet with\r\nhis main body, merely keeping up the attention of the enemy by some slight\r\nskirmishing. But when the day arrived, that those who stole round, were\r\nexpected upon the top of the hill, he drew up his forces early in the morning,\r\nas well the light-armed as the heavy, and, dividing them into three parts,\r\nhimself led the van, marching his men up the narrow passage along the bank,\r\ndarted at by the Macedonians, and engaging, in this difficult ground, hand to\r\nhand with his assailants; whilst the other two divisions on either side of him,\r\nthrew themselves with great alacrity among the rocks. Whilst they were\r\nstruggling forward, the sun rose, and a thin smoke, like a mist, hanging on the\r\nhills, was seen rising at a distance, unperceived by the enemy, being behind\r\nthem, as they stood on the heights; and the Romans, also, as yet under\r\nsuspense, in the toil and difficulty they were in, could only doubtfully\r\nconstrue the sight according to their desires. But as it grew thicker and\r\nthicker, blackening the air, and mounting to a greater height, they no longer\r\ndoubted but it was the fire-signal of their companions; and, raising a\r\ntriumphant shout, forcing their way onwards, they drove the enemy back into the\r\nroughest ground; while the other party echoed back their acclamations from the\r\ntop of the mountain.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Macedonians fled with all the speed they could make; there fell, indeed,\r\nnot more than two thousand of them; for the difficulties of the place rescued\r\nthem from pursuit. But the Romans pillaged their camp, seized upon their money\r\nand slaves, and, becoming absolute masters of the pass, traversed all Epirus;\r\nbut with such order and discipline, with such temperance and moderation, that,\r\nthough they were far from the sea, at a great distance from their vessels, and\r\nstinted of their monthly allowance of corn, and though they had much difficulty\r\nin buying, they nevertheless abstained altogether from plundering the country,\r\nwhich had provisions enough of all sorts in it. For intelligence being received\r\nthat Philip making a flight, rather than a march, through Thessaly, forced the\r\ninhabitants from the towns to take shelter in the mountains, burnt down the\r\ntowns themselves, and gave up as spoil to his soldiers all the property which\r\nit had been found impossible to remove, abandoning, as it would seem, the whole\r\ncountry to the Romans. Titus was, therefore, very desirous, and entreated his\r\nsoldiers that they would pass through it as if it were their own, or as if a\r\nplace trusted into their hands; and, indeed, they quickly perceived, by the\r\nevent, what benefit they derived from this moderate and orderly conduct. For\r\nthey no sooner set foot in Thessaly, but the cities opened their gates, and the\r\nGreeks, within Thermopylae, were all eagerness and excitement to ally\r\nthemselves with them. The Achaeans abandoned their alliance with Philip, and\r\nvoted to join with the Romans in actual arms against him; and the Opuntians,\r\nthough the Aetolians, who were zealous allies of the Romans, were willing and\r\ndesirous to undertake the protection of the city, would not listen to proposals\r\nfrom them; but, sending for Titus, entrusted and committed themselves to his\r\ncharge.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is told of Pyrrhus, that when first, from an adjacent hill or watchtower\r\nwhich gave him a prospect of the Roman army, he descried them drawn up in\r\norder, he observed, that he saw nothing barbarian-like in this barbarian line\r\nof battle. And all who came near Titus, could not choose but say as much of\r\nhim, at their first view. For they who had been told by the Macedonians of an\r\ninvader, at the head of a barbarian army, carrying everywhere slavery and\r\ndestruction on his sword’s point; when in lieu of such an one, they met a man,\r\nin the flower of his age, of a gentle and humane aspect, a Greek in his voice\r\nand language, and a lover of honor, were wonderfully pleased and attracted; and\r\nwhen they left him, they filled the cities, wherever they went, with favorable\r\nfeelings for him, and with the belief that in him they might find the protector\r\nand asserter of their liberties. And when afterwards, on Philip’s professing a\r\ndesire for peace, Titus made a tender to him of peace and friendship, upon the\r\ncondition that the Greeks be left to their own laws, and that he should\r\nwithdraw his garrisons, which he refused to comply with, now after these\r\nproposals, the universal belief even of the favorers and partisans of Philip,\r\nwas, that the Romans came not to fight against the Greeks, but for the Greeks,\r\nagainst the Macedonians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAccordingly, all the rest of Greece came to peaceable terms with him. But as he\r\nmarched into Boeotia, without committing the least act of hostility, the\r\nnobility and chief men of Thebes came out of their city to meet him, devoted\r\nunder the influence of Brachylles to the Macedonian alliance, but desirous at\r\nthe same time to show honor and deference to Titus; as they were, they\r\nconceived, in amity with both parties. Titus received them in the most obliging\r\nand courteous manner, but kept going gently on, questioning and inquiring of\r\nthem, and sometimes entertaining them with narratives of his own, till his\r\nsoldiers might a little recover from the weariness of their journey. Thus\r\npassing on, he and the Thebans came together into their city not much to their\r\nsatisfaction; but yet they could not well deny him entrance, as a good number\r\nof his men attended him in. Titus, however, now he was within, as if he had not\r\nhad the city at his mercy, came forward and addressed them, urging them to join\r\nthe Roman interest. King Attalus followed to the same effect. And he, indeed,\r\ntrying to play the advocate, beyond what it seems his age could bear, was\r\nseized, in the midst of his speech, with a sudden flux or dizziness, and\r\nswooned away; and, not long after, was conveyed by ship into Asia, and died\r\nthere. The Boeotians joined the Roman alliance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut now, when Philip sent an embassy to Rome, Titus dispatched away agents on\r\nhis part, too, to solicit the senate, if they should continue the war, to\r\ncontinue him in his command, or if they determined an end to that, that he\r\nmight have the honor of concluding the peace. Having a great passion for\r\ndistinction, his fear was, that if another general were commissioned to carry\r\non the war, the honor even of what was passed, would be lost to him; and his\r\nfriends transacted matters so well on his behalf, that Philip was unsuccessful\r\nin his proposals, and the management of the war was confirmed in his hands. He\r\nno sooner received the senate’s determination, but, big with hopes, he marches\r\ndirectly into Thessaly, to engage Philip; his army consisting of twenty-six\r\nthousand men, out of which the Aetolians furnished six thousand foot and four\r\nhundred horse. The forces of Philip were much about the same number. In this\r\neagerness to encounter, they advanced against each other, till both were near\r\nScotussa, where they resolved to hazard a battle. Nor had the approach of these\r\ntwo formidable armies the effect that might have been supposed, to strike into\r\nthe generals a mutual terror of each other; it rather inspired them with ardor\r\nand ambition; on the Romans’ part, to be the conquerors of Macedon, a name\r\nwhich Alexander had made famous amongst them for strength and valor; whilst the\r\nMacedonians, on the other hand, esteeming of the Romans as an enemy very\r\ndifferent from the Persians, hoped, if victory stood on their side, to make the\r\nname of Philip more glorious than that of Alexander. Titus, therefore, called\r\nupon his soldiers to play the part of valiant men, because they were now to act\r\ntheir parts upon the most illustrious theater of the world, Greece, and to\r\ncontend with the bravest antagonists. And Philip, on the other side, commenced\r\nan harangue to his men, as usual before an engagement, and to be the better\r\nheard, (whether it were merely a mischance, or the result of unseasonable\r\nhaste, not observing what he did,) mounted an eminence outside their camp,\r\nwhich proved to be a burying-place; and much disturbed by the despondency that\r\nseized his army at the unluckiness of the omen, all that day kept in his camp,\r\nand declined fighting.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut on the morrow, as day came on, after a soft and rainy night, the clouds\r\nchanging into a mist filled all the plain with thick darkness; and a dense\r\nfoggy air descending, by the time it was full day, from the adjacent mountains\r\ninto the ground betwixt the two camps, concealed them from each other’s view.\r\nThe parties sent out on either side, some for ambuscade, some for discovery,\r\nfalling in upon one another quickly after they were thus detached, began the\r\nfight at what are called the Cynos Cephalae, a number of sharp tops of hills\r\nthat stand close to one another, and have the name from some resemblance in\r\ntheir shape. Now many vicissitudes and changes happening, as may well be\r\nexpected, in such an uneven field of battle, sometimes hot pursuit, and\r\nsometimes as rapid a flight, the generals on both sides kept sending in succors\r\nfrom the main bodies, as they saw their men pressed or giving ground, till at\r\nlength the heavens clearing up, let them see what was going on, upon which the\r\nwhole armies engaged. Philip, who was in the right wing, from the advantage of\r\nthe higher ground which he had, threw on the Romans the whole weight of his\r\nphalanx, with a force which they were unable to sustain; the dense array of\r\nspears, and the pressure of the compact mass overpowering them. But the king’s\r\nleft wing being broken up by the hilliness of the place, Titus observing it,\r\nand cherishing little or no hopes on that side where his own gave ground, makes\r\nin all haste to the other, and there charges in upon the Macedonians; who, in\r\nconsequence of the inequality and roughness of the ground, could not keep their\r\nphalanx entire, nor line their ranks to any great depth, (which is the great\r\npoint of their strength,) but were forced to fight man for man under heavy and\r\nunwieldy armor. For the Macedonian phalanx is like some single powerful animal,\r\nirresistible so long as it is embodied into one, and keeps its order, shield\r\ntouching shield, all as in a piece; but if it be once broken, not only is the\r\njoint-force lost, but the individual soldiers also who composed it; lose each\r\none his own single strength, because of the nature of their armor; and because\r\neach of them is strong, rather, as he makes a part of the whole, than in\r\nhimself. When these were routed, some gave chase to the flyers, others charged\r\nthe flanks of those Macedonians who were still fighting, so that the conquering\r\nwing, also, was quickly disordered, took to flight, and threw down its arms.\r\nThere were then slain no less than eight thousand, and about five thousand were\r\ntaken prisoners; and the Aetolians were blamed as having been the main occasion\r\nthat Philip himself got safe off. For whilst the Romans were in pursuit, they\r\nfell to ravaging and plundering the camp, and did it so completely, that when\r\nthe others returned, they found no booty in it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis bred at first hard words, quarrels, and misunderstandings betwixt them.\r\nBut, afterwards, they galled Titus more, by ascribing the victory to\r\nthemselves, and prepossessing the Greeks with reports to that effect; insomuch\r\nthat poets, and people in general in the songs that were sung or written in\r\nhonor of the action, still ranked the Aetolians foremost. One of the pieces\r\nmost current was the following epigram: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nNaked and tombless see, O passer-by,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe thirty thousand men of Thessaly,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSlain by the Aetolians and the Latin band,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThat came with Titus from Italia’s land:\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAlas for mighty Macedon! that day,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSwift as a roe, king Philip fled away.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThis was composed by Alcaeus in mockery of Philip, exaggerating the number of\r\nthe slain. However, being everywhere repeated, and by almost everybody, Titus\r\nwas more nettled at it than Philip. The latter merely retorted upon Alcaeus\r\nwith some elegiac verses of his own: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nNaked and leafless see, O passer-by,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe cross that shall Alcaeus crucify.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut such little matters extremely fretted Titus, who was ambitious of a\r\nreputation among the Greeks; and he, therefore, acted in all after-occurrences\r\nby himself, paying but very slight regard to the Aetolians. This offended them\r\nin their turn; and when Titus listened to terms of accommodation, and admitted\r\nan embassy upon the proffers of the Macedonian king, the Aetolians made it\r\ntheir business to publish through all the cities of Greece, that this was the\r\nconclusion of all; that he was selling Philip a peace, at a time when it was in\r\nhis hand to destroy the very roots of the war, and to overthrow the power which\r\nhad first inflicted servitude upon Greece. But whilst with these and the like\r\nrumors, the Aetolians labored to shake the Roman confederates, Philip, making\r\novertures of submission of himself and his kingdom to the discretion of Titus\r\nand the Romans, puts an end to those jealousies, as Titus by accepting them,\r\ndid to the war. For he reinstated Philip in his kingdom of Macedon, but made it\r\na condition that he should quit Greece, and that he should pay one thousand\r\ntalents; he took from him also, all his shipping, save ten vessels; and sent\r\naway Demetrius, one of his sons, hostage to Rome; improving his opportunity to\r\nthe best advantage, and taking wise precautions for the future. For Hannibal\r\nthe African, a professed enemy to the Roman name, an exile from his own\r\ncountry, and not long since arrived at king Antiochus’s court, was already\r\nstimulating that prince, not to be wanting to the good fortune that had been\r\nhitherto so propitious to his affairs; the magnitude of his successes having\r\ngained him the surname of the Great. He had begun to level his aim at universal\r\nmonarchy, but above all he was eager to measure himself with the Romans. Had\r\nnot, therefore, Titus upon a principle of prudence and foresight, lent all ear\r\nto peace, and had Antiochus found the Romans still at war in Greece with\r\nPhilip, and had these two, the most powerful and warlike princes of that age,\r\nconfederated for their common interests against the Roman state, Rome might\r\nonce more have run no less a risk, and been reduced to no less extremities than\r\nshe had experienced under Hannibal. But now, Titus opportunely introducing this\r\npeace between the wars, dispatching the present danger before the new one had\r\narrived, at once disappointed Antiochus of his first hopes, and Philip of his\r\nlast.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the ten commissioners, delegated to Titus from the senate; advised him to\r\nrestore the rest of Greece to their liberty, but that Corinth, Chalcis, and\r\nDemetrias should be kept garrisoned for security against Antiochus; the\r\nAetolians, on this, breaking out into loud accusations, agitated all the\r\ncities, calling upon Titus to strike off the shackles of Greece, (so Philip\r\nused to term those three cities,) and asking the Greeks, whether it were not\r\nmatter of much consolation to them, that, though their chains weighed heavier,\r\nyet they were now smoother and better polished than formerly, and whether Titus\r\nwere not deservedly admired by them as their benefactor, who had unshackled the\r\nfeet of Greece, and tied her up by the neck? Titus, vexed and angry at this,\r\nmade it his request to the senate, and at last prevailed in it, that the\r\ngarrisons in these cities should be dismissed, that so the Greeks might be no\r\nlonger debtors to him for a partial, but for an entire, favor. It was now the\r\ntime of the celebration of the Isthmian games; and the seats around the\r\nracecourse were crowded with an unusual multitude of spectators; Greece, after\r\nlong wars, having regained not only peace, but hopes of liberty, and being able\r\nonce more to keep holiday in safety. A trumpet sounded to command silence; and\r\nthe crier, stepping forth amidst the spectators, made proclamation, that the\r\nRoman senate, and Titus Quintius, the proconsular general, having vanquished\r\nking Philip and the Macedonians, restored the Corinthians, Locrians, Phocians,\r\nEuboeans, Achaeans of Phthiotis, Magnetians, Thessalians, and Perrhaebians to\r\ntheir own lands, laws, and liberties; remitting all impositions upon them, and\r\nwithdrawing all garrisons from their cities. At first, many heard not at all,\r\nand others not distinctly, what was said; but there was a confused and\r\nuncertain stir among the assembled people, some wondering, some asking, some\r\ncalling out to have it proclaimed again. When, therefore, fresh silence was\r\nmade, the crier raising his voice, succeeded in making himself generally heard;\r\nand recited the decree again. A shout of joy followed it, so loud that it was\r\nheard as far as the sea. The whole assembly rose and stood up; there was no\r\nfurther thought of the entertainment; all were only eager to leap up and salute\r\nand address their thanks to the deliverer and champion of Greece. What we often\r\nhear alleged, in proof of the force of human voices, was actually verified upon\r\nthis occasion. Crows that were accidentally flying over the course, fell down\r\ndead into it. The disruption of the air must be the cause of it; for the voices\r\nbeing numerous, and the acclamation violent, the air breaks with it, and can no\r\nlonger give support to the birds; but lets them tumble, like one that should\r\nattempt to walk upon a vacuum; unless we should rather imagine them to fall and\r\ndie, shot with the noise as with a dart. It is possible, too, that there may be\r\na circular agitation of the air, which, like marine whirlpools, may have a\r\nviolent direction of this sort given to it from the excess of its fluctuation.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut for Titus, the sports being now quite at an end, so beset was he on every\r\nside, and by such multitudes, that had he not, foreseeing the probable throng\r\nand concourse of the people, timely withdrawn, he would scarce, it is thought,\r\nhave ever got clear of them. When they had tired themselves with acclamations\r\nall about his pavilion, and night was now come, wherever friends or\r\nfellow-citizens met, they joyfully saluted and embraced each other, and went\r\nhome to feast and carouse together. And there, no doubt, redoubling their joy,\r\nthey began to recollect and talk of the state of Greece, what wars she had\r\nincurred in defense of her liberty, and yet was never perhaps mistress of a\r\nmore settled or grateful one that this which other men’s labors had won for\r\nher: almost without one drop of blood, or one citizen’s loss to be mourned for,\r\nshe had this day had put into her hands the most glorious of rewards, and best\r\nworth the contending for. Courage and wisdom are, indeed, rarities amongst men,\r\nbut of all that is good, a just man it would seem is the most scarce. Such as\r\nAgesilaus, Lysander, Nicias, and Alcibiades, knew how to play the general’s\r\npart, how to manage a war, how to bring off their men victorious by land and\r\nsea; but how to employ that success to generous and honest purposes, they had\r\nnot known. For should a man except the achievement at Marathon, the sea-fight\r\nat Salamis, the engagements at Plataea and Thermopylae, Cimon’s exploits at\r\nEurymedon, and on the coasts of Cyprus, Greece fought all her battles against,\r\nand to enslave, herself; she erected all her trophies to her own shame and\r\nmisery, and was brought to ruin and desolation almost wholly by the guilt and\r\nambition of her great men. A foreign people, appearing just to retain some\r\nembers, as it were, some faint remainders of a common character derived to them\r\nfrom their ancient sires, a nation from whom it was a mere wonder that Greece\r\nshould reap any benefit by word or thought, these are they who have retrieved\r\nGreece from her severest dangers and distresses, have rescued her out of the\r\nhands of insulting lords and tyrants, and reinstated her in her former\r\nliberties.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus they entertained their tongues and thoughts; whilst Titus by his actions\r\nmade good what had been proclaimed. For he immediately dispatched away Lentulus\r\nto Asia, to set the Bargylians free, Titillius to Thrace, to see the garrisons\r\nof Philip removed out of the towns and islands there, while Publius Villius set\r\nsail, in order to treat with Antiochus about the freedom of the Greeks under\r\nhim. Titus himself passed on to Chalcis, and sailing thence to Magnesia,\r\ndismantled the garrisons there, and surrendered the government into the\r\npeople’s hands. Shortly after, he was appointed at Argos to preside in the\r\nNemean games, and did his part in the management of that solemnity singularly\r\nwell; and made a second publication there by the crier, of liberty to the\r\nGreeks; and, visiting all the cities, he exhorted them to the practice of\r\nobedience to law, of constant justice, and unity, and friendship one towards\r\nanother. He suppressed their factions, brought home their political exiles;\r\nand, in short, his conquest over the Macedonians did not seem to give him a\r\nmore lively pleasure, than to find himself prevalent in reconciling Greeks with\r\nGreeks; so that their liberty seemed now the least part of the kindness he\r\nconferred upon them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe story goes, that when Lycurgus the orator had rescued Xenocrates the\r\nphilosopher from the collectors who were hurrying him away to prison for\r\nnon-payment of the alien tax, and had them punished for the license they had\r\nbeen guilty of, Xenocrates afterwards meeting the children of Lycurgus, “My\r\nsons,” said he, “I am nobly repaying your father for his kindness; he has the\r\npraises of the whole people in return for it.” But the returns which attended\r\nTitus Quintius and the Romans, for their beneficence to the Greeks, terminated\r\nnot in empty praises only; for these proceedings gained them, deservedly,\r\ncredit and confidence, and thereby power, among all nations, for many not only\r\nadmitted the Roman commanders, but even sent and entreated to be under their\r\nprotection; neither was this done by popular governments alone, or by single\r\ncities; but kings oppressed by kings, cast themselves into these protecting\r\nhands. Insomuch that in a very short time (though perchance not without divine\r\ninfluence in it) all the world did homage to them. Titus himself thought more\r\nhighly of his liberation of Greece than of any other of his actions, as appears\r\nby the inscription with which he dedicated some silver targets, together with\r\nhis own shield, to Apollo at Delphi: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nYe Spartan Tyndarids, twin sons of Jove,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWho in swift horsemanship have placed your love,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTitus, of great Aeneas’ race, leaves this\u003cbr\u003e\r\nIn honor of the liberty of Greece.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nHe offered also to Apollo a golden crown, with this inscription: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThis golden crown upon thy locks divine,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nO blest Latona’s son, was set to shine\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBy the great captain of the Aenean name.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nO Phoebus, grant the noble Titus fame!\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe same event has twice occurred to the Greeks in the city of Corinth. Titus,\r\nthen, and Nero again in our days, both at Corinth, and both alike at the\r\ncelebration of the Isthmian games, permitted the Greeks to enjoy their own laws\r\nand liberty. The former (as has been said) proclaimed it by the crier; but Nero\r\ndid it in the public meeting place from the tribunal, in a speech which he\r\nhimself made to the people. This, however, was long after.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTitus now engaged in a most gallant and just war upon Nabis, that most\r\nprofligate and lawless tyrant of the Lacedaemonians, but in the end\r\ndisappointed the expectations of the Greeks. For when he had an opportunity of\r\ntaking him, he purposely let it slip, and struck up a peace with him, leaving\r\nSparta to bewail an unworthy slavery; whether it were that he feared, if the\r\nwar should be protracted, Rome would send a new general who might rob him of\r\nthe glory of it; or that emulation and envy of Philopoemen (who had signalized\r\nhimself among the Greeks upon all other occasions, but in that war especially\r\nhad done wonders both for matter of courage and counsel, and whom the Achaeans\r\nmagnified in their theaters, and put into the same balance of glory with\r\nTitus,) touched him to the quick; and that he scorned that an ordinary\r\nArcadian, who had but commanded in a few re- encounters upon the confines of\r\nhis native district, should be spoken of in terms of equality with a Roman\r\nconsul, waging war as the protector of Greece in general. But, besides, Titus\r\nwas not without an apology too for what he did, namely, that he put an end to\r\nthe war only when he foresaw that the tyrant’s destruction must have been\r\nattended with the ruin of the other Spartans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Achaeans, by various decrees, did much to show Titus honor: none of these\r\nreturns, however, seemed to come up to the height of the actions that merited\r\nthem, unless it were one present they made him, which affected and pleased him\r\nbeyond all the rest; which was this. The Romans, who in the war with Hannibal\r\nhad the misfortune to be taken captives, were sold about here and there, and\r\ndispersed into slavery; twelve hundred in number were at that time in Greece.\r\nThe reverse of their fortune always rendered them objects of compassion; but\r\nmore particularly, as well might be, when they now met, some with their sons,\r\nsome with their brothers, others with their acquaintance; slaves with their\r\nfree, and captives with their victorious countrymen. Titus, though deeply\r\nconcerned on their behalf, yet took none of them from their masters by\r\nconstraint. But the Achaeans, redeeming them at five pounds a man, brought them\r\naltogether into one place, and made a present of them to him, as he was just\r\ngoing on shipboard, so that he now sailed away with the fullest satisfaction;\r\nhis generous actions having procured him as generous returns, worthy a brave\r\nman and a lover of his country. This seemed the most glorious part of all his\r\nsucceeding triumph; for these redeemed Romans (as it is the custom for slaves,\r\nupon their manumission, to shave their heads and wear felt-hats) followed in\r\nthat habit in the procession. To add to the glory of this show, there were the\r\nGrecian helmets, the Macedonian targets and long spears, borne with the rest of\r\nthe spoils in public view, besides vast sums of money; Tuditanus says, 3,713\r\npounds weight of massy gold, 43,270 of silver, 14,514 pieces of coined gold,\r\ncalled Philippics, which was all over and above the thousand talents which\r\nPhilip owed, and which the Romans were afterwards prevailed upon, chiefly by\r\nthe mediation of Titus, to remit to Philip, declaring him their ally and\r\nconfederate, and sending him home his hostage son.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nShortly after, Antiochus entered Greece with a numerous fleet, and a powerful\r\narmy, soliciting the cities there to sedition and revolt; abetted in all and\r\nseconded by the Aetolians, who for this long time had borne a grudge and secret\r\nenmity to the Romans, and now suggested to him, by way of a cause and pretext\r\nof war, that he came to bring the Greeks liberty. When, indeed, they never\r\nwanted it less, as they were free already, but, in lack of really honorable\r\ngrounds, he was instructed to employ these lofty professions. The Romans, in\r\nthe interim, in great apprehension of revolutions and revolt in Greece, and of\r\nhis great reputation for military strength, dispatched the consul Manius\r\nAcilius to take the charge of the war, and Titus, as his lieutenant, out of\r\nregard to the Greeks; some of whom he no sooner saw, but he confirmed them in\r\nthe Roman interests; others, who began to falter, like a timely physician, by\r\nthe use of the strong remedy of their own affection for himself, he was able to\r\narrest in the first stage of the disease, before they had committed themselves\r\nto any great error. Some few there were whom the Aetolians were beforehand\r\nwith, and had so wholly perverted that he could do no good with them; yet\r\nthese, however angry and exasperated before, he saved and protected when the\r\nengagement was over. For Antiochus, receiving a defeat at Thermopylae, not only\r\nfled the field, but hoisted sail instantly for Asia. Manius, the consul,\r\nhimself invaded and besieged a part of the Aetolians, while king Philip had\r\npermission to reduce the rest. Thus while, for instance, the Dolopes and\r\nMagnetians on the one hand, the Athamanes and Aperantians on the other, were\r\nransacked by the Macedonians, and while Manius laid Heraclea waste, and\r\nbesieged Naupactus, then in the Aetolians’ hands, Titus, still with a\r\ncompassionate care for Greece, sailed across from Peloponnesus to the consul;\r\nand began first of all to chide him, that the victory should be owing alone to\r\nhis arms, and yet he should suffer Philip to bear away the prize and profit of\r\nthe war, and sit wreaking his anger upon a single town, whilst the Macedonians\r\noverran several nations and kingdoms. But as he happened to stand then in view\r\nof the besieged, they no sooner spied him out, but they call to him from their\r\nwall, they stretch forth their hands, they supplicate and entreat him. At the\r\ntime, he said not a word more, but turning about with tears in his eyes, went\r\nhis way. Some little while after, he discussed the matter so effectually with\r\nManius, that he won him over from his passion, and prevailed with him to give a\r\ntruce and time to the Aetolians, to send deputies to Rome to petition the\r\nsenate for terms of moderation.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the hardest task, and that which put Titus to the greatest difficulty was,\r\nto entreat with Manius for the Chalcidians, who had incensed him on account of\r\na marriage which Antiochus had made in their city, even whilst the war was on\r\nfoot; a match noways suitable in point of age, he an elderly man being enamored\r\nwith a mere girl; and as little proper for the time, in the midst of a war. She\r\nwas the daughter of one Cleoptolemus, and is said to have been wonderfully\r\nbeautiful. The Chalcidians, in consequence, embraced the king’s interests with\r\nzeal and alacrity, and let him make their city the basis of his operations\r\nduring the war. Thither, therefore, he made with all speed, when he was routed,\r\nand fled; and reaching Chalcis, without making any stay, taking this young\r\nlady, and his money and friends with him, away he sails to Asia. And now\r\nManius’s indignation carrying him in all haste against the Chalcidians, Titus\r\nhurried after him, endeavoring to pacify and to entreat him; and, at length,\r\nsucceeded both with him and the chief men among the Romans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Chalcidians, thus owing their lives to Titus, dedicated to him all the best\r\nand most magnificent of their sacred buildings, inscriptions upon which may be\r\nseen to run thus to this day:THE PEOPLE DEDICATE THIS GYMNASIUM TO TITUS AND TO\r\nHERCULES; so again: THE PEOPLE CONSECRATE THE DELPHINIUM TO TITUS AND TO\r\nHERCULES; and what is yet more, even in our time, a priest of Titus was\r\nformally elected and declared; and after sacrifice and libation, they sing a\r\nset song, much of which for the length of it we omit, but shall transcribe the\r\nclosing verses: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe Roman Faith, whose aid of yore,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOur vows were offered to implore,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWe worship now and evermore.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo Rome, to Titus, and to Jove,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nO maidens, in the dances move.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDances and Io-Paeans too\u003cbr\u003e\r\nUnto the Roman Faith are due,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nO Savior Titus, and to you.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nOther parts of Greece also heaped honors upon him suitable to his merits, and\r\nwhat made all those honors true and real, was the surprising good-will and\r\naffection which his moderation and equity of character had won for him. For if\r\nhe were at any time at variance with anybody in matters of business, or out of\r\nemulation and rivalry, (as with Philopoemen, and again with Diophanes, when in\r\noffice as General of the Achaeans,) his resentment never went far, nor did it\r\never break out into acts; but when it had vented itself in some citizen-like\r\nfreedom of speech, there was an end of it. In fine, nobody charged malice or\r\nbitterness upon his nature, though many imputed hastiness and levity to it; in\r\ngeneral, he was the most attractive and agreeable of companions, and could\r\nspeak too, both with grace, and forcibly. For instance, to divert the Achaeans\r\nfrom the conquest of the isle of Zacynthus, “If,” said he, “they put their head\r\ntoo far out of Peloponnesus, they may hazard themselves as much as a tortoise\r\nout of its shell.” Again, when he and Philip first met to treat of a cessation\r\nand peace, the latter complaining that Titus came with a mighty train, while he\r\nhimself came alone and unattended, “Yes,” replied Titus, “you have left\r\nyourself alone by killing your friends.” At another time, Dinocrates the\r\nMessenian, having drunk too much at a merry-meeting in Rome, danced there in\r\nwoman’s clothes, and the next day addressed himself to Titus for assistance in\r\nhis design to get Messene out of the hands of the Achaeans. “This,” replied\r\nTitus, “will be matter for consideration; my only surprise is that a man with\r\nsuch purposes on his hands should be able to dance and sing at drinking\r\nparties.” When, again, the ambassadors of Antiochus were recounting to those of\r\nAchaea, the various multitudes composing their royal master’s forces, and ran\r\nover a long catalog of hard names, “I supped once,” said Titus, “with a friend,\r\nand could not forbear expostulating with him at the number of dishes he had\r\nprovided, and said I wondered where he had furnished himself with such a\r\nvariety; ‘Sir,’ replied he, ‘to confess the truth, it is all hog’s flesh\r\ndifferently cooked.’ And so, men of Achaea, when you are told of Antiochus’s\r\nlancers, and pikemen, and foot guards, I advise you not to be surprised; since\r\nin fact they are all Syrians differently armed.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter his achievements in Greece, and when the war with Antiochus was at an\r\nend, Titus was created censor; the most eminent office, and, in a manner, the\r\nhighest preferment in the commonwealth. The son of Marcellus, who had been five\r\ntimes consul, was his colleague. These, by virtue of their office, cashiered\r\nfour senators of no great distinction, and admitted to the roll of citizens all\r\nfreeborn residents. But this was more by constraint than their own choice; for\r\nTerentius Culeo, then tribune of the people, to spite the nobility, spurred on\r\nthe populace to order it to be done. At this time, the two greatest and most\r\neminent persons in the city, Africanus Scipio and Marcus Cato, were at\r\nvariance. Titus named Scipio first member of the senate; and involved himself\r\nin a quarrel with Cato, on the following unhappy occasion. Titus had a brother,\r\nLucius Flamininus, very unlike him in all points of character, and, in\r\nparticular, low and dissolute in his pleasures, and flagrantly regardless of\r\nall decency. He kept as a companion a boy whom he used to carry about with him,\r\nnot only when he had troops under his charge, but even when the care of a\r\nprovince was committed to him. One day at a drinking-bout, when the youngster\r\nwas wantoning with Lucius, “I love you, Sir, so dearly,” said he, “that,\r\npreferring your satisfaction to my own, I came away without seeing the\r\ngladiators, though I have never seen a man killed in my life.” Lucius,\r\ndelighted with what the boy said, answered, “Let not that trouble you; I can\r\nsatisfy that longing,” and with that, orders a condemned man to be fetched out\r\nof the prison, and the executioner to be sent for, and commands him to strike\r\noff the man’s head, before they rose from table. Valerius Antias only so far\r\nvaries the story as to make it woman for whom he did it. But Livy says that in\r\nCato’s own speech the statement is, that a Gaulish deserter coming with his\r\nwife and children to the door, Lucius took him into the banqueting-room, and\r\nkilled him with his own hand, to gratify his paramour. Cato, it is probable,\r\nmight say this by way of aggravation of the crime; but that the slain was no\r\nsuch fugitive, but a prisoner, and one condemned to die, not to mention other\r\nauthorities, Cicero tells us in his treatise On Old Age, where he brings in\r\nCato, himself, giving that account of the matter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, this is certain; Cato during his censorship, made a severe scrutiny\r\ninto the senators’ lives in order to the purging and reforming the house, and\r\nexpelled Lucius, though he had been once consul before, and though the\r\npunishment seemed to reflect dishonor on his brother also. Both of them\r\npresented themselves to the assembly of the people in a suppliant manner, not\r\nwithout tears in their eyes, requesting that Cato might show the reason and\r\ncause of his fixing such a stain upon so honorable a family. The citizens\r\nthought it a modest and moderate request. Cato, however, without any retraction\r\nor reserve, at once came forward, and standing up with his colleague\r\ninterrogated Titus, as to whether he knew the story of the supper. Titus\r\nanswering in the negative, Cato related it, and challenged Lucius to a formal\r\ndenial of it. Lucius made no reply, whereupon the people adjudged the disgrace\r\njust and suitable, and waited upon Cato home from the tribunal in great state.\r\nBut Titus still so deeply resented his brother’s degradation, that he allied\r\nhimself with those who had long borne a grudge against Cato; and winning over a\r\nmajor part of the senate, he revoked and made void all the contracts, leases,\r\nand bargains made by Cato, relating to the public revenues, and also got\r\nnumerous actions and accusations brought against him; carrying on against a\r\nlawful magistrate and excellent citizen, for the sake of one who was indeed his\r\nrelation, but was unworthy to be so, and had but gotten his deserts, a course\r\nof bitter and violent attacks, which it would be hard to say were either right\r\nor patriotic. Afterwards, however, at a public spectacle in the theater, at\r\nwhich the senators appeared as usual, sitting, as became their rank, in the\r\nfirst seats, when Lucius was spied at the lower end, seated in a mean,\r\ndishonorable place, it made a great impression upon the people, nor could they\r\nendure the sight, but kept calling out to him to move, until he did move, and\r\nwent in among those of consular dignity, who received him into their seats.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis natural ambition of Titus was well enough looked upon by the world, whilst\r\nthe wars we have given a relation of afforded competent fuel to feed it; as,\r\nfor instance, when after the expiration of his consulship, he had a command as\r\nmilitary tribune, which nobody pressed upon him. But being now out of all\r\nemploy in the government, and advanced in years, he showed his defects more\r\nplainly; allowing himself, in this inactive remainder of life, to be carried\r\naway with the passion for reputation, as uncontrollably as any youth. Some such\r\ntransport, it is thought, betrayed him into a proceeding against Hannibal,\r\nwhich lost him the regard of many. For Hannibal, having fled his country, first\r\ntook sanctuary with Antiochus; but he having been glad to obtain a peace, after\r\nthe battle in Phrygia, Hannibal was put to shift for himself, by a second\r\nflight, and, after wandering through many countries, fixed at length in\r\nBithynia, proffering his service to king Prusias. Every one at Rome knew where\r\nhe was, but looked upon him, now in his weakness and old age, with no sort of\r\napprehension, as one whom fortune had quite cast off. Titus, however, coming\r\nthither as ambassador, though he was sent from the senate to Prusias upon\r\nanother errand, yet, seeing Hannibal resident there, it stirred up resentment\r\nin him to find that he was yet alive. And though Prusias used much intercession\r\nand entreaties in favor of him, as his suppliant and familiar friend, Titus was\r\nnot to be entreated. There was an ancient oracle, it seems, which prophesied\r\nthus of Hannibal’s end: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nLibyssan shall Hannibal enclose.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nHe interpreted this to be meant of the African Libya, and that he should be\r\nburied in Carthage; as if he might yet expect to return and end his life there.\r\nBut there is a sandy place in Bithynia, bordering on the sea, and near it a\r\nlittle village called Libyssa. It was Hannibal’s chance to be staying here, and\r\nhaving ever from the beginning had a distrust of the easiness and cowardice of\r\nPrusias, and a fear of the Romans, he had, long before, ordered seven\r\nunderground passages to be dug from his house, leading from his lodging, and\r\nrunning a considerable distance in various opposite directions, all\r\nundiscernible from without. As soon, therefore, as he heard what Titus had\r\nordered, he attempted to make his escape through these mines; but finding them\r\nbeset with the king’s guards, he resolved upon making away with himself. Some\r\nsay that wrapping his upper garment about his neck, he commanded his servant to\r\nset his knee against his back, and not to cease twisting and pulling it, till\r\nhe had completely strangled him. Others say, he drank bull’s blood, after the\r\nexample of Themistocles and Midas. Livy writes that he had poison in readiness,\r\nwhich he mixed for the purpose, and that taking the cup into his hand, “Let us\r\nease,” said he, “the Romans of their continual dread and care, who think it\r\nlong and tedious to await the death of a hated old man. Yet Titus will not bear\r\naway a glorious victory, nor one worthy of those ancestors who sent to caution\r\nPyrrhus, an enemy, and a conqueror too, against the poison prepared for him by\r\ntraitors.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus venous are the reports of Hannibal’s death; but when the news of it came\r\nto the senators’ ears, some felt indignation against Titus for it, blaming as\r\nwell his officiousness as his cruelty; who, when there was nothing to urge it,\r\nout of mere appetite for distinction, to have it said that he had caused\r\nHannibal’s death, sent him to his grave when he was now like a bird that in its\r\nold age has lost its feathers, and incapable of flying is let alone to live\r\ntamely without molestation.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey began also now to regard with increased admiration the clemency and\r\nmagnanimity of Scipio Africanus, and called to mind how he, when he had\r\nvanquished in Africa the till then invincible and terrible Hannibal, neither\r\nbanished him his country, nor exacted of his countrymen that they should give\r\nhim up. At a parley just before they joined battle, Scipio gave him his hand,\r\nand in the peace made after it, he put no hard article upon him, nor insulted\r\nover his fallen fortune. It is told, too, that they had another meeting\r\nafterwards, at Ephesus, and that when Hannibal, as they were walking together,\r\ntook the upper hand, Africanus let it pass, and walked on without the least\r\nnotice of it; and that then they began to talk of generals, and Hannibal\r\naffirmed that Alexander was the greatest commander the world had seen, next to\r\nhim Pyrrhus, and the third was himself; Africanus, with a smile, asked, “What\r\nwould you have said, if I had not defeated you?” “I would not then, Scipio,” he\r\nreplied, “have made myself the third, but the first commander.” Such conduct\r\nwas much admired in Scipio, and that of Titus, who had as it were insulted the\r\ndead whom another had slain, was no less generally found fault with. Not but\r\nthat there were some who applauded the action, looking upon a living Hannibal\r\nas a fire, which only wanted blowing to become a flame. For when he was in the\r\nprime and flower of his age, it was not his body, nor his hand, that had been\r\nso formidable, but his consummate skill and experience, together with his\r\ninnate malice and rancor against the Roman name, things which do not impair\r\nwith age. For the temper and bent of the soul remains constant, while fortune\r\ncontinually varies; and some new hope might easily rouse to a fresh attempt\r\nthose whose hatred made them enemies to the last. And what really happened\r\nafterwards does to a certain extent tend yet further to the exculpation of\r\nTitus. Aristonicus, of the family of a common musician, upon the reputation of\r\nbeing the son of Eumenes, filled all Asia with tumults and rebellion. Then\r\nagain, Mithridates, after his defeats by Sylla and Fimbria, and vast slaughter,\r\nas well among his prime officers as common soldiers, made head again, and\r\nproved a most dangerous enemy, against Lucullus, both by sea and land. Hannibal\r\nwas never reduced to so contemptible a state as Caius Marius; he had the\r\nfriendship of a king, and the free exercise of his faculties, employment and\r\ncharge in the navy, and over the horse and foot, of Prusias; whereas those who\r\nbut now were laughing to hear of Marius wandering about Africa, destitute and\r\nbegging, in no long time after were seen entreating his mercy in Rome, with his\r\nrods at their backs, and his axes at their necks. So true it is, that looking\r\nto the possible future, we can call nothing that we see either great or small;\r\nas nothing puts an end to the mutability and vicissitude of things, but what\r\nputs an end to their very being. Some authors accordingly tell us, that Titus\r\ndid not do this of his own head, but that he was joined in commission with\r\nLucius Scipio, and that the whole object of the embassy was, to effect\r\nHannibal’s death. And now, as we find no further mention in history of anything\r\ndone by Titus, either in war or in the administration of the government, but\r\nsimply that he died in peace; it is time to look upon him as he stands in\r\ncomparison with Philopoemen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap29\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF PHILOPOEMEN WITH FLAMININUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFirst, then, as for the greatness of the benefits which Titus conferred on\r\nGreece, neither Philopoemen, nor many braver men than he, can make good the\r\nparallel. They were Greeks fighting against Greeks, but Titus, a stranger to\r\nGreece, fought for her. And at the very time when Philopoemen went over into\r\nCrete, destitute of means to succor his besieged countrymen, Titus, by a defeat\r\ngiven to Philip in the heart of Greece, set them and their cities free. Again,\r\nif we examine the battles they fought, Philopoemen, whilst he was the Achaeans’\r\ngeneral, slew more Greeks than Titus, in aiding the Greeks, slew Macedonians.\r\nAs to their failings, ambition was Titus’s weak side, and obstinacy\r\nPhilopoemen’s; in the former, anger was easily kindled, in the latter, it was\r\nas hardly quenched. Titus reserved to Philip the royal dignity; he pardoned the\r\nAetolians, and stood their friend; but Philopoemen, exasperated against his\r\ncountry, deprived it of its supremacy over the adjacent villages. Titus was\r\never constant to those he had once befriended, the other, upon any offense, as\r\nprone to cancel kindnesses. He who had once been a benefactor to the\r\nLacedaemonians, afterwards laid their walls level with the ground, wasted their\r\ncountry, and in the end changed and destroyed the whole frame of their\r\ngovernment. He seems, in truth, to have prodigalled away his own life, through\r\npassion and perverseness; for he fell upon the Messenians, not with that\r\nconduct and caution that characterized the movements of Titus, but with\r\nunnecessary and unreasonable haste.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe many battles he fought, and the many trophies he won, may make us ascribe\r\nto Philopoemen the more thorough knowledge of war. Titus decided the matter\r\nbetwixt Philip and himself in two engagements; but Philopoemen came off\r\nvictorious in ten thousand encounters, to all which fortune had scarcely any\r\npresence, so much were they owing to his skill. Besides, Titus got his renown,\r\nassisted by the power of a flourishing Rome; the other flourished under a\r\ndeclined Greece, so that his successes may be accounted his own; in Titus’s\r\nglory Rome claims a share. The one had brave men under him, the other made his\r\nbrave, by being over them. And though Philopoemen was unfortunate certainly, in\r\nalways being opposed to his countrymen, yet this misfortune is at the same time\r\na proof of his merit. Where the circumstances are the same, superior success\r\ncan only be ascribed to superior merit. And he had, indeed, to do with the two\r\nmost warlike nations of all Greece, the Cretans on the one hand, and the\r\nLacedaemonians on the other, and he mastered the craftiest of them by art and\r\nthe bravest of them by valor. It may also be said that Titus, having his men\r\narmed and disciplined to his hand, had in a manner his victories made for him;\r\nwhereas Philopoemen was forced to introduce a discipline and tactics of his\r\nown, and to new-mold and model his soldiers; so that what is of greatest import\r\ntowards insuring a victory was in his case his own creation, while the other\r\nhad it ready provided for his benefit. Philopoemen effected many gallant things\r\nwith his own hand, but Titus none; so much so that one Archedemus, an Aetolian,\r\nmade it a jest against him that while he, the Aetolian, was running with his\r\ndrawn sword, where he saw the Macedonians drawn up closest and fighting\r\nhardest, Titus was standing still, and with hands stretched out to heaven,\r\npraying to the gods for aid.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is true, Titus acquitted himself admirably, both as a governor, and as an\r\nambassador; but Philopoemen was no less serviceable and useful to the Achaeans\r\nin the capacity of a private man, than in that of a commander. He was a private\r\ncitizen when he restored the Messenians to their liberty, and delivered their\r\ncity from Nabis; he was also a private citizen when he rescued the\r\nLacedaemonians, and shut the gates of Sparta against the General Diophanes, and\r\nTitus. He had a nature so truly formed for command that he could govern even\r\nthe laws themselves for the public good; he did not need to wait for the\r\nformality of being elected into command by the governed, but employed their\r\nservice, if occasion required, at his own discretion; judging that he who\r\nunderstood their real interests, was more truly their supreme magistrate, than\r\nhe whom they had elected to the office. The equity, clemency, and humanity of\r\nTitus towards the Greeks, display a great and generous nature; but the actions\r\nof Philopoemen, full of courage, and forward to assert his country’s liberty\r\nagainst the Romans, have something yet greater and nobler in them. For it is\r\nnot as hard a task to gratify the indigent and distressed, as to bear up\r\nagainst, and to dare to incur the anger of the powerful. To conclude, since it\r\ndoes not appear to be easy, by any review or discussion, to establish the true\r\ndifference of their merits, and decide to which a preference is due, will it be\r\nan unfair award in the case, if we let the Greek bear away the crown for\r\nmilitary conduct and warlike skill, and the Roman for justice and clemency?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap30\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003ePYRRHUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf the Thesprotians and Molossians after the great inundation, the first king,\r\naccording to some historians, was Phaethon, one of those who came into Epirus\r\nwith Pelasgus. Others tell us that Deucalion and Pyrrha, having set up the\r\nworship of Jupiter at Dodona, settled there among the Molossians. In after\r\ntime, Neoptolemus, Achilles’s son, planting a colony, possessed these parts\r\nhimself, and left a succession of kings, who, after him, were named Pyrrhidae;\r\nas he in his youth was called Pyrrhus, and of his legitimate children, one born\r\nof Lanassa, daughter of Cleodaeus, Hyllus’s son, had also that name. From him,\r\nAchilles came to have divine honors in Epirus, under the name of Aspetus, in\r\nthe language of the country. After these first kings, those of the following\r\nintervening times becoming barbarous, and insignificant both in their power and\r\ntheir lives, Tharrhypas is said to have been the first, who by introducing\r\nGreek manners and learning, and humane laws into his cities, left any fame of\r\nhimself. Alcetas was the son of Tharrhypas, Arybas of Alcetas, and of Arybas\r\nand Troas his queen, Aeacides: he married Phthia, the daughter of Menon, the\r\nThessalian, a man of note at the time off the Lamiac war, and of highest\r\ncommand in the confederate army next to Leosthenes. To Aeacides were born of\r\nPhthia, Deidamia and Troas daughters, and Pyrrhus a son.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Molossians, afterwards falling into factions, and expelling Aeacides,\r\nbrought in the sons of Neoptolemus, and such friends of Aeacides as they could\r\ntake were all cut off; Pyrrhus, yet an infant, and searched for by the enemy,\r\nhad been stolen away and carried off by Androclides end Angelus; who, however,\r\nbeing obliged to take with them a few servants, and women to nurse the child,\r\nwere much impeded and retarded in their flight, and when they were now\r\novertaken, they delivered the infant to Androcleon, Hippias, and Neander,\r\nfaithful and able young fellows, giving them in charge to make for Megara, a\r\ntown of Macedon, with all their might, while they themselves, partly by\r\nentreaty, and partly by force, stopped the course of the pursuers till late in\r\nthe evening. At last, having hardly forced them back, they joined those who had\r\nthe care of Pyrrhus; but the sun being already set, at the point of attaining\r\ntheir object they suddenly found themselves cut off from it. For on reaching\r\nthe river that runs by the city they found it looking formidable and rough, and\r\nendeavoring to pass over, they discovered it was not fordable; late rains\r\nhaving heightened the water, and made the current violent. The darkness of the\r\nnight added to the horror of all, so that they durst not venture of themselves\r\nto carry over the child and the women that attended it; but, perceiving some of\r\nthe country people on the other side, they desired them to assist their\r\npassage, and showed them Pyrrhus, calling out aloud, and importuning them.\r\nThey, however, could not hear for the noise and roaring of the water. Thus time\r\nwas spent while those called out, and the others did not understand what was\r\nsaid, till one recollecting himself, stripped off a piece of bark from an oak,\r\nand wrote on it with the tongue of a buckle, stating the necessities and the\r\nfortunes of the child, and then rolling it about a stone, which was made use of\r\nto give force to the motion, threw it over to the other side, or, as some say,\r\nfastened it to the end of a javelin, and darted it over. When the men on the\r\nother shore read what was on the bark, and saw how time pressed, without delay\r\nthey cut down some trees, and lashing them together, came over to them. And it\r\nso fell out, that he who first got ashore, and took Pyrrhus in his arms, was\r\nnamed Achilles, the rest being helped over by others as they came to hand.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus being safe, and out of the reach of pursuit, they addressed themselves to\r\nGlaucias, then king of the Illyrians, and finding him sitting at home with his\r\nwife, they laid down the child before them. The king began to weigh the matter,\r\nfearing Cassander, who was a mortal enemy of Aeacides, and, being in deep\r\nconsideration, said nothing for a long time; while Pyrrhus, crawling about on\r\nthe ground, gradually got near and laid hold with his hand upon the king’s\r\nrobe, and so helping himself upon his feet against the knees of Glaucias, first\r\nmoved laughter, and then pity, as a little humble, crying petitioner. Some say\r\nhe did not throw himself before Glaucias, but catching hold of an altar of the\r\ngods, and spreading his hands about it, raised himself up by that; and that\r\nGlaucias took the act as an omen. At present, therefore, he gave Pyrrhus into\r\nthe charge of his wife, commanding he should be brought up with his own\r\nchildren; and a little after, the enemies sending to demand him, and Cassander\r\nhimself offering two hundred talents, he would not deliver him up; but when he\r\nwas twelve years old, bringing him with an army into Epirus, made him king.\r\nPyrrhus in the air of his face had something more of the terrors, than of the\r\naugustness of kingly power; he had not a regular set of upper teeth, but in the\r\nplace of them one continued bone, with small lines marked on it, resembling the\r\ndivisions of a row of teeth. It was a general belief he could cure the spleen,\r\nby sacrificing a white cock, and gently pressing with his right foot on the\r\nspleen of the persons as they lay down on their backs, nor was any one so poor\r\nor inconsiderable as not to be welcome, if he desired it, to the benefit of his\r\ntouch. He accepted the cock for the sacrifice as a reward, and was always much\r\npleased with the present. The large toe of that foot was said to have a divine\r\nvirtue; for after his death, the rest of the body being consumed, this was\r\nfound unhurt and untouched by the fire. But of these things hereafter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBeing now about seventeen years old, and the government in appearance well\r\nsettled, he took a journey out of the kingdom to attend the marriage of one of\r\nGlaucias’s sons, with whom he was brought up; upon which opportunity the\r\nMolossians again rebelling, turned out all of his party, plundered his\r\nproperty, and gave themselves up to Neoptolemus. Pyrrhus, having thus lost the\r\nkingdom, and being in want of all things, applied to Demetrius the son of\r\nAntigonus, the husband of his sister Deidamia, who, while she was but a child,\r\nhad been in name the wife of Alexander, son of Roxana, but their affairs\r\nafterwards proving unfortunate, when she came to age, Demetrius married her. At\r\nthe great battle of Ipsus, where so many kings were engaged, Pyrrhus, taking\r\npart with Demetrius, though yet but a youth, routed those that encountered him,\r\nand highly signalized himself among all the soldiery; and afterwards, when\r\nDemetrius’s fortunes were low, he did not forsake him then, but secured for him\r\nthe cities of Greece with which he was entrusted; and upon articles of\r\nagreement being made between Demetrius and Ptolemy, he went over as an hostage\r\nfor him into Egypt, where both in hunting and other exercises, he gave Ptolemy\r\nan ample proof of his courage and strength. Here observing Berenice in greatest\r\npower, and of all Ptolemy’s wives highest in esteem for virtue and\r\nunderstanding, he made his court principally to her. He had a particular art of\r\ngaining over the great to his own interest, as on the other hand he readily\r\noverlooked such as were below him; and being also well-behaved and temperate in\r\nhis life, among all the young princes then at court, he was thought most fit to\r\nhave Antigone for his wife, one of the daughters of Berenice by Philip, before\r\nshe married Ptolemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this match, advancing in honor, and Antigone being a very good wife to\r\nhim, having procured a sum of money, and raised an army, he so ordered matters\r\nas to be sent into his kingdom of Epirus, and arrived there to the great\r\nsatisfaction of many, from their hate to Neoptolemus, who was governing in a\r\nviolent and arbitrary way. But fearing lest Neoptolemus should enter into\r\nalliance with some neighboring princes, he came to terms and friendship with\r\nhim, agreeing that they should share the government between them. There were\r\npeople, however, who, as time went on, secretly exasperated them, and fomented\r\njealousies between them. The cause chiefly moving Pyrrhus is said to have had\r\nthis beginning. It was customary for the kings to offer sacrifice to Mars, at\r\nPassaro, a place in the Molossian country, and that done to enter into a solemn\r\ncovenant with the Epirots; they to govern according to law, these to preserve\r\nthe government as by law established. This was performed in the presence of\r\nboth kings, who were there with their immediate friends, giving and receiving\r\nmany presents; here Gelo, one of the friends of Neoptolemus, taking Pyrrhus by\r\nthe hand, presented him with two pair of draught oxen. Myrtilus, his\r\ncup-bearer, being then by, begged these of Pyrrhus, who not giving them to him,\r\nbut to another, Myrtilus extremely resented it, which Gelo took notice of, and,\r\ninviting him to a banquet, (amidst drinking and other excesses, as some relate,\r\nMyrtilus being then in the flower of his youth,) he entered into discourse,\r\npersuading him to adhere to Neoptolemus, and destroy Pyrrhus by poison.\r\nMyrtilus received the design, appearing to approve and consent to it, but\r\nprivately discovered it to Pyrrhus, by whose command he recommended\r\nAlexicrates, his chief cup-bearer, to Gelo, as a fit instrument for their\r\ndesign, Pyrrhus being very desirous to have proof of the plot by several\r\nevidences. So Gelo being deceived, Neoptolemus, who was no less deceived,\r\nimagining the design went prosperously on, could not forbear, but in his joy\r\nspoke of it among his friends, and once at an entertainment at his sister\r\nCadmea’s, talked openly of it, thinking none heard but themselves. Nor was\r\nanyone there but Phaenarete the wife of Samon, who had the care of\r\nNeoptolemus’s flocks and herds. She, turning her face towards the wall upon a\r\ncouch, seemed fast asleep, and having heard all that passed, unsuspected, next\r\nday came to Antigone, Pyrrhus’s wife, and told her what she had heard\r\nNeoptolemus say to his sister. On understanding which Pyrrhus for the present\r\nsaid little, but on a sacrifice day, making an invitation for Neoptolemus,\r\nkilled him; being satisfied before that the great men of the Epirots were his\r\nfriends, and that they were eager for him to rid himself of Neoptolemus, and\r\nnot to content himself with a mere petty share of the government, but to follow\r\nhis own natural vocation to great designs, and now when just ground of\r\nsuspicion appeared, to anticipate Neoptolemus by taking him off first.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn memory of Berenice and Ptolemy, he named his son by Antigone, Ptolemy, and\r\nhaving built a city in the peninsula of Epirus, called it Berenicis. From this\r\ntime he began to revolve many and vast projects in his thoughts; but his first\r\nspecial hope and design lay near home, and he found means to engage himself in\r\nthe Macedonian affairs under the following pretext. Of Cassander’s sons,\r\nAntipater, the eldest, killed Thessalonica his mother, and expelled his brother\r\nAlexander, who sent to Demetrius entreating his assistance, and also called in\r\nPyrrhus; but Demetrius being retarded by multitude of business, Pyrrhus, coming\r\nfirst, demanded in reward of his service the districts called Tymphaea and\r\nParauaea in Macedon itself, and, of their new conquests, Ambracia, Acarnania,\r\nand Amphilochia. The young prince giving way, he took possession of these\r\ncountries, and secured them with good garrisons, and proceeded to reduce for\r\nAlexander himself other parts of the kingdom which he gained from Antipater.\r\nLysimachus, designing to send aid to Antipater, was involved in much other\r\nbusiness, but knowing Pyrrhus would not disoblige Ptolemy, or deny him\r\nanything, sent pretended letters to him as from Ptolemy, desiring him to give\r\nup his expedition, upon the payment of three hundred talents to him by\r\nAntipater. Pyrrhus, opening the letter, quickly discovered the fraud of\r\nLysimachus; for it had not the accustomed style of salutation, “The father to\r\nthe son, health,” but “King Ptolemy to Pyrrhus, the king, health;” and\r\nreproaching Lysimachus, he notwithstanding made a peace, and they all met to\r\nconfirm it by a solemn oath upon sacrifice. A goat, a bull, and a ram being\r\nbrought out, the ram on a sudden fell dead. The others laughed, but Theodotus\r\nthe prophet forbade Pyrrhus to swear, declaring that Heaven by that portended\r\nthe death of one of the three kings, upon which he refused to ratify the peace.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe affairs of Alexander being now in some kind of settlement, Demetrius\r\narrived, contrary, as soon appeared, to the desire and indeed not without the\r\nalarm of Alexander. After they had been a few days together, their mutual\r\njealousy led them to conspire against each other; and Demetrius taking\r\nadvantage of the first occasion, was beforehand with the young king, and slew\r\nhim, and proclaimed himself king of Macedon. There had been formerly no very\r\ngood understanding between him and Pyrrhus; for besides the inroads he made\r\ninto Thessaly, the innate disease of princes, ambition of greater empire, had\r\nrendered them formidable and suspected neighbors to each other, especially\r\nsince Deidamia’s death; and both having seized Macedon, they came into conflict\r\nfor the same object, and the difference between them had the stronger motives.\r\nDemetrius having first attacked the Aetolians and subdued them, left Pantauchus\r\nthere with a considerable army, and marched direct against Pyrrhus, and\r\nPyrrhus, as he thought, against him; but by mistake of the ways they passed by\r\none another, and Demetrius falling into Epirus wasted the country, and Pyrrhus,\r\nmeeting with Pantauchus, prepared for an engagement. The soldiers fell to, and\r\nthere was a sharp and terrible conflict, especially where the generals were.\r\nPantauchus, in courage, dexterity, and strength of body, being confessedly the\r\nbest of all Demetrius’s captains, and having both resolution and high spirit,\r\nchallenged Pyrrhus to fight hand to hand; on the other side Pyrrhus, professing\r\nnot to yield to any king in valor and glory, and esteeming the fame of Achilles\r\nmore truly to belong to him for his courage than for his blood, advanced\r\nagainst Pantauchus through the front of the army. First they used their lances,\r\nthen came to a close fight, and managed their swords both with art and force;\r\nPyrrhus receiving one wound, but returning two for it, one in the thigh, the\r\nother near the neck, repulsed and overthrew Pantauchus, but did not kill him\r\noutright, as he was rescued by his friends. But the Epirots exulting in the\r\nvictory of their king, and admiring his courage, forced through and cut in\r\npieces the phalanx of the Macedonians, and pursuing those that fled, killed\r\nmany, and took five thousand prisoners.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis fight did not so much exasperate the Macedonians with anger for their\r\nloss, or with hatred to Pyrrhus, as it caused esteem, and admiration of his\r\nvalor, and great discourse of him among those that saw what he did, and were\r\nengaged against him in the action. They thought his countenance, his swiftness,\r\nand his motions expressed those of the great Alexander, and that they beheld\r\nhere an image and resemblance of his rapidity and strength in fight; other\r\nkings merely by their purple and their guards, by the formal bending of their\r\nnecks, and lofty tone of speech, Pyrrhus only by arms, and in action,\r\nrepresented Alexander. Of his knowledge of military tactics and the art of a\r\ngeneral, and his great ability that way, we have the best information from the\r\ncommentaries he left behind him. Antigonus, also, we are told, being asked who\r\nwas the greatest soldier, said, “Pyrrhus, if he lives to be old,” referring\r\nonly to those of his own time; but Hannibal of all great commanders esteemed\r\nPyrrhus for skill and conduct the first, Scipio the second, and himself the\r\nthird, as is related in the life of Scipio. In a word, he seemed ever to make\r\nthis all his thought and philosophy, as the most kingly part of learning; other\r\ncuriosities he held in no account. He is reported, when asked at a feast\r\nwhether he thought Python or Caphisias the best musician, to have said,\r\nPolysperchon was the best soldier, as though it became a king to examine and\r\nunderstand only such things. Towards his familiars he was mild, and not easily\r\nincensed; zealous, and even vehement in returning kindnesses. Thus when Aeropus\r\nwas dead, he could not bear it with moderation, saying, he indeed had suffered\r\nwhat was common to human nature, but condemning and blaming himself, that by\r\nputtings off and delays he had not returned his kindness in time. For our debts\r\nmay be satisfied to the creditor’s heirs, but not to have made the\r\nacknowledgment of received favors, while they to whom it is due can be sensible\r\nof it, afflicts a good and a worthy nature. Some thinking it fit that Pyrrhus\r\nshould banish a certain ill-tongued fellow in Ambracia, who had spoken very\r\nindecently of him, “Let him rather,” said he, “speak against us here to a few,\r\nthan rambling about to a great many.” And others who in their wine had made\r\nredactions upon him, being afterward questioned for it, and asked by him\r\nwhether they had said such words, on one of the young fellows answering, “Yes,\r\nall that, king; and should have said more if we had had more wine;” he laughed\r\nand discharged them. After Antigone’s death, he married several wives to\r\nenlarge his interest and power. He had the daughter of Autoleon, king of the\r\nPaeonians, Bircenna, Bardyllis the Illyrian’s daughter, Lanassa, daughter of\r\nAgathocles the Syracusan, who brought with her in dower the city of Corcyra\r\nwhich had been taken by Agathocles. By Antigone he had Ptolemy, Alexander by\r\nLanassa, and Helenus, his youngest son, by Bircenna; he brought them up all in\r\narms, hot and eager youths, and by him sharpened and whetted to war from their\r\nvery infancy. It is said, when one of them, while yet a child, asked him to\r\nwhich he would leave the kingdom, he replied, to him that had the sharpest\r\nsword, which indeed was much like that tragical curse of Oedipus to his sons:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nNot by the lot decide.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut with the sword the heritage divide.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nSo unsocial and wild-beast-like is the nature of ambition and cupidity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this battle Pyrrhus, returning gloriously home, enjoyed his fame and\r\nreputation, and being called “Eagle” by the Epirots, “By you,” said he, “I am\r\nan eagle; for how should I not be such, while I have your arms as wings to\r\nsustain me?” A little after, having intelligence that Demetrius was dangerously\r\nsick, he entered on a sudden into Macedonia, intending only an incursion, and\r\nto harass the country; but was very near seizing upon all, and taking the\r\nkingdom without a blow. He marched as far as Edessa unresisted, great numbers\r\ndeserting, and coming in to him. This danger excited Demetrius beyond his\r\nstrength, and his friends and commanders in a short time got a considerable\r\narmy together, and with all their forces briskly attacked Pyrrhus, who, coming\r\nonly to pillage, would not stand a fight but retreating lost part of his army,\r\nas he went off, by the close pursuit of the Macedonians. Demetrius, however,\r\nalthough he had easily and quickly forced Pyrrhus out of the country, yet did\r\nnot slight him, but having resolved upon great designs, and to recover his\r\nfather’s kingdom with an army of one hundred thousand men, and a fleet of five\r\nhundred ships, would neither embroil himself with Pyrrhus, nor leave the\r\nMacedonians so active and troublesome a neighbor; and since he had no leisure\r\nto continue the war with him, he was willing to treat and conclude a peace, and\r\nto turn his forces upon the other kings. Articles being agreed upon, the\r\ndesigns of Demetrius quickly discovered themselves by the greatness of his\r\npreparation. And the other kings, being alarmed, sent to Pyrrhus ambassadors\r\nand letters, expressing their wonder that he should choose to let his own\r\nopportunity pass by, and wait till Demetrius could use his; and whereas he was\r\nnow able to chase him out of Macedon, involved in designs and disturbed, he\r\nshould expect till Demetrius at leisure, and grown great, should bring the war\r\nhome to his own door, and make him fight for his temples and sepulchers in\r\nMolossia; especially having so lately, by his means, lost Corcyra and his wife\r\ntogether. For Lanassa had taken offense at Pyrrhus for too great an inclination\r\nto those wives of his that were barbarians, and so withdrew to Corcyra, and\r\ndesiring to marry some king, invited Demetrius, knowing of all the kings he was\r\nmost ready to entertain offers of marriage; so he sailed thither, married\r\nLanassa, and placed a garrison in the city. The kings having written thus to\r\nPyrrhus, themselves likewise contrived to find Demetrius work, while he was\r\ndelaying and making his preparations. Ptolemy, setting out with a great fleet,\r\ndrew off many of the Greek cities. Lysimachus out of Thrace wasted the upper\r\nMacedon; and Pyrrhus, also, taking arms at the same time, marched to Beroea,\r\nexpecting, as it fell out, that Demetrius, collecting his forces against\r\nLysimachus, would leave the lower country undefended. That very night he seemed\r\nin his sleep to be called by Alexander the Great, and approaching saw him sick\r\nabed, but was received with very kind words and much respect, and promised\r\nzealous assistance. He making bold to reply: “How, Sir, can you, being sick,\r\nassist me?” “With my name,” said he, and mounting a Nisaean horse, seemed to\r\nlead the way. At the sight of this vision he was much assured, and with swift\r\nmarches overrunning all the interjacent places, takes Beroea, and making his\r\nhead-quarters there, reduced the rest of the country by his commanders. When\r\nDemetrius received intelligence of this, and perceived likewise the Macedonians\r\nready to mutiny in the army, he was afraid to advance further, lest coming near\r\nLysimachus, a Macedonian king, and of great fame, they should revolt to him. So\r\nreturning, he marched directly against Pyrrhus, as a stranger, and hated by the\r\nMacedonians. But while he lay encamped there near him, many who came out of\r\nBeroea infinitely praised Pyrrhus as invincible in arms, a glorious warrior,\r\nwho treated those he had taken kindly and humanely. Several of these Pyrrhus\r\nhimself sent privately, pretending to be Macedonians, and saying, now was the\r\ntime to be delivered from the severe government of Demetrius, by coming over to\r\nPyrrhus, a gracious prince, and a lover of soldiers. By this artifice a great\r\npart of the army was in a state of excitement, and the soldiers began to look\r\nevery way about, inquiring for Pyrrhus. It happened he was without his helmet,\r\ntill understanding they did not know him, he put it on again, and so was\r\nquickly recognized by his lofty crest, and the goat’s horns he wore upon it.\r\nThen the Macedonians, running to him, desired to be told his password, and some\r\nput oaken boughs upon their heads, because they saw them worn by the soldiers\r\nabout him. Some persons even took the confidence to say to Demetrius himself,\r\nthat he would be well advised to withdraw, and lay down the government. And he,\r\nindeed, seeing the mutinous movements of the army to be only too consistent\r\nwith what they said, privately got away, disguised in a broad hat, and a common\r\nsoldier’s coat. So Pyrrhus became master of the army without fighting, and was\r\ndeclared king of the Macedonians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Lysimachus now arriving, and claiming the defeat of Demetrius as the joint\r\nexploit of them both, and that therefore the kingdom should be shared between\r\nthem, Pyrrhus, not as yet quite assured of the Macedonians, and in doubt of\r\ntheir faith, consented to the proposition of Lysimachus, and divided the\r\ncountry and cities between them accordingly. This was for the present useful,\r\nand prevented a war; but shortly after they found the partition not so much a\r\npeaceful settlement, as an occasion of further complaint and difference. For\r\nmen whose ambition neither seas nor mountains, nor unpeopled deserts can limit,\r\nnor the bounds dividing Europe from Asia confine their vast desires, it would\r\nbe hard to expect to forbear from injuring one another when they touch, and are\r\nclose together. These are ever naturally at war, envying and seeking advantages\r\nof one another, and merely make use of those two words, peace and war, like\r\ncurrent coin, to serve their occasions, not as justice but as expediency\r\nsuggests, and are really better men when they openly enter on a war, than when\r\nthey give to the mere forbearance from doing wrong, for want of opportunity,\r\nthe sacred names of justice and friendship. Pyrrhus was an instance of this;\r\nfor setting himself against the rise of Demetrius again, and endeavoring to\r\nhinder the recovery of his power, as it were from a kind of sickness, he\r\nassisted the Greeks, and came to Athens, where, having ascended the Acropolis,\r\nhe offered sacrifice to the goddess, and the same day came down again, and told\r\nthe Athenians he was much gratified by the good-will and the confidence they\r\nhad shown to him; but if they were wise, he advised them never to let any king\r\ncome thither again, or open their city gates to him. He concluded also a peace\r\nwith Demetrius, but shortly after he was gone into Asia, at the persuasion of\r\nLysimachus, he tampered with the Thessalians to revolt, and besieged his cities\r\nin Greece; finding he could better preserve the attachment of the Macedonians\r\nin war than in peace, and being of his own inclination not much given to rest.\r\nAt last, after Demetrius had been overthrown in Syria, Lysimachus, who had\r\nsecured his affairs, and had nothing to do, immediately turned his whole forces\r\nupon Pyrrhus, who was in quarters at Edessa, and falling upon and seizing his\r\nconvoy of provisions, brought first a great scarcity into the army; then partly\r\nby letters, partly by spreading rumors abroad, he corrupted the principal\r\nofficers of the Macedonians, reproaching them that they had made one their\r\nmaster who was both a stranger and descended from those who had ever been\r\nservants to the Macedonians, and that they had thrust the old friends and\r\nfamiliars of Alexander out of the country. The Macedonian soldiers being much\r\nprevailed upon, Pyrrhus withdrew himself with his Epirots and auxiliary forces,\r\nrelinquishing Macedon just after the same manner he took it. So little reason\r\nhave kings to condemn popular governments for changing sides as suits their\r\ninterests, as in this they do but imitate them who are the great instructors of\r\nunfaithfulness and treachery; holding him the wisest that makes the least\r\naccount of being an honest man.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPyrrhus having thus retired into Epirus, and left Macedon, fortune gave him a\r\nfair occasion of enjoying himself in quiet, and peaceably governing his own\r\nsubjects; but he who thought it a nauseous course of life not to be doing\r\nmischief to others, or receiving some from them, like Achilles, could not\r\nendure repose,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n— But sat and languished far,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDesiring battle and the shout of war,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand gratified his inclination by the following pretext for new troubles. The\r\nRomans were at war with the Tarentines, who, not being able to go on with the\r\nwar, nor yet, through the foolhardiness and the viciousness of their popular\r\nspeakers, to come to terms and give it up, proposed now to make Pyrrhus their\r\ngeneral, and engage him in it, as of all the neighboring kings the most at\r\nleisure, and the most skillful as a commander. The more grave and discreet\r\ncitizens opposing these counsels, were partly overborne by the noise and\r\nviolence of the multitude; while others, seeing this, absented themselves from\r\nthe assemblies; only one Meton, a very sober man, on the day this public decree\r\nwas to be ratified, when the people were now seating themselves, came dancing\r\ninto the assembly like one quite drunk, with a withered garland and a small\r\nlamp in his hand, and a woman playing on a flute before him. And as in great\r\nmultitudes met at such popular assemblies, no decorum can be well observed,\r\nsome clapped him, others laughed, none forbade him, but called to the woman to\r\nplay, and to him to sing to the company, and when they thought he was going to\r\ndo so, “’Tis only right of you, O men of Tarentum,” he said, “not to hinder any\r\nfrom making themselves merry, that have a mind to it, while it is yet in their\r\npower; and if you are wise, you will take out your pleasure of your freedom\r\nwhile you can, for you must change your course of life, and follow other diet\r\nwhen Pyrrhus comes to town.” These words made a great impression upon many of\r\nthe Tarentines, and a confused murmur went about, that he had spoken much to\r\nthe purpose; but some who feared they should be sacrificed if a peace were made\r\nwith the Romans, reviled the whole assembly for so tamely suffering themselves\r\nto be abused by a drunken sot, and crowding together upon Meton, thrust him\r\nout. So the public order was passed, and ambassadors sent into Epirus, not only\r\nin their own names, but in those of all the Italian Greeks, carrying presents\r\nto Pyrrhus, and letting him know they wanted a general of reputation and\r\nexperience; and that they could furnish him with large forces of Lucanians,\r\nMessapians, Samnites, and Tarentines, amounting to twenty thousand horse, and\r\nthree hundred and fifty thousand foot. This did not only quicken Pyrrhus, but\r\nraised an eager desire for the expedition in the Epirots.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was one Cineas, a Thessalian, considered to be a man of very good sense,\r\na disciple of the great orator Demosthenes, who of all that were famous at that\r\ntime for speaking well, most seemed, as in a picture, to revive in the minds of\r\nthe audience the memory of his force and vigor of eloquence; and being always\r\nabout Pyrrhus, and sent about in his service to several cities, verified the\r\nsaying of Euripides, that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n— the force of words\u003cbr\u003e\r\nCan do whate’er is done by conquering swords.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd Pyrrhus was used to say, that Cineas had taken more towns with his words,\r\nthan he with his arms, and always did him the honor to employ him in his most\r\nimportant occasions. This person, seeing Pyrrhus eagerly preparing for Italy,\r\nled him one day when he was at leisure into the following reasonings: “The\r\nRomans, sir, are reported to be great warriors and conquerors of many warlike\r\nnations; if God permit us to overcome them, how should we use our victory?”\r\n“You ask,” said Pyrrhus, “a thing evident of itself. The Romans once conquered,\r\nthere is neither Greek nor barbarian city that will resist us, but we shall\r\npresently be masters of all Italy, the extent and resources and strength of\r\nwhich anyone should rather profess to be ignorant of, than yourself.” Cineas,\r\nafter a little pause, “And having subdued Italy, what shall we do next?”\r\nPyrrhus not yet discovering his intention, “Sicily,” he replied, “next holds\r\nout her arms to receive us, a wealthy and populous island, and easy to be\r\ngained; for since Agathocles left it, only faction and anarchy, and the\r\nlicentious violence of the demagogues prevail.” “You speak,” said Cineas, “what\r\nis perfectly probable, but will the possession of Sicily put an end to the\r\nwar?” “God grant us,” answered Pyrrhus, “victory and success in that, and we\r\nwill use these as forerunners of greater things; who could forbear from Libya\r\nand Carthage then within reach, which Agathocles, even when forced to fly from\r\nSyracuse, and passing the sea only with a few ships, had all but surprised?\r\nThese conquests once perfected, will any assert that of the enemies who now\r\npretend to despise us, anyone will dare to make further resistance?” “None,”\r\nreplied Cineas, “for then it is manifest we may with such mighty forces regain\r\nMacedon, and make all absolute conquest of Greece; and when all these are in\r\nour power, what shall we do then?” Said Pyrrhus, smiling, “we will live at our\r\nease, my dear friend, and drink all day, and divert ourselves with pleasant\r\nconversation.” When Cineas had led Pyrrhus with his argument to this point:\r\n“And what hinders us now, sir, if we have a mind to be merry, and entertain one\r\nanother, since we have at hand without trouble all those necessary things, to\r\nwhich through much blood and great labor, and infinite hazards and mischief\r\ndone to ourselves and to others, we design at last to arrive?” Such reasonings\r\nrather troubled Pyrrhus with the thought of the happiness he was quitting, than\r\nany way altered his purpose, being unable to abandon the hopes of what he so\r\nmuch desired.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd first, he sent away Cineas to the Tarentines with three thousand men;\r\npresently after, many vessels for transport of horse, and galleys, and\r\nflat-bottomed boats of all sorts arriving from Tarentum, he shipped upon them\r\ntwenty elephants, three thousand horse, twenty thousand foot, two thousand\r\narchers, and five hundred slingers. All being thus in readiness, he set sail,\r\nand being half way over, was driven by the wind, blowing, contrary to the\r\nseason of the year, violently from the north, and carried from his course, but\r\nby the great skill and resolution of his pilots and seamen, he made the land\r\nwith infinite labor, and beyond expectation. The rest of the fleet could not\r\nget up, and some of the dispersed ships, losing the coast of Italy, were driven\r\ninto the Libyan and Sicilian Sea; others not able to double the Cape of\r\nJapygium, were overtaken by the night; and with a boisterous and heavy sea,\r\nthrowing them upon a dangerous and rocky shore, they were all very much\r\ndisabled except the royal galley. She, while the sea bore upon her sides,\r\nresisted with her bulk and strength, and avoided the force of it, till the wind\r\ncoming about, blew directly in their teeth from the shore, and the vessel\r\nkeeping up with her head against it, was in danger of going to pieces; yet on\r\nthe other hand, to suffer themselves to be driven off to sea again, which was\r\nthus raging and tempestuous, with the wind shifting about every way, seemed to\r\nthem the most dreadful of all their present evils. Pyrrhus, rising up, threw\r\nhimself overboard. His friends and guards strove eagerly who should be most\r\nready to help him, but night and the sea with its noise and violent surge, made\r\nit extremely difficult to do this; so that hardly, when with the morning the\r\nwind began to subside, he got ashore, breathless, and weakened in body, but\r\nwith high courage and strength of mind resisting his hard fortune. The\r\nMessapians, upon whose shore they were thrown by the tempest, came up eagerly\r\nto help them in the best manner they could; and some of the straggling vessels\r\nthat had escaped the storm arrived; in which were a very few horse, and not\r\nquite two thousand foot, and two elephants.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWith these Pyrrhus marched straight to Tarentum, where Cineas, being informed\r\nof his arrival, led out the troops to meet him. Entering the town, he did\r\nnothing unpleasing to the Tarentines, nor put any force upon them, till his\r\nships were all in harbor, and the greatest part of the army got together; but\r\nthen perceiving that the people, unless some strong compulsion was used to\r\nthem, were not capable either of saving others or being saved themselves, and\r\nwere rather intending, while he engaged for them in the field, to remain at\r\nhome bathing and feasting themselves, he first shut up the places of public\r\nexercise, and the walks where, in their idle way, they fought their country’s\r\nbattles and conducted her campaigns in their talk; he prohibited likewise all\r\nfestivals, revels, and drinking-parties, as unseasonable, and summoning them to\r\narms, showed himself rigorous and inflexible in carrying out the conscription\r\nfor service in the war. So that many, not understanding what it was to be\r\ncommanded, left the town, calling it mere slavery not to do as they pleased. He\r\nnow received intelligence that Laevinus, the Roman consul, was upon his march\r\nwith a great army, and plundering Lucania as he went. The confederate forces\r\nwere not come up to him, yet he thought it impossible to suffer so near an\r\napproach of an enemy, and drew out with his army, but first sent an herald to\r\nthe Romans to know if before the war they would decide the differences between\r\nthem and the Italian Greeks by his arbitrament and mediation. But Laevinus\r\nreturning answer, that the Romans neither accepted him as arbitrator. nor\r\nfeared him as an enemy, Pyrrhus advanced, and encamped in the plain between the\r\ncities of Pandosia and Heraclea, and having notice the Romans were near, and\r\nlay on the other side of the river Siris, he rode up to take a view of them,\r\nand seeing their order, the appointment of the watches, their method and the\r\ngeneral form of their encampment, he was amazed, and addressing one of his\r\nfriends next to him: “This order,” said he, “Megacles, of the barbarians, is\r\nnot at all barbarian in character; we shall see presently what they can do;”\r\nand, growing a little more thoughtful of the event, resolved to expect the\r\narriving of the confederate troops. And to hinder the Romans, if in the\r\nmeantime they should endeavor to pass the river, he planted men all along the\r\nbank to oppose them. But they, hastening to anticipate the coming up of the\r\nsame forces which he had determined to wait for, attempted the passage with\r\ntheir infantry, where it was fordable, and with the horse in several places, so\r\nthat the Greeks, fearing to be surrounded, were obliged to retreat, and\r\nPyrrhus, perceiving this and being much surprised, bade his foot officers draw\r\ntheir men up in line of battle, and continue in arms, while he himself, with\r\nthree thousand horse, advanced, hoping to attack the Romans as they were coming\r\nover, scattered and disordered. But when he saw a vast number of shields\r\nappearing above the water, and the horse following them in good order,\r\ngathering his men in a closer body, himself at the head of them, he began the\r\ncharge, conspicuous by his rich and beautiful armor, and letting it be seen\r\nthat his reputation had not outgone what he was able effectually to perform.\r\nWhile exposing his hands and body in the fight, and bravely repelling all that\r\nengaged him, he still guided the battle with a steady and undisturbed reason,\r\nand such presence of mind, as if he had been out of the action and watching it\r\nfrom a distance, passing still from point to point, and assisting those whom he\r\nthought most pressed by the enemy. Here Leonnatus the Macedonian, observing one\r\nof the Italians very intent upon Pyrrhus, riding up towards him, and changing\r\nplaces as he did, and moving as he moved: “Do you see, sir,” said he, “that\r\nbarbarian on the black horse with white feet? he seems to me one that designs\r\nsome great and dangerous thing, for he looks constantly at you, and fixes his\r\nwhole attention, full of vehement purpose, on you alone, taking no notice of\r\nothers. Be on your guard, sir, against him.” “Leonnatus,” said Pyrrhus, “it is\r\nimpossible for any man to avoid his fate; but neither he nor any other Italian\r\nshall have much satisfaction in engaging with me.” While they were in this\r\ndiscourse, the Italian, lowering his spear and quickening his horse, rode\r\nfuriously at Pyrrhus, and run his horse through with his lance; at the same\r\ninstant Leonnatus ran his through. Both horses falling, Pyrrhus’s friends\r\nsurrounded him and brought him off safe, and killed the Italian, bravely\r\ndefending himself. He was by birth a Frentanian, captain of a troop, and named\r\nOplacus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis made Pyrrhus use greater caution, and now seeing his horse give ground, he\r\nbrought up the infantry against the enemy, and changing his scarf and his arms\r\nwith Megacles, one of his friends, and, obscuring himself, as it were, in his,\r\ncharged upon the Romans, who received and engaged him, and a great while the\r\nsuccess of the battle remained undetermined; and it is said there were seven\r\nturns of fortune both of pursuing and being pursued. And the change of his arms\r\nwas very opportune for the safety of his person, but had like to have\r\noverthrown his cause and lost him the victory; for several falling upon\r\nMegacles, the first that gave him his mortal wound was one Dexous, who,\r\nsnatching away his helmet and his robe, rode at once to Laevinus, holding them\r\nup, and saying aloud he had killed Pyrrhus. These spoils being carried about\r\nand shown among the ranks, the Romans were transported with joy, and shouted\r\naloud; while equal discouragement and terror prevailed among the Greeks, until\r\nPyrrhus, understanding what had happened, rode about the army with his face\r\nbare, stretching out his hand to his soldiers, and telling them aloud it was\r\nhe. At last, the elephants more particularly began to distress the Romans,\r\nwhose horses, before they came near, not enduring them, went back with their\r\nriders; and upon this, he commanded the Thessalian cavalry to charge them in\r\ntheir disorder, and routed them with great loss. Dionysius affirms near fifteen\r\nthousand of the Romans fell; Hieronymus, no more than seven thousand. On\r\nPyrrhus’s side, the same Dionysius makes thirteen thousand slain, the other\r\nunder four thousand; but they were the flower of his men, and amongst them his\r\nparticular friends as well as officers whom he most trusted and made use of.\r\nHowever, be possessed himself of the Romans’ camp which they deserted, and\r\ngained over several confederate cities, and wasted the country round about, and\r\nadvanced so far that he was within about thirty-seven miles of Rome itself.\r\nAfter the fight many of the Lucanians and Samnites came in and joined him, whom\r\nhe chid for their delay, but yet he was evidently well pleased and raised in\r\nhis thoughts, that he had defeated so great an army of the Romans with the\r\nassistance of the Tarentines alone.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Romans did not remove Laevinus from the consulship; though it is told that\r\nCaius Fabricius said, that the Epirots had not beaten the Romans, but only\r\nPyrrhus, Laevinus; insinuating that their loss was not through want of valor\r\nbut of conduct; but filled up their legions, and enlisted fresh men with all\r\nspeed, talking high and boldly of war, which struck Pyrrhus with amazement. He\r\nthought it advisable by sending first to make an experiment whether they had\r\nany inclination to treat, thinking that to take the city and make an absolute\r\nconquest was no work for such an army as his was at that time, but to settle a\r\nfriendship, and bring them to terms, would be highly honorable after his\r\nvictory. Cineas was dispatched away, and applied himself to several of the\r\ngreat ones, with presents for themselves and their ladies from the king; but\r\nnot a person would receive any, and answered, as well men as women, that if an\r\nagreement were publicly concluded, they also should be ready, for their parts,\r\nto express their regard to the king. And Cineas, discoursing; with the senate\r\nin the most persuasive and obliging manner in the world, yet was not heard with\r\nkindness or inclination, although Pyrrhus offered also to return all the\r\nprisoners he had taken in the fight without ransom, and promised his assistance\r\nfor the entire conquest of all Italy, asking only their friendship for himself,\r\nand security for the Tarentines, and nothing further. Nevertheless, most were\r\nwell-inclined to a peace, having already received one great defeat, and fearing\r\nanother from an additional force of the native Italians, now joining with\r\nPyrrhus. At this point Appius Claudius, a man of great distinction, but who,\r\nbecause of his great age and loss of sight, had declined the fatigue of public\r\nbusiness, after these propositions had been made by the king, hearing a report\r\nthat the senate was ready to vote the conditions of peace, could not forbear,\r\nbut commanding his servants to take him up, was carried in his chair through\r\nthe forum to the senate house. When he was set down at the door, his sons and\r\nsons-in-law took him up in their arms, and, walking close round about him,\r\nbrought him into the senate. Out of reverence for so worthy a man, the whole\r\nassembly was respectfully silent.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd a little after raising up himself: “I bore,” said he, “until this time, the\r\nmisfortune of my eyes with some impatience, but now while I hear of these\r\ndishonorable motions and resolves of yours, destructive to the glory of Rome,\r\nit is my affliction, that being already blind, I am not deaf too. Where is now\r\nthat discourse of yours that became famous in all the world, that if he, the\r\ngreat Alexander, had come into Italy, and dared to attack us when we were young\r\nmen, and our fathers, who were then in their prime, he had not now been\r\ncelebrated as invincible, but either flying hence, or falling here, had left\r\nRome more glorious? You demonstrate now that all that was but foolish arrogance\r\nand vanity, by fearing Molossians and Chaonians, ever the Macedonian’s prey,\r\nand by trembling at Pyrrhus who was himself but a humble servant to one of\r\nAlexander’s life-guard, and comes here, not so much to assist the Greeks that\r\ninhabit among us, as to escape from his enemies at home, a wanderer about\r\nItaly, and yet dares to promise you the conquest of it all by that army which\r\nhas not been able to preserve for him a little part of Macedon. Do not persuade\r\nyourselves that making him your friend is the way to send him back, it is the\r\nway rather to bring over other invaders from thence, contemning you as easy to\r\nbe reduced, if Pyrrhus goes off without punishment for his outrages on you,\r\nbut, on the contrary, with the reward of having enabled the Tarentines and\r\nSamnites to laugh at the Romans.” When Appius had done, eagerness for the war\r\nseized on every man, and Cineas was dismissed with this answer, that when\r\nPyrrhus had withdrawn his forces out of Italy, then, if he pleased, they would\r\ntreat with him about friendship and alliance, but while he stayed there in\r\narms, they were resolved to prosecute the war against him with all their force,\r\nthough he should have defeated a thousand Laevinuses. It is said that Cineas,\r\nwhile he was managing this affair, made it his business carefully to inspect\r\nthe manners of the Romans, and to understand their methods of government, and\r\nhaving conversed with their noblest citizens, he afterwards told Pyrrhus, among\r\nother things, that the senate seemed to him an assembly of kings, and as for\r\nthe people, he feared lest it might prove that they were fighting with a\r\nLernaean hydra, for the consul had already raised twice as large an army as the\r\nformer, and there were many times over the same number of Romans able to bear\r\narms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen Caius Fabricius came in embassy from the Romans to treat about the\r\nprisoners that were taken, one whom Cineas had reported to be a man of highest\r\nconsideration among them as an honest man and a good soldier, but extremely\r\npoor. Pyrrhus received him with much kindness, and privately would have\r\npersuaded him to accept of his gold, not for any evil purpose, but calling it a\r\nmark of respect and hospitable kindness. Upon Fabricius’s refusal, he pressed\r\nhim no further, but the next day, having a mind to discompose him, as he had\r\nnever seen an elephant before, he commanded one of the largest, completely\r\narmed, to be placed behind the hangings, as they were talking together. Which\r\nbeing done, upon a sign given the hanging was drawn aside, and the elephant,\r\nraising his trunk over the head of Fabricius, made an horrid and ugly noise.\r\nHe, gently turning about and smiling, said to Pyrrhus, “neither your money\r\nyesterday, nor this beast today make any impression upon me.” At supper,\r\namongst all sorts of things that were discoursed of, but more particularly\r\nGreece and the philosophers there, Cineas, by accident, had occasion to speak\r\nof Epicurus, and explained the opinions his followers hold about the gods and\r\nthe commonwealth, and the object of life, placing the chief happiness of man in\r\npleasure, and declining public affairs as an injury and disturbance of a happy\r\nlife, removing the gods afar off both from kindness or anger, or any concern\r\nfor us at all, to a life wholly without business and flowing in pleasures.\r\nBefore he had done speaking, “O Hercules!” Fabricius cried out to Pyrrhus, “may\r\nPyrrhus and the Samnites entertain themselves with this sort of opinions as\r\nlong as they are in war with us.” Pyrrhus, admiring the wisdom and gravity of\r\nthe man, was the more transported with desire of making friendship instead of\r\nwar with the city, and entreated him, personally, after the peace should be\r\nconcluded, to accept of living with him as the chief of his ministers and\r\ngenerals. Fabricius answered quietly, “Sir, this will not be for your\r\nadvantage, for they who now honor and admire you, when they have had experience\r\nof me, will rather choose to be governed by me, than by you.” Such was\r\nFabricius. And Pyrrhus received his answer without any resentment or tyrannic\r\npassion; nay, among his friends he highly commended the great mind of\r\nFabricius, and entrusted the prisoners to him alone, on condition that if the\r\nsenate should not vote a peace, after they had conversed with their friends and\r\ncelebrated the festival of Saturn, they should be remanded. And, accordingly,\r\nthey were sent back after the holidays; it being decreed pain of death for any\r\nthat stayed behind.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Fabricius taking the consulate, a person came with a letter to the\r\ncamp written by the king’s principal physician, offering to take off Pyrrhus by\r\npoison, and so end the war without further hazard to the Romans, if he might\r\nhave a reward proportionable to his service. Fabricius, hating the villainy of\r\nthe man, and disposing the other consul to the same opinion, sent dispatches\r\nimmediately to Pyrrhus to caution him against the treason. His letter was to\r\nthis effect: “Caius Fabricius and Quintus Aemilius, consuls of the Romans, to\r\nPyrrhus the king, health. You seem to have made an ill judgment both of your\r\nfriends and enemies; you will understand by reading this letter sent to us,\r\nthat you are at war with honest men, and trust villains and knaves. Nor do we\r\ndisclose this to you out of any favor to you, but lest your ruin might bring a\r\nreproach upon us, as if we had ended the war by treachery, as not able to do it\r\nby force.” When Pyrrhus had read the letter, and made inquiry into the treason,\r\nhe punished the physician, and as an acknowledgment to the Romans sent to Rome\r\nthe prisoners without ransom, and again employed Cineas to negotiate a peace\r\nfor him. But they, regarding it as at once too great a kindness from an enemy,\r\nand too great a reward of not doing an ill thing to accept their prisoners so,\r\nreleased in return an equal number of the Tarentines and Samnites, but would\r\nadmit of no debate of alliance or peace until he had removed his arms and\r\nforces out of Italy, and sailed back to Epirus with the same ships that brought\r\nhim over. Afterwards, his affairs demanding a second fight, when he had\r\nrefreshed his men, he decamped, and met the Romans about the city Asculum,\r\nwhere, however, he was much incommoded by a woody country unfit for his horse,\r\nand a swift river, so that the elephants, for want of sure treading, could not\r\nget up with the infantry. After many wounded and many killed, night put an end\r\nto the engagement. Next day, designing to make the fight on even ground, and\r\nhave the elephants among the thickest of the enemy, he caused a detachment to\r\npossess themselves of those incommodious grounds, and, mixing slingers and\r\narchers among the elephants, with full strength and courage, he advanced in a\r\nclose and well-ordered body. The Romans, not having those advantages of\r\nretreating and falling on as they pleased, which they had before, were obliged\r\nto fight man to man upon plain ground, and, being anxious to drive back the\r\ninfantry before the elephants could get up, they fought fiercely with their\r\nswords among the Macedonian spears, not sparing themselves, thinking only to\r\nwound and kill, without regard of what they suffered. After a long and\r\nobstinate fight, the first giving ground is reported to have been where Pyrrhus\r\nhimself engaged with extraordinary courage; but they were most carried away by\r\nthe overwhelming force of the elephants, not being able to make use of their\r\nvalor, but overthrown as it were by the irruption of a sea or an earthquake,\r\nbefore which it seemed better to give way than to die without doing anything,\r\nand not gain the least advantage by suffering the utmost extremity, the retreat\r\nto their camp not being far. Hieronymus says, there fell six thousand of the\r\nRomans, and of Pyrrhus’s men, the king’s own commentaries reported three\r\nthousand five hundred and fifty lost in this action. Dionysius, however,\r\nneither gives any account of two engagements at Asculum, nor allows the Romans\r\nto have been certainly beaten, stating that once only, after they had fought\r\ntill sunset, both armies were unwillingly separated by the night, Pyrrhus being\r\nwounded by a javelin in the arm, and his baggage plundered by the Samnites,\r\nthat in all there died of Pyrrhus’s men and the Romans above fifteen thousand.\r\nThe armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy\r\nof his victory, that one other such would utterly undo him. For he had lost a\r\ngreat part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all his particular\r\nfriends and principal commanders; there were no others there to make recruits,\r\nand he found the confederates in Italy backward. On the other hand, as from a\r\nfountain continually flowing out of the city, the Roman camp was quickly and\r\nplentifully filled up with fresh men, not at all abating in courage for the\r\nlosses they sustained, but even from their very anger gaining new force and\r\nresolution to go on with the war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmong these difficulties he fell again into new hopes and projects distracting\r\nhis purposes. For at the same time some persons arrived from Sicily, offering\r\ninto his hands the cities of Agrigentum, Syracuse, and Leontini, and begging\r\nhis assistance to drive out the Carthaginians, and rid the island of tyrants;\r\nand others brought him news out of Greece that Ptolemy, called Ceraunus, was\r\nslain in a fight, and his army cut in pieces by the Gauls, and that now, above\r\nall others, was his time to offer himself to the Macedonians, in great need of\r\na king. Complaining much of fortune for bringing him so many occasions of great\r\nthings all together at a time, and thinking that to have both offered to him,\r\nwas to lose one of them, he was doubtful, balancing in his thoughts. But the\r\naffairs of Sicily seeming to hold out the greater prospects, Africa lying so\r\nnear, he turned himself to them, and presently dispatched away Cineas, as he\r\nused to do, to make terms beforehand with the cities. Then he placed a garrison\r\nin Tarentum, much to the Tarentines’ discontent, who required him either to\r\nperform what he came for, and continue with them in a war against the Romans,\r\nor leave the city as he found it. He returned no pleasing answer, but commanded\r\nthem to be quiet and attend his time, and so sailed away. Being arrived in\r\nSicily, what he had designed in his hopes was confirmed effectually, and the\r\ncities frankly surrendered to him; and wherever his arms and force were\r\nnecessary, nothing at first made any considerable resistance. For advancing\r\nwith thirty thousand foot, and twenty-five hundred horse, and two hundred\r\nships, he totally routed the Phoenicians, and overran their whole province, and\r\nEryx being the strongest town they held, and having a great garrison in it, he\r\nresolved to take it by storm. The army being in readiness to give the assault,\r\nhe put on his arms, and coming to the head of his men, made a vow of plays and\r\nsacrifices in honor to Hercules, if he signalized himself in that day’s action\r\nbefore the Greeks that dwelt in Sicily, as became his great descent and his\r\nfortunes. The sign being given by sound of trumpet, he first scattered the\r\nbarbarians with his shot, and then brought his ladders to the wall, and was the\r\nfirst that mounted upon it himself, and, the enemy appearing in great numbers,\r\nhe beat them back; some he threw down from the walls on each side, others he\r\nlaid dead in a heap round about him with his sword, nor did he receive the\r\nleast wound, but by his very aspect inspired terror in the enemy; and gave a\r\nclear demonstration that Homer was in the right, and pronounced according to\r\nthe truth of fact, that fortitude alone, of all the virtues, is wont to display\r\nitself in divine transports and frenzies. The city being taken, he offered to\r\nHercules most magnificently, and exhibited all varieties of shows and plays.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA sort of barbarous people about Messena, called Mamertines, gave much trouble\r\nto the Greeks, and put several of them under contribution. These being numerous\r\nand valiant (from whence they had their name, equivalent in the Latin tongue to\r\nwarlike), he first intercepted the collectors of the contribution money, and\r\ncut them off, then beat them in open fight, and destroyed many of their places\r\nof strength. The Carthaginians being now inclined to composition, and offering\r\nhim a round sum of money, and to furnish him with shipping, if a peace were\r\nconcluded, he told them plainly, aspiring still to greater things, there was\r\nbut one way for a friendship and right understanding between them, if they,\r\nwholly abandoning Sicily, would consent to make the African sea the limit\r\nbetween them and the Greeks. And being elevated with his good fortune, and the\r\nstrength of his forces, and pursuing those hopes in prospect of which he first\r\nsailed thither, his immediate aim was at Africa; and as he had abundance of\r\nshipping, but very ill equipped, he collected seamen, not by fair and gentle\r\ndealing with the cities, but by force in a haughty and insolent way, and\r\nmenacing them with punishments. And as at first he had not acted thus, but had\r\nbeen unusually indulgent and kind, ready to believe, and uneasy to none; now of\r\na popular leader becoming a tyrant by these severe proceedings, he got the name\r\nof an ungrateful and a faithless man. However, they gave way to these things as\r\nnecessary, although they took them very ill from him; and especially when he\r\nbegan to show suspicion of Thoenon and Sosistratus, men of the first position\r\nin Syracuse, who invited him over into Sicily, and when he was come, put the\r\ncities into his power, and were most instrumental in all he had done there\r\nsince his arrival, whom he now would neither suffer to be about his person, nor\r\nleave at home; and when Sosistratus out of fear withdrew himself, and then he\r\ncharged Thoenon, as in a conspiracy with the other, and put him to death, with\r\nthis all his prospects changed, not by little and little, nor in a single place\r\nonly, but a mortal hatred being raised in the cities against him, some fell off\r\nto the Carthaginians, others called in the Mamertines. And seeing revolts in\r\nall places, and desires of alteration, and a potent faction against him, at the\r\nsame time he received letters from the Samnites and Tarentines, who were beaten\r\nquite out of the field, and scarce able to secure their towns against the war,\r\nearnestly begging his help. This served as a color to make his relinquishing\r\nSicily no flight, nor a despair of good success; but in truth not being able to\r\nmanage Sicily, which was as a ship laboring in a storm, and willing to be out\r\nof her, he suddenly threw himself over into Italy. It is reported that at his\r\ngoing off he looked back upon the island, and said to those about him, “How\r\nbrave a field of war do we leave, my friends, for the Romans and Carthaginians\r\nto fight in,” which, as he then conjectured, fell out indeed not long after.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he was sailing off, the barbarians having conspired together, he was\r\nforced to a fight with the Carthaginians in the very road, and lost many of his\r\nships; with the rest he fled into Italy. There, about one thousand Mamertines,\r\nwho had crossed the sea a little before, though afraid to engage him in open\r\nfield, setting upon him where the passages were difficult, put the whole army\r\nin confusion. Two elephants fell, and a great part of his rear was cut off. He,\r\ntherefore, coming up in person, repulsed the enemy, but ran into great danger\r\namong men long trained and bold in war. His being wounded in the head with a\r\nsword, and retiring a little out of the fight, much increased their confidence,\r\nand one of them advancing a good way before the rest, large of body and in\r\nbright armor, with an haughty voice challenged him to come forth if he were\r\nalive. Pyrrhus, in great anger, broke away violently from his guards, and, in\r\nhis fury, besmeared with blood, terrible to look upon, made his way through his\r\nown men, and struck the barbarian on the head with his sword such a blow, as\r\nwith the strength of his arm, and the excellent temper of the weapon, passed\r\ndownward so far that his body being cut asunder fell in two pieces. This\r\nstopped the course of the barbarians, amazed and confounded at Pyrrhus, as one\r\nmore than man; so that continuing his march all the rest of the way\r\nundisturbed, he arrived at Tarentum with twenty thousand foot and three\r\nthousand horse, where, reinforcing himself with the choicest troops of the\r\nTarentines, he advanced immediately against the Romans, who then lay encamped\r\nin the territories of the Samnites, whose affairs were extremely shattered, and\r\ntheir counsels broken, having been in many fights beaten by the Romans. There\r\nwas also a discontent amongst them at Pyrrhus for his expedition into Sicily,\r\nso that not many came in to join him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe divided his army into two parts, and dispatched the first into Lucania to\r\noppose one of the consuls there, so that he should not come in to assist the\r\nother; the rest he led against Manius Curius, who had posted himself very\r\nadvantageously near Beneventum, and expected the other consul’s forces, and\r\npartly because the priests had dissuaded him by unfavorable omens, was resolved\r\nto remain inactive. Pyrrhus, hastening to attack these before the other could\r\narrive, with his best men, and the most serviceable elephants, marched in the\r\nnight toward their camp. But being forced to go round about, and through a very\r\nwoody country, their lights failed them, and the soldiers lost their way. A\r\ncouncil of war being called, while they were in debate, the night was spent,\r\nand, at the break of day, his approach, as he came down the hills, was\r\ndiscovered by the enemy, and put the whole camp into disorder and tumult. But\r\nthe sacrifices being auspicious, and the time absolutely obliging them to\r\nfight, Manius drew his troops out of the trenches, and attacked the vanguard,\r\nand, having routed them all, put the whole army into consternation, so that\r\nmany were cut off, and some of the elephants taken. This success drew on Manius\r\ninto the level plain, and here, in open battle, he defeated part of the enemy;\r\nbut, in other quarters, finding himself overpowered by the elephants and forced\r\nback to his trenches, he commanded out those who were left to guard them, a\r\nnumerous body, standing thick at the ramparts, all in arms and fresh. These\r\ncoming down from their strong position, and charging the elephants, forced them\r\nto retire; and they in the flight turning back upon their own men, caused great\r\ndisorder and confusion, and gave into the hands of the Romans the victory, and\r\nthe future supremacy. Having obtained from these efforts and these contests the\r\nfeeling, as well as the fame of invincible strength, they at once reduced Italy\r\nunder their power, and not long after Sicily too.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus fell Pyrrhus from his Italian and Sicilian hopes, after he had consumed\r\nsix years in these wars, and though unsuccessful in his affairs, yet preserved\r\nhis courage unconquerable among all these misfortunes, and was held, for\r\nmilitary experience, and personal valor and enterprise much the bravest of all\r\nthe princes of his time, only what he got by great actions he lost again by\r\nvain hopes, and by new desires of what he had not, kept nothing of what he had.\r\nSo that Antigonus used to compare him to a player with dice, who had excellent\r\nthrows, but knew not how to use them. He returned into Epirus with eight\r\nthousand foot and five hundred horse, and for want of money to pay them, was\r\nfain to look out for a new war to maintain the army. Some of the Gauls joining\r\nhim, he invaded Macedonia, where Antigonus, son of Demetrius, governed,\r\ndesigning merely to plunder and waste the country. But after he had made\r\nhimself master of several towns, and two thousand men came over to him, he\r\nbegan to hope for something greater, and adventured upon Antigonus himself, and\r\nmeeting him at a narrow passage, put the whole army in disorder. The Gauls, who\r\nbrought up Antigonus’s rear, were very numerous and stood firm, but after a\r\nsharp encounter, the greatest part of them were cut off, and they who had the\r\ncharge of the elephants being surrounded every way, delivered up both\r\nthemselves and the beasts. Pyrrhus, taking this advantage, and advising more\r\nwith his good fortune than his reason, boldly set upon the main body of the\r\nMacedonian foot, already surprised with fear, and troubled at the former loss.\r\nThey declined any action or engagement with him; and he, holding out his hand\r\nand calling aloud both to the superior and under officers by name, brought over\r\nthe foot from Antigonus, who, flying away secretly, was only able to retain\r\nsome of the seaport towns. Pyrrhus, among all these kindnesses of fortune,\r\nthinking what he had effected against the Gauls the most advantageous for his\r\nglory, hung up their richest and goodliest spoils in the temple of Minerva\r\nItonis, with this inscription: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nPyrrhus, descendant of Molossian kings,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThese shields to thee, Itonian goddess, brings,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWon from the valiant Gauls when in the fight\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAntigonus and all his host took flight;\u003cbr\u003e\r\n’Tis not today nor yesterday alone\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThat for brave deeds the Aeacidae are known.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAfter this victory in the field, he proceeded to secure the cities, and having\r\npossessed himself of Aegae, beside other hardships put upon the people there,\r\nhe left in the town a garrison of Gauls, some of those in his own army, who,\r\nbeing insatiably desirous of wealth, instantly dug up the tombs of the kings\r\nthat lay buried there, and took away the riches, and insolently scattered about\r\ntheir bones. Pyrrhus, in appearance, made no great matter of it, either\r\ndeferring it on account of the pressure of other business, or wholly passing it\r\nby, out of a fear of punishing those barbarians; but this made him very ill\r\nspoken of among the Macedonians, and his affairs being yet unsettled and\r\nbrought to no firm consistence, he began to entertain new hopes and projects,\r\nand in raillery called Antigonus a shameless man, for still wearing his purple\r\nand not changing it for an ordinary dress; but upon Cleonymus, the Spartan,\r\narriving and inviting him to Lacedaemon, he frankly embraced the overture.\r\nCleonymus was of royal descent, but seeming too arbitrary and absolute, had no\r\ngreat respect nor credit at home; and Areus was king there. This was the\r\noccasion of an old and public grudge between him and the citizens; but, beside\r\nthat, Cleonymus, in his old age, had married a young lady of great beauty and\r\nroyal blood, Chilonis, daughter of Leotychides, who, falling desperately in\r\nlove with Acrotatus, Areus’s son, a youth in the flower of manhood, rendered\r\nthis match both uneasy and dishonorable to Cleonymus, as there was none of the\r\nSpartans who did not very well know how much his wife slighted him; so these\r\ndomestic troubles added to his public discontent. He brought Pyrrhus to Sparta\r\nwith an army of twenty-five thousand foot, two thousand horse, and twenty-four\r\nelephants. So great a preparation made it evident to the whole world, that he\r\ncame not so much to gain Sparta for Cleonymus, as to take all Peloponnesus for\r\nhimself, although he expressly denied this to the Lacedaemonian ambassadors\r\nthat came to him at Megalopolis, affirming he came to deliver the cities from\r\nthe slavery of Antigonus, and declaring he would send his younger sons to\r\nSparta, if he might, to be brought up in Spartan habits, that so they might be\r\nbetter bred than all other kings. With these pretensions amusing those who came\r\nto meet him in his march, as soon as ever he entered Laconia, he began to\r\nplunder and waste the country, and on the ambassadors complaining that he began\r\nthe war upon them before it was proclaimed: “We know,” said he, “very well,\r\nthat neither do you Spartans, when you design anything, talk of it beforehand.”\r\nOne Mandroclidas, then present, told him, in the broad Spartan dialect: “If you\r\nare a god, you will do us no harm, we are wronging no man; but if you are a\r\nman, there may be another stronger than you.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe now marched away directly for Lacedaemon, and being advised by Cleonymus to\r\ngive the assault as soon as he arrived, fearing, as it is said, lest the\r\nsoldiers, entering by night, should plunder the city, he answered, they might\r\ndo it as well next morning, because there were but few soldiers in town, and\r\nthose unprovided against his sudden approach, as Areus was not there in person,\r\nbut gone to aid the Gortynians in Crete. And it was this alone that saved the\r\ntown, because he despised it as not tenable, and so imagining no defense would\r\nbe made, he sat down before it that night. Cleonymus’s friends, and the Helots,\r\nhis domestic servants, had made great preparation at his house, as expecting\r\nPyrrhus there at supper. In the night the Lacedaemonians held a consultation to\r\nship over all the women into Crete, but they unanimously refused, and\r\nArchidamia came into the senate with a sword in her hand, in the name of them\r\nall, asking if the men expected the women to survive the ruins of Sparta. It\r\nwas next resolved to draw a trench in a line directly over against the enemy’s\r\ncamp, and, here and there in it, to sink wagons in the ground, as deep as the\r\nnaves of the wheels, that, so being firmly fixed, they might obstruct the\r\npassage of the elephants. When they had just begun the work, both maids and\r\nwomen came to them, the married women with their robes tied like girdles round\r\ntheir underfrocks, and the unmarried girls in their single frocks only, to\r\nassist the elder men at the work. As for the youth that were next day to\r\nengage, they left them to their rest, and undertaking their proportion, they\r\nthemselves finished a third part of the trench, which was in breadth six\r\ncubits, four in depth, and eight hundred feet long, as Phylarchus says;\r\nHieronymus makes it somewhat less. The enemy beginning to move by break of day,\r\nthey brought their arms to the young men, and giving them also in charge the\r\ntrench, exhorted them to defend and keep it bravely, as it would be happy for\r\nthem to conquer in the view of their whole country, and glorious to die in the\r\narms of their mothers and wives, falling as became Spartans. As for Chilonis,\r\nshe retired with a halter about her neck, resolving to die so rather than fall\r\ninto the hands of Cleonymus, if the city were taken.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPyrrhus himself, in person, advanced with his foot to force through the shields\r\nof the Spartans ranged against him, and to get over the trench, which was\r\nscarce passable, because the looseness of the fresh earth afforded no firm\r\nfooting for the soldiers. Ptolemy, his son, with two thousand Gauls, and some\r\nchoice men of the Chaonians, went around the trench, and endeavored to get over\r\nwhere the wagons were. But they, being so deep in the ground, and placed close\r\ntogether, not only made his passage, but also the defense of the Lacedaemonians\r\nvery troublesome. Yet now the Gauls had got the wheels out of the ground, and\r\nwere drawing off the wagons toward the river, when young Acrotatus, seeing the\r\ndanger, passing through the town with three hundred men, surrounded Ptolemy\r\nundiscerned, taking the advantage of some slopes of the ground, until he fell\r\nupon his rear, and forced him to wheel about. And thrusting one another into\r\nthe ditch, and falling among the wagons, at last with much loss, not without\r\ndifficulty, they withdrew. The elderly men and all the women saw this brave\r\naction of Acrotatus, and when he returned back into the town to his first post,\r\nall covered with blood, and fierce and elate with victory, he seemed to the\r\nSpartan women to have become taller and more beautiful than before, and they\r\nenvied Chilonis so worthy a lover. And some of the old men followed him, crying\r\naloud, “Go on, Acrotatus, be happy with Chilonis, and beget brave sons for\r\nSparta.” Where Pyrrhus himself fought was the hottest of the action, and many\r\nof the Spartans did gallantly, but in particular one Phyllius signalized\r\nhimself, made the best resistance, and killed most assailants; and when he\r\nfound himself ready to sink with the many wounds he had received, retiring a\r\nlittle out of his place behind another, he fell down among his fellow-soldiers,\r\nthat the enemy might not carry off his body. The fight ended with the day, and\r\nPyrrhus, in his sleep, dreamed that he threw thunderbolts upon Lacedaemon, and\r\nset it all on fire, and rejoiced at the sight; and waking, in this transport of\r\njoy, he commanded his officers to get all things ready for a second assault,\r\nand relating his dream among his friends, supposing it to mean that he should\r\ntake the town by storm, the rest assented to it with admiration, but Lysimachus\r\nwas not pleased with the dream, and told him he feared, lest as places struck\r\nwith lightning are held sacred, and not to be trodden upon, so the gods might\r\nby this let him know the city should not be taken. Pyrrhus replied, that all\r\nthese things were but idle talk, full of uncertainty, and only fit to amuse the\r\nvulgar; their thought, with their swords in their hands, should always be\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe one good omen is king Pyrrhus’ cause,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand so got up, and drew out his army to the walls by break of day. The\r\nLacedaemonians, in resolution and courage, made a defense even beyond their\r\npower; the women were all by, helping them to arms, and bringing bread and\r\ndrink to those that desired it, and taking care of the wounded. The Macedonians\r\nattempted to fill up the trench, bringing huge quantities of materials and\r\nthrowing them upon the arms and dead bodies, that lay there and were covered\r\nover. While the Lacedaemonians opposed this with all their force, Pyrrhus, in\r\nperson, appeared on their side of the trench and the wagons, pressing on\r\nhorseback toward the city, at which the men who had that post calling out, and\r\nthe women shrieking and running about, while Pyrrhus violently pushed on, and\r\nbeat down all that disputed his way, his horse received a shot in the belly\r\nfrom a Cretan arrow, and, in his convulsions as he died, threw off Pyrrhus on\r\nslippery and steep ground. And all about him being in confusion at this, the\r\nSpartans came boldly up, and making good use of their missiles, forced them off\r\nagain. After this Pyrrhus, in other quarters also, put an end to the combat,\r\nimagining the Lacedaemonians would be inclined to yield, as almost all of them\r\nwere wounded, and very great numbers killed outright; but the good fortune of\r\nthe city, either satisfied with the experiment upon the bravery of the\r\ncitizens, or willing to prove how much even in the last extremities such\r\ninterposition may effect, brought, when the Lacedaemonians had now but very\r\nslender hopes left, Aminias, the Phocian, one of Antigonus’s commanders, from\r\nCorinth to their assistance, with a force of mercenaries; and they were no\r\nsooner received into the town, but Areus, their king, arrived there himself,\r\ntoo, from Crete, with two thousand men more. The women upon this went all home\r\nto their houses, finding it no longer necessary for them to meddle with the\r\nbusiness of the war; and they also were sent back, who, though not of military\r\nage, were by necessity forced to take arms, while the rest prepared to fight\r\nPyrrhus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe, upon the coming of these additional forces, was indeed possessed with a\r\nmore eager desire and ambition than before, to make himself master of the town;\r\nbut his designs not succeeding, and receiving fresh losses every day, he gave\r\nover the siege, and fell to plundering the country, determining to winter\r\nthereabout. But fate is unavoidable, and a great feud happening at Argos\r\nbetween Aristeas and Aristippus, two principal citizens, after Aristippus had\r\nresolved to make use of the friendship of Antigonus, Aristeas, to anticipate\r\nhim, invited Pyrrhus thither. And he always revolving hopes upon hopes, and\r\ntreating all his successes as occasions of more, and his reverses as defects to\r\nbe amended by new enterprises, allowed neither losses nor victories to limit\r\nhim in his receiving or giving trouble, and so presently went for Argos. Areus,\r\nby frequent ambushes, and seizing positions where the ways were most\r\nunpracticable, harassed the Gauls and Molossians that brought up the rear. It\r\nhad been told Pyrrhus by one of the priests that found the liver of the\r\nsacrificed beast imperfect, that some of his near relations would be lost; in\r\nthis tumult and disorder of his rear, forgetting the prediction, he commanded\r\nout his son Ptolemy with some of his guards to their assistance, while he\r\nhimself led on the main body rapidly out of the pass. And the fight being very\r\nwarm where Ptolemy was, (for the most select men of the Lacedaemonians,\r\ncommanded by Evalcus, were there engaged,) one Oryssus of Aptera in Crete, a\r\nstout man and swift of foot, running on one side of the young prince, as he was\r\nfighting bravely, gave him a mortal wound and slew him. On his fall those about\r\nhim turned their backs, and the Lacedaemonian horse, pursuing and cutting off\r\nmany, got into the open plain, and found themselves engaged with the enemy\r\nbefore they were aware, without their infantry; Pyrrhus, who had received the\r\nill news of his son, and was in great affliction, drew out his Molossian horse\r\nagainst them, and charging at the head of his men, satiated himself with the\r\nblood and slaughter of the Lacedaemonians, as indeed he always showed himself a\r\nterrible and invincible hero in actual fight, but now he exceeded all he had\r\never done before in courage and force. On his riding his horse up to Evalcus,\r\nhe, by declining a little to one side, had almost cut off Pyrrhus’s hand in\r\nwhich he held the reins, but lighting on the reins, only cut them; at the same\r\ninstant Pyrrhus, running him through with his spear, fell from his horse, and\r\nthere on foot as he was, proceeded to slaughter all those choice men that\r\nfought about the body of Evalcus; a severe additional loss to Sparta, incurred\r\nafter the war itself was now at an end, by the mere animosity of the\r\ncommanders. Pyrrhus having thus offered, as it were, a sacrifice to the ghost\r\nof his son, and fought a glorious battle in honor of his obsequies, and having\r\nvented much of his pain in action against the enemy, marched away to Argos. And\r\nhaving intelligence that Antigonus was already in possession of the high\r\ngrounds, he encamped about Nauplia, and the next day dispatched a herald to\r\nAntigonus, calling him a villain, and challenging him to descend into the plain\r\nfield and fight with him for the kingdom. He answered, that his conduct should\r\nbe measured by times as well as by arms, and that if Pyrrhus had no leisure to\r\nlive, there were ways enough open to death. To both the kings, also, came\r\nambassadors from Argos, desiring each party to retreat, and to allow the city\r\nto remain in friendship with both, without falling into the hands of either.\r\nAntigonus was persuaded, and sent his son as a hostage to the Argives; but,\r\nPyrrhus, although he consented to retire, yet, as he sent no hostage, was\r\nsuspected. A remarkable portent happened at this time to Pyrrhus; the heads of\r\nthe sacrificed oxen, lying apart from the bodies, were seen to thrust out their\r\ntongues and lick up their own gore. And in the city of Argos, the priestess of\r\nApollo Lycius rushed out of the temple, crying she saw the city full of\r\ncarcasses and slaughter, and an eagle coming out to fight, and presently\r\nvanishing again.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the dead of the night, Pyrrhus, approaching the walls, and finding the gate\r\ncalled Diamperes set open for them by Aristeas, was undiscovered long enough to\r\nallow all his Gauls to enter and take possession of the marketplace. But the\r\ngate being too low to let in the elephants, they were obliged to take down the\r\ntowers which they carried on their backs, and put them on again in the dark and\r\nin disorder, so that time being lost, the city took the alarm, and the people\r\nran, some to Aspis the chief citadel, and others to other places of defense,\r\nand sent away to Antigonus to assist them. He, advancing within a short\r\ndistance, made an halt, but sent in some of his principal commanders, and his\r\nson with a considerable force. Areus came thither, too, with one thousand\r\nCretans, and some of the most active men among the Spartans, and all falling on\r\nat once upon the Gauls, put them in great disorder. Pyrrhus, entering in with\r\nnoise and shouting near the Cylarabis, when the Gauls returned the cry, noticed\r\nthat it did not express courage and assurance, but was the voice of men\r\ndistressed, and that had their hands full. He, therefore, pushed forward in\r\nhaste the van of his horse that marched but slowly and dangerously, by reason\r\nof the drains and sinks of which the city is full. In this night engagement,\r\nthere was infinite uncertainty as to what was being done, or what orders were\r\ngiven; there was much mistaking and straggling in the narrow streets; all\r\ngeneralship was useless in that darkness and noise and pressure; so both sides\r\ncontinued without doing anything, expecting daylight. At the first dawn,\r\nPyrrhus, seeing the great citadel Aspis full of enemies, was disturbed, and\r\nremarking, among a variety of figures dedicated in the market-place, a wolf and\r\nbull of brass, as it were ready to attack one another, he was struck with\r\nalarm, recollecting an oracle that formerly predicted fate had determined his\r\ndeath when he should see a wolf fighting with a bull. The Argives say, these\r\nfigures were set up in record of a thing that long ago had happened there. For\r\nDanaus, at his first landing in the country, near the Pyramia in Thyreatis, as\r\nhe was on his way towards Argos, espied a wolf fighting with a bull, and\r\nconceiving the wolf to represent him, (for this stranger fell upon a native, as\r\nhe designed to do,) stayed to see the issue of the fight, and the wolf\r\nprevailing, he offered vows to Apollo Lycius, and thus made his attempt upon\r\nthe town, and succeeded; Gelanor, who was then king, being displaced by a\r\nfaction. And this was the cause of dedicating those figures.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPyrrhus, quite out of heart at this sight, and seeing none of his designs\r\nsucceed, thought best to retreat, but fearing the narrow passage at the gate,\r\nsent to his son Helenus, who was left without the town with a great part of his\r\nforces, commanding him to break down part of the wall, and assist the retreat\r\nif the enemy pressed hard upon them. But what with haste and confusion, the\r\nperson that was sent delivered nothing clearly; so that quite mistaking, the\r\nyoung prince with the best of his men and the remaining elephants marched\r\nstraight through the gates into the town to assist his father. Pyrrhus was now\r\nmaking good his retreat, and while the marketplace afforded them ground enough\r\nboth to retreat and fight, frequently repulsed the enemy that bore upon him.\r\nBut when he was forced out of that broad place into the narrow street leading\r\nto the gate, and fell in with those who came the other way to his assistance\r\nsome did not hear him call out to them to give back, and those who did, however\r\neager to obey him, were pushed forward by others behind, who poured in at the\r\ngate. Besides, the largest of his elephants falling down on his side in the\r\nvery gate, and lying roaring on the ground, was in the way of those that would\r\nhave got out. Another of the elephants already in the town, called Nicon,\r\nstriving to take up his rider, who, after many wounds received, was fallen off\r\nhis back, bore forward upon those that were retreating, and, thrusting upon\r\nfriends as well as enemies, tumbled them all confusedly upon one another, till\r\nhaving found the body, and taken it up with his trunk, he carried it on his\r\ntusks, and, returning in a fury, trod down all before him. Being thus pressed\r\nand crowded together, not a man could do anything for himself, but being\r\nwedged, as it were, together into one mass, the whole multitude rolled and\r\nswayed this way and that all together, and did very little execution either\r\nupon the enemy in their rear, or on any of them who were intercepted in the\r\nmass, but very much harm to one another. For he who had either drawn his sword\r\nor directed his lance, could neither restore it again, nor put his sword up;\r\nwith these weapons they wounded their own men, as they happened to come in the\r\nway, and they were dying by mere contact with each other.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPyrrhus, seeing this storm and confusion of things, took off the crown he wore\r\nupon his helmet, by which he was distinguished, and gave it to one nearest his\r\nperson, and trusting to the goodness of his horse, rode in among the thickest\r\nof the enemy, and being wounded with a lance through his breastplate, but not\r\ndangerously, nor indeed very much, he turned about upon the man who struck him,\r\nwho was an Argive, not of any illustrious birth, but the son of a poor old\r\nwoman; she was looking upon the fight among other women from the top of a\r\nhouse, and perceiving her son engaged with Pyrrhus, and affrighted at the\r\ndanger he was in, took up a tile with both hands, and threw it at Pyrrhus. This\r\nfalling on his head below the helmet, and bruising the vertebrae of the lower\r\npart of the neck, stunned and blinded him; his hands let go the reins, and\r\nsinking down from his horse, he fell just by the tomb of Licymnius. The common\r\nsoldiers knew not who it was; but one Zopyrus, who served under Antigonus, and\r\ntwo or three others running thither, and knowing it was Pyrrhus, dragged him to\r\na door way hard by, just as he was recovering a little from the blow. But when\r\nZopyrus drew out an Illyrian sword, ready to cut off his head, Pyrrhus gave him\r\nso fierce a look, that confounded with terror, and sometimes his hands\r\ntrembling, and then again endeavoring to do it, full of fear and confusion, he\r\ncould not strike him right, but cutting over his mouth and chin, it was a long\r\ntime before he got off the head. By this time what had happened was known to a\r\ngreat many, and Alcyoneus hastening to the place, desired to look upon the\r\nhead, and see whether he knew it, and taking it in his hand rode away to his\r\nfather, and threw it at his feet, while he was sitting with some of his\r\nparticular favorites. Antigonus, looking upon it, and knowing it, thrust his\r\nson from him, and struck him with his staff, calling him wicked and barbarous,\r\nand covering his eyes with his robe, shed tears, thinking of his own father and\r\ngrandfather, instances in his own family of the changefulness of fortune, and\r\ncaused the head and body of Pyrrhus to be burned with all due solemnity. After\r\nthis, Alcyoneus, discovering Helenus under a mean disguise in a threadbare\r\ncoat, used him very respectfully, and brought him to his father. When Antigonus\r\nsaw him, “This, my son,” said he, “is better; and yet even now you have not\r\ndone wholly well in allowing these clothes to remain, to the disgrace of those\r\nwho it seems now are the victors.” And treating Helenus with great kindness,\r\nand as became a prince, he restored him to his kingdom of Epirus, and gave the\r\nsame obliging reception to all Pyrrhus’s principal commanders, his camp and\r\nwhole army having fallen into his hands.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap31\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCAIUS MARIUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWe are altogether ignorant of any third name of Caius Marius; as also of\r\nQuintus Sertorius, that possessed himself of Spain; or of Lucius Mummius that\r\ndestroyed Corinth, though this last was surnamed Achaicus from his conquests,\r\nas Scipio was called Africanus, and Metellus, Macedonicus. Hence Posidonius\r\ndraws his chief argument to confute those that hold the third to be the Roman\r\nproper name, as Camillus, Marcellus, Cato; as in this case, those that had but\r\ntwo names would have no proper name at all. He did not, however, observe that\r\nby his own reasoning he must rob the women absolutely of their names; for none\r\nof them have the first, which Posidonius imagines the proper name with the\r\nRomans. Of the other two, one was common to the whole family, Pompeii, Manlii,\r\nCornelii, (as with us Greeks, the Heraclidae, and Pelopidae,) the other\r\ntitular, and personal, taken either from their natures, or actions, or bodily\r\ncharacteristics, as Macrinus, Torquatus, Sylla; such as are Mnemon, Grypus, or\r\nCallinicus among the Greeks. On the subject of names, however, the irregularity\r\nof custom, would we insist upon it, might furnish us with discourse enough.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere is a likeness of Marius in stone at Ravenna, in Gaul, which I myself saw,\r\nquite corresponding with that roughness and harshness of character that is\r\nascribed to him. Being naturally valiant and warlike, and more acquainted also\r\nwith the discipline of the camp than of the city, he could not moderate his\r\npassion when in authority. He is said never to have either studied Greek, or to\r\nhave made use of that language in any matter of consequence; thinking it\r\nridiculous to bestow time in that learning, the teachers of which were little\r\nbetter than slaves. So after his second triumph, when at the dedication of a\r\ntemple he presented some shows after the Greek fashion, coming into the\r\ntheater, he only sat down and immediately departed. And, accordingly, as Plato\r\noften used to say to Xenocrates the philosopher, who was thought to show more\r\nthan ordinary harshness of disposition, “I pray you, good Xenocrates, sacrifice\r\nto the Graces”; so if any could have persuaded Marius to pay his devotions to\r\nthe Greek Muses and Graces, he had never brought his incomparable actions, both\r\nin war and peace, to so unworthy a conclusion, or wrecked himself, so to say,\r\nupon an old age of cruelty and vindictiveness, through passion, ill-timed\r\nambition, and insatiable cupidity. But this will further appear by and by from\r\nthe facts.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was born of parents altogether obscure and indigent, who supported\r\nthemselves by their daily labor; his father of the same name with himself, his\r\nmother called Fulcinia. He had spent a considerable part of his life before he\r\nsaw and tasted the pleasures of the city; having passed previously in\r\nCirrhaeaton, a village of the territory of Arpinum, a life, compared with city\r\ndelicacies, rude and unrefined, yet temperate, and conformable to the ancient\r\nRoman severity. He first served as a soldier in the war against the\r\nCeltiberians, when Scipio Africanus besieged Numantia; where he signalized\r\nhimself to his general by courage far above his comrades, and, particularly, by\r\nhis cheerfully complying with Scipio’s reformation of his army, before almost\r\nruined by pleasures and luxury. It is stated, too, that he encountered and\r\nvanquished an enemy in single combat, in his general’s sight. In consequence of\r\nall this he had several honors conferred upon him; and once when at an\r\nentertainment a question arose about commanders, and one of the company\r\n(whether really desirous to know, or only in complaisance) asked Scipio where\r\nthe Romans, after him, should obtain such another general, Scipio, gently\r\nclapping Marius on the shoulder as he sat next him, replied, “Here, perhaps.”\r\nSo promising was his early youth of his future greatness, and so discerning was\r\nScipio to detect the distant future in the present first beginnings. It was\r\nthis speech of Scipio, we are told, which, like a divine admonition, chiefly\r\nemboldened Marius to aspire to a political career. He sought, and by the\r\nassistance of Caecilius Metellus, of whose family he as well as his father were\r\ndependents, obtained the office of tribune of the people. In which place, when\r\nhe brought forward a bill for the regulation of voting, which seemed likely to\r\nlessen the authority of the great men in the courts of justice, the consul\r\nCotta opposed him, and persuaded the senate to declare against the law, and\r\ncall Marius to account for it. He, however, when this decree was prepared,\r\ncoming into the senate, did not behave like a young man newly and undeservedly\r\nadvanced to authority, but, assuming all the courage that his future actions\r\nwould have warranted, threatened Cotta unless he recalled the decree, to throw\r\nhim into prison. And on his turning to Metellus, and asking his vote, and\r\nMetellus rising up to concur with the consul, Marius, calling for the officer\r\noutside, commanded him to take Metellus into custody. He appealed to the other\r\ntribunes, but not one of them assisted him; so that the senate, immediately\r\ncomplying, withdrew the decree. Marius came forth with glory to the people and\r\nconfirmed his law, and was henceforth esteemed a man of undaunted courage and\r\nassurance, as well as a vigorous opposer of the senate in favor of the commons.\r\nBut he immediately lost their opinion of him by a contrary action; for when a\r\nlaw for the distribution of corn was proposed, he vigorously and successfully\r\nresisted it, making himself equally honored by both parties, in gratifying\r\nneither, contrary to the public interest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter his tribuneship, he was candidate for the office of chief aedile; there\r\nbeing two orders of them, one the curules, from the stool with crooked feet on\r\nwhich they sat when they performed their duty; the other and inferior, called\r\naediles of the people. As soon as they have chosen the former, they give their\r\nvoices again for the latter. Marius, finding he was likely to be put by for the\r\ngreater, immediately changed and stood for the less; but because he seemed too\r\nforward and hot, he was disappointed of that also. And yet though he was in one\r\nday twice frustrated of his desired preferment, (which never happened to any\r\nbefore,) yet he was not at all discouraged, but a little while after sought for\r\nthe praetorship, and was nearly suffering a repulse, and then, too, though he\r\nwas returned last of all, was nevertheless accused of bribery.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCassius Sabaco’s servant, who was observed within the rails among those that\r\nvoted, chiefly occasioned the suspicion, as Sabaco was an intimate friend of\r\nMarius; but on being called to appear before the judges, he alleged, that being\r\nthirsty by reason of the heat, he called for cold water, and that his servant\r\nbrought him a cup, and as soon as he had drunk, departed; he was, however,\r\nexcluded from the senate by the succeeding censors, and not undeservedly\r\neither, as was thought, whether it might be for his false evidence, or his want\r\nof temperance. Caius Herennius was also cited to appear as evidence, but\r\npleaded that it was not customary for a patron, (the Roman word for protector,)\r\nto witness against his clients, and that the law excused them from that harsh\r\nduty; and both Marius and his parents had always been clients to the family of\r\nthe Herennii. And when the judges would have accepted of this plea, Marius\r\nhimself opposed it, and told Herennius, that when he was first created\r\nmagistrate he ceased to be his client; which was not altogether true. For it is\r\nnot every office that frees clients and their posterity from the observance due\r\nto their patrons, but only those to which the law has assigned a curule chair.\r\nNotwithstanding, though at the beginning of the suit it went somewhat hard with\r\nMarius, and he found the judges no way favorable to him; yet, at last, their\r\nvoices being equal, contrary to all expectation, he was acquitted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn his praetorship he did not get much honor, yet after it he obtained the\r\nfurther Spain; which province he is said to have cleared of robbers, with which\r\nit was much infested, the old barbarous habits still prevailing, and the\r\nSpaniards, in those days, still regarding robbery as a piece of valor. In the\r\ncity he had neither riches nor eloquence to trust to, with which the leading\r\nmen of the time obtained power with the people, but his vehement disposition,\r\nhis indefatigable labors, and his plain way of living, of themselves gained him\r\nesteem and influence; so that he made an honorable match with Julia, of the\r\ndistinguished family of the Caesars, to whom that Caesar was nephew who was\r\nafterwards so great among the Romans, and, in some degree, from his\r\nrelationship, made Marius his example, as in his life we have observed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarius is praised for both temperance and endurance, of which latter he gave a\r\ndecided instance in an operation of surgery. For having, as it seems, both his\r\nlegs full of great tumors, and disliking the deformity, he determined to put\r\nhimself into the hands of an operator; when, without being tied, he stretched\r\nout one of his legs, and silently, without changing countenance, endured most\r\nexcessive torments in the cutting, never either flinching or complaining; but\r\nwhen the surgeon went to the other, he declined to have it done, saying, “I see\r\nthe cure is not worth the pain.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe consul Caecilius Metellus. being declared general in the war against\r\nJugurtha in Africa, took with him Marius for lieutenant; where, eager himself\r\nto do great deeds and services that would get him distinction, he did not, like\r\nothers, consult Metellus’s glory and the serving his interest, and attributing\r\nhis honor of lieutenancy not to Metellus, but to fortune, which had presented\r\nhim with a proper opportunity and theater of great actions, he exerted his\r\nutmost courage. That war, too, affording several difficulties, he neither\r\ndeclined the greatest, nor disdained undertaking the least of them; but\r\nsurpassing his equals in counsel and conduct, and matching the very common\r\nsoldiers in labor and abstemiousness, he gained great popularity with them; as\r\nindeed any voluntary partaking with people in their labor is felt as an easing\r\nof that labor, as it seems to take away the constraint and necessity of it. It\r\nis the most obliging sight in the world to the Roman soldier to see a commander\r\neat the same bread as himself, or lie upon an ordinary bed, or assist the work\r\nin the drawing a trench and raising a bulwark. For they do not so much admire\r\nthose that confer honors and riches upon them, as those that partake of the\r\nsame labor and danger with themselves; but love them better that will vouchsafe\r\nto join in their work, than those that encourage their idleness.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarius thus employed, and thus winning the affections of the soldiers, before\r\nlong filled both Africa and Rome with his fame, and some, too, wrote home from\r\nthe army that the war with Africa would never be brought to a conclusion,\r\nunless they chose Caius Marius consul. All which was evidently unpleasing to\r\nMetellus; but what more especially grieved him was the calamity of Turpillius.\r\nThis Turpillius had, from his ancestors, been a friend of Metellus, and kept up\r\nconstant hospitality with him; and was now serving in the war, in command of\r\nthe smiths and carpenters of the army. Having the charge of a garrison in Vaga,\r\na considerable city, and trusting too much to the inhabitants, because he\r\ntreated them civilly and kindly, he unawares fell into the enemy’s hands. They\r\nreceived Jugurtha into the city; yet, nevertheless, at their request,\r\nTurpillius was dismissed safe and without receiving any injury; whereupon he\r\nwas accused of betraying it to the enemy. Marius, being one of the council of\r\nwar, was not only violent against him himself, but also incensed most of the\r\nothers, so that Metellus was forced, much against his will, to put him to\r\ndeath. Not long after the accusation proved false, and when others were\r\ncomforting Metellus, who took heavily the loss of his friend, Marius, rather\r\ninsulting and arrogating it to himself, boasted in all companies that he had\r\ninvolved Metellus in the guilt of putting his friend to death.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHenceforward they were at open variance; and it is reported that Metellus once,\r\nwhen Marius was present, said, insultingly, “You, sir, design to leave us to go\r\nhome and stand for the consulship, and will not be content to wait and be\r\nconsul with this boy of mine?” Metellus’s son being a mere boy at the time. Yet\r\nfor all this Marius being very importunate to be gone, after several delays, he\r\nwas dismissed about twelve days before the election of consuls; and performed\r\nthat long journey from the camp to the seaport of Utica, in two days and a\r\nnight, and there doing sacrifice before he went on shipboard, it is said the\r\naugur told him, that heaven promised him some incredible good fortune, and such\r\nas was beyond all expectation. Marius, not a little elated with this good omen,\r\nbegan his voyage, and in four days, with a favorable wind, passed the sea; he\r\nwas welcomed with great joy by the people, and being brought into the assembly\r\nby one of the tribunes, sued for the consulship, inveighing in all ways against\r\nMetellus, and promising either to slay Jugurtha or take him alive.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was elected triumphantly, and at once proceeded to levy soldiers, contrary\r\nboth to law and custom, enlisting slaves and poor people; whereas former\r\ncommanders never accepted of such, but bestowed arms, like other favors, as a\r\nmatter of distinction, on persons who had the proper qualification, a man’s\r\nproperty being thus a sort of security for his good behavior. These were not\r\nthe only occasions of ill-will against Marius; some haughty speeches, uttered\r\nwith great arrogance and contempt, gave great offense to the nobility; as, for\r\nexample, his saying that he had carried off the consulship as a spoil from the\r\neffeminacy of the wealthy and high-born citizens, and telling the people that\r\nhe gloried in wounds he had himself received for them, as much as others did in\r\nthe monuments of dead men and images of their ancestors. Often speaking of the\r\ncommanders that had been unfortunate in Africa, naming Bestia, for example, and\r\nAlbinus, men of very good families, but unfit for war, and who had miscarried\r\nthrough want of experience, he asked the people about him, if they did not\r\nthink that the ancestors of these nobles had much rather have left a descendant\r\nlike him, since they themselves grew famous not by nobility, but by their valor\r\nand great actions? This he did not say merely out of vanity and arrogance, or\r\nthat he were willing, without any advantage, to offend the nobility; but the\r\npeople always delighting in affronts and scurrilous contumelies against the\r\nsenate, making boldness of speech their measure of greatness of spirit,\r\ncontinually encouraged him in it, and strengthened his inclination not to spare\r\npersons of repute, so he might gratify the multitude.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as he arrived again in Africa, Metellus, no longer able to control his\r\nfeelings of jealousy, and his indignation that now when he had really finished\r\nthe war, and nothing was left but to secure the person of Jugurtha, Marius,\r\ngrown great merely through his ingratitude to him, should come to bereave him\r\nboth of his victory and triumph, could not bear to have any interview with him;\r\nbut retired himself, whilst Rutilius, his lieutenant, surrendered up the army\r\nto Marius, whose conduct, however, in the end of the war, met with some sort of\r\nretribution, as Sylla deprived him of the glory of the action, as he had done\r\nMetellus. I shall state the circumstances briefly here, as they are given at\r\nlarge in the life of Sylla. Bocchus was king of the more distant barbarians,\r\nand was father-in-law to Jugurtha, yet sent him little or no assistance in his\r\nwar, professing fears of his unfaithfulness, and really jealous of his growing\r\npower; but after Jugurtha fled, and in his distress came to him as his last\r\nhope, he received him as a suppliant, rather because ashamed to do otherwise,\r\nthan out of real kindness; and when he had him in his power, he openly\r\nentreated Marius on his behalf, and interceded for him with bold words, giving\r\nout that he would by no means deliver him. Yet privately designing to betray\r\nhim, he sent for Lucius Sylla, quaestor to Marius, and who had on a previous\r\noccasion befriended Bocchus in the war. When Sylla, relying on his word, came\r\nto him, the African began to doubt and repent of his purpose, and for several\r\ndays was unresolved with himself, whether he should deliver Jugurtha or retain\r\nSylla; at length he fixed upon his former treachery, and put Jugurtha alive\r\ninto Sylla’s possession. Thus was the first occasion given of that fierce and\r\nimplacable hostility which so nearly ruined the whole Roman empire. For many\r\nthat envied Marius, attributed the success wholly to Sylla; and Sylla himself\r\ngot a seal made on which was engraved Bocchus betraying Jugurtha to him, and\r\nconstantly used it, irritating the hot and jealous temper of Marius, who was\r\nnaturally greedy of distinction, and quick to resent any claim to share in his\r\nglory, and whose enemies took care to promote the quarrel, ascribing the\r\nbeginning and chief business of the war to Metellus, and its conclusion to\r\nSylla; that so the people might give over admiring and esteeming Marius as the\r\nworthiest person.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut these envyings and calumnies were soon dispersed and cleared away from\r\nMarius, by the danger that threatened Italy from the west; when the city, in\r\ngreat need of a good commander, sought about whom she might set at the helm, to\r\nmeet the tempest of so great a war, no one would have anything to say to any\r\nmembers of noble or potent families who offered themselves for the consulship,\r\nand Marius, though then absent, was elected.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nJugurtha’s apprehension was only just known, when the news of the invasion of\r\nthe Teutones and Cimbri began. The accounts at first exceeded all credit, as to\r\nthe number and strength of the approaching army; but in the end, report proved\r\nmuch inferior to the truth, as they were three hundred thousand effective\r\nfighting men, besides a far greater number of women and children. They\r\nprofessed to be seeking new countries to sustain these great multitudes, and\r\ncities where they might settle and inhabit, in the same way as they had heard\r\nthe Celti before them had driven out the Tyrrhenians, and possessed themselves\r\nof the best part of Italy. Having had no commerce with the southern nations,\r\nand traveling over a wide extent of country, no man knew what people they were,\r\nor whence they came, that thus like a cloud burst over Gaul and Italy; yet by\r\ntheir gray eyes and the largeness of their stature, they were conjectured to be\r\nsome of the German races dwelling by the northern sea; besides that, the\r\nGermans call plunderers Cimbri.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere are some that say, that the country of the Celti, in its vast size and\r\nextent, reaches from the furthest sea and the arctic regions to the lake\r\nMaeotis eastward, and to that part of Scythia which is near Pontus, and that\r\nthere the nations mingle together; that they did not swarm out of their country\r\nall at once, or on a sudden, but advancing by force of arms, in the summer\r\nseason, every year, in the course of time they crossed the whole continent. And\r\nthus, though each party had several appellations, yet the whole army was called\r\nby the common name of Celto-Scythians. Others say that the Cimmerii, anciently\r\nknown to the Greeks, were only a small part of the nation, who were driven out\r\nupon some quarrel among the Scythians, and passed all along from the lake\r\nMaeotis to Asia, under the conduct of one Lygdamis; and that the greater and\r\nmore warlike part of them still inhabit the remotest regions lying upon the\r\nouter ocean. These, they say, live in a dark and woody country hardly\r\npenetrable by the sunbeams, the trees are so close and thick, extending into\r\nthe interior as far as the Hercynian forest; and their position on the earth is\r\nunder that part of heaven, where the pole is so elevated, that by the\r\ndeclination of the parallels, the zenith of the inhabitants seems to be but\r\nlittle distant from it; and that their days and nights being almost of an equal\r\nlength, they divide their year into one of each. This was Homer’s occasion for\r\nthe story of Ulysses calling up the dead, and from this region the people,\r\nanciently called Cimmerii, and afterwards, by an easy change, Cimbri, came into\r\nItaly. All this, however, is rather conjecture than an authentic history.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTheir numbers, most writers agree, were not less, but rather greater than was\r\nreported. They were of invincible strength and fierceness in their wars, and\r\nhurried into battle with the violence of a devouring flame; none could\r\nwithstand them; all they assaulted became their prey. Several of the greatest\r\nRoman commanders with their whole armies, that advanced for the defense of\r\nTransalpine Gaul, were ingloriously overthrown, and, indeed, by their faint\r\nresistance, chiefly gave them the impulse of marching towards Rome. Having\r\nvanquished all they had met, and found abundance of plunder, they resolved to\r\nsettle themselves nowhere till they should have razed the city, and wasted all\r\nItaly. The Romans, being from all parts alarmed with this news, sent for Marius\r\nto undertake the war, and nominated him the second time consul, though the law\r\ndid not permit any one that was absent, or that had not waited a certain time\r\nafter his first consulship, to be again created. But the people rejected all\r\nopposers; for they considered this was not the first time that the law gave\r\nplace to the common interest; nor the present occasion less urgent than that\r\nwhen, contrary to law, they made Scipio consul, not in fear for the destruction\r\nof their own city, but desiring the ruin of that of the Carthaginians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus it was decided; and Marius, bringing over his legions out of Africa on the\r\nvery first day of January, which the Romans count the beginning of the year,\r\nreceived the consulship, and then, also, entered in triumph, showing Jugurtha a\r\nprisoner to the people, a sight they had despaired of ever beholding, nor could\r\nany, so long as he lived, hope to reduce the enemy in Africa; so fertile in\r\nexpedients was he to adapt himself to every turn of fortune, and so bold as\r\nwell as subtle. When, however, he was led in triumph, it is said that he fell\r\ndistracted, and when he was afterwards thrown into prison, where some tore off\r\nhis clothes by force, and others, whilst they struggled for his golden\r\near-ring, with it pulled off the tip of his ear, and when he was, after this,\r\ncast naked into the dungeon, in his amazement and confusion, with a ghastly\r\nlaugh, he cried out, “O Hercules! how cold your bath is!” Here for six days\r\nstruggling with hunger, and to the very last minute desirous of life, he was\r\novertaken by the just reward of his villainies. In this triumph was brought, as\r\nis stated, of gold three thousand and seven pounds weight, of silver bullion\r\nfive thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, of money in gold and silver coin\r\ntwo hundred and eighty-seven thousand drachmas. After the solemnity, Marius\r\ncalled together the senate in the capitol, and entered, whether through\r\ninadvertency or unbecoming exultation with his good fortune, in his triumphal\r\nhabit; but presently observing the senate offended at it, went out, and\r\nreturned in his ordinary purple-bordered robe.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the expedition he carefully disciplined and trained his army whilst on their\r\nway, giving them practice in long marches, and running of every sort, and\r\ncompelling every man to carry his own baggage and prepare his own victuals;\r\ninsomuch that thenceforward laborious soldiers, who did their work silently\r\nwithout grumbling, had the name of “Marius’s mules.” Some, however, think the\r\nproverb had a different occasion; that when Scipio besieged Numantia, and was\r\ncareful to inspect not only their horses and arms, but their mules and\r\ncarriages too, and see how well equipped and in what readiness each one’s was,\r\nMarius brought forth his horse which he had fed extremely well, and a mule in\r\nbetter case, stronger and gentler than those of others; that the general was\r\nvery well pleased, and often afterwards mentioned Marius’s beasts; and that\r\nhence the soldiers, when speaking jestingly in the praise of a drudging,\r\nlaborious fellow, called him Marius’s mule.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut to proceed; very great good fortune seemed to attend Marius, for by the\r\nenemy in a manner changing their course, and falling first upon Spain, he had\r\ntime to exercise his soldiers, and confirm their courage, and, which was most\r\nimportant, to show them what he himself was. For that fierce manner of his in\r\ncommand, and inexorableness in punishing, when his men became used not to do\r\namiss or disobey, was felt to be wholesome and advantageous, as well as just,\r\nand his violent spirit, stern voice, and harsh aspect, which in a little while\r\ngrew familiar to them, they esteemed terrible not to themselves, but only to\r\ntheir enemies. But his uprightness in judging, more especially pleased the\r\nsoldiers, one remarkable instance of which is as follows. One Caius Lusius, his\r\nown nephew, had a command under him in the army, a man not in other respects of\r\nbad character, but shamefully licentious with young men. He had one young man\r\nunder his command called Trebonius, with whom notwithstanding many\r\nsolicitations he could never prevail. At length one night, he sent a messenger\r\nfor him, and Trebonius came, as it was not lawful for him to refuse when he was\r\nsent for, and being brought into his tent, when Lusius began to use violence\r\nwith him, he drew his sword and ran him through. This was done whilst Marius\r\nwas absent. When he returned, he appointed Trebonius a time for his trial,\r\nwhere, whilst many accused him, and not any one appeared in his defense, he\r\nhimself boldly related the whole matter, and brought witness of his previous\r\nconduct to Lusius, who had frequently offered him considerable presents.\r\nMarius, admiring his conduct and much pleased, commanded the garland, the usual\r\nRoman reward of valor, to be brought, and himself crowned Trebonius with it, as\r\nhaving performed an excellent action, at a time that very much wanted such good\r\nexamples.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis being told at Rome, proved no small help to Marius towards his third\r\nconsulship; to which also conduced the expectation of the barbarians at the\r\nsummer season, the people being unwilling to trust their fortunes with any\r\nother general but him. However, their arrival was not so early as was imagined,\r\nand the time of Marius’s consulship was again expired. The election coming on,\r\nand his colleague being dead, he left the command of the army to Manius\r\nAquilius, and hastened to Rome, where, several eminent persons being candidates\r\nfor the consulship, Lucius Saturninus, who more than any of the other tribunes\r\nswayed the populace, and of whom Marius himself was very observant, exerted his\r\neloquence with the people, advising them to choose Marius consul. He playing\r\nthe modest part, and professing to decline the office, Saturninus called him\r\ntraitor to his country, if, in such apparent danger, he would avoid command.\r\nAnd though it was not difficult to discover that he was merely helping Marius\r\nin putting this presence upon the people, yet, considering that the present\r\njuncture much required his skill, and his good fortune too, they voted him the\r\nfourth time consul, and made Catulus Lutatius his colleague, a man very much\r\nesteemed by the nobility, and not unagreeable to the commons.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarius, having notice of the enemy’s approach, with all expedition passed the\r\nAlps, and pitching his camp by the river Rhone, took care first for plentiful\r\nsupplies of victuals; lest at any time he should be forced to fight at a\r\ndisadvantage for want of necessaries. The carriage of provision for the army\r\nfrom the sea, which was formerly long and expensive, he made speedy and easy.\r\nFor the mouth of the Rhone, by the influx of the sea, being barred and almost\r\nfilled up with sand and mud mixed with clay, the passage there became narrow,\r\ndifficult, and dangerous for the ships that brought their provisions. Hither,\r\ntherefore, bringing his army, then at leisure, he drew a great trench; and by\r\nturning the course of great part of the river, brought it to a convenient point\r\non the shore where the water was deep enough to receive ships of considerable\r\nburden, and where there was a calm and easy opening to the sea. And this still\r\nretains the name it took from him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe enemy dividing themselves into two parts, the Cimbri arranged to go against\r\nCatulus higher up through the country of the Norici, and to force that passage;\r\nthe Teutones and Ambrones to march against Marius by the sea-side through\r\nLiguria. The Cimbri were a considerable time in doing their part. But the\r\nTeutones and Ambrones with all expedition passing over the interjacent country,\r\nsoon came in sight, in numbers beyond belief, of a terrible aspect, and\r\nuttering strange cries and shouts. Taking up a great part of the plain with\r\ntheir camp, they challenged Marius to battle; he seemed to take no notice of\r\nthem, but kept his soldiers within their fortifications, and sharply\r\nreprehended those that were too forward and eager to show their courage, and\r\nwho, out of passion, would needs be fighting, calling them traitors to their\r\ncountry, and telling them they were not now to think of the glory of triumphs\r\nand trophies, but rather how they might repel such an impetuous tempest of war,\r\nand save Italy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus he discoursed privately with his officers and equals, but placed the\r\nsoldiers by turns upon the bulwarks to survey the enemy, and so made them\r\nfamiliar with their shape and voice, which were indeed altogether extravagant\r\nand barbarous, and he caused them to observe their arms, and way of using them,\r\nso that in a little time what at first appeared terrible to their\r\napprehensions, by often viewing, became familiar. For he very rationally\r\nsupposed, that the strangeness of things often makes them seem formidable when\r\nthey are not so; and that by our better acquaintance, even things which are\r\nreally terrible, lose much of their frightfulness. This daily converse not only\r\ndiminished some of the soldiers’ fear, but their indignation warmed and\r\ninflamed their courage, when they heard the threats and insupportable insolence\r\nof their enemies; who not only plundered and depopulated all the country round,\r\nbut would even contemptuously and confidently attack the ramparts.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nComplaints of the soldiers now began to come to Marius’s ears. “What effeminacy\r\ndoes Marius see in us, that he should thus like women lock us up from\r\nencountering our enemies? Come on, let us show ourselves men, and ask him if he\r\nexpects others to fight for Italy; and means merely to employ us in servile\r\noffices, when he would dig trenches, cleanse places of mud and dirt, and turn\r\nthe course of rivers? It was to do such works as these, it seems, that he gave\r\nus all our long training; he will return home, and boast of these great\r\nperformances of his consulships to the people. Does the defeat of Carbo and\r\nCaepio, who were vanquished by the enemy, affright him? Surely they were much\r\ninferior to Marius both in glory and valor, and commanded a much weaker army;\r\nat the worst, it is better to be in action, though we suffer for it like them,\r\nthan to sit idle spectators of the destruction of our allies and companions.”\r\nMarius, not a little pleased to hear this, gently appeased them, pretending\r\nthat he did not distrust their valor, but that he took his measures as to the\r\ntime and place of victory from some certain oracles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, in fact, he used solemnly to carry about in a litter, a Syrian woman,\r\ncalled Martha, a supposed prophetess, and to do sacrifice by her directions.\r\nShe had formerly been driven away by the senate, to whom she addressed herself,\r\noffering to inform them about these affairs, and to foretell future events; and\r\nafter this betook herself to the women, and gave them proofs of her skill,\r\nespecially Marius’s wife, at whose feet she sat when she was viewing a contest\r\nof gladiators, and correctly foretold which of them should overcome. She was\r\nfor this and the like predictings sent by her to Marius and the army, where she\r\nwas very much looked up to, and, for the most part, carried about in a litter.\r\nWhen she went to sacrifice, she wore a purple robe lined and buckled up, and\r\nhad in her hand a little spear trimmed with ribbons and garlands. This\r\ntheatrical show made many question, whether Marius really gave any credit to\r\nher himself, or only played the counterfeit, when he showed her publicly, to\r\nimpose upon the soldiers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhat, however, Alexander the Myndian relates about the vultures, does really\r\ndeserve admiration; that always before Marius’s victories there appeared two of\r\nthem, and accompanied the army, which were known by their brazen collars, (the\r\nsoldiers having caught them and put these about their necks, and so let them\r\ngo, from which time they in a manner knew and saluted the soldiers,) and\r\nwhenever these appeared in their marches, they used to rejoice at it, and\r\nthought themselves sure of some success. Of the many other prodigies that then\r\nwere taken notice of, the greater part were but of the ordinary stamp; it was,\r\nhowever, reported that at Ameria and Tuder, two cities in Italy, there were\r\nseen at nights in the sky, flaming darts and shields, now waved about, and then\r\nagain clashing against one another, all in accordance with the postures and\r\nmotions soldiers use in fighting; that at length one party retreating, and the\r\nother pursuing, they all disappeared westward. Much about the same time came\r\nBataces, one of Cybele’s priests, from Pesinus, and reported how the goddess\r\nhad declared to him out of her oracle, that the Romans should obtain the\r\nvictory. The senate giving credit to him, and voting the goddess a temple to be\r\nbuilt in hopes of the victory, Aulus Pompeius, a tribune, prevented Bataces,\r\nwhen he would have gone and told the people this same story, calling him\r\nimpostor, and ignominiously pulling him off the hustings; which action in the\r\nend was the main thing that gained credit for the man’s story, for Aulus had\r\nscarce dissolved the assembly, and returned home, when a violent fever seized\r\nhim, and it was matter of universal remark, and in everybody’s mouth, that he\r\ndied within a week after.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow the Teutones, whilst Marius lay quiet, ventured to attack his camp; from\r\nwhence, however, being encountered with showers of darts, and losing several of\r\ntheir men, they determined to march forward, hoping to reach the other side of\r\nthe Alps without opposition, and, packing up their baggage, passed securely by\r\nthe Roman camp, where the greatness of their number was especially made evident\r\nby the long time they took in their march, for they were said to be six days\r\ncontinually going on in passing Marius’s fortifications; they marched pretty\r\nnear, and revilingly asked the Romans if they would send any commands by them\r\nto their wives, for they would shortly be with them. As soon as they were\r\npassed and had gone on a little distance ahead, Marius began to move, and\r\nfollow them at his leisure, always encamping at some small distance from them;\r\nchoosing also strong positions, and carefully fortifying them, that he might\r\nquarter with safety. Thus they marched till they came to the place called\r\nSextilius’s Waters, from whence it was but a short way before being amidst the\r\nAlps, and here Marius put himself in readiness for the encounter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe chose a place for his camp of considerable strength, but where there was a\r\nscarcity of water; designing, it is said, by this means, also, to put an edge\r\non his soldiers’ courage; and when several were not a little distressed, and\r\ncomplained of thirst, pointing to a river that ran near the enemy’s camp:\r\n“There,” said he, “you may have drink, if you will buy it with your blood.”\r\n“Why, then,” replied they, “do you not lead us to them, before our blood is\r\ndried up in us?” He answered, in a softer tone, “let us first fortify our\r\ncamp,” and the soldiers, though not without repining, proceeded to obey. Now a\r\ngreat company of their boys and camp-followers, having neither drink for\r\nthemselves nor for their horses, went down to that river; some taking axes and\r\nhatchets, and some, too, swords and darts with their pitchers, resolving to\r\nhave water though they fought for it. These were first encountered by a small\r\nparty of the enemies; for most of them had just finished bathing, and were\r\neating and drinking, and several were still bathing, the country thereabouts\r\nabounding in hot springs; so that the Romans partly fell upon them whilst they\r\nwere enjoying themselves, and occupied with the novel sights and pleasantness\r\nof the place. Upon hearing the shouts, greater numbers still joining in the\r\nfight, it was not a little difficult for Marius to contain his soldiers, who\r\nwere afraid of losing the camp-servants; and the more warlike part of the\r\nenemies, who had overthrown Manlius and Caepio, (they were called Ambrones, and\r\nwere in number, one with another, above thirty thousand,) taking the alarm,\r\nleaped up and hurried to arms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese, though they had just been gorging themselves with food, and were excited\r\nand disordered with drink, nevertheless did not advance with an unruly step, or\r\nin mere senseless fury, nor were their shouts mere inarticulate cries; but\r\nclashing their arms in concert, and keeping time as they leapt and bounded\r\nonward, they continually repeated their own name, “Ambrones!” either to\r\nencourage one another, or to strike the greater terror into their enemies. Of\r\nall the Italians in Marius’s army, the Ligurians were the first that charged;\r\nand when they caught the word of the enemy’s confused shout, they, too,\r\nreturned the same, as it was an ancient name also in their country, the\r\nLigurians always using it when speaking of their descent. This acclamation,\r\nbandied from one army to the other before they joined, served to rouse and\r\nheighten their fury, while the men on either side strove, with all possible\r\nvehemence, the one to overshout the other.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe river disordered the Ambrones; before they could draw up all their army on\r\nthe other side of it, the Ligurians presently fell upon the van, and began to\r\ncharge them hand to hand. The Romans, too, coming to their assistance, and from\r\nthe higher ground pouring upon the enemy, forcibly repelled them, and the most\r\nof them (one thrusting another into the river) were there slain, and filled it\r\nwith their blood and dead bodies. Those that got safe over, not daring to make\r\nhead, were slain by the Romans, as they fled to their camp and wagons; where\r\nthe women meeting them with swords and hatchets, and making a hideous outcry,\r\nset upon those that fled as well as those that pursued, the one as traitors,\r\nthe other as enemies; and, mixing themselves with the combatants, with their\r\nbare arms pulling away the Romans’ shields, and laying hold on their swords,\r\nendured the wounds and slashing of their bodies to the very last, with\r\nundaunted resolution. Thus the battle seems to have happened at that river\r\nrather by accident than by the design of the general.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the Romans were retired from the great slaughter of the Ambrones, night\r\ncame on; but the army was not indulged, as was the usual custom, with songs of\r\nvictory, drinking in their tents, and mutual entertainments, and (what is most\r\nwelcome to soldiers after successful fighting) quiet sleep, but they passed\r\nthat night, above all others, in fears and alarm. For their camp was without\r\neither rampart or palisade, and there remained thousands upon thousands of\r\ntheir enemies yet unconquered; to whom were joined as many of the Ambrones as\r\nescaped. There were heard from these, all through the night, wild bewailings,\r\nnothing like the sighs and groans of men, but a sort of wild-beastlike howling\r\nand roaring, joined with threats and lamentations rising from the vast\r\nmultitude, and echoed among the neighboring hills and hollow banks of the\r\nriver. The whole plain was filled with hideous noise, insomuch that the Romans\r\nwere not a little afraid, and Marius himself was apprehensive of a confused\r\ntumultuous night engagement. But the enemy did not stir either this night or\r\nthe next day, but were employed in disposing and drawing themselves up to the\r\ngreatest advantage.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf this occasion Marius made good use; for there were beyond the enemies some\r\nwooded ascents and deep valleys thickly set with trees, whither he sent\r\nClaudius Marcellus, secretly, with three thousand regular soldiers, giving him\r\norders to post them in ambush there, and show themselves at the rear of the\r\nenemies, when the fight was begun. The others, refreshed with victuals and\r\nsleep, as soon as it was day he drew up before the camp, and commanded the\r\nhorse to sally out into the plain, at the sight of which the Teutones could not\r\ncontain themselves till the Romans should come down and fight them on equal\r\nterms, but hastily arming themselves, charged in their fury up the hill-side.\r\nMarius, sending officers to all parts, commanded his men to stand still and\r\nkeep their ground; when they came within reach, to throw their javelins, then\r\nuse their swords, and, joining their shields, force them back; pointing out to\r\nthem that the steepness of the ground would render the enemy’s blows\r\ninefficient, nor could their shields be kept close together, the inequality of\r\nthe ground hindering the stability of their footing.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis counsel he gave them, and was the first that followed it; for he was\r\ninferior to none in the use of his body, and far excelled all in resolution.\r\nThe Romans accordingly stood for their approach, and, checking them in their\r\nadvance upwards, forced them little by little to give way and yield down the\r\nhill, and here, on the level ground no sooner had the Ambrones begun to restore\r\ntheir van into a posture of resistance, but they found their rear disordered.\r\nFor Marcellus had not let slip the opportunity; but as soon as the shout was\r\nraised among the Romans on the hills, he, setting his men in motion, fell in\r\nupon the enemy behind, at full speed, and with loud cries, and routed those\r\nnearest him, and they, breaking the ranks of those that were before them,\r\nfilled the whole army with confusion. They made no long resistance after they\r\nwere thus broke in upon, but having lost all order, fled.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Romans, pursuing them, slew and took prisoners above one hundred thousand,\r\nand possessing themselves of their spoil, tents, and carriages, voted all that\r\nwas not purloined to Marius’s share, which, though so magnificent a present,\r\nyet was generally thought less than his conduct deserved in so great a danger.\r\nOther authors give a different account, both about the division of the plunder\r\nand the number of the slain. They say, however, that the inhabitants of\r\nMassilia made fences round their vineyards with the bones, and that the ground,\r\nenriched by the moisture of the putrefied bodies, (which soaked in with the\r\nrain of the following winter,) yielded at the season a prodigious crop, and\r\nfully justified Archilochus, who said, that the fallows thus are fattened. It\r\nis an observation, also, that extraordinary rains pretty generally fall after\r\ngreat battles; whether it be that some divine power thus washes and cleanses\r\nthe polluted earth with showers from above, or that moist and heavy\r\nevaporations, steaming forth from the blood and corruption, thicken the air,\r\nwhich naturally is subject to alteration from the smallest causes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the battle, Marius chose out from amongst the barbarians’ spoils and\r\narms, those that were whole and handsome, and that would make the greatest show\r\nin his triumph; the rest he heaped upon a large pile, and offered a very\r\nsplendid sacrifice. Whilst the army stood round about with their arms and\r\ngarlands, himself attired (as the fashion is on such occasions) in the\r\npurple-bordered robe, taking a lighted torch, and with both hands lifting it up\r\ntowards heaven, he was then going to put it to the pile, when some friends were\r\nespied with all haste coming towards him on horseback. Upon which every one\r\nremained in silence and expectation. They, upon their coming up, leapt off and\r\nsaluted Marius, bringing him the news of his fifth consulship, and delivered\r\nhim letters to that effect. This gave the addition of no small joy to the\r\nsolemnity; and while the soldiers clashed their arms and shouted, the officers\r\nagain crowned Marius with a laurel-wreath, and he thus set fire to the pile,\r\nand finished his sacrifice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut whatever it be, which interferes to prevent the enjoyment of prosperity\r\never being pure and sincere, and still diversifies human affairs with the\r\nmixture of good and bad, whether fortune or divine displeasure, or the\r\nnecessity of the nature of things, within a few days Marius received an account\r\nof his colleague, Catulus, which as a cloud in serenity and calm, terrified\r\nRome with the apprehension of another imminent storm. Catulus, who marched\r\nagainst the Cimbri, despairing of being able to defend the passes of the Alps,\r\nlest, being compelled to divide his forces into several parties, he should\r\nweaken himself, descended again into Italy, and posted his army behind the\r\nriver Adige; where he occupied the passages with strong fortifications on both\r\nsides the river, and made a bridge, that so he might cross to the assistance of\r\nhis men on the other side, if so be the enemy, having forced their way through\r\nthe mountain passes, should storm the fortresses. The barbarians, however, came\r\non with such insolence and contempt of their enemies, that to show their\r\nstrength and courage, rather than out of any necessity, they went naked in the\r\nshowers of snow, and through the ice and deep snow climbed up to the tops of\r\nthe hills, and from thence, placing their broad shields under their bodies, let\r\nthemselves slide from the precipices along their vast slippery descents.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen they had pitched their camp at a little distance from the river, and\r\nsurveyed the passage, they began to pile it up, giant-like, tearing down the\r\nneighboring hills; and brought trees pulled up by the roots, and heaps of earth\r\nto the river, damming up its course; and with great heavy materials which they\r\nrolled down the stream and dashed against the bridge, they forced away the\r\nbeams which supported it; in consequence of which the greatest part of the\r\nRoman soldiers, much affrighted, left the large camp and fled. Here Catulus\r\nshowed himself a generous and noble general, in preferring the glory of his\r\npeople before his own; for when he could not prevail with his soldiers to stand\r\nto their colors, but saw how they all deserted them, he commanded his own\r\nstandard to be taken up, and running to the foremost of those that fled, he led\r\nthem forward, choosing rather that the disgrace should fall upon himself than\r\nupon his country, and that they should not seem to fly, but, following their\r\ncaptain, to make a retreat. The barbarians assaulted and took the fortress on\r\nthe other side the Adige; where much admiring the few Romans there left, who\r\nhad shown extreme courage, and had fought worthily of their country, they\r\ndismissed them upon terms, swearing them upon their brazen bull, which was\r\nafterwards taken in the battle, and carried, they say, to Catulus’s house, as\r\nthe chief trophy of victory.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus falling in upon the country destitute of defense, they wasted it on all\r\nsides. Marius was presently sent for to the city; where, when he arrived, every\r\none supposing he would triumph, the senate, too, unanimously voting it, he\r\nhimself did not think it convenient; whether that he were not willing to\r\ndeprive his soldiers and officers of their share of the glory, or that to\r\nencourage the people in this juncture, he would leave the honor due to his past\r\nvictory on trust, as it were, in the hands of the city and its future fortune;\r\ndeferring it now, to receive it afterwards with the greater splendor. Having\r\nleft such orders as the occasion required, he hastened to Catulus, whose\r\ndrooping spirits he much raised, and sent for his own army from Gaul: and as\r\nsoon as it came, passing the river Po, he endeavored to keep the barbarians out\r\nof that part of Italy which lies south of it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey professed they were in expectation of the Teutones, and, saying they\r\nwondered they were so long in coming, deferred the battle; either that they\r\nwere really ignorant of their defeat, or were willing to seem so. For they\r\ncertainly much maltreated those that brought them such news, and, sending to\r\nMarius, required some part of the country for themselves and their brethren,\r\nand cities fit for them to inhabit. When Marius inquired of the ambassadors who\r\ntheir brethren were, upon their saying, the Teutones, all that were present\r\nbegan to laugh; and Marius scoffingly answered them, “Do not trouble yourselves\r\nfor your brethren, for we have already provided lands for them, which they\r\nshall possess forever.” The ambassadors, understanding the mockery, broke into\r\ninsults, and threatened that the Cimbri would make him pay for this, and the\r\nTeutones, too, when they came. “They are not far off,” replied Marius, “and it\r\nwill be unkindly done of you to go away before greeting your brethren.” Saying\r\nso, he commanded the kings of the Teutones to be brought out. as they were, in\r\nchains; for they were taken by the Sequani among the Alps, before they could\r\nmake their escape. This was no sooner made known to the Cimbri, but they with\r\nall expedition came against Marius, who then lay still and guarded his camp.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is said, that against this battle, Marius first altered the construction of\r\nthe Roman javelins. For before, at the place where the wood was joined to the\r\niron, it was made fast with two iron pins; but now Marius let one of them alone\r\nas it was, and pulling out the other, put a weak wooden peg in its place, thus\r\ncontriving, that when it was driven into the enemy’s shield, it should not\r\nstand right out, but the wooden peg breaking, the iron should bend, and so the\r\njavelin should hold fast by its crooked point, and drag. Boeorix, king of the\r\nCimbri, came with a small party of horse to the Roman camp, and challenged\r\nMarius to appoint the time and place, where they might meet and fight for the\r\ncountry. Marius answered, that the Romans never consulted their enemies when to\r\nfight; however, he would gratify the Cimbri so far; and so they fixed upon the\r\nthird day after, and for the place, the plain near Vercellae, which was\r\nconvenient enough for the Roman horse, and afforded room for the enemy to\r\ndisplay their numbers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey observed the time appointed, and drew out their forces against each other.\r\nCatulus commanded twenty thousand three hundred, and Marius thirty-two\r\nthousand, who were placed in the two wings, leaving Catulus the center. Sylla,\r\nwho was present at the fight, gives this account; saying, also, that Marius\r\ndrew up his army in this order, because he expected that the armies would meet\r\non the wings, since it generally happens that in such extensive fronts the\r\ncenter falls back, and thus he would have the whole victory to himself and his\r\nsoldiers, and Catulus would not be even engaged. They tell us, also, that\r\nCatulus himself alleged this in vindication of his honor, accusing, in various\r\nways, the enviousness of Marius. The infantry of the Cimbri marched quietly out\r\nof their fortifications, having their flanks equal to their front; every side\r\nof the army taking up thirty furlongs. Their horse, that were in number fifteen\r\nthousand, made a very splendid appearance. They wore helmets, made to resemble\r\nthe heads and jaws of wild beasts, and other strange shapes, and heightening\r\nthese with plumes of feathers, they made themselves appear taller than they\r\nwere. They had breastplates of iron, and white glittering shields; and for\r\ntheir offensive arms, every one had two darts, and when they came hand to hand,\r\nthey used large and heavy swords.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe cavalry did not fall directly upon the front of the Romans, but, turning to\r\nthe right, they endeavored to draw them on in that direction by little and\r\nlittle, so as to get them between themselves and their infantry, who were\r\nplaced in the left wing. The Roman commanders soon perceived the design, but\r\ncould not contain the soldiers; for one happening to shout out that the enemy\r\nfled, they all rushed to pursue them, while the whole barbarian foot came on,\r\nmoving like a great ocean. Here Marius, having washed his hands, and lifting\r\nthem up towards heaven, vowed an hecatomb to the gods; and Catulus, too, in the\r\nsame posture, solemnly promised to consecrate a temple to the “Fortune of that\r\nday.” They say, too, that Marius, having the victim showed to him as he was\r\nsacrificing, cried out with a loud voice, “the victory is mine.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, in the engagement, according to the accounts of Sylla and his friends,\r\nMarius met with what might be called a mark of divine displeasure. For a great\r\ndust being raised, which (as it might very probably happen) almost covered both\r\nthe armies, he, leading on his forces to the pursuit, missed the enemy, and\r\nhaving passed by their array, moved, for a good space, up and down the field;\r\nmeanwhile the enemy, by chance, engaged with Catulus, and the heat of the\r\nbattle was chiefly with him and his men, among whom Sylla says he was; adding,\r\nthat the Romans had great advantage of the heat and sun that shone in the faces\r\nof the Cimbri. For they, well able to endure cold, and having been bred up, (as\r\nwe observed before,) in cold and shady countries, were overcome with the\r\nexcessive heat; they sweated extremely, and were much out of breath, being\r\nforced to hold their shields before their faces; for the battle was fought not\r\nlong after the summer solstice, or, as the Romans reckon, upon the third day\r\nbefore the new moon of the month now called August, and then Sextilis. The\r\ndust, too, gave the Romans no small addition to their courage, inasmuch as it\r\nhid the enemy. For afar off they could not discover their number; but every one\r\nadvancing to encounter those that were nearest to them, they came to fight hand\r\nto hand, before the sight of so vast a multitude had struck terror into them.\r\nThey were so much used to labor, and so well exercised, that in all the heat\r\nand toil of the encounter, not one of them was observed either to sweat, or to\r\nbe out of breath; so much so, that Catulus himself, they say, recorded it in\r\ncommendation of his soldiers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHere the greatest part and most valiant of the enemies were cut in pieces; for\r\nthose that fought in the front, that they might not break their ranks, were\r\nfast tied to one another, with long chains put through their belts. But as they\r\npursued those that fled to their camp, they witnessed a most fearful tragedy;\r\nthe women, standing in black clothes on their wagons, slew all that fled, some\r\ntheir husbands, some their brethren, others their fathers; and strangling their\r\nlittle children with their own hands, threw them under the wheels, and the feet\r\nof the cattle, and then killed themselves. They tell of one who hung herself\r\nfrom the end of the pole of a wagon, with her children tied dangling at her\r\nheels. The men, for want of trees, tied themselves, some to the horns of the\r\noxen, others by the neck to their legs, that so pricking them on, by the\r\nstarting and springing of the beasts, they might be torn and trodden to pieces.\r\nYet for all they thus massacred themselves, above sixty thousand were taken\r\nprisoners, and those that were slain were said to be twice as many.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe ordinary plunder was taken by Marius’s soldiers, but the other spoils, as\r\nensigns, trumpets, and the like, they say, were brought to Catulus’s camp;\r\nwhich he used for the best argument that the victory was obtained by himself\r\nand his army. Some dissensions arising, as was natural, among the soldiers, the\r\ndeputies from Parma being then present, were made judges of the controversy;\r\nwhom Catulus’s men carried about among their slain enemies, and manifestly\r\nshowed them that they were slain by their javelins, which were known by the\r\ninscriptions, having Catulus’s name cut in the wood. Nevertheless, the whole\r\nglory of the action was ascribed to Marius, on account of his former victory,\r\nand under color of his present authority; the populace more especially styling\r\nhim the third founder of their city, as having diverted a danger no less\r\nthreatening than was that when the Gauls sacked Rome; and every one, in their\r\nfeasts and rejoicings at home with their wives and children, made offerings and\r\nlibations in honor of “The Gods and Marius;” and would have had him solely have\r\nthe honor of both the triumphs. However, he did not do so, but triumphed\r\ntogether with Catulus, being desirous to show his moderation even in such great\r\ncircumstances of good fortune, besides, he was not a little afraid of the\r\nsoldiers in Catulus’s army, lest, if he should wholly bereave their general of\r\nthe honor, they should endeavor to hinder him of his triumph.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarius was now in his fifth consulship, and he sued for his sixth in such a\r\nmanner as never any man before him, had done, even for his first; he courted\r\nthe people’s favor and ingratiated himself with the multitude by every sort of\r\ncomplaisance; not only derogating from the state and dignity of his office, but\r\nalso belying his own character, by attempting to seem popular and obliging, for\r\nwhich nature had never designed him. His passion for distinction did, indeed,\r\nthey say, make him exceedingly timorous in any political matters, or in\r\nconfronting public assemblies; and that undaunted presence of mind he always\r\nshowed in battle against the enemy, forsook him when he was to address the\r\npeople; he was easily upset by the most ordinary commendation or dispraise. It\r\nis told of him, that having at one time given the freedom of the city to one\r\nthousand men of Camerinum who had behaved valiantly in this war, and this\r\nseeming to be illegally done, upon some one or other calling him to an account\r\nfor it, he answered, that the law spoke too softly to be heard in such a noise\r\nof war; yet he himself appeared to be more disconcerted and overcome by the\r\nclamor made in the assemblies. The need they had of him in time of war procured\r\nhim power and dignity; but in civil affairs, when he despaired of getting the\r\nfirst place, he was forced to betake himself to the favor of the people, never\r\ncaring to be a good man, so that he were but a great one.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe thus became very odious to all the nobility; and, above all, he feared\r\nMetellus, who had been so ungratefully used by him, and whose true virtue made\r\nhim naturally an enemy to those that sought influence with the people, not by\r\nthe honorable course, but by subservience and complaisance. Marius, therefore,\r\nendeavored to banish him from the city, and for this purpose he contracted a\r\nclose alliance with Glaucia and Saturninus, a couple of daring fellows, who had\r\nthe great mass of the indigent and seditious multitude at their control; and by\r\ntheir assistance he enacted various laws, and bringing the soldiers, also, to\r\nattend the assembly, he was enabled to overpower Metellus. And as Rutilius\r\nrelates, (in all other respects a fair and faithful authority, but, indeed,\r\nprivately an enemy to Marius,) he obtained his sixth consulship by distributing\r\nvast sums of money among the tribes, and by this bribery kept out Metellus, and\r\nhad Valerius Flaccus given him as his instrument, rather than his colleague, in\r\nthe consulship. The people had never before bestowed so many consulships on any\r\none man, except on Valerius Corvinus only, and he, too, they say, was\r\nforty-five years between his first and last; but Marius, from his first, ran\r\nthrough five more, with one current of good fortune.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the last, especially, he contracted a great deal of hatred, by committing\r\nseveral gross misdemeanors in compliance with the desires of Saturninus; among\r\nwhich was the murder of Nonius, whom Saturninus slew, because he stood in\r\ncompetition with him for the tribuneship. And when, afterwards, Saturninus, on\r\nbecoming tribune, brought forward his law for the division of lands, with a\r\nclause enacting that the senate should publicly swear to confirm whatever the\r\npeople should vote, and not to oppose them in anything, Marius, in the senate,\r\ncunningly feigned to be against this provision, and said that he would not take\r\nany such oath, nor would any man, he thought, who was wise; for if there were\r\nno ill design in the law, still it would be an affront to the senate, to be\r\ncompelled to give their approbation, and not to do it willingly and upon\r\npersuasion. This he said, not that it was agreeable to his own sentiments, but\r\nthat he might entrap Metellus beyond any possibility of escape. For Marius, in\r\nwhose ideas virtue and capacity consisted largely in deceit, made very little\r\naccount of what he had openly professed to the senate; and knowing that\r\nMetellus was one of a fixed resolution, and, as Pindar has it, esteemed Truth\r\nthe first principle of heroic virtue; he hoped to ensnare him into a\r\ndeclaration before the senate, and on his refusing, as he was sure to do,\r\nafterwards to take the oath, he expected to bring him into such odium with the\r\npeople, as should never be wiped off. The design succeeded to his wish. As soon\r\nas Metellus had declared that he would not swear to it, the senate adjourned. A\r\nfew days after, on Saturninus citing the senators to make their appearance, and\r\ntake the oath before the people, Marius stepped forth, amidst a profound\r\nsilence, every one being intent to hear him, and bidding farewell to those fine\r\nspeeches he had before made in the senate, said, that his back was not so broad\r\nthat he should think himself bound, once for all, by any opinion once given on\r\nso important a matter; he would willingly swear and submit to the law, if so be\r\nit were one, a proviso which he added as a mere cover for his effrontery. The\r\npeople, in great joy at his taking the oath, loudly clapped and applauded him,\r\nwhile the nobility stood by ashamed and vexed at his inconstancy; but they\r\nsubmitted out of fear of the people, and all in order took the oath, till it\r\ncame to Metellus’s turn. But he, though his friends begged and entreated him to\r\ntake it, and not to plunge himself irrecoverably into the penalties which\r\nSaturninus had provided for those that should refuse it, would not flinch from\r\nhis resolution, nor swear; but, according to his fixed custom, being ready to\r\nsuffer anything rather than do a base, unworthy action, he left the forum,\r\ntelling those that were with him, that to do a wrong thing is base, and to do\r\nwell where there is no danger, common; the good man’s characteristic is to do\r\nso, where there is danger.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHereupon Saturninus put it to the vote, that the consuls should place Metellus\r\nunder their interdict, and forbid him fire, water, and lodging. There were\r\nenough, too, of the basest of people ready to kill him. Nevertheless, when many\r\nof the better sort were extremely concerned, and gathered about Metellus, he\r\nwould not suffer them to raise a sedition upon his account, but with this calm\r\nreflection left the city, “Either when the posture of affairs is mended and the\r\npeople repent, I shall be recalled, or if things remain in their present\r\ncondition, it will be best to be absent.” But what great favor and honor\r\nMetellus received in his banishment, and in what manner he spent his time at\r\nRhodes, in philosophy, will be more fitly our subject, when we write his life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarius, in return for this piece of service, was forced to connive at\r\nSaturninus, now proceeding to the very height of insolence and violence, and\r\nwas, without knowing it, the instrument of mischief beyond endurance, the only\r\ncourse of which was through outrages and massacres to tyranny and the\r\nsubversion of the government. Standing in some awe of the nobility, and, at the\r\nsame time, eager to court the commonalty, he was guilty of a most mean and\r\ndishonest action. When some of the great men came to him at night to stir him\r\nup against Saturninus, at the other door, unknown to them, he let him in; then\r\nmaking the same presence of some disorder of body to both, he ran from one\r\nparty to the other, and staying at one time with them and another with him, he\r\ninstigated and exasperated them one against another. At length when the senate\r\nand equestrian order concerted measures together, and openly manifested their\r\nresentment, he did bring his soldiers into the forum, and driving the\r\ninsurgents into the capitol, and then cutting off the conduits, forced them to\r\nsurrender by want of water. They, in this distress, addressing themselves to\r\nhim, surrendered, as it is termed, on the public faith. He did his utmost to\r\nsave their lives, but so wholly in vain, that when they came down into the\r\nforum, they were all basely murdered. Thus he had made himself equally odious\r\nboth to the nobility and commons, and when the time was come to create censors,\r\nthough he was the most obvious man, yet he did not petition for it; but fearing\r\nthe disgrace of being repulsed, permitted others, his inferiors, to be elected,\r\nthough he pleased himself by giving out, that he was not willing to disoblige\r\ntoo many by undertaking a severe inspection into their lives and conduct.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was now an edict preferred to recall Metellus from banishment; this he\r\nvigorously, but in vain, opposed both by word and deed, and was at length\r\nobliged to desist. The people unanimously voted for it; and he, not able to\r\nendure the sight of Metellus’s return, made a voyage to Cappadocia and Galatia;\r\ngiving out that he had to perform the sacrifices, which he had vowed to Cybele;\r\nbut actuated really by other less apparent reasons. For, in fact, being a man\r\naltogether ignorant of civil life and ordinary politics, he received all his\r\nadvancement from war; and supposing his power and glory would by little and\r\nlittle decrease by his lying quietly out of action, he was eager by every means\r\nto excite some new commotions, and hoped that by setting at variance some of\r\nthe kings, and by exasperating Mithridates, especially, who was then apparently\r\nmaking preparations for war, he himself should be chosen general against him,\r\nand so furnish the city with new matter of triumph, and his own house with the\r\nplunder of Pontus, and the riches of its king. Therefore, though Mithridates\r\nentertained him with all imaginable attention and respect, yet he was not at\r\nall wrought upon or softened by it, but said, “O king, either endeavor to be\r\nstronger than the Romans, or else quietly submit to their commands.” With which\r\nhe left Mithridates astonished, as he indeed had often heard the fame of the\r\nbold speaking of the Romans, but now for the first time experienced it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Marius returned again to Rome, he built a house close by the forum,\r\neither, as he himself gave out, that he was not willing his clients should be\r\ntired with going far, or that he imagined distance was the reason why more did\r\nnot come. This, however, was not so; the real reason was, that being inferior\r\nto others in agreeableness of conversation and the arts of political life, like\r\na mere tool and implement of war, he was thrown aside in time of peace. Amongst\r\nall those whose brightness eclipsed his glory, he was most incensed against\r\nSylla, who had owed his rise to the hatred which the nobility bore Marius; and\r\nhad made his disagreement with him the one principle of his political life.\r\nWhen Bocchus, king of Numidia, who was styled the associate of the Romans,\r\ndedicated some figures of Victory in the capitol, and with them a\r\nrepresentation in gold, of himself delivering Jugurtha to Sylla, Marius upon\r\nthis was almost distracted with rage and ambition, as though Sylla had\r\narrogated this honor to himself, and endeavored forcibly to pull down these\r\npresents; Sylla, on the other side, as vigorously resisted him; but the Social\r\nWar then on a sudden threatening the city, put a stop to this sedition, when\r\njust ready to break out. For the most warlike and best-peopled countries of all\r\nItaly formed a confederacy together against Rome, and were within a little of\r\nsubverting the empire; as they were indeed strong, not only in their weapons\r\nand the valor of their soldiers, but stood nearly upon equal terms with the\r\nRomans, as to the skill and daring of their commanders.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs much glory and power as this war, so various in its events and so uncertain\r\nas to its success, conferred upon Sylla, so much it took away from Marius, who\r\nwas thought tardy, unenterprising, and timid, whether it were that his age was\r\nnow quenching his former heat and vigor, (for he was above sixty-five years\r\nold,) or that having, as he himself said, some distemper that affected his\r\nmuscles, and his body being unfit for action, he did service above his\r\nstrength. Yet, for all this, he came off victor in a considerable battle,\r\nwherein he slew six thousand of the enemies, and never once gave them any\r\nadvantage over him; and when he was surrounded by the works of the enemy, he\r\ncontained himself, and though insulted over, and challenged, did not yield to\r\nthe provocation. The story is told that when Publius Silo, a man of the\r\ngreatest repute and authority among the enemies, said to him, “If you are\r\nindeed a great general, Marius, leave your camp and fight a battle,” he\r\nreplied, “If you are one, make me do so.” And another time, when the enemy gave\r\nthem a good opportunity of a battle, and the Romans through fear durst not\r\ncharge, so that both parties retreated, he called an assembly of his soldiers\r\nand said, “It is no small question whether I should call the enemies, or you,\r\nthe greater cowards, for neither did they dare to face your backs, nor you to\r\nconfront theirs.” At length, professing to be worn out with the infirmity of\r\nhis body, he laid down his command.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfterwards, when the Italians were worsted, there were several candidates\r\nsuing, with the aid of the popular leaders, for the chief command in the war\r\nwith Mithridates. Sulpicius, tribune of the people, a bold and confident man,\r\ncontrary to everybody’s expectation, brought forward Marius, and proposed him\r\nas proconsul and general in that war. The people were divided; some were on\r\nMarius’s side, others voted for Sylla, and jeeringly bade Marius go to his\r\nbaths at Baiae, to cure his body, worn out, as himself confessed, with age and\r\ncatarrhs. Marius had, indeed, there, about Misenum, a villa more effeminately\r\nand luxuriously furnished than seemed to become one that had seen service in so\r\nmany and great wars and expeditions. This same house Cornelia bought for\r\nseventy-five thousand drachmas, and not long after Lucius Lucullus, for two\r\nmillion five hundred thousand; so rapid and so great was the growth of Roman\r\nsumptuosity. Yet, in spite of all this, out of a mere boyish passion for\r\ndistinction, affecting to shake off his age and weakness, he went down daily to\r\nthe Campus Martius, and exercising himself with the youth, showed himself still\r\nnimble in his armor, and expert in riding; though he was undoubtedly grown\r\nbulky in his old age, and inclining to excessive fatness and corpulency.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome people were pleased with this, and went continually to see him competing\r\nand displaying himself in these exercises; but the better sort that saw him,\r\npitied the cupidity and ambition that made one who had risen from utter poverty\r\nto extreme wealth, and out of nothing into greatness, unwilling to admit any\r\nlimit to his high fortune, or to be content with being admired, and quietly\r\nenjoying what he had already got: why, as if he still were indigent, should he\r\nat so great an age leave his glory and his triumphs to go into Cappadocia and\r\nthe Euxine Sea, to fight Archelaus and Neoptolemus, Mithridates’s generals?\r\nMarius’s pretenses for this action of his seemed very ridiculous; for he said\r\nhe wanted to go and teach his son to be a general.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe condition of the city, which had long been unsound and diseased, became\r\nhopeless now that Marius found so opportune an instrument for the public\r\ndestruction as Sulpicius’s insolence. This man professed, in all other\r\nrespects, to admire and imitate Saturninus; only he found fault with him for\r\nbackwardness and want of spirit in his designs. He, therefore, to avoid this\r\nfault, got six hundred of the equestrian order about him as his guard, whom he\r\nnamed anti-senators; and with these confederates he set upon the consuls,\r\nwhilst they were at the assembly, and took the son of one of them, who fled\r\nfrom the forum, and slew him. Sylla, being hotly pursued, took refuge in\r\nMarius’s house, which none could suspect, by that means escaping those that\r\nsought him, who hastily passed by there, and, it is said, was safely conveyed\r\nby Marius himself out at the other door, and came to the camp. Yet Sylla, in\r\nhis memoirs, positively denies that he fled to Marius, saying he was carried\r\nthither to consult upon the matters to which Sulpicius would have forced him,\r\nagainst his will, to consent; that he, surrounding him with drawn swords,\r\nhurried him to Marius, and constrained him thus, till he went thence to the\r\nforum and removed, as they required him to do, the interdict on business.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSulpicius, having thus obtained the mastery, decreed the command of the army to\r\nMarius, who proceeded to make preparations for his march, and sent two tribunes\r\nto receive the charge of the army from Sylla. Sylla hereupon exasperating his\r\nsoldiers, who were about thirty-five thousand full-armed men, led them towards\r\nRome. First falling upon the tribunes Marius had sent, they slew them; Marius\r\nhaving done as much for several of Sylla’s friends in Rome, and now offering\r\ntheir freedom to the slaves on condition of their assistance in the war; of\r\nwhom, however, they say, there were but three who accepted his proposal. For\r\nsome small time he made head against Sylla’s assault, but was soon overpowered\r\nand fled; those that were with him, as soon as he had escaped out of the city,\r\nwere dispersed, and night coming on, he hastened to a country-house of his,\r\ncalled Solonium. Hence he sent his son to some neighboring farms of his\r\nfather-in-law, Mucius, to provide necessaries; he went himself to Ostia, where\r\nhis friend Numerius had prepared him a ship, and hence, not staying for his\r\nson, he took with him his son-in-law Granius, and weighed anchor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYoung Marius, coming to Mucius’s farms, made his preparations; and the day\r\nbreaking, was almost discovered by the enemy. For there came thither a party of\r\nhorse that suspected some such matter; but the farm steward, foreseeing their\r\napproach, hid Marius in a cart full of beans, then yoking in his team and\r\ndriving toward the city, met those that were in search of him. Marius, thus\r\nconveyed home to his wife, took with him some necessaries, and came at night to\r\nthe sea-side; where, going on board a ship that was bound for Africa, he went\r\naway thither. Marius, the father, when he had put to sea, with a strong gale\r\npassing along the coast of Italy, was in no small apprehension of one Geminius,\r\na great man at Terracina, and his enemy; and therefore bade the seamen hold off\r\nfrom that place. They were, indeed, willing to gratify him, but the wind now\r\nblowing in from the sea, and making the waves swell to a great height, they\r\nwere afraid the ship would not be able to weather out the storm, and Marius,\r\ntoo, being indisposed and seasick, they made for land, and not without some\r\ndifficulty reached the shore near Circeium.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe storm now increasing and their victuals failing, they left their ship and\r\nwandered up and down without any certain purpose, simply as in great distresses\r\npeople shun the present as the greatest evil, and rely upon the hopes of\r\nuncertainties. For the land and sea were both equally unsafe for them; it was\r\ndangerous to meet with people, and it was no less so to meet with none, on\r\naccount of their want of necessaries. At length, though late, they lighted upon\r\na few poor shepherds, that had not anything to relieve them; but knowing\r\nMarius, advised him to depart as soon as might be, for they had seen a little\r\nbeyond that place a party of horse that were gone in search of him. Finding\r\nhimself in a great straight, especially because those that attended him were\r\nnot able to go further, being spent with their long fasting, for the present he\r\nturned aside out of the road, and hid himself in a thick wood, where he passed\r\nthe night in great wretchedness. The next day, pinched with hunger, and willing\r\nto make use of the little strength he had, before it were all exhausted, he\r\ntraveled by the seaside, encouraging his companions not to fall away from him\r\nbefore the fulfillment of his final hopes, for which, in reliance on some old\r\npredictions, he professed to be sustaining himself. For when he was yet but\r\nvery young, and lived in the country, he caught in the skirt of his garment an\r\neagle’s nest, as it was falling, in which were seven young ones, which his\r\nparents seeing and much admiring, consulted the augurs about it, who told them\r\nthat he should become the greatest man in the world, and that the fates had\r\ndecreed he should seven times be possessed of the supreme power and authority.\r\nSome are of opinion that this really happened to Marius, as we have related it;\r\nothers say, that those who then and through the rest of his exile heard him\r\ntell these stories, and believed him, have merely repeated a story that is\r\naltogether fabulous; for an eagle never hatches more than two; and even Musaeus\r\nwas deceived, who, speaking of the eagle, says that, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“She lays three eggs, hatches two, and rears one.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nHowever this be, it is certain Marius, in his exile and greatest extremities,\r\nwould often say, that he should attain a seventh consulship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Marius and his company were now about twenty furlongs distant from\r\nMinturnae, a city in Italy, they espied a troop, of horse making up toward them\r\nwith all speed, and by chance, also, at the same time, two ships under sail.\r\nAccordingly, they ran every one with what speed and strength they could to the\r\nsea, and plunging into it, swam to the ships. Those that were with Granius,\r\nreaching one of them, passed over to an island opposite, called Aenaria; Marius\r\nhimself whose body was heavy and unwieldy, was with great pains and difficulty\r\nkept above the water by two servants, and put into the other ship. The soldiers\r\nwere by this time come to the seaside, and from thence called out to the seamen\r\nto put to shore, or else to throw out Marius, and then they might go whither\r\nthey would. Marius besought them with tears to the contrary, and the masters of\r\nthe ship, after frequent changes, in a short space of time, of their purpose,\r\ninclining, first to one, then to the other side, resolved at length to answer\r\nthe soldiers, that they would not give up Marius. As soon as they had ridden\r\noff in a rage, the seamen, again changing their resolution, came to land, and\r\ncasting anchor at the mouth of the river Liris, where it overflows and makes a\r\ngreat marsh, they advised him to land, refresh himself on shore, and take some\r\ncare of his discomposed body, till the wind came fairer; which, said they, will\r\nhappen at such an hour, when the wind from the sea will calm, and that from the\r\nmarshes rise. Marius, following their advice, did so, and when the sea-men had\r\nset him on shore, he laid him down in an adjacent field, suspecting nothing\r\nless than what was to befall him. They, as soon as they had got into the ship,\r\nweighed anchor and departed, as thinking it neither honorable to deliver Marius\r\ninto the hands of those that sought him, nor safe to protect him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe thus, deserted by all, lay a good while silently on the shore; at length\r\ncollecting himself, he advanced with pain and difficulty, without any path,\r\ntill, wading through deep bogs and ditches full of water and mud, he came upon\r\nthe hut of an old man that worked in the fens, and falling at his feet besought\r\nhim to assist and preserve one who, if he escaped the present danger, would\r\nmake him returns beyond his expectation. The poor man, whether he had formerly\r\nknown him, or were then moved with his superior aspect, told him that if he\r\nwanted only rest, his cottage would be convenient; but if he were flying from\r\nanybody’s search, he would hide him in a more retired place. Marius desiring\r\nhim to do so, he carried him into the fens and bade him hide himself in an\r\nhollow place by the river side, where he laid upon him a great many reeds, and\r\nother things that were light, and would cover, but not oppress him. But within\r\na very short time he was disturbed with a noise and tumult from the cottage,\r\nfor Geminius had sent several from Terracina in pursuit of him; some of whom,\r\nhappening to come that way, frightened and threatened the old man for having\r\nentertained and hid an enemy of the Romans. Wherefore Marius, arising and\r\nstripping himself, plunged into a puddle full of thick muddy water; and even\r\nthere he could not escape their search, but was pulled out covered with mire,\r\nand carried away naked to Minturnae, and delivered to the magistrates. For\r\nthere had been orders sent through all the towns, to make public search for\r\nMarius, and if they found him to kill him; however, the magistrates thought\r\nconvenient to consider a little better of it first, and sent him prisoner to\r\nthe house of one Fannia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis woman was supposed not very well affected towards him upon an old account.\r\nOne Tinnius had formerly married this Fannia; from whom she afterwards being\r\ndivorced, demanded her portion, which was considerable, but her husband accused\r\nher of adultery; so the controversy was brought before Marius in his sixth\r\nconsulship. When the cause was examined thoroughly, it appeared both that\r\nFannia had been incontinent, and that her husband knowing her to be so, had\r\nmarried and lived a considerable time with her. So that Marius was severe\r\nenough with both, commanding him to restore her portion, and laying a fine of\r\nfour copper coins upon her by way of disgrace. But Fannia did not then behave\r\nlike a woman that had been injured, but as soon as she saw Marius, remembered\r\nnothing less than old affronts; took care of him according to her ability, and\r\ncomforted him. He made her his returns and told her he did not despair, for he\r\nhad met with a lucky omen, which was thus. When he was brought to Fannia’s\r\nhouse, as soon as the gate was opened, an ass came running out to drink at a\r\nspring hard by, and giving a bold and encouraging look, first stood still\r\nbefore him, then brayed aloud and pranced by him. From which Marius drew his\r\nconclusion, and said, that the fates designed him safety, rather by sea than\r\nland, because the ass neglected his dry fodder, and turned from it to the\r\nwater. Having told Fannia this story, he bade the chamber door to be shut and\r\nwent to rest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMeanwhile the magistrates and councilors of Minturnae consulted together, and\r\ndetermined not to delay any longer, but immediately to kill Marius; and when\r\nnone of their citizens durst undertake the business, a certain soldier, a\r\nGaulish or Cimbrian horseman, (the story is told both ways,) went in with his\r\nsword drawn to him. The room itself was not very light, that part of it\r\nespecially where he then lay was dark, from whence Marius’s eyes, they say,\r\nseemed to the fellow to dart out flames at him, and a loud voice to say, out of\r\nthe dark, “Fellow, darest thou kill Caius Marius?” The barbarian hereupon\r\nimmediately fled, and leaving his sword in the place rushed out of doors,\r\ncrying only this, “I cannot kill Caius Marius.” At which they were all at first\r\nastonished, and presently began to feel pity, and remorse, and anger at\r\nthemselves for making so unjust and ungrateful a decree against one who had\r\npreserved Italy, and whom it was bad enough not to assist. “Let him go,” said\r\nthey, “where he please to banishment, and find his fate somewhere else; we only\r\nentreat pardon of the gods for thrusting Marius distressed and deserted out of\r\nour city.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nImpelled by thoughts of this kind, they went in a body into the room, and\r\ntaking him amongst them, conducted him towards the sea-side; on his way to\r\nwhich, though everyone was very officious to him, and all made what haste they\r\ncould, yet a considerable time was likely to be lost. For the grove of Marica,\r\n(as she is called,) which the people hold sacred, and make it a point of\r\nreligion not to let anything that is once carried into it be taken out, lay\r\njust in their road to the sea, and if they should go round about, they must\r\nneeds come very late thither. At length one of the old men cried out and said,\r\nthere was no place so sacred, but they might pass through it for Marius’s\r\npreservation; and thereupon, first of all, he himself, taking up some of the\r\nbaggage that was carried for his accommodation to the ship, passed through the\r\ngrove, all the rest immediately, with the same readiness, accompanying him. And\r\none Belaeus, (who afterwards had a picture of these things drawn, and put it in\r\na temple at the place of embarkation,) having by this time provided him a ship,\r\nMarius went on board, and, hoisting sail, was by fortune thrown upon the island\r\nAenaria, where meeting with Granius, and his other friends, he sailed with them\r\nfor Africa. But their water failing them in the way, they were forced to put in\r\nnear Eryx, in Sicily, where was a Roman quaestor on the watch, who all but\r\ncaptured Marius himself on his landing, and did kill sixteen of his retinue\r\nthat went to fetch water. Marius, with all expedition loosing thence, crossed\r\nthe sea to the isle of Meninx, where he first heard the news of his son’s\r\nescape with Cethegus, and of his going to implore the assistance of Hiempsal,\r\nking of Numidia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWith this news, being somewhat comforted, he ventured to pass from that isle\r\ntowards Carthage. Sextilius, a Roman, was then governor in Africa; one that had\r\nnever received either any injury or any kindness from Marius; but who from\r\ncompassion, it was hoped, might lend him some help. But he was scarce got\r\nashore with a small retinue, when an officer met him, and said, “Sextilius, the\r\ngovernor, forbids you, Marius, to set foot in Africa; if you do, he says, he\r\nwill put the decree of the senate in execution, and treat you as an enemy to\r\nthe Romans.” When Marius heard this, he wanted words to express his grief and\r\nresentment, and for a good while held his peace, looking sternly upon the\r\nmessenger, who asked him what he should say, or what answer he should return to\r\nthe governor? Marius answered him with a deep sigh: “Go tell him that you have\r\nseen Caius Marius sitting in exile among the ruins of Carthage;” appositely\r\napplying the example of the fortune of that city to the change of his own\r\ncondition.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the interim, Hiempsal, king of Numidia, dubious of what he should determine\r\nto do, treated young Marius and those that were with him very honorably; but\r\nwhen they had a mind to depart, he still had some presence or other to detain\r\nthem, and it was manifest he made these delays upon no good design. However,\r\nthere happened an accident that made well for their preservation. The hard\r\nfortune which attended young Marius, who was of a comely aspect, touched one of\r\nthe king’s concubines, and this pity of hers, was the beginning and occasion of\r\nlove for him. At first he declined the woman’s solicitations, but when he\r\nperceived that there was no other way of escaping, and that her offers were\r\nmore serious than for the gratification of intemperate passion, he accepted her\r\nkindness, and she finding means to convey them away, he escaped with his\r\nfriends and fled to his father. As soon as they had saluted each other, and\r\nwere going by the sea-side, they saw some scorpions fighting, which Marius took\r\nfor an ill omen, whereupon they immediately went on board a little fisher-boat,\r\nand made toward Cercina, an island not far distant from the continent. They had\r\nscarce put off from shore when they espied some horse, sent after them by the\r\nking, with all speed making toward that very place from which they were just\r\nretired. And Marius thus escaped a danger, it might be said, as great as any he\r\never incurred.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt Rome news came that Sylla was engaged with Mithridates’s generals in\r\nBoeotia; the consuls, from factious opposition, were fallen to downright\r\nfighting, wherein Octavius prevailing, drove Cinna out of the city for\r\nattempting despotic government, and made Cornelius Merula consul in his stead;\r\nwhile Cinna, raising forces in other parts of Italy, carried the war against\r\nthem. As soon as Marius heard of this, he resolved, with all expedition, to put\r\nto sea again, and taking with him from Africa some Mauritanian horse, and a few\r\nof the refugees out of Italy, all together not above one thousand, he, with\r\nthis handful, began his voyage. Arriving at Telamon, in Etruria, and coming\r\nashore, he proclaimed freedom for the slaves; and many of the countrymen, also,\r\nand shepherds thereabouts, who were already freemen, at the hearing his name\r\nflocked to him to the sea-side. He persuaded the youngest and strongest to join\r\nhim, and in a small time got together a competent force with which he filled\r\nforty ships. Knowing Octavius to be a good man and willing to execute his\r\noffice with the greatest justice imaginable, and Cinna to be suspected by\r\nSylla, and in actual warfare against the established government, he determined\r\nto join himself and his forces with the latter. He, therefore, sent a message\r\nto him, to let him know that he was ready to obey him as consul.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Cinna had joyfully received his offer, naming him proconsul, and sending\r\nhim the fasces and other ensigns of authority, he said, that grandeur did not\r\nbecome his present fortune; but wearing an ordinary habit, and still letting\r\nhis hair grow as it had done, from that very day he first went into banishment,\r\nand being now above threescore and ten years old, he came slowly on foot,\r\ndesigning to move people’s compassion; which did not prevent, however, his\r\nnatural fierceness of expression from still predominating, and his humiliation\r\nstill let it appear that he was not so much dejected as exasperated, by the\r\nchange of his condition. Having saluted Cinna and the soldiers, he immediately\r\nprepared for action, and soon made a considerable alteration in the posture of\r\naffairs. He first cut off the provision ships, and plundering all the\r\nmerchants, made himself master of the supplies of corn; then bringing his navy\r\nto the seaport towns, he took them, and at last, becoming master of Ostia by\r\ntreachery, he pillaged that town, and slew a multitude of the inhabitants, and,\r\nblocking up the river, took from the enemy all hopes of supply by the sea; then\r\nmarched with his army toward the city, and posted himself upon the hill called\r\nJaniculum.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe public interest did not receive so great damage from Octavius’s\r\nunskillfulness in his management of affairs, as from his omitting needful\r\nmeasures, through too strict observance of the law. As when several advised him\r\nto make the slaves free, he said that he would not give slaves the privilege of\r\nthe country from which he then, in defense of the laws, was driving away\r\nMarius. When Metellus, son to that Metellus who was general in the war in\r\nAfrica, and afterwards banished through Marius’s means, came to Rome, being\r\nthought a much better commander than Octavius, the soldiers, deserting the\r\nconsul, came to him and desired him to take the command of them and preserve\r\nthe city; that they, when they had got an experienced valiant commander, should\r\nfight courageously, and come off conquerors. But when Metellus, offended at it,\r\ncommanded them angrily to return to the consul, they revolted to the enemy.\r\nMetellus, too, seeing the city in a desperate condition, left it; but a company\r\nof Chaldaeans, sacrificers, and interpreters of the Sibyl’s books, persuaded\r\nOctavius that things would turn out happily, and kept him at Rome. He was,\r\nindeed, of all the Romans the most upright and just, and maintained the honor\r\nof the consulate, without cringing or compliance, as strictly in accordance\r\nwith ancient laws and usages, as though they had been immutable mathematical\r\ntruths; and yet fell, I know not how, into some weaknesses, giving more\r\nobservance to fortune-tellers and diviners, than to men skilled in civil and\r\nmilitary affairs. He therefore, before Marius entered the city, was pulled down\r\nfrom the rostra, and murdered by those that were sent before by Marius; and it\r\nis reported there was a Chaldaean writing found in his gown, when he was slain.\r\nAnd it seemed a thing very unaccountable, that of two famous generals, Marius\r\nshould be often successful by the observing divinations, and Octavius ruined by\r\nthe same means.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen affairs were in this posture, the senate assembled, and sent a deputation\r\nto Cinna and Marius, desiring them to come into the city peaceably and spare\r\nthe citizens. Cinna, as consul, received the embassy, sitting in the curule\r\nchair, and returned a kind answer to the messengers; Marius stood by him and\r\nsaid nothing, but gave sufficient testimony by the gloominess of his\r\ncountenance, and the sternness of his looks, that he would in a short time fill\r\nthe city with blood. As soon as the council arose, they went toward the city,\r\nwhere Cinna entered with his guards, but Marius stayed at the gates, and,\r\ndissembling his rage, professed that he was then an exile and banished his\r\ncountry by course of law; that if his presence were necessary, they must, by a\r\nnew decree, repeal the former act by which he was banished; as though he were,\r\nindeed, a religious observer of the laws, and as if he were returning to a city\r\nfree from fear or oppression. Hereupon the people were assembled, but before\r\nthree or four tribes had given their votes, throwing up his pretenses and his\r\nlegal scruples about his banishment, he came into the city with a select guard\r\nof the slaves who had joined him, whom he called Bardyaei. These proceeded to\r\nmurder a number of citizens, as he gave command, partly by word of mouth,\r\npartly by the signal of his nod. At length Ancharius, a senator, and one that\r\nhad been praetor, coming to Marius, and not being resaluted by him, they with\r\ntheir drawn swords slew him before Marius’s face; and henceforth this was their\r\ntoken, immediately to kill all those who met Marius and saluting him were taken\r\nno notice of, nor answered with the like courtesy; so that his very friends\r\nwere not without dreadful apprehensions and horror, whensoever they came to\r\nspeak with him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen they had now butchered a great number, Cinna grew more remiss and cloyed\r\nwith murders; but Marius’s rage continued still fresh and unsatisfied, and he\r\ndaily sought for all that were any way suspected by him. Now was every road and\r\nevery town filled with those that pursued and hunted them that fled and hid\r\nthemselves; and it was remarkable that there was no more confidence to be\r\nplaced, as things stood, either in hospitality or friendship; for there were\r\nfound but a very few that did not betray those that fled to them for shelter.\r\nAnd thus the servants of Cornutus deserve the greater praise and admiration,\r\nwho, having concealed their master in the house, took the body of one of the\r\nslain, cut off the head, put a gold ring on the finger, and showed it to\r\nMarius’s guards, and buried it with the same solemnity as if it had been their\r\nown master. This trick was perceived by nobody, and so Cornutus escaped, and\r\nwas conveyed by his domestics into Gaul.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcus Antonius, the orator, though he, too, found a true friend, had\r\nill-fortune. The man was but poor and a plebeian, and as he was entertaining a\r\nman of the greatest rank in Rome, trying to provide for him with the best he\r\ncould, he sent his servant to get some wine of neighboring vintner. The servant\r\ncarefully tasting it and bidding him draw better, the fellow asked him what was\r\nthe matter, that he did not buy new and ordinary wine as he used to do, but\r\nricher and of a greater price; he, without any design, told him as his old\r\nfriend and acquaintance, that his master entertained Marcus Antonius, who was\r\nconcealed with him. The villainous vintner, as soon as the servant was gone,\r\nwent himself to Marius, then at supper, and being brought into his presence,\r\ntold him, he would deliver Antonius into his hands. As soon as he heard it, it\r\nis said he gave a great shout, and clapped his hands for joy, and had very\r\nnearly risen up and gone to the place himself; but being detained by his\r\nfriends, he sent Annius, and some soldiers with him, and commanded him to bring\r\nAntonius’s head to him with all speed. When they came to the house, Annius\r\nstayed at the door, and the soldiers went up stairs into the chamber; where,\r\nseeing Antonius, they endeavored to shuffle off the murder from one to another;\r\nfor so great it seems were the graces and charms of his oratory, that as soon\r\nas he began to speak and beg his life, none of them durst touch or so much as\r\nlook upon him; but hanging down their heads, every one fell a weeping. When\r\ntheir stay seemed something tedious, Annius came up himself and found Antonius\r\ndiscoursing, and the soldiers astonished and quite softened by it, and calling\r\nthem cowards, went himself and cut off his head.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCatulus Lutatius, who was colleague with Marius, and his partner in the triumph\r\nover the Cimbri, when Marius replied to those that interceded for him and\r\nbegged his life, merely with the words, “he must die,” shut himself up in a\r\nroom, and making a great fire, smothered himself. When maimed and headless\r\ncarcasses were now frequently thrown about and trampled upon in the streets,\r\npeople were not so much moved with compassion at the sight, as struck into a\r\nkind of horror and consternation. The outrages of those that were called\r\nBardyaei, was the greatest grievance. These murdered the masters of families in\r\ntheir own houses, abused their children, and ravished their wives, and were\r\nuncontrollable in their rapine and murders, till those of Cinna’s and\r\nSertorius’s party, taking counsel together, fell upon them in the camp and\r\nkilled them every man.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the interim, as if a change of wind was coming on, there came news from all\r\nparts that Sylla, having put an end to the war with Mithridates, and taken\r\npossession of the provinces, was returning into Italy with a great army. This\r\ngave some small respite and intermission to these unspeakable calamities.\r\nMarius and his friends believing war to be close at hand, Marius was chosen\r\nconsul the seventh time, and appearing on the very calends of January, the\r\nbeginning of the year, threw one Sextus Lucinus, from the Tarpeian precipice;\r\nan omen, as it seemed, portending the renewed misfortunes both of their party\r\nand of the city. Marius, himself now worn out with labor and sinking under the\r\nburden of anxieties, could not sustain his spirits, which shook within him with\r\nthe apprehension of a new war and fresh encounters and dangers, the formidable\r\ncharacter of which he knew by his own experience. He was not now to hazard the\r\nwar with Octavius or Merula, commanding an inexperienced multitude or seditious\r\nrabble; but Sylla himself was approaching, the same who had formerly banished\r\nhim, and since that, had driven Mithridates as far as the Euxine Sea.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPerplexed with such thoughts as these, and calling to mind his banishment, and\r\nthe tedious wanderings and dangers he underwent, both by sea and land, he fell\r\ninto despondency, nocturnal frights, and unquiet sleep, still fancying that he\r\nheard some one telling him, that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n— the lion’s lair\u003cbr\u003e\r\nIs dangerous, though the lion be not there.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAbove all things fearing to lie awake, he gave himself up to drinking deep and\r\nbesotting himself at night in a way most unsuitable to his age; by all means\r\nprovoking sleep, as a diversion to his thoughts. At length, on the arrival of a\r\nmessenger from the sea, he was seized with new alarms, and so what with his\r\nfear for the future, and what with the burden and satiety of the present, on\r\nsome slight predisposing cause, he fell into a pleurisy, as Posidonius the\r\nphilosopher relates, who says he visited and conversed with him when he was\r\nsick, about some business relating to his embassy. Caius Piso, an historian,\r\ntells us, that Marius, walking after supper with his friends, fell into a\r\nconversation with them about his past life, and after reckoning up the several\r\nchanges of his condition, that from the beginning had happened to him, said,\r\nthat it did not become a prudent man to trust himself any longer with fortune;\r\nand, thereupon, taking leave of those that were with him, he kept his bed seven\r\ndays, and then died.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome say his ambition betrayed itself openly in his sickness. and that he ran\r\ninto an extravagant frenzy, fancying himself to be general in the war against\r\nMithridates, throwing himself into such postures and motions of his body as he\r\nhad formerly used when he was in battle, with frequent shouts and loud cries.\r\nWith so strong and invincible a desire of being employed in that business had\r\nhe been possessed through his pride and emulation. Though he had now lived\r\nseventy years, and was the first man that ever was chosen seven times consul,\r\nand had an establishment and riches sufficient for many kings, he yet\r\ncomplained of his ill fortune, that he must now die before he had attained what\r\nhe desired. Plato, when he saw his death approaching, thanked the guiding\r\nprovidence and fortune of his life, first, that he was born a man and a\r\nGrecian, not a barbarian or a brute, and next, that he happened to live in\r\nSocrates’s age. And so, indeed, they say Antipater of Tarsus, in like manner,\r\nat his death, calling to mind the happiness that he had enjoyed, did not so\r\nmuch as omit his prosperous voyage to Athens; thus recognizing every favor of\r\nhis indulgent fortune with the greatest acknowledgments, and carefully saving\r\nall to the last in that safest of human treasure chambers, the memory.\r\nUnmindful and thoughtless persons, on the contrary, let all that occurs to them\r\nslip away from them as time passes on. Retaining and preserving nothing, they\r\nlose the enjoyment of their present prosperity by fancying something better to\r\ncome; whereas by fortune we may be prevented of this, but that cannot be taken\r\nfrom us. Yet they reject their present success, as though it did not concern\r\nthem, and do nothing but dream of future uncertainties; not indeed unnaturally;\r\nas till men have by reason and education laid good foundation for external\r\nsuperstructures, in the seeking after and gathering them they can never satisfy\r\nthe unlimited desires of their mind.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus died Marius on the seventeenth day of his seventh consulship, to the great\r\njoy and content of Rome, which thereby was in good hopes to be delivered from\r\nthe calamity of a cruel tyranny; but in a small time they found, that they had\r\nonly changed their old and worn-out master for another young and vigorous; so\r\nmuch cruelty and savageness did his son Marius show in murdering the noblest\r\nand most approved citizens. At first, being esteemed resolute and daring\r\nagainst his enemies, he was named the son of Mars, but afterwards, his actions\r\nbetraying his contrary disposition, he was called the son of Venus. At last,\r\nbesieged by Sylla in Praeneste, where he endeavored in many ways, but in vain,\r\nto save his life, when on the capture of the city there was no hope of escape,\r\nhe killed himself with his own hand.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap32\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eLYSANDER\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe treasure-chamber of the Acanthians at Delphi has this inscription: “The\r\nspoils which Brasidas and the Acanthians took from the Athenians.” And,\r\naccordingly, many take the marble statue, which stands within the building by\r\nthe gates, to be Brasidas’s; but, indeed, it is Lysander’s, representing him\r\nwith his hair at full length, after the old fashion, and with an ample beard.\r\nNeither is it true, as some give out, that because the Argives, after their\r\ngreat defeat, shaved themselves for sorrow, that the Spartans contrariwise\r\ntriumphing in their achievements, suffered their hair to grow; neither did the\r\nSpartans come to be ambitious of wearing long hair, because the Bacchiadae, who\r\nfled from Corinth to Lacedaemon, looked mean and unsightly, having their heads\r\nall close cut. But this, also, is indeed one of the ordinances of Lycurgus,\r\nwho, as it is reported, was used to say, that long hair made good-looking men\r\nmore beautiful, and ill-looking men more terrible.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLysander’s father is said to have been Aristoclitus, who was not indeed of the\r\nroyal family, but yet of the stock of the Heraclidae. He was brought up in\r\npoverty, and showed himself obedient and conformable, as ever anyone did, to\r\nthe customs of his country; of a manly spirit, also, and superior to all\r\npleasures, excepting only that which their good actions bring to those who are\r\nhonored and successful; and it is accounted no base thing in Sparta for their\r\nyoung men to be overcome with this kind of pleasure. For they are desirous,\r\nfrom the very first, to have their youth susceptible to good and bad repute, to\r\nfeel pain at disgrace, and exultation at being commended; and anyone who is\r\ninsensible and unaffected in these respects is thought poor spirited and of no\r\ncapacity for virtue. Ambition and the passion for distinction were thus\r\nimplanted in his character by his Laconian education, nor, if they continued\r\nthere, must we blame his natural disposition much for this. But he was\r\nsubmissive to great men, beyond what seems agreeable to the Spartan temper, and\r\ncould easily bear the haughtiness of those who were in power, when it was any\r\nway for his advantage, which some are of opinion is no small part of political\r\ndiscretion. Aristotle, who says all great characters are more or less\r\natrabilious, as Socrates and Plato and Hercules were, writes, that Lysander,\r\nnot indeed early in life, but when he was old, became thus affected. What is\r\nsingular in his character is that he endured poverty very well, and that he was\r\nnot at all enslaved or corrupted by wealth, and yet he filled his country with\r\nriches and the love of them, and took away from them the glory of not admiring\r\nmoney; importing amongst them an abundance of gold and silver after the\r\nAthenian war, though keeping not one drachma for himself. When Dionysius, the\r\ntyrant, sent his daughters some costly gowns of Sicilian manufacture, he would\r\nnot receive them, saying he was afraid they would make them look more\r\nunhandsome. But a while after, being sent ambassador from the same city to the\r\nsame tyrant, when he had sent him a couple of robes, and bade him choose which\r\nof them he would, and carry to his daughter: “She,” said he, “will be able to\r\nchoose best for herself,” and taking both of them, went his way.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Peloponnesian war having now been carried on a long time, and it being\r\nexpected, after the disaster of the Athenians in Sicily, that they would at\r\nonce lose the mastery of the sea, and erelong be routed everywhere, Alcibiades,\r\nreturning from banishment, and taking the command, produced a great change, and\r\nmade the Athenians again a match for their opponents by sea; and the\r\nLacedaemonians, in great alarm at this, and calling up fresh courage and zeal\r\nfor the conflict, feeling the want of an able commander and of a powerful\r\narmament, sent out Lysander to be admiral of the seas. Being at Ephesus, and\r\nfinding the city well affected towards him, and favorable to the Lacedaemonian\r\nparty, but in ill condition, and in danger to become barbarized by adopting the\r\nmanners of the Persians, who were much mingled among them, the country of Lydia\r\nbordering upon them, and the king’s generals being quartered there a long time,\r\nhe pitched his camp there, and commanded the merchant ships all about to put in\r\nthither, and proceeded to build ships of war there; and thus restored their\r\nports by the traffic he created, and their market by the employment he gave,\r\nand filled their private houses and their workshops with wealth, so that from\r\nthat time, the city began, first of all, by Lysander’s means, to have some\r\nhopes of growing to that stateliness and grandeur which now it is at.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUnderstanding that Cyrus, the king’s son, was come to Sardis, he went up to\r\ntalk with him, and to accuse Tisaphernes, who, receiving a command to help the\r\nLacedaemonians, and to drive the Athenians from the sea, was thought, on\r\naccount of Alcibiades, to have become remiss and unwilling, and by paying the\r\nseamen slenderly to be ruining the fleet. Now Cyrus was willing that\r\nTisaphernes might be found in blame, and be ill reported of, as being, indeed,\r\na dishonest man, and privately at feud with himself. By these means, and by\r\ntheir daily intercourse together, Lysander, especially by the submissiveness of\r\nhis conversation, won the affections of the young prince, and greatly roused\r\nhim to carry on the war; and when he would depart, Cyrus gave him a banquet,\r\nand desired him not to refuse his good-will, but to speak and ask whatever he\r\nhad a mind to, and that he should not be refused anything whatsoever: “Since\r\nyou are so very kind,” replied Lysander, “I earnestly request you to add one\r\npenny to the seamen’s pay, that instead of three pence, they may now receive\r\nfour pence.” Cyrus, delighted with his public spirit, gave him ten thousand\r\ndarics, out of which he added the penny to the seamen’s pay, and by the renown\r\nof this in a short time emptied the ships of the enemies, as many would come\r\nover to that side which gave the most pay, and those who remained, being\r\ndisheartened and mutinous, daily created trouble to the captains. Yet for all\r\nLysander had so distracted and weakened his enemies, he was afraid to engage by\r\nsea, Alcibiades being an energetic commander, and having the superior number of\r\nships, and having been hitherto, in all battles, unconquered both by sea and\r\nland.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut afterwards, when Alcibiades sailed from Samos to Phocaea, leaving\r\nAntiochus, the pilot, in command of all his forces, this Antiochus, to insult\r\nLysander, sailed with two galleys into the port of the Ephesians, and with\r\nmocking and laughter proudly rowed along before the place where the ships lay\r\ndrawn up. Lysander, in indignation, launched at first a few ships only and\r\npursued him, but as soon as he saw the Athenians come to his help, he added\r\nsome other ships, and, at last, they fell to a set battle together; and\r\nLysander won the victory, and taking fifteen of their ships, erected a trophy.\r\nFor this, the people in the city being angry, put Alcibiades out of command,\r\nand finding himself despised by the soldiers in Samos, and ill spoken of, he\r\nsailed from the army into the Chersonese. And this battle, although not\r\nimportant in itself, was made remarkable by its consequences to Alcibiades.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLysander, meanwhile, inviting to Ephesus such persons in the various cities as\r\nhe saw to be bolder and haughtier-spirited than the rest, proceeded to lay the\r\nfoundations of that government by bodies of ten, and those revolutions which\r\nafterwards came to pass, stirring up and urging them to unite in clubs, and\r\napply themselves to public affairs, since as soon as ever the Athenians should\r\nbe put down, the popular governments, he said, should be suppressed, and they\r\nshould become supreme in their several countries. And he made them believe\r\nthese things by present deeds, promoting those who were his friends already to\r\ngreat employments, honors, and offices, and, to gratify their covetousness,\r\nmaking himself a partner in injustice and wickedness. So much so, that all\r\nflocked to him, and courted and desired him, hoping, if he remained in power,\r\nthat the highest wishes they could form would all be gratified. And therefore,\r\nfrom the very beginning, they could not look pleasantly upon Callicratidas,\r\nwhen he came to succeed Lysander as admiral; nor, afterwards, when he had given\r\nthem experience that he was a most noble and just person, were they pleased\r\nwith the manner of his government, and its straightforward, Dorian, honest\r\ncharacter. They did, indeed, admire his virtue, as they might the beauty of\r\nsome hero’s image; but their wishes were for Lysander’s zealous and profitable\r\nsupport of the interests of his friends and partisans, and they shed tears, and\r\nwere much disheartened when he sailed from them. He himself made them yet more\r\ndisaffected to Callicratidas; for what remained of the money which had been\r\ngiven him to pay the navy, he sent back again to Sardis, bidding them, if they\r\nwould, apply to Callicratidas himself, and see how he was able to maintain the\r\nsoldiers. And, at the last, sailing away, he declared to him that he delivered\r\nup the fleet in possession and command of the sea. But Callicratidas, to expose\r\nthe emptiness of these high pretensions, said, “In that case, leave Samos on\r\nthe left hand, and, sailing to Miletus, there deliver up the ships to me; for\r\nif we are masters of the sea, we need not fear sailing by our enemies in\r\nSamos.” To which Lysander answering, that not himself, but he, commanded the\r\nships, sailed to Peloponnesus, leaving Callicratidas in great perplexity. For\r\nneither had he brought any money from home with him, nor could he endure to tax\r\nthe towns or force them, being in hardship enough. Therefore, the only course\r\nthat was to be taken was to go and beg at the doors of the king’s commanders,\r\nas Lysander had done; for which he was most unfit of any man, being of a\r\ngenerous and great spirit, and one who thought it more becoming for the Greeks\r\nto suffer any damage from one another, than to flatter and wait at the gates of\r\nbarbarians, who, indeed, had gold enough, but nothing else that was\r\ncommendable. But being compelled by necessity, he proceeded to Lydia, and went\r\nat once to Cyrus’s house, and sent in word, that Callicratidas, the admiral,\r\nwas there to speak with him; one of those who kept the gates replied, “Cyrus, O\r\nstranger, is not now at leisure, for he is drinking.” To which Callicratidas\r\nanswered, most innocently, “Very well, I will wait till he has done his\r\ndraught.” This time, therefore, they took him for some clownish fellow, and he\r\nwithdrew, merely laughed at by the barbarians; but when, afterwards, he came a\r\nsecond time to the gate, and was not admitted, he took it hardly and set off\r\nfor Ephesus, wishing a great many evils to those who first let themselves be\r\ninsulted over by these barbarians, and taught them to be insolent because of\r\ntheir riches; and added vows to those who were present, that as soon as ever he\r\ncame back to Sparta, he would do all he could to reconcile the Greeks, that\r\nthey might be formidable to barbarians, and that they should cease henceforth\r\nto need their aid against one another. But Callicratidas, who entertained\r\npurposes worthy a Lacedaemonian, and showed himself worthy to compete with the\r\nvery best of Greece, for his justice, his greatness of mind and courage, not\r\nlong after, having been beaten in a sea-fight at Arginusae, died.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now affairs going backwards, the associates in the war sent an embassy to\r\nSparta, requiring Lysander to be their admiral, professing themselves ready to\r\nundertake the business much more zealously, if he was commander; and Cyrus,\r\nalso, sent to request the same thing. But because they had a law which would\r\nnot suffer any one to be admiral twice, and wished, nevertheless, to gratify\r\ntheir allies, they gave the title of admiral to one Aracus, and sent Lysander\r\nnominally as vice-admiral, but, indeed, with full powers. So he came out, long\r\nwished for by the greatest part of the chief persons and leaders in the towns,\r\nwho hoped to grow to greater power still by his means, when the popular\r\ngovernments should be everywhere destroyed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut to those who loved honest and noble behavior in their commanders, Lysander,\r\ncompared with Callicratidas, seemed cunning and subtle, managing most things in\r\nthe war by deceit, extolling what was just when it was profitable, and when it\r\nwas not, using that which was convenient, instead of that which was good; and\r\nnot judging truth to be in nature better than falsehood, but setting a value\r\nupon both according to interest. He would laugh at those who thought that\r\nHercules’s posterity ought not to use deceit in war: “For where the lion’s skin\r\nwill not reach, you must patch it out with the fox’s.” Such is the conduct\r\nrecorded of him in the business about Miletus; for when his friends and\r\nconnections, whom he had promised to assist in suppressing popular government\r\nand expelling their political opponents, had altered their minds, and were\r\nreconciled to their enemies, he pretended openly as if he was pleased with it,\r\nand was desirous to further the reconciliation, but privately he railed at and\r\nabused them, and provoked them to set upon the multitude. And as soon as ever\r\nhe perceived a new attempt to be commencing, he at once came up and entered\r\ninto the city, and the first of the conspirators he lit upon, he pretended to\r\nrebuke, and spoke roughly, as if he would punish them; but the others,\r\nmeantime, he bade be courageous, and to fear nothing now he was with them. And\r\nall this acting and dissembling was with the object that the most considerable\r\nmen of the popular party might not fly away, but might stay in the city and be\r\nkilled; which so fell out, for all who believed him were put to death.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere is a saying, also, recorded by Androclides, which makes him guilty of\r\ngreat indifference to the obligations of an oath. His recommendation, according\r\nto this account, was to “cheat boys with dice, and men with oaths,” an\r\nimitation of Polycrates of Samos, not very honorable to a lawful commander, to\r\ntake example, namely, from a tyrant; nor in character with Laconian usages, to\r\ntreat gods as ill as enemies, or, indeed, even more injuriously; since he who\r\noverreaches by an oath admits that he fears his enemy, while he despises his\r\nGod.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCyrus now sent for Lysander to Sardis, and gave him some money, and promised\r\nhim some more, youthfully protesting in favor to him, that if his father gave\r\nhim nothing, he would supply him of his own; and if he himself should be\r\ndestitute of all, he would cut up, he said, to make money, the very throne upon\r\nwhich he sat to do justice, it being made of gold and silver; and, at last, on\r\ngoing up into Media to his father, he ordered that he should receive the\r\ntribute of the towns, and committed his government to him, and so taking his\r\nleave, and desiring him not to fight by sea before he returned, for he would\r\ncome back with a great many ships out of Phoenicia and Cilicia, departed to\r\nvisit the king.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLysander’s ships were too few for him to venture to fight, and yet too many to\r\nallow of his remaining idle; he set out, therefore, and reduced some of the\r\nislands, and wasted Aegina and Salamis; and from thence landing in Attica, and\r\nsaluting Agis, who came from Decelea to meet him, he made a display to the\r\nland-forces of the strength of the fleet, as though he could sail where he\r\npleased, and were absolute master by sea. But hearing the Athenians pursued\r\nhim, he fled another way through the islands into Asia. And finding the\r\nHellespont without any defense, he attacked Lampsacus with his ships by sea;\r\nwhile Thorax, acting in concert with him with the land army, made an assault on\r\nthe walls; and so, having taken the city by storm, he gave it up to his\r\nsoldiers to plunder. The fleet of the Athenians, a hundred and eighty ships,\r\nhad just arrived at Elaeus in the Chersonese; and hearing the news, that\r\nLampsacus was destroyed, they presently sailed to Sestos; where, taking in\r\nvictuals, they advanced to Aegos Potami, over against their enemies, who were\r\nstill stationed about Lampsacus. Amongst other Athenian captains who were now\r\nin command was Philocles, he who persuaded the people to pass a decree to cut\r\noff the right thumb of the captives in the war, that they should not be able to\r\nhold the spear, though they might the oar.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen they all rested themselves, hoping they should have battle the next\r\nmorning. But Lysander had other things in his head; he commanded the mariners\r\nand pilots to go on board at dawn, as if there should be a battle as soon as it\r\nwas day, and to sit there in order, and without any noise, expecting what\r\nshould be commanded, and in like manner that the land army should remain\r\nquietly in their ranks by the sea. But the sun rising, and the Athenians\r\nsailing up with their whole fleet in line, and challenging them to battle, he,\r\nthough he had had his ships all drawn up and manned before daybreak,\r\nnevertheless did not stir. He merely sent some small boats to those who lay\r\nforemost, and bade them keep still and stay in their order; not to be\r\ndisturbed, and none of them to sail out and offer battle. So about evening, the\r\nAthenians sailing back, he would not let the seamen go out of the ships before\r\ntwo or three, which he had sent to espy, were returned, after seeing the\r\nenemies disembark. And thus they did the next day, and the third, and so to the\r\nfourth. So that the Athenians grew extremely confident, and disdained their\r\nenemies, as if they had been afraid and daunted. At this time, Alcibiades, who\r\nwas in his castle in the Chersonese, came on horseback to the Athenian army,\r\nand found fault with their captains, first of all that they had pitched their\r\ncamp neither well nor safely, on an exposed and open beach, a very bad landing\r\nfor the ships, and, secondly, that where they were, they had to fetch all they\r\nwanted from Sestos, some considerable way off; whereas if they sailed round a\r\nlittle way to the town and harbor of Sestos, they would be at a safer distance\r\nfrom an enemy, who lay watching their movements, at the command of a single\r\ngeneral, terror of whom made every order rapidly executed. This advice,\r\nhowever, they would not listen to; and Tydeus angered disdainfully, that not\r\nhe, but others, were in office now. So Alcibiades, who even suspected there\r\nmust be treachery, departed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut on the fifth day, the Athenians having sailed towards them, and gone back\r\nagain as they were used to do, very proudly and full of contempt, Lysander\r\nsending some ships, as usual, to look out, commanded the masters of them that\r\nwhen they saw the Athenians go to land, they should row back again with all\r\ntheir speed, and that when they were about half-way across, they should lift up\r\na brazen shield from the foredeck, as the sign of battle. And he himself\r\nsailing round, encouraged the pilots and masters of the ships, and exhorted\r\nthem to keep all their men to their places, seamen and soldiers alike, and as\r\nsoon as ever the sign should be given, to row up boldly to their enemies.\r\nAccordingly when the shield had been lifted up from the ships, and the trumpet\r\nfrom the admiral’s vessel had sounded for battle, the ships rowed up, and the\r\nfoot soldiers strove to get along by the shore to the promontory. The distance\r\nthere between the two continents is fifteen furlongs, which, by the zeal and\r\neagerness of the rowers, was quickly traversed. Conon, one of the Athenian\r\ncommanders, was the first who saw from the land the fleet advancing, and\r\nshouted out to embark, and in the greatest distress bade some and entreated\r\nothers, and some he forced to man the ships. But all his diligence signified\r\nnothing, because the men were scattered about; for as soon as they came out of\r\nthe ships, expecting no such matter, some went to market, others walked about\r\nthe country, or went to sleep in their tents, or got their dinners ready,\r\nbeing, through their commanders’ want of skill, as far as possible from any\r\nthought of what was to happen; and the enemy now coming up with shouts and\r\nnoise, Conon, with eight ships, sailed out, and making his escape, passed from\r\nthence to Cyprus, to Evagores. The Peloponnesians falling upon the rest, some\r\nthey took quite empty, and some they destroyed while they were filling; the\r\nmen, meantime, coming unarmed and scattered to help, died at their ships, or,\r\nflying by land, were slain, their enemies disembarking and pursuing them.\r\nLysander took three thousand prisoners, with the generals, and the whole fleet,\r\nexcepting the sacred ship Paralus, and those which fled with Conon. So taking\r\ntheir ships in tow, and having plundered their tents, with pipe and songs of\r\nvictory, he sailed back to Lampsacus, having accomplished a great work with\r\nsmall pains, and having finished in one hour, a war which had been protracted\r\nin its continuance, and diversified in its incidents and its fortunes to a\r\ndegree exceeding belief, compared with all before it. After altering its shape\r\nand character a thousand times, and after having been the destruction of more\r\ncommanders than all the previous wars of Greece put together, it was now put an\r\nend to by the good counsel and ready conduct of one man.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome, therefore, looked upon the result as a divine intervention, and there\r\nwere certain who affirmed that the stars of Castor and Pollux were seen on each\r\nside of Lysander’s ship, when he first set sail from the haven toward his\r\nenemies, shining about the helm; and some say the stone which fell down was a\r\nsign of this slaughter. For a stone of a great size did fall, according to the\r\ncommon belief, from heaven, at Aegos Potami, which is shown to this day, and\r\nhad in great esteem by the Chersonites. And it is said that Anaxagoras\r\nforetold, that the occurrence of a slip or shake among the bodies fixed in the\r\nheavens, dislodging any one of them, would be followed by the fall of the whole\r\nof them. For no one of the stars is now in the same place in which it was at\r\nfirst; for they, being, according to him, like stones and heavy, shine by the\r\nrefraction of the upper air round about them, and are carried along forcibly by\r\nthe violence of the circular motion by which they were originally withheld from\r\nfalling, when cold and heavy bodies were first separated from the general\r\nuniverse. But there is a more probable opinion than this maintained by some,\r\nwho say that falling stars are no effluxes, nor discharges of ethereal fire,\r\nextinguished almost at the instant of its igniting by the lower air; neither\r\nare they the sudden combustion and blazing up of a quantity of the lower air\r\nlet loose in great abundance into the upper region; but the heavenly bodies, by\r\na relaxation of the force of their circular movement, are carried by an\r\nirregular course, not in general into the inhabited part of the earth, but for\r\nthe most part into the wide sea; which is the cause of their not being\r\nobserved. Daimachus, in his treatise on Religion. supports the view of\r\nAnaxagoras. He says, that before this stone fell, for seventy-five days\r\ncontinually, there was seen in the heavens a vast fiery body, as if it had been\r\na flaming cloud, not resting, but carried about with several intricate and\r\nbroken movements, so that the flaming pieces, which were broken off by this\r\ncommotion and running about, were carried in all directions, shining as falling\r\nstars do. But when it afterwards came down to the ground in this district, and\r\nthe people of the place recovering from their fear and astonishment came\r\ntogether, there was no fire to be seen, neither any sign of it; there was only\r\na stone lying, big indeed, but which bore no proportion, to speak of, to that\r\nfiery compass. It is manifest that Daimachus needs to have indulgent hearers;\r\nbut if what he says be true, he altogether proves those to be wrong who say\r\nthat a rock broken off from the top of some mountain, by winds and tempests,\r\nand caught and whirled about like a top, as soon as this impetus began to\r\nslacken and cease, was precipitated and fell to the ground. Unless, indeed, we\r\nchoose to say that the phenomenon which was observed for so many days was\r\nreally fire, and that the change in the atmosphere ensuing on its extinction\r\nwas attended with violent winds and agitations, which might be the cause of\r\nthis stone being carried off. The exacter treatment of this subject belongs,\r\nhowever, to a different kind of writing.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLysander, after the three thousand Athenians whom he had taken prisoners were\r\ncondemned by the commissioners to die, called Philocles the general, and asked\r\nhim what punishment he considered himself to deserve, for having advised the\r\ncitizens as he had done, against the Greeks; but he, being nothing cast down at\r\nhis calamity, bade him not accuse him of matters of which nobody was a judge,\r\nbut to do to him, now he was a conqueror, as he would have suffered, had he\r\nbeen overcome. Then washing himself, and putting on a fine cloak, he led the\r\ncitizens the way to the slaughter, as Theophrastus writes in his history. After\r\nthis Lysander, sailing about to the various cities, bade all the Athenians he\r\nmet go into Athens, declaring that he would spare none, but kill every man whom\r\nhe found out of the city, intending thus to cause immediate famine and scarcity\r\nthere, that they might not make the siege laborious to him, having provisions\r\nsufficient to endure it. And suppressing the popular governments and all other\r\nconstitutions, he left one Lacedaemonian chief officer in every city, with ten\r\nrulers to act with him, selected out of the societies which he had previously\r\nformed in the different towns. And doing thus as well in the cities of his\r\nenemies, as of his associates, he sailed leisurely on, establishing, in a\r\nmanner, for himself supremacy over the whole of Greece. Neither did he make\r\nchoice of rulers by birth or by wealth, but bestowed the offices on his own\r\nfriends and partisans, doing everything to please them, and putting absolute\r\npower of reward and punishment into their hands. And thus, personally appearing\r\non many occasions of bloodshed and massacre, and aiding his friends to expel\r\ntheir opponents, he did not give the Greeks a favorable specimen of the\r\nLacedaemonian government; and the expression of Theopompus, the comic poet,\r\nseemed but poor, when he compared the Lacedaemonians to tavern women, because\r\nwhen the Greeks had first tasted the sweet wine of liberty, they then poured\r\nvinegar into the cup; for from the very first it had a rough and bitter taste,\r\nall government by the people being suppressed by Lysander, and the boldest and\r\nleast scrupulous of the oligarchical party selected to rule the cities.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving spent some little time about these things, and sent some before to\r\nLacedaemon to tell them he was arriving with two hundred ships, he united his\r\nforces in Attica with those of the two kings Agis and Pausanias, hoping to take\r\nthe city without delay. But when the Athenians defended themselves, he with his\r\nfleet passed again to Asia, and in like manner destroyed the forms of\r\ngovernment in all the other cities, and placed them under the rule of ten chief\r\npersons, many in every one being killed, and many driven into exile; and in\r\nSamos, he expelled the whole people, and gave their cities to the exiles whom\r\nhe brought back. And the Athenians still possessing Sestos, he took it from\r\nthem, and suffered not the Sestians themselves to dwell in it, but gave the\r\ncity and country to be divided out among the pilots and masters of the ships\r\nunder him; which was his first act that was disallowed by the Lacedaemonians,\r\nwho brought the Sestians back again into their country. All Greece, however,\r\nrejoiced to see the Aeginetans, by Lysander’s aid, now again, after a long\r\ntime, receiving back their cities, and the Melians and Scionaeans restored,\r\nwhile the Athenians were driven out, and delivered up the cities.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when he now understood they were in a bad case in the city because of the\r\nfamine, he sailed to Piraeus, and reduced the city, which was compelled to\r\nsurrender on what conditions he demanded. One hears it said by Lacedaemonians\r\nthat Lysander wrote to the Ephors thus: “Athens is taken;” and that these\r\nmagistrates wrote back to Lysander, “Taken is enough.” But this saying was\r\ninvented for its neatness’ sake; for the true decree of the magistrates was on\r\nthis manner: “The government of the Lacedaemonians has made these orders; pull\r\ndown the Piraeus and the long walls; quit all the towns, and keep to your own\r\nland; if you do these things, you shall have peace, if you wish it, restoring\r\nalso your exiles. As concerning the number of the ships, whatsoever there be\r\njudged necessary to appoint, that do.” This scroll of conditions the Athenians\r\naccepted, Theramenes, son of Hagnon, supporting it. At which time, too, they\r\nsay that when Cleomenes, one of the young orators, asked him how he durst act\r\nand speak contrary to Themistocles, delivering up the walls to the\r\nLacedaemonians, which he had built against the will of the Lacedaemonians, he\r\nsaid, “O young man, I do nothing contrary to Themistocles; for he raised these\r\nwalls for the safety of the citizens, and we pull them down for their safety;\r\nand if walls make a city happy, then Sparta must be the most wretched of all,\r\nas it has none.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLysander, as soon as he had taken all the ships except twelve, and the walls of\r\nthe Athenians, on the sixteenth day of the month Munychion, the same on which\r\nthey had overcome the barbarians at Salamis, then proceeded to take measures\r\nfor altering the government. But the Athenians taking that very unwillingly,\r\nand resisting, he sent to the people and informed them, that he found that the\r\ncity had broken the terms, for the walls were standing when the days were past\r\nwithin which they should have been pulled down. He should, therefore, consider\r\ntheir case anew, they having broken their first articles. And some state, in\r\nfact, the proposal was made in the congress of the allies, that the Athenians\r\nshould all be sold as slaves; on which occasion, Erianthus, the Theban, gave\r\nhis vote to pull down the city, and turn the country into sheep-pasture; yet\r\nafterwards, when there was a meeting of the captains together, a man of Phocis,\r\nsinging the first chorus in Euripides’s Electra, which begins,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nElectra, Agamemnon’s child, I come\u003cbr\u003e\r\nUnto thy desert home,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nthey were all melted with compassion, and it seemed to be a cruel deed to\r\ndestroy and pull down a city which had been so famous, and produced such men.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAccordingly Lysander, the Athenians yielding up everything, sent for a number\r\nof flute-women out of the city, and collected together all that were in the\r\ncamp, and pulled down the walls, and burnt the ships to the sound of the flute,\r\nthe allies being crowned with garlands, and making merry together, as counting\r\nthat day the beginning of their liberty. He proceeded also at once to alter the\r\ngovernment, placing thirty rulers in the city, and ten in the Piraeus: he put,\r\nalso, a garrison into the Acropolis, and made Callibius, a Spartan, the\r\ngovernor of it; who afterwards taking up his staff to strike Autolycus, the\r\nathlete, about whom Xenophon wrote his “Banquet,” on his tripping up his heels\r\nand throwing him to the ground, Lysander was not vexed at it, but chid\r\nCallibius, telling him he did not know how to govern freemen. The thirty\r\nrulers, however, to gain Callibius’s favor, a little after killed Autolycus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLysander, after this, sails out to Thrace, and what remained of the public\r\nmoney, and the gifts and crowns which he had himself received, numbers of\r\npeople, as might be expected, being anxious to make presents to a man of such\r\ngreat power, who was, in a manner, the lord of Greece, he sends to Lacedaemon\r\nby Gylippus, who had commanded formerly in Sicily. But he, it is reported,\r\nunsewed the sacks at the bottom, took a considerable amount of silver out of\r\nevery one of them, and sewed them up again, not knowing there was a writing in\r\nevery one stating how much there was. And coming into Sparta, what he had thus\r\nstolen away he hid under the tiles of his house, and delivered up the sacks to\r\nthe magistrates, and showed the seals were upon them. But afterwards, on their\r\nopening the sacks and counting it, the quantity of the silver differed from\r\nwhat the writing expressed; and the matter causing some perplexity to the\r\nmagistrates, Gylippus’s servant tells them in a riddle, that under the tiles\r\nlay many owls; for, as it seems, the greatest part of the money then current,\r\nbore the Athenian stamp of the owl. Gylippus having committed so foul and base\r\na deed, after such great and distinguished exploits before, removed himself\r\nfrom Lacedaemon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the wisest of the Spartans, very much on account of this occurrence,\r\ndreading the influence of money, as being what had corrupted the greatest\r\ncitizens, exclaimed against Lysander’s conduct, and declared to the Ephors,\r\nthat all the silver and gold should be sent away, as mere “alien mischiefs.”\r\nThese consulted about it; and Theopompus says, it was Sciraphidas, but Ephorus,\r\nthat it was Phlogidas, who declared they ought not to receive any gold or\r\nsilver into the city; but to use their own country coin which was iron, and was\r\nfirst of all dipped in vinegar when it was red hot, that it might not be worked\r\nup anew, but because of the dipping might be hard and unpliable. It was also,\r\nof course, very heavy and troublesome to carry, and a great deal of it in\r\nquantity and weight was but a little in value. And perhaps all the old money\r\nwas so, coin consisting of iron, or in some countries, copper skewers, whence\r\nit comes that we still find a great number of small pieces of money retain the\r\nname of obolus, and the drachma is six of these, because so much may be grasped\r\nin one’s hand. But Lysander’s friends being against it, and endeavoring to keep\r\nthe money in the city, it was resolved to bring in this sort of money to be\r\nused publicly, enacting, at the same time, that if anyone was found in\r\npossession of any privately, he should be put to death, as if Lycurgus had\r\nfeared the coin, and not the covetousness resulting from it, which they did not\r\nrepress by letting no private man keep any, so much as they encouraged it, by\r\nallowing the state to possess it; attaching thereby a sort of dignity to it,\r\nover and above its ordinary utility. Neither was it possible, that what they\r\nsaw was so much esteemed publicly, they should privately despise as\r\nunprofitable; and that everyone should think that thing could be nothing worth\r\nfor his own personal use, which was so extremely valued and desired for the use\r\nof the state. And moral habits, induced by public practices, are far quicker in\r\nmaking their way into men’s private lives, than the failings and faults of\r\nindividuals are in infecting the city at large. For it is probable that the\r\nparts will be rather corrupted by the whole if that grows bad; while the vices\r\nwhich flow from a part into the whole, find many correctives and remedies from\r\nthat which remains sound. Terror and the law were now to keep guard over the\r\ncitizens’ houses, to prevent any money entering into them; but their minds\r\ncould no longer be expected to remain superior to the desire of it, when wealth\r\nin general was thus set up to be striven after, as a high and noble object. On\r\nthis point, however, we have given our censure of the Lacedaemonians in one of\r\nour other writings.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLysander erected out of the spoils brazen statues at Delphi of himself, and of\r\nevery one of the masters of the ships, as also figures of the golden stars of\r\nCastor and Pollux, which vanished before the battle at Leuctra. In the treasury\r\nof Brasidas and the Acanthians, there was a trireme made of gold and ivory, of\r\ntwo cubits, which Cyrus sent Lysander in honor of his victory. But Alexandrides\r\nof Delphi writes in his history, that there was also a deposit of Lysander’s, a\r\ntalent of silver, and fifty-two minas, besides eleven staters; a statement not\r\nconsistent with the generally received account of his poverty. And at that\r\ntime, Lysander, being in fact of greater power than any Greek before, was yet\r\nthought to show a pride, and to affect a superiority greater even than his\r\npower warranted. He was the first, as Duris says in his history, among the\r\nGreeks, to whom the cities reared altars as to a god, and sacrificed; to him\r\nwere songs of triumph first sung, the beginning of one of which still remains\r\nrecorded: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nGreat Greece’s general from spacious Sparta we\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWill celebrate with songs of victory.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd the Samians decreed that their solemnities of Juno should be called the\r\nLysandria; and out of the poets he had Choerilus always with him, to extol his\r\nachievements in verse; and to Antilochus, who had made some verses in his\r\ncommendation, being pleased with them, he gave a hat full of silver; and when\r\nAntimachus of Colophon, and one Niceratus of Heraclea, competed with each other\r\nin a poem on the deeds of Lysander, he gave the garland to Niceratus; at which\r\nAntimachus, in vexation, suppressed his poem; but Plato, being then a young\r\nman, and admiring Antimachus for his poetry, consoled him for his defeat by\r\ntelling him that it is the ignorant who are the sufferers by ignorance, as\r\ntruly as the blind by want of sight. Afterwards, when Aristonus, the musician,\r\nwho had been a conqueror six times at the Pythian games, told him as a piece of\r\nflattery, that if he were successful again, he would proclaim himself in the\r\nname of Lysander, “that is,” he answered, “as his slave?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis ambitious temper was indeed only burdensome to the highest personages and\r\nto his equals, but through having so many people devoted to serve him, an\r\nextreme haughtiness and contemptuousness grew up, together with ambition, in\r\nhis character. He observed no sort of moderation, such as befitted a private\r\nman, either in rewarding or in punishing; the recompense of his friends and\r\nguests was absolute power over cities, and irresponsible authority, and the\r\nonly satisfaction of his wrath was the destruction of his enemy; banishment\r\nwould not suffice. As for example, at a later period, fearing lest the popular\r\nleaders of the Milesians should fly, and desiring also to discover those who\r\nlay hid, he swore he would do them no harm, and on their believing him and\r\ncoming forth, he delivered them up to the oligarchical leaders to be slain,\r\nbeing in all no less than eight hundred. And, indeed, the slaughter in general\r\nof those of the popular party in the towns exceeded all computation; as he did\r\nnot kill only for offenses against himself, but granted these favors without\r\nsparing, and joined in the execution of them, to gratify the many hatreds, and\r\nthe much cupidity of his friends everywhere round about him. From whence the\r\nsaying of Eteocles, the Lacedaemonian, came to be famous, that “Greece could\r\nnot have borne two Lysanders.” Theophrastus says, that Archestratus said the\r\nsame thing concerning Alcibiades. But in his case what had given most offense\r\nwas a certain licentious and wanton self-will; Lysander’s power was feared and\r\nhated because of his unmerciful disposition. The Lacedaemonians did not at all\r\nconcern themselves for any other accusers; but afterwards, when Pharnabazus,\r\nhaving been injured by him, he having pillaged and wasted his country, sent\r\nsome to Sparta to inform against him, the Ephors taking it very ill, put one of\r\nhis friends and fellow-captains, Thorax, to death, taking him with some silver\r\nprivately in his possession; and they sent him a scroll, commanding him to\r\nreturn home. This scroll is made up thus; when the Ephors send an admiral or\r\ngeneral on his way, they take two round pieces of wood, both exactly of a\r\nlength and thickness, and cut even to one another; they keep one themselves,\r\nand the other they give to the person they send forth; and these pieces of wood\r\nthey call Scytales. When, therefore, they have occasion to communicate any\r\nsecret or important matter, making a scroll of parchment long and narrow like a\r\nleathern thong, they roll it about their own staff of wood, leaving no space\r\nvoid between, but covering the surface of the staff with the scroll all over.\r\nWhen they have done this, they write what they please on the scroll, as it is\r\nwrapped about the staff; and when they have written, they take off the scroll,\r\nand send it to the general without the wood. He, when he has received it, can\r\nread nothing of the writing, because the words and letters are not connected,\r\nbut all broken up; but taking his own staff, he winds the slip of the scroll\r\nabout it, so that this folding, restoring all the parts into the same order\r\nthat they were in before, and putting what comes first into connection with\r\nwhat follows, brings the whole consecutive contents to view round the outside.\r\nAnd this scroll is called a staff, after the name of the wood, as a thing\r\nmeasured is by the name of the measure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Lysander, when the staff came to him to the Hellespont, was troubled, and\r\nfearing Pharnabazus’s accusations most, made haste to confer with him, hoping\r\nto end the difference by a meeting together. When they met, he desired him to\r\nwrite another letter to the magistrates, stating that he had not been wronged,\r\nand had no complaint to prefer. But he was ignorant that Pharnabazus, as it is\r\nin the proverb, played Cretan against Cretan; for pretending to do all that was\r\ndesired, openly he wrote such a letter as Lysander wanted, but kept by him\r\nanother, written privately; and when they came to put on the seals, changed the\r\ntablets, which differed not at all to look upon, and gave him the letter which\r\nhad been written privately. Lysander, accordingly, coming to Lacedaemon, and\r\ngoing, as the custom is, to the magistrates’ office, gave Pharnabazus’s letter\r\nto the Ephors, being persuaded that the greatest accusation against him was now\r\nwithdrawn; for Pharnabazus was beloved by the Lacedaemonians, having been the\r\nmost zealous on their side in the war of all the king’s captains. But after the\r\nmagistrates had read the letter they showed it him, and he understanding now\r\nthat\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nOthers beside Ulysses deep can be,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nNot the one wise man of the world is he,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nin extreme confusion, left them at the time. But a few days after, meeting the\r\nEphors, he said he must go to the temple of Ammon, and offer the god the\r\nsacrifices which he had vowed in war. For some state it as a truth, that when\r\nhe was besieging the city of Aphytae in Thrace, Ammon stood by him in his\r\nsleep; whereupon raising the siege, supposing the god had commanded it, he bade\r\nthe Aphytaeans sacrifice to Ammon, and resolved to make a journey into Libya to\r\npropitiate the god. But most were of opinion that the god was but the presence,\r\nand that in reality he was afraid of the Ephors, and that impatience of the\r\nyoke at home, and dislike of living under authority, made him long for some\r\ntravel and wandering, like a horse just brought in from open feeding and\r\npasture to the stable, and put again to his ordinary work. For that which\r\nEphorus states to have been the cause of this traveling about, I shall relate\r\nby and by.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd having hardly and with difficulty obtained leave of the magistrates to\r\ndepart, he set sail. But the kings, while he was on his voyage, considering\r\nthat keeping, as he did, the cities in possession by his own friends and\r\npartisans, he was in fact their sovereign and the lord of Greece, took measures\r\nfor restoring the power to the people, and for throwing his friends out.\r\nDisturbances commencing again about these things, and, first of all, the\r\nAthenians from Phyle setting upon their thirty rulers and overpowering them,\r\nLysander, coming home in haste, persuaded the Lacedaemonians to support the\r\noligarchies and to put down the popular governments, and to the thirty in\r\nAthens, first of all, they sent a hundred talents for the war, and Lysander\r\nhimself, as general, to assist them. But the kings envying him, and fearing\r\nlest he should take Athens again, resolved that one of themselves should take\r\nthe command. Accordingly Pausanias went, and in words, indeed, professed as if\r\nhe had been for the tyrants against the people, but in reality exerted himself\r\nfor peace, that Lysander might not by the means of his friends become lord of\r\nAthens again. This he brought easily to pass; for, reconciling the Athenians,\r\nand quieting the tumults, he defeated the ambitious hopes of Lysander, though\r\nshortly after, on the Athenians rebelling again, he was censured for having\r\nthus taken, as it were, the bit out of the mouth of the people, which, being\r\nfreed from the oligarchy, would now break out again into affronts and\r\ninsolence; and Lysander regained the reputation of a person who employed his\r\ncommand not in gratification of others, nor for applause, but strictly for the\r\ngood of Sparta.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis speech, also, was bold and daunting to such as opposed him. The Argives,\r\nfor example, contended about the bounds of their land, and thought they brought\r\njuster pleas than the Lacedaemonians; holding out his sword, “He,” said\r\nLysander, “that is master of this, brings the best argument about the bounds of\r\nterritory.” A man of Megara, at some conference, taking freedom with him, “This\r\nlanguage, my friend,” said he, “should come from a city.” To the Boeotians, who\r\nwere acting a doubtful part, he put the question, whether he should pass\r\nthrough their country with spears upright, or leveled. After the revolt of the\r\nCorinthians, when, on coming to their walls, he perceived the Lacedaemonians\r\nhesitating to make the assault, and a hare was seen to leap through the ditch:\r\n“Are you not ashamed,” he said, “to fear an enemy, for whose laziness, the very\r\nhares sleep upon their walls?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen king Agis died, leaving a brother Agesilaus, and Leotychides, who was\r\nsupposed his son, Lysander, being attached to Agesilaus, persuaded him to lay\r\nclaim to the kingdom, as being a true descendant of Hercules; Leotychides lying\r\nunder the suspicion of being the son of Alcibiades, who lived privately in\r\nfamiliarity with Timaea, the wife of Agis, at the time he was a fugitive in\r\nSparta. Agis, they say, computing the time, satisfied himself that she could\r\nnot have conceived by him, and had hitherto always neglected and manifestly\r\ndisowned Leotychides; but now when he was carried sick to Heraea, being ready\r\nto die, what by the importunities of the young man himself, and of his friends,\r\nin the presence of many he declared Leotychides to be his; and desiring those\r\nwho were present to bear witness of this to the Lacedaemonians, died. They\r\naccordingly did so testify in favor of Leotychides. And Agesilaus, being\r\notherwise highly reputed of, and strong in the support of Lysander, was, on the\r\nother hand, prejudiced by Diopithes, a man famous for his knowledge of oracles,\r\nwho adduced this prophecy in reference to Agesilaus’s lameness:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBeware, great Sparta, lest there come of thee,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThough sound thyself, an halting sovereignty;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTroubles, both long and unexpected too,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd storms of deadly warfare shall ensue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nWhen many, therefore, yielded to the oracle, and inclined to Leotychides,\r\nLysander said that Diopithes did not take the prophecy rightly; for it was not\r\nthat the god would be offended if any lame person ruled over the\r\nLacedaemonians, but that the kingdom would be a lame one, if bastards and\r\nfalse-born should govern with the posterity of Hercules. By this argument, and\r\nby his great influence among them, he prevailed, and Agesilaus was made king.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nImmediately, therefore, Lysander spurred him on to make an expedition into\r\nAsia, putting him in hopes that he might destroy the Persians, and attain the\r\nheight of greatness. And he wrote to his friends in Asia, bidding them request\r\nto have Agesilaus appointed to command them in the war against the barbarians;\r\nwhich they were persuaded to, and sent ambassadors to Lacedaemon to entreat it.\r\nAnd this would seem to be a second favor done Agesilaus by Lysander, not\r\ninferior to his first in obtaining him the kingdom. But with ambitious natures,\r\notherwise not ill qualified for command, the feeling of jealousy of those near\r\nthem in reputation continually stands in the way of the performance of noble\r\nactions; they make those their rivals in virtue, whom they ought to use as\r\ntheir helpers to it. Agesilaus took Lysander, among the thirty counselors that\r\naccompanied him, with intentions of using him as his especial friend; but when\r\nthey were come into Asia, the inhabitants there, to whom he was but little\r\nknown, addressed themselves to him but little and seldom; whereas Lysander,\r\nbecause of their frequent previous intercourse, was visited and attended by\r\nlarge numbers, by his friends out of observance, and by others out of fear; and\r\njust as in tragedies it not uncommonly is the case with the actors, the person\r\nwho represents a messenger or servant is much taken notice of, and plays the\r\nchief part, while he who wears the crown and scepter is hardly heard to speak,\r\neven so was it about the counselor, he had all the real honors of the\r\ngovernment, and to the king was left the empty name of power. This\r\ndisproportionate ambition ought very likely to have been in some way softened\r\ndown, and Lysander should have been reduced to his proper second place, but\r\nwholly to cast off and to insult and affront for glory’s sake, one who was his\r\nbenefactor and friend, was not worthy Agesilaus to allow in himself. For, first\r\nof all, he gave him no opportunity for any action, and never set him in any\r\nplace of command; then, for whomsoever he perceived him exerting his interest,\r\nthese persons he always sent away with a refusal, and with less attention than\r\nany ordinary suitors, thus silently undoing and weakening his influence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLysander, miscarrying in everything, and perceiving that his diligence for his\r\nfriends was but a hindrance to them, forbore to help them, entreating them that\r\nthey would not address themselves to, nor observe him, but that they would\r\nspeak to the king, and to those who could be of more service to friends than at\r\npresent he could most, on hearing this, forbore to trouble him about their\r\nconcerns; but continued their observances to him, waiting upon him in the walks\r\nand places of exercise; at which Agesilaus was more annoyed than ever, envying\r\nhim the honor; and, finally, when he gave many of the officers places of\r\ncommand and the governments of cities, he appointed Lysander carver at his\r\ntable, adding, by way of insult to the Ionians, “Let them go now, and pay their\r\ncourt to my carver.” Upon this, Lysander thought fit to come and speak with\r\nhim; and a brief laconic dialogue passed between them as follows: “Truly, you\r\nknow very well, O Agesilaus, how to depress your friends;” “Those friends,”\r\nreplied he, “who would be greater than myself; but those who increase my power,\r\nit is just should share in it.” “Possibly, O Agesilaus,” answered Lysander, “in\r\nall this there may be more said on your part than done on mine, but I request\r\nyou, for the sake of observers from without, to place me in any command under\r\nyou where you may judge I shall be the least offensive, and most useful.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this he was sent ambassador to the Hellespont; and though angry with\r\nAgesilaus, yet did not neglect to perform his duty, and having induced\r\nSpithridates the Persian, being offended with Pharnabazus, a gallant man, and\r\nin command of some forces, to revolt, he brought him to Agesilaus. He was not,\r\nhowever, employed in any other service, but having completed his time, returned\r\nto Sparta, without honor, angry with Agesilaus, and hating more than ever the\r\nwhole Spartan government, and resolved to delay no longer, but while there was\r\nyet time, to put into execution the plans which he appears some time before to\r\nhave concerted for a revolution and change in the constitution. These were as\r\nfollows. The Heraclidae who joined with the Dorians, and came into\r\nPeloponnesus, became a numerous and glorious race in Sparta, but not every\r\nfamily belonging to it had the right of succession in the kingdom, but the\r\nkings were chosen out of two only, called the Eurypontidae and the Agiadae; the\r\nrest had no privilege in the government by their nobility of birth, and the\r\nhonors which followed from merit lay open to all who could obtain them.\r\nLysander, who was born of one of these families, when he had risen into great\r\nrenown for his exploits, and had gained great friends and power, was vexed to\r\nsee the city which had increased to what it was by him, ruled by others not at\r\nall better descended than himself, and formed a design to remove the government\r\nfrom the two families, and to give it in common to all the Heraclidae; or as\r\nsome say, not to the Heraclidae only, but to all the Spartans; that the reward\r\nmight not belong to the posterity of Hercules, but to those who were like\r\nHercules, judging by that personal merit which raised even him to the honor of\r\nthe Godhead; and he hoped that when the kingdom was thus to be competed for, no\r\nSpartan would be chosen before himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAccordingly he first attempted and prepared to persuade the citizens privately,\r\nand studied an oration composed to this purpose by Cleon, the Halicarnassian.\r\nAfterwards perceiving so unexpected and great an innovation required bolder\r\nmeans of support, he proceeded as it might be on the stage, to avail himself of\r\nmachinery, and to try the effects of divine agency upon his countrymen. He\r\ncollected and arranged for his purpose, answers and oracles from Apollo, not\r\nexpecting to get any benefit from Cleon’s rhetoric, unless he should first\r\nalarm and overpower the minds of his fellow-citizens by religious and\r\nsuperstitious terrors, before bringing them to the consideration of his\r\narguments. Ephorus relates, after he had endeavored to corrupt the oracle of\r\nApollo, and had again failed to persuade the priestesses of Dodona by means of\r\nPherecles, that he went to Ammon, and discoursed with the guardians of the\r\noracle there, proffering them a great deal of gold, and that they, taking this\r\nill, sent some to Sparta to accuse Lysander; and on his acquittal the Libyans,\r\ngoing away, said, “You will find us, O Spartans, better judges, when you come\r\nto dwell with us in Libya,” there being a certain ancient oracle, that the\r\nLacedaemonians should dwell in Libya. But as the whole intrigue and the course\r\nof the contrivance was no ordinary one, nor lightly- undertaken, but depended\r\nas it went on, like some mathematical proposition, on a variety of important\r\nadmissions, and proceeded through a series of intricate and difficult steps to\r\nits conclusion, we will go into it at length, following the account of one who\r\nwas at once an historian and a philosopher.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was a woman in Pontus, who professed to be pregnant by Apollo, which\r\nmany, as was natural, disbelieved, and many also gave credit to, and when she\r\nhad brought forth a man-child, several, not unimportant persons, took an\r\ninterest in its rearing and bringing up. The name given the boy was Silenus,\r\nfor some reason or other. Lysander, taking this for the groundwork, frames and\r\ndevises the rest himself, making use of not a few, nor these insignificant\r\nchampions of his story, who brought the report of the child’s birth into credit\r\nwithout any suspicion. Another report, also, was procured from Delphi and\r\ncirculated in Sparta, that there were some very old oracles which were kept by\r\nthe priests in private writings; and they were not to be meddled with neither\r\nwas it lawful to read them, till one in after times should come, descended from\r\nApollo, and, on giving some known token to the keepers, should take the books\r\nin which the oracles were. Things being thus ordered beforehand, Silenus, it\r\nwas intended, should come and ask for the oracles, as being the child of Apollo\r\nand those priests who were privy to the design, were to profess to search\r\nnarrowly into all particulars, and to question him concerning his birth; and,\r\nfinally, were to be convinced, and, as to Apollo’s son, to deliver up to him\r\nthe writings. Then he, in the presence of many witnesses, should read amongst\r\nother prophecies, that which was the object of the whole contrivance, relating\r\nto the office of the kings, that it would be better and more desirable to the\r\nSpartans to choose their kings out of the best citizens. And now, Silenus being\r\ngrown up to a youth, and being ready for the action, Lysander miscarried in his\r\ndrama through the timidity of one of his actors, or assistants, who just as he\r\ncame to the point lost heart and drew back. Yet nothing was found out while\r\nLysander lived, but only after his death.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe died before Agesilaus came back from Asia, being involved, or perhaps more\r\ntruly having himself involved Greece, in the Boeotian war. For it is stated\r\nboth ways; and the cause of it some make to be himself, others the Thebans, and\r\nsome both together; the Thebans, on the one hand, being charged with casting\r\naway the sacrifices at Aulis, and that being bribed with the king’s money\r\nbrought by Androclides and Amphitheus, they had with the object of entangling\r\nthe Lacedaemonians in a Grecian war, set upon the Phocians, and wasted their\r\ncountry; it being said, on the other hand, that Lysander was angry that the\r\nThebans had preferred a claim to the tenth part of the spoils of the war, while\r\nthe rest of the confederates submitted without complaint; and because they\r\nexpressed indignation about the money which Lysander sent to Sparta, but most\r\nespecially, because from them the Athenians had obtained the first opportunity\r\nof freeing themselves from the thirty tyrants, whom Lysander had made, and to\r\nsupport whom the Lacedaemonians issued a decree that political refugees from\r\nAthens might be arrested in whatever country they were found, and that those\r\nwho impeded their arrest should be excluded from the confederacy. In reply to\r\nthis the Thebans issued counter decrees of their own, truly in the spirit and\r\ntemper of the actions of Hercules and Bacchus, that every house and city in\r\nBoeotia should be opened to the Athenians who required it, and that he who did\r\nnot help a fugitive who was seized, should be fined a talent for damages, and\r\nif any one should bear arms through Boeotia to Attica against the tyrants, that\r\nnone of the Thebans should either see or hear of it. Nor did they pass these\r\nhumane and truly Greek decrees, without at the same time making their acts\r\nconformable to their words. For Thrasybulus and those who with him occupied\r\nPhyle, set out upon that enterprise from Thebes, with arms and money, and\r\nsecrecy and a point to start from, provided for them by the Thebans. Such were\r\nthe causes of complaint Lysander had against Thebes. And being now grown\r\nviolent in his temper through the atrabilious tendency which increased upon him\r\nin his old age, he urged the Ephors and persuaded them to place a garrison in\r\nThebes, and taking the commander’s place, he marched forth with a body of\r\ntroops. Pausanias, also, the king, was sent shortly after with an army. Now\r\nPausanias, going round by Cithaeron, was to invade Boeotia; Lysander, meantime,\r\nadvanced through Phocis to meet him, with a numerous body of soldiers. He took\r\nthe city of the Orchomenians, who came over to him of their own accord, and\r\nplundered Lebadea. He dispatched also letters to Pausanias, ordering him to\r\nmove from Plataea to meet him at Haliartus, and that himself would be at the\r\nwalls of Haliartus by break of day. These letters were brought to the Thebans,\r\nthe carrier of them falling into the hands of some Theban scouts. They, having\r\nreceived aid from Athens, committed their city to the charge of the Athenian\r\ntroops, and sallying out about the first sleep, succeeded in reaching Haliartus\r\na little before Lysander, and part of them entered into the city. He, upon\r\nthis, first of all resolved, posting his army upon a hill, to stay for\r\nPausanias; then as the day advanced, not being able to rest, he bade his men\r\ntake up their arms, and encouraging the allies, led them in a column along the\r\nroad to the walls. but those Thebans who had remained outside, taking the city\r\non the left hand, advanced against the rear of their enemies, by the fountain\r\nwhich is called Cissusa; here they tell the story that the nurses washed the\r\ninfant Bacchus after his birth; the water of it is of a bright wine color,\r\nclear, and most pleasant to drink; and not far off the Cretan storax grows all\r\nabout, which the Haliartians adduce in token of Rhadamanthus having dwelt\r\nthere, and they show his sepulchre, calling it Alea. And the monument also of\r\nAlcmena is hard by; for there, as they say, she was buried, having married\r\nRhadamanthus after Amphitryon’s death. But the Thebans inside the city forming\r\nin order of battle with the Haliartians stood still for some time, but on\r\nseeing Lysander with a party of those who were foremost approaching, on a\r\nsudden opening the gates and falling on, they killed him with the soothsayer at\r\nhis side, and a few others; for the greater part immediately fled back to the\r\nmain force. But the Thebans not slackening, but closely pursuing them, the\r\nwhole body turned to fly towards the hills. There were one thousand of them\r\nslain; there died, also, of the Thebans three hundred, who were killed with\r\ntheir enemies, while chasing them into craggy and difficult places. These had\r\nbeen under suspicion of favoring the Lacedaemonians, and in their eagerness to\r\nclear themselves in the eyes of their fellow-citizens, exposed themselves in\r\nthe pursuit, and so met their death. News of the disaster reached Pausanias as\r\nhe was on the way from Plataea to Thespiae, and having set his army in order he\r\ncame to Haliartus; Thrasybulus, also, came from Thebes, leading the Athenians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPausanias proposing to request the bodies of the dead under truce, the elders\r\nof the Spartans took it ill, and were angry among themselves, and coming to the\r\nking, declared that Lysander should not be taken away upon any conditions; if\r\nthey fought it out by arms about his body, and conquered, then they might bury\r\nhim; if they were overcome, it was glorious to die upon the spot with their\r\ncommander. When the elders had spoken these things, Pausanias saw it would be a\r\ndifficult business to vanquish the Thebans, who had but just been conquerors;\r\nthat Lysander’s body also lay near the walls, so that it would be hard for\r\nthem, though they overcame, to take it away without a truce; he therefore sent\r\na herald, obtained a truce, and withdrew his forces, and carrying away the body\r\nof Lysander, they buried it in the first friendly soil they reached on crossing\r\nthe Boeotian frontier, in the country of the Panopaeans; where the monument\r\nstill stands as you go on the road from Delphi to Chaeronea. Now the army\r\nquartering there, it is said that a person of Phocis, relating the battle to\r\none who was not in it, said, the enemies fell upon them just after Lysander had\r\npassed over the Hoplites; surprised at which a Spartan, a friend of Lysander,\r\nasked what Hoplites he meant, for he did not know the name. “It was there,”\r\nanswered the Phocian, “that the enemy killed the first of us; the rivulet by\r\nthe city is called Hoplites.” On hearing which the Spartan shed tears and\r\nobserved, how impossible it is for any man to avoid his appointed lot;\r\nLysander, it appears, having received an oracle, as follows: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSounding Hoplites see thou bear in mind,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd the earthborn dragon following behind.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nSome, however, say that Hoplites does not run by Haliartus, but is a\r\nwatercourse near Coronea, falling into the river Philarus, not far from the\r\ntown in former times called Hoplias, and now Isomantus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe man of Haliartus who killed Lysander, by name Neochorus, bore on his shield\r\nthe device of a dragon; and this, it was supposed, the oracle signified. It is\r\nsaid, also, that at the time of the Peloponnesian war, the Thebans received an\r\noracle from the sanctuary of Ismenus, referring at once to the battle at\r\nDelium, and to this which thirty years after took place at Haliartus. It ran\r\nthus: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHunting the wolf, observe the utmost bound,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd the hill Orchalides where foxes most are found.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBy the words, “the utmost bound,” Delium being intended, where Boeotia touches\r\nAttica, and by Orchalides, the hill now called Alopecus, which lies in the\r\nparts of Haliartus towards Helicon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut such a death befalling Lysander, the Spartans took it so grievously at the\r\ntime, that they put the king to a trial for his life, which he not daring to\r\nawait, fled to Tegea, and there lived out his life in the sanctuary of Minerva.\r\nThe poverty also of Lysander being discovered by his death, made his merit more\r\nmanifest, since from so much wealth and power, from all the homage of the\r\ncities, and of the Persian kingdom, he had not in the least degree, so far as\r\nmoney goes, sought any private aggrandizement, as Theopompus in his history\r\nrelates, whom anyone may rather give credit to when he commends, than when he\r\nfinds fault, as it is more agreeable to him to blame than to praise. But\r\nsubsequently, Ephorus says, some controversy arising among the allies at\r\nSparta, which made it necessary to consult the writings which Lysander had kept\r\nby him, Agesilaus came to his house, and finding the book in which the oration\r\non the Spartan constitution was written at length, to the effect that the\r\nkingdom ought to be taken from the Eurypontidae and Agiadae, and to be offered\r\nin common, and a choice made out of the best citizens, at first he was eager to\r\nmake it public, and to show his countrymen the real character of Lysander. But\r\nLacratidas, a wise man, and at that time chief of the Ephors, hindered\r\nAgesilaus, and said, they ought not to dig up Lysander again, but rather to\r\nbury with him a discourse, composed so plausibly and subtlety. Other honors,\r\nalso, were paid him after his death; and amongst these they imposed a fine upon\r\nthose who had engaged themselves to marry his daughters, and then when Lysander\r\nwas found to be poor, after his decease, refused them; because when they\r\nthought him rich they had been observant of him, but now his poverty had proved\r\nhim just and good, they forsook him. For there was, it seems, in Sparta, a\r\npunishment for not marrying, for a late, and for a bad marriage; and to the\r\nlast penalty those were most especially liable, who sought alliances with the\r\nrich instead of with the good and with their friends. Such is the account we\r\nhave found given of Lysander.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap33\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eSYLLA\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucius Cornelius Sylla was descended of a patrician or noble family. Of his\r\nancestors, Rufinus, it is said, had been consul, and incurred a disgrace more\r\nsignal than his distinction. For being found possessed of more than ten pounds\r\nof silver plate, contrary to the law, he was for this reason put out of the\r\nsenate. His posterity continued ever after in obscurity, nor had Sylla himself\r\nany opulent parentage. In his younger days he lived in hired lodgings, at a low\r\nrate, which in after-times was adduced against him as proof that he had been\r\nfortunate above his quality. When he was boasting and magnifying himself for\r\nhis exploits in Libya, a person of noble station made answer, “And how can you\r\nbe an honest man, who, since the death of a father who left you nothing, have\r\nbecome so rich?” The time in which he lived was no longer an age of pure and\r\nupright manners, but had already declined, and yielded to the appetite for\r\nriches and luxury; yet still, in the general opinion, they who deserted the\r\nhereditary poverty of their family, were as much blamed as those who had run\r\nout a fair patrimonial estate. And afterwards, when he had seized the power\r\ninto his hands, and was putting many to death, a freedman suspected of having\r\nconcealed one of the proscribed, and for that reason sentenced to be thrown\r\ndown the Tarpeian rock, in a reproachful way recounted, how they had lived long\r\ntogether under the same roof, himself for the upper rooms paying two thousand\r\nsesterces, and Sylla for the lower three thousand; so that the difference\r\nbetween their fortunes then was no more than one thousand sesterces, equivalent\r\nin Attic coin to two hundred and fifty drachmas. And thus much of his early\r\nfortune.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis general personal appearance may be known by his statues; only his blue\r\neyes, of themselves extremely keen and glaring, were rendered all the more\r\nforbidding and terrible by the complexion of his face, in which white was mixed\r\nwith rough blotches of fiery red. Hence, it is said, he was surnamed Sylla, and\r\nin allusion to it one of the scurrilous jesters at Athens made the verse upon\r\nhim,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSylla is a mulberry sprinkled o’er with meal.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nNor is it out of place to make use of marks of character like these, in the\r\ncase of one who was by nature so addicted to raillery, that in his youthful\r\nobscurer years he would converse freely with players and professed jesters, and\r\njoin them in all their low pleasures. And when supreme master of all, he was\r\noften wont to muster together the most impudent players and stage-followers of\r\nthe town, and to drink and bandy jests with them without regard to his age or\r\nthe dignity of his place, and to the prejudice of important affairs that\r\nrequired his attention. When he was once at table, it was not in Sylla’s nature\r\nto admit of anything that was serious, and whereas at other times he was a man\r\nof business, and austere of countenance, he underwent all of a sudden, at his\r\nfirst entrance upon wine and good-fellowship, a total revolution, and was\r\ngentle and tractable with common singers and dancers, and ready to oblige\r\nanyone that spoke with him. It seems to have been a sort of diseased result of\r\nthis laxity, that he was so prone to amorous pleasures, and yielded without\r\nresistance to any temptations of voluptuousness, from which even ill his old\r\nage he could not refrain. He had a long attachment for Metrobius, a player. In\r\nhis first amours it happened, that he made court to a common but rich lady,\r\nNicopolis by name, and, what by the air of his youth, and what by long\r\nintimacy, won so far on her affections, that she rather than he was the lover,\r\nand at her death she bequeathed him her whole property. He likewise inherited\r\nthe estate of a step-mother who loved him as her own son. By these means he had\r\npretty well advanced his fortunes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was chosen quaestor to Marius in his first consulship, and set sail with him\r\nfor Libya, to war upon Jugurtha. Here, in general, he gained approbation; and\r\nmore especially, by closing in dexterously with an accidental occasion, made a\r\nfriend of Bocchus, king of Numidia. He hospitably entertained the king’s\r\nambassadors, on their escape from some Numidian robbers, and after showing them\r\nmuch kindness, sent them on their journey with presents, and an escort to\r\nprotect them. Bocchus had long hated and dreaded his son-in-law, Jugurtha, who\r\nhad now been worsted in the field and had fled to him for shelter; and it so\r\nhappened, he was at this time entertaining a design to betray him. He\r\naccordingly invited Sylla to come to him, wishing the seizure and surrender of\r\nJugurtha to be effected rather through him, than directly by himself. Sylla,\r\nwhen he had communicated the business to Marius, and received from him a small\r\ndetachment, voluntarily put himself into this imminent danger; and confiding in\r\na barbarian, who had been unfaithful to his own relations, to apprehend another\r\nman’s person, made surrender of his own. Bocchus, having both of them now in\r\nhis power, was necessitated to betray one or other, and after long debate with\r\nhimself, at last resolved on his first design, and gave up Jugurtha into the\r\nhands of Sylla.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor this Marius triumphed, but the glory of the enterprise, which through\r\npeople’s envy of Marius was ascribed to Sylla, secretly grieved him. And the\r\ntruth is, Sylla himself was by nature vainglorious, and this being the first\r\ntime that from a low and private condition he had risen to esteem amongst the\r\ncitizens and tasted of honor, his appetite for distinction carried him to such\r\na pitch of ostentation, that he had a representation of this action engraved on\r\na signet ring; which he carried about with him, and made use of ever after. The\r\nimpress was, Bocchus delivering, and Sylla receiving, Jugurtha. This touched\r\nMarius to the quick; however, judging Sylla to be beneath his rivalry, he made\r\nuse of him as lieutenant, in his second consulship, and in his third, as\r\ntribune; and many considerable services were effected by his means. When acting\r\nas lieutenant he took Copillus, chief of the Tectosages, prisoner, and\r\ncompelled the Marsians, a great and populous nation, to become friends and\r\nconfederates of the Romans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHenceforward, however, Sylla perceiving that Marius bore a jealous eye over\r\nhim, and would no longer afford him opportunities of action, but rather opposed\r\nhis advance, attached himself to Catulus, Marius’s colleague, a worthy man, but\r\nnot energetic enough as a general. And under this commander, who entrusted him\r\nwith the highest and most important commissions, he rose at once to reputation\r\nand to power. He subdued by arms most part of the Alpine barbarians; and when\r\nthere was a scarcity in the armies, he took that care upon himself, and brought\r\nin such a store of provisions, as not only to furnish the soldiers of Catulus\r\nwith abundance, but likewise to supply Marius. This, as he writes himself,\r\nwounded Marius to the very heart. So slight and childish were the first\r\noccasions and motives of that enmity between them, which, passing afterwards\r\nthrough a long course of civil bloodshed and incurable divisions to find its\r\nend in tyranny, and the confusion of the whole State proved Euripides to have\r\nbeen truly wise and thoroughly acquainted with the causes of disorders in the\r\nbody politic, when he forewarned all men to beware of Ambition, as of all the\r\nhigher Powers, the most destructive and pernicious to her votaries.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla, by this time thinking that the reputation of his arms abroad was\r\nsufficient to entitle him to a part in the civil administration, he took\r\nhimself immediately from the camp to the assembly, and offered himself as a\r\ncandidate for a praetorship, but failed. The fault of this disappointment he\r\nwholly ascribes to the populace, who, knowing his intimacy with king Bocchus,\r\nand for that reason expecting, that if he was made aedile before his\r\npraetorship, he would then show them magnificent hunting-shows and combats\r\nbetween Libyan wild beasts, chose other praetors, on purpose to force him into\r\nthe aedileship. The vanity of this pretext is sufficiently disproved by\r\nmatter-of-fact. For the year following, partly by flatteries to the people, and\r\npartly by money, he got himself elected praetor. Accordingly, once while he was\r\nin office, on his angrily telling Caesar that he should make use of his\r\nauthority against him, Caesar answered him with a smile, “You do well to call\r\nit your own, as you bought it.” At the end of his praetorship he was sent over\r\ninto Cappadocia, under the presence of reestablishing Ariobarzanes in his\r\nkingdom, but in reality to keep in check the restless movements of Mithridates,\r\nwho was gradually procuring himself as vast a new acquired power and dominion,\r\nas was that of his ancient inheritance. He carried over with him no great\r\nforces of his own, but making use of the cheerful aid of the confederates,\r\nsucceeded, with considerable slaughter of the Cappadocians, and yet greater of\r\nthe Armenian succors, in expelling Gordius and establishing Ariobarzanes as\r\nking.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDuring his stay on the banks of the Euphrates, there came to him Orobazus, a\r\nParthian, ambassador from king Arsaces, as yet there having been no\r\ncorrespondence between the two nations. And this also we may lay to the account\r\nof Sylla’s felicity, that he should be the first Roman, to whom the Parthians\r\nmade address for alliance and friendship. At the time of which reception, the\r\nstory is, that having ordered three chairs of state to be set, one for\r\nAriobarzanes, one for Orobazus, and a third for himself, he placed himself in\r\nthe middle, and so gave audience. For this the king of Parthia afterwards put\r\nOrobazus to death. Some people commended Sylla for his lofty carriage towards\r\nthe barbarians; others again accused him of arrogance and unseasonable display.\r\nIt is reported, that a certain Chaldaean, of Orobazus’s retinue, looking Sylla\r\nwistfully in the face, and observing carefully the motions of his mind and\r\nbody, and forming a judgment of his nature, according to the rules of his art,\r\nsaid that it was impossible for him not to become the greatest of men; it was\r\nrather a wonder how he could even then abstain from being head of all.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt his return, Censorinus impeached him of extortion, for having exacted a vast\r\nsum of money from a well-affected and associate kingdom. However, Censorinus\r\ndid not appear at the trial, but dropped his accusation. His quarrel, meantime,\r\nwith Marius began to break out afresh, receiving new material from the ambition\r\nof Bocchus, who, to please the people of Rome, and gratify Sylla, set up in the\r\ntemple of Jupiter Capitolinus images bearing trophies, and a representation in\r\ngold of the surrender of Jugurtha to Sylla. When Marius, in great anger,\r\nattempted to pull them down, and others aided Sylla, the whole city would have\r\nbeen in tumult and commotion with this dispute, had not the Social War, which\r\nhad long lain smoldering blazed forth at last, and for the present put an end\r\nto the quarrel.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the course of this war, which had many great changes of fortune, and which,\r\nmore than any, afflicted the Romans, and, indeed, endangered the very being of\r\nthe Commonwealth, Marius was not able to signalize his valor in any action, but\r\nleft behind him a clear proof, that warlike excellence requires a strong and\r\nstill vigorous body. Sylla, on the other hand, by his many achievements, gained\r\nhimself, with his fellow-citizens, the name of a great commander, while his\r\nfriends thought him the greatest of all commanders, and his enemies called him\r\nthe most fortunate. Nor did this make the same sort of impression on him, as it\r\nmade on Timotheus the son of Conon, the Athenian; who, when his adversaries\r\nascribed his successes to his good luck, and had a painting made, representing\r\nhim asleep, and Fortune by his side, casting her nets over the cities, was\r\nrough and violent in his indignation at those who did it, as if by attributing\r\nall to Fortune, they had robbed him of his just honors; and said to the people\r\non one occasion at his return from war, “In this, ye men of Athens, Fortune had\r\nno part.” A piece of boyish petulance, which the deity, we are told, played\r\nback upon Timotheus; who from that time was never able to achieve anything that\r\nwas great, but proving altogether unfortunate in his attempts, and falling into\r\ndiscredit with the people, was at last banished the city. Sylla, on the\r\ncontrary, not only accepted with pleasure the credit of such divine felicities\r\nand favors, but joining himself in extolling and glorifying what was done, gave\r\nthe honor of all to Fortune, whether it were out of boastfulness, or a real\r\nfeeling of divine agency. He remarks, in his Memoirs, that of all his well\r\nadvised actions, none proved so lucky in the execution, as what he had boldly\r\nenterprised, not by calculation, but upon the moment. And in the character\r\nwhich he gives of himself, that he was born for fortune rather than war, he\r\nseems to give Fortune a higher place than merit, and in short, makes himself\r\nentirely the creature of a superior power, accounting even his concord with\r\nMetellus, his equal in office, and his connection by marriage, a piece of\r\npreternatural felicity. For expecting to have met in him a most troublesome, he\r\nfound him a most accommodating colleague. Moreover, in the Memoirs which he\r\ndedicated to Lucullus, he admonishes him to esteem nothing more trustworthy,\r\nthan what the divine powers advise him by night. And when he was leaving the\r\ncity with an army, to fight in the Social War, he relates, that the earth near\r\nthe Laverna opened, and a quantity of fire came rushing out of it, shooting up\r\nwith a bright flame into the heavens. The soothsayers upon this foretold, that\r\na person of great qualities, and of a rare and singular aspect, should take the\r\ngovernment in hand, and quiet the present troubles of the city. Sylla affirms\r\nhe was the man, for his golden head of hair made him an extraordinary-looking\r\nman, nor had he any shame, after the great actions he had done, in testifying\r\nto his own great qualities. And thus much of his opinion as to divine agency.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn general he would seem to have been of a very irregular character, full of\r\ninconsistencies with himself; much given to rapine, to prodigality yet more; in\r\npromoting or disgracing whom he pleased, alike unaccountable; cringing to those\r\nhe stood in need of, and domineering over others who stood in need of him, so\r\nthat it was hard to tell, whether his nature had more in it of pride or of\r\nservility. As to his unequal distribution of punishments, as, for example, that\r\nupon slight grounds he would put to the torture, and again would bear patiently\r\nwith the greatest wrongs; would readily forgive and be reconciled after the\r\nmost heinous acts of enmity, and yet would visit small and inconsiderable\r\noffenses with death, and confiscation of goods; one might judge, that in\r\nhimself he was really of a violent and revengeful nature, which however he\r\ncould qualify, upon reflection, for his interest. In this very Social War, when\r\nthe soldiers with stones and clubs had killed an officer of praetorian rank,\r\nhis own lieutenant, Albinus by name, he passed by this flagrant crime without\r\nany inquiry, giving it out moreover in a boast, that the soldiers would behave\r\nall the better now, to make amends, by some special bravery, for their breach\r\nof discipline. He took no notice of the clamors of those that cried for\r\njustice, but designing already to supplant Marius, now that he saw the Social\r\nWar near its end, he made much of his army, in hopes to get himself declared\r\ngeneral of the forces against Mithridates.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt his return to Rome, he was chosen Consul with Quintus Pompeius, in the\r\nfiftieth year of his age, and made a most distinguished marriage with Caecilia,\r\ndaughter of Metellus, the chief priest. The common people made a variety of\r\nverses in ridicule of the marriage, and many of the nobility also were\r\ndisgusted at it, esteeming him, as Livy writes, unworthy of this connection,\r\nwhom before they thought worthy of a consulship. This was not his only wife,\r\nfor first, in his younger days, he was married to Ilia, by whom he had a\r\ndaughter; after her to Aelia; and thirdly to Cloelia, whom he dismissed as\r\nbarren, but honorably, and with professions of respect, adding, moreover,\r\npresents. But the match between him and Metella, falling out a few days after,\r\noccasioned suspicions that he had complained of Cloelia without due cause. To\r\nMetella he always showed great deference, so much so that the people, when\r\nanxious for the recall of the exiles of Marius’s party, upon his refusal,\r\nentreated the intercession of Metella. And the Athenians, it is thought, had\r\nharder measure, at the capture of their town, because they used insulting\r\nlanguage to Metella in their jests from the walls during the siege. But of this\r\nhereafter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt present esteeming the consulship but a small matter in comparison of things\r\nto come, he was impatiently carried away in thought to the Mithridatic War.\r\nHere he was withstood by Marius; who out of mad affectation of glory and thirst\r\nfor distinction, those never dying passions, though he were now unwieldy in\r\nbody, and had given up service, on account of his age, during the late\r\ncampaigns, still coveted after command in a distant war beyond the seas. And\r\nwhilst Sylla was departed for the camp, to order the rest of his affairs there,\r\nhe sat brooding at home, and at last hatched that execrable sedition, which\r\nwrought Rome more mischief than all her enemies together had done, as was\r\nindeed foreshown by the gods. For a flame broke forth of its own accord, from\r\nunder the staves of the ensigns, and was with difficulty extinguished. Three\r\nravens brought their young into the open road, and ate them, carrying the\r\nrelics into the nest again. Mice having gnawed the consecrated gold in one of\r\nthe temples, the keepers caught one of them, a female, in a trap; and she\r\nbringing forth five young ones in the very trap, devoured three of them. But\r\nwhat was greatest of all, in a calm and clear sky there was heard the sound of\r\na trumpet, with such a loud and dismal blast, as struck terror and amazement\r\ninto the hearts of the people. The Etruscan sages affirmed, that this prodigy\r\nbetokened the mutation of the age, and a general revolution in the world. For\r\naccording to them there are in all eight ages, differing one from another in\r\nthe lives and the characters of men, and to each of these God has allotted a\r\ncertain measure of time, determined by the circuit of the great year. And when\r\none age is run out, at the approach of another, there appears some wonderful\r\nsign from earth or heaven, such as makes it manifest at once to those who have\r\nmade it their business to study such things, that there has succeeded in the\r\nworld a new race of men, differing in customs and institutes of life, and more\r\nor less regarded by the gods, than the preceding. Amongst other great changes\r\nthat happen, as they say, at the turn of ages, the art of divination, also, at\r\none time rises in esteem, and is more successful in its predictions, clearer\r\nand surer tokens being sent from God, and then again, in another generation\r\ndeclines as low, becoming mere guesswork for the most part, and discerning\r\nfuture events by dim and uncertain intimations. This was the mythology of the\r\nwisest of the Tuscan sages, who were thought to possess a knowledge beyond\r\nother men. Whilst the Senate sat in consultation with the soothsayers,\r\nconcerning these prodigies, in the temple of Bellona, a sparrow came flying in,\r\nbefore them all, with a grasshopper in its mouth, and letting fall one part of\r\nit, flew away with the remainder. The diviners foreboded commotions and\r\ndissension between the great landed proprietors and the common city populace;\r\nthe latter, like the grasshopper, being loud and talkative; while the sparrow\r\nmight represent the “dwellers in the field.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarius had taken into alliance Sulpicius, the tribune, a man second to none in\r\nany villanies, so that it was less the question what others he surpassed, but\r\nrather in what respects he most surpassed himself in wickedness. He was cruel,\r\nbold, rapacious, and in all these points utterly shameless and unscrupulous;\r\nnot hesitating to offer Roman citizenship by public sale to freed slaves and\r\naliens, and to count out the price on public money-tables in the forum. He\r\nmaintained three thousand swordsmen, and had always about him a company of\r\nyoung men of the equestrian class ready for all occasions, whom he styled his\r\nAnti-Senate. Having had a law enacted, that no senator should contract a debt\r\nof above two thousand drachmas, he himself, after death, was found indebted\r\nthree millions. This was the man whom Marius let in upon the Commonwealth, and\r\nwho, confounding all things by force and the sword, made several ordinances of\r\ndangerous consequence, and amongst the rest, one giving Marius the conduct of\r\nthe Mithridatic war. Upon this the consuls proclaimed a public cessation of\r\nbusiness, but as they were holding an assembly near the temple of Castor and\r\nPollux, he let loose the rabble upon them, and amongst many others slew the\r\nconsul Pompeius’s young son in the forum, Pompeius himself hardly escaping in\r\nthe crowd. Sylla being closely pursued into the house of Marius, was forced to\r\ncome forth and dissolve the cessation; and for his doing this, Sulpicius,\r\nhaving deposed Pompeius, allowed Sylla to continue his consulship, only\r\ntransferring the Mithridatic expedition to Marius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were immediately dispatched to Nola tribunes, to receive the army, and\r\nbring it to Marius; but Sylla having got first to the camp, and the soldiers,\r\nupon hearing of the news, having stoned the tribunes, Marius, in requital,\r\nproceeded to put the friends of Sylla in the city to the sword, and rifled\r\ntheir goods. Every kind of removal and flight went on, some hastening from the\r\ncamp to the city, others from the city to the camp. The senate, no more in its\r\nown power, but wholly governed by the dictates of Marius and Sulpicius, alarmed\r\nat the report of Sylla’s advancing with his troops towards the city, sent forth\r\ntwo of the praetors, Brutus and Servilius, to forbid his nearer approach. The\r\nsoldiers would have slain these praetors in a fury, for their bold language to\r\nSylla; contenting themselves, however, with breaking their rods, and tearing\r\noff their purple-edged robes, after much contumelious usage they sent them\r\nback, to the sad dejection of the citizens, who beheld their magistrates\r\ndespoiled of their badges of office, and announcing to them, that things were\r\nnow manifestly come to a rupture past all cure. Marius put himself in\r\nreadiness, and Sylla with his colleague moved from Nola, at the head of six\r\ncomplete legions, all of them willing to march up directly against the city,\r\nthough he himself as yet was doubtful in thought, and apprehensive of the\r\ndanger. As he was sacrificing, Postumius the soothsayer, having inspected the\r\nentrails, stretching forth both hands to Sylla, required to be bound and kept\r\nin custody till the battle was over, as willing, if they had not speedy and\r\ncomplete success, to suffer the utmost punishment. It is said, also, that there\r\nappeared to Sylla himself in a dream, a certain goddess, whom the Romans learnt\r\nto worship from the Cappadocians, whether it be the Moon, or Pallas, or\r\nBellona. This same goddess, to his thinking, stood by him, and put into his\r\nhand thunder and lightning, then naming his enemies one by one, bade him strike\r\nthem, who, all of them, fell on the discharge and disappeared. Encouraged by\r\nthis vision, and relating it to his colleague, next day he led on towards Rome.\r\nAbout Picinae being met by a deputation, beseeching him not to attack at once,\r\nin the heat of a march, for that the senate had decreed to do him all the right\r\nimaginable, he consented to halt on the spot, and sent his officers to measure\r\nout the ground, as is usual, for a camp; so that the deputation, believing it,\r\nreturned. They were no sooner gone, but he sent a party on under the command of\r\nLucius Basillus and Caius Mummius, to secure the city gate, and the walls on\r\nthe side of the Esquiline hill, and then close at their heels followed himself\r\nwith all speed. Basillus made his way successfully into the city, but the\r\nunarmed multitude, pelting him with stones and tiles from off the houses,\r\nstopped his further progress, and beat him back to the wall. Sylla by this time\r\nwas come up, and seeing what was going on, called aloud to his men to set fire\r\nto the houses, and taking a flaming torch, he himself led the way, and\r\ncommanded the archers to make use of their fire-darts, letting fly at the tops\r\nof houses; all which he did, not upon any plan, but simply in his fury,\r\nyielding the conduct of that day’s work to passion, and as if all he saw were\r\nenemies, without respect or pity either to friend, relations, or acquaintance,\r\nmade his entry by fire, which knows no distinction betwixt friend or foe.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this conflict, Marius being driven into the temple of Mother-Earth, thence\r\ninvited the slaves by proclamation of freedom, but the enemy coming on he was\r\noverpowered and fled the city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla having called a senate, had sentence of death passed on Marius, and some\r\nfew others, amongst whom was Sulpicius, tribune of the people. Sulpicius was\r\nkilled, being betrayed by his servant, whom Sylla first made free, and then\r\nthrew him headlong down the Tarpeian rock. As for Marius, he set a price on his\r\nlife, by proclamation, neither gratefully nor politicly, if we consider into\r\nwhose house, not long before he put himself at mercy, and was safely dismissed.\r\nHad Marius at that time not let Sylla go, but suffered him to be slain by the\r\nhands of Sulpicius, he might have been lord of all; nevertheless he spared his\r\nlife, and a few days after, when in a similar position himself, received a\r\ndifferent measure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBy these proceedings, Sylla excited the secret distaste of the senate; but the\r\ndispleasure and free indignation of the commonalty showed itself plainly by\r\ntheir actions. For they ignominiously rejected Nonius, his nephew, and Servius,\r\nwho stood for offices of state by his interest, and elected others as\r\nmagistrates, by honoring whom they thought they should most annoy him. He made\r\nsemblance of extreme satisfaction at all this, as if the people by his means\r\nhad again enjoyed the liberty of doing what seemed best to them. And to pacify\r\nthe public hostility, he created Lucius Cinna consul, one of the adverse party,\r\nhaving first bound him under oaths and imprecations to be favorable to his\r\ninterest. For Cinna, ascending the capitol with a stone in his hand, swore\r\nsolemnly, and prayed with direful curses, that he himself, if he were not true\r\nto his friendship with Sylla, might be cast out of the city, as that stone out\r\nof his hand; and thereupon cast the stone to the ground, in the presence of\r\nmany people. Nevertheless Cinna had no sooner entered on his charge, but he\r\ntook measures to disturb the present settlement, and having prepared an\r\nimpeachment against Sylla, got Virginius, one of the tribunes of the people, to\r\nbe his accuser; but Sylla, leaving him and the court of judicature to\r\nthemselves, set forth against Mithridates.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout the time that Sylla was making ready to put oft with his forces from\r\nItaly, besides many other omens which befell Mithridates, then staying at\r\nPergamus, there goes a story that a figure of Victory, with a crown in her\r\nhand, which the Pergamenians by machinery from above let down on him, when it\r\nhad almost reached his head, fell to pieces, and the crown tumbling down into\r\nthe midst of the theater, there broke against the ground, occasioning a general\r\nalarm among the populace, and considerably disquieting Mithridates himself,\r\nalthough his affairs at that time were succeeding beyond expectation. For\r\nhaving wrested Asia from the Romans, and Bithynia and Cappadocia from their\r\nkings, he made Pergamus his royal seat, distributing among his friends riches,\r\nprincipalities, and kingdoms. Of his sons, one residing in Pontus and Bosporus\r\nheld his ancient realm as far as the deserts beyond the lake Maeotis, without\r\nmolestation; while Ariarathes, another, was reducing Thrace and Macedon, with a\r\ngreat army, to obedience. His generals, with forces under them, were\r\nestablishing his supremacy in other quarters. Archelaus, in particular, with\r\nhis fleet, held absolute mastery of the sea, and was bringing into subjection\r\nthe Cyclades, and all the other islands as far as Malea, and had taken Euboea\r\nitself. Making Athens his head-quarters, from thence as far as Thessaly he was\r\nwithdrawing the States of Greece from the Roman allegiance, without the least\r\nill success, except at Chaeronea. For here Bruttius Sura, lieutenant to\r\nSentius, governor of Macedon, a man of singular valor and prudence, met him,\r\nand, though he came like a torrent pouring over Boeotia, made stout resistance,\r\nand thrice giving him battle near Chaeronea, repulsed and forced him back to\r\nthe sea. But being commanded by Lucius Lucullus to give place to his successor,\r\nSylla, and resign the war to whom it was decreed, he presently left Boeotia,\r\nand retired back to Sentius, although his success had outgone all hopes, and\r\nGreece was well disposed to a new revolution, upon account of his gallant\r\nbehavior. These were the glorious actions of Bruttius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla, on his arrival, received by their deputations the compliments of all the\r\ncities of Greece, except Athens, against which, as it was compelled by the\r\ntyrant Aristion to hold for the king, he advanced with all his forces, and\r\ninvesting the Piraeus, laid formal siege to it, employing every variety of\r\nengines, and trying every manner of assault; whereas, had he forbore but a\r\nlittle while, he might without hazard have taken the Upper City by famine, it\r\nbeing already reduced to the last extremity, through want of necessaries. But\r\neager to return to Rome, and fearing innovation there, at great risk, with\r\ncontinual fighting and vast expense, he pushed on the war. Besides other\r\nequipage, the very work about the engines of battery was supplied with no less\r\nthan ten thousand yoke of mules, employed daily in that service. And when\r\ntimber grew scarce, for many of the works failed, some crushed to pieces by\r\ntheir own weight, others taking fire by the continual play of the enemy, he had\r\nrecourse to the sacred groves, and cut down the trees of the Academy, the\r\nshadiest of all the suburbs, and the Lyceum. And a vast sum of money being\r\nwanted to carry on the war, he broke into the sanctuaries of Greece, that of\r\nEpidaurus and that of Olympia, sending for the most beautiful and precious\r\nofferings deposited there. He wrote, likewise, to the Amphictyons, at Delphi,\r\nthat it were better to remit the wealth of the god to him, for that he would\r\nkeep it more securely, or in case he made use of it, restore as much. He sent\r\nCaphis, the Phocian, one of his friends, with this message, commanding him to\r\nreceive each item by weight. Caphis came to Delphi, but was loath to touch the\r\nholy things, and with many tears, in the presence of the Amphyctyons, bewailed\r\nthe necessity. And on some of them declaring they heard the sound of a harp\r\nfrom the inner shrine, he, whether he himself believed it, or was willing to\r\ntry the effect of religious fear upon Sylla, sent back an express. To which\r\nSylla replied in a scoffing way, that it was surprising to him that Caphis did\r\nnot know that music was a sign of joy, not anger; he should, therefore, go on\r\nboldly, and accept what a gracious and bountiful god offered.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOther things were sent away without much notice on the part of the Greeks in\r\ngeneral, but in the case of the silver tun, that only relic of the regal\r\ndonations, which its weight and bulk made it impossible for any carriage to\r\nreceive, the Amphictyons were forced to cut it into pieces, and called to mind\r\nin so doing, how Titus Flamininus, and Manius Acilius, and again Paulus\r\nAemilius, one of whom drove Antiochus out of Greece, and the others subdued the\r\nMacedonian kings, had not only abstained from violating the Greek temples, but\r\nhad even given them new gifts and honors, and increased the general veneration\r\nfor them. They, indeed, the lawful commanders of temperate and obedient\r\nsoldiers, and themselves great in soul, and simple in expenses, lived within\r\nthe bounds of the ordinary established charges, accounting it a greater\r\ndisgrace to seek popularity with their men, than to feel fear of their enemy.\r\nWhereas the commanders of these times, attaining to superiority by force, not\r\nworth, and having need of arms one against another, rather than against the\r\npublic enemy, were constrained to temporize in authority, and in order to pay\r\nfor the gratifications with which they purchased the labor of their soldiers,\r\nwere driven, before they knew it, to sell the commonwealth itself, and, to gain\r\nthe mastery over men better than themselves, were content to become slaves to\r\nthe vilest of wretches. These practices drove Marius into exile, and again\r\nbrought him in against Sylla. These made Cinna the assassin of Octavius, and\r\nFimbria of Flaccus. To which courses Sylla contributed not the least; for to\r\ncorrupt and win over those who were under the command of others, he would be\r\nmunificent and profuse towards those who were under his own; and so, while\r\ntempting the soldiers of other generals to treachery, and his own to dissolute\r\nliving, he was naturally in want of a large treasury, and especially during\r\nthat siege.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla had a vehement and an implacable desire to conquer Athens, whether out of\r\nemulation, fighting as it were against the shadow of the once famous city, or\r\nout of anger, at the foul words and scurrilous jests with which the tyrant\r\nAristion, showing himself daily, with unseemly gesticulations, upon the walls,\r\nhad provoked him and Metella.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe tyrant Aristion had his very being compounded of wantonness and cruelty,\r\nhaving gathered into himself all the worst of Mithridates’s diseased and\r\nvicious qualities, like some fatal malady which the city, after its deliverance\r\nfrom innumerable wars, many tyrannies and seditions, was in its last days\r\ndestined to endure. At the time when a medimnus of wheat was sold in the city\r\nfor one thousand drachmas, and men were forced to live on the feverfew growing\r\nround the citadel, and to boil down shoes and oil-bags for their food, he,\r\ncarousing and feasting in the open face of day, then dancing in armor, and\r\nmaking jokes at the enemy, suffered the holy lamp of the goddess to expire for\r\nwant of oil, and to the chief priestess, who demanded of him the twelfth part\r\nof a medimnus of wheat, he sent the like quantity of pepper. The senators and\r\npriests, who came as suppliants to beg of him to take compassion on the city,\r\nand treat for peace with Sylla, he drove away and dispersed with a flight of\r\narrows. At last, with much ado, he sent forth two or three of his reveling\r\ncompanions to parley, to whom Sylla, perceiving that they made no serious\r\novertures towards an accommodation, but went on haranguing in praise of\r\nTheseus, Eumolpus, and the Median trophies, replied, “My good friends, you may\r\nput up your speeches and be gone. I was sent by the Romans to Athens, not to\r\ntake lessons, but to reduce rebels to obedience.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime news came to Sylla that some old men, talking in the Ceramicus,\r\nhad been overheard to blame the tyrant for not securing the passages and\r\napproaches near the Heptachalcum, the one point where the enemy might easily\r\nget over. Sylla neglected not the report, but going in the night, and\r\ndiscovering the place to be assailable, set instantly to work. Sylla himself\r\nmakes mention in his Memoirs, that Marcus Teius, the first man who scaled the\r\nwall, meeting with an adversary, and striking him on the headpiece a home\r\nstroke, broke his own sword, but, notwithstanding, did not give ground, but\r\nstood and held him fast. The city was certainly taken from that quarter,\r\naccording to the tradition of the oldest of the Athenians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen they had thrown down the wall, and made all level betwixt the Piraic and\r\nSacred Gate, about midnight Sylla entered the breach, with all the terrors of\r\ntrumpets and cornets sounding, with the triumphant shout and cry of an army let\r\nloose to spoil and slaughter, and scouring through the streets with swords\r\ndrawn. There was no numbering the slain; the amount is to this day conjectured\r\nonly from the space of ground overflowed with blood. For without mentioning the\r\nexecution done in other quarters of the city, the blood that was shed about the\r\nmarketplace spread over the whole Ceramicus within the Double-gate, and,\r\naccording to most writers, passed through the gate and overflowed the suburb.\r\nNor did the multitudes which fell thus exceed the number of those, who, out of\r\npity and love for their country, which they believed was now finally to perish,\r\nslew themselves; the best of them, through despair of their country’s\r\nsurviving, dreading themselves to survive, expecting neither humanity nor\r\nmoderation in Sylla. At length, partly at the instance of Midias and Calliphon,\r\ntwo exiled men, beseeching and casting themselves at his feet, partly by the\r\nintercession of those senators who followed the camp, having had his fill of\r\nrevenge, and making some honorable mention of the ancient Athenians, “I\r\nforgive,” said he, “the many for the sake of the few, the living for the dead.”\r\nHe took Athens, according to his own Memoirs, on the calends of March,\r\ncoinciding pretty nearly with the new moon of Anthesterion, on which day it is\r\nthe Athenian usage to perform various acts in commemoration of the ruins and\r\ndevastations occasioned by the deluge, that being supposed to be the time of\r\nits occurrence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt the taking of the town, the tyrant fled into the citadel, and was there\r\nbesieged by Curio, who had that charge given him. He held out a considerable\r\ntime, but at last yielded himself up for want of water, and divine power\r\nimmediately intimated its agency in the matter. For on the same day and hour\r\nthat Curio conducted him down, the clouds gathered in a clear sky, and there\r\ncame down a great quantity of rain and filled the citadel with water.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after, Sylla won the Piraeus, and burnt most of it; amongst the rest,\r\nPhilo’s arsenal, a work very greatly admired.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the mean time Taxiles, Mithridates’s general, coming down from Thrace and\r\nMacedon, with an army of one hundred thousand foot, ten thousand horse, and\r\nninety chariots, armed with scythes at the wheels, would have joined Archelaus,\r\nwho lay with a navy on the coast near Munychia, reluctant to quit the sea, and\r\nyet unwilling to engage the Romans in battle, but desiring to protract the war\r\nand cut off the enemy’s supplies. Which Sylla perceiving much better than\r\nhimself, passed with his forces into Boeotia, quitting a barren district which\r\nwas inadequate to maintain an army even in time of peace. He was thought by\r\nsome to have taken false measures in thus leaving Attica, a rugged country, and\r\nill suited for cavalry to move in, and entering the plain and open fields of\r\nBoeotia, knowing as he did the barbarian strength to consist most in horses and\r\nchariots. But as was said before, to avoid famine and scarcity, he was forced\r\nto run the risk of a battle. Moreover he was in anxiety for Hortensius, a bold\r\nand active officer, whom on his way to Sylla with forces from Thessaly, the\r\nbarbarians awaited in the straits. For these reasons Sylla drew off into\r\nBoeotia. Hortensius, meantime, was conducted by Caphis, our countryman, another\r\nway unknown to the barbarians, by Parnassus, just under Tithora, which was then\r\nnot so large a town as it is now, but a mere fort, surrounded by steep\r\nprecipices, whither the Phocians also, in old time, when flying from the\r\ninvasion of Xerxes, carried themselves and their goods and were saved.\r\nHortensius, encamping here, kept off the enemy by day, and at night descending\r\nby difficult passages to Patronis, joined the forces of Sylla, who came to meet\r\nhim. Thus united they posted themselves on a fertile hill in the middle of the\r\nplain of Elatea, shaded with trees and watered at the foot. It is called\r\nPhiloboeotus, and its situation and natural advantages are spoken of with great\r\nadmiration by Sylla.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs they lay thus encamped, they seemed to the enemy a contemptible number, for\r\nthey were not above fifteen hundred horse, and less than fifteen thousand foot.\r\nTherefore the rest of the commanders, overpersuading Archelaus, and drawing up\r\nthe army, covered the plain with horses, chariots, bucklers, targets. The\r\nclamor and cries of so many nations forming for battle rent the air, nor was\r\nthe pomp and ostentation of their costly array altogether idle and\r\nunserviceable for terror; for the brightness of their armor, embellished\r\nmagnificently with gold and silver, and the rich colors of their Median and\r\nScythian coats, intermixed with brass and shining steel, presented a flaming\r\nand terrible sight as they swayed about and moved in their ranks, so much so\r\nthat the Romans shrunk within their trenches, and Sylla, unable by any\r\narguments to remove their fear, and unwilling to force them to fight against\r\ntheir wills, was fain to sit down in quiet, ill-brooking to become the subject\r\nof barbarian insolence and laughter. This, however, above all advantaged him,\r\nfor the enemy, from contemning of him, fell into disorder amongst themselves,\r\nbeing already less thoroughly under command, on account of the number of their\r\nleaders. Some few of them remained within the encampment, but others, the major\r\npart, lured out with hopes of prey and rapine, strayed about the country many\r\ndays journey from the camp, and are related to have destroyed the city of\r\nPanope, to have plundered Lebadea, and robbed the oracle without any orders\r\nfrom their commanders.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla, all this while, chafing and fretting to see the cities all around\r\ndestroyed, suffered not the soldiery to remain idle, but leading them out,\r\ncompelled them to divert the Cephisus from its ancient channel by casting up\r\nditches, and giving respite to none, showed himself rigorous in punishing the\r\nremiss, that growing weary of labor, they might be induced by hardship to\r\nembrace danger. Which fell out accordingly, for on the third day, being hard at\r\nwork as Sylla passed by, they begged and clamored to be led against the enemy.\r\nSylla replied, that this demand of war proceeded rather from a backwardness to\r\nlabor than any forwardness to fight, but if they were in good earnest martially\r\ninclined, he bade them take their arms and get up thither, pointing to the\r\nancient citadel of the Parapotamians, of which at present, the city being laid\r\nwaste, there remained only the rocky hill itself, steep and craggy on all\r\nsides, and severed from Mount Hedylium by the breadth of the river Assus, which\r\nrunning between, and at the bottom of the same hill falling into the Cephisus\r\nwith an impetuous confluence, makes this eminence a strong position for\r\nsoldiers to occupy. Observing that the enemy’s division, called the Brazen\r\nShields, were making their way up thither, Sylla was willing to take first\r\npossession, and by the vigorous efforts of the soldiers, succeeded. Archelaus,\r\ndriven from hence, bent his forces upon Chaeronea. The Chaeroneans who bore\r\narms in the Roman camp beseeching Sylla not to abandon the city, he dispatched\r\nGabinius, a tribune, with one legion, and sent out also the Chaeroneans, who\r\nendeavored, but were not able to get in before Gabinius; so active was he, and\r\nmore zealous to bring relief than those who had entreated it. Juba writes that\r\nEricius was the man sent, not Gabinius. Thus narrowly did our native city\r\nescape.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom Lebadea and the cave of Trophonius there came favorable rumors and\r\nprophecies of victory to the Romans, of which the inhabitants of those places\r\ngive a fuller account, but as Sylla himself affirms in the tenth book of his\r\nMemoirs, Quintus Titius, a man of some repute among the Romans who were engaged\r\nin mercantile business in Greece, came to him after the battle won at\r\nChaeronea, and declared that Trophonius had foretold another fight and victory\r\non the same place, within a short time. After him a soldier, by name Salvenius,\r\nbrought an account from the god of the future issue of affairs in Italy. As to\r\nthe vision, they both agreed in this, that they had seen one who in stature and\r\nin majesty was similar to Jupiter Olympius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla, when he had passed over the Assus, marching under the Mount Hedylium,\r\nencamped close to Archelaus, who had entrenched himself strongly between the\r\nmountains Acontium and Hedylium, close to what are called the Assia. The place\r\nof his entrenchment is to this day named from him, Archelaus. Sylla, after one\r\nday’s respite, having left Murena behind him with one legion and two cohorts to\r\namuse the enemy with continual alarms, himself went and sacrificed on the banks\r\nof Cephisus, and the holy rites ended, held on towards Chaeronea to receive the\r\nforces there and view Mount Thurium, where a party of the enemy had posted\r\nthemselves. This is a craggy height running up in a conical form to a point,\r\ncalled by us Orthopagus; at the foot of it is the river Morius and the temple\r\nof Apollo Thurius. The god had his surname from Thuro, mother of Chaeron, whom\r\nancient record makes founder of Chaeronea. Others assert that the cow which\r\nApollo gave to Cadmus for a guide appeared there, and that the place took its\r\nname from the beast, Thor being the Phoenician word for a cow.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt Sylla’s approach to Chaeronea, the tribune who had been appointed to guard\r\nthe city led out his men in arms, and met him with a garland of laurel in his\r\nhand; which Sylla accepting, and at the same time saluting the soldiers and\r\nanimating them to the encounter, two men of Chaeronea, Homoloichus and\r\nAnaxidamus, presented themselves before him, and offered, with a small party,\r\nto dislodge those who were posted on Thurium. For there lay a path out of sight\r\nof the barbarians, from what is called Petrochus along by the Museum, leading\r\nright down from above upon Thurium. By this way it was easy to fall upon them\r\nand either stone them from above, or force them down into the plain. Sylla,\r\nassured of their faith and courage by Gabinius, bade them proceed with the\r\nenterprise, and meantime drew up the army, and disposing the cavalry on both\r\nwings, himself took command of the right; the left being committed to the\r\ndirection of Murena. In the rear of all, Galba and Hortensius, his lieutenants,\r\nplanted themselves on the upper grounds with the cohorts of reserve, to watch\r\nthe motions of the enemy, who with numbers of horse and swift-footed,\r\nlight-armed infantry, were noticed to have so formed their wing as to allow it\r\nreadily to change about and alter its position, and thus gave reason for\r\nsuspecting that they intended to carry it far out and so to enclose the Romans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meanwhile, the Chaeroneans, who had Ericius for commander by appointment\r\nof Sylla, covertly making their way around Thurium, and then discovering\r\nthemselves, occasioned a great confusion and rout amongst the barbarians, and\r\nslaughter, for the most part, by their own hands. For they kept not their\r\nplace, but making down the steep descent, ran themselves on their own spears,\r\nand violently sent each other over the cliffs, the enemy from above pressing on\r\nand wounding them where they exposed their bodies; insomuch that there fell\r\nthree thousand about Thurium. Some of those who escaped, being met by Murena as\r\nhe stood in array, were cut off and destroyed. Others breaking through to their\r\nfriends and falling pell-mell into the ranks, filled most part of the army with\r\nfear and tumult, and caused a hesitation and delay among the generals, which\r\nwas no small disadvantage. For immediately upon the discomposure, Sylla coming\r\nfull speed to the charge, and quickly crossing the interval between the armies,\r\nlost them the service of their armed chariots, which require a consider able\r\nspace of ground to gather strength and impetuosity in their career, a short\r\ncourse being weak and ineffectual, like that of missiles without a full swing.\r\nThus it fared with the barbarians at present, whose first chariots came feebly\r\non and made but a faint impression; the Romans repulsing them with shouts and\r\nlaughter, called out as they do at the races in the circus, for more to come.\r\nBy this time the mass of both armies met; the barbarians on one side fixed\r\ntheir long pikes, and with their shields locked close together, strove so far\r\nas in them lay to preserve their line of battle entire. The Romans, on the\r\nother side, having discharged their javelins, rushed on with their drawn\r\nswords, and struggled to put by the pikes to get at them the sooner, in the\r\nfury that possessed them at seeing in the front of the enemy fifteen thousand\r\nslaves, whom the royal commanders had set free by proclamation, and ranged\r\namongst the men of arms. And a Roman centurion is reported to have said at this\r\nsight, that he never knew servants allowed to play the masters, unless at the\r\nSaturnalia. These men by their deep and solid array, as well as by their daring\r\ncourage, yielded but slowly to the legions, till at last by slinging engines,\r\nand darts, which the Romans poured in upon them behind, they were forced to\r\ngive way and scatter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs Archelaus was extending the right wing to encompass the enemy, Hortensius\r\nwith his cohorts came down in force, with intention to charge him in the flank.\r\nBut Archelaus wheeling about suddenly with two thousand horse, Hortensius,\r\noutnumbered and hard pressed, fell back towards the higher grounds, and found\r\nhimself gradually getting separated from the main body and likely to be\r\nsurrounded by the enemy. When Sylla heard this, he came rapidly up to his\r\nsuccor from the right wing, which as yet had not engaged. But Archelaus,\r\nguessing the matter by the dust of his troops, turned to the right wing, from\r\nwhence Sylla came, in hopes to surprise it without a commander. At the same\r\ninstant, likewise, Taxiles, with his Brazen Shields, assailed Murena, so that a\r\ncry coming from both places, and the hills repeating it around, Sylla stood in\r\nsuspense which way to move. Deciding to resume his own station, he sent in aid\r\nto Murena four cohorts under Hortensius, and commanding the fifth to follow\r\nhim, returned hastily to the right wing, which of itself held its ground on\r\nequal terms against Archelaus; and, at his appearance, with one bold effort\r\nforced them back, and, obtaining the mastery, followed them, flying in disorder\r\nto the river and Mount Acontium. Sylla, however, did not forget the danger\r\nMurena was in; but hasting thither and finding him victorious also, then joined\r\nin the pursuit. Many barbarians were slain in the field, many more were cut in\r\npieces as they were making into the camp. Of all the vast multitude, ten\r\nthousand only got safe into Chalcis. Sylla writes that there were but fourteen\r\nof his soldiers missing, and that two of these returned towards evening; he,\r\ntherefore, inscribed on the trophies the names of Mars, Victory, and Venus, as\r\nhaving won the day no less by good fortune than by management and force of\r\narms. This trophy of the battle in the plain stands on the place where\r\nArchelaus first gave way, near the stream of the Molus; another is erected high\r\non the top of Thurium, where the barbarians were environed, with an inscription\r\nin Greek, recording that the glory of the day belonged to Homoloichus and\r\nAnaxidamus. Sylla celebrated his victory at Thebes with spectacles, for which\r\nhe erected a stage, near Oedipus’s well. The judges of the performances were\r\nGreeks chosen out of other cities; his hostility to the Thebans being\r\nimplacable, half of whose territory he took away and consecrated to Apollo and\r\nJupiter, ordering that out of the revenue compensation should be made to the\r\ngods for the riches himself had taken from them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, hearing that Flaccus, a man of the contrary faction, had been\r\nchosen consul, and was crossing the Ionian Sea with an army, professedly to act\r\nagainst Mithridates, but in reality against himself, he hastened towards\r\nThessaly, designing to meet him, but in his march, when near Melitea, received\r\nadvices from all parts that the countries behind him were overrun and ravaged\r\nby no less a royal army than the former. For Dorylaus, arriving at Chalcis with\r\na large fleet, on board of which he brought over with him eighty thousand of\r\nthe best appointed and best disciplined soldiers of Mithridates’s army, at once\r\ninvaded Boeotia, and occupied the country in hopes to bring Sylla to a battle,\r\nmaking no account of the dissuasions of Archelaus, but giving it out as to the\r\nlast fight, that without treachery so many thousand men could never have\r\nperished. Sylla, however, facing about expeditiously, made it clear to him that\r\nArchelaus was a wise man, and had good skill in the Roman valor; insomuch that\r\nhe himself, after some small skirmishes with Sylla near Tilphossium, was the\r\nfirst of those who thought it not advisable to put things to the decision of\r\nthe sword, but rather to wear out the war by expense of time and treasure. The\r\nground, however, near Orchomenus, where they then lay encamped, gave some\r\nencouragement to Archelaus, being a battle field admirably suited for an army\r\nsuperior in cavalry. Of all the plains in Boeotia that are renowned for their\r\nbeauty and extent, this alone, which commences from the city of Orchomenus,\r\nspreads out unbroken and clear of trees to the edge of the fens in which the\r\nMelas, rising close under Orchomenus, loses itself, the only Greek river which\r\nis a deep and navigable water from the very head, increasing also about the\r\nsummer solstice like the Nile, and producing plants similar to those that grow\r\nthere, only small and without fruit. It does not run far before the main stream\r\ndisappears among the blind and woody marsh-grounds; a small branch. however,\r\njoins the Cephisus, about the place where the lake is thought to produce the\r\nbest flute-reeds.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow that both armies were posted near each other, Archelaus lay still, but\r\nSylla employed himself in cutting ditches from either side; that if possible,\r\nby driving the enemies from the firm and open champain, he might force them\r\ninto the fens. They, on the other hand, not enduring this, as soon as their\r\nleaders allowed them the word of command, issued out furiously in large bodies;\r\nwhen not only the men at work were dispersed, but most part of those who stood\r\nin arms to protect the work fled in disorder. Upon this, Sylla leaped from his\r\nhorse, and snatching hold of an ensign, rushed through the midst of the rout\r\nupon the enemy, crying out aloud, “To me, O Romans, it will be glorious to fall\r\nhere. As for you, when they ask you where you betrayed your general, remember\r\nand say, at Orchomenus.” His men rallying again at these words, and two cohorts\r\ncoming to his succor from the right wing, he led them to the charge and turned\r\nthe day. Then retiring some short distance and refreshing his men, he proceeded\r\nagain with his works to block up the enemy’s camp. They again sallied out in\r\nbetter order than before. Here Diogenes, step-son to Archelaus, fighting on the\r\nright wing with much gallantry, made an honorable end. And the archers, being\r\nhard pressed by the Romans, and wanting space for a retreat, took their arrows\r\nby handfuls, and striking with these as with swords, beat them back. In the\r\nend, however, they were all driven into the entrenchment and had a sorrowful\r\nnight of it with their slain and wounded. The next day again, Sylla, leading\r\nforth his men up to their quarters, went on finishing the lines of\r\nentrenchment, and when they issued out again with larger numbers to give him\r\nbattle, fell on them and put them to the rout, and in the consternation\r\nensuing, none daring to abide, he took the camp by storm. The marshes were\r\nfilled with blood, and the lake with dead bodies, insomuch that to this day\r\nmany bows, helmets, fragments of iron, breastplates, and swords of barbarian\r\nmake, continue to be found buried deep in mud, two hundred years after the\r\nfight. Thus much of the actions of Chaeronea and Orchomenus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt Rome, Cinna and Carbo were now using injustice and violence towards persons\r\nof the greatest eminence, and many of them to avoid this tyranny repaired, as\r\nto a safe harbor, to Sylla’s camp, where, in a short space, he had about him\r\nthe aspect of a senate. Metella, likewise, having with difficulty conveyed\r\nherself and children away by stealth, brought him word that his houses, both in\r\ntown and country, had been burnt by his enemies, and entreated his help at\r\nhome. Whilst he was in doubt what to do, being impatient to hear of his country\r\nbeing thus outraged, and yet not knowing how to leave so great a work as the\r\nMithridatic war unfinished, there comes to him Archelaus, a merchant of Delos,\r\nwith hopes of an accommodation, and private instructions from Archelaus, the\r\nking’s general. Sylla liked the business so well as to desire a speedy\r\nconference with Archelaus in person, and a meeting took place on the sea-coast\r\nnear Delium, where the temple of Apollo stands. When Archelaus opened the\r\nconversation, and began to urge Sylla to abandon his pretensions to Asia and\r\nPontus, and to set sail for the war in Rome, receiving money and shipping, and\r\nsuch forces as he should think fitting from the king, Sylla, interposing, bade\r\nArchelaus take no further care for Mithridates, but assume the crown to\r\nhimself, and become a confederate of Rome, delivering up the navy. Archelaus\r\nprofessing his abhorrence of such treason, Sylla proceeded: “So you, Archelaus,\r\na Cappadocian, and slave, or if it so please you, friend, to a barbarian king,\r\nwould not, upon such vast considerations, be guilty of what is dishonorable,\r\nand yet dare to talk to me, Roman general and Sylla, of treason? as if you were\r\nnot the selfsame Archelaus who ran away at Chaeronea, with few remaining out of\r\none hundred and twenty thousand men; who lay for two days in the fens of\r\nOrchomenus, and left Boeotia impassable for heaps of dead carcasses.”\r\nArchelaus, changing his tone at this, humbly besought him to lay aside the\r\nthoughts of war, and make peace with Mithridates. Sylla consenting to this\r\nrequest, articles of agreement were concluded on. That Mithridates should quit\r\nAsia and Paphlagonia, restore Bithynia to Nicomedes, Cappadocia to\r\nAriobarzanes, and pay the Romans two thousand talents, and give him seventy\r\nships of war with all their furniture. On the other hand, that Sylla should\r\nconfirm to him his other dominions, and declare him a Roman confederate. On\r\nthese terms he proceeded by the way of Thessaly and Macedon towards the\r\nHellespont, having Archelaus with him, and treating him with great attention.\r\nFor Archelaus being taken dangerously ill at Larissa, he stopped the march of\r\nthe army, and took care of him, as if he had been one of his own captains, or\r\nhis colleague in command. This gave suspicion of foul play in the battle of\r\nChaeronea; as it was also observed that Sylla had released all the friends of\r\nMithridates taken prisoners in war, except only Aristion the tyrant, who was at\r\nenmity with Archelaus, and was put to death by poison; and, above all, ten\r\nthousand acres of land in Euboea had been given to the Cappadocian, and he had\r\nreceived from Sylla the style of friend and ally of the Romans. On all which\r\npoints Sylla defends himself in his Memoirs.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe ambassadors of Mithridates arriving and declaring that they accepted of the\r\nconditions, only Paphlagonia they could not part with; and as for the ships,\r\nprofessing not to know of any such capitulation, Sylla in a rage exclaimed,\r\n“What say you? Does Mithridates then withhold Paphlagonia? and as to the ships,\r\ndeny that article? I thought to have seen him prostrate at my feet to thank me\r\nfor leaving him so much as that right hand of his, which has cut off so many\r\nRomans. He will shortly, at my coming over into Asia, speak another language;\r\nin the mean time, let him at his ease in Pergamus sit managing a war which he\r\nnever saw.” The ambassadors in terror stood silent by, but Archelaus endeavored\r\nwith humble supplications to assuage his wrath, laying hold on his right hand\r\nand weeping. In conclusion he obtained permission to go himself in person to\r\nMithridates; for that he would either mediate a peace to the satisfaction of\r\nSylla, or if not, slay himself. Sylla having thus dispatched him away, made an\r\ninroad into Maedica, and after wide depopulations returned back again into\r\nMacedon, where he received Archelaus about Philippi, bringing word that all was\r\nwell, and that Mithridates earnestly requested an interview. The chief cause of\r\nthis meeting was Fimbria; for he having assassinated Flaccus, the consul of the\r\ncontrary faction, and worsted the Mithridatic commanders, was advancing against\r\nMithridates himself, who, fearing this, chose rather to seek the friendship of\r\nSylla.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd so met at Dardanus in the Troad, on one side Mithridates, attended with two\r\nhundred ships, and land forces consisting of twenty thousand men at arms, six\r\nthousand horse, and a large train of scythed chariots; on the other, Sylla with\r\nonly four cohorts, and two hundred horse. As Mithridates drew near and put out\r\nhis hand, Sylla demanded whether he was willing or no to end the war on the\r\nterms Archelaus had agreed to, but seeing the king made no answer, “How is\r\nthis?” he continued, “ought not the petitioner to speak first, and the\r\nconqueror to listen in silence?” And when Mithridates, entering upon his plea,\r\nbegan to shift off the war, partly on the gods, and partly to blame the Romans\r\nthemselves, he took him up, saying that he had heard, indeed, long since from\r\nothers, and now he knew it himself for truth, that Mithridates was a powerful\r\nspeaker, who in defense of the most foul and unjust proceedings, had not wanted\r\nfor specious presences. Then charging him with and inveighing bitterly against\r\nthe outrages he had committed, he asked again whether he was willing or no to\r\nratify the treaty of Archelaus? Mithridates answering in the affirmative, Sylla\r\ncame forward, embraced and kissed him. Not long after he introduced\r\nAriobarzanes and Nicomedes, the two kings, and made them friends Mithridates,\r\nwhen he had handed over to Sylla seventy ships and five hundred archers, set\r\nsail for Pontus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla, perceiving the soldiers to be dissatisfied with the peace, (as it seemed\r\nindeed a monstrous thing that they should see the king who was then bitterest\r\nenemy, and who had caused one hundred and fifty thousand Romans to be massacred\r\nin one day in Asia, now sailing off with the riches and spoils of Asia, which\r\nhe had pillaged, and put under contribution for the space of four years,) in\r\nhis defense to them alleged, that he could not have made head against Fimbria\r\nand Mithridates, had they both withstood him in conjunction. Thence he set out\r\nand went in search of Fimbria, who lay with the army about Thyatira, and\r\npitching his camp not far off, proceeded to fortify it with a trench. The\r\nsoldiers of Fimbria came out in their single coats, and, saluting his men, lent\r\nready assistance to the work; which change Fimbria beholding, and apprehending\r\nSylla as irreconcilable, laid violent hands on himself in the camp.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla imposed on Asia in general a tax of twenty thousand talents, and\r\ndespoiled individually each family by the licentious behavior and long\r\nresidence of the soldiery in private quarters. For he ordained that every host\r\nshould allow his guest four tetradrachms each day, and moreover entertain him,\r\nand as many friends as he should invite, with a supper; that a centurion should\r\nreceive fifty drachmas a day, together with one suit of clothes to wear within\r\ndoors, and another when he went abroad.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving set out from Ephesus with the whole navy, he came the third day to\r\nanchor in the Piraeus. Here he was initiated in the mysteries, and seized for\r\nhis use the library of Apellicon the Teian, in which were most of the works of\r\nTheophrastus and Aristotle, then not in general circulation. When the whole was\r\nafterwards conveyed to Rome, there, it is said, the greater part of the\r\ncollection passed through the hands of Tyrannion the grammarian, and that\r\nAndronicus the Rhodian, having through his means the command of numerous\r\ncopies, made the treatises public, and drew up the catalogues that are now\r\ncurrent. The elder Peripatetics appear themselves, indeed, to have been\r\naccomplished and learned men, but of the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus\r\nthey had no large or exact knowledge, because Theophrastus bequeathing his\r\nbooks to the heir of Neleus of Scepsis, they came into careless and illiterate\r\nhands.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDuring Sylla’s stay about Athens, his feet were attacked by a heavy benumbing\r\npain, which Strabo calls the first inarticulate sounds of the gout. Taking,\r\ntherefore, a voyage to Aedepsus, he made use of the hot waters there, allowing\r\nhimself at the same time to forget all anxieties, and passing away his time\r\nwith actors. As he was walking along the sea-shore, certain fishermen brought\r\nhim some magnificent fish. Being much delighted with the gift, and\r\nunderstanding, on inquiry, that they were men of Halaeae, “What,” said he, “are\r\nthere any men of Halaeae surviving?” For after his victory at Orchomenus, in\r\nthe heat of a pursuit, he had destroyed three cities of Boeotia, Anthedon,\r\nLarymna, and Halaeae. The men not knowing what to say for fear, Sylla with a\r\nsmile bade them cheer up and return in peace, as they had brought with them no\r\ninsignificant intercessors. The Halaeans say that this first gave them courage\r\nto reunite and return to their city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla, having marched through Thessaly and Macedon to the sea-coast, prepared,\r\nwith twelve hundred vessels, to cross over from Dyrrhachium to Brundisium. Not\r\nfar from hence is Apollonia, and near it the Nymphaeum, a spot of ground where,\r\nfrom among green trees and meadows, there are found at various points springs\r\nof fire continually streaming out. Here, they say, a satyr, such as statuaries\r\nand painters represent, was caught asleep, and brought before Sylla, where he\r\nwas asked by several interpreters who he was, and, after much trouble, at last\r\nuttered nothing intelligible, but a harsh noise, something between the neighing\r\nof a horse and crying of a goat. Sylla, in dismay, and deprecating such an\r\nomen, bade it be removed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt the point of transportation, Sylla being in alarm, lest at their first\r\nsetting foot upon Italy, the soldiers should disband and disperse one by one\r\namong the cities, they of their own accord first took an oath to stand firm by\r\nhim, and not of their good-will to injure Italy; then seeing him in distress\r\nfor money, they made, so to say, a freewill offering, and contributed each man\r\naccording to his ability. However Sylla would not accept of their offering, but\r\npraising their good-will, and arousing up their courage, put over (as he\r\nhimself writes) against fifteen hostile generals in command of four hundred and\r\nfifty cohorts; but not without the most unmistakable divine intimations of his\r\napproaching happy successes. For when he was sacrificing at his first landing\r\nnear Tarentum, the victim’s liver showed the figure of a crown of laurel with\r\ntwo fillets hanging from it. And a little while before his arrival in Campania,\r\nnear the mountain Hephaeus, two stately goats were seen in the daytime,\r\nfighting together, and performing all the motions of men in battle. It proved\r\nto be an apparition, and rising up gradually from the ground, dispersed in the\r\nair, like fancied representations in the clouds, and so vanished out of sight.\r\nNot long after, in the selfsame place, when Marius the younger, and Norbanus\r\nthe consul, attacked him with two great armies, without prescribing the order\r\nof battle, or arranging his men according to their divisions, by the sway only\r\nof one common alacrity and transport of courage, he overthrew the enemy, and\r\nshut up Norbanus into the city of Capua, with the loss of seven thousand of his\r\nmen. And this was the reason, he says, that the soldiers did not leave him and\r\ndisperse into the different towns, but held fast to him, and despised the\r\nenemy, though infinitely more in number.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt Silvium, (as he himself relates it,) there met him a servant of Pontius, in\r\na state of divine possession, saying that he brought him the power of the sword\r\nand victory from Bellona, the goddess of war, and if he did not make haste,\r\nthat the capitol would be burnt, which fell out on the same day the man\r\nforetold it, namely, on the sixth day of the month Quintilis, which we now call\r\nJuly.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt Fidentia, also, Marcus Lucullus, one of Sylla’s commanders, reposed such\r\nconfidence in the forwardness of the soldiers, as to dare to face fifty cohorts\r\nof the enemy, with only sixteen of his own; but because many of them were\r\nunarmed, delayed the onset. As he stood thus waiting, and considering with\r\nhimself, a gentle gale of wind, bearing along with it from the neighboring\r\nmeadows a quantity of flowers, scattered them down upon the army, on whose\r\nshields and helmets they settled, and arranged themselves spontaneously, so as\r\nto give the soldiers, in the eyes of the enemy, the appearance of being crowned\r\nwith chaplets. Upon this, being yet further animated, they joined battle, and\r\nvictoriously slaying eight thousand men, took the camp. This Lucullus was\r\nbrother to that Lucullus who in after-times conquered Mithridates and Tigranes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla, seeing himself still surrounded by so many armies, and such mighty\r\nhostile powers, had recourse to art, inviting Scipio, the other consul, to a\r\ntreaty of peace. The motion was willingly embraced, and several meetings and\r\nconsultations ensued, in all which Sylla, still interposing matter of delay and\r\nnew pretences, in the meanwhile debauched Scipio’s men by means of his own, who\r\nwere as well practiced as the general himself, in all the artifices of\r\ninveigling. For entering into the enemy’s quarters and joining in conversation,\r\nthey gained some by present money, some by promises, others by fair words and\r\npersuasions; so that in the end, when Sylla with twenty cohorts drew near, on\r\nhis men saluting Scipio’s soldiers, they returned the greeting and came over,\r\nleaving Scipio behind them in his tent, where he was found all alone and\r\ndismissed. And having used his twenty cohorts as decoys to ensnare the forty of\r\nthe enemy, he led them all back into the camp. On this occasion, Carbo was\r\nheard to say, that he had both a fox and a lion in the breast of Sylla to deal\r\nwith, and was most troubled with the fox.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome time after, at Signia, Marius the younger, with eighty-five cohorts,\r\noffered battle to Sylla, who was extremely desirous to have it decided on that\r\nvery day; for the night before he had seen a vision in his sleep, of Marius the\r\nelder, who had been some time dead, advising his son to beware of the following\r\nday, as of fatal consequence to him. For this reason, Sylla, longing to come to\r\na battle, sent off for Dolabella, who lay encamped at some distance. But\r\nbecause the enemy had beset and blocked up the passes, his soldiers got tired\r\nwith skirmishing and marching at once. To these difficulties was added,\r\nmoreover, tempestuous rainy weather, which distressed them most of all. The\r\nprincipal officers therefore came to Sylla, and besought him to defer the\r\nbattle that day, showing him how the soldiers lay stretched on the ground,\r\nwhere they had thrown themselves down in their weariness, resting their heads\r\nupon their shields to gain some repose. When, with much reluctance, he had\r\nyielded, and given order for pitching the camp, they had no sooner begun to\r\ncast up the rampart and draw the ditch, but Marius came riding up furiously at\r\nthe head of his troops, in hopes to scatter them in that disorder and\r\nconfusion. Here the gods fulfilled Sylla’s dream. For the soldiers, stirred up\r\nwith anger, left off their work, and sticking their javelins into the bank,\r\nwith drawn swords and a courageous shout, came to blows with the enemy, who\r\nmade but small resistance, and lost great numbers in the flight. Marius fled to\r\nPraeneste, but finding the gates shut, tied himself round by a rope that was\r\nthrown down to him, and was taken up on the walls. Some there are (as\r\nFenestella for one) who affirm that Marius knew nothing of the fight, but,\r\noverwatched and spent with hard duty, had reposed himself, when the signal was\r\ngiven, beneath some shade, and was hardly to be awakened at the flight of his\r\nmen. Sylla, according to his own account, lost only twenty-three men in this\r\nfight, having killed of the enemy twenty thousand, and taken alive eight\r\nthousand.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe like success attended his lieutenants, Pompey, Crassus, Metellus,\r\nServilius, who with little or no loss cut off vast numbers of the enemy,\r\ninsomuch that Carbo, the prime supporter of the cause, fled by night from his\r\ncharge of the army, and sailed over into Libya.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the last struggle, however, the Samnite Telesinus, like some champion, whose\r\nlot it is to enter last of all into the lists and take up the wearied\r\nconqueror, came nigh to have foiled and overthrown Sylla before the gates of\r\nRome. For Telesinus with his second, Lamponius the Lucanian, having collected a\r\nlarge force, had been hastening towards Praeneste, to relieve Marius from the\r\nsiege; but perceiving Sylla ahead of him, and Pompey behind, both hurrying up\r\nagainst him, straightened thus before and behind, as a valiant and experienced\r\nsoldier, he arose by night, and marching directly with his whole army, was\r\nwithin a little of making his way unexpectedly into Rome itself. He lay that\r\nnight before the city, at ten furlongs distance from the Colline gate, elated\r\nand full of hope, at having thus out-generalled so many eminent commanders. At\r\nbreak of day, being charged by the noble youth of the city, among many others\r\nhe overthrew Appius Claudius, renowned for high birth and character. The city,\r\nas is easy to imagine, was all in an uproar, the women shrieking and running\r\nabout, as if it had already been entered forcibly by assault, till at last\r\nBalbus, sent forward by Sylla, was seen riding up with seven hundred horse at\r\nfull speed. Halting only long enough to wipe the sweat from the horses, and\r\nthen hastily bridling again, he at once attacked the enemy. Presently Sylla\r\nhimself appeared, and commanding those who were foremost to take immediate\r\nrefreshment, proceeded to form in order for battle. Dolabella and Torquatus\r\nwere extremely earnest with him to desist awhile, and not with spent forces to\r\nhazard the last hope, having before them in the field, not Carbo or Marius, but\r\ntwo warlike nations bearing immortal hatred to Rome, the Samnites and\r\nLucanians, to grapple with. But he put them by, and commanded the trumpets to\r\nsound a charge, when it was now about four o’clock in the afternoon. In the\r\nconflict which followed, as sharp a one as ever was, the right wing where\r\nCrassus was posted had clearly the advantage; the left suffered and was in\r\ndistress, when Sylla came to its succor, mounted on a white courser, full of\r\nmettle and exceedingly swift, which two of the enemy knowing him by, had their\r\nlances ready to throw at him; he himself observed nothing, but his attendant\r\nbehind him giving the horse a touch, he was, unknown to himself, just so far\r\ncarried forward, that the points, falling beside the horse’s tail, stuck in the\r\nground. There is a story that he had a small golden image of Apollo from\r\nDelphi, which he was always wont in battle to carry about him in his bosom, and\r\nthat he then kissed it with these words, “O Apollo Pythius, who in so many\r\nbattles hast raised to honor and greatness the Fortunate Cornelius Sylla, wilt\r\nthou now cast him down, bringing him before the gate of his country, to perish\r\nshamefully with his fellow-citizens?” Thus, they say, addressing himself to the\r\ngod, he entreated some of his men, threatened some, and seized others with his\r\nhand, till at length the left wing being wholly shattered, he was forced, in\r\nthe general rout, to betake himself to the camp, having lost many of his\r\nfriends and acquaintance. Many, likewise, of the city spectators who had come\r\nout, were killed or trodden underfoot. So that it was generally believed in the\r\ncity that all was lost, and the siege of Praeneste was all but raised; many\r\nfugitives from the battle making their way thither, and urging Lucretius\r\nOfella, who was appointed to keep on the siege, to rise in all haste, for that\r\nSylla had perished, and Rome fallen into the hands of the enemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout midnight there came into Sylla’s camp messengers from Crassus, to fetch\r\nprovision for him and his soldiers; for having vanquished the enemy, they had\r\npursued him to the walls of Antemna, and had sat down there. Sylla, hearing\r\nthis, and that most of the enemy were destroyed, came to Antemna by break of\r\nday, where three thousand of the besieged having sent forth a herald, he\r\npromised to receive them to mercy, on condition they did the enemy some\r\nmischief in their coming over. Trusting to his word, they fell foul on the rest\r\nof their companions, and made a great slaughter one of another. Nevertheless,\r\nSylla gathered together in the circus, as well these as other survivors of the\r\nparty, to the number of six thousand, and just as he commenced speaking to the\r\nsenate, in the temple of Bellona, proceeded to cut them down, by men appointed\r\nfor that service. The cry of so vast a multitude put to the sword, in so narrow\r\na space, was naturally heard some distance, and startled the senators. He,\r\nhowever, continuing his speech with a calm and unconcerned countenance, bade\r\nthem listen to what he had to say, and not busy themselves with what was doing\r\nout of doors; he had given directions for the chastisement of some offenders.\r\nThis gave the most stupid of the Romans to understand, that they had merely\r\nexchanged, not escaped, tyranny. And Marius, being of a naturally harsh temper,\r\nhad not altered, but merely continued what he had been, in authority; whereas\r\nSylla, using his fortune moderately and unambitiously at first, and giving good\r\nhopes of a true patriot, firm to the interests both of the nobility and\r\ncommonalty, being, moreover, of a gay and cheerful temper from his youth, and\r\nso easily moved to pity as to shed tears readily, has, perhaps deservedly, cast\r\na blemish upon offices of great authority, as if they deranged men’s former\r\nhabits and character, and gave rise to violence, pride, and inhumanity. Whether\r\nthis be a real change and revolution in the mind, caused by fortune, or rather\r\na lurking viciousness of nature, discovering itself in authority, it were\r\nmatter of another sort of disquisition to decide.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla being thus wholly bent upon slaughter, and filling the city with\r\nexecutions without number or limit, many wholly uninterested persons falling a\r\nsacrifice to private enmity, through his permission and indulgence to his\r\nfriends, Caius Metellus, one of the younger men, made bold in the senate to ask\r\nhim what end there was of these evils, and at what point he might be expected\r\nto stop? “We do not ask you,” said he, “to pardon any whom you have resolved to\r\ndestroy, but to free from doubt those whom you are pleased to save.” Sylla\r\nanswering, that he knew not as yet whom to spare. “Why then,” said he, “tell us\r\nwhom you will punish.” This Sylla said he would do. These last words, some\r\nauthors say, were spoken not by Metellus, but by Afidius, one of Sylla’s\r\nfawning companions. Immediately upon this, without communicating with any of\r\nthe magistrates, Sylla proscribed eighty persons, and notwithstanding the\r\ngeneral indignation, after one day’s respite, he posted two hundred and twenty\r\nmore, and on the third again, as many. In an address to the people on this\r\noccasion, he told them he had put up as many names as he could think of; those\r\nwhich had escaped his memory, he would publish at a future time. He issued an\r\nedict likewise, making death the punishment of humanity, proscribing any who\r\nshould dare to receive and cherish a proscribed person, without exception to\r\nbrother, son, or parents. And to him who should slay any one proscribed person,\r\nhe ordained two talents reward, even were it a slave who had killed his master,\r\nor a son his father. And what was thought most unjust of all, he caused the\r\nattainder to pass upon their sons, and son’s sons, and made open sale of all\r\ntheir property. Nor did the proscription prevail only at Rome, but throughout\r\nall the cities of Italy the effusion of blood was such, that neither sanctuary\r\nof the gods, nor hearth of hospitality, nor ancestral home escaped. Men were\r\nbutchered in the embraces of their wives, children in the arms of their\r\nmothers. Those who perished through public animosity, or private enmity, were\r\nnothing in comparison of the numbers of those who suffered for their riches.\r\nEven the murderers began to say, that “his fine house killed this man, a garden\r\nthat, a third, his hot baths.” Quintus Aurelius, a quiet, peaceable man, and\r\none who thought all his part in the common calamity consisted in condoling with\r\nthe misfortunes of others, coming into the forum to read the list, and finding\r\nhimself among the proscribed, cried out, “Woe is me, my Alban farm has informed\r\nagainst me.” He had not gone far, before he was dispatched by a ruffian, sent\r\non that errand.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime, Marius, on the point of being taken, killed himself; and\r\nSylla, coming to Praeneste, at first proceeded judicially against each\r\nparticular person, till at last, finding it a work of too much time, he cooped\r\nthem up together in one place, to the number of twelve thousand men, and gave\r\norder for the execution of them all, his own host alone excepted. But he, brave\r\nman, telling him he could not accept the obligation of life from the hands of\r\none who had been the ruin of his country, went in among the rest, and submitted\r\nwillingly to the stroke. What Lucius Catilina did was thought to exceed all\r\nother acts. For having, before matters came to an issue, made away with his\r\nbrother, he besought Sylla to place him in the list of proscription, as though\r\nhe had been alive, which was done; and Catiline, to return the kind office,\r\nassassinated a certain Marcus Marius, one of the adverse party, and brought the\r\nhead to Sylla, as he was sitting in the forum, and then going to the holy water\r\nof Apollo, which was nigh, washed his hands.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were other things, besides this bloodshed, which gave offense. For Sylla\r\nhad declared himself dictator, an office which had then been laid aside for the\r\nspace of one hundred and twenty years. There was, likewise, an act of grace\r\npassed on his behalf, granting indemnity for what was passed, and for the\r\nfuture entrusting him with the power of life and death, confiscation, division\r\nof lands, erecting and demolishing of cities, taking away of kingdoms, and\r\nbestowing them at pleasure. He conducted the sale of confiscated property after\r\nsuch an arbitrary, imperious way, from the tribunal, that his gifts excited\r\ngreater odium even than his usurpations; women, mimes, and musicians, and the\r\nlowest of the freed slaves had presents made them of the territories of\r\nnations, and the revenues of cities; and women of rank were married against\r\ntheir will to some of them. Wishing to insure the fidelity of Pompey the Great,\r\nby a nearer tie of blood, he bade him divorce his present wife, and forcing\r\nAemilia, the daughter of Scaurus and Metella, his own wife, to leave her\r\nhusband, Manius Glabrio, he bestowed her, though then with child, on Pompey,\r\nand she died in childbirth at his house.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Lucretius Ofella, the same who reduced Marius by siege, offered himself\r\nfor the consulship, he first forbade him; then, seeing he could not restrain\r\nhim, on his coming down into the forum with a numerous train of followers, he\r\nsent one of the centurions who were immediately about him, and slew him,\r\nhimself sitting on the tribunal in the temple of Castor, and beholding the\r\nmurder from above. The citizens apprehending the centurion, and dragging him to\r\nthe tribunal, he bade them cease their clamoring and let the centurion go, for\r\nhe had commanded it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis triumph was, in itself, exceedingly splendid, and distinguished by the\r\nrarity and magnificence of the royal spoils; but its yet greatest glory was the\r\nnoble spectacle of the exiles. For in the rear followed the most eminent and\r\nmost potent of the citizens, crowned with garlands, and calling Sylla savior\r\nand father, by whose means they were restored to their own country, and again\r\nenjoyed their wives and children. When the solemnity was over, and the time\r\ncome to render an account of his actions, addressing the public assembly, he\r\nwas as profuse in enumerating the lucky chances of war, as any of his own\r\nmilitary merits. And, finally, from this felicity, he requested to receive the\r\nsurname of Felix. In writing and transacting business with the Greeks, he\r\nstyled himself Epaphroditus, and on his trophies which are still extant with\r\nus, the name is given Lucius Cornelius Sylla Epaphroditus. Moreover, when his\r\nwife had brought him forth twins, he named the male Faustus, and the female\r\nFausta, the Roman words for what is auspicious and of happy omen. The\r\nconfidence which he reposed in his good genius, rather than in any abilities of\r\nhis own, emboldened him, though deeply involved in bloodshed, and though he had\r\nbeen the author of such great changes and revolutions of State, to lay down his\r\nauthority, and place the right of consular elections once more in the hands of\r\nthe people. And when they were held, he not only declined to seek that office,\r\nbut in the forum exposed his person publicly to the people, walking up and down\r\nas a private man. And contrary to his will, certain bold man and his enemy,\r\nMarcus Lepidus, was expected to become consul, not so much by his own interest,\r\nas by the power and solicitation of Pompey, whom the people were willing to\r\noblige. When the business was over, seeing Pompey going home overjoyed with the\r\nsuccess, he called him to him and said, “What a politic act, young man, to pass\r\nby Catulus, the best of men, and choose Lepidus, the worst! It will be well for\r\nyou to be vigilant, now that you have strengthened your opponent against\r\nyourself.” Sylla spoke this, it may seem, by a prophetic instinct, for, not\r\nlong after, Lepidus grew insolent, and broke into open hostility to Pompey and\r\nhis friends.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla, consecrating the tenth of his whole substance to Hercules, entertained\r\nthe people with sumptuous feastings. The provision was so much above what was\r\nnecessary, that they were forced daily to throw great quantities of meat into\r\nthe river, and they drank wine forty years old and upwards. In the midst of the\r\nbanqueting, which lasted many days, Metella died of disease. And because that\r\nthe priest forbade him to visit the sick, or suffer his house to be polluted\r\nwith mourning, he drew up an act of divorce, and caused her to be removed into\r\nanother house whilst alive. Thus far, out of religious apprehension, he\r\nobserved the strict rule to the very letter, but in the funeral expenses he\r\ntransgressed the law he himself had made, limiting the amount, and spared no\r\ncost. He transgressed, likewise, his own sumptuary laws respecting expenditure\r\nin banquets, thinking to allay his grief by luxurious drinking parties and\r\nrevelings with common buffoons.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome few months after, at a show of gladiators, when men and women sat\r\npromiscuously in the theater, no distinct places being as yet appointed, there\r\nsat down by Sylla a beautiful woman of high birth, by name Valeria, daughter of\r\nMessala, and sister to Hortensius the orator. Now it happened that she had been\r\nlately divorced from her husband. Passing along behind Sylla, she leaned on him\r\nwith her hand, and plucking a bit of wool from his garment, so proceeded to her\r\nseat. And on Sylla looking up and wondering what it meant, “What harm, mighty\r\nSir,” said she, “if I also was desirous to partake a little in your felicity?”\r\nIt appeared at once that Sylla was not displeased, but even tickled in his\r\nfancy, for he sent out to inquire her name, her birth, and past life. From this\r\ntime there passed between them many side glances, each continually turning\r\nround to look at the other, and frequently interchanging smiles. In the end,\r\novertures were made, and a marriage concluded on. All which was innocent,\r\nperhaps, on the lady’s side, but, though she had been never so modest and\r\nvirtuous, it was scarcely a temperate and worthy occasion of marriage on the\r\npart of Sylla, to take fire, as a boy might, at a face and a bold look,\r\nincentives not seldom to the most disorderly and shameless passions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNotwithstanding this marriage, he kept company with actresses, musicians, and\r\ndancers, drinking with them on couches night and day. His chief favorites were\r\nRoscius the comedian, Sorex the arch mime, and Metrobius the player, for whom,\r\nthough past his prime, he still professed a passionate fondness. By these\r\ncourses he encouraged a disease which had begun from some unimportant cause;\r\nand for a long time he failed to observe that his bowels were ulcerated, till\r\nat length the corrupted flesh broke out into lice. Many, were employed day and\r\nnight in destroying them, but the work so multiplied under their hands, that\r\nnot only his clothes, baths, basins, but his very meat was polluted with that\r\nflux and contagion, they came swarming out in such numbers. He went frequently\r\nby day into the bath to scour and cleanse his body, but all in vain; the evil\r\ngenerated too rapidly and too abundantly for any ablutions to overcome it.\r\nThere died of this disease, amongst those of the most ancient times, Acastus,\r\nthe son of Pelias; of later date, Alcman the poet, Pherecydes the theologian,\r\nCallisthenes the Olynthian, in the time of his imprisonment, as also Mucius the\r\nlawyer; and if we may mention ignoble, but notorious names, Eunus the fugitive,\r\nwho stirred up the slaves of Sicily to rebel against their masters, after he\r\nwas brought captive to Rome, died of this creeping sickness.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla not only foresaw his end, but may be also said to have written of it. For\r\nin the two and twentieth book of his Memoirs, which he finished two days before\r\nhis death, he writes that the Chaldeans foretold him, that after he had led a\r\nlife of honor, he should conclude it in fullness of prosperity. He declares,\r\nmoreover, that in vision he had seen his son, who had died not long before\r\nMetella, stand by in mourning attire, and beseech his father to cast off\r\nfurther care, and come along with him to his mother Metella, there to live at\r\nease and quietness with her. However, he could not refrain from intermeddling\r\nin public affairs. For, ten days before his decease, he composed the\r\ndifferences of the people of Dicaearchia, and prescribed laws for their better\r\ngovernment. And the very day before his end, it being told him that the\r\nmagistrate Granius deferred the payment of a public debt, in expectation of his\r\ndeath, he sent for him to his house, and placing his attendants about him,\r\ncaused him to be strangled; but through the straining of his voice and body,\r\nthe imposthume breaking, he lost a great quantity of blood. Upon this, his\r\nstrength failing him, after spending a troublesome night, he died, leaving\r\nbehind him two young children by Metella. Valeria was afterwards delivered of a\r\ndaughter, named Posthuma; for so the Romans call those who are born after the\r\nfather’s death.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMany ran tumultuously together, and joined with Lepidus, to deprive the corpse\r\nof the accustomed solemnities; but Pompey, though offended at Sylla, (for he\r\nalone of all his friends, was not mentioned in his will,) having kept off some\r\nby his interest and entreaty, others by menaces, conveyed the body to Rome, and\r\ngave it a secure and honorable burial. It is said that the Roman ladies\r\ncontributed such vast heaps of spices, that besides what was carried on two\r\nhundred and ten litters, there was sufficient to form a large figure of Sylla\r\nhimself, and another, representing a lictor, out of the costly frankincense and\r\ncinnamon. The day being cloudy in the morning, they deferred carrying forth the\r\ncorpse till about three in the afternoon, expecting it would rain. But a strong\r\nwind blowing full upon the funeral pile, and setting it all in a bright flame,\r\nthe body was consumed so exactly in good time, that the pyre had begun to\r\nsmolder, and the fire was upon the point of expiring, when a violent rain came\r\ndown, which continued till night. So that his good fortune was firm even to the\r\nlast, and did as it were officiate at his funeral. His monument stands in the\r\nCampus Martius, with an epitaph of his own writing; the substance of it being,\r\nthat he had not been outdone by any of his friends in doing good turns, nor by\r\nany of his foes in doing bad.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap34\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF LYSANDER WITH SYLLA\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving completed this Life also, come we now to the comparison. That which was\r\ncommon to them both, was that they were founders of their own greatness, with\r\nthis difference, that Lysander had the consent of his fellow-citizens, in times\r\nof sober judgment, for the honors he received; nor did he force anything from\r\nthem against their good-will, nor hold any power contrary to the laws.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIn civil strife e’en villains rise to fame.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd so then at Rome, when the people were distempered, and the government out\r\nof order, one or other was still raised to despotic power; no wonder, then, if\r\nSylla reigned, when the Glauciae and Saturnini drove out the Metelli, when sons\r\nof consuls were slain in the assemblies, when silver and gold purchased men and\r\narms, and fire and sword enacted new laws, and put down lawful opposition. Nor\r\ndo I blame anyone, in such circumstances, for working himself into supreme\r\npower, only I would not have it thought a sign of great goodness, to be head of\r\na State so wretchedly discomposed. Lysander, being employed in the greatest\r\ncommands and affairs of State, by a sober and well-governed city, may be said\r\nto have had repute as the best and most virtuous man, in the best and most\r\nvirtuous commonwealth. And thus, often returning the government into the hands\r\nof the citizens, he received it again as often, the superiority of his merit\r\nstill awarding him the first place. Sylla, on the other hand, when he had once\r\nmade himself general of an army, kept his command for ten years together,\r\ncreating himself sometimes consul, sometimes proconsul, and sometimes dictator,\r\nbut always remaining a tyrant.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is true Lysander, as was said, designed to introduce a new form of\r\ngovernment; by milder methods, however, and more agreeably to law than Sylla,\r\nnot by force of arms, but persuasion, nor by subverting the whole State at\r\nonce, but simply by amending the succession of the kings; in a way, moreover,\r\nwhich seemed the naturally just one, that the most deserving should rule,\r\nespecially in a city which itself exercised command in Greece, upon account of\r\nvirtue, not nobility. For as the hunter considers the whelp itself, not the\r\nbitch, and the horse-dealer the foal, not the mare, (for what if the foal\r\nshould prove a mule?) so likewise were that politician extremely out, who, in\r\nthe choice of a chief magistrate, should inquire, not what the man is, but how\r\ndescended. The very Spartans themselves have deposed several of their kings for\r\nwant of kingly virtues, as degenerated and good for nothing. As a vicious\r\nnature, though of an ancient stock, is dishonorable, it must be virtue itself,\r\nand not birth, that makes virtue honorable. Furthermore, the one committed his\r\nacts of injustice for the sake of his friends; the other extended his to his\r\nfriends themselves. It is confessed on all hands, that Lysander offended most\r\ncommonly for the sake of his companions, committing several slaughters to\r\nuphold their power and dominion; but as for Sylla, he, out of envy, reduced\r\nPompey’s command by land, and Dolabella’s by sea, although he himself had given\r\nthem those places; and ordered Lucretius Ofella, who sued for the consulship as\r\nthe reward of many great services, to be slain before his eyes, exciting horror\r\nand alarm in the minds of all men, by his cruelty to his dearest friends.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs regards the pursuit of riches and pleasures, we yet further discover in one\r\na princely, in the other a tyrannical disposition. Lysander did nothing that\r\nwas intemperate or licentious, in that full command of means and opportunity,\r\nbut kept clear, as much as ever man did, of that trite saying,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nLions at home, but foxes out of doors;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand ever maintained a sober, truly Spartan, and well disciplined course of\r\nconduct. Whereas Sylla could never moderate his unruly affections, either by\r\npoverty when young, or by years when grown old, but would be still prescribing\r\nlaws to the citizens concerning chastity and sobriety, himself living all that\r\ntime, as Sallust affirms, in lewdness and adultery. By these ways he so\r\nimpoverished and drained the city of her treasures, as to be forced to sell\r\nprivileges and immunities to allied and friendly cities for money, although he\r\ndaily gave up the wealthiest and greatest families to public sale and\r\nconfiscation. There was no end of his favors vainly spent and thrown away on\r\nflatterers; for what hope could there be, or what likelihood of forethought or\r\neconomy, in his more private moments over wine, when, in the open face of the\r\npeople, upon the auction of a large estate, which he would have passed over to\r\none of his friends at a small price, because another bid higher, and the\r\nofficer announced the advance, he broke out into a passion, saying, “What a\r\nstrange and unjust thing is this, O citizens, that I cannot dispose of my own\r\nbooty as I please!” But Lysander, on the contrary, with the rest of the spoil,\r\nsent home for public use even the presents which were made him. Nor do I\r\ncommend him for it, for he perhaps, by excessive liberality, did Sparta more\r\nharm, than ever the other did Rome by rapine; I only use it as an argument of\r\nhis indifference to riches. They exercised a strange influence on their\r\nrespective cities. Sylla, a profuse debauchee, endeavored to restore sober\r\nliving amongst the citizens; Lysander, temperate himself, filled Sparta with\r\nthe luxury he disregarded. So that both were blameworthy, the one for raising\r\nhimself above his own laws, the other for causing his fellow citizens to fall\r\nbeneath his own example. He taught Sparta to want the very things which he\r\nhimself had learned to do without. And thus much of their civil administration.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for feats of arms, wise conduct in war, innumerable victories, perilous\r\nadventures, Sylla was beyond compare. Lysander, indeed, came off twice\r\nvictorious in two battles by sea; I shall add to that the siege of Athens, a\r\nwork of greater fame, than difficulty. What occurred in Boeotia, and at\r\nHaliartus, was the result, perhaps, of ill fortune; yet it certainly looks like\r\nill counsel, not to wait for the king’s forces, which had all but arrived from\r\nPlataea, but out of ambition and eagerness to fight, to approach the walls at\r\ndisadvantage, and so to be cut off by a sally of inconsiderable men. He\r\nreceived his death-wound, not as Cleombrotus at Leuctra, resisting manfully the\r\nassault of an enemy in the field; not as Cyrus or Epaminondas, sustaining the\r\ndeclining battle, or making sure the victory; all these died the death of kings\r\nand generals; but he, as it had been some common skirmisher or scout, cast away\r\nhis life ingloriously, giving testimony to the wisdom of the ancient Spartan\r\nmaxim, to avoid attacks on walled cities, in which the stoutest warrior may\r\nchance to fall by the hand, not only of a man utterly his inferior, but by that\r\nof a boy or woman, as Achilles, they say, was slain by Paris in the gates. As\r\nfor Sylla, it were hard to reckon up how many set battles he won, or how many\r\nthousands he slew; he took Rome itself twice, as also the Athenian Piraeus, not\r\nby famine, as Lysander did, but by a series of great battles, driving Archelaus\r\ninto the sea. And what is most important, there was a vast difference between\r\nthe commanders they had to deal with. For I look upon it as an easy task, or\r\nrather sport, to beat Antiochus, Alcibiades’s pilot, or to circumvent\r\nPhilocles, the Athenian demagogue,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSharp only at the inglorious point of tongue,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nwhom Mithridates would have scorned to compare with his groom, or Marius with\r\nhis lictor. But of the potentates, consuls, commanders, and demagogues, to pass\r\nby all the rest who opposed themselves to Sylla, who amongst the Romans so\r\nformidable as Marius? what king more powerful than Mithridates? who of the\r\nItalians more warlike than Lamponius and Telesinus? yet of these, one he drove\r\ninto banishment, one he quelled, and the others he slew.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd what is more important, in my judgment, than anything yet adduced, is that\r\nLysander had the assistance of the State in all his achievements; whereas\r\nSylla, besides that he was a banished person, and overpowered by a faction, at\r\na time when his wife was driven from home, his houses demolished, and adherents\r\nslain, himself then in Boeotia, stood embattled against countless numbers of\r\nthe public enemy, and endangering himself for the sake of his country, raised a\r\ntrophy of victory; and not even when Mithridates came with proposals of\r\nalliance and aid against his enemies, would he show any sort of compliance, or\r\neven clemency; did not so much as address him, or vouchsafe him his hand, until\r\nhe had it from the king’s own mouth, that he was willing to quit Asia,\r\nsurrender the navy, and restore Bithynia and Cappadocia to the two kings. Than\r\nwhich action, Sylla never performed a braver, or with a nobler spirit, when,\r\npreferring the public good to the private, and like good hounds, where he had\r\nonce fixed, never letting go his hold, till the enemy yielded, then, and not\r\nuntil then, he set himself to revenge his own private quarrels. We may perhaps\r\nlet ourselves be influenced, moreover, in our comparison of their characters,\r\nby considering their treatment of Athens. Sylla, when he had made himself\r\nmaster of the city, which then upheld the dominion and power of Mithridates in\r\nopposition to him, restored her to liberty and the free exercise of her own\r\nlaws; Lysander, on the contrary, when she had fallen from a vast height of\r\ndignity and rule, showed her no compassion, but abolishing her democratic\r\ngovernment, imposed on her the most cruel and lawless tyrants. We are now\r\nqualified to consider, whether we should go far from the truth or no, in\r\npronouncing that Sylla performed the more glorious deeds, but Lysander\r\ncommitted the fewer faults, as, likewise, by giving to one the preeminence for\r\nmoderation and self-control, to the other, for conduct and valor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap35\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCIMON\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPeripoltas, the prophet, having brought the king Opheltas, and those under his\r\ncommand, from Thessaly into Boeotia, left there a family, which flourished a\r\nlong time after; the greatest part of them inhabiting Chaeronea, the first city\r\nout of which they expelled the barbarians. The descendants of this race, being\r\nmen of bold attempts and warlike habits, exposed themselves to so many dangers,\r\nin the invasions of the Mede, and in battles against the Gauls, that at last\r\nthey were almost wholly consumed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was left one orphan of this house, called Damon, surnamed Peripoltas, in\r\nbeauty and greatness of spirit surpassing all of his age, but rude and\r\nundisciplined in temper. A Roman captain of a company that wintered in\r\nChaeronea became passionately fond of this youth, who was now pretty nearly\r\ngrown a man. And finding all his approaches, his gifts, and his entreaties\r\nalike repulsed, he showed violent inclinations to assault Damon. Our native\r\nChaeronea was then in a distressed condition, too small and too poor to meet\r\nwith anything but neglect. Damon, being sensible of this, and looking upon\r\nhimself as injured already, resolved to inflict punishment. Accordingly, he and\r\nsixteen of his companions conspired against the captain; but that the design\r\nmight be managed without any danger of being discovered, they all daubed their\r\nfaces at night with soot. Thus disguised and inflamed with wine, they set upon\r\nhim by break of day, as he was sacrificing in the marketplace; and having\r\nkilled him, and several others that were with him, they fled out of the city,\r\nwhich was extremely alarmed and troubled at the murder. The council assembled\r\nimmediately, and pronounced sentence of death against Damon and his\r\naccomplices. This they did to justify the city to the Romans. But that evening,\r\nas the magistrates were at supper together, according to the custom, Damon and\r\nhis confederates breaking into the hall, killed them, and then again fled out\r\nof the town. About this time, Lucius Lucullus chanced to be passing that way\r\nwith a body of troops, upon some expedition, and this disaster having but\r\nrecently happened, he stayed to examine the matter. Upon inquiry, he found the\r\ncity was in nowise faulty, but rather that they themselves had suffered;\r\ntherefore he drew out the soldiers, and carried them away with him. Yet Damon\r\ncontinuing to ravage the country all about, the citizens, by messages and\r\ndecrees, in appearance favorable, enticed him into the city, and upon his\r\nreturn, made him Gymnasiarch; but afterwards as he was anointing himself in the\r\nvapor baths, they set upon him and killed him. For a long while after\r\napparitions continuing to be seen, and groans to be heard in that place, so our\r\nfathers have told us, they ordered the gates of the baths to be built up; and\r\neven to this day those who live in the neighborhood believe that they sometimes\r\nsee specters, and hear alarming sounds. The posterity of Damon, of whom some\r\nstill remain, mostly in Phocis, near the town of Stiris, are called Asbolomeni,\r\nthat is, in the Aeolian idiom, men daubed with soot; because Damon was thus\r\nbesmeared when he committed this murder.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut there being a quarrel between the people of Chaeronea and the Orchomenians,\r\ntheir neighbors, these latter hired an informer, a Roman, to accuse the\r\ncommunity of Chaeronea, as if it had been a single person, of the murder of the\r\nRomans, of which only Damon and his companions were guilty; accordingly, the\r\nprocess wee commenced, and the cause pleaded before the Praetor of Macedon,\r\nsince the Romans as yet had not sent governors into Greece. The advocates who\r\ndefended the inhabitants appealed to the testimony of Lucullus, who, in answer\r\nto a letter the Praetor wrote to him, returned a true account of the\r\nmatter-of-fact. By this means the town obtained its acquittal, and escaped a\r\nmost serious danger. The citizens thus preserved erected a statue to Lucullus\r\nin the market-place, near that of the god Bacchus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWe also have the same impressions of gratitude; and though removed from the\r\nevents by the distance of several generations, we yet feel the obligation to\r\nextend to ourselves; and as we think an image of the character and habits, to\r\nbe a greater honor than one merely representing the face and the person, we\r\nwill put Lucullus’s life amongst our parallels of illustrious men, and without\r\nswerving from the truth, will record his actions. The commemoration will be\r\nitself a sufficient proof of our grateful feeling, and he himself would not\r\nthank us, if in recompense for a service, which consisted in speaking the\r\ntruth, we should abuse his memory with a false and counterfeit narration. For\r\nas we would wish that a painter who is to draw a beautiful face in which there\r\nis yet some imperfection, should neither wholly leave out, nor yet too\r\npointedly express what is defective, because this would deform it, and that\r\nspoil the resemblance; so, since it is hard, or indeed perhaps impossible, to\r\nshow the life of a man wholly free from blemish, in all that is excellent we\r\nmust follow truth exactly, and give it fully; any lapses or faults that occur,\r\nthrough human passions or political necessities, we may regard rather as the\r\nshortcomings of some particular virtue, than as the natural effects of vice;\r\nand may be content without introducing them, curiously and officiously, into\r\nour narrative, if it be but out of tenderness to the weakness of nature, which\r\nhas never succeeded in producing any human character so perfect in virtue, as\r\nto be pure from all admixture, and open to no criticism. On considering; with\r\nmyself to whom I should compare Lucullus, I find none so exactly his parallel\r\nas Cimon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey were both valiant in war, and successful against the barbarians; both\r\ngentle in political life, and more than any others gave their countrymen a\r\nrespite from civil troubles at home, while abroad, each of them raised trophies\r\nand gained famous victories. No Greek before Cimon, nor Roman before Lucullus,\r\never carried the scene of war so far from their own country; putting out of the\r\nquestion the acts of Bacchus and Hercules, and any exploit of Perseus against\r\nthe Ethiopians, Medes, and Armenians, or again of Jason, of which any record\r\nthat deserves credit can be said to have come down to our days. Moreover in\r\nthis they were alike, that they did not finish the enterprises they undertook.\r\nThey brought their enemies near their ruin, but never entirely conquered them.\r\nThere was yet a greater conformity in the free good-will and lavish abundance\r\nof their entertainments and general hospitalities, and in the youthful laxity\r\nof their habits. Other points of resemblance, which we have failed to notice,\r\nmay be easily collected from our narrative itself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCimon was the son of Miltiades and Hegesipyle, who was by birth a Thracian, and\r\ndaughter to the king Olorus, as appears from the poems of Melanthius and\r\nArchelaus, written in praise of Cimon. By this means the historian Thucydides\r\nwas his kinsman by the mother’s side; for his father’s name also, in\r\nremembrance of this common ancestor, was Olorus, and he was the owner of the\r\ngold mines in Thrace, and met his death, it is said, by violence, in Scapte\r\nHyle, a district of Thrace; and his remains having afterwards been brought into\r\nAttica, a monument is shown as his among those of the family of Cimon, near the\r\ntomb of Elpinice, Cimon’s sister. But Thucydides was of the township of\r\nHalimus, and Miltiades and his family were Laciadae. Miltiades, being condemned\r\nin a fine of fifty talents to the State, and unable to pay it, was cast into\r\nprison, and there died. Thus Cimon was left an orphan very young, with his\r\nsister Elpinice, who was also young and unmarried. And at first he had but an\r\nindifferent reputation, being looked upon as disorderly in his habits, fond of\r\ndrinking, and resembling his grandfather, also called Cimon, in character,\r\nwhose simplicity got him the surname of Coalemus. Stesimbrotus of Thasos, who\r\nlived near about the same time with Cimon, reports of him that he had little\r\nacquaintance either with music, or any of the other liberal studies and\r\naccomplishments, then common among the Greeks; that he had nothing whatever of\r\nthe quickness and the ready speech of his countrymen in Attica; that he had\r\ngreat nobleness and candor in his disposition, and in his character in general,\r\nresembled rather a native of Peloponnesus, than of Athens; as Euripides\r\ndescribes Hercules,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n— Rude\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd unrefined, for great things well-endued;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nfor this may fairly be added to the character which Stesimbrotus has given of\r\nhim.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey accused him, in his younger years, of cohabiting with his own sister\r\nElpinice, who, indeed, otherwise had no very clear reputation, but was reported\r\nto have been over intimate with Polygnotus, the painter; and hence, when he\r\npainted the Trojan women in the porch, then called the Plesianactium, and now\r\nthe Poecile, he made Laodice a portrait of her. Polygnotus was not an ordinary\r\nmechanic, nor was he paid for this work, but out of a desire to please the\r\nAthenians, painted the portico for nothing. So it is stated by the historians,\r\nand in the following verses by the poet Melanthius: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWrought by his hand the deeds of heroes grace\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAt his own charge our temples and our Place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nSome affirm that Elpinice lived with her brother, not secretly, but as his\r\nmarried wife, her poverty excluding her from any suitable match. But afterward,\r\nwhen Callias, one of the richest men of Athens, fell in love with her, and\r\nproffered to pay the fine the father was condemned in, if he could obtain the\r\ndaughter in marriage, with Elpinice’s own consent, Cimon betrothed her to\r\nCallias. There is no doubt but that Cimon was, in general, of an amorous\r\ntemper. For Melanthius, in his elegies, rallies him on his attachment for\r\nAsteria of Salamis, and again for a certain Mnestra. And there can be no doubt\r\nof his unusually passionate affection for his lawful wife Isodice, the daughter\r\nof Euryptolemus, the son of Megacles; nor of his regret, even to impatience, at\r\nher death, if any conclusion may be drawn from those elegies of condolence,\r\naddressed to him upon his loss of her. The philosopher Panaetius is of opinion,\r\nthat Archelaus, the writer on physics, was the author of them, and indeed the\r\ntime seems to favor that conjecture. All the other points of Cimon’s character\r\nwere noble and good. He was as daring as Miltiades, and not inferior to\r\nThemistocles in judgment, and was incomparably more just and honest than either\r\nof them. Fully their equal in all military virtues, in the ordinary duties of a\r\ncitizen at home he was immeasurably their superior. And this, too, when he was\r\nvery young, his years not yet strengthened by any experience. For when\r\nThemistocles, upon the Median invasion, advised the Athenians to forsake their\r\ncity and their country, and to carry all their arms on shipboard, and fight the\r\nenemy by sea, in the straits of Salamis; when all the people stood amazed at\r\nthe confidence and rashness of this advice, Cimon was seen, the first of all\r\nmen, passing with a cheerful countenance through the Ceramicus, on his way with\r\nhis companions to the citadel, carrying a bridle in his hand to offer to the\r\ngoddess, intimating that there was no more need of horsemen now, but of\r\nmariners. There, after he had paid his devotions to the goddess, and offered up\r\nthe bridle, he took down one of the bucklers that hung upon the walls of the\r\ntemple, and went down to the port; by this example giving confidence to many of\r\nthe citizens. He was also of a fairly handsome person, according to the poet\r\nIon, tall and large, and let his thick and curly hair grow long. After he had\r\nacquitted himself gallantly in this battle of Salamis, he obtained great repute\r\namong the Athenians, and was regarded with affection, as well as admiration. He\r\nhad many who followed after him and bade him aspire to actions not less famous\r\nthan his father’s battle of Marathon. And when he came forward in political\r\nlife, the people welcomed him gladly, being now weary of Themistocles; in\r\nopposition to whom, and because of the frankness and easiness of his temper,\r\nwhich was agreeable to everyone, they advanced Cimon to the highest employments\r\nin the government. The man that contributed most to his promotion was\r\nAristides, who early discerned in his character his natural capacity, and\r\npurposely raised him, that he might be a counterpoise to the craft and boldness\r\nof Themistocles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the Medes had been driven out of Greece, Cimon was sent out as admiral,\r\nwhen the Athenians had not yet attained their dominion by sea, but still\r\nfollowed Pausanias and the Lacedaemonians; and his fellow-citizens under his\r\ncommand were highly distinguished, both for the excellence of their discipline,\r\nand for their extraordinary zeal and readiness. And further, perceiving that\r\nPausanias was carrying on secret communications with the barbarians, and\r\nwriting letters to the king of Persia to betray Greece, and, puffed up with\r\nauthority and success, was treating the allies haughtily, and committing many\r\nwanton injustices, Cimon, taking this advantage, by acts of kindness to those\r\nwho were suffering wrong, and by his general humane bearing, robbed him of the\r\ncommand of the Greeks, before he was aware, not by arms, but by his mere\r\nlanguage and character. The greatest part of the allies, no longer able to\r\nendure the harshness and pride of Pausanias, revolted from him to Cimon and\r\nAristides, who accepted the duty, and wrote to the Ephors of Sparta, desiring\r\nthem to recall a man who was causing dishonor to Sparta, and trouble to Greece.\r\nThey tell of Pausanias, that when he was in Byzantium, he solicited a young\r\nlady of a noble family in the city, whose name was Cleonice, to debauch her.\r\nHer parents, dreading his cruelty, were forced to consent, and so abandoned\r\ntheir daughter to his wishes. The daughter asked the servants outside the\r\nchamber to put out all the lights; so that approaching silently and in the dark\r\ntoward his bed, she stumbled upon the lamp, which she overturned. Pausanias,\r\nwho was fallen asleep, awakened and startled with the noise, thought an\r\nassassin had taken that dead time of night to murder him, so that hastily\r\nsnatching up his poniard that lay by him, he struck the girl, who fell with the\r\nblow, and died. After this, he never had rest, but was continually haunted by\r\nher, and saw an apparition visiting him in his sleep, and addressing him with\r\nthese angry words: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nGo on thy way, unto the evil end,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThat doth on lust and violence attend.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThis was one of the chief occasions of indignation against him among the\r\nconfederates, who now joining their resentments and forces with Cimon’s,\r\nbesieged him in Byzantium. He escaped out of their hands, and, continuing, as\r\nit is said, to be disturbed by the apparition, fled to the oracle of the dead\r\nat Heraclea, raised the ghost of Cleonice, and entreated her to be reconciled.\r\nAccordingly she appeared to him, and answered, that as soon as he came to\r\nSparta, he should speedily be freed from all evils; obscurely foretelling, it\r\nwould seem, his imminent death. This story is related by many authors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCimon, strengthened with the accession of the allies, went as general into\r\nThrace. For he was told that some great men among the Persians, of the king’s\r\nkindred, being in possession of Eion, a city situated upon the river Strymon,\r\ninfested the neighboring Greeks. First he defeated these Persians in battle,\r\nand shut them up within the walls of their town. Then he fell upon the\r\nThracians of the country beyond the Strymon, because they supplied Eion with\r\nvictuals, and driving them entirely out of the country, took possession of it\r\nas conqueror, by which means he reduced the besieged to such straits, that\r\nButes, who commanded there for the king, in desperation set fire to the town,\r\nand burned himself, his goods, and all his relations, in one common flame. By\r\nthis means, Cimon got the town, but no great booty; as the barbarians had not\r\nonly consumed themselves in the fire, but the richest of their effects.\r\nHowever, he put the country about into the hands of the Athenians, a most\r\nadvantageous and desirable situation for a settlement. For this action, the\r\npeople permitted him to erect the stone Mercuries, upon the first of which was\r\nthis inscription: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nOf bold and patient spirit, too, were those,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWho, where the Strymon under Eion flows,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWith famine and the sword, to utmost need\u003cbr\u003e\r\nReduced at last the children of the Mede.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nUpon the second stood this: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe Athenians to their leaders this reward\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFor great and useful service did accord;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOthers hereafter, shall, from their applause,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nLearn to be valiant in their country’s cause\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand upon the third, the following:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWith Atreus’ sons, this city sent of yore\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDivine Menestheus to the Trojan shore;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOf all the Greeks, so Homer’s verses say,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe ablest man an army to array:\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSo old the title of her sons the name\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOf chiefs and champions in the field to claim.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThough the name of Cimon is not mentioned in these inscriptions, yet his\r\ncontemporaries considered them to be the very highest honors to him; as neither\r\nMiltiades nor Themistocles ever received the like. When Miltiades claimed a\r\ngarland, Sochares of Decelea stood up in the midst of the assembly and opposed\r\nit, using words which, though ungracious, were received with applause by the\r\npeople. “When you have gained a victory by yourself, Miltiades, then you may\r\nask to triumph so too.” What then induced them so particularly to honor Cimon?\r\nWas it that under other commanders they stood upon the defensive? but by his\r\nconduct, they not only attacked their enemies, but invaded them in their own\r\ncountry, and acquired new territory, becoming masters of Eion and Amphipolis,\r\nwhere they planted colonies, as also they did in the isle of Scyros, which\r\nCimon had taken on the following occasion. The Dolopians were the inhabitants\r\nof this isle, a people who neglected all husbandry, and had, for many\r\ngenerations, been devoted to piracy; this they practiced to that degree, that\r\nat last they began to plunder foreigners that brought merchandise into their\r\nports. Some merchants of Thessaly, who had come to shore near Ctesium, were not\r\nonly spoiled of their goods, but themselves put into confinement. These men\r\nafterwards escaping from their prison, went and obtained sentence against the\r\nScyrians in a court of Amphictyons, and when the Scyrian people declined to\r\nmake public restitution, and called upon the individuals who had got the\r\nplunder to give it up, these persons, in alarm, wrote to Cimon to succor them\r\nwith his fleet, and declared themselves ready to deliver the town into his\r\nhands. Cimon, by these means, got the town, expelled the Dolopian pirates, and\r\nso opened the traffic of the Aegean sea. And, understanding that the ancient\r\nTheseus, the son of Aegeus, when he fled from Athens and took refuge in this\r\nisle, was here treacherously slain by king Lycomedes, who feared him, Cimon\r\nendeavored to find out where he was buried. For an oracle had commanded the\r\nAthenians to bring home his ashes, and pay him all due honors as a hero; but\r\nhitherto they had not been able to learn where he was interred, as the people\r\nof Scyros dissembled the knowledge of it, and were not willing to allow a\r\nsearch. But now, great inquiry being made, with some difficulty he found out\r\nthe tomb, and carried the relics into his own galley, and with great pomp and\r\nshow brought them to Athens, four hundred years, or thereabouts, after his\r\nexpulsion. This act got Cimon great favor with the people, one mark of which\r\nwas the judgment, afterwards so famous, upon the tragic poets. Sophocles, still\r\na young man, had just brought forward his first plays; opinions were much\r\ndivided, and the spectators had taken sides with some heat. So, to determine\r\nthe case, Apsephion, who was at that time archon, would not cast lots who\r\nshould be judges; but when Cimon, and his brother commanders with him, came\r\ninto the theater, after they had performed the usual rites to the god of the\r\nfestival, he would not allow them to retire, but came forward and made them\r\nswear, (being ten in all, one from each tribe,) the usual oath; and so being\r\nsworn judges, he made them sit down to give sentence. The eagerness for victory\r\ngrew all the warmer, from the ambition to get the suffrages of such honorable\r\njudges. And the victory was at last adjudged to Sophocles, which Aeschylus is\r\nsaid to have taken so ill, that he left Athens shortly after, and went in anger\r\nto Sicily, where he died, and was buried near the city of Gela.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIon relates that when he was a young man, and recently come from Chios to\r\nAthens, he chanced to sup with Cimon, at Laomedon’s house. After supper, when\r\nthey had, according to custom, poured out wine to the honor of the gods, Cimon\r\nwas desired by the company to give them a song, which he did with sufficient\r\nsuccess, and received the commendations of the company, who remarked on his\r\nsuperiority to Themistocles, who, on a like occasion, had declared he had never\r\nlearnt to sing, nor to play, and only knew how to make a city rich and\r\npowerful. After talking of things incident to such entertainments, they entered\r\nupon the particulars of the several actions for which Cimon had been famous.\r\nAnd when they were mentioning the most signal, he told them they had omitted\r\none, upon which he valued himself most for address and good contrivance. He\r\ngave this account of it. When the allies had taken a great number of the\r\nbarbarians prisoners in Sestos and Byzantium, they gave him the preference to\r\ndivide the booty; he accordingly put the prisoners in one lot, and the spoils\r\nof their rich attire and jewels in the other. This the allies complained of as\r\nan unequal division, but he gave them their choice to take which lot they\r\nwould, for that the Athenians should be content with that which they refused.\r\nHerophytus of Samos advised them to take the ornaments for their share, and\r\nleave the slaves to the Athenians; and Cimon went away, and was much laughed at\r\nfor his ridiculous division. For the allies carried away the golden bracelets,\r\nand armlets, and collars, and purple robes, and the Athenians had only the\r\nnaked bodies of the captives, which they could make no advantage of, being\r\nunused to labor. But a little while after, the friends and kinsmen of the\r\nprisoners coming from Lydia and Phrygia, redeemed every one his relations at a\r\nhigh ransom; so that by this means Cimon got so much treasure that he\r\nmaintained his whole fleet of galleys with the money for four months; and yet\r\nthere was some left to lay up in the treasury at Athens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCimon now grew rich, and what he gained from the barbarians with honor, he\r\nspent yet more honorably upon the citizens. For he pulled down all the\r\nenclosures of his gardens and grounds, that strangers, and the needy of his\r\nfellow-citizens, might gather of his fruits freely. At home, he kept a table,\r\nplain, but sufficient for a considerable number; to which any poor townsman had\r\nfree access, and so might support himself without labor, with his whole time\r\nleft free for public duties. Aristotle states, however, that this reception did\r\nnot extend to all the Athenians, but only to his own fellow townsmen, the\r\nLaciadae. Besides this, he always went attended by two or three young\r\ncompanions, very well clad; and if he met with an elderly citizen in a poor\r\nhabit, one of these would change clothes with the decayed citizen, which was\r\nlooked upon as very nobly done. He enjoined them, likewise, to carry a\r\nconsiderable quantity of coin about them, which they were to convey silently\r\ninto the hands of the better class of poor men, as they stood by them in the\r\nmarketplace. This, Cratinus the poet speaks of in one of his comedies, the\r\nArchilochi: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFor I, Metrobius too, the scrivener poor,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOf ease and comfort in my age secure,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBy Greece’s noblest son in life’s decline,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nCimon, the generous-hearted, the divine,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWell-fed and feasted hoped till death to be,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDeath which, alas! has taken him ere me.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nGorgias the Leontine gives him this character, that he got riches that he might\r\nuse them, and used them that he might get honor by them. And Critias, one of\r\nthe thirty tyrants, makes it, in his elegies, his wish to have\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe Scopads’ wealth, and Cimon’s nobleness,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd king Agesilaus’s success.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLichas, we know, became famous in Greece, only because on the days of the\r\nsports, when the young boys run naked, he used to entertain the strangers that\r\ncame to see these diversions. But Cimon’s generosity outdid all the old\r\nAthenian hospitality and good-nature. For though it is the city’s just boast\r\nthat their forefathers taught the rest of Greece to sow corn, and how to use\r\nsprings of water, and to kindle fire, yet Cimon, by keeping open house for his\r\nfellow-citizens, and giving travelers liberty to eat the fruits which the\r\nseveral seasons produced in his land, seemed to restore to the world that\r\ncommunity of goods, which mythology says existed in the reign of Saturn. Those\r\nwho object to him that he did this to be popular, and gain the applause of the\r\nvulgar, are confuted by the constant tenor of the rest of his actions, which\r\nall tended to uphold the interests of the nobility and the Spartan policy, of\r\nwhich he gave instances, when together with Aristides, he opposed Themistocles,\r\nwho was advancing the authority of the people beyond its just limits, and\r\nresisted Ephialtes, who to please the multitude, was for abolishing the\r\njurisdiction of the court of Areopagus. And when all of his time, except\r\nAristides and Ephialtes, enriched themselves out of the public money, he still\r\nkept his hands clean and untainted, and to his last day never acted or spoke\r\nfor his own private gain or emolument. They tell us that Rhoesaces, a Persian,\r\nwho had traitorously revolted from the king his master, fled to Athens, and\r\nthere, being harassed by sycophants, who were still accusing him to the people,\r\nhe applied himself to Cimon for redress, and to gain his favor, laid down in\r\nhis doorway two cups, the one full of gold, and the other of silver Darics.\r\nCimon smiled and asked him whether he wished to have Cimon’s hired service or\r\nhis friendship. He replied, his friendship. “If so,” said he, “take away these\r\npieces, for being your friend, when I shall have occasion for them, I will send\r\nand ask for them.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe allies of the Athenians began now to be weary of war and military service,\r\nwilling to have repose, and to look after their husbandry and traffic. For they\r\nsaw and did not fear any new vexations from them. They still paid the tax they\r\nwere assessed at, but did not send men and galleys, as they had done before.\r\nThis the other Athenian generals wished to constrain them to, and by judicial\r\nproceedings against defaulters, and penalties which they inflicted on them,\r\nmade the government uneasy, and even odious. But Cimon practiced a contrary\r\nmethod; he forced no man to go that was not willing, but of those that desired\r\nto be excused from service he took money and vessels unmanned, and let them\r\nyield to the temptation of staying at home, to attend to their private\r\nbusiness. Thus they lost their military habits, and luxury and their own folly\r\nquickly changed them into unwarlike husbandmen and traders, while Cimon,\r\ncontinually embarking large numbers of Athenians on board his galleys,\r\nthoroughly disciplined them in his expeditions, their enemies driven out of the\r\ncountry, and ere long made them the lords of their own paymasters. The allies,\r\nwhose indolence maintained them, while they thus went sailing about everywhere,\r\nand incessantly bearing arms and acquiring skill, began to fear and flatter\r\nthen, and found themselves after a while allies no longer, but unwittingly\r\nbecome tributaries and slaves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNor did any man ever do more than Cimon did to humble the pride of the Persian\r\nking. He was not content with getting rid of him out of Greece; but following\r\nclose at his heels, before the barbarians could take breath and recover\r\nthemselves, he was already at work, and what with his devastations, and his\r\nforcible reduction of some places, and the revolts and voluntary accession of\r\nothers, in the end, from Ionia to Pamphylia, all Asia was clear of Persian\r\nsoldiers. Word being brought him that the royal commanders were lying in wait\r\nupon the coast of Pamphylia, with a numerous land army, and a large fleet, he\r\ndetermined to make the whole sea on this side the Chelidonian islands so\r\nformidable to them that they should never dare to show themselves in it; and\r\nsetting off from Cnidos and the Triopian headland, with two hundred galleys,\r\nwhich had been originally built with particular care by Themistocles, for speed\r\nand rapid evolutions, and to which he now gave greater width and roomier decks\r\nalong the sides to move to and fro upon, so as to allow a great number of\r\nfull-armed soldiers to take part in the engagements and fight from them, he\r\nshaped his course first of all against the town of Phaselis, which, though\r\ninhabited by Greeks, yet would not quit the interests of Persia, but denied his\r\ngalleys entrance into their port. Upon this he wasted the country, and drew up\r\nhis army to their very walls; but the soldiers of Chios, who were then serving\r\nunder him, being ancient friends to the Phaselites, endeavoring to propitiate\r\nthe general in their behalf, at the same time shot arrows into the town, to\r\nwhich were fastened letters conveying intelligence. At length he concluded\r\npeace with them, upon the conditions that they should pay down ten talents, and\r\nfollow him against the barbarians. Ephorus says the admiral of the Persian\r\nfleet was Tithraustes, and the general of the land army Pherendates; but\r\nCallisthenes is positive that Ariomandes, the son of Gobryas, had the supreme\r\ncommand of all the forces. He lay waiting with the whole fleet at the mouth of\r\nthe river Eurymedon, with no design to fight, but expecting a reinforcement of\r\neighty Phoenician ships on their way from Cyprus. Cimon, aware of this, put out\r\nto sea, resolved, if they would not fight a battle willingly, to force them to\r\nit. The barbarians, seeing this, retired within the mouth of the river to avoid\r\nbeing attacked; but when they saw the Athenians come upon them, notwithstanding\r\ntheir retreat, they met them with six hundred ships, as Phanodemus relates but\r\naccording to Ephorus, only with three hundred and fifty. However, they did\r\nnothing worthy such mighty forces, but immediately turned the prows of their\r\ngalleys toward the shore, where those that came first threw themselves upon the\r\nland, and fled to their army drawn up thereabout, while the rest perished with\r\ntheir vessels, or were taken. By this, one may guess at their number, for\r\nthough a great many escaped out of the fight, and a great many others were\r\nsunk, yet two hundred galleys were taken by the Athenians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen their land army drew toward the seaside, Cimon was in suspense whether he\r\nshould venture to try and force his way on shore; as he should thus expose his\r\nGreeks, wearied with slaughter in the first engagement, to the swords of the\r\nbarbarians, who were all fresh men, and many times their number. But seeing his\r\nmen resolute, and flushed with victory, he bade them land, though they were not\r\nyet cool from their first battle. As soon as they touched ground, they set up a\r\nshout and ran upon the enemy, who stood firm and sustained the first shock with\r\ngreat courage, so that the fight was a hard one, and some principal men of the\r\nAthenians in rank and courage were slain. At length, though with much ado, they\r\nrouted the barbarians, and killing some, took others prisoners, and plundered\r\nall their tents and pavilions which were full of rich spoil. Cimon, like a\r\nskilled athlete at the games, having in one day carried off two victories,\r\nwherein he surpassed that of Salamis by sea, and that of Plataea by land, was\r\nencouraged to try for yet another success. News being brought that the\r\nPhoenician succors, in number eighty sail, had come in sight at Hydrum, he set\r\noff with all speed to find them, while they as yet had not received any certain\r\naccount of the larger fleet, and were in doubt what to think; so that thus\r\nsurprised, they lost all their vessels, and most of their men with them. This\r\nsuccess of Cimon so daunted the king of Persia, that he presently made that\r\ncelebrated peace, by which he engaged that his armies should come no nearer the\r\nGrecian sea than the length of a horse’s course; and that none of his galleys\r\nor vessels of war should appear between the Cyanean and Chelidonian isles.\r\nCallisthenes, however, says that he did not agree to any such articles, but\r\nthat upon the fear this victory gave him, he did in reality thus act, and kept\r\noff so far from Greece, that when Pericles with fifty, and Ephialtes with\r\nthirty galleys, cruised beyond the Chelidonian isles, they did not discover one\r\nPersian vessel. But in the collection which Craterus made of the public acts of\r\nthe people, there is a draft of this treaty given. And it is told, also, that\r\nat Athens they erected the altar of Peace upon this occasion, and decreed\r\nparticular honors to Callias, who was employed as ambassador to procure the\r\ntreaty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe people of Athens raised so much money from the spoils of this war, which\r\nwere publicly sold, that, besides other expenses, and raising the south wall of\r\nthe citadel, they laid the foundation of the long walls, not, indeed, finished\r\ntill at a later time, which were called the Legs. And the place where they\r\nbuilt them being soft and marshy ground, they were forced to sink great weights\r\nof stone and rubble to secure the foundation, and did all this out of the money\r\nCimon supplied them with. It was he, likewise, who first embellished the upper\r\ncity with those fine and ornamental places of exercise and resort, which they\r\nafterward so much frequented and delighted in. He set the market-place with\r\nplane trees; and the Academy, which was before a bare, dry, and dirty spot, he\r\nconverted into a well-watered grove, with shady alleys to walk in, and open\r\ncourses for races.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the Persians who had made themselves masters of the Chersonese, so far\r\nfrom quitting it, called in the people of the interior of Thrace to help them\r\nagainst Cimon, whom they despised for the smallness of his forces, he set upon\r\nthem with only four galleys, and took thirteen of theirs; and having driven out\r\nthe Persians, and subdued the Thracians, he made the whole Chersonese the\r\nproperty of Athens. Next, he attacked the people of Thasos, who had revolted\r\nfrom the Athenians; and, having defeated them in a fight at sea, where he took\r\nthirty-three of their vessels, he took their town by siege, and acquired for\r\nthe Athenians all the mines of gold on the opposite coast, and the territory\r\ndependent on Thasos. This opened him a fair passage into Macedon, so that he\r\nmight, it was thought, have acquired a good portion of that country; and\r\nbecause he neglected the opportunity, he was suspected of corruption, and of\r\nhaving been bribed off by king Alexander. So, by the combination of his\r\nadversaries, he was accused of being false to his country. In his defense he\r\ntold the judges, that he had always shown himself in his public life the\r\nfriend, not, like other men, of rich Ionians and Thessalians, to be courted,\r\nand to receive presents, but of the Lacedaemonians; for as he admired, so he\r\nwished to imitate the plainness of their habits, their temperance, and\r\nsimplicity of living, which he preferred to any sort of riches; but that he\r\nalways had been, and still was proud to enrich his country with the spoils of\r\nher enemies. Stesimbrotus, making mention of this trial, states that Elpinice,\r\nin behalf of her brother, addressed herself to Pericles, the most vehement of\r\nhis accusers, to whom Pericles answered, with a smile, “You are old, Elpinice,\r\nto meddle with affairs of this nature.” However, he proved the mildest of his\r\nprosecutors, and rose up but once all the while, almost as a matter of form, to\r\nplead against him. Cimon was acquitted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn his public life after this, he continued, whilst at home, to control and\r\nrestrain the common people, who would have trampled upon the nobility, and\r\ndrawn all the power and sovereignty to themselves. But when he afterwards was\r\nsent out to war, the multitude broke loose, as it were, and overthrew all the\r\nancient laws and customs they had hitherto observed, and, chiefly at the\r\ninstigation of Ephialtes, withdrew the cognizance of almost all causes from the\r\nAreopagus; so that all jurisdiction now being transferred to them, the\r\ngovernment was reduced to a perfect democracy, and this by the help of\r\nPericles, who was already powerful, and had pronounced in favor of the common\r\npeople. Cimon, when he returned, seeing the authority of this great council so\r\nupset, was exceedingly troubled, and endeavored to remedy these disorders by\r\nbringing the courts of law to their former state, and restoring the old\r\naristocracy of the time of Clisthenes. This the others declaimed against with\r\nall the vehemence possible, and began to revive those stories concerning him\r\nand his sister, and cried out against him as the partisan of the\r\nLacedaemonians. To these calumnies the famous verses of Eupolis, the poet upon\r\nCimon refer: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHe was as good as others that one sees,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut he was fond of drinking and of ease;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd would at nights to Sparta often roam,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nLeaving his sister desolate at home.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut if, though slothful and a drunkard, he could capture so many towns, and\r\ngain so many victories, certainly if he had been sober and minded his business,\r\nthere had been no Grecian commander, either before or after him, that could\r\nhave surpassed him for exploits of war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was, indeed, a favorer of the Lacedaemonians even from his youth, and he\r\ngave the names of Lacedaemonius and Eleus to two sons, twins, whom he had, as\r\nStesimbrotus says, by a woman of Clitorium, whence Pericles often upbraided\r\nthem with their mother’s blood. But Diodorus, the geographer, asserts that both\r\nthese, and another son of Cimon’s, whose name was Thessalus, were born of\r\nIsodice, the daughter of Euryptolemus, the son of Megacles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, this is certain, that Cimon was countenanced by the Lacedaemonians in\r\nopposition to Themistocles, whom they disliked; and while he was yet very\r\nyoung, they endeavored to raise and increase his credit in Athens. This the\r\nAthenians perceived at first with pleasure, and the favor the Lacedaemonians\r\nshowed him was in various ways advantageous to them and their affairs; as at\r\nthat time they were just rising to power, and were occupied in winning the\r\nallies to their side. So they seemed not at all offended with the honor and\r\nkindness showed to Cimon, who then had the chief management of all the affairs\r\nof Greece, and was acceptable to the Lacedaemonians, and courteous to the\r\nallies. But afterwards the Athenians, grown more powerful, when they saw Cimon\r\nso entirely devoted to the Lacedaemonians, began to be angry, for he would\r\nalways in his speeches prefer them to the Athenians, and upon every occasion,\r\nwhen he would reprimand them for a fault, or incite them to emulation, he would\r\nexclaim, “The Lacedaemonians would not do thus.” This raised the discontent,\r\nand got him in some degree the hatred of the citizens; but that which\r\nministered chiefly to the accusation against him fell out upon the following\r\noccasion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the fourth year of the reign of Archidamus, the son of Zeuxidamus, king of\r\nSparta, there happened in the country of Lacedaemon, the greatest earthquake\r\nthat was known in the memory of man; the earth opened into chasms, and the\r\nmountain Taygetus was so shaken, that some of the rocky points of it fell down,\r\nand except five houses, all the town of Sparta was shattered to pieces. They\r\nsay, that a little before any motion was perceived, as the young men and the\r\nboys just grown up were exercising themselves together in the middle of the\r\nportico, a hare, of a sudden, started out just by them, which the young men,\r\nthough all naked and daubed with oil, ran after for sport. No sooner were they\r\ngone from the place, than the gymnasium fell down upon the boys who had stayed\r\nbehind, and killed them all. Their tomb is to this day called Sismatias.\r\nArchidamus, by the present danger made apprehensive of what might follow, and\r\nseeing the citizens intent upon removing the most valuable of their goods out\r\nof their houses, commanded an alarm to be sounded, as if an enemy were coming\r\nupon them, in order that they should collect about him in a body, with arms. It\r\nwas this alone that saved Sparta at that time, for the Helots were got together\r\nfrom the country about, with design to surprise the Spartans, and overpower\r\nthose whom the earthquake had spared. But finding them armed and well prepared,\r\nthey retired into the towns and openly made war with them, gaining over a\r\nnumber of the Laconians of the country districts; while at the same time the\r\nMessenians, also, made an attack upon the Spartans, who therefore dispatched\r\nPericlidas to Athens to solicit succors, of whom Aristophanes says in mockery\r\nthat he came and\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIn a red jacket, at the altars seated,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWith a white face, for men and arms entreated.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis Ephialtes opposed, protesting that they ought not to raise up or assist a\r\ncity that was a rival to Athens; but that being down, it were best to keep her\r\nso, and let the pride and arrogance of Sparta be trodden under. But Cimon, as\r\nCritias says, preferring the safety of Lacedaemon to the aggrandizement of his\r\nown country, so persuaded the people, that he soon marched out with a large\r\narmy to their relief. Ion records, also, the most successful expression which\r\nhe used to move the Athenians. “They ought not to suffer Greece to be lamed,\r\nnor their own city to be deprived of her yoke-fellow.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn his return from aiding the Lacedaemonians, he passed with his army through\r\nthe territory of Corinth; where upon Lachartus reproached him for bringing his\r\narmy into the country, without first asking leave of the people. For he that\r\nknocks at another man’s door ought not to enter the house till the master gives\r\nhim leave. “But you, Corinthians, O Lachartus,” said Cimon, “did not knock at\r\nthe gates of the Cleonaeans and Megarians, but broke them down, and entered by\r\nforce, thinking that all places should be open to the stronger.” And having\r\nthus rallied the Corinthian, he passed on with his army. Some time after this,\r\nthe Lacedaemonians sent a second time to desire succors of the Athenians\r\nagainst the Messenians and Helots, who had seized upon Ithome. But when they\r\ncame, fearing their boldness and gallantry, of all that came to their\r\nassistance, they sent them only back, alleging they were designing innovations.\r\nThe Athenians returned home, enraged at this usage, and vented their anger upon\r\nall those who were favorers of the Lacedaemonians; and seizing some slight\r\noccasion, they banished Cimon for ten years, which is the time prescribed to\r\nthose that are banished by the ostracism. In the mean time, the Lacedaemonians,\r\non their return after freeing Delphi from the Phocians, encamped their army at\r\nTanagra, whither the Athenians presently marched with design to fight them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCimon, also, came thither armed, and ranged himself among those of his own\r\ntribe, which was the Oeneis, desirous of fighting with the rest against the\r\nSpartans; but the council of five hundred being informed of this, and frighted\r\nat it, his adversaries crying out he would disorder the army, and bring the\r\nLacedaemonians to Athens, commanded the officers not to receive him. Wherefore\r\nCimon left the army, conjuring Euthippus, the Anaphlystian, and the rest of his\r\ncompanions, who were most suspected as favoring the Lacedaemonians, to behave\r\nthemselves bravely against their enemies, and by their actions make their\r\ninnocence evident to their countrymen. These, being in all a hundred, took the\r\narms of Cimon and followed his advice; and making a body by themselves, fought\r\nso desperately with the enemy, that they were all cut off, leaving the\r\nAthenians deep regret for the loss of such brave men, and repentance for having\r\nso unjustly suspected them. Accordingly, they did not long retain their\r\nseverity toward Cimon, partly upon remembrance of his former services, and\r\npartly, perhaps, induced by the juncture of the times. For being defeated at\r\nTanagra in a great battle, and fearing the Peloponnesians would come upon them\r\nat the opening of the spring, they recalled Cimon by a decree, of which\r\nPericles himself was author. So reasonable were men’s resentments in those\r\ntimes, and so moderate their anger, that it always gave way to the public good.\r\nEven ambition, the least governable of all human passions, could then yield to\r\nthe necessities of the State.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCimon, as soon as he returned, put an end to the war, and reconciled the two\r\ncities. Peace thus established, seeing the Athenians impatient of being idle,\r\nand eager after the honor and aggrandizement of war, lest they should set upon\r\nthe Greeks themselves, or with so many ships cruising about the isles and\r\nPeloponnesus, they should give occasions to intestine wars, or complaints of\r\ntheir allies against them, he equipped two hundred galleys, with design to make\r\nan attempt upon Egypt and Cyprus; purposing, by this means, to accustom the\r\nAthenians to fight against the barbarians, and enrich themselves honestly by\r\nspoiling those who were the natural enemies to Greece. But when all things were\r\nprepared, and the army ready to embark, Cimon had this dream. It seemed to him\r\nthat there was a furious bitch barking at him, and, mixed with the barking, a\r\nkind of human voice uttered these words: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nCome on, for thou shalt shortly be,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nA pleasure to my whelps and me.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThis dream was hard to interpret, yet Astyphilus of Posidonia, a man skilled in\r\ndivinations, and intimate with Cimon, told him that his death was presaged by\r\nthis vision, which he thus explained. A dog is enemy to him be barks at; and\r\none is always most a pleasure to one’s enemies, when one is dead; the mixture\r\nof human voice with barking signifies the Medes, for the army of the Medes is\r\nmixed up of Greeks and barbarians. After this dream, as he was sacrificing to\r\nBacchus, and the priest cutting up the victim, a number of ants, taking up the\r\ncongealed particles of the blood, laid them about Cimon’s great toe. This was\r\nnot observed for a good while, but at the very time when Cimon spied it, the\r\npriest came and showed him the liver of the sacrifice imperfect, wanting that\r\npart of it called the head. But he could not then recede from the enterprise,\r\nso he set sail. Sixty of his ships he sent toward Egypt; with the rest he went\r\nand fought the king of Persia’s fleet, composed of Phoenician and Cilician\r\ngalleys, recovered all the cities thereabout, and threatened Egypt; designing\r\nno less than the entire ruin of the Persian empire. And the rather, for that he\r\nwas informed Themistocles was in great repute among the barbarians, having\r\npromised the king to lead his army, whenever he should make war upon Greece.\r\nBut Themistocles, it is said, abandoning all hopes of compassing his designs,\r\nvery much out of the despair of overcoming the valor and good-fortune of Cimon,\r\ndied a voluntary death. Cimon, intent on great designs, which he was now to\r\nenter upon, keeping his navy about the isle of Cyprus, sent messengers to\r\nconsult the oracle of Jupiter Ammon upon some secret matter. For it is not\r\nknown about what they were sent, and the god would give them no answer, but\r\ncommanded them to return again, for that Cimon was already with him. Hearing\r\nthis, they returned to sea, and as soon as they came to the Grecian army, which\r\nwas then about Egypt, they understood that Cimon was dead; and computing the\r\ntime of the oracle, they found that his death had been signified, he being then\r\nalready with the gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe died, some say, of sickness, while besieging Citium, in Cyprus; according to\r\nothers, of a wound he received in a skirmish with the barbarians. When he\r\nperceived he should die, he commanded those under his charge to return, and by\r\nno means to let the news of his death be known by the way; this they did with\r\nsuch secrecy that they all came home safe, and neither their enemies nor the\r\nallies knew what had happened. Thus, as Phanodemus relates, the Grecian army\r\nwas, as it were, conducted by Cimon, thirty days after he was dead. But after\r\nhis death there was not one commander among the Greeks that did anything\r\nconsiderable against the barbarians, and instead of uniting against their\r\ncommon enemies, the popular leaders and partisans of war animated them against\r\none another to that degree, that none could interpose their good offices to\r\nreconcile them. And while, by their mutual discord, they ruined the power of\r\nGreece, they gave the Persians time to recover breath, and repair all their\r\nlosses. It is true, indeed, Agesilaus carried the arms of Greece into Asia, but\r\nit was a long time after; there were, indeed, some brief appearances of a war\r\nagainst the king’s lieutenants in the maritime provinces, but they all quickly\r\nvanished; before he could perform anything of moment, he was recalled by fresh\r\ncivil dissensions and disturbances at home. So that he was forced to leave the\r\nPersian king’s officers to impose what tribute they pleased on the Greek cities\r\nin Asia, the confederates and allies of the Lacedaemonians. Whereas, in the\r\ntime of Cimon, not so much as a letter-carrier, or a single horseman, was ever\r\nseen to come within four hundred furlongs of the sea.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe monuments, called Cimonian to this day, in Athens, show that his remains\r\nwere conveyed home, yet the inhabitants of the city Citium pay particular honor\r\nto a certain tomb which they call the tomb of Cimon, according to Nausicrates\r\nthe rhetorician, who states that in a time of famine, when the crops of their\r\nland all failed, they sent to the oracle, which commanded them not to forget\r\nCimon, but give him the honors of a superior being. Such was the Greek\r\ncommander.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap36\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eLUCULLUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucullus’s grandfather had been consul; his uncle by the mother’s sister was\r\nMetellus, surnamed Numidicus. As for his parents, his father was convicted of\r\nextortion, and his mother Caecilia’s reputation was bad. The first thing that\r\nLucullus did before ever he stood for any office, or meddled with the affairs\r\nof state, being then but a youth, was, to accuse the accuser of his father,\r\nServilius the augur, having caught him in an offense against the state. This\r\nthing was much taken notice of among the Romans, who commended it as an act of\r\nhigh merit. Even without the provocation, the accusation was esteemed no\r\nunbecoming action, for they delighted to see young men as eagerly attacking\r\ninjustice, as good dogs do wild beasts. But when great animosities ensued,\r\ninsomuch that some were wounded and killed in the fray, Servilius escaped.\r\nLucullus followed his studies, and became a competent speaker, in both Greek\r\nand Latin, insomuch that Sylla, when composing the commentaries of his own life\r\nand actions, dedicated them to him, as one who could have performed the task\r\nbetter himself. His speech was not only elegant and ready for purposes of mere\r\nbusiness, like the ordinary oratory which will in the public market-place,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nLash as a wounded tunny does the sea,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nbut on every other occasion shows itself\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nDried up and perished with the want of wit;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nbut even in his younger days he addicted himself to the study, simply for its\r\nown sake, of the liberal arts; and when advanced in years, after a life of\r\nconflicts, he gave his mind, as it were, its liberty, to enjoy in full leisure\r\nthe refreshment of philosophy; and summoning up his contemplative faculties,\r\nadministered a timely check, after his difference with Pompey, to his feelings\r\nof emulation and ambition. Besides what has been said of his love of learning\r\nalready, one instance more was, that in his youth, upon a suggestion of writing\r\nthe Marsian war in Greek and Latin verse and prose, arising out of some\r\npleasantry that passed into a serious proposal, he agreed with Hortensius the\r\nlawyer, and Sisenna the historian, that he would take his lot; and it seems\r\nthat the lot directed him to the Greek tongue, for a Greek history of that war\r\nis still extant.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmong the many signs of the great love which he bore to his brother Marcus, one\r\nin particular is commemorated by the Romans. Though he was elder brother, he\r\nwould not step into authority without him, but deferred his own advance until\r\nhis brother was qualified to bear a share with him, and so won upon the people,\r\nas when absent to be chosen Aedile with him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe gave many and early proofs of his valor and conduct, in the Marsian war, and\r\nwas admired by Sylla for his constancy and mildness, and always employed in\r\naffairs of importance, especially in the mint; most of the money for carrying\r\non the Mithridatic war being coined by him in Peloponnesus, which, by the\r\nsoldiers’ wants, was brought into rapid circulation, and long continued current\r\nunder the name of Lucullean coin. After this, when Sylla conquered Athens, and\r\nwas victorious by land, but found the supplies for his army cut off, the enemy\r\nbeing master at sea, Lucullus was the man whom he sent into Libya and Egypt, to\r\nprocure him shipping. It was the depth of winter when he ventured with but\r\nthree small Greek vessels, and as many Rhodian galleys, not only into the main\r\nsea, but also among multitudes of vessels belonging to the enemies, who were\r\ncruising about as absolute masters. Arriving at Crete, he gained it; and\r\nfinding the Cyrenians harassed by long tyrannies and wars, he composed their\r\ntroubles, and settled their government; putting the city in mind of that saying\r\nwhich Plato once had oracularly uttered of them, who, being requested to\r\nprescribe laws to them, and mold them into some sound form of government, made\r\nanswer, that it was a hard thing to give laws to the Cyrenians, abounding, as\r\nthey did, in wealth and plenty. For nothing is more intractable than man when\r\nin felicity, nor anything more docile, when he has been reduced and humbled by\r\nfortune. This made the Cyrenians so willingly submit to the laws which Lucullus\r\nimposed upon them. From thence sailing into Egypt, and, pressed by pirates, he\r\nlost most of his vessels; but he himself narrowly escaping, made a magnificent\r\nentry into Alexandria. The whole fleet, a compliment due only to royalty, met\r\nhim in full array, and the young Ptolemy showed wonderful kindness to him,\r\nappointing him lodging and diet in the palace, where no foreign commander\r\nbefore him had been received. Besides, he gave him gratuities and presents, not\r\nsuch as were usually given to men of his condition, but four times as much; of\r\nwhich, however, he took nothing more than served his necessity, and accepted of\r\nno gift, though what was worth eighty talents was offered him. It is reported\r\nhe neither went to see Memphis, nor any of the celebrated wonders of Egypt. It\r\nwas for a man of no business and much curiosity to see such things, not for him\r\nwho had left his commander in the field, lodging under the ramparts of his\r\nenemies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPtolemy, fearing the issue of that war, deserted the confederacy, but\r\nnevertheless sent a convoy with him as far as Cyprus, and at parting, with much\r\nceremony, wishing him a good voyage, gave him a very precious emerald set in\r\ngold. Lucullus at first refused it, but when the king showed him his own\r\nlikeness cut upon it, he thought he could not persist in a denial, for had he\r\nparted with such open offense, it might have endangered his passage. Drawing a\r\nconsiderable squadron together, which he summoned, as he sailed by, out of all\r\nthe maritime towns, except those suspected of piracy, he sailed for Cyprus; and\r\nthere understanding that the enemy lay in wait under the promontories for him,\r\nhe laid up his fleet, and sent to the cities to send in provisions for his\r\nwintering among them. But when time served, he launched his ships suddenly, and\r\nwent off, and hoisting all his sails in the night, while he kept them down in\r\nthe day, thus came safe to Rhodes. Being furnished with ships at Rhodes, he\r\nalso prevailed upon the inhabitants of Cos and Cnidus, to leave the king’s\r\nside, and join in an expedition against the Samians. Out of Chios he himself\r\ndrove the king’s party, and set the Colophonians at liberty, having seized\r\nEpigonus the tyrant, who oppressed them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout this time Mithridates left Pergamus, and retired to Pitane, where being\r\nclosely besieged by Fimbria on the land, and not daring to engage with so bold\r\nand victorious a commander, he was concerting means for escape by sea, and sent\r\nfor all his fleets from every quarter to attend him. Which when Fimbria\r\nperceived, having no ships of his own, he sent to Lucullus, entreating him to\r\nassist him with his, in subduing the most odious and warlike of kings, lest the\r\nopportunity of humbling Mithridates, the prize which the Romans had pursued\r\nwith so much blood and trouble, should now at last be lost, when he was within\r\nthe net, and easily to be taken. And were he caught, no one would be more\r\nhighly commended than Lucullus, who stopped his passage and seized him in his\r\nflight. Being driven from the land by the one, and met in the sea by the other,\r\nhe would give matter of renown and glory to them both, and the much applauded\r\nactions of Sylla at Orchomenus and about Chaeronea, would no longer be thought\r\nof by the Romans. The proposal was no unreasonable thing; it being obvious to\r\nall men, that if Lucullus had hearkened to Fimbria, and with his navy, which\r\nwas then near at hand, had blocked up the haven, the war soon had been brought\r\nto an end, and infinite numbers of mischiefs prevented thereby. But he, whether\r\nfrom the sacredness of friendship between himself and Sylla, reckoning all\r\nother considerations of public or of private advantage inferior to it, or out\r\nof detestation of the wickedness of Fimbria, whom he abhorred for advancing\r\nhimself by the late death of his friend and the general of the army, or by a\r\ndivine fortune sparing Mithridates then, that he might have him an adversary\r\nfor a time to come, for whatever reason, refused to comply, and suffered\r\nMithridates to escape and laugh at the attempts of Fimbria. He himself alone\r\nfirst, near Lectum in Troas, in a sea-fight, overcame the king’s ships; and\r\nafterwards, discovering Neoptolemus lying in wait for him near Tenedos, with a\r\ngreater fleet, he went aboard a Rhodian quinquereme galley, commended by\r\nDamagoras, a man of great experience at sea, and friendly to the Romans, and\r\nsailed before the rest. Neoptolemus made up furiously at him, and commanded the\r\nmaster, with all imaginable might, to charge; but Damagoras, fearing the bulk\r\nand massy stem of the admiral, thought it dangerous to meet him prow to prow,\r\nand, rapidly wheeling round, bid his men back water, and so received him\r\nastern; in which place, though violently borne upon, he received no manner of\r\nharm, the blow being defeated by falling on those parts of the ship which lay\r\nunder water. By which time, the rest of the fleet coming up to him, Lucullus\r\ngave order to turn again, and vigorously falling, upon the enemy, put them to\r\nflight, and pursued Neoptolemus. After this he came to Sylla, in Chersonesus,\r\nas he was preparing to pass the strait, and brought timely assistance for the\r\nsafe transportation of the army.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPeace being presently made, Mithridates sailed off to the Euxine sea, but Sylla\r\ntaxed the inhabitants of Asia twenty thousand talents, and ordered Lucullus to\r\ngather and coin the money. And it was no small comfort to the cities under\r\nSylla’s severity, that a man of not only incorrupt and just behavior, but also\r\nof moderation, should be employed in so heavy and odious an office. The\r\nMitylenaeans, who absolutely revolted, he was willing should return to their\r\nduty, and submit to a moderate penalty for the offense they had given in the\r\ncase of Marius. But, finding them bent upon their own destruction, he came up\r\nto them, defeated them at sea, blocked them up in their city and besieged them;\r\nthen sailing off from them openly in the day to Elaea, he returned privately,\r\nand posting an ambush near the city, lay quiet himself: And on the Mitylenaeans\r\ncoming out eagerly and in disorder to plunder the deserted camp, he fell upon\r\nthem, took many of them, and slew five hundred, who stood upon their defense.\r\nHe gained six thousand slaves, and a very rich booty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was no way engaged in the great and general troubles of Italy which Sylla\r\nand Marius created, a happy providence at that time detaining him in Asia upon\r\nbusiness. He was as much in Sylla’s favor, however, as any of his other\r\nfriends; Sylla, as was said before, dedicated his Memoirs to him as a token of\r\nkindness, and at his death, passing by Pompey, made him guardian to his son;\r\nwhich seems, indeed, to have been the rise of the quarrel and jealousy between\r\nthem two being both young men, and passionate for honor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA little after Sylla’s death, he was made consul with Marcus Cotta, about the\r\none hundred and seventy-sixth Olympiad. The Mithridatic war being then under\r\ndebate, Marcus declared that it was not finished, but only respited for a time,\r\nand therefore, upon choice of provinces, the lot falling to Lucullus to have\r\nGaul within the Alps, a province where no great action was to be done, he was\r\nill-pleased. But chiefly, the success of Pompey in Spain fretted him, as, with\r\nthe renown he got there, if the Spanish war were finished in time, he was\r\nlikely to be chosen general before anyone else against Mithridates. So that\r\nwhen Pompey sent for money, and signified by letter that, unless it were sent\r\nhim, he would leave the country and Sertorius, and bring his forces home to\r\nItaly, Lucullus most zealously supported his request, to prevent any pretence\r\nof his returning home during his own consulship; for all things would have been\r\nat his disposal, at the head of so great an army. For Cethegus, the most\r\ninfluential popular leader at that time, owing to his always both acting and\r\nspeaking to please the people, had, as it happened, a hatred to Lucullus, who\r\nhad not concealed his disgust at his debauched, insolent, and lawless life.\r\nLucullus, therefore, was at open warfare with him. And Lucius Quintius, also,\r\nanother demagogue, who was taking steps against Sylla’s constitution, and\r\nendeavoring to put things out of order, by private exhortations and public\r\nadmonitions he checked in his designs, and repressed his ambition, wisely and\r\nsafely remedying a great evil at the very outset.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt this time news came that Octavius, the governor of Cilicia, was dead, and\r\nmany were eager for the place, courting Cethegus, as the man best able to serve\r\nthem. Lucullus set little value upon Cilicia itself, no otherwise than as he\r\nthought, by his acceptance of it, no other man besides himself might be\r\nemployed in the war against Mithridates, by reason of its nearness to\r\nCappadocia. This made him strain every effort that that province might be\r\nallotted to himself, and to none other; which led him at last into an expedient\r\nnot so honest or commendable, as it was serviceable for compassing his design,\r\nsubmitting to necessity against his own inclination. There was one Praecia, a\r\ncelebrated wit and beauty, but in other respects nothing better than an\r\nordinary harlot; who, however, to the charms of her person adding the\r\nreputation of one that loved and served her friends, by making use of those who\r\nvisited her to assist their designs and promote their interests, had thus\r\ngained great power. She had seduced Cethegus, the first man at that time in\r\nreputation and authority of all the city, and enticed him to her love, and so\r\nhad made all authority follow her. For nothing of moment was done in which\r\nCethegus was not concerned, and nothing by Cethegus without Praecia. This woman\r\nLucullus gained to his side by gifts and flattery, (and a great price it was in\r\nitself to so stately and magnificent a dame, to be seen engaged in the same\r\ncause with Lucullus,) and thus he presently found Cethegus his friend, using\r\nhis utmost interest to procure Cilicia for him; which when once obtained, there\r\nwas no more need of applying himself either to Praecia, or Cethegus; for all\r\nunanimously voted him to the Mithridatic war, by no hands likely to be so\r\nsuccessfully managed as his. Pompey was still contending with Sertorius, and\r\nMetellus by age unfit for service; which two alone were the competitors who\r\ncould prefer any claim with Lucullus for that command. Cotta, his colleague,\r\nafter much ado in the senate, was sent away with a fleet to guard the\r\nPropontis, and defend Bithynia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucullus carried with him a legion under his own orders, and crossed over into\r\nAsia and took the command of the forces there, composed of men who were all\r\nthoroughly disabled by dissoluteness and rapine, and the Fimbrians, as they\r\nwere called, utterly unmanageable by long want of any sort of discipline. For\r\nthese were they who under Fimbria had slain Flaccus, the consul and general,\r\nand afterwards betrayed Fimbria to Sylla; a willful and lawless set of men, but\r\nwarlike, expert, and hardy in the field. Lucullus in a short time took down the\r\ncourage of these, and disciplined the others, who then first, in all\r\nprobability, knew what a true commander and governor was; whereas in former\r\ntimes they had been courted to service, and took up arms at nobody’s command,\r\nbut their own wills.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe enemy’s provisions for war stood thus; Mithridates, like the Sophists,\r\nboastful and haughty at first, set upon the Romans, with a very inefficient\r\narmy, such, indeed, as made a good show, but was nothing for use. But being\r\nshamefully routed, and taught a lesson for a second engagement, he reduced his\r\nforces to a proper, serviceable shape. Dispensing with the mixed multitudes,\r\nand the noisy menaces of barbarous tribes of various languages, and with the\r\nornaments of gold and precious stones, a greater temptation to the victors than\r\nsecurity to the bearers, he gave his men broad swords like the Romans’, and\r\nmassy shields; chose horses better for service than show, drew up an hundred\r\nand twenty thousand foot in the figure of the Roman phalanx, and had sixteen\r\nthousand horse, besides chariots armed with scythes, no less than a hundred.\r\nBesides which, he set out a fleet not at all cumbered with gilded cabins,\r\nluxurious baths and women’s furniture, but stored with weapons and darts, and\r\nother necessaries, and thus made a descent upon Bithynia. Not only did these\r\nparts willingly receive him again, but almost all Asia regarded him as their\r\nsalvation from the intolerable miseries which they were suffering from the\r\nRoman money-lenders, and revenue farmers. These, afterwards, who like harpies\r\nstole away their very nourishment, Lucullus drove away, and at this time by\r\nreproving them, did what he could to make them more moderate, and to prevent a\r\ngeneral secession, then breaking out in all parts. While Lucullus was detained\r\nin rectifying these matters, Cotta, finding affairs ripe for action, prepared\r\nfor battle with Mithridates; and news coming from all hands that Lucullus had\r\nalready entered Phrygia, on his march against the enemy, he, thinking he had a\r\ntriumph all but actually in his hands, lest his colleague should share in the\r\nglory of it, hasted to battle without him. But being routed, both by sea and\r\nland, he lost sixty ships with their men, and four thousand foot, and himself\r\nwas forced into and besieged in Chalcedon, there waiting for relief from\r\nLucullus. There were those about Lucullus who would have had him leave Cotta\r\nand go forward, in hope of surprising the defenseless kingdom of Mithridates.\r\nAnd this was the feeling of the soldiers in general, who wore indignant that\r\nCotta should by his ill-counsel not only lose his own army, but hinder them\r\nalso from conquest, which at that time, without the hazard of a battle, they\r\nmight have obtained. But Lucullus, in a public address, declared to them that\r\nhe would rather save one citizen from the enemy, than be master of all that\r\nthey had.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nArchelaus, the former commander in Boeotia under Mithridates, who afterwards\r\ndeserted him and accompanied the Romans, protested to Lucullus that, upon his\r\nmere coming, he would possess himself of all Pontus. But he answered, that it\r\ndid not become him to be more cowardly than huntsmen, to leave the wild beasts\r\nabroad, and seek after sport in their deserted dens. Having so said, he made\r\ntowards Mithridates with thirty thousand foot, and two thousand five hundred\r\nhorse. But on being come in sight of his enemies, he was astonished at their\r\nnumbers, and thought to forbear fighting, and wear out time. But Marius, whom\r\nSertorius had sent out of Spain to Mithridates with forces under him, stepping\r\nout and challenging him, he prepared for battle. In the very instant before\r\njoining battle, without any perceptible alteration preceding, on a sudden the\r\nsky opened, and a large luminous body fell down in the midst between the\r\narmies, in shape like a hogshead, but in color like melted silver, insomuch\r\nthat both armies in alarm withdrew. This wonderful prodigy happened in Phrygia,\r\nnear Otryae. Lucullus after this began to think with himself that no human\r\npower and wealth could suffice to sustain such great numbers as Mithridates\r\nhad, for any long time in the face of an enemy, and commanded one of the\r\ncaptives to be brought before him, and first of all asked him, how many\r\ncompanions had been quartered with him, and how much provision he had left\r\nbehind him, and when he had answered him, commanded him to stand aside; then\r\nasked a second and a third the same question; after which, comparing the\r\nquantity of provision with the men, he found that in three or four days’ time,\r\nhis enemies would be brought to want. This all the more determined him to trust\r\nto time, and he took measures to store his camp with all sorts of provision,\r\nand thus living in plenty, trusted to watch the necessities of his hungry\r\nenemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis made Mithridates set out against the Cyzicenians, miserably shattered in\r\nthe fight at Chalcedon, where they lost no less than three thousand citizens\r\nand ten ships. And that he might the safer steal away unobserved by Lucullus,\r\nimmediately after supper, by the help of a dark and wet night, he went off and\r\nby the morning gained the neighborhood of the city, and sat down with his\r\nforces upon the Adrastean mount. Lucullus, on finding him gone, pursued, but\r\nwas well pleased not to overtake him with his own forces in disorder; and he\r\nsat down near what is called the Thracian village, an admirable position for\r\ncommanding all the roads and the places whence, and through which the\r\nprovisions for Mithridates’s camp must of necessity come. And judging now of\r\nthe event, he no longer kept his mind from his soldiers, but when the camp was\r\nfortified and their work finished, called them together, and with great\r\nassurance told them that in a few days, without the expense of blood, he would\r\ngive them victory.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMithridates besieged the Cyzicenians with ten camps by land, and with his ships\r\noccupied the strait that was betwixt their city and the main land, and so\r\nblocked them up on all sides; they, however, were fully prepared stoutly to\r\nreceive him, and resolved to endure the utmost extremity, rather than forsake\r\nthe Romans. That which troubled them most was, that they knew not where\r\nLucullus was, and heard nothing of him, though at that time his army was\r\nvisible before them. But they were imposed upon by the Mithridatians, who,\r\nshowing them the Romans encamped on the hills, said, “Do ye see those? those\r\nare the auxiliary Armenians and Medes, whom Tigranes has sent to Mithridates.”\r\nThey were thus overwhelmed with thinking of the vast numbers round them, and\r\ncould not believe any way of relief was left them, even if Lucullus should come\r\nup to their assistance. Demonax, a messenger sent in by Archelaus, was the\r\nfirst who told them of Lucullus’s arrival; but they disbelieved his report, and\r\nthought he came with a story invented merely to encourage them. At which time\r\nit happened that a boy, a prisoner who had run away from the enemy, was brought\r\nbefore them; who, being asked where Lucullus was, laughed at their jesting, as\r\nhe thought, but, finding them in earnest, with his finger pointed to the Roman\r\ncamp; upon which they took courage. The lake Dascylitis was navigated with\r\nvessels of some little size; one, the biggest of them, Lucullus drew ashore,\r\nand carrying her across in a wagon to the sea, filled her with soldiers, who,\r\nsailing along unseen in the dead of the night, came safe into the city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe gods themselves, too, in admiration of the constancy of the Cyzicenians,\r\nseem to have animated them with manifest signs, more especially now in the\r\nfestival of Proserpine, where a black heifer being wanting for sacrifice, they\r\nsupplied it by a figure made of dough, which they set before the altar. But the\r\nholy heifer set apart for the goddess, and at that time grazing with the other\r\nherds of the Cyzicenians on the other side of the strait, left the herd and\r\nswam over to the city alone, and offered herself for sacrifice. By night, also,\r\nthe goddess appearing to Aristagoras, the town clerk, “I am come,” said she,\r\n“and have brought the Libyan piper against the Pontic trumpeter; bid the\r\ncitizens, therefore, be of good courage.” While the Cyzicenians were wondering\r\nwhat the words could mean, a sudden wind sprung up and caused a considerable\r\nmotion on the sea. The king’s battering engines, the wonderful contrivance of\r\nNiconides of Thessaly, then under the walls, by their cracking and rattling,\r\nsoon demonstrated what would follow; after which an extraordinarily tempestuous\r\nsouth wind succeeding shattered in a short space of time all the rest of the\r\nworks, and by a violent concussion, threw down the wooden tower a hundred\r\ncubits high. It is said that in Ilium Minerva appeared to many that night in\r\ntheir sleep, with the sweat running down her person, and showed them her robe\r\ntorn in one place, telling them that she had just arrived from relieving the\r\nCyzicenians; and the inhabitants to this day show a monument with an\r\ninscription, including a public decree, referring to the fact.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMithridates, through the knavery of his officers, not knowing for some time the\r\nwant of provision in his camp, was troubled in mind that the Cyzicenians should\r\nhold out against him. But his ambition and anger fell, when he saw his soldiers\r\nin the extremity of want, and feeding on man’s flesh; as, in truth, Lucullus\r\nwas not carrying on the war as mere matter of show and stage-play, but\r\naccording to the proverb, made the seat of war in the belly, and did everything\r\nto cut off their supplies of food. Mithridates, therefore, took advantage of\r\nthe time, while Lucullus was storming a fort, and sent away almost all his\r\nhorse to Bithynia, with the sumpter cattle, and as many of the foot as were\r\nunfit for service. On intelligence of which, Lucullus, while it was yet night,\r\ncame to his camp, and in the morning, though it was stormy weather, took with\r\nhim ten cohorts of foot, and the horse, and pursued them under falling snow and\r\nin cold so severe that many of his soldiers were unable to proceed; and with\r\nthe rest coming upon the enemy, near the river Rhyndacus, he overthrew them\r\nwith so great a slaughter, that the very women of Apollonia came out to seize\r\non the booty and strip the slain. Great numbers, as we may suppose, were slain;\r\nsix thousand horses were taken, with an infinite number of beasts of burden,\r\nand no less than fifteen thousand men. All which he led along by the enemy’s\r\ncamp. I cannot but wonder on this occasion at Sallust, who says that this was\r\nthe first time camels were seen by the Romans, as if he thought those who, long\r\nbefore, under Scipio, defeated Antiochus, or those who lately had fought\r\nagainst Archelaus near Orchomenus and Chaeronea, had not known what a camel\r\nwas. Mithridates, himself fully determined upon flight, as mere delays and\r\ndiversions for Lucullus, sent his admiral Aristonicus to the Greek sea; who,\r\nhowever, was betrayed in the very instant of going off, and Lucullus became\r\nmaster of him, and ten thousand pieces of gold which he was carrying with him\r\nto corrupt some of the Roman army. After which, Mithridates himself made for\r\nthe sea, leaving the foot officers to conduct the army, upon whom Lucullus\r\nfell, near the river Granicus, where he took a vast number alive, and slew\r\ntwenty thousand. It is reported that the total number killed, of fighting men\r\nand of others who followed the camp, amounted to something not far short of\r\nthree hundred thousand.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucullus first went to Cyzicus, where he was received with all the joy and\r\ngratitude suiting the occasion, and then collected a navy, visiting the shores\r\nof the Hellespont. And arriving at Troas, he lodged in the temple of Venus,\r\nwhere, in the night, he thought he saw the goddess coming to him, and saying,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSleep’st thou, great lion, when the fawns are nigh?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nRising up hereupon, he called his friends to him, it being yet night, and told\r\nthem his vision; at which instant some Ilians came up and acquainted him that\r\nthirteen of the king’s quinqueremes were seen off the Achaean harbor, sailing\r\nfor Lemnos. He at once put to sea, took these, and slew their admiral Isidorus.\r\nAnd then he made after another squadron, who were just come into port, and were\r\nhauling their vessels ashore, but fought from the decks, and sorely galled\r\nLucullus’s men; there being neither room to sail round them, nor to bear upon\r\nthem for any damage, his ships being afloat, while theirs stood secure and\r\nfixed on the sand. After much ado, at the only landing-place of the island, he\r\ndisembarked the choicest of his men, who, falling upon the enemy behind, killed\r\nsome, and forced others to cut their cables, and thus making from the shore,\r\nthey fell foul upon one another, or came within the reach of Lucullus’s fleet.\r\nMany were killed in the action. Among the captives was Marius, the commander\r\nsent by Sertorius, who had but one eye. And it was Lucullus’s strict command to\r\nhis men before the engagement, that they should kill no man who had but one\r\neye, that he might rather die under disgrace and reproach.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis being over, he hastened his pursuit after Mithridates, whom he hoped to\r\nfind still in Bithynia, intercepted by Voconius, whom he sent out before to\r\nNicomedia with part of the fleet, to stop his flight. But Voconius, loitering\r\nin Samothrace to get initiated and celebrate a feast, let slip his opportunity,\r\nMithridates being passed by with all his fleet. He, hastening into Pontus\r\nbefore Lucullus should come up to him, was caught in a storm, which dispersed\r\nhis fleet and sunk several ships. The wreck floated on all the neighboring\r\nshore for many days after. The merchant ship, in which he himself was, could\r\nnot well in that heavy swell be brought ashore by the masters for its bigness,\r\nand it being heavy with water and ready to sink, he left it and went aboard a\r\npirate vessel, delivering himself into the hands of pirates, and thus\r\nunexpectedly and wonderfully came safe to Heraclea, in Pontus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus the proud language Lucullus had used to the senate, ended without any\r\nmischance. For they having decreed him three thousand talents to furnish out a\r\nnavy, he himself was against it, and sent them word that without any such great\r\nand costly supplies, by the confederate shipping alone, he did not in the least\r\ndoubt but to rout Mithridates from the sea. And so he did, by divine\r\nassistance, for it is said that the wrath of Diana of Priapus brought the great\r\ntempest upon the men of Pontus, because they had robbed her temple, and removed\r\nher image.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMany were persuading Lucullus to defer the war, but he rejected their counsel,\r\nand marched through Bithynia and Galatia into the king’s country, in such great\r\nscarcity of provision at first, that thirty thousand Galatians followed, every\r\nman carrying a bushel of wheat at his back. But subduing all in his progress\r\nbefore him, he at last found himself in such great plenty, that an ox was sold\r\nin the camp for a single drachma, and a slave for four. The other booty they\r\nmade no account of, but left it behind or destroyed it; there being no\r\ndisposing of it, where all had such abundance. But when they had made frequent\r\nincursions with their cavalry, and had advanced as far Themiscyra, and the\r\nplains of the Thermodon, merely laying waste the country before them, they\r\nbegan to find fault with Lucullus, asking “why he took so many towns by\r\nsurrender, and never one by storm, which might enrich them with the plunder?\r\nand now, forsooth, leaving Amisus behind, a rich and wealthy city, of easy\r\nconquest, if closely besieged, he will carry us into the Tibarenian and\r\nChaldean wilderness, to fight with Mithridates.” Lucullus, little thinking this\r\nwould be of such dangerous consequence as it afterwards proved, took no notice\r\nand slighted it; and was rather anxious to excuse himself to those who blamed\r\nhis tardiness, in losing time about small pitiful places not worth the while,\r\nand allowing Mithridates opportunity to recruit. “That is what I design,” said\r\nhe, “and sit here contriving by my delay, that he may grow great again, and\r\ngather a considerable army, which may induce him to stand, and not fly away\r\nbefore us. For do you not see the wide and unknown wilderness behind? Caucasus\r\nis not far off, and a multitude of vast mountains, enough to conceal ten\r\nthousand kings that wished to avoid a battle. Besides this, a journey but of\r\nfew days leads from Cabira to Armenia, where Tigranes reigns, king of kings,\r\nand holds in his hands a power that has enabled him to keep the Parthians in\r\nnarrow bounds, to remove Greek cities bodily into Media, to conquer Syria and\r\nPalestine, to put to death the kings of the royal line of Seleucus, and carry\r\naway their wives and daughters by violence. This same is relation and\r\nson-in-law to Mithridates, and cannot but receive him upon entreaty, and enter\r\ninto war with us to defend him; so that, while we endeavor to depose\r\nMithridates, we shall endanger the bringing in of Tigranes against us, who\r\nalready has sought occasion to fall out with us, but can never find one so\r\njustifiable as the succor of a friend and prince in his necessity. Why,\r\ntherefore, should we put Mithridates upon this resource, who as yet does not\r\nsee now he may best fight with us, and disdains to stoop to Tigranes; and not\r\nrather allow him time to gather a new army and grow confident again, that we\r\nmay thus fight with Colchians, and Tibarenians, whom we have often defeated\r\nalready, and not with Medes and Armenians.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon these motives, Lucullus sat down before Amisus, and slowly carried on the\r\nsiege. But the winter being well spent, he left Murena in charge of it, and\r\nwent himself against Mithridates, then rendezvousing at Cabira, and resolving\r\nto await the Romans, with forty thousand foot about him, and fourteen thousand\r\nhorse, on whom he chiefly confided. Passing the river Lycus, he challenged the\r\nRomans into the plains, where the cavalry engaged, and the Romans were beaten.\r\nPomponius, a man of some note, was taken wounded; and sore, and in pain as he\r\nwas, was carried before Mithridates, and asked by the king, if he would become\r\nhis friend, if he saved his life. He answered, “yes, if you become reconciled\r\nto the Romans; if not, your enemy.” Mithridates wondered at him, and did him no\r\nhurt. The enemy being with their cavalry master of the plains, Lucullus was\r\nsomething afraid, and hesitated to enter the mountains, being very large,\r\nwoody, and almost inaccessible, when, by good luck, some Greeks who had fled\r\ninto a cave were taken, the eldest of whom, Artemidorus by name, promised to\r\nbring Lucullus, and seat him in a place of safety for his army, where there was\r\na fort that overlooked Cabira. Lucullus, believing him, lighted his fires, and\r\nmarched in the night; and safely passing the defile, gained the place, and in\r\nthe morning was seen above the enemy, pitching his camp in a place advantageous\r\nto descend upon them if he desired to fight, and secure from being forced, if\r\nhe preferred to lie still. Neither side was willing to engage at present. But\r\nit is related that some of the king’s party were hunting a stag, and some\r\nRomans wanting to cut them off, came out and met them. Whereupon they\r\nskirmished, more still drawing together to each side, and at last the king’s\r\nparty prevailed, on which the Romans, from their camp seeing their companions\r\nfly, were enraged, and ran to Lucullus with entreaties to lead them out,\r\ndemanding that the sign might be given for battle. But he, that they might know\r\nof what consequence the presence and appearance of a wise commander is in time\r\nof conflict and danger, ordered them to stand still. But he went down himself\r\ninto the plains, and meeting with the foremost that fled, commanded them to\r\nstand and turn back with him. These obeying, the rest also turned and formed\r\nagain in a body, and thus, with no great difficulty, drove back the enemies,\r\nand pursued them to their camp. After his return, Lucullus inflicted the\r\ncustomary punishment upon the fugitives, and made them dig a trench of twelve\r\nfoot, working in their frocks unfastened, while the rest stood by and looked\r\non.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was in Mithridates’s camp, one Olthacus a chief of the Dandarians, a\r\nbarbarous people living near the lake Maeotis, a man remarkable for strength\r\nand courage in fight, wise in council, and pleasant and ingratiating in\r\nconversation. He, out of emulation, and a constant eagerness which possessed\r\nhim to outdo one of the other chiefs of his country, promised a great piece of\r\nservice to Mithridates, no less than the death of Lucullus. The king commended\r\nhis resolution, and, according to agreement, counterfeited anger, and put some\r\ndisgrace upon him; whereupon he took horse, and fled to Lucullus, who kindly\r\nreceived him, being a man of great name in the army. After some short trial of\r\nhis sagacity and perseverance, he found way to Lucullus’s board and council.\r\nThe Dandarian, thinking he had a fair opportunity, commanded his servants to\r\nlead his horse out of the camp, while he himself, as the soldiers were\r\nrefreshing and resting themselves, it being then high noon, went to the\r\ngeneral’s tent, not at all expecting that entrance would be denied to one who\r\nwas so familiar with him, and came under pretence of extraordinary business\r\nwith him. He had certainly been admitted, had not sleep, which has destroyed\r\nmany captains, saved Lucullus. For so it was, and Menedemus, one of the\r\nbedchamber, was standing at the door, who told Olthacus that it was altogether\r\nunseasonable to see the general, since, after long watching and hard labor, he\r\nwas but just before laid down to repose himself. Olthacus would not go away\r\nupon this denial, but still persisted, saying that he must go in to speak of\r\nsome necessary affairs, whereupon Menedemus grew angry, and replied that\r\nnothing was more necessary than the safety of Lucullus, and forced him away\r\nwith both hands. Upon which, out of fear, he straightaway left the camp, took\r\nhorse, and without effect returned to Mithridates. Thus in action as in physic,\r\nit is the critical moment that gives both the fortunate and the fatal effect.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Sornatius being sent out with ten companies for forage, and pursued\r\nby Menander, one of Mithridates’s captains, stood his ground, and after a sharp\r\nengagement, routed and slew a considerable number of the enemy. Adrianus being\r\nsent afterward, with some forces, to procure food enough and to spare for the\r\ncamp, Mithridates did not let the opportunity slip, but dispatched Menemachus\r\nand Myro, with a great force, both horse and foot, against him, all which\r\nexcept two men, it is stated, were cut off by the Romans. Mithridates concealed\r\nthe loss, giving it out that it was a small defeat, nothing near so great as\r\nreported, and occasioned by the unskillfulness of the leaders. But Adrianus in\r\ngreat pomp passed by his camp, having many wagons full of corn and other booty,\r\nfilling Mithridates with distress, and the army with confusion and\r\nconsternation. It was resolved, therefore, to stay no longer. But when the\r\nking’s servants sent away their own goods quietly, and hindered others from\r\ndoing so too, the soldiers in great fury thronged and crowded to the gates,\r\nseized on the king’s servants and killed them, and plundered the baggage.\r\nDorylaus, the general, in this confusion, having nothing else besides his\r\npurple cloak, lost his life for that, and Hermaeus, the priest, was trod\r\nunderfoot in the gate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMithridates, having not one of his guards, nor even a groom remaining with him,\r\ngot out of the camp in the throng, but had none of his horses with him; until\r\nPtolemy, the eunuch, some little time after, seeing him in the press making his\r\nway among the others, dismounted and gave his horse to the king. The Romans\r\nwere already close upon him in their pursuit, nor was it through want of speed\r\nthat they failed to catch him, but they were as near as possible doing so. But\r\ngreediness and a petty military avarice hindered them from acquiring that\r\nbooty, which in so many fights and hazards they had sought after, and lost\r\nLucullus the prize of his victory. For the horse which carried the king was\r\nwithin reach, but one of the mules that carried the treasure either by accident\r\nstepping in, or by order of the king so appointed to go between him and the\r\npursuers, they seized and pilfered the gold, and falling out among themselves\r\nabout the prey, let slip the great prize. Neither was their greediness\r\nprejudicial to Lucullus in this only, but also they slew Callistratus, the\r\nking’s confidential attendant, under suspicion of having five hundred pieces of\r\ngold in his girdle; whereas Lucullus had specially ordered that he should be\r\nconveyed safe into the camp. Notwithstanding all which, he gave them leave to\r\nplunder the camp.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, in Cabira, and other strong-holds which he took, he found great\r\ntreasures, and private prisons, in which many Greeks and many of the king’s\r\nrelations had been confined, who, having long since counted themselves no other\r\nthan dead men, by the favor of Lucullus, met not with relief so truly as with a\r\nnew life and second birth. Nyssa, also, sister of Mithridates, enjoyed the like\r\nfortunate captivity; while those who seemed to be most out of danger, his wives\r\nand sisters at Phernacia, placed in safety, as they thought, miserably\r\nperished, Mithridates in his flight sending Bacchides the eunuch to them. Among\r\nothers there were two sisters of the king, Roxana and Statira, unmarried women\r\nforty years old, and two Ionian wives, Berenice of Chios, and Monime of\r\nMiletus. This latter was the most celebrated among the Greeks, because she so\r\nlong withstood the king in his courtship to her, though he presented her with\r\nfifteen thousand pieces of gold, until a covenant of marriage was made, and a\r\ncrown was sent her, and she was saluted queen. She had been a sorrowful woman\r\nbefore, and often bewailed her beauty, that had procured her a keeper, instead\r\nof a husband, and a watch of barbarians, instead of the home and attendance of\r\na wife; and, removed far from Greece, she enjoyed the pleasure which she\r\nproposed to herself, only in a dream, being in the meantime robbed of that\r\nwhich is real. And when Bacchides came and bade them prepare for death, as\r\neveryone thought most easy and painless, she took the diadem from her head, and\r\nfastening the string to her neck, suspended herself with it; which soon\r\nbreaking, “O wretched headband!” said she, “not able to help me even in this\r\nsmall thing!” And throwing it away she spat on it, and offered her throat to\r\nBacchides. Berenice had prepared a potion for herself, but at her mother’s\r\nentreaty, who stood by, she gave her part of it. Both drank of the potion,\r\nwhich prevailed over the weaker body. But Berenice, having drunk too little,\r\nwas not released by it, but lingering on unable to die, was strangled by\r\nBacchides for haste. It is said that one of the unmarried sisters drank the\r\npoison, with bitter execrations and curses; but Statira uttered nothing\r\nungentle or reproachful, but, on the contrary, commended her brother, who in\r\nhis own danger neglected not theirs, but carefully provided that they might go\r\nout of the world without shame or disgrace.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucullus, being a good and humane man, was concerned at these things. However,\r\ngoing on he came to Talaura, from whence four days before his arrival\r\nMithridates had fled, and was got to Tigranes in Armenia. He turned off,\r\ntherefore, and subdued the Chaldeans and Tibarenians, with the lesser Armenia,\r\nand having reduced all their forts and cities, he sent Appius to Tigranes to\r\ndemand Mithridates. He himself went to Amisus, which still held out under the\r\ncommand of Callimachus, who, by his great engineering skill, and his dexterity\r\nat all the shifts and subtleties of a siege, had greatly incommoded the Romans.\r\nFor which afterward he paid dear enough, and was now out-maneuvered by\r\nLucullus, who, unexpectedly coming upon him at the time of the day when the\r\nsoldiers used to withdraw and rest themselves, gained part of the wall, and\r\nforced him to leave the city, in doing which he fired it; either envying the\r\nRomans the booty, or to secure his own escape the better. No man looked after\r\nthose who went off in the ships, but as soon as the fire had seized on most\r\npart of the wall, the soldiers prepared themselves for plunder; while Lucullus,\r\npitying the ruin of the city, brought assistance from without, and encouraged\r\nhis men to extinguish the flames. But all, being intent upon the prey, and\r\ngiving no heed to him, with loud outcries beat and clashed their arms together,\r\nuntil he was compelled to let them plunder, that by that means he might at\r\nleast save the city from fire. But they did quite the contrary, for in\r\nsearching the houses with lights and torches everywhere, they were themselves\r\nthe cause of the destruction of most of the buildings, insomuch that when\r\nLucullus the next day went in, he shed tears, and said to his friends, that he\r\nhad often before blessed the fortune of Sylla but never so much admired it as\r\nthen, because when he was willing, he was also able to save Athens, “but my\r\ninfelicity is such, that while I endeavor to imitate him, I become like\r\nMummius.” Nevertheless, he endeavored to save as much of the city as he could,\r\nand at the same time, also, by a happy providence, a fall of rain concurred to\r\nextinguish the fire. He himself while present repaired the ruins as much as he\r\ncould, receiving back the inhabitants who had fled, and settling as many other\r\nGreeks as were willing to live there, adding a hundred and twenty furlongs of\r\nground to the place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis city was a colony of Athens, built at that time when she flourished and\r\nwas powerful at sea, upon which account many who fled from Aristion’s tyranny\r\nsettled here, and were admitted as citizens, but had the ill-luck to fly from\r\nevils at home, into greater abroad. As many of these as survived, Lucullus\r\nfurnished every one with clothes, and two hundred drachmas, and sent them away\r\ninto their own country. On this occasion, Tyrannion the grammarian was taken.\r\nMurena begged him of Lucullus, and took him and made him a freedman; but in\r\nthis he abused Lucullus’s favor, who by no means liked that a man of high\r\nrepute for learning should be first made a slave, and then freed; for freedom\r\nthus speciously granted again, was a real deprivation of what he had before.\r\nBut not in this case alone Murena showed himself far inferior in generosity to\r\nthe general. Lucullus was now busy in looking after the cities of Asia, and\r\nhaving no war to divert his time, spent it in the administration of law and\r\njustice, the want of which had for a long time left the province a prey to\r\nunspeakable and incredible miseries; so plundered and enslaved by tax-farmers\r\nand usurers, that private people were compelled to sell their sons in the\r\nflower of their youth, and their daughters in their virginity, and the States\r\npublicly to sell their consecrated gifts, pictures, and statues. In the end\r\ntheir lot was to yield themselves up slaves to their creditors, but before\r\nthis, worse troubles befell them, tortures, inflicted with ropes and by horses,\r\nstanding abroad to be scorched when the sun was hot, and being driven into ice\r\nand clay in the cold; insomuch that slavery was no less than a redemption and\r\njoy to them. Lucullus in a short time freed the cities from all these evils and\r\noppressions; for, first of all, he ordered there should be no more taken than\r\none percent. Secondly, where the interest exceeded the principal, he struck it\r\noff. The third, and most considerable order was, that the creditor should\r\nreceive the fourth part of the debtor’s income; but if any lender had added the\r\ninterest to the principal, it was utterly disallowed. Insomuch, that in the\r\nspace of four years all debts were paid, and lands returned to their right\r\nowners. The public debt was contracted when Asia was fined twenty thousand\r\ntalents by Sylla, but twice as much was paid to the collectors, who by their\r\nusury had by this time advanced it to a hundred and twenty thousand talents.\r\nAnd accordingly they inveighed against Lucullus at Rome, as grossly injured by\r\nhim, and by their money’s help, (as, indeed, they were very powerful, and had\r\nmany of the statesmen in their debt,) they stirred up several leading men\r\nagainst him. But Lucullus was not only beloved by the cities which he obliged,\r\nbut was also wished for by other provinces, who blessed the good-luck of those\r\nwho had such a governor over them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAppius Clodius, who was sent to Tigranes, (the same Clodius was brother to\r\nLucullus’s wife,) being led by the king’s guides, a roundabout way,\r\nunnecessarily long and tedious, through the upper country, being informed by\r\nhis freedman, a Syrian by nation, of the direct road, left that lengthy and\r\nfallacious one; and bidding the barbarians, his guides, adieu, in a few days\r\npassed over Euphrates, and came to Antioch upon Daphne. There being commanded\r\nto wait for Tigranes, who at that time was reducing some towns in Phoenicia, he\r\nwon over many chiefs to his side, who unwillingly submitted to the king of\r\nArmenia, among whom was Zarbienus, king of the Gordyenians; also many of the\r\nconquered cities corresponded privately with him, whom he assured of relief\r\nfrom Lucullus, but ordered them to lie still at present. The Armenian\r\ngovernment was an oppressive one, and intolerable to the Greeks, especially\r\nthat of the present king, who, growing insolent and overbearing with his\r\nsuccess, imagined all things valuable and esteemed among men not only were his\r\nin fact, but had been purposely created for him alone. From a small and\r\ninconsiderable beginning, he had gone on to be the conqueror of many nations,\r\nhad humbled the Parthian power more than any before him, and filled Mesopotamia\r\nwith Greeks, whom he carried in numbers out of Cilicia and Cappadocia. He\r\ntransplanted also the Arabs, who lived in tents, from their country and home,\r\nand settled them near him, that by their means he might carry on the trade.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe had many kings waiting on him, but four he always carried with him as\r\nservants and guards, who, when he rode, ran by his horse’s side in ordinary\r\nunder-frocks, and attended him, when sitting on his throne, and publishing his\r\ndecrees to the people, with their hands folded together; which posture of all\r\nothers was that which most expressed slavery, it being that of men who had\r\nbidden adieu to liberty, and had prepared their bodies more for chastisement,\r\nthan the service of their masters. Appius, nothing dismayed or surprised at\r\nthis theatrical display, as soon as audience was granted him, said he came to\r\ndemand Mithridates for Lucullus’s triumph, otherwise to denounce war against\r\nTigranes, insomuch that though Tigranes endeavored to receive him with a smooth\r\ncountenance and a forced smile, he could not dissemble his discomposure to\r\nthose who stood about him, at the bold language of the young man; for it was\r\nthe first time, perhaps, in twenty-five years, the length of his reign, or,\r\nmore truly, of his tyranny, that any free speech had been uttered to him.\r\nHowever, he made answer to Appius, that he would not desert Mithridates, and\r\nwould defend himself, if the Romans attacked him. He was angry, also, with\r\nLucullus for calling him only king in his letter, and not king of kings, and,\r\nin his answer, would not give him his title of imperator. Great gifts were sent\r\nto Appius, which he refused; but on their being sent again and augmented, that\r\nhe might not seem to refuse in anger, he took one goblet and sent the rest\r\nback, and without delay went off to the general.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTigranes before this neither vouchsafed to see nor speak with Mithridates,\r\nthough a near kinsman, and forced out of so considerable a kingdom, but proudly\r\nand scornfully kept him at a distance, as a sort of prisoner, in a marshy and\r\nunhealthy district; but now, with much profession of respect and kindness, he\r\nsent for him, and at a private conference between them in the palace, they\r\nhealed up all private jealousies between them, punishing their favorites, who\r\nbore all the blame; among whom Metrodorus of Scepsis was one, an eloquent and\r\nlearned man, and so close an intimate as commonly to be called the king’s\r\nfather. This man, as it happened, being employed in an embassy by Mithridates\r\nto solicit help against the Romans, Tigranes asked him, “what would you,\r\nMetrodorus, advise me to in this affair?” In return to which, either out of\r\ngood-will to Tigranes, or a want of solicitude for Mithridates, he made answer,\r\nthat as ambassador he counseled him to it, but as a friend dissuaded him from\r\nit. This Tigranes reported, and affirmed to Mithridates, thinking that no\r\nirreparable harm would come of it to Metrodorus. But upon this he was presently\r\ntaken off, and Tigranes was sorry for what he had done, though he had not,\r\nindeed, been absolutely the cause of his death; yet he had given the fatal turn\r\nto the anger of Mithridates, who had privately hated him before, as appeared\r\nfrom his cabinet papers when taken, among which there was an order that\r\nMetrodorus should die. Tigranes buried him splendidly, sparing no cost to his\r\ndead body, whom he betrayed when alive. In Tigranes’s court died, also,\r\nAmphicrates the orator, (if, for the sake of Athens, we may also mention him,)\r\nof whom it is told that he left his country and fled to Seleucia, upon the\r\nriver Tigris, and, being desired to teach logic among them, arrogantly replied,\r\nthat the dish was too little to hold a dolphin. He, therefore, came to\r\nCleopatra, daughter of Mithridates, and queen to Tigranes, but being accused of\r\nmisdemeanors, and prohibited all commerce with his countrymen, ended his days\r\nby starving himself. He, in like manner, received from Cleopatra an honorable\r\nburial, near Sapha, a place so called in that country.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucullus, when he had reestablished law and a lasting peace in Asia, did not\r\naltogether forget pleasure and mirth, but, during his residence at Ephesus,\r\ngratified the cities with sports, festival triumphs, wrestling games and single\r\ncombats of gladiators. And they, in requital, instituted others, called\r\nLucullean games, in honor to him, thus manifesting their love to him, which was\r\nof more value to him than all the honor. But when Appius came to him, and told\r\nhim he must prepare for war with Tigranes, he went again into Pontus, and,\r\ngathering together his army, besieged Sinope, or rather the Cilicians of the\r\nking’s side who held it; who thereupon killed a number of the Sinopians, and\r\nset the city on fire, and by night endeavored to escape. Which when Lucullus\r\nperceived, he entered the city, and killed eight thousand of them who were\r\nstill left behind; but restored to the inhabitants what was their own, and took\r\nspecial care for the welfare of the city. To which he was chiefly prompted by\r\nthis vision. One seemed to come to him in his sleep, and say, “Go on a little\r\nfurther, Lucullus, for Autolycus is coming to see thee.” When he arose, he\r\ncould not imagine what the vision meant. The same day he took the city, and as\r\nhe was pursuing the Cilicians, who were flying by sea, he saw a statue lying on\r\nthe shore, which the Cilicians carried so far, but had not time to carry\r\naboard. It was one of the masterpieces of Sthenis. And one told him, that it\r\nwas the statue of Autolycus, the founder of the city. This Autolycus is\r\nreported to have been son to Deimachus, and one of those who, under Hercules,\r\nwent on the expedition out of Thessaly against the Amazons; from whence in his\r\nreturn with Demoleon and Phlogius, he lost his vessel on a point of the\r\nChersonesus, called Pedalium. He himself, with his companions and their\r\nweapons, being saved, came to Sinope, and dispossessed the Syrians there. The\r\nSyrians held it, descended from Syrus, as is the story, the son of Apollo, and\r\nSinope the daughter of Asopus. Which as soon as Lucullus heard, he remembered\r\nthe admonition of Sylla, whose advice it is in his Memoirs, to treat nothing as\r\nso certain and so worthy of reliance as an intimation given in dreams.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen it was now told him that Mithridates and Tigranes were just ready to\r\ntransport their forces into Lycaonia and Cilicia, with the object of entering\r\nAsia before him, he wondered much why the Armenian, supposing him to entertain\r\nany real intention to fight with the Romans, did not assist Mithridates in his\r\nflourishing condition, and join forces when he was fit for service, instead of\r\nsuffering him to be vanquished and broken in pieces, and now at last beginning\r\nthe war, when his hopes were grown cold, and throwing himself down headlong\r\nwith them, who were irrecoverably fallen already. But when Machares, the son of\r\nMithridates, and governor of Bosporus, sent him a crown valued at a thousand\r\npieces of gold, and desired to be enrolled as a friend and confederate of the\r\nRomans, he fairly reputed that war at an end, and left Sornatius, his deputy,\r\nwith six thousand soldiers, to take care of Pontus. He himself with twelve\r\nthousand foot, and a little less than three thousand horse, went forth to the\r\nsecond war, advancing, it seemed very plain, with too great and ill-advised\r\nspeed, into the midst of warlike nations, and many thousands upon thousands of\r\nhorse, into an unknown extent of country, every way enclosed with deep rivers\r\nand mountains, never free from snow; which made the soldiers, already far from\r\norderly, follow him with great unwillingness and opposition. For the same\r\nreason, also, the popular leaders at home publicly inveighed and declaimed\r\nagainst him, as one that raised up war after war, not so much for the interest\r\nof the republic, as that he himself, being still in commission, might not lay\r\ndown arms, but go on enriching himself by the public dangers. These men, in the\r\nend, effected their purpose. But Lucullus by long journeys came to the\r\nEuphrates, where, finding the waters high and rough from the winter, he was\r\nmuch troubled for fear of delay and difficulty while he should procure boats\r\nand make a bridge of them. But in the evening the flood beginning to retire,\r\nand decreasing all through the night, the next day they saw the river far down\r\nwithin his banks, so much so that the inhabitants, discovering the little\r\nislands in the river, and the water stagnating among them, a thing which had\r\nrarely happened before, made obeisance to Lucullus, before whom the very river\r\nwas humble and submissive, and yielded an easy and swift passage. Making use of\r\nthe opportunity, he carried over his army, and met with a lucky sign at\r\nlanding. Holy heifers are pastured on purpose for Diana Persia, whom, of all\r\nthe gods, the barbarians beyond Euphrates chiefly adore. They use these heifers\r\nonly for her sacrifices. At other times they wander up and down undisturbed,\r\nwith the mark of the goddess, a torch, branded on them; and it is no such light\r\nor easy thing, when occasion requires, to seize one of them. But one of these,\r\nwhen the army had passed the Euphrates, coming to a rock consecrated to the\r\ngoddess, stood upon it, and then laying down her neck, like others that are\r\nforced down with a rope, offered herself to Lucullus for sacrifice. Besides\r\nwhich, he offered also a bull to Euphrates, for his safe passage. That day he\r\ntarried there, but on the next, and those that followed, he traveled through\r\nSophene, using no manner of violence to the people who came to him and\r\nwillingly received his army. And when the soldiers were desirous to plunder a\r\ncastle that seemed to be well stored within, “That is the castle,” said he,\r\n“that we must storm,” showing them Taurus, at a distance; “the rest is reserved\r\nfor those who conquer there.” Wherefore hastening his march, and passing the\r\nTigris, he came over into Armenia\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe first messenger that gave notice of Lucullus’s coming was so far from\r\npleasing Tigranes, that he had his head cut off for his pains; and no man\r\ndaring to bring further information, without any intelligence at all, Tigranes\r\nsat while war was already blazing around him, giving ear only to those who\r\nflattered him, by saying that Lucullus would show himself a great commander, if\r\nhe ventured to wait for Tigranes at Ephesus, and did not at once fly out of\r\nAsia, at the mere sight of the many thousands that were come against him. He is\r\na man of a strong body that can carry off a great quantity of wine, and of a\r\npowerful constitution of mind that can sustain felicity. Mithrobarzanes, one of\r\nhis chief favorites, first dared to tell him the truth, but had no more thanks\r\nfor his freedom of speech, than to be immediately sent out against Lucullus\r\nwith three thousand horse, and a great number of foot, with peremptory commands\r\nto bring him alive, and trample down his army. Some of Lucullus’s men were then\r\npitching their camp, and the rest were coming up to them, when the scouts gave\r\nnotice that the enemy was approaching, whereupon he was in fear lest they\r\nshould fall upon him, while his men were divided and unarranged; which made him\r\nstay to pitch the camp himself, and send out Sextilius, the legate, with\r\nsixteen hundred horse, and about as many heavy and light arms, with orders to\r\nadvance towards the enemy, and wait until intelligence came to him that the\r\ncamp was finished. Sextilius designed to have kept this order; but\r\nMithrobarzanes coming furiously upon him, he was forced to fight. In the\r\nengagement, Mithrobarzanes himself was slain, fighting, and all his men, except\r\na few who ran away, were destroyed. After this Tigranes left Tigranocerta, a\r\ngreat city built by himself, and retired to Taurus, and called all his forces\r\nabout him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Lucullus, giving him no time to rendezvous, sent out Murena to harass and\r\ncut off those who marched to Tigranes, and Sextilius, also, to disperse a great\r\ncompany of Arabians then on the way to the king. Sextilius fell upon the\r\nArabians in their camp, and destroyed most of them, and also Murena, in his\r\npursuit after Tigranes through a craggy and narrow pass, opportunely fell upon\r\nhim. Upon which Tigranes, abandoning all his baggage, fled; many of the\r\nArmenians were killed, and more taken. After this success, Lucullus went to\r\nTigranocerta, and sitting down before the city, besieged it. In it were many\r\nGreeks carried away out of Cilicia, and many barbarians in like circumstances\r\nwith the Greeks, Adiabenians, Assyrians, Gordyenians, and Cappadocians, whose\r\nnative cities he had destroyed, and forced away the inhabitants to settle here.\r\nIt was a rich and beautiful city; every common man, and every man of rank, in\r\nimitation of the king, studied to enlarge and adorn it. This made Lucullus more\r\nvigorously press the siege, in the belief that Tigranes would not patiently\r\nendure it, but even against his own judgment would come down in anger to force\r\nhim away; in which he was not mistaken. Mithridates earnestly dissuaded him\r\nfrom it, sending messengers and letters to him not to engage, but rather with\r\nhis horse to try and cut off the supplies. Taxiles, also, who came from\r\nMithridates, and who stayed with his army, very much entreated the king to\r\nforbear, and to avoid the Roman arms, things it was not safe to meddle with. To\r\nthis he hearkened at first, but when the Armenians and Gordyenians in a full\r\nbody, and the whole forces of Medes and Adiabenians, under their respective\r\nkings, joined him; when many Arabians came up from the sea beyond Babylon; and\r\nfrom the Caspian sea, the Albanians and the Iberians their neighbors, and not a\r\nfew of the free people, without kings, living about the Araxes, by entreaty and\r\nhire also came together to him; and all the king’s feasts and councils rang of\r\nnothing but expectations, boastings, and barbaric threatenings, Taxiles went in\r\ndanger of his life, for giving counsel against fighting, and it was imputed to\r\nenvy in Mithridates thus to discourage him from so glorious an enterprise.\r\nTherefore Tigranes would by no means tarry for him, for fear he should share in\r\nthe glory, but marched on with all his army, lamenting to his friends, as it is\r\nsaid, that he should fight with Lucullus alone, and not with all the Roman\r\ngenerals together. Neither was his boldness to be accounted wholly frantic or\r\nunreasonable, when he had so many nations and kings attending him, and so many\r\ntens of thousands of well-armed foot and horse about him. He had twenty\r\nthousand archers and slingers, fifty-five thousand horse, of which seventeen\r\nthousand were in complete armor, as Lucullus wrote to the senate, a hundred and\r\nfifty thousand heavy-armed men, drawn up partly into cohorts, partly into\r\nphalanxes, besides various divisions of men appointed to make roads and lay\r\nbridges, to drain off waters and cut wood, and to perform other necessary\r\nservices, to the number of thirty-five thousand, who, being quartered behind\r\nthe army, added to its strength, and made it the more formidable to behold.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as he had passed Taurus, and appeared with his forces, and saw the\r\nRomans beleaguering Tigranocerta, the barbarous people within with shoutings\r\nand acclamations received the sight, and threatening the Romans from the wall,\r\npointed to the Armenians. In a council of war, some advised Lucullus to leave\r\nthe siege, and march up to Tigranes, others that it would not be safe to leave\r\nthe siege, and so many enemies behind. He answered that neither side by itself\r\nwas right, but together both gave sound advice; and accordingly he divided his\r\narmy, and left Murena with six thousand foot in charge of the siege, and\r\nhimself went out with twenty-four cohorts, in which were no more than ten\r\nthousand men at arms, and with all the horse, and about a thousand slingers and\r\narchers; and sitting down by the river in a large plain, he appeared, indeed,\r\nvery inconsiderable to Tigranes, and a fit subject for the flattering wits\r\nabout him. Some of whom jeered, others cast lots for the spoil, and every one\r\nof the kings and commanders came and desired to undertake the engagement alone,\r\nand that he would be pleased to sit still and behold. Tigranes himself, wishing\r\nto be witty and pleasant upon the occasion, made use of the well-known saying,\r\nthat they were too many for ambassadors, and too few for soldiers. Thus they\r\ncontinued sneering and scoffing. As soon as day came, Lucullus brought out his\r\nforces under arms. The barbarian army stood on the eastern side of the river,\r\nand there being a bend of the river westward in that part of it, where it was\r\neasiest forded, Lucullus, while he led his army on in haste, seemed to Tigranes\r\nto be flying; who thereupon called Taxiles, and in derision said, “Do you not\r\nsee these invincible Romans flying?” But Taxiles replied, “Would, indeed, O\r\nking, that some such unlikely piece of fortune might be destined you; but the\r\nRomans do not, when going on a march, put on their best clothes, nor use bright\r\nshields, and naked headpieces, as now you see them, with the leathern coverings\r\nall taken off, but this is a preparation for war of men just ready to engage\r\nwith their enemies.” While Taxiles was thus speaking, as Lucullus wheeled\r\nabout, the first eagle appeared, and the cohorts, according to their divisions\r\nand companies, formed in order to pass over, when with much ado, and like a man\r\nthat is just recovering from a drunken fit, Tigranes cried out twice or thrice,\r\n“What, are they upon us?” In great confusion, therefore, the army got in array,\r\nthe king keeping the main body to himself, while the left wing was given in\r\ncharge to the Adiabenian, and the right to the Mede, in the front of which\r\nlatter were posted most of the heavy-armed cavalry. Some officers advised\r\nLucullus, just as he was going to cross the river, to lie still, that day being\r\none of the unfortunate ones which they call black days, for on it the army\r\nunder Caepio, engaging with the Cimbrians, was destroyed. But he returned the\r\nfamous answer, “I will make it a happy day to the Romans.” It was the day\r\nbefore the nones of October.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving so said, he bade them take courage, passed over the river, and himself\r\nfirst of all led them against the enemy, clad in a coat of mail, with shining\r\nsteel scales and a fringed mantle; and his sword might already be seen out of\r\nthe scabbard, as if to signify that they must without delay come to a\r\nhand-to-hand combat with an enemy whose skill was in distant fighting, and by\r\nthe speed of their advance curtail the space that exposed them to the archery.\r\nBut when he saw the heavy-armed horse, the flower of the army, drawn up under a\r\nhill, on the top of which was a broad and open plain about four furlongs\r\ndistant, and of no very difficult or troublesome access, he commanded his\r\nThracian and Galatian horse to fall upon their flank, and beat down their\r\nlances with their swords. The only defense of these horsemen-at-arms are their\r\nlances; they have nothing else that they can use to protect themselves, or\r\nannoy their enemy, on account of the weight and stiffness of their armor, with\r\nwhich they are, as it were, built up. He himself, with two cohorts, made to the\r\nmountain, the soldiers briskly following, when they saw him in arms afoot first\r\ntoiling and climbing up. Being on the top and standing in an open place, with a\r\nloud voice he cried out, “We have overcome, we have overcome, fellow-soldiers!”\r\nAnd having so said, he marched against the armed horsemen, commanding his men\r\nnot to throw their javelins, but coming up hand to hand with the enemy, to hack\r\ntheir shins and thighs, which parts alone were unguarded in these heavy-armed\r\nhorsemen. But there was no need of this way of fighting, for they stood not to\r\nreceive the Romans, but with great clamor and worse flight they and their heavy\r\nhorses threw themselves upon the ranks of the foot, before ever these could so\r\nmuch as begin the fight, insomuch that without a wound or bloodshed, so many\r\nthousands were overthrown. The greatest slaughter was made in the flight, or\r\nrather in the endeavoring to fly away, which they could not well do by reason\r\nof the depth and closeness of their own ranks, which hindered them. Tigranes at\r\nfirst fled with a few, but seeing his son in the same misfortune, he took the\r\ndiadem from his head, and with tears gave it him, bidding him save himself by\r\nsome other road if he could. But the young man, not daring to put it on, gave\r\nit to one of his trustiest servants to keep for him. This man, as it happened,\r\nbeing taken, was brought to Lucullus, and so, among the captives, the crown,\r\nalso, of Tigranes was taken. It is stated that above a hundred thousand foot\r\nwere lost, and that of the horse but very few escaped at all. Of the Romans, a\r\nhundred were wounded, and five killed. Antiochus the philosopher, making\r\nmention of this fight in his book about the gods, says that the sun never saw\r\nthe like. Strabo, a second philosopher, in his historical collection says, that\r\nthe Romans could not but blush and deride themselves, for putting on armor\r\nagainst such pitiful slaves. Livy also says, that the Romans never fought an\r\nenemy with such unequal forces, for the conquerors were not so much as one\r\ntwentieth part of the number of the conquered. The most sagacious and\r\nexperienced Roman commanders made it a chief commendation of Lucullus, that he\r\nhad conquered two great and potent kings by two most opposite ways, haste and\r\ndelay. For he wore out the flourishing power of Mithridates by delay and time,\r\nand crushed that of Tigranes by haste; being one of the rare examples of\r\ngenerals who made use of delay for active achievement, and speed for security.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn this account it was that Mithridates had made no haste to come up to fight,\r\nimagining Lucullus would, as he had done before, use caution and delay, which\r\nmade him march at his leisure to join Tigranes. And first, as he began to meet\r\nsome straggling Armenians in the way, making off in great fear and\r\nconsternation, he suspected the worst, and when greater numbers of stripped and\r\nwounded men met him and assured him of the defeat, he set out to seek for\r\nTigranes. And finding him destitute and humiliated, he by no means requited him\r\nwith insolence, but alighting from his horse, and condoling with him on their\r\ncommon loss, he gave him his own royal guard to attend him, and animated him\r\nfor the future. And they together gathered fresh forces about them. In the city\r\nTigranocerta, the Greeks meantime, dividing from the barbarians, sought to\r\ndeliver it up to Lucullus, and he attacked and took it. He seized on the\r\ntreasure himself, but gave the city to be plundered by the soldiers, in which\r\nwere found, amongst other property, eight thousand talents of coined money.\r\nBesides this, also, he distributed eight hundred drachmas to each man, out of\r\nthe spoils. When he understood that many players were taken in the city, whom\r\nTigranes had invited from all parts for opening the theater which he had built,\r\nhe made use of them for celebrating his triumphal games and spectacles. The\r\nGreeks he sent home, allowing them money for their journey, and the barbarians\r\nalso, as many as had been forced away from their own dwellings. So that by this\r\none city being dissolved, many, by the restitution of their former inhabitants,\r\nwere restored. By all of which Lucullus was beloved as a benefactor and\r\nfounder. Other successes, also, attended him, such as he well deserved,\r\ndesirous as he was far more of praise for acts of justice and clemency, than\r\nfor feats in war, these being due partly to the soldiers, and very greatly to\r\nfortune, while those are the sure proofs of a gentle and liberal soul; and by\r\nsuch aids Lucullus, at that time, even without the help of arms, succeeded in\r\nreducing the barbarians. For the kings of the Arabians came to him, tendering\r\nwhat they had, and with them the Sophenians also submitted. And he so dealt\r\nwith the Gordyenians, that they were willing to leave their own habitations,\r\nand to follow him with their wives and children. Which was for this cause.\r\nZarbienus, king of the Gordyenians, as has been told, being impatient under the\r\ntyranny of Tigranes, had by Appius secretly made overtures of confederacy with\r\nLucullus, but, being discovered, was executed, and his wife and children with\r\nhim, before the Romans entered Armenia. Lucullus forgot not this, but coming to\r\nthe Gordyenians made a solemn interment in honor of Zarbienus, and adorning the\r\nfuneral pile with royal robes, and gold, and the spoils of Tigranes, he himself\r\nin person kindled the fire, and poured in perfumes with the friends and\r\nrelations of the deceased, calling him his companion and the confederate of the\r\nRomans. He ordered, also, a costly monument to be built for him. There was a\r\nlarge treasure of gold and silver found in Zarbienus’s palace, and no less than\r\nthree million measures of corn, so that the soldiers were provided for, and\r\nLucullus had the high commendation of maintaining the war at its own charge,\r\nwithout receiving one drachma from the public treasury.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this came an embassy from the king of Parthia to him, desiring amity and\r\nconfederacy; which being readily embraced by Lucullus, another was sent by him\r\nin return to the Parthian, the members of which discovered him to be a\r\ndouble-minded man, and to be dealing privately at the same time with Tigranes,\r\noffering to take part with him, upon condition Mesopotamia were delivered up to\r\nhim. Which as soon as Lucullus understood, he resolved to pass by Tigranes and\r\nMithridates as antagonists already overcome, and to try the power of Parthia,\r\nby leading his army against them, thinking it would be a glorious result, thus\r\nin one current of war, like an athlete in the games, to throw down three kings\r\none after another, and successively to deal as a conqueror with three of the\r\ngreatest powers under heaven. He sent, therefore, into Pontus to Sornatius and\r\nhis colleagues, bidding them bring the army thence, and join with him in his\r\nexpedition out of Gordyene. The soldiers there, however, who had been restive\r\nand unruly before, now openly displayed their mutinous temper. No manner of\r\nentreaty or force availed with them, but they protested and cried out that they\r\nwould stay no longer even there, but would go away and desert Pontus. The news\r\nof which, when reported to Lucullus, did no small harm to the soldiers about\r\nhim, who were already corrupted with wealth and plenty, and desirous of ease.\r\nAnd on hearing the boldness of the others, they called them men, and declared\r\nthey themselves ought to follow their example, for the actions which they had\r\ndone did now well deserve release from service, and repose.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon these and worse words, Lucullus gave up the thoughts of invading Parthia,\r\nand in the height of summertime, went against Tigranes. Passing over Taurus, he\r\nwas filled with apprehension at the greenness of the fields before him, so long\r\nis the season deferred in this region by the coldness of the air. But,\r\nnevertheless, he went down, and twice or thrice putting to flight the Armenians\r\nwho dared to come out against him, he plundered and burnt their villages, and\r\nseizing on the provision designed for Tigranes, reduced his enemies to the\r\nnecessity which he had feared for himself. But when, after doing all he could\r\nto provoke the enemy to fight, by drawing entrenchments round their camp and by\r\nburning the country before them, he could by no means bring them to venture\r\nout, after their frequent defeats before, he rose up and marched to Artaxata,\r\nthe royal city of Tigranes, where his wives and young children were kept,\r\njudging that Tigranes would never suffer that to go without the hazard of a\r\nbattle. It is related that Hannibal, the Carthaginian, after the defeat of\r\nAntiochus by the Romans, coming to Artaxas, king of Armenia, pointed out to him\r\nmany other matters to his advantage, and observing the great natural capacities\r\nand the pleasantness of the site, then lying unoccupied and neglected, drew a\r\nmodel of a city for it, and bringing Artaxas thither, showed it to him and\r\nencouraged him to build. At which the king being pleased, and desiring him to\r\noversee the work, erected a large and stately city, which was called after his\r\nown name, and made metropolis of Armenia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd in fact, when Lucullus proceeded against it, Tigranes no longer suffered\r\nit, but came with his army, and on the fourth day sat down by the Romans, the\r\nriver Arsanias lying between them, which of necessity Lucullus must pass in his\r\nmarch to Artaxata. Lucullus, after sacrifice to the gods, as if victory were\r\nalready obtained, carried over his army, having twelve cohorts in the first\r\ndivision in front, the rest being disposed in the rear to prevent the enemy’s\r\nenclosing them. For there were many choice horse drawn up against him; in the\r\nfront stood the Mardian horse-archers, and Iberians with long spears, in whom,\r\nbeing the most warlike, Tigranes more confided than in any other of his foreign\r\ntroops. But nothing of moment was done by them, for though they skirmished with\r\nthe Roman horse at a distance, they were not able to stand when the foot came\r\nup to them; but being broken, and flying on both sides, drew the horse in\r\npursuit after them. Though these were routed, yet Lucullus was not without\r\nalarm when he saw the cavalry about Tigranes with great bravery and in large\r\nnumbers coming upon him; he recalled his horse from pursuing, and he himself,\r\nfirst of all, with the best of his men, engaged the Satrapenians who were\r\nopposite him, and before ever they came to close fight, routed them with the\r\nmere terror. Of three kings in battle against him, Mithridates of Pontus fled\r\naway the most shamefully, being not so much as able to endure the shout of the\r\nRomans. The pursuit reached a long way, and all through the night the Romans\r\nslew and took prisoners, and carried off spoils and treasure, till they were\r\nweary. Livy says there were more taken and destroyed in the first battle, but\r\nin the second, men of greater distinction.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucullus, flushed and animated by this victory, determined to march on into the\r\ninterior and there complete his conquests over the barbarians; but winter\r\nweather came on, contrary to expectation, as early as the autumnal equinox,\r\nwith storms and frequent snows and, even in the most clear days, hoar frost and\r\nice, which made the waters scarcely drinkable for the horses by their exceeding\r\ncoldness, and scarcely passable through the ice breaking and cutting the\r\nhorses’ sinews. The country for the most part being quite uncleared, with\r\ndifficult passes, and much wood, kept them continually wet, the snow falling\r\nthickly on them as they marched in the day, and the ground that they lay upon\r\nat night being damp and watery. After the battle they followed Lucullus not\r\nmany days before they began to be refractory, first of all entreating and\r\nsending the tribunes to him, but presently they tumultuously gathered together,\r\nand made a shouting all night long in their tents, a plain sign of a mutinous\r\narmy. But Lucullus as earnestly entreated them, desiring them to have patience\r\nbut till they took the Armenian Carthage, and overturned the work of their\r\ngreat enemy, meaning Hannibal. But when he could not prevail, he led them back,\r\nand crossing Taurus by another road, came into the fruitful and sunny country\r\nof Mygdonia, where was a great and populous city, by the barbarians called\r\nNisibis, by the Greeks Antioch of Mygdonia. This was defended by Guras, brother\r\nof Tigranes, with the dignity of governor, and by the engineering skill and\r\ndexterity of Callimachus, the same who so much annoyed the Romans at Amisus.\r\nLucullus, however, brought his army up to it, and laying close siege in a short\r\ntime took it by storm. He used Guras, who surrendered himself, kindly, but gave\r\nno attention to Callimachus, though he offered to make discovery of hidden\r\ntreasures, commanding him to be kept in chains, to be punished for firing the\r\ncity of Amisus, which had disappointed his ambition of showing favor and\r\nkindness to the Greeks.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHitherto, one would imagine fortune had attended and fought with Lucullus, but\r\nafterward, as if the wind had failed of a sudden, he did all things by force,\r\nand, as it were, against the grain; and showed certainly the conduct and\r\npatience of a wise captain, but in the result met with no fresh honor or\r\nreputation; and, indeed, by bad success and vain embarrassments with his\r\nsoldiers, he came within a little of losing even what he had before. He himself\r\nwas not the least cause of all this, being far from inclined to seek popularity\r\nwith the mass of the soldiers, and more ready to think any indulgence shown to\r\nthem an invasion of his own authority. But what was worst of all, he was\r\nnaturally unsociable to his great officers in commission with him, despising\r\nothers and thinking them worthy of nothing in comparison with himself. These\r\nfaults, we are told, he had with all his many excellences; he was of a large\r\nand noble person, an eloquent speaker and a wise counselor, both in the forum\r\nand the camp. Sallust says, the soldiers were ill affected to him from the\r\nbeginning of the war, because they were forced to keep the field two winters at\r\nCyzicus, and afterwards at Amisus. Their other winters, also, vexed them, for\r\nthey either spent them in an enemy’s country, or else were confined to their\r\ntents in the open field among their confederates; for Lucullus not so much as\r\nonce went into a Greek confederate town with his army. To this ill affection\r\nabroad, the tribunes yet more contributed at home, invidiously accusing\r\nLucullus, as one who for empire and riches prolonged the war, holding, it might\r\nalmost be said, under his sole power Cilicia, Asia, Bithynia, Paphlagonia,\r\nPontus, Armenia, all as far as the river Phasis; and now of late had plundered\r\nthe royal city of Tigranes, as if he had been commissioned not so much to\r\nsubdue, as to strip kings. This is what we are told was said by Lucius\r\nQuintius, one of the praetors, at whose instance, in particular, the people\r\ndetermined to send one who should succeed Lucullus in his province, and voted,\r\nalso, to relieve many of the soldiers under him from further service.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBesides these evils, that which most of all prejudiced Lucullus, was Publius\r\nClodius, an insolent man, very vicious and bold, brother to Lucullus’s wife, a\r\nwoman of bad conduct, with whom Clodius was himself suspected of criminal\r\nintercourse. Being then in the army under Lucullus, but not in as great\r\nauthority as he expected, (for he would fain have been the chief of all, but on\r\naccount of his character was postponed to many,) he ingratiated himself\r\nsecretly with the Fimbrian troops, and stirred them up against Lucullus, using\r\nfair speeches to them, who of old had been used to be flattered in such manner.\r\nThese were those whom Fimbria before had persuaded to kill the consul Flaccus,\r\nand choose him their leader. And so they listened not unwillingly to Clodius,\r\nand called him the soldiers’ friend, for the concern he professed for them, and\r\nthe indignation he expressed at the prospect that “there must be no end of war\r\nand toils, but in fighting with all nations, and wandering throughout all the\r\nworld they must wear out their lives, receiving no other reward for their\r\nservice than to guard the carriages and camels of Lucullus, laden with gold and\r\nprecious goblets; while as for Pompey’s soldiers, they were all citizens,\r\nliving safe at home with their wives and children, on fertile lands, or in\r\ntowns, and that, not after driving Mithridates and Tigranes into wild deserts,\r\nand overturning the royal cities of Asia, but after having merely reduced\r\nexiles in Spain, or fugitive slaves in Italy. Nay, if indeed we must never have\r\nan end of fighting, should we not rather reserve the remainder of our bodies\r\nand souls for a general who will reckon his chiefest glory to be the wealth of\r\nhis soldiers.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBy such practices the army of Lucullus being corrupted, neither followed him\r\nagainst Tigranes, nor against Mithridates, when he now at once returned into\r\nPontus out of Armenia, and was recovering his kingdom, but under presence of\r\nthe winter, sat idle in Gordyene, every minute expecting either Pompey, or some\r\nother general, to succeed Lucullus. But when news came that Mithridates had\r\ndefeated Fabius, and was marching against Sornatius and Triarius, out of shame\r\nthey followed Lucullus. Triarius, ambitiously aiming at victory, before ever\r\nLucullus came to him, though he was then very near, was defeated in a great\r\nbattle, in which it is said that above seven thousand Romans fell, among whom\r\nwere a hundred and fifty centurions, and four and twenty tribunes, and that the\r\ncamp itself was taken. Lucullus, coming up a few days after, concealed Triarius\r\nfrom the search of the angry soldiers. But when Mithridates declined battle,\r\nand waited for the coming of Tigranes, who was then on his march with great\r\nforces, he resolved before they joined their forces to turn once more and\r\nengage with Tigranes. But in the way the mutinous Fimbrians deserted their\r\nranks, professing themselves released from service by a decree, and that\r\nLucullus, the provinces being allotted to others, had no longer any right to\r\ncommand them. There was nothing beneath the dignity of Lucullus which he did\r\nnot now submit to bear, entreating them one by one, from tent to tent, going up\r\nand down humbly and in tears, and even taking some like a suppliant, by the\r\nhand. But they turned away from his salutes, and threw down their empty purses,\r\nbidding him engage alone with the enemy, as he alone made advantage of it. At\r\nlength, by the entreaty of the other soldiers, the Fimbrians, being prevailed\r\nupon, consented to tarry that summer under him, but if during that time no\r\nenemy came to fight them, to be free. Lucullus of necessity was forced to\r\ncomply with this, or else to abandon the country to the barbarians. He kept\r\nthem, indeed, with him, but without urging his authority upon them; nor did he\r\nlead them out to battle, being contented if they would but stay with him,\r\nthough he then saw Cappadocia wasted by Tigranes, and Mithridates again\r\ntriumphing, whom not long before he reported to the senate to be wholly\r\nsubdued; and commissioners were now arrived to settle the affairs of Pontus, as\r\nif all had been quietly in his possession. But when they came, they found him\r\nnot so much as master of himself, but contemned and derided by the common\r\nsoldiers, who arrived at that height of insolence against their general, that\r\nat the end of summer they put on their armor and drew their swords, and defied\r\ntheir enemies then absent and gone off a long while before, and with great\r\noutcries and waving their swords in the air, they quitted the camp, proclaiming\r\nthat the time was expired which they promised to stay with Lucullus. The rest\r\nwere summoned by letters from Pompey to come and join him; he, by the favor of\r\nthe people and by flattery of their leaders, having been chosen general of the\r\narmy against Mithridates and Tigranes, though the senate and the nobility all\r\nthought that Lucullus was injured, having those put over his head who succeeded\r\nrather to his triumph, than to his commission, and that he was not so truly\r\ndeprived of his command, as of the glory he had deserved in his command, which\r\nhe was forced to yield to another.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was yet more of just matter of pity and indignation to those who were\r\npresent; for Lucullus remained no longer master of rewards or punishments for\r\nany actions done in the war; neither would Pompey suffer any man to go to him,\r\nor pay any respect to the orders and arrangements he made with advice of his\r\nten commissioners, but expressly issued edicts to the contrary, and could not\r\nbut be obeyed by reason of his greater power. Friends, however, on both sides,\r\nthought it desirable to bring them together, and they met in a village of\r\nGalatia and saluted each other in a friendly manner, with congratulations on\r\neach other’s successes. Lucullus was the elder, but Pompey the more\r\ndistinguished by his more numerous commands and his two triumphs. Both had rods\r\ndressed with laurel carried before them for their victories. And as Pompey’s\r\nlaurels were withered with passing through hot and droughty countries,\r\nLucullus’s lictors courteously gave Pompey’s some of the fresh and green ones\r\nwhich they had, which Pompey’s friends counted a good omen, as indeed of a\r\ntruth, Lucullus’s actions furnished the honors of Pompey’s command. The\r\ninterview, however, did not bring them to any amicable agreement; they parted\r\neven less friends than they met. Pompey repealed all the acts of Lucullus, drew\r\noff his soldiers, and left him no more than sixteen hundred for his triumph,\r\nand even those unwilling to go with him. So wanting was Lucullus, either\r\nthrough natural constitution or adverse circumstances, in that one first and\r\nmost important requisite of a general, which had he but added to his other many\r\nand remarkable virtues, his fortitude, vigilance, wisdom, justice, the Roman\r\nempire had not had Euphrates for its boundary, but the utmost ends of Asia and\r\nthe Hyrcanian sea; as other nations were then disabled by the late conquests of\r\nTigranes, and the power of Parthia had not in Lucullus’s time shown itself so\r\nformidable as Crassus afterwards found it, nor had as yet gained that\r\nconsistency, being crippled by wars at home, and on its frontiers, and unable\r\neven to make head against the encroachments of the Armenians. And Lucullus, as\r\nit was, seems to me through others’ agency to have done Rome greater harm, than\r\nhe did her advantage by his own. For the trophies in Armenia, near the Parthian\r\nfrontier, and Tigranocerta, and Nisibis, and the great wealth brought from\r\nthence to Rome, with the captive crown of Tigranes carried in triumph, all\r\nhelped to puff up Crassus, as if the barbarians had been nothing else but spoil\r\nand booty, and he, falling among the Parthian archers, soon demonstrated that\r\nLucullus’s triumphs were not beholden to the inadvertency and effeminacy of his\r\nenemies, but to his own courage and conduct. But of this afterwards.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucullus, upon his return to Rome, found his brother Marcus accused by Caius\r\nMemmius, for his acts as quaestor, done by Sylla’s orders; and on his\r\nacquittal, Memmius changed the scene, and animated the people against Lucullus\r\nhimself, urging them to deny him a triumph for appropriating the spoils and\r\nprolonging the war. In this great struggle, the nobility and chief men went\r\ndown and mingling in person among the tribes, with much entreaty and labor,\r\nscarce at length prevailed upon them to consent to his triumph. The pomp of\r\nwhich proved not so wonderful or so wearisome with the length of the procession\r\nand the number of things carried in it, but consisted chiefly in vast\r\nquantities of arms and machines of the king’s, with which he adorned the\r\nFlaminian circus, a spectacle by no means despicable. In his progress there\r\npassed by a few horsemen in heavy armor, ten chariots armed with scythes, sixty\r\nfriends and officers of the king’s, and a hundred and ten brazen-beaked ships\r\nof war, which were conveyed along with them, a golden image of Mithridates six\r\nfeet high, a shield set with precious stones, twenty loads of silver vessels,\r\nand thirty-two of golden cups, armor, and money, all carried by men. Besides\r\nwhich, eight mules were laden with golden couches, fifty-six with bullion, and\r\na hundred and seven with coined silver, little less than two millions seven\r\nhundred thousand pieces. There were tablets, also, with inscriptions, stating\r\nwhat moneys he gave Pompey for prosecuting the piratic war, what he delivered\r\ninto the treasury, and what he gave to every soldier, which was nine hundred\r\nand fifty drachmas each. After all which he nobly feasted the city and\r\nadjoining villages, or vici.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBeing divorced from Clodia, a dissolute and wicked woman, he married Servilia,\r\nsister to Cato. This also proved an unfortunate match, for she only wanted one\r\nof all Clodia’s vices, the criminality she was accused of with her brothers.\r\nOut of reverence to Cato, he for a while connived at her impurity and\r\nimmodesty, but at length dismissed her. When the senate expected great things\r\nfrom him, hoping to find in him a check to the usurpations of Pompey, and that\r\nwith the greatness of his station and credit he would come forward as the\r\nchampion of the nobility, he retired from business and abandoned public life;\r\neither because he saw the State to be in a difficult and diseased condition,\r\nor, as others say, because he was as great as he could well be, and inclined to\r\na quiet and easy life, after those many labors and toils which had ended with\r\nhim so far from fortunately. There are those who highly commend his change of\r\nlife, saying that he thus avoided that rock on which Marius split. For he,\r\nafter the great and glorious deeds of his Cimbrian victories, was not contented\r\nto retire upon his honors, but out of an insatiable desire of glory and power,\r\neven in his old age, headed a political party against young men, and let\r\nhimself fall into miserable actions, and yet more miserable sufferings. Better,\r\nin like manner, they say, had it been for Cicero, after Catiline’s conspiracy,\r\nto have retired and grown old, and for Scipio, after his Numantine and\r\nCarthaginian conquests, to have sat down contented. For the administration of\r\npublic affairs has, like other things, its proper term, and statesmen as well\r\nas wrestlers will break down, when strength and youth fail. But Crassus and\r\nPompey, on the other hand, laughed to see Lucullus abandoning himself to\r\npleasure and expense, as if luxurious living were not a thing that as little\r\nbecame his years, as government of affairs at home, or of an army abroad.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, indeed, Lucullus’s life, like the Old Comedy, presents us at the\r\ncommencement with acts of policy and of war, at the end offering nothing but\r\ngood eating and drinking, feastings and revellings, and mere play. For I give\r\nno higher name to his sumptuous buildings, porticoes and baths, still less to\r\nhis paintings and sculptures, and all his industry about these curiosities,\r\nwhich he collected with vast expense, lavishly bestowing all the wealth and\r\ntreasure which he got in the war upon them, insomuch that even now, with all\r\nthe advance of luxury, the Lucullean gardens are counted the noblest the\r\nemperor has. Tubero the stoic, when he saw his buildings at Naples, where he\r\nsuspended the hills upon vast tunnels, brought in the sea for moats and\r\nfish-ponds round his house, and built pleasure-houses in the waters, called him\r\nXerxes in a gown. He had also fine seats in Tusculum, belvederes, and large\r\nopen balconies for men’s apartments, and porticoes to walk in, where Pompey\r\ncoming to see him, blamed him for making a house which would be pleasant in\r\nsummer but uninhabitable in winter; whom he answered with a smile, “You think\r\nme, then, less provident than cranes and storks, not to change my home with the\r\nseason.” When a praetor, with great expense and pains, was preparing a\r\nspectacle for the people, and asked him to lend him some purple robes for the\r\nperformers in a chorus, he told him he would go home and see, and if he had got\r\nany, would let him have them; and the next day asking how many he wanted, and\r\nbeing told that a hundred would suffice, bade him to take twice as many: on\r\nwhich the poet Horace observes, that a house is but a poor one, where the\r\nvaluables unseen and unthought of do not exceed all those that meet the eye.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucullus’s daily entertainments were ostentatiously extravagant, not only with\r\npurple coverlets, and plate adorned with precious stones, and dancings, and\r\ninterludes, but with the greatest diversity of dishes and the most elaborate\r\ncookery, for the vulgar to admire and envy. It was a happy thought of Pompey in\r\nhis sickness, when his physician prescribed a thrush for his dinner, and his\r\nservants told him that in summer time thrushes were not to be found anywhere\r\nbut in Lucullus’s fattening coops, that he would not suffer them to fetch one\r\nthence, but observing to his physician, “So if Lucullus had not been an\r\nepicure, Pompey had not lived,” ordered something else that could easily be got\r\nto be prepared for him. Cato was his friend and connection, but, nevertheless,\r\nso hated his life and habits, that when a young man in the senate made a long\r\nand tedious speech in praise of frugality and temperance, Cato got up and said,\r\n“How long do you mean to go on making money like Crassus, living like Lucullus,\r\nand talking like Cato?” There are some, however, who say the words were said,\r\nbut not by Cato.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is plain from the anecdotes on record of him, that Lucullus was not only\r\npleased with, but even gloried in his way of living. For he is said to have\r\nfeasted several Greeks upon their coming to Rome day after day, who, out of a\r\ntrue Grecian principle, being ashamed, and declining the invitation, where so\r\ngreat an expense was every day incurred for them, he with a smile told them,\r\n“Some of this, indeed, my Grecian friends, is for your sakes, but more for that\r\nof Lucullus.” Once when he supped alone, there being only one course, and that\r\nbut moderately furnished, he called his steward and reproved him, who,\r\nprofessing to have supposed that there would be no need of any great\r\nentertainment, when nobody was invited, was answered, “What, did not you know,\r\nthen, that to-day Lucullus dines with Lucullus?” Which being much spoken of\r\nabout the city, Cicero and Pompey one day met him loitering in the forum, the\r\nformer his intimate friend and familiar, and, though there had been some\r\nill-will between Pompey and him about the command in the war, still they used\r\nto see each other and converse on easy terms together. Cicero accordingly\r\nsaluted him, and asked him whether to-day were a good time for asking a favor\r\nof him, and on his answering, “Very much so,” and begging to hear what it was,\r\n“Then,” said Cicero, “we should like to dine with you today, just on the dinner\r\nthat is prepared for yourself.” Lucullus being surprised, and requesting a\r\nday’s time, they refused to grant it, neither suffered him to talk with his\r\nservants, for fear he should give order for more than was appointed before. But\r\nthus much they consented to, that before their faces he might tell his servant,\r\nthat to-day he would sup in the Apollo, (for so one of his best dining-rooms\r\nwas called,) and by this evasion he outwitted his guests. For every room, as it\r\nseems, had its own assessment of expenditure, dinner at such a price, and all\r\nelse in accordance; so that the servants, on knowing where he would dine, knew\r\nalso how much was to be expended, and in what style and form dinner was to be\r\nserved. The expense for the Apollo was fifty thousand drachmas, and thus much\r\nbeing that day laid out, the greatness of the cost did not so much amaze Pompey\r\nand Cicero, as the rapidity of the outlay. One might believe Lucullus thought\r\nhis money really captive and barbarian, so wantonly and contumeliously did he\r\ntreat it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis furnishing a library, however, deserves praise and record, for he collected\r\nvery many and choice manuscripts; and the use they were put to was even more\r\nmagnificent than the purchase, the library being always open, and the walks and\r\nreading-rooms about it free to all Greeks, whose delight it was to leave their\r\nother occupations and hasten thither as to the habitation of the Muses, there\r\nwalking about, and diverting one another. He himself often passed his hours\r\nthere, disputing with the learned in the walks, and giving his advice to\r\nstatesmen who required it, insomuch that his house was altogether a home, and\r\nin a manner a Greek prytaneum for those that visited Rome. He was fond of all\r\nsorts of philosophy, and was well-read and expert in them all. But he always\r\nfrom the first specially favored and valued the Academy; not the New one which\r\nat that time under Philo flourished with the precepts of Carneades, but the Old\r\none, then sustained and represented by Antiochus of Ascalon, a learned and\r\neloquent man. Lucullus with great labor made him his friend and companion, and\r\nset him up against Philo’s auditors, among whom Cicero was one, who wrote an\r\nadmirable treatise in defense of his sect, in which he puts the argument in\r\nfavor of comprehension in the mouth of Lucullus, and the opposite argument in\r\nhis own. The book is called Lucullus. For as has been said, they were great\r\nfriends, and took the same side in politics. For Lucullus did not wholly retire\r\nfrom the republic, but only from ambition, and from the dangerous and often\r\nlawless struggle for political preeminence, which he left to Crassus and Cato,\r\nwhom the senators, jealous of Pompey’s greatness, put forward as their\r\nchampions, when Lucullus refused to head them. For his friends’ sake he came\r\ninto the forum and into the senate, when occasion offered to humble the\r\nambition and pride of Pompey, whose settlement, after his conquests over the\r\nkings, he got canceled, and by the assistance of Cato, hindered a division of\r\nlands to his soldiers, which he proposed. So Pompey went over to Crassus and\r\nCaesar’s alliance, or rather conspiracy, and filling the city with armed men,\r\nprocured the ratification of his decrees by force, and drove Cato and Lucullus\r\nout of the forum. Which being resented by the nobility, Pompey’s party produced\r\none Vettius, pretending they apprehended him in a design against Pompey’s life.\r\nWho in the senate-house accused others, but before the people named Lucullus,\r\nas if he had been suborned by him to kill Pompey. Nobody gave heed to what he\r\nsaid, and it soon appeared that they had put him forward to make false charges\r\nand accusations. And after a few days the whole intrigue became yet more\r\nobvious, when the dead body of Vettius was thrown out of the prison, he being\r\nreported, indeed, to have died a natural death, but carrying marks of a halter\r\nand blows about him, and seeming rather to have been taken off by those who\r\nsuborned him. These things kept Lucullus at a greater distance from the\r\nrepublic.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when Cicero was banished the city, and Cato sent to Cyprus, he quitted\r\npublic affairs altogether. It is said, too, that before his death, his\r\nintellects failed him by degrees. But Cornelius Nepos denies that either age or\r\nsickness impaired his mind, which was rather affected by a potion, given him by\r\nCallisthenes his freedman. The potion was meant by Callisthenes to strengthen\r\nhis affection for him, and was supposed to have that tendency but it acted\r\nquite otherwise, and so disabled and unsettled his mind, that while he was yet\r\nalive, his brother took charge of his affairs. At his death, as though it had\r\nbeen the death of one taken off in the very height of military and civil glory,\r\nthe people were much concerned, and flocked together, and would have forcibly\r\ntaken his corpse, as it was carried into the market-place by young men of the\r\nhighest rank, and have buried it in the field of Mars, where they buried Sylla.\r\nWhich being altogether unexpected, and necessaries not easily to be procured on\r\na sudden, his brother, after much entreaty and solicitation, prevailed upon\r\nthem to suffer him to be buried on his Tusculan estate as had been appointed.\r\nHe himself survived him but a short time, coming not far behind in death, as he\r\ndid in age and renown, in all respects, a most loving brother.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap37\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF LUCULLUS WITH CIMON\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOne might bless the end of Lucullus, which was so timed as to let him die\r\nbefore the great revolution, which fate by intestine wars, was already\r\neffecting against the established government, and to close his life in a free\r\nthough troubled commonwealth. And in this, above all other things, Cimon and he\r\nare alike. For he died also when Greece was as yet undisordered, in its highest\r\nfelicity; though in the field at the head of his army, not recalled, nor out of\r\nhis mind, nor sullying the glory of his wars, engagements, and conquests, by\r\nmaking feastings and debauches seem the apparent end and aim of them all; as\r\nPlato says scornfully of Orpheus, that he makes an eternal debauch hereafter,\r\nthe reward of those who lived well here. Indeed, ease and quiet, and the study\r\nof pleasant and speculative learning, to an old man retiring from command and\r\noffice, is a most suitable and becoming solace; but to misguide virtuous\r\nactions to pleasure as their utmost end, and, as the conclusion of campaigns\r\nand commands, to keep the feast of Venus, did not become the noble Academy, and\r\nthe follower of Xenocrates, but rather one that inclined to Epicurus. And this\r\nits one surprising point of contrast between them; Cimon’s youth was ill-\r\nreputed and intemperate Lucullus’s well disciplined and sober. Undoubtedly we\r\nmust give the preference to the change for good, for it argues the better\r\nnature, where vice declines and virtue grows. Both had great wealth, but\r\nemployed it in different ways; and there is no comparison between the south\r\nwall of the acropolis built by Cimon, and the chambers and galleries, with\r\ntheir sea- views, built at Naples by Lucullus, out of the spoils of the\r\nbarbarians. Neither can we compare Cimon’s popular and liberal table with the\r\nsumptuous oriental one of Lucullus, the former receiving a great many guests\r\nevery day at small cost, the latter expensively spread for a few men of\r\npleasure, unless you will say that different times made the alteration. For who\r\ncan tell but that Cimon, if he had retired in his old age from business and war\r\nto quiet and solitude, might have lived a more luxurious and self- indulgent\r\nlife, as he was fond of wine and company, and accused, as has been said, of\r\nlaxity with women? The better pleasures gained in successful action and effort\r\nleave the baser appetites no time or place, and make active and heroic men\r\nforget them. Had but Lucullus ended his days in the field, and in command, envy\r\nand detraction itself could never have accused him. So much for their manner of\r\nlife.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn war, it is plain they were both soldiers of excellent conduct, both at land\r\nand sea. But as in the games they honor those champions who on the same day\r\ngain the garland, both in wrestling and in the pancratium, with the name of\r\n“Victors and more,” so Cimon, honoring Greece with a sea and land victory on\r\nthe same day, may claim a certain preeminence among commanders. Lucullus\r\nreceived command from his country, whereas Cimon brought it to his. He annexed\r\nthe territories of enemies to her, who ruled over confederates before, but\r\nCimon made his country, which when he began was a mere follower of others, both\r\nrule over confederates, and conquer enemies too, forcing the Persians to\r\nrelinquish the sea, and inducing the Lacedaemonians to surrender their command.\r\nIf it be the chiefest thing in a general to obtain the obedience of his\r\nsoldiers by good-will, Lucullus was despised by his own army, but Cimon highly\r\nprized even by others. His soldiers deserted the one, the confederates came\r\nover to the other. Lucullus came home without the forces which he led out;\r\nCimon, sent out at first to serve as one confederate among others, returned\r\nhome with authority even over these also, having successfully effected for his\r\ncity three most difficult services, establishing peace with the enemy, dominion\r\nover confederates, and concord with Lacedaemon. Both aiming to destroy great\r\nkingdoms, and subdue all Asia, failed in their enterprise, Cimon by a simple\r\npiece of ill- fortune, for he died when general, in the height of success; but\r\nLucullus no man can wholly acquit of being in fault with his soldiers, whether\r\nit were he did not know, or would not comply with the distastes and complaints\r\nof his army, which brought him at last into such extreme unpopularity among\r\nthem. But did not Cimon also suffer like him in this? For the citizens\r\narraigned him, and did not leave off till they had banished him, that, as Plato\r\nsays, they might not hear him for the space of ten years. For high and noble\r\nminds seldom please the vulgar, or are acceptable to them; for the force they\r\nuse to straighten their distorted actions gives the same pain as surgeons’\r\nbandages do in bringing dislocated bones to their natural position. Both of\r\nthem, perhaps, come off pretty much with an equal acquittal on this count.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucullus very much outwent him in war being the first Roman who carried an army\r\nover Taurus, passed the Tigris, took and burnt the royal palaces of Asia in the\r\nsight of the kings, Tigranocerta, Cabira, Sinope, and Nisibis, seizing and\r\noverwhelming the northern parts as far as the Phasis, the east as far as Media,\r\nand making the South and Red Sea his own through the kings of the Arabians. He\r\nshattered the power of the kings, and narrowly missed their persons, while like\r\nwild beasts they fled away into deserts and thick and impassable woods. In\r\ndemonstration of this superiority, we see that the Persians, as if no great\r\nharm had befallen them under Cimon, soon after appeared in arms against the\r\nGreeks, and overcame and destroyed their numerous forces in Egypt. But after\r\nLucullus, Tigranes and Mithridates were able to do nothing; the latter, being\r\ndisabled and broken in the former wars, never dared to show his army to Pompey\r\noutside the camp, but fled away to Bosporus, and there died. Tigranes threw\r\nhimself, naked and unarmed, down before Pompey, and taking his crown from his\r\nhead, laid it at his feet, complimenting Pompey with what was not his own, but,\r\nin real truth, the conquest already effected by Lucullus. And when he received\r\nthe ensigns of majesty again, he was well pleased, evidently because he had\r\nforfeited them before. And the commander, as the wrestler, is to be accounted\r\nto have done most who leaves an adversary almost conquered for his successor.\r\nCimon, moreover, when he took the command, found the power of the king broken,\r\nand the spirits of the Persians humbled by their great defeats and incessant\r\nrouts under Themistocles, Pausanias, and Leotychides, and thus easily overcame\r\nthe bodies of men whose souls were quelled and defeated beforehand. But\r\nTigranes had never yet in many combats been beaten, and was flushed with\r\nsuccess when he engaged with Lucullus. There is no comparison between the\r\nnumbers, which came against Lucullus, and those subdued by Cimon. All which\r\nthings being rightly considered, it is a hard matter to give judgment. For\r\nsupernatural favor also appears to have attended both of them, directing the\r\none what to do, the other what to avoid, and thus they have, both of them, so\r\nto say, the vote of the gods, to declare them noble and divine characters.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap38\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eNICIAS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCrassus, in my opinion, may most properly be set against Nicias, and the\r\nParthian disaster compared with that in Sicily. But here it will be well for me\r\nto entreat the reader, in all courtesy, not to think that I contend with\r\nThucydides in matters so pathetically, vividly, and eloquently, beyond all\r\nimitation, and even beyond himself, expressed by him; nor to believe me guilty\r\nof the like folly with Timaeus, who, hoping in his history to surpass\r\nThucydides in art, and to make Philistus appear a trifler and a novice, pushes\r\non in his descriptions, through all the battles, sea-fights, and public\r\nspeeches, in recording which they have been most successful, without meriting\r\nso much as to be compared in Pindar’s phrase, to\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOne that on his feet Would with the Lydian cars compete.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe simply shows himself all along a half-lettered, childish writer; in the\r\nwords of Diphilus,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n— of wit obese,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nO’erlarded with Sicilian grease.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nOften he sinks to the very level of Xenarchus, telling us that he thinks it\r\nominous to the Athenians that their general, who had victory in his name, was\r\nunwilling to take command in the expedition; and that the defacing of the\r\nHermae was a divine intimation that they should suffer much in the war by\r\nHermocrates, the son of Hermon; and, moreover, how it was likely that Hercules\r\nshould aid the Syracusans for the sake of Proserpine, by whose means he took\r\nCerberus, and should be angry with the Athenians for protecting the Egesteans,\r\ndescended from Trojan ancestors, whose city he, for an injury of their king\r\nLaomedon, had overthrown. However, all these may be merely other instances of\r\nthe same happy taste that makes him correct the diction of Philistus, and abuse\r\nPlato and Aristotle. This sort of contention and rivalry with others in matter\r\nof style, to my mind, in any case, seems petty and pedantic, but when its\r\nobjects are works of inimitable excellence, it is absolutely senseless. Such\r\nactions in Nicias’s life as Thucydides and Philistus have related, since they\r\ncannot be passed by, illustrating as they do most especially his character and\r\ntemper, under his many and great troubles, that I may not seem altogether\r\nnegligent, I shall briefly run over. And such things as are not commonly known,\r\nand lie scattered here and there in other men’s writings, or are found amongst\r\nthe old monuments and archives, I shall endeavor to bring together; not\r\ncollecting mere useless pieces of learning, but adducing what may make his\r\ndisposition and habit of mind understood.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFirst of all, I would mention what Aristotle has said of Nicias, that there had\r\nbeen three good citizens, eminent above the rest for their hereditary affection\r\nand love to the people, Nicias the son of Niceratus, Thucydides the son of\r\nMelesias, and Theramenes the son of Hagnon, but the last less than the others;\r\nfor he had his dubious extraction cast in his teeth, as a foreigner from Ceos,\r\nand his inconstancy, which made him side sometimes with one party, sometimes\r\nwith another in public life, and which obtained him the nickname of the Buskin.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThucydides came earlier, and, on the behalf of the nobility, was a great\r\nopponent of the measures by which Pericles courted the favor of the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNicias was a younger man, yet was in some reputation even whilst Pericles\r\nlived; so much so as to have been his colleague in the office of general, and\r\nto have held command by himself more than once. But on the death of Pericles,\r\nhe presently rose to the highest place, chiefly by the favor of the rich and\r\neminent citizens, who set him up for their bulwark against the presumption and\r\ninsolence of Cleon; nevertheless, he did not forfeit the good-will of the\r\ncommonalty, who, likewise, contributed to his advancement. For though Cleon got\r\ngreat influence by his exertions\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n— to please\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe old men, who trusted him to find them fees.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nYet even those, for whose interest, and to gain whose favor he acted,\r\nnevertheless observing the avarice, the arrogance, and the presumption of the\r\nman, many of them supported Nicias. For his was not that sort of gravity which\r\nis harsh and offensive, but he tempered it with a certain caution and\r\ndeference, winning upon the people, by seeming afraid of them. And being\r\nnaturally diffident and unhopeful in war, his good fortune supplied his want of\r\ncourage, and kept it from being detected, as in all his commands he was\r\nconstantly successful. And his timorousness in civil life, and his extreme\r\ndread of accusers, was thought very suitable in a citizen of a free State; and\r\nfrom the people’s good-will towards him, got him no small power over them, they\r\nbeing fearful of all that despised them, but willing to promote one who seemed\r\nto be afraid of them; the greatest compliment their betters could pay them\r\nbeing not to contemn them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPericles, who by solid virtue and the pure force of argument ruled the\r\ncommonwealth, had stood in need of no disguises nor persuasions with the\r\npeople. Nicias, inferior in these respects, used his riches, of which he had\r\nabundance, to gain popularity. Neither had he the nimble wit of Cleon, to win\r\nthe Athenians to his purposes by amusing them with bold jests; unprovided with\r\nsuch qualities, he courted them with dramatic exhibitions, gymnastic games, and\r\nother public shows, more sumptuous and more splendid than had been ever known\r\nin his, or in former ages. Amongst his religious offerings, there was extant,\r\neven in our days, the small figure of Minerva in the citadel, having lost the\r\ngold that covered it; and a shrine in the temple of Bacchus, under the tripods,\r\nthat were presented by those who won the prize in the shows of plays. For at\r\nthese he had often carried off the prize, and never once failed. We are told\r\nthat on one of these occasions, a slave of his appeared in the character of\r\nBacchus, of a beautiful person and noble stature, and with as yet no beard upon\r\nhis chin; and on the Athenians being pleased with the sight, and applauding a\r\nlong time, Nicias stood up, and said he could not in piety keep as a slave, one\r\nwhose person had been consecrated to represent a god. And forthwith he set the\r\nyoung man free. His performances at Delos are, also, on record, as noble and\r\nmagnificent works of devotion. For whereas the choruses which the cities sent\r\nto sing hymns to the god were wont to arrive in no order, as it might happen,\r\nand, being there met by a crowd of people crying out to them to sing, in their\r\nhurry to begin, used to disembark confusedly, putting on their garlands, and\r\nchanging their dresses as they left the ships, he, when he had to convoy the\r\nsacred company, disembarked the chorus at Rhenea, together with the sacrifice,\r\nand other holy appurtenances. And having brought along with him from Athens a\r\nbridge fitted by measurement for the purpose, and magnificently adorned with\r\ngilding and coloring, and with garlands and tapestries; this he laid in the\r\nnight over the channel betwixt Rhenea and Delos, being no great distance. And\r\nat break of day he marched forth with all the procession to the god, and led\r\nthe chorus, sumptuously ornamented, and singing their hymns, along over the\r\nbridge. The sacrifices, the games, and the feast being over, he set up a\r\npalm-tree of brass for a present to the god, and bought a parcel of land with\r\nten thousand drachmas which he consecrated; with the revenue the inhabitants of\r\nDelos were to sacrifice and to feast, and to pray the gods for many good things\r\nto Nicias. This he engraved on a pillar, which he left in Delos to be a record\r\nof his bequest. This same palm-tree, afterwards broken down by the wind, fell\r\non the great statue which the men of Naxos presented, and struck it to the\r\nground.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is plain that much of this might be vainglory, and the mere desire of\r\npopularity and applause; yet from other qualities and carriage of the man, one\r\nmight believe all this cost and public display to be the effect of devotion.\r\nFor he was one of those who dreaded the divine powers extremely, and, as\r\nThucydides tells us, was much given to arts of divination. In one of Pasiphon’s\r\ndialogues, it is stated that he daily sacrificed to the gods, and keeping a\r\ndiviner at his house, professed to be consulting always about the commonwealth,\r\nbut for the most part, inquired about his own private affairs, more especially\r\nconcerning his silver mines; for he owned many works at Laurium, of great\r\nvalue, but somewhat hazardous to carry on. He maintained there a multitude of\r\nslaves, and his wealth consisted chiefly in silver. Hence he had many\r\nhangers-on about him, begging and obtaining. For he gave to those who could do\r\nhim mischief, no less than to those who deserved well. In short, his timidity\r\nwas a revenue to rogues, and his humanity to honest men. We find testimony in\r\nthe comic writers, as when Teleclides, speaking of one of the professed\r\ninformers, says: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nCharicles gave the man a pound, the matter not to name,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThat from inside a money-bag into the world he came;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd Nicias, also, paid him four; I know the reason well,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut Nicias is a worthy man, and so I will not tell.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nSo, also, the informer whom Eupolis introduces in his Maricas, attacking a\r\ngood, simple, poor man: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHow long ago did you and Nicias meet?\u003cbr\u003e\r\nI did but see him just now in the street.\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe man has seen him and denies it not,\u003cbr\u003e\r\n’Tis evident that they are in a plot.\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSee you, O citizens! ’tis fact, Nicias is taken in the act.\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTaken, Fools! take so good a man\u003cbr\u003e\r\nIn aught that’s wrong none will or can.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCleon, in Aristophanes, makes it one of his threats: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nI’ll outscream all the speakers, and make Nicias stand aghast!\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nPhrynichus also implies his want of spirit, and his easiness to be intimidated\r\nin the verses,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nA noble man he was, I well can say,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nNor walked like Nicias, cowering on his way.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo cautious was he of informers, and so reserved, that he never would dine out\r\nwith any citizen, nor allowed himself to indulge in talk and conversation with\r\nhis friends, nor gave himself any leisure for such amusements; but when he was\r\ngeneral he used to stay at the office till night, and was the first that came\r\nto the council-house, and the last that left it. And if no public business\r\nengaged him, it was very hard to have access, or to speak with him, he being\r\nretired at home and locked up. And when any came to the door, some friend of\r\nhis gave them good words, and begged them to excuse him, Nicias was very busy;\r\nas if affairs of State and public duties still kept him occupied. He who\r\nprincipally acted this part for him, and contributed most to this state and\r\nshow, was Hiero, a man educated in Nicias’s family, and instructed by him in\r\nletters and music. He professed to be the son of Dionysius, surnamed Chalcus,\r\nwhose poems are yet extant, and had led out the colony to Italy, and founded\r\nThurii. This Hiero transacted all his secrets for Nicias with the dinners; and\r\ngave out to the people, what a toilsome and miserable life he led, for the sake\r\nof the commonwealth. “He,” said Hiero, “can never be either at the bath, or at\r\nhis meat, but some public business interferes. Careless of his own, and zealous\r\nfor the public good, he scarcely ever goes to bed till after others have had\r\ntheir first sleep. So that his health is impaired, and his body out of order,\r\nnor is he cheerful or affable with his friends, but loses them as well as his\r\nmoney in the service of the State, while other men gain friends by public\r\nspeaking, enrich themselves, fare delicately, and make government their\r\namusement.” And in fact this was Nicias’s manner of life, so that he well might\r\napply to himself the words of Agamemnon: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nVain pomp’s the ruler of the life we live,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd a slave’s service to the crowd we give.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe observed that the people, in the case of men of eloquence, or of eminent\r\nparts, made use of their talents upon occasion, but were always jealous of\r\ntheir abilities, and held a watchful eye upon them, taking all opportunities to\r\nhumble their pride and abate their reputation; as was manifest in their\r\ncondemnation of Pericles, their banishment of Damon, their distrust of Antiphon\r\nthe Rhamnusian, but especially in the case of Paches who took Lesbos, who,\r\nhaving to give an account of his conduct, in the very court of justice\r\nunsheathed his sword and slew himself. Upon such considerations, Nicias\r\ndeclined all difficult and lengthy enterprises; if he took a command, he was\r\nfor doing what was safe; and if, as thus was likely, he had for the most part\r\nsuccess, he did not attribute it to any wisdom, conduct, or courage of his own,\r\nbut, to avoid envy, he thanked fortune for all, and gave the glory to the\r\ndivine powers. And the actions themselves bore testimony in his favor; the city\r\nmet at that time with several considerable reverses, but he had not a hand in\r\nany of them. The Athenians were routed in Thrace by the Chalcidians, Calliades\r\nand Xenophon commanding in chief. Demosthenes was the general when they were\r\nunfortunate in Aetolia. At Delium, they lost a thousand citizens under the\r\nconduct of Hippocrates; the plague was principally laid to the charge of\r\nPericles, he, to carry on the war, having shut up close together in the town\r\nthe crowd of people from the country, who, by the change of place, and of their\r\nusual course of living, bred the pestilence. Nicias stood clear of all this;\r\nunder his conduct was taken Cythera, an island most commodious against Laconia,\r\nand occupied by the Lacedaemonian settlers; many places, likewise, in Thrace,\r\nwhich had revolted, were taken or won over by him; he, shutting up the\r\nMegarians within their town, seized upon the isle of Minoa; and soon after,\r\nadvancing from thence to Nisaea, made himself master there, and then making a\r\ndescent upon the Corinthian territory, fought a successful battle, and slew a\r\ngreat number of the Corinthians with their captain Lycophron. There it happened\r\nthat two of his men were left by an oversight, when they carried off the dead,\r\nwhich when he understood, he stopped the fleet, and sent a herald to the enemy\r\nfor leave to carry off the dead; though by law and custom, he that by a truce\r\ncraved leave to carry off the dead, was hereby supposed to give up all claim to\r\nthe victory. Nor was it lawful for him that did this to erect a trophy, for his\r\nis the victory who is master of the field, and he is not master who asks leave,\r\nas wanting power to take. But he chose rather to renounce his victory and his\r\nglory, than to let two citizens lie unburied. He scoured the coast of Laconia\r\nall along, and beat the Lacedaemonians that made head against him. He took\r\nThyrea, occupied by the Aeginetans, and carried the prisoners to Athens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Demosthenes had fortified Pylos, and the Peloponnesians brought together\r\nboth their sea and land forces before it, after the fight, about the number of\r\nfour hundred native Spartans were left ashore in the isle Sphacteria. The\r\nAthenians thought it a great prize, as indeed it was, to take these men\r\nprisoners. But the siege, in places that wanted water, being very difficult and\r\nuntoward, and to convey necessaries about by sea in summer tedious and\r\nexpensive, in winter doubtful, or plainly impossible, they began to be annoyed,\r\nand to repent their having rejected the embassy of the Lacedaemonians that had\r\nbeen sent to propose a treaty of peace, which had been done at the importunity\r\nof Cleon, who opposed it chiefly out of a pique to Nicias; for, being his\r\nenemy, and observing him to be extremely solicitous to support the offers of\r\nthe Lacedaemonians, he persuaded the people to refuse them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow, therefore, that the siege was protracted, and they heard of the\r\ndifficulties that pressed their army, they grew enraged against Cleon. But he\r\nturned all the blame upon Nicias, charging it on his softness and cowardice,\r\nthat the besieged were not yet taken. “Were I general,” said he, “they should\r\nnot hold out so long.” The Athenians not unnaturally asked the question, “Why\r\nthen, as it is, do not you go with a squadron against them?” And Nicias\r\nstanding up resigned his command at Pylos to him, and bade him take what forces\r\nhe pleased along with him, and not be bold in words, out of harm’s way, but go\r\nforth and perform some real service for the commonwealth. Cleon, at the first,\r\ntried to draw back, disconcerted at the proposal, which he had never expected;\r\nbut the Athenians insisting, and Nicias loudly upbraiding him, he thus\r\nprovoked, and fired with ambition, took upon him the charge, and said further,\r\nthat within twenty days after he embarked, he would either kill the enemy upon\r\nthe place, or bring them alive to Athens. This the Athenians were readier to\r\nlaugh at than to believe, as on other occasions, also, his bold assertions and\r\nextravagances used to make them sport, and were pleasant enough. As, for\r\ninstance, it is reported that once when the people were assembled, and had\r\nwaited his coming a long time, at last he appeared with a garland on his head,\r\nand prayed them to adjourn to the next day. “For,” said he, “I am not at\r\nleisure to-day; I have sacrificed to the gods, and am to entertain some\r\nstrangers.” Whereupon the Athenians laughing rose up, and dissolved the\r\nassembly. However, at this time he had good fortune, and in conjunction with\r\nDemosthenes, conducted the enterprise so well, that within the time he had\r\nlimited, he carried captive to Athens all the Spartans that had not fallen in\r\nbattle.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis brought great disgrace on Nicias; for this was not to throw away his\r\nshield, but something yet more shameful and ignominious, to quit his charge\r\nvoluntarily out of cowardice, and voting himself, as it were, out of his\r\ncommand of his own accord, to put into his enemy’s hand the opportunity of\r\nachieving so brave an action. Aristophanes has a jest against him on this\r\noccasion in the Birds: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIndeed, not now the word that must be said\u003cbr\u003e\r\nIs, do like Nicias, or retire to bed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd, again, in his Husbandmen: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nI wish to stay at home and farm.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhat then?\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWho should prevent you?\u003cbr\u003e\r\nYou, my countrymen;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhom I would pay a thousand drachmas down,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo let me give up office and leave town.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nEnough; content; the sum two thousand is,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWith those that Nicias paid to give up his.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBesides all this, he did great mischief to the city by suffering the accession\r\nof so much reputation and power to Cleon, who now assumed such lofty airs, and\r\nallowed himself in such intolerable audacity, as led to many unfortunate\r\nresults, a sufficient part of which fell to his own share. Amongst other\r\nthings, he destroyed all the decorum of public speaking; he was the first who\r\never broke out into exclamations, flung open his dress, smote his thigh, and\r\nran up and down whilst he was speaking, things which soon after introduced\r\namongst those who managed the affairs of State, such license and contempt of\r\ndecency, as brought all into confusion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlready, too, Alcibiades was beginning to show his strength at Athens, a\r\npopular leader, not, indeed, as utterly violent as Cleon, but as the land of\r\nEgypt, through the richness of its soil, is said,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n— great plenty to produce,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBoth wholesome herbs, and drugs of deadly juice,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nso the nature of Alcibiades was strong and luxuriant in both kinds, and made\r\nway for many serious innovations. Thus it fell out that after Nicias had got\r\nhis hands clear of Cleon, he had not opportunity to settle the city perfectly\r\ninto quietness. For having brought matters to a pretty hopeful condition, he\r\nfound everything carried away and plunged again into confusion by Alcibiades,\r\nthrough the wildness and vehemence of his ambition, and all embroiled again in\r\nwar worse than ever. Which fell out thus. The persons who had principally\r\nhindered the peace were Cleon and Brasidas. War setting off the virtue of the\r\none, and hiding the villainy of the other, gave to the one occasions of\r\nachieving brave actions, to the other opportunity of committing equal\r\ndishonesties. Now when these two were in one battle both slain near Amphipolis,\r\nNicias was aware that the Spartans had long been desirous of a peace, and that\r\nthe Athenians had no longer the same confidence in the war. Both being alike\r\ntired, and, as it were by consent, letting fall their hands, he, therefore, in\r\nthis nick of time, employed his efforts to make a friendship betwixt the two\r\ncities, and to deliver the other States of Greece from the evils and calamities\r\nthey labored under, and so establish his own good name for success as a\r\nstatesman for all future time. He found the men of substance, the elder men,\r\nand the land-owners and farmers pretty generally, all inclined to peace. And\r\nwhen, in addition to these, by conversing and reasoning, he had cooled the\r\nwishes of a good many others for war, he now encouraged the hopes of the\r\nLacedaemonians, and counseled them to seek peace. They confided in him, as on\r\naccount of his general character for moderation and equity, so, also, because\r\nof the kindness and care he had shown to the prisoners taken at Pylos and kept\r\nin confinement, making their misfortune the more easy to them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Athenians and the Spartans had before this concluded a truce for a year,\r\nand during this, by associating with one another, they had tasted again the\r\nsweets of peace and security, and unimpeded intercourse with friends and\r\nconnections, and thus longed for an end of that fighting and bloodshed, and\r\nheard with delight the chorus sing such verses as\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n— my lance I’ll leave\u003cbr\u003e\r\nLaid by, for spiders to o’erweave,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand remembered with joy the saying, In peace, they who sleep are awaked by the\r\ncock-crow, not by the trumpet. So shutting their ears, with loud reproaches, to\r\nthe forebodings of those who said that the Fates decreed this to be a war of\r\nthrice nine years, the whole question having been debated, they made a peace.\r\nAnd most people thought, now, indeed, they had got an end of all their evils.\r\nAnd Nicias was in every man’s mouth, as one especially beloved of the gods,\r\nwho, for his piety and devotion, had been appointed to give a name to the\r\nfairest and greatest of all blessings. For in fact they considered the peace\r\nNicias’s work, as the war the work of Pericles; because he, on light occasions,\r\nseemed to have plunged the Greeks into great calamities, while Nicias had\r\ninduced them to forget all the evils they had done each other and to be friends\r\nagain; and so to this day it is called the Peace of Nicias.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe articles being, that the garrisons and towns taken on either side, and the\r\nprisoners should be restored, and they to restore the first to whom it should\r\nfall by lot, Nicias, as Theophrastus tells us, by a sum of money procured that\r\nthe lot should fall for the Lacedaemonians to deliver the first. Afterwards,\r\nwhen the Corinthians and the Boeotians showed their dislike of what was done,\r\nand by their complaints and accusations were wellnigh bringing the war back\r\nagain, Nicias persuaded the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians, besides the\r\npeace, to make a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, as a tie and\r\nconfirmation of the peace, which would make them more terrible to those that\r\nheld out, and the firmer to each other. Whilst these matters were on foot,\r\nAlcibiades, who was no lover of tranquillity, and who was offended with the\r\nLacedaemonians because of their applications and attentions to Nicias, while\r\nthey overlooked and despised himself, from first to last, indeed, had opposed\r\nthe peace, though all in vain, but now finding that the Lacedaemonians did not\r\naltogether continue to please the Athenians, but were thought to have acted\r\nunfairly in having made a league with the Boeotians, and had not given up\r\nPanactum, as they should have done, with its fortifications unrazed, nor yet\r\nAmphipolis, he laid hold on these occasions for his purpose, and availed\r\nhimself of every one of them to irritate the people. And, at length, sending\r\nfor ambassadors from the Argives, he exerted himself to effect a confederacy\r\nbetween the Athenians and them. And now, when Lacedaemonian ambassadors were\r\ncome with full powers, and at their preliminary audience by the council seemed\r\nto come in all points with just proposals, he, fearing that the general\r\nassembly, also, would be won over to their offers, overreached them with false\r\nprofessions and oaths of assistance, on the condition that they would not avow\r\nthat they came with full powers, this, he said, being the only way for them to\r\nattain their desires. They being overpersuaded and decoyed from Nicias to\r\nfollow him, he introduced them to the assembly, and asked them presently\r\nwhether or no they came in all points with full powers, which when they denied,\r\nhe, contrary to their expectation, changing his countenance, called the council\r\nto witness their words, and now bade the people beware how they trust, or\r\ntransact anything with such manifest liars, who say at one time one thing, and\r\nat another the very opposite upon the same subject. These plenipotentiaries\r\nwere, as well they might be, confounded at this, and Nicias, also, being at a\r\nloss what to say, and struck with amazement and wonder, the assembly resolved\r\nto send immediately for the Argives, to enter into a league with them. An\r\nearthquake, which interrupted the assembly, made for Nicias’s advantage; and\r\nthe next day the people being again assembled, after much speaking and\r\nsoliciting, with great ado he brought it about, that the treaty with the\r\nArgives should be deferred, and he be sent to the Lacedaemonians, in full\r\nexpectation that so all would go well.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he arrived at Sparta, they received him there as a good man, and one well\r\ninclined towards them; yet he effected nothing, but, baffled by the party that\r\nfavored the Boeotians, he returned home, not only dishonored and hardly spoken\r\nof, but likewise in fear of the Athenians, who were vexed and enraged that\r\nthrough his persuasions they had released so many and such considerable\r\npersons, their prisoners, for the men who had been brought from Pylos were of\r\nthe chiefest families of Sparta, and had those who were highest there in place\r\nand power for their friends and kindred. Yet did they not in their heat proceed\r\nagainst him, otherwise than that they chose Alcibiades general, and took the\r\nMantineans and Eleans, who had thrown up their alliance with the\r\nLacedaemonians, into the league, together with the Argives, and sent to Pylos\r\nfreebooters to infest Laconia, whereby the war began to break out afresh.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the enmity betwixt Nicias and Alcibiades running higher and higher, and the\r\ntime being at hand for decreeing the ostracism or banishment, for ten years,\r\nwhich the people, putting the name on a sherd, were wont to inflict at certain\r\ntimes on some person suspected or regarded with jealousy for his popularity or\r\nwealth, both were now in alarm and apprehension, one of them, in all\r\nlikelihood, being to undergo this ostracism; as the people abominated the life\r\nof Alcibiades, and stood in fear of his boldness and resolution, as is shown\r\nparticularly in the history of him; while as for Nicias, his riches made him\r\nenvied, and his habits of living, in particular, his unsociable and exclusive\r\nways, not like those of a fellow-citizen, or even a fellow-man, went against\r\nhim, and having many times opposed their inclinations, forcing them against\r\ntheir feelings to do what was their interest, he had got himself disliked.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo speak plainly, it was a contest of the young men who were eager for war,\r\nagainst the men of years and lovers of peace, they turning the ostracism upon\r\nthe one, these upon the other. But\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIn civil strife e’en villains rise to fame.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd so now it happened that the city, distracted into two factions, allowed\r\nfree course to the most impudent and profligate persons, among whom was\r\nHyperbolus of the Perithoedae, one who could not, indeed, be said to be\r\npresuming upon any power, but rather by his presumption rose into power, and by\r\nthe honor he found in the city, became the scandal of it. He, at this time,\r\nthought himself far enough from the ostracism, as more properly deserving the\r\nslave’s gallows, and made account, that one of these men being dispatched out\r\nof the way, he might be able to play a part against the other that should be\r\nleft, and openly showed his pleasure at the dissension, and his desire to\r\ninflame the people against both of them. Nicias and Alcibiades, perceiving his\r\nmalice, secretly combined together, and setting both their interests jointly at\r\nwork, succeeded in fixing the ostracism not on either of them, but even on\r\nHyperbolus. This, indeed, at the first, made sport, and raised laughter among\r\nthe people; but afterwards it was felt as an affront, that the thing should be\r\ndishonored by being employed upon so unworthy a subject; punishment, also,\r\nhaving its proper dignity, and ostracism being one that was appropriate rather\r\nfor Thucydides, Aristides, and such like persons; whereas for Hyperbolus it was\r\na glory, and a fair ground for boasting on his part, when for his villainy he\r\nsuffered the same with the best men. As Plato, the comic poet said of him,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe man deserved the fate, deny who can;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nYes, but the fate did not deserve the man;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nNot for the like of him and his slave-brands,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDid Athens put the sherd into our hands.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, in fact, none ever afterwards suffered this sort of punishment, but\r\nHyperbolus was the last, as Hipparchus the Cholargian, who was kin to the\r\ntyrant, was the first.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere is no judgment to be made of fortune; nor can any reasoning bring us to a\r\ncertainty about it. If Nicias had run the risk with Alcibiades, whether of the\r\ntwo should undergo the ostracism, he had either prevailed, and, his rival being\r\nexpelled the city, he had remained secure; or, being overcome, he had avoided\r\nthe utmost disasters, and preserved the reputation of a most excellent\r\ncommander. Meantime I am not ignorant that Theophrastus says, that when\r\nHyperbolus was banished Phaeax, not Nicias, contested it with Alcibiades; but\r\nmost authors differ from him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was Alcibiades, at any rate, whom when the Aegestean and Leontine\r\nambassadors arrived and urged the Athenians to make an expedition against\r\nSicily, Nicias opposed, and by whose persuasions and ambition he found himself\r\noverborne, who even before the people could be assembled, had preoccupied and\r\ncorrupted their judgment with hopes and with speeches; insomuch that the young\r\nmen at their sports, and the old men in their workshops, and sitting together\r\non the benches, would be drawing maps of Sicily, and making charts showing the\r\nseas, the harbors, and general character of the coast of the island opposite\r\nAfrica. For they made not Sicily the end of the war, but rather its starting\r\npoint and head-quarters from whence they might carry it to the Carthaginians,\r\nand possess themselves of Africa, and of the seas as far as the pillars of\r\nHercules. The bulk of the people, therefore, pressing this way, Nicias, who\r\nopposed them, found but few supporters, nor those of much influence; for the\r\nmen of substance, fearing lest they should seem to shun the public charges and\r\nship-money, were quiet against their inclination; nevertheless he did not tire\r\nnor give it up, but even after the Athenians decreed a war and chose him in the\r\nfirst place general, together with Alcibiades and Lamachus, when they were\r\nagain assembled, he stood up, dissuaded them, and protested against the\r\ndecision, and laid the blame on Alcibiades, charging him with going about to\r\ninvolve the city in foreign dangers and difficulties, merely with a view to his\r\nown private lucre and ambition. Yet it came to nothing. Nicias, because of his\r\nexperience, was looked upon as the fitter for the employment, and his wariness\r\nwith the bravery of Alcibiades, and the easy temper of Lamachus, all compounded\r\ntogether, promised such security, that he did but confirm the resolution.\r\nDemostratus, who, of the popular leaders, was the one who chiefly pressed the\r\nAthenians to the expedition, stood up and said he would stop the mouth of\r\nNicias from urging any more excuses, and moved that the generals should have\r\nabsolute power both at home and abroad, to order and to act as they thought\r\nbest; and this vote the people passed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe priests, however, are said to have very earnestly opposed the enterprise.\r\nBut Alcibiades had his diviners of another sort, who from some old prophesies\r\nannounced that “there shall be great fame of the Athenians in Sicily,” and\r\nmessengers came back to him from Jupiter Ammon, with oracles importing that\r\n“the Athenians shall take all the Syracusans.” Those, meanwhile, who knew\r\nanything that boded ill, concealed it, lest they might seem to forespeak\r\nill-luck. For even prodigies that were obvious and plain would not deter them;\r\nnot the defacing of the Hermue, all maimed in one night except one, called the\r\nHermes of Andocides, erected by the tribe of Aegeus, placed directly before the\r\nhouse then occupied by Andocides; nor what was perpetrated on the altar of the\r\ntwelve gods, upon which a certain man leaped suddenly up, and then turning\r\nround, mutilated himself with a stone. Likewise at Delphi, there stood a golden\r\nimage of Minerva, set on a palm-tree of brass, erected by the city of Athens\r\nfrom the spoils they won from the Medes; this was pecked at several days\r\ntogether by crows flying upon it, who, also, plucked off and knocked down the\r\nfruit, made of gold, upon the palm-tree. But the Athenians said these were all\r\nbut inventions of the Delphians, corrupted by the men of Syracuse. A certain\r\noracle bade them bring from Clazomenae the priestess of Minerva there; they\r\nsent for the woman and found her named Hesychia, Quietness, this being, it\r\nwould seem, what the divine powers advised the city at this time, to be quiet.\r\nWhether, therefore, the astrologer Meton feared these presages, or that from\r\nhuman reason he doubted its success, (for he was appointed to a command in it,)\r\nfeigning himself mad, he set his house on fire. Others say he did not\r\ncounterfeit madness, but set his house on fire in the night, and he next\r\nmorning came before the assembly in great distress, and besought the people, in\r\nconsideration of the sad disaster, to release his son from the service, who was\r\nabout to go captain of a galley for Sicily. The genius, also, of the\r\nphilosopher Socrates, on this occasion, too, gave him intimation by the usual\r\ntokens, that the expedition would prove the ruin of the commonwealth; this he\r\nimparted to his friends and familiars, and by them it was mentioned to a number\r\nof people. Not a few were troubled because the days on which the fleet set sail\r\nhappened to be the time when the women celebrated the death of Adonis; there\r\nbeing everywhere then exposed to view images of dead men, carried about with\r\nmourning and lamentation, and women beating their breasts. So that such as laid\r\nany stress on these matters were extremely troubled, and feared lest that all\r\nthis warlike preparation, so splendid and so glorious, should suddenly, in a\r\nlittle time, be blasted in its very prime of magnificence, and come to nothing.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNicias, in opposing the voting of this expedition, and neither being puffed up\r\nwith hopes, nor transported with the honor of his high command so as to modify\r\nhis judgment, showed himself a man of virtue and constancy. But when his\r\nendeavors could not divert the people from the war, nor get leave for himself\r\nto be discharged of the command, but the people, as it were, violently took him\r\nup and carried him, and against his will put him in the office of general, this\r\nwas no longer now a time for his excessive caution and his delays, nor was it\r\nfor him, like a child, to look back from the ship, often repeating and\r\nreconsidering over and over again how that his advice had not been overruled by\r\nfair arguments, thus blunting the courage of his fellow commanders and spoiling\r\nthe season of action. Whereas, he ought speedily to have closed with the enemy\r\nand brought the matter to an issue, and put fortune immediately to the test in\r\nbattle. But, on the contrary, when Lamachus counseled to sail directly to\r\nSyracuse, and fight the enemy under their city walls, and Alcibiades advised to\r\nsecure the friendship of the other towns, and then to march against them,\r\nNicias dissented from them both, and insisted that they should cruise quietly\r\naround the island and display their armament, and, having landed a small supply\r\nof men for the Egesteans, return to Athens, weakening at once the resolution\r\nand casting down the spirits of the men. And when, a little while after, the\r\nAthenians called home Alcibiades in order to his trial, he being, though joined\r\nnominally with another in commission, in effect the only general, made now no\r\nend of loitering, of cruising, and considering, till their hopes were grown\r\nstale, and all the disorder and consternation which the first approach and view\r\nof their forces had cast amongst the enemy was worn off, and had left them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst yet Alcibiades was with the fleet, they went before Syracuse with a\r\nsquadron of sixty galleys, fifty of them lying in array without the harbor,\r\nwhile the other ten rowed in to reconnoiter, and by a herald called upon the\r\ncitizens of Leontini to return to their own country. These scouts took a galley\r\nof the enemy’s, in which they found certain tablets, on which was set down a\r\nlist of all the Syracusans, according to their tribes. These were wont to be\r\nlaid up at a distance from the city, in the temple of Jupiter Olympius, but\r\nwere now brought forth for examination to furnish a muster-roll of young men\r\nfor the war. These being so taken by the Athenians, and carried to the\r\nofficers, and the multitude of names appearing, the diviners thought it\r\nunpropitious, and were in apprehension lest this should be the only destined\r\nfullfilment of the prophecy, that “the Athenians shall take all the\r\nSyracusans.” Yet, indeed, this was said to be accomplished by the Athenians at\r\nanother time, when Callippus the Athenian, having slain Dion, became master of\r\nSyracuse. But when Alcibiades shortly after sailed away from Sicily, the\r\ncommand fell wholly to Nicias. Lamachus was, indeed, a brave and honest man,\r\nand ready to fight fearlessly with his own hand in battle, but so poor and ill\r\noff, that whenever he was appointed general, he used always, in accounting for\r\nhis outlay of public money, to bring some little reckoning or other of money\r\nfor his very clothes and shoes. On the contrary, Nicias, as on other accounts,\r\nso, also, because of his wealth and station, was very much thought of. The\r\nstory is told that once upon a time the commission of generals being in\r\nconsultation together in their public office, he bade Sophocles the poet give\r\nhis opinion first, as the senior of the board. “I,” replied Sophocles, “am the\r\nolder, but you are the senior.” And so now, also, Lamachus, who better\r\nunderstood military affairs, being quite his subordinate, he himself, evermore\r\ndelaying and avoiding risk, and faintly employing his forces, first by his\r\nsailing about Sicily at the greatest distance aloof from the enemy, gave them\r\nconfidence, then by afterwards attacking Hybla, a petty fortress, and drawing\r\noff before he could take it, made himself utterly despised. At the last he\r\nretreated to Catana without having achieved anything, save that he demolished\r\nHyocara, a humble town of the barbarians, out of which the story goes that Lais\r\nthe courtesan, yet a mere girl, was sold amongst the other prisoners, and\r\ncarried thence away to Peloponnesus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when the summer was spent, after reports began to reach him that the\r\nSyracusans were grown so confident that they would come first to attack him,\r\nand troopers skirmishing to the very camp twitted his soldiers, asking whether\r\nthey came to settle with the Catanians, or to put the Leontines in possession\r\nof their city, at last, with much ado, Nicias resolved to sail against\r\nSyracuse. And wishing to form his camp safely and without molestation, he\r\nprocured a man to carry from Catana intelligence to the Syracusans that they\r\nmight seize the camp of the Athenians unprotected, and all their arms, if on\r\nsuch a day they should march with all their forces to Catana; and that, the\r\nAthenians living mostly in the town, the friends of the Syracusans had\r\nconcerted, as soon as they should perceive them coming, to possess themselves\r\nof one of the gates, and to fire the arsenal; that many now were in the\r\nconspiracy and awaited their arrival. This was the ablest thing Nicias did in\r\nthe whole of his conduct of the expedition. For having drawn out all the\r\nstrength of the enemy, and made the city destitute of men, he set out from\r\nCatana, entered the harbor, and chose a fit place for his camp, where the enemy\r\ncould least incommode him with the means in which they were superior to him,\r\nwhile with the means in which he was superior to them, he might expect to carry\r\non the war without impediment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the Syracusans returned from Catana, and stood in battle array before the\r\ncity gates, he rapidly led up the Athenians and fell on them and defeated them,\r\nbut did not kill many, their horse hindering the pursuit. And his cutting and\r\nbreaking down the bridges that lay over the river gave Hermocrates, when\r\ncheering up the Syracusans, occasion to say, that Nicias was ridiculous, whose\r\ngreat aim seemed to be to avoid fighting, as if fighting were not the thing he\r\ncame for. However, he put the Syracusans into a very great alarm and\r\nconsternation, so that instead of fifteen generals then in service, they chose\r\nthree others, to whom the people engaged by oath to allow absolute authority.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere stood near them the temple of Jupiter Olympius, which the Athenians\r\n(there being in it many consecrated things of gold and silver) were eager to\r\ntake, but were purposely withheld from it by Nicias, who let the opportunity\r\nslip, and allowed a garrison of the Syracusans to enter it, judging that if the\r\nsoldiers should make booty of that wealth, it would be no advantage to the\r\npublic, and he should bear the guilt of the impiety. Not improving in the least\r\nthis success, which was everywhere famous, after a few days’ stay, away he goes\r\nto Naxos, and there winters, spending largely for the maintenance of so great\r\nan army, and not doing anything except some matters of little consequence with\r\nsome native Sicilians that revolted to him. Insomuch that the Syracusans took\r\nheart again, made excursions to Catana, wasted the country, and fired the camp\r\nof the Athenians. For which everybody blamed Nicias, who, with his long\r\nreflection, his deliberateness, and his caution, had let slip the time for\r\naction. None ever found fault with the man when once at work, for in the brunt\r\nhe showed vigor and activity enough, but was slow and wanted assurance to\r\nengage.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen, therefore, he brought again the army to Syracuse, such was his conduct,\r\nand with such celerity, and at the same time security, he came upon them, that\r\nnobody knew of his approach, when already he had come to shore with his galleys\r\nat Thapsus, and had landed his men; and before any could help it he had\r\nsurprised Epipolae, had defeated the body of picked men that came to its\r\nsuccor, took three hundred prisoners, and routed the cavalry of the enemy,\r\nwhich had been thought invincible. But what chiefly astonished the Syracusans,\r\nand seemed incredible to the Greeks, was, in so short a space of time the\r\nwalling about of Syracuse, a town not less than Athens, and far more difficult,\r\nby the unevenness of the ground, and the nearness of the sea and the marshes\r\nadjacent, to have such a wall drawn in a circle round it; yet this, all within\r\na very little, finished by a man that had not even his health for such weighty\r\ncares, but lay ill of the stone, which may justly bear the blame for what was\r\nleft undone. I admire the industry of the general, and the bravery of the\r\nsoldiers for what they succeeded in. Euripides, after their ruin and disaster,\r\nwriting their funeral elegy, said that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nEight victories over Syracuse they gained,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhile equal yet to both the gods remained.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd in truth one shall not find eight, but many more victories, won by these\r\nmen against the Syracusans, till the gods, in real truth, or fortune intervened\r\nto check the Athenians in this advance to the height of power and greatness.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNicias, therefore, doing violence to his body, was present in most actions. But\r\nonce, when his disease was the sharpest upon him, he lay in the camp with some\r\nfew servants to attend him. And Lamachus having the command fought the\r\nSyracusans, who were bringing a cross-wall from the city along to that of the\r\nAthenians, to hinder them from carrying it round; and in the victory, the\r\nAthenians hurrying in some disorder to the pursuit, Lamachus getting separated\r\nfrom his men, had to resist the Syracusan horse that came upon him. Before the\r\nrest advanced Callicrates, a man of good courage and skill in war. Lamachus,\r\nupon a challenge, engaged with him in single combat, and receiving the first\r\nwound, returned it so home to Callicrates, that they both fell and died\r\ntogether. The Syracusans took away his body and arms, and at full speed\r\nadvanced to the wall of the Athenians, where Nicias lay without any troops to\r\noppose to them, yet roused by this necessity, and seeing the danger, he bade\r\nthose about him go and set on fire all the wood and materials that lay provided\r\nbefore the wall for the engines, and the engines themselves; this put a stop to\r\nthe Syracusans, saved Nicias, saved the walls, and all the money of the\r\nAthenians. For when the Syracusans raw such a fire blazing up between them and\r\nthe wall, they retired.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNicias now remained sole general, and with great prospects; for cities began to\r\ncome over to alliance with him, and ships laden with corn from every coast came\r\nto the camp, everyone favoring when matters went well. And some proposals from\r\namong the Syracusans despairing to defend the city, about a capitulation, were\r\nalready conveyed to him. And in fact Gylippus, who was on his way with a\r\nsquadron to their aid from Lacedaemon, hearing, on his voyage, of the wall\r\nsurrounding them, and of their distress, only continued his enterprise\r\nthenceforth, that, giving Sicily up for lost, he might, if even that should be\r\npossible, secure the Italians their cities. For a strong report was everywhere\r\nspread about that the Athenians carried all before them, and had a general\r\nalike for conduct and for fortune invincible.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd Nicias himself, too, now against his nature grown bold in his present\r\nstrength and success, especially from the intelligence he received under hand\r\nof the Syracusans, believing they would almost immediately surrender the town\r\nupon terms, paid no manner of regard to Gylippus coming to their assistance,\r\nnor kept any watch of his approach so that, neglected altogether and despised,\r\nGylippus went in a longboat ashore without the knowledge of Nicias, and, having\r\nlanded in the remotest parts from Syracuse, mustered up a considerable force,\r\nthe Syracusans not so much as knowing of his arrival nor expecting him; so that\r\nan assembly was summoned to consider the terms to be arranged with Nicias, and\r\nsome were actually on the way, thinking it essential to have all dispatched\r\nbefore the town should be quite walled round, for now there remained very\r\nlittle to be done, and the materials for the building lay all ready along the\r\nline.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this very nick of time and danger arrived Gongylus in one galley from\r\nCorinth, and everyone, as may be imagined, flocking about him, he told them\r\nthat Gylippus would be with them speedily, and that other ships were coming to\r\nrelieve them. And, ere yet they could perfectly believe Gongylus, an express\r\nwas brought from Gylippus, to bid them go forth to meet him. So now taking good\r\nheart, they armed themselves; and Gylippus at once led on his men from their\r\nmarch in battle array against the Athenians, as Nicias also embattled these.\r\nAnd Gylippus, piling his arms in view of the Athenians, sent a herald to tell\r\nthem he would give them leave to depart from Sicily without molestation. To\r\nthis Nicias would not vouchsafe any answer, but some of his soldiers laughing\r\nasked if with the sight of one coarse coat and Laconian staff the Syracusan\r\nprospects had become so brilliant that they could despise the Athenians, who\r\nhad released to the Lacedaemonians three hundred, whom they held in chains,\r\nbigger men than Gylippus, and longer-haired? Timaeus, also, writes that even\r\nthe Syracusans made no account of Gylippus, at the first sight mocking at his\r\nstaff and long hair, as afterwards they found reason to blame his covetousness\r\nand meanness. The same author, however, adds that on Gylippus’s first\r\nappearance, as it might have been at the sight of an owl abroad in the air,\r\nthere was a general flocking together of men to serve in the war. And this is\r\nthe truer saying of the two; for in the staff and the cloak they saw the badge\r\nand authority of Sparta, and crowded to him accordingly. And not only\r\nThucydides affirms that the whole thing was done by him alone, but so, also,\r\ndoes Philistus, who was a Syracusan and an actual witness of what happened.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, the Athenians had the better in the first encounter, and slew some few\r\nof the Syracusans, and amongst them Gongylus of Corinth. But on the next day\r\nGylippus showed what it is to be a man of experience; for with the same arms,\r\nthe same horses, and on the same spot of ground, only employing them otherwise,\r\nhe overcame the Athenians; and they fleeing to their camp, he set the\r\nSyracusans to work, and with the stone and materials that had been brought\r\ntogether for finishing the wall of the Athenians, he built a cross wall to\r\nintercept theirs and break it off, so that even if they were successful in the\r\nfield, they would not be able to do anything. And after this the Syracusans\r\ntaking courage manned their galleys, and with their horse and followers ranging\r\nabout took a good many prisoners; and Gylippus going himself to the cities,\r\ncalled upon them to join with him, and was listened to and supported vigorously\r\nby them. So that Nicias fell back again to his old views, and, seeing the face\r\nof affairs change, desponded, and wrote to Athens, bidding them either send\r\nanother army, or recall this out of Sicily, and that he might, in any case, be\r\nwholly relieved of the command, because of his disease.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBefore this, the Athenians had been intending to send another army to Sicily,\r\nbut envy of Nicias’s early achievements and high fortune had occasioned, up to\r\nthis time, many delays; but now they were all eager to send off succors.\r\nEurymedon went before, in midwinter, with money, and to announce that\r\nEuthydemus and Menander were chosen out of those that served there under Nicias\r\nto be joint commanders with him. Demosthenes was to go after in the spring with\r\na great armament. In the meantime Nicias was briskly attacked, both by sea and\r\nland; in the beginning he had the disadvantage on the water, but in the end\r\nrepulsed and sunk many galleys of the enemy. But by land he could not provide\r\nsuccor in time, so Gylippus surprised and captured Plemmyrium, in which the\r\nstores for the navy, and a great sum of money being there kept, all fell into\r\nhis hands, and many were slain, and many taken prisoners. And what was of\r\ngreatest importance, he now cut off Nicias’s supplies, which had been safely\r\nand readily conveyed to him under Plemmyrium, while the Athenians still held\r\nit, but now that they were beaten out, he could only procure them with great\r\ndifficulty, and with opposition from the enemy, who lay in wait with their\r\nships under that fort. Moreover, it seemed manifest to the Syracusans that\r\ntheir navy had not been beaten by strength, but by their disorder in the\r\npursuit. Now, therefore, all hands went to work to prepare for a new attempt,\r\nthat should succeed better than the former. Nicias had no wish for a sea-fight,\r\nbut said it was mere folly for them, when Demosthenes was coming in all haste\r\nwith so great a fleet and fresh forces to their succor, to engage the enemy\r\nwith a less number of ships and ill provided. But, on the other hand, Menander\r\nand Euthydemus, who were just commencing their new command, prompted by a\r\nfeeling of rivalry and emulation of both the generals, were eager to gain some\r\ngreat success before Demosthenes came, and to prove themselves superior to\r\nNicias. They urged the honor of the city, which, said they, would be blemished\r\nand utterly lost, if they should decline a challenge from the Syracusans. Thus\r\nthey forced Nicias to a sea-fight; and by the stratagem of Ariston, the\r\nCorinthian pilot, (his trick, described by Thucydides, about the men’s\r\ndinners,) they were worsted, and lost many of their men, causing the greatest\r\ndejection to Nicias, who had suffered so much from having the sole command, and\r\nnow again miscarried through his colleagues.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut now, by this time, Demosthenes with his splendid fleet came in sight\r\noutside the harbor, a terror to the enemy. He brought along, in seventy-three\r\ngalleys, five thousand men at arms; of darters, archers, and slingers, not less\r\nthan three thousand; with the glittering of their armor, the flags waving from\r\nthe galleys, the multitude of coxswains and flute-players giving time to the\r\nrowers, setting off the whole with all possible warlike pomp and ostentation to\r\ndismay the enemy. Now, one may believe the Syracusans were again in extreme\r\nalarm, seeing no end or prospect of release before them, toiling, as it seemed,\r\nin vain, and perishing to no purpose. Nicias, however, was not long overjoyed\r\nwith the reinforcement, for the first time he conferred with Demosthenes, who\r\nadvised forthwith to attack the Syracusans, and to put all to the speediest\r\nhazard, to win Syracuse, or else return home, afraid, and wondering at his\r\npromptness and audacity, he besought him to do nothing rashly and desperately,\r\nsince delay would be the ruin of the enemy, whose money would not hold out, nor\r\ntheir confederates be long kept together; that when once they came to be\r\npinched with want, they would presently come again to him for terms, as\r\nformerly. For, indeed, many in Syracuse held secret correspondence with him,\r\nand urged him to stay, declaring that even now the people were quite worn out\r\nwith the war, and weary of Gylippus. And if their necessities should the least\r\nsharpen upon them they would give up all.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNicias glancing darkly at these matters, and unwilling to speak out plainly,\r\nmade his colleagues imagine that it was cowardice which made him talk in this\r\nmanner. And saying that this was the old story over again, the well known\r\nprocrastinations and delays and refinements with which at first he let slip the\r\nopportunity in not immediately falling on the enemy, but suffering the armament\r\nto become a thing of yesterday, that nobody was alarmed with, they took the\r\nside of Demosthenes, and with much ado forced Nicias to comply. And so\r\nDemosthenes, taking the land-forces, by night made an assault upon Epipolae;\r\npart of the enemy he slew ere they took the alarm, the rest defending\r\nthemselves he put to flight. Nor was he content with this victory there, but\r\npushed on further, till he met the Boeotians. For these were the first that\r\nmade head against the Athenians, and charged them with a shout, spear against\r\nspear, and killed many on the place. And now at once there ensued a panic and\r\nconfusion throughout the whole army; the victorious portion got infected with\r\nthe fears of the flying part, and those who were still disembarking and coming\r\nforward, falling foul of the retreaters, came into conflict with their own\r\nparty, taking the fugitives for pursuers, and treating their friends as if they\r\nwere the enemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus huddled together in disorder, distracted with fear and uncertainties, and\r\nunable to be sure of seeing anything, the night not being absolutely dark, nor\r\nyielding any steady light, the moon then towards setting, shadowed with the\r\nmany weapons and bodies that moved to and fro, and glimmering so as not to show\r\nan object plain, but to make friends through fear suspected for foes, the\r\nAthenians fell into utter perplexity and desperation. For, moreover, they had\r\nthe moon at their backs, and consequently their own shadows fell upon them, and\r\nboth hid the number and the glittering of their arms; while the reflection of\r\nthe moon from the shields of the enemy made them show more numerous and better\r\nappointed than, indeed, they were. At last, being pressed on every side, when\r\nonce they had given way, they took to rout, and in their flight were destroyed,\r\nsome by the enemy, some by the hand of their friends, and some tumbling down\r\nthe rocks, while those that were dispersed and straggled about were picked off\r\nin the morning by the horsemen and put to the sword. The slain were two\r\nthousand; and of the rest few came off safe with their arms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this disaster, which to him was not wholly an unexpected one, Nicias\r\naccused the rashness of Demosthenes; but he, making his excuses for the past,\r\nnow advised to be gone in all haste, for neither were other forces to come, nor\r\ncould the enemy be beaten with the present. And, indeed, even supposing they\r\nwere yet too hard for the enemy in any case, they ought to remove and quit a\r\nsituation which they understood to be always accounted a sickly one, and\r\ndangerous for an army, and was more particularly unwholesome now, as they could\r\nsee themselves, because of the time of year. It was the beginning of autumn,\r\nand many now lay sick, and all were out of heart.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt grieved Nicias to hear of flight and departing home, not that he did not\r\nfear the Syracusans, but he was worse afraid of the Athenians, their\r\nimpeachments and sentences; he professed that he apprehended no further harm\r\nthere, or if it must be, he would rather die by the hand of an enemy, than by\r\nhis fellow-citizens. He was not of the opinion which Leo of Byzantium declared\r\nto his fellow-citizens: “I had rather,” said he, “perish by you, than with\r\nyou.” As to the matter of place and quarter whither to remove their camp, that,\r\nhe said, might be debated at leisure. And Demosthenes, his former counsel\r\nhaving succeeded so ill, ceased to press him further; others thought Nicias had\r\nreasons for expectation, and relied on some assurance from people within the\r\ncity, and that this made him so strongly oppose their retreat, so they\r\nacquiesced. But fresh forces now coming to the Syracusans, and the sickness\r\ngrowing worse in his camp, he, also, now approved of their retreat, and\r\ncommanded the soldiers to make ready to go aboard.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd when all were in readiness, and none of the enemy had observed them, not\r\nexpecting such a thing, the moon was eclipsed in the night, to the great fright\r\nof Nicias and others, who, for want of experience, or out of superstition, felt\r\nalarm at such appearances. That the sun might be darkened about the close of\r\nthe month, this even ordinary people now understood pretty well to be the\r\neffect of the moon; but the moon itself to be darkened, how that could come\r\nabout, and how, on the sudden, a broad full moon should lose her light, and\r\nshow such various colors, was not easy to be comprehended; they concluded it to\r\nbe ominous, and a divine intimation of some heavy calamities. For he who the\r\nfirst, and the most plainly of any, and with the greatest assurance committed\r\nto writing how the moon is enlightened and overshadowed, was Anaxagoras; and he\r\nwas as yet but recent, nor was his argument much known, but was rather kept\r\nsecret, passing only amongst a few, under some kind of caution and confidence.\r\nPeople would not then tolerate natural philosophers, and theorists, as they\r\nthen called them, about things above; as lessening the divine power, by\r\nexplaining away its agency into the operation of irrational causes and\r\nsenseless forces acting by necessity, without anything of Providence, or a free\r\nagent. Hence it was that Protagoras was banished, and Anaxagoras cast in\r\nprison, so that Pericles had much difficulty to procure his liberty; and\r\nSocrates, though he had no concern whatever with this sort of learning, yet was\r\nput to death for philosophy. It was only afterwards that the reputation of\r\nPlato, shining forth by his life, and because he subjected natural necessity to\r\ndivine and more excellent principles, took away the obloquy and scandal that\r\nhad attached to such contemplations, and obtained these studies currency among\r\nall people. So his friend Dion, when the moon, at the time he was to embark\r\nfrom Zacynthus to go against Dionysius, was eclipsed, was not in the least\r\ndisturbed, but went on, and, arriving at Syracuse, expelled the tyrant. But it\r\nso fell out with Nicias, that he had not at this time a skillful diviner with\r\nhim; his former habitual adviser who used to moderate much of his superstition,\r\nStilbides, had died a little before. For in fact, this prodigy, as Philochorus\r\nobserves, was not unlucky for men wishing to fly, but on the contrary very\r\nfavorable; for things done in fear require to be hidden, and the light is their\r\nfoe. Nor was it usual to observe signs in the sun or moon more than three days,\r\nas Autoclides states in his Commentaries. But Nicias persuaded them to wait\r\nanother full course of the moon, as if he had not seen it clear again as soon\r\nas ever it had passed the region of shadow where the light was obstructed by\r\nthe earth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn a manner abandoning all other cares, he betook himself wholly to his\r\nsacrifices, till the enemy came upon them with their infantry, besieging the\r\nforts and camp, and placing their ships in a circle about the harbor. Nor did\r\nthe men in the galleys only, but the little boys everywhere got into the\r\nfishing-boats and rowed up and challenged the Athenians, and insulted over\r\nthem. Amongst these a youth of noble parentage, Heraclides by name, having\r\nventured out beyond the rest, an Athenian ship pursued and wellnigh took him.\r\nHis uncle Pollichus, in fear for him, put out with ten galleys which he\r\ncommanded, and the rest, to relieve Pollichus, in like manner drew forth; the\r\nresult of it being a very sharp engagement, in which the Syracusans had the\r\nvictory, and slew Eurymedon, with many others. lifter this the Athenian\r\nsoldiers had no patience to stay longer, but raised an outcry against their\r\nofficers, requiring them to depart by land; for the Syracusans, upon their\r\nvictory, immediately shut and blocked up the entrance of the harbor; but Nicias\r\nwould not consent to this, as it was a shameful thing to leave behind so many\r\nships of burden, and galleys little less than two hundred. Putting, therefore,\r\non board the best of the foot, and the most serviceable darters, they filled\r\none hundred and ten galleys; the rest wanted oars. The remainder of his army\r\nNicias posted along by the sea-side, abandoning the great camp and the\r\nfortifications adjoining the temple of Hercules; so the Syracusans, not having\r\nfor a long time performed their usual sacrifice to Hercules, went up now, both\r\npriests and captains, to sacrifice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd their galleys being manned, the diviners predicted from their sacrifices\r\nvictory and glory to the Syracusans, provided they would not be the aggressors,\r\nbut fight upon the defensive; for so Hercules overcame all, by only de. fending\r\nhimself when set upon. In this confidence they set out; and this proved the\r\nhottest and fiercest of all their sea-fights, raising no less concern and\r\npassion in the beholders than in the actors; as they could oversee the whole\r\naction with all the various and unexpected turns of fortune which, in a short\r\nspace, occurred in it; the Athenians suffering no less from their own\r\npreparations, than from the enemy; for they fought against light and nimble\r\nships, that could attack from any quarter, with theirs laden and heavy. And\r\nthey were thrown at with stones that fly indifferently any way, for which they\r\ncould only return darts and arrows, the direct aim of which the motion of the\r\nwater disturbed, preventing their coming true, point foremost to their mark.\r\nThis the Syracusans had learned from Ariston the Corinthian pilot, who,\r\nfighting stoutly, fell himself in this very engagement, when the victory had\r\nalready declared for the Syracusans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Athenians, their loss and slaughter being very great, their flight by sea\r\ncut off, their safety by land so difficult, did not attempt to hinder the enemy\r\ntowing away their ships, under their eves, nor demanded their dead, as, indeed,\r\ntheir want of burial seemed a less calamity than the leaving behind the sick\r\nand wounded which they now had before them. Yet more miserable still than those\r\ndid they reckon themselves, who were to work on yet, through more such\r\nsufferings, after all to reach the same end.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey prepared to dislodge that night. And Gylippus and his friends seeing the\r\nSyracusans engaged in their sacrifices and at their cups, for their victories,\r\nand it being also a holiday, did not expect either by persuasion or by force to\r\nrouse them up and carry them against the Athenians as they decamped. But\r\nHermocrates, of his own head, put a trick upon Nicias, and sent some of his\r\ncompanions to him, who pretended they came from those that were wont to hold\r\nsecret intelligence with him, and advised him not to stir that night, the\r\nSyracusans having laid ambushes and beset the ways. Nicias, caught with this\r\nstratagem, remained, to encounter presently in reality, what he had feared when\r\nthere was no occasion. For they, the next morning, marching before, seized the\r\ndefiles, fortified the passes where the rivers were fordable, cut down the\r\nbridges, and ordered their horsemen to range the plains and ground that lay\r\nopen, so as to leave no part of the country where the Athenians could move\r\nwithout fighting. They stayed both that day and another night, and then went\r\nalong as if they were leaving their own, not an enemy’s country, lamenting and\r\nbewailing for want of necessaries, and for their parting from friends and\r\ncompanions that were not, able to help themselves; and, nevertheless, judging\r\nthe present evils lighter than those they expected to come. But among the many\r\nmiserable spectacles that appeared up and down in the camp, the saddest sight\r\nof all was Nicias himself, laboring under his malady, and unworthily reduced to\r\nthe scantiest supply of all the accommodations necessary for human wants, of\r\nwhich he in his condition required more than ordinary, because of his sickness;\r\nyet bearing; up under all this illness, and doing and undergoing more than many\r\nin perfect health. And it was plainly evident, that all this toil was not for\r\nhimself, or from any regard to his own life, but that purely for the sake of\r\nthose under his command he would not abandon hope. And, indeed, the rest were\r\ngiven over to weeping and lamentation through fear or sorrow, but he, whenever\r\nhe yielded to anything of the kind, did so, it was evident, from reflection\r\nupon the shame and dishonor of the enterprise, contrasted with the greatness\r\nand glory of the success he had anticipated, and not only the sight of his\r\nperson, but, also, the recollection of the arguments and the dissuasions he\r\nused to prevent this expedition, enhanced their sense of the undeservedness of\r\nhis sufferings, nor had they any heart to put their trust in the gods,\r\nconsidering that a man so religious, who had performed to the divine powers so\r\nmany and so great acts of devotion, should have no more favorable treatment\r\nthan the wickedest and meanest of the army.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNicias, however, endeavored all the while by his voice, his countenance, and\r\nhis carriage, to show himself undefeated by these misfortunes. And all along\r\nthe way shot at, and receiving wounds eight days continually from the enemy, he\r\nyet preserved the forces with him in a body entire, till that Demosthenes was\r\ntaken prisoner with the party that he led, whilst they fought and made a\r\nresistance, and so got behind and were surrounded near the country house of\r\nPolyzelus. Demosthenes thereupon drew his sword, and wounded but did not kill\r\nhimself, the enemy speedily running in and seizing upon him. So soon as the\r\nSyracusans had gone and informed Nicias of this, and he had sent some horsemen,\r\nand by them knew the certainty of the defeat of that division, he then\r\nvouchsafed to sue to Gylippus for a truce for the Athenians to depart out of\r\nSicily, leaving hostages for payment of the money that the Syracusans had\r\nexpended in the war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut now they would not hear of these proposals, but threatening and reviling\r\nthem, angrily and insultingly continued to ply their missiles at them, now\r\ndestitute of every necessary. Yet Nicias still made good his retreat all that\r\nnight, and the next day, through all their darts, made his way to the river\r\nAsinarus. There, however, the enemy encountering them, drove some into the\r\nstream, while others ready to die for thirst plunged in headlong, while they\r\ndrank at the same time, and were cut down by their enemies. And here was the\r\ncruelest and the most immoderate slaughter. Till at last Nicias falling down to\r\nGylippus, “Let pity, O Gylippus,” said he, “move you in your victory; not for\r\nme, who was destined, it seems, to bring the glory I once had to this end, but\r\nfor the other Athenians; as you well know that the chances of war are common to\r\nall, and the Athenians used them moderately and mildly towards you in their\r\nprosperity.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt these words, and at the sight of Nicias, Gylippus was somewhat troubled, for\r\nhe was sensible that the Lacedaemonians had received good offices from Nicias\r\nin the late treaty; and he thought it would be a great and glorious thing for\r\nhim to carry off the chief commanders of the Athenians alive. He, therefore,\r\nraised Nicias with respect, and bade him be of good cheer, and commanded his\r\nmen to spare the lives of the rest. But the word of command being communicated\r\nslowly, the slain were a far greater number than the prisoners. Many, however,\r\nwere privily conveyed away by particular soldiers. Those taken openly were\r\nhurried together in a mass; their arms and spoils hung up on the finest and\r\nlargest trees along the river. The conquerors, with garlands on their heads,\r\nwith their own horses splendidly adorned, and cropping short the manes and\r\ntails of those of their enemies, entered the city, having, in the most signal\r\nconflict ever waged by Greeks against Greeks, and with the greatest strength\r\nand the utmost effort of valor and manhood, won a most entire victory.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd a general assembly of the people of Syracuse and their confederates\r\nsitting, Eurycles, the popular leader, moved, first, that the day on which they\r\ntook Nicias should from thenceforward be kept holiday by sacrificing and\r\nforbearing all manner of work, and from the river be called the Asinarian\r\nFeast. This was the twenty-sixth day of the month Carneus, the Athenian\r\nMetagitnion. And that the servants of the Athenians with the other confederates\r\nbe sold for slaves, and they themselves and the Sicilian auxiliaries be kept\r\nand employed in the quarries, except the generals, who should be put to death.\r\nThe Syracusans favored the proposal, and when Hermocrates said, that to use\r\nwell a victory was better than to gain a victory, he was met with great clamor\r\nand outcry. When Gylippus, also, demanded the Athenian generals to be delivered\r\nto him, that he might carry them to the Lacedaemonians, the Syracusans, now\r\ninsolent with their good fortune, gave him ill words. Indeed, before this, even\r\nin the war, they had been impatient at his rough behavior and Lacedaemonian\r\nhaughtiness, and had, as Timaeus tells us, discovered sordidness and avarice in\r\nhis character, vices which may have descended to him from his father\r\nCleandrides, who was convicted of bribery and banished. And the very man\r\nhimself, of the one thousand talents which Lysander sent to Sparta, embezzled\r\nthirty, and hid them under the tiles of his house, and was detected and\r\nshamefully fled his country. But this is related more at large in the life of\r\nLysander. Timaeus says that Demosthenes and Nicias did not die, as Thucydides\r\nand Philistus have written, by the order of the Syracusans, but that upon a\r\nmessage sent them from Hermocrates, whilst yet the assembly were sitting, by\r\nthe connivance of some of their guards, they were enabled to put an end to\r\nthemselves. Their bodies, however, were thrown out before the gates and offered\r\nfor a public spectacle. And I have heard that to this day in a temple at\r\nSyracuse is shown a shield, said to have been Nicias’s, curiously wrought and\r\nembroidered with gold and purple intermixed. Most of the Athenians perished in\r\nthe quarries by diseases and ill diet, being allowed only one pint of barley\r\nevery day, and one half pint of water. Many of them, however, were carried off\r\nby stealth, or, from the first, were supposed to be servants, and were sold as\r\nslaves. These latter were branded on their foreheads with the figure of a\r\nhorse. There were, however, Athenians, who, in addition to slavery, had to\r\nendure even this. But their discreet and orderly conduct was an advantage to\r\nthem; they were either soon set free, or won the respect of their masters with\r\nwhom they continued to live. Several were saved for the sake of Euripides,\r\nwhose poetry, it appears, was in request among the Sicilians more than among\r\nany of the settlers out of Greece. And when any travelers arrived that could\r\ntell them some passage, or give them any specimen of his verses, they were\r\ndelighted to be able to communicate them to one another. Many of the captives\r\nwho got safe back to Athens are said, after they reached home, to have gone and\r\nmade their acknowledgments to Euripides, relating how that some of them had\r\nbeen released from their slavery by teaching what they could remember of his\r\npoems, and others, when straggling after the fight, been relieved with meat and\r\ndrink for repeating some of his lyrics. Nor need this be any wonder, for it is\r\ntold that a ship of Caunus fleeing into one of their harbors for protection,\r\npursued by pirates, was not received, but forced back, till one asked if they\r\nknew any of Euripides’s verses, and on their saying they did, they were\r\nadmitted, and their ship brought into harbor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is said that the Athenians would not believe their loss, in a great degree\r\nbecause of the person who first brought them news of it. For a certain\r\nstranger, it seems, coming to Piraeus, and there sitting in a barber’s shop,\r\nbegan to talk of what had happened, as if the Athenians already knew all that\r\nhad passed; which the barber hearing, before he acquainted anybody else, ran as\r\nfast as he could up into the city, addressed himself to the Archons, and\r\npresently spread it about in the public Place. On which, there being\r\neverywhere, as may be imagined, terror and consternation, the Archons summoned\r\na general assembly, and there brought in the man and questioned him how he came\r\nto know. And he, giving no satisfactory account, was taken for a spreader of\r\nfalse intelligence and a disturber of the city, and was, therefore, fastened to\r\nthe wheel and racked a long time, till other messengers arrived that related\r\nthe whole disaster particularly. So hardly was Nicias believed to have suffered\r\nthe calamity which he had often predicted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap39\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCRASSUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcus Crassus, whose father had borne the office of a censor, and received the\r\nhonor of a triumph, was educated in a little house together with his two\r\nbrothers, who both married in their parents’ lifetime; they kept but one table\r\namongst them; all which, perhaps, was not the least reason of his own\r\ntemperance and moderation in diet. One of his brothers dying, he married his\r\nwidow, by whom he had his children; neither was there in these respects any of\r\nthe Romans who lived a more orderly life than he did, though later in life he\r\nwas suspected to have been too familiar with one of the vestal virgins, named\r\nLicinia, who was, nevertheless, acquitted, upon an impeachment brought against\r\nher by one Plotinus. Licinia stood possessed of a beautiful property in the\r\nsuburbs, which Crassus desiring to purchase at a low price, for this reason was\r\nfrequent in his attentions to her, which gave occasion to the scandal, and his\r\navarice, so to say, serving to clear him of the crime, he was acquitted. Nor\r\ndid he leave the lady till he had got the estate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPeople were wont to say that the many virtues of Crassus were darkened by the\r\none vice of avarice, and indeed he seemed to have no other but that; for it\r\nbeing the most predominant, obscured others to which he was inclined. The\r\narguments in proof of his avarice were the vastness of his estate, and the\r\nmanner of raising it; for whereas at first he was not worth above three hundred\r\ntalents, yet, though in the course of his political life he dedicated the tenth\r\nof all he had to Hercules, and feasted the people, and gave to every citizen\r\ncorn enough to serve him three months, upon casting up his accounts, before he\r\nwent upon his Parthian expedition, he found his possessions to amount to seven\r\nthousand one hundred talents; most of which, if we may scandal him with a\r\ntruth, he got by fire and rapine, making his advantages of the public\r\ncalamities. For when Sylla seized the city, and exposed to sale the goods of\r\nthose that he had caused to be slain, accounting them booty and spoils, and,\r\nindeed, calling them so too, and was desirous of making as many, and as eminent\r\nmen as he could, partakers in the crime, Crassus never was the man that refused\r\nto accept, or give money for them. Moreover observing how extremely subject the\r\ncity was to fire, and falling down of houses, by reason of their height and\r\ntheir standing so near together, he bought slaves that were builders and\r\narchitects, and when he had collected these to the number of more than five\r\nhundred, he made it his practice to buy houses that were on fire, and those in\r\nthe neighborhood, which, in the immediate danger and uncertainty, the\r\nproprietors were willing to part with for little, or nothing; so that the\r\ngreatest part of Rome, at one time or other, came into his hands. Yet for all\r\nhe had so many workmen, he never built anything but his own house, and used to\r\nsay that those that were addicted to building would undo themselves soon enough\r\nwithout the help of other enemies. And though he had many silver mines, and\r\nmuch valuable land, and laborers to work in it, yet all this was nothing in\r\ncomparison of his slaves, such a number and variety did he possess of excellent\r\nreaders, amanuenses, silversmiths, stewards, and table-waiters, whose\r\ninstruction he always attended to himself, superintending in person while they\r\nlearned, and teaching them himself, accounting it the main duty of a master to\r\nlook over the servants, that are, indeed, the living tools of housekeeping; and\r\nin this, indeed, he was in the right, in thinking, that is, as he used to say,\r\nthat servants ought to look after all other things, and the master after them.\r\nFor economy, which in things inanimate is but money-making when exercised over\r\nmen becomes policy. But it was surely a mistaken judgment, when he said no man\r\nwas to be accounted rich that could not maintain an army at his own cost and\r\ncharges, for war, as Archidamus well observed, is not fed at a fixed allowance,\r\nso that there is no saying what wealth suffices for it, and certainly it was\r\none very far removed from that of Marius; for when he had distributed fourteen\r\nacres of land a man, and understood that some desired more, “God forbid,” said\r\nhe, “that any Roman should think that too little which is enough to keep him\r\nalive and well.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCrassus, however, was very eager to be hospitable to strangers; he kept open\r\nhouse, and to his friends he would lend money without interest, but called it\r\nin precisely at the time; so that his kindness was often thought worse than the\r\npaying the interest would have been. His entertainments were, for the most\r\npart, plain and citizenlike, the company general and popular; good taste and\r\nkindness made them pleasanter than sumptuosity would have done. As for\r\nlearning, he chiefly cared for rhetoric, and what would be serviceable with\r\nlarge numbers; he became one of the best speakers at Rome, and by his pains and\r\nindustry outdid the best natural orators. For there was no trial how mean and\r\ncontemptible soever that he came to unprepared; nay, several times he undertook\r\nand concluded a cause, when Pompey and Caesar and Cicero refused to stand up,\r\nupon which account particularly he got the love of the people, who looked upon\r\nhim as a diligent and careful man, ready to help and succor his\r\nfellow-citizens. Besides, the people were pleased with his courteous and\r\nunpretending salutations and greetings; for he never met any citizen however\r\nhumble and low, but he returned him his salute by name. He was looked upon as a\r\nman well-read in history, and pretty well versed in Aristotle’s philosophy, in\r\nwhich one Alexander instructed him, a man whose intercourse with Crassus gave a\r\nsufficient proof of his good-nature, and gentle disposition; for it is hard to\r\nsay whether he was poorer when he entered into his service, or while he\r\ncontinued in it; for being his only friend that used to accompany him when\r\ntraveling, he used to receive from him a cloak for the journey, and when he\r\ncame home had it demanded from him again; poor patient sufferer, when even the\r\nphilosophy he professed did not look upon poverty as a thing indifferent. But\r\nof this hereafter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Cinna and Marius got the power in their hands, it was soon perceived that\r\nthey had not come back for any good they intended to their country, but to\r\neffect the ruin and utter destruction of the nobility. And as many as they\r\ncould lay their hands on they slew, amongst whom were Crassus’s father and\r\nbrother; he himself, being very young, for the moment escaped the danger; but\r\nunderstanding that he was every way beset and hunted after by the tyrants,\r\ntaking with him three friends and ten servants, with all possible speed he fled\r\ninto Spain, having formerly been there and secured a great number of friends,\r\nwhile his father was Praetor of that country. But finding all people in a\r\nconsternation, and trembling at the cruelty of Marius, as if he was already\r\nstanding over them in person, he durst not discover himself to anybody, but hid\r\nhimself in a large cave, which was by the sea-shore, and belonged to Vibius\r\nPacianus, to whom he sent one of his servants to sound him, his provisions,\r\nalso, beginning to fail. Vibius was well pleased at his escape, and inquiring\r\nthe place of his abode and the number of his companions, he went not to him\r\nhimself, but commanded his steward to provide every day a good meal’s meat, and\r\ncarry it and leave it near such a rock, and so return without taking any\r\nfurther notice or being inquisitive, promising him his liberty if he did as he\r\ncommanded, and that he would kill him if he intermeddled. The cave is not far\r\nfrom the sea; a small and insignificant looking opening in the cliffs conducts\r\nyou in; when you are entered, a wonderfully high roof spreads above you, and\r\nlarge chambers open out one beyond another, nor does it lack either water or\r\nlight, for a very pleasant and wholesome spring runs at the foot of the cliffs,\r\nand natural chinks, in the most advantageous place, let in the light all day\r\nlong; and the thickness of the rock makes the air within pure and clear, all\r\nthe wet and moisture being carried off into the spring.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile Crassus remained here, the steward brought them what was necessary, but\r\nnever saw them, nor knew anything of the matter, though they within saw, and\r\nexpected him at the customary times. Neither was their entertainment such as\r\njust to keep them alive, but given them in abundance and for their enjoyment;\r\nfor Pacianus resolved to treat him with all imaginable kindness, and\r\nconsidering he was a young man, thought it well to gratify a little his\r\nyouthful inclinations; for to give just what is needful, seems rather to come\r\nfrom necessity than from a hearty friendship. Once taking with him two female\r\nservants, he showed them the place and bade them go in boldly, whom when\r\nCrassus and his friends saw, they were afraid of being betrayed, and demanded\r\nwhat they were, and what they would have. They, according as they were\r\ninstructed, answered, they came to wait upon their master who was hid in that\r\ncave. And so Crassus perceiving it was a piece of pleasantry and of goodwill on\r\nthe part of Vibius, took them in and kept them there with him as long as he\r\nstayed, and employed them to give information to Vibius of what they wanted,\r\nand how they were. Fenestella says he saw one of them, then very old, and often\r\nheard her speak of the time and repeat the story with pleasure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter Crassus had lain concealed there eight months, on hearing that Cinna was\r\ndead, he appeared abroad, and a great number of people flocking to him, out of\r\nwhom he selected a body of two thousand five hundred, he visited many cities,\r\nand, as some write, sacked Malaca, which he himself, however, always denied,\r\nand contradicted all who said so. Afterwards, getting together some ships, he\r\npassed into Africa, and joined with Metellus Pius, an eminent person that had\r\nraised a very considerable force; but upon some difference between him and\r\nMetellus, he stayed not long there, but went over to Sylla, by whom he was very\r\nmuch esteemed. When Sylla passed over into Italy, he was anxious to put all the\r\nyoung men that were with him in employment; and as he dispatched some one way,\r\nand some another, Crassus, on its falling to his share to raise men among the\r\nMarsians, demanded a guard, being to pass through the enemy’s country, upon\r\nwhich Sylla replied sharply, “I give you for guard your father, your brother,\r\nyour friends and kindred, whose unjust and cruel murder I am now going to\r\nrevenge;” and Crassus, being nettled, went his way, broke boldly through the\r\nenemy, collected a considerable force, and in all Sylla’s wars acted with great\r\nzeal and courage. And in these times and occasions, they say, began the\r\nemulation and rivalry for glory between him and Pompey; for though Pompey was\r\nthe younger man, and had the disadvantage to be descended of a father that was\r\ndisesteemed by the citizens, and hated as much as ever man was, yet in these\r\nactions he shone out, and was proved so great, that Sylla always used, when he\r\ncame in, to stand up and uncover his head, an honor which he seldom showed to\r\nolder men and his own equals, and always saluted him Imperator. This fired and\r\nstung Crassus, though, indeed, he could not with any fairness claim to be\r\npreferred; for he both wanted experience, and his two innate vices, sordidness\r\nand avarice, tarnished all the lustre of his actions. For when he had taken\r\nTudertia, a town of the Umbrians, he converted, it was said, all the spoil to\r\nhis own use, for which he was complained of to Sylla. But in the last and\r\ngreatest battle before Rome itself, where Sylla was worsted, some of his\r\nbattalions giving ground, and others being quite broken, Crassus got the\r\nvictory on the right wing, which he commanded, and pursued the enemy till\r\nnight, and then sent to Sylla to acquaint him with his success, and demand\r\nprovision for his soldiers. In the time, however, of the proscriptions and\r\nsequestrations, he lost his repute again, by making great purchases for little\r\nor nothing, and asking for grants. Nay, they say he proscribed one of the\r\nBruttians without Sylla’s order, only for his own profit, and that, on\r\ndiscovering this, Sylla never after trusted him in any public affairs. As no\r\nman was more cunning than Crassus to ensnare others by flattery, so no man lay\r\nmore open to it, or swallowed it more greedily than himself. And this\r\nparticularly was observed of him, that though he was the most covetous man in\r\nthe world, yet he habitually disliked and cried out against others who were so.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt troubled him to see Pompey so successful in all his undertakings; that he\r\nhad had a triumph before he was capable to sit in the senate, and that the\r\npeople had surnamed him Magnus, or the Great. When somebody was saying Pompey\r\nthe Great was coming, he smiled, and asked him, “How big is he?” Despairing to\r\nequal him by feats of arms, he betook himself to civil life, where by doing\r\nkindnesses, pleading, lending money, by speaking and canvassing among the\r\npeople for those who had objects to obtain from them, he gradually gained as\r\ngreat honor and power as Pompey had from his many famous expeditions. And it\r\nwas a curious thing in their rivalry, that Pompey’s name and interest in the\r\ncity was greatest when he was absent, for his renown in war, but when present\r\nhe was often less successful than Crassus, by reason of his superciliousness\r\nand haughty way of living, shunning crowds of people, and appearing rarely in\r\nthe forum, and assisting only some few, and that not readily, that his interest\r\nmight be the stronger when he came to use it for himself. Whereas Crassus,\r\nbeing a friend always at hand, ready to be had and easy of access, and always\r\nwith his hands full of other people’s business, with his freedom and courtesy,\r\ngot the better of Pompey’s formality. In point of dignity of person, eloquence\r\nof language, and attractiveness of countenance, they were pretty equally\r\nexcellent. But, however, this emulation never transported Crassus so far as to\r\nmake him bear enmity, or any ill-will; for though he was vexed to see Pompey\r\nand Caesar preferred to him, yet he never minded any hostility or malice with\r\nhis jealousy; though Caesar when he was taken captive by the corsairs in Asia,\r\ncried out, “O Crassus, how glad you will be at the news of my captivity!”\r\nAfterwards they lived together on friendly terms, for when Caesar was going\r\npraetor into Spain, and his creditors, he being then in want of money, came\r\nupon him and seized his equipage, Crassus then stood by him and relieved him,\r\nand was his security for eight hundred and thirty talents. And, in general,\r\nRome being divided into three great interests, those of Pompey, Caesar, and\r\nCrassus, (for as for Cato, his fame was greater than his power, and he was\r\nrather admired than followed,) the sober and quiet part were for Pompey, the\r\nrestless and hotheaded followed Caesar’s ambition, but Crassus trimmed between\r\nthem, making advantages of both, and changed sides continually, being neither a\r\ntrusty friend nor an implacable enemy, and easily abandoned both his\r\nattachments and his animosities, as he found it for his advantage, so that in\r\nshort spaces of time, the same men and the same measures had him both as their\r\nsupporter and as their opponent. He was much liked, but was feared as much or\r\neven more. At any rate, when Sicinius, who was the greatest troubler of the\r\nmagistrates and ministers of his time, was asked how it was he let Crassus\r\nalone, “Oh,” said he, “he carries hay on his horns,” alluding to the custom of\r\ntying hay to the horns of a bull that used to butt, that people might keep out\r\nof his way.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe insurrection of the gladiators and the devastation of Italy, commonly\r\ncalled the war of Spartacus, began upon this occasion. One Lentulus Batiates\r\ntrained up a great many gladiators in Capua, most of them Gauls and Thracians,\r\nwho, not for any fault by them committed, but simply through the cruelty of\r\ntheir master, were kept in confinement for this object of fighting one with\r\nanother. Two hundred of these formed a plan to escape, but their plot being\r\ndiscovered, those of them who became aware of it in time to anticipate their\r\nmaster, being seventy-eight, got out of a cook’s shop chopping-knives and\r\nspits, and made their way through the city, and lighting by the way on several\r\nwagons that were carrying gladiator’s arms to another city, they seized upon\r\nthem and armed themselves. And seizing upon a defensible place, they chose\r\nthree captains, of whom Spartacus was chief, a Thracian of one of the nomad\r\ntribes, and a man not only of high spirit and valiant, but in understanding,\r\nalso, and in gentleness, superior to his condition, and more of a Grecian than\r\nthe people of his country usually are. When he first came to be sold at Rome,\r\nthey say a snake coiled itself upon his face as he lay asleep, and his wife,\r\nwho at this latter time also accompanied him in his flight, his country-woman,\r\na kind of prophetess, and one of those possessed with the bacchanal frenzy,\r\ndeclared that it was a sign portending great and formidable power to him with\r\nno happy event.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFirst, then, routing those that came out of Capua against them, and thus\r\nprocuring a quantity of proper soldiers’ arms, they gladly threw away their own\r\nas barbarous and dishonorable. Afterwards Clodius, the praetor, took the\r\ncommand against them with a body of three thousand men from Rome, and besieged\r\nthem within a mountain, accessible only by one narrow and difficult passage,\r\nwhich Clodius kept guarded, encompassed on all other sides with steep and\r\nslippery precipices. Upon the top, however, grew a great many wild vines, and\r\ncutting down as many of their boughs as they had need of, they twisted them\r\ninto strong ladders long enough to reach from thence to the bottom, by which,\r\nwithout any danger, they got down all but one, who stayed there to throw them\r\ndown their arms, and after this succeeded in saving himself. The Romans were\r\nignorant of all this, and, therefore, coming upon them in the rear, they\r\nassaulted them unawares and took their camp. Several, also, of the shepherds\r\nand herdsman that were there, stout and nimble fellows, revolted over to them,\r\nto some of whom they gave complete arms, and made use of others as scouts and\r\nlight-armed soldiers. Publius Varinus, the praetor, was now sent against them,\r\nwhose lieutenant, Furius, with two thousand men, they fought and routed. Then\r\nCossinius was sent, with considerable forces, to give his assistance and\r\nadvice, and him Spartacus missed but very little of capturing in person, as he\r\nwas bathing at Salinae; for he with great difficulty made his escape, while\r\nSpartacus possessed himself of his baggage, and following the chase with a\r\ngreat slaughter, stormed his camp and took it, where Cossinius himself was\r\nslain. After many successful skirmishes with the praetor himself, in one of\r\nwhich he took his lictors and his own horse, he began to be great and terrible;\r\nbut wisely considering that he was not to expect to match the force of the\r\nempire, he marched his army towards the Alps, intending, when he had passed\r\nthem, that every man should go to his own home, some to Thrace, some to Gaul.\r\nBut they, grown confident in their numbers, and puffed up with their success,\r\nwould give no obedience to him, but went about and ravaged Italy; so that now\r\nthe senate was not only moved at the indignity and baseness, both of the enemy\r\nand of the insurrection, but, looking upon it as a matter of alarm and of\r\ndangerous consequence, sent out both the consuls to it, as to a great and\r\ndifficult enterprise. The consul Gellius, falling suddenly upon a party of\r\nGermans, who through contempt and confidence had straggled from Spartacus, cut\r\nthem all to pieces. But when Lentulus with a large army besieged Spartacus, he\r\nsallied out upon him, and, joining battle, defeated his chief officers, and\r\ncaptured all his baggage. As he made toward the Alps, Cassius, who was praetor\r\nof that part of Gaul that lies about the Po, met him with ten thousand men, but\r\nbeing overcome in battle, he had much ado to escape himself, with the loss of a\r\ngreat many of his men.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the senate understood this, they were displeased at the consuls, and\r\nordering them to meddle no further, they appointed Crassus general of the war,\r\nand a great many of the nobility went volunteers with him, partly out of\r\nfriendship, and partly to get honor. He stayed himself on the borders of\r\nPicenum, expecting Spartacus would come that way, and sent his lieutenant,\r\nMummius, with two legions, to wheel about and observe the enemy’s motions, but\r\nupon no account to engage or skirmish. But he, upon the first opportunity,\r\njoined battle, and was routed, having a great many of his men slain, and a\r\ngreat many only saving their lives, with the loss of their arms. Crassus\r\nrebuked Mummius severely, and arming the soldiers again, he made them find\r\nsureties for their arms, that they would part with them no more, and five\r\nhundred that were the beginners of the flight, he divided into fifty tens, and\r\none of each was to die by lot, thus reviving the ancient Roman punishment of\r\ndecimation, where ignominy is added to the penalty of death, with a variety of\r\nappalling and terrible circumstances, presented before the eyes of the whole\r\narmy, assembled as spectators. When he had thus reclaimed his men, he led them\r\nagainst the enemy; but Spartacus retreated through Lucania toward the sea, and\r\nin the straits meeting with some Cilician pirate ships, he had thoughts of\r\nattempting Sicily, where, by landing two thousand men, he hoped to new kindle\r\nthe war of the slaves, which was but lately extinguished, and seemed to need\r\nbut a little fuel to set it burning again. But after the pirates had struck a\r\nbargain with him, and received his earnest, they deceived him and sailed away.\r\nHe thereupon retired again from the sea, and established his army in the\r\npeninsula of Rhegium; there Crassus came upon him, and considering the nature\r\nof the place, which of itself suggested the undertaking, he set to work to\r\nbuild a wall across the isthmus; thus keeping his soldiers at once from\r\nidleness, and his foes from forage. This great and difficult work he perfected\r\nin a space of time short beyond all expectation, making a ditch from one sea to\r\nthe other, over the neck of land, three hundred furlongs long, fifteen feet\r\nbroad, and as much in depth, and above it built a wonderfully high and strong\r\nwall. All which Spartacus at first slighted and despised, but when provisions\r\nbegan to fail, and on his proposing to pass further, he found he was walled in,\r\nand no more was to be had in the peninsula, taking the opportunity of a snowy,\r\nstormy night, he filled up part of the ditch with earth and boughs of trees,\r\nand so passed the third part of his army over.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCrassus was afraid lest he should march directly to Rome, but was soon eased of\r\nthat fear when he saw many of his men break out in a mutiny and quit him, and\r\nencamp by themselves upon the Lucanian lake. This lake they say changes at\r\nintervals of time, and is sometimes sweet, and sometimes so salt that it cannot\r\nbe drunk. Crassus falling upon these beat them from the lake, but he could not\r\npursue the slaughter, because of Spartacus suddenly coming up, and checking the\r\nflight. Now he began to repent that he had previously written to the senate to\r\ncall Lucullus out of Thrace, and Pompey out of Spain; so that he did all he\r\ncould to finish the war before they came, knowing that the honor of the action\r\nwould redound to him that came to his assistance. Resolving, therefore, first\r\nto set upon those that had mutinied and encamped apart, whom Caius Cannicius\r\nand Castus commanded, he sent six thousand men before to secure a little\r\neminence, and to do it as privately as possible, which that they might do, they\r\ncovered their helmets, but being discovered by two women that were sacrificing\r\nfor the enemy, they had been in great hazard, had not Crassus immediately\r\nappeared, and engaged in a battle which proved a most bloody one. Of twelve\r\nthousand three hundred whom he killed, two only were found wounded in their\r\nbacks, the rest all having died standing in their ranks, and fighting bravely.\r\nSpartacus, after this discomfiture, retired to the mountains of Petelia, but\r\nQuintius, one of Crassus’s officers, and Scrofa, the quaestor, pursued and\r\novertook him. But when Spartacus rallied and faced them, they were utterly\r\nrouted and fled, and had much ado to carry off their quaestor, who was wounded.\r\nThis success, however, ruined Spartacus, because it encouraged the slaves, who\r\nnow disdained any longer to avoid fighting, or to obey their officers, but as\r\nthey were upon their march, they came to them with their swords in their hand,\r\nand compelled them to lead them back again through Lucania, against the Romans,\r\nthe very thing which Crassus was eager for. For news was already brought that\r\nPompey was at hand; and people began to talk openly, that the honor of this war\r\nwas reserved for him, who would come and at once oblige the enemy to fight and\r\nput an end to the war. Crassus, therefore, eager to fight a decisive battle,\r\nencamped very near the enemy, and began to make lines of circumvallation; but\r\nthe slaves made a sally, and attacked the pioneers. As fresh supplies came in\r\non either side, Spartacus, seeing there was no avoiding it, set all his army in\r\narray, and when his horse was brought him, he drew out his sword and killed\r\nhim, saying, if he got the day, he should have a great many better horses of\r\nthe enemies, and if he lost it, he should have no need of this. And so making\r\ndirectly towards Crassus himself, through the midst of arms and wounds, he\r\nmissed him, hut slew two centurions that fell upon him together. At last being\r\ndeserted by those that were about him, he himself stood his ground, and,\r\nsurrounded by the enemy, bravely defending himself, was cut in pieces. But\r\nthough Crassus had good fortune, and not only did the part of a good general,\r\nbut gallantly exposed his person, yet Pompey had much of the credit of the\r\naction. For he met with many of the fugitives, and slew them, and wrote to the\r\nsenate that Crassus indeed had vanquished the slaves in a pitched battle, but\r\nthat he had put an end to the war. Pompey was honored with a magnificent\r\ntriumph for his conquest over Sertorius and Spain, while Crassus could not\r\nhimself so much as desire a triumph in its full form, and indeed it was thought\r\nto look but meanly in him to accept of the lesser honor, called the ovation,\r\nfor a servile war, and perform a procession on foot. The difference between\r\nthis and the other, and the origin of the name, are explained in the life of\r\nMarcellus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd Pompey being immediately invited to the consulship, Crassus, who had hoped\r\nto be joined with him, did not scruple to request his assistance. Pompey most\r\nreadily seized the opportunity, as he desired by all means to lay some\r\nobligation upon Crassus, and zealously promoted his interest; and at last he\r\ndeclared in one of his speeches to the people, that he should be not less\r\nbeholden to them for his colleague, than for the honor of his own appointment.\r\nBut once entered upon the employment, this amity continued not long; but\r\ndiffering almost in everything, disagreeing, quarreling, and contending, they\r\nspent the time of their consulship, without effecting any measure of\r\nconsequence, except that Crassus made a great sacrifice to Hercules, and\r\nfeasted the people at ten thousand tables, and measured them out corn for three\r\nmonths. When their command was now ready to expire, and they were, as it\r\nhappened addressing the people, a Roman knight, one Onatius Aurelius, an\r\nordinary private person, living in the country, mounted the hustings, and\r\ndeclared a vision he had in his sleep: “Jupiter,” said he, “appeared to me, and\r\ncommanded me to tell you, that you should not suffer your consuls to lay down\r\ntheir charge before they are made friends.” When he had spoken, the people\r\ncried out that they should be reconciled. Pompey stood still and said nothing,\r\nbut Crassus, first offering him his hand, said, “I cannot think, my countrymen,\r\nthat I do any thing humiliating or unworthy of myself, if I make the first\r\noffers of accommodation and friendship with Pompey, whom you yourselves styled\r\nthe Great, before he was of man’s estate, and decreed him a triumph before he\r\nwas capable of sitting in the senate.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis is what was memorable in Crassus’s consulship, but as for his censorship,\r\nthat was altogether idle and inactive, for he neither made a scrutiny of the\r\nsenate, nor took a review of the horsemen, nor a census of the people, though\r\nhe had as mild a man as could be desired for his colleague, Lutatius Catulus.\r\nIt is said, indeed, that when Crassus intended a violent and unjust measure,\r\nwhich was the reducing Egypt to be tributary to Rome, Catulus strongly opposed\r\nit, and falling out about it, they laid down their office by consent. In the\r\ngreat conspiracy of Catiline, which was very near subverting the government,\r\nCrassus was not without some suspicion of being concerned, and one man came\r\nforward and declared him to be in the plot; but nobody credited him. Yet\r\nCicero, in one of his orations, clearly charges both Crassus and Caesar with\r\nthe guilt of it, though that speech was not published till they were both dead.\r\nBut in his speech upon his consulship, he declares that Crassus came to him by\r\nnight, and brought a letter concerning Catiline, stating the details of the\r\nconspiracy. Crassus hated him ever after, but was hindered by his son from\r\ndoing him any open injury; for Publius was a great lover of learning and\r\neloquence, and a constant follower of Cicero, insomuch that he put himself into\r\nmourning when he was accused, and induced the other young men to do the same.\r\nAnd at last he reconciled him to his father.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar now returning from his command, and designing to get the consulship, and\r\nseeing that Crassus and Pompey were again at variance, was unwilling to\r\ndisoblige one by making application to the other, and despaired of success\r\nwithout the help of one of them; he therefore made it his business to reconcile\r\nthem, making it appear that by weakening each other’s influence they were\r\npromoting the interest of the Ciceros, the Catuli, and the Catos, who would\r\nreally be of no account if they would join their interests and their factions,\r\nand act together in public with one policy and one united power. And so\r\nreconciling them by his persuasions, out of the three parties he set up one\r\nirresistible power, which utterly subverted the government both of senate and\r\npeople. Not that he made either Pompey or Crassus greater than they were\r\nbefore, but by their means made himself greatest of all; for by the help of the\r\nadherents of both, he was at once gloriously declared consul, which office when\r\nhe administered with credit, they decreed him the command of an army, and\r\nallotted him Gaul for his province, and so placed him as it were in the\r\ncitadel, not doubting but they should divide the rest at their pleasure between\r\nthemselves, when they had confirmed him in his allotted command. Pompey was\r\nactuated in all this by an immoderate desire of ruling, but Crassus, adding to\r\nhis old disease of covetousness, a new passion after trophies and triumphs,\r\nemulous of Caesar’s exploits, not content to be beneath him in these points,\r\nthough above him in all others, could not be at rest, till it ended in an\r\nignominious overthrow, and a public calamity. When Caesar came out of Gaul to\r\nLucca, a great many went thither from Rome to meet him. Pompey and Crassus had\r\nvarious conferences with him in secret, in which they came to the resolution to\r\nproceed to still more decisive steps, and to get the whole management of\r\naffairs into their hands, Caesar to keep his army, and Pompey and Crassus to\r\nobtain new ones and new provinces. To effect all which there was but one way,\r\nthe getting the consulate a second time, which they were to stand for, and\r\nCaesar to assist them by writing to his friends, and sending many of his\r\nsoldiers to vote.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when they returned to Rome, their design was presently suspected, and a\r\nreport was soon spread that this interview had been for no good. When\r\nMarcellinus and Domitius asked Pompey in the senate if he intended to stand for\r\nthe consulship, he answered, perhaps he would, perhaps not; and being urged\r\nagain, replied, he would ask it of the honest citizens, but not of the\r\ndishonest. Which answer appearing too haughty and arrogant, Crassus said, more\r\nmodestly, that he would desire it if it might be for the advantage of the\r\npublic, otherwise he would decline it. Upon this some others took confidence\r\nand came forward as candidates, among them Domitius. But when Pompey and\r\nCrassus now openly appeared for it, the rest were afraid and drew back; only\r\nCato encouraged Domitius, who was his friend and relation, to proceed, exciting\r\nhim to persist, as though he was now defending the public liberty, as these\r\nmen, he said, did not so much aim at the consulate, as at arbitrary government,\r\nand it was not a petition for office, but a seizure of provinces and armies.\r\nThus spoke and thought Cato, and almost forcibly compelled Domitius to appear\r\nin the forum, where many sided with them. For there was, indeed, much wonder\r\nand question among the people, “Why should Pompey and Crassus want another\r\nconsulship? and why they two together, and not with some third person? We have\r\na great many men not unworthy to be fellow-consuls with either the one or the\r\nother.” Pompey’s party, being apprehensive of this, committed all manner of\r\nindecencies and violences, and amongst other things lay in wait for Domitius,\r\nas he was coming thither before daybreak with his friends; his torchbearer they\r\nkilled, and wounded several others, of whom Cato was one. And these being\r\nbeaten back and driven into a house, Pompey and Crassus were proclaimed\r\nconsuls. Not long after, they surrounded the house with armed men, thrust Cato\r\nout of the forum, killed some that made resistance, and decreed Caesar his\r\ncommand for five years longer, and provinces for themselves, Syria, and both\r\nthe Spains, which being divided by lots, Syria fell to Crassus, and the Spains\r\nto Pompey.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll were well pleased with the chance, for the people were desirous that Pompey\r\nshould not go far from the city, and he, being extremely fond of his wife, was\r\nvery glad to continue there; but Crassus was so transported with his fortune,\r\nthat it was manifest he thought he had never had such good luck befall him as\r\nnow, so that he had much to do to contain himself before company and strangers;\r\nbut amongst his private friends he let fall many vain and childish words, which\r\nwere unworthy of his age, and contrary to his usual character, for he had been\r\nvery little given to boasting hitherto. But then being strangely puffed up, and\r\nhis head heated, he would not limit his fortune with Parthia and Syria; but\r\nlooking on the actions of Lucullus against Tigranes and the exploits of Pompey\r\nagainst Mithridates as but child’s play, he proposed to himself in his hopes to\r\npass as far as Bactria and India, and the utmost ocean. Not that he was called\r\nupon by the decree which appointed him to his office to undertake any\r\nexpedition against the Parthians, but it was well known that he was eager for\r\nit, and Caesar wrote to him out of Gaul, commending his resolution, and\r\ninciting him to the war. And when Ateius, the tribune of the people, designed\r\nto stop his journey, and many others murmured that one man should undertake a\r\nwar against a people that had done them no injury, and were at amity with them,\r\nhe desired Pompey to stand by him and accompany him out of the town, as he had\r\na great name amongst the common people. And when several were ready prepared to\r\ninterfere and raise an outcry, Pompey appeared with a pleasing countenance, and\r\nso mollified the people, that they let Crassus pass quietly. Ateius, however,\r\nmet him, and first by word of mouth warned and conjured him not to proceed, and\r\nthen commanded his attendant officer to seize him and detain him; but the other\r\ntribunes not permitting it, the officer released Crassus. Ateius, therefore,\r\nrunning to the gate, when Crassus was come thither, set down a chafing-dish\r\nwith lighted fire in it, and burning incense and pouring libations on it,\r\ncursed him with dreadful imprecations, calling upon and naming several strange\r\nand horrible deities. In the Roman belief there is so much virtue in these\r\nsacred and ancient rites, that no man can escape the effects of them, and that\r\nthe utterer himself seldom prospers; so that they are not often made use of,\r\nand but upon a great occasion. And Ateius was blamed at the time for resorting\r\nto them, as the city itself, in whose cause he used them, would be the first to\r\nfeel the ill effects of these curses and supernatural terrors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCrassus arrived at Brundusium, and though the sea was very rough, he had not\r\npatience to wait, but went on board, and lost many of his ships. With the\r\nremnant of his army he marched rapidly through Galatia, where meeting with king\r\nDeiotarus, who, though he was very old, was about building a new city, Crassus\r\nscoffingly told him, “Your majesty begins to build at the twelfth hour.”\r\n“Neither do you,” said he, “O general, undertake your Parthian expedition very\r\nearly.” For Crassus was then sixty years old, and he seemed older than he was.\r\nAt his first coming, things went as he would have them, for he made a bridge\r\nover Euphrates without much difficulty, and passed over his army in safety, and\r\noccupied many cities of Mesopotamia, which yielded voluntarily. But a hundred\r\nof his men were killed in one, in which Apollonius was tyrant; therefore,\r\nbringing his forces against it, he took it by storm, plundered the goods, and\r\nsold the inhabitants. The Greeks call this city Zenodotia, upon the taking of\r\nwhich, he permitted the army to salute him Imperator, but this was very ill\r\nthought of, and it looked as if he despaired a nobler achievement, that he made\r\nso much of this little success. Putting garrisons of seven thousand foot and\r\none thousand horse in the new conquests, he returned to take up his winter\r\nquarters in Syria, where his son was to meet him coming from Caesar out of\r\nGaul, decorated with rewards for his valor, and bringing with him one thousand\r\nselect horse. Here Crassus seemed to commit his first error, and except,\r\nindeed, the whole expedition, his greatest; for, whereas he ought to have gone\r\nforward and seized Babylon and Seleucia, cities that were ever at enmity with\r\nthe Parthians, he gave the enemy time to provide against him. Besides, he spent\r\nhis time in Syria more like an usurer than a general, not in taking an account\r\nof the arms, and in improving the skill and discipline of his soldiers, but in\r\ncomputing the revenue of the cities, wasting many days in weighing by scale and\r\nbalance the treasure that was in the temple of Hierapolis, issuing requisitions\r\nfor levies of soldiers upon particular towns and kingdoms, and then again\r\nwithdrawing them on payment of sums of money, by which he lost his credit and\r\nbecame despised. Here, too, he met with the first ill-omen from that goddess,\r\nwhom some call Venus, others Juno, others Nature, or the Cause that produces\r\nout of moisture the first principles and seeds of all things, and gives mankind\r\ntheir earliest knowledge of all that is good for them. For as they were going\r\nout of the temple, young Crassus stumbled, and his father fell upon him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he drew his army out of winter quarters, ambassadors came to him from\r\nArsaces, with this short speech: If the army was sent by the people of Rome, he\r\ndenounced mortal war, but if, as he understood was the case, against the\r\nconsent of his country, Crassus for his own private profit had invaded his\r\nterritory, then their king would be more merciful, and taking pity upon\r\nCrassus’s dotage, would send those soldiers back, who had been left not so\r\ntruly to keep guard on him as to be his prisoners. Crassus boastfully told them\r\nhe would return his answer at Seleucia, upon which Vagises, the eldest of them,\r\nlaughed and showed the palm of his hand, saying, “Hail will grow here before\r\nyou will see Seleucia;” so they returned to their king, Hyrodes, telling him it\r\nwas war. Several of the Romans that were in garrison in Mesopotamia with great\r\nhazard made their escape, and brought word that the danger was worth\r\nconsideration, urging their own eye-witness of the numbers of the enemy, and\r\nthe manner of their fighting, when they assaulted their towns; and, as men’s\r\nmanner is, made all seem greater than really it was. By flight it was\r\nimpossible to escape them, and as impossible to overtake them when they fled,\r\nand they had a new and strange sort of darts, as swift as sight, for they\r\npierced whatever they met with, before you could see who threw; their\r\nmen-at-arms were so provided that their weapons would cut through anything, and\r\ntheir armor give way to nothing. All which when the soldiers heard, their\r\nhearts failed them; for till now they thought there was no difference between\r\nthe Parthians and the Armenians or Cappadocians, whom Lucullus grew weary with\r\nplundering, and had been persuaded that the main difficulty of the war\r\nconsisted only in the tediousness of the march, and the trouble of chasing men\r\nthat durst not come to blows, so that the danger of a battle was beyond their\r\nexpectation; accordingly, some of the officers advised Crassus to proceed no\r\nfurther at present, but reconsider the whole enterprise, amongst whom in\r\nparticular was Cassius, the quaestor. The soothsayers, also, told him privately\r\nthe signs found in the sacrifices were continually adverse and unfavorable. But\r\nhe paid no heed to them, or to anybody who gave any other advice than to\r\nproceed. Nor did Artabazes, king of Armenia, confirm him a little, who came to\r\nhis aid with six thousand horse; who, however, were said to be only the king’s\r\nlife-guard and suite, for he promised ten thousand cuirassiers more, and thirty\r\nthousand foot, at his own charge. He urged Crassus to invade Parthia by the way\r\nof Armenia, for not only would he be able there to supply his army with\r\nabundant provision, which he would give him, but his passage would be more\r\nsecure in the mountains and hills, with which the whole country was covered,\r\nmaking it almost impassable to horse, in which the main strength of the\r\nParthians consisted. Crassus returned him but cold thanks for his readiness to\r\nserve him, and for the splendor of his assistance, and told him he was resolved\r\nto pass through Mesopotamia, where he had left a great many brave Roman\r\nsoldiers; whereupon the Armenian went his way. As Crassus was taking the army\r\nover the river at Zeugma, he encountered preternaturally violent thunder, and\r\nthe lightning flashed in the faces of the troops, and during the storm a\r\nhurricane broke upon the bridge, and carried part of it away; two thunderbolts\r\nfell upon the very place where the army was going to encamp; and one of the\r\ngeneral’s horses, magnificently caparisoned, dragged away the groom into the\r\nriver and was drowned. It is said, too, that when they went to take up the\r\nfirst standard, the eagle of itself turned its head backward; and after he had\r\npassed over his army, as they were distributing provisions, the first thing\r\nthey gave was lentils and salt, which with the Romans are the food proper to\r\nfunerals, and are offered to the dead. And as Crassus was haranguing his\r\nsoldiers, he let fall a word which was thought very ominous in the army; for “I\r\nam going,” he said, “to break down the bridge, that none of you may return;”\r\nand whereas he ought, when he had perceived his blunder, to have corrected\r\nhimself, and explained his meaning, seeing the men alarmed at the expression,\r\nhe would not do it out of mere stubbornness. And when at the last general\r\nsacrifice the priest gave him the entrails, they slipped out of his hand, and\r\nwhen he saw the standers-by concerned at it, he laughed and said, “See what it\r\nis to be an old man; but I shall hold my sword fast enough.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo he marched his army along the river with seven legions, little less than\r\nfour thousand horse, and as many light-armed soldiers, and the scouts returning\r\ndeclared that not one man appeared, but that they saw the footing of a great\r\nmany horses which seemed to be retiring in flight, whereupon Crassus conceived\r\ngreat hopes, and the Romans began to despise the Parthians, as men that would\r\nnot come to combat, hand to hand. But Cassius spoke with him again, and advised\r\nhim to refresh his army in some of the garrison towns, and remain there till\r\nthey could get some certain intelligence of the enemy, or at least to make\r\ntoward Seleucia, and keep by the river, that so they might have the convenience\r\nof having provision constantly supplied by the boats, which might always\r\naccompany the army, and the river would secure them from being environed, and,\r\nif they should fight, it might be upon equal terms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile Crassus was still considering, and as yet undetermined, there came to the\r\ncamp an Arab chief named Ariamnes, a cunning and wily fellow, who, of all the\r\nevil chances which combined to lead them on to destruction, was the chief and\r\nthe most fatal. Some of Pompey’s old soldiers knew him, and remembered him to\r\nhave received some kindnesses of Pompey, and to have been looked upon as a\r\nfriend to the Romans, but he was now suborned by the king’s generals, and sent\r\nto Crassus to entice him if possible from the river and hills into the wide\r\nopen plain, where he might be surrounded. For the Parthians desired anything,\r\nrather than to be obliged to meet the Romans face to face. He, therefore,\r\ncoming to Crassus, (and he had a persuasive tongue,) highly commended Pompey as\r\nhis benefactor, and admired the forces that Crassus had with him, but seemed to\r\nwonder why he delayed and made preparations, as if he should not use his feet\r\nmore than any arms, against men that, taking with them their best goods and\r\nchattels, had designed long ago to fly for refuge to the Scythians or\r\nHyrcanians. “If you meant to fight, you should have made all possible haste,\r\nbefore the king should recover courage, and collect his forces together; at\r\npresent you see Surena and Sillaces opposed to you, to draw you off in pursuit\r\nof them, while the king himself keeps out of the way.” But this was all a lie,\r\nfor Hyrodes had divided his army in two parts, with one he in person wasted\r\nArmenia, revenging himself upon Artavasdes, and sent Surena against the Romans,\r\nnot out of contempt, as some pretend, for there is no likelihood that he should\r\ndespise Crassus, one of the chiefest men of Rome, to go and fight with\r\nArtavasdes, and invade Armenia; but much more probably he really apprehended\r\nthe danger, and therefore waited to see the event, intending that Surena should\r\nfirst run the hazard of a battle, and draw the enemy on. Nor was this Surena an\r\nordinary person, but in wealth, family, and reputation, the second man in the\r\nkingdom, and in courage and prowess the first, and for bodily stature and\r\nbeauty no man like him. Whenever he traveled privately, he had one thousand\r\ncamels to carry his baggage, two hundred chariots for his concubines, one\r\nthousand completely armed men for his life-guards, and a great many more\r\nlight-armed; and he had at least ten thousand horsemen altogether, of his\r\nservants and retinue. The honor had long belonged to his family, that at the\r\nking’s coronation he put the crown upon his head, and when this very king\r\nHyrodes had been exiled, he brought him in; it was he, also, that took the\r\ngreat city of Seleucia, was the first man that scaled the walls, and with his\r\nown hand beat off the defenders. And though at this time he was not above\r\nthirty years old, he had a great name for wisdom and sagacity, and, indeed, by\r\nthese qualities chiefly, he overthrew Crassus, who first through his\r\noverweening confidence, and afterwards because he was cowed by his calamities,\r\nfell a ready victim to his subtlety. When Ariamnes had thus worked upon him, he\r\ndrew him from the river into vast plains, by a way that at first was pleasant\r\nand easy, but afterwards very troublesome by reason of the depth of the sand;\r\nno tree, nor any water, and no end of this to be seen; so that they were not\r\nonly spent with thirst, and the difficulty of the passage, but were dismayed\r\nwith the uncomfortable prospect of not a bough, not a stream, not a hillock,\r\nnot a green herb, but in fact a sea of sand, which encompassed the army with\r\nits waves. They began to suspect some treachery, and at the same time came\r\nmessengers from Artavasdes, that he was fiercely attacked by Hyrodes, who had\r\ninvaded his country, so that now it was impossible for him to send any succors,\r\nand that he therefore advised Crassus to turn back, and with joint forces to\r\ngive Hyrodes battle, or at least that he should march and encamp where horses\r\ncould not easily come, and keep to the mountains. Crassus, out of anger and\r\nperverseness, wrote him no answer, but told them, at present he was not at\r\nleisure to mind the Armenians, but he would call upon them another time, and\r\nrevenge himself upon Artavasdes for his treachery. Cassius and his friends\r\nbegan again to complain, but when they perceived that it merely displeased\r\nCrassus, they gave over, but privately railed at the barbarian, “What evil\r\ngenius, O thou worst of men, brought thee to our camp, and with what charms and\r\npotions hast thou bewitched Crassus, that he should march his army through a\r\nvast and deep desert, through ways which are rather fit for a captain of\r\nArabian robbers, than for the general of a Roman army?” But the barbarian being\r\na wily fellow, very submissively exhorted them, and encouraged them to sustain\r\nit a little further, and ran about the camp, and, professing to cheer up the\r\nsoldiers, asked them, jokingly, “What, do you think you march through Campania,\r\nexpecting everywhere to find springs, and shady trees, and baths, and inns of\r\nentertainment? Consider you now travel through the confines of Arabia and\r\nAssyria.” Thus he managed them like children, and before the cheat was\r\ndiscovered, he rode away; not but that Crassus was aware of his going, but he\r\nhad persuaded him that he would go and contrive how to disorder the affairs of\r\nthe enemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is related that Crassus came abroad that day not in his scarlet robe, which\r\nRoman generals usually wear, but in a black one, which, as soon as he\r\nperceived, he changed. And the standard-bearers had much ado to take up their\r\neagles, which seemed to be fixed to the place. Crassus laughed at it, and\r\nhastened their march, and compelled his infantry to keep pace with his cavalry,\r\ntill some few of the scouts returned and told them that their fellows were\r\nslain and they hardly escaped, that the enemy was at hand in full force, and\r\nresolved to give them battle. On this all was in an uproar; Crassus was struck\r\nwith amazement, and for haste could scarcely put his army in good order. First,\r\nas Cassius advised, he opened their ranks and files that they might take up as\r\nmuch space as could be, to prevent their being surrounded, and distributed the\r\nhorse upon the wings, but afterwards changing his mind, he drew up his army in\r\na square, and made a front every way, each of which consisted of twelve\r\ncohorts, to every one of which he allotted a troop of horse, that no part might\r\nbe destitute of the assistance that the horse might give, and that they might\r\nbe ready to assist everywhere, as need should require. Cassius commanded one of\r\nthe wings, young Crassus the other, and he himself was in the middle. Thus they\r\nmarched on till they came to a little river named Balissus, a very\r\ninconsiderable one in itself, but very grateful to the soldiers, who had\r\nsuffered so much by drought and heat all along their march. Most of the\r\ncommanders were of the opinion that they ought to remain there that night, and\r\nto inform themselves as much as possible of the number of the enemies, and\r\ntheir order, and so march against them at break of day; but Crassus was so\r\ncarried away by the eagerness of his son, and the horsemen that were with him,\r\nwho desired and urged him to lead them on and engage, that he commanded those\r\nthat had a mind to it to eat and drink as they stood in their ranks, and before\r\nthey had all well done, he led them on, not leisurely and with halts to take\r\nbreath, as if he was going to battle, but kept on his pace as if he had been in\r\nhaste, till they saw the enemy, contrary to their expectation, neither so many\r\nnor so magnificently armed as the Romans expected. For Surena had hid his main\r\nforce behind the first ranks, and ordered them to hide the glittering of their\r\narmor with coats and skins. But when they approached and the general gave the\r\nsignal, immediately all the field rung with a hideous noise and terrible\r\nclamor. For the Parthians do not encourage themselves to war with cornets and\r\ntrumpets, but with a kind of kettle-drum, which they strike all at once in\r\nvarious quarters. With these they make a dead hollow noise like the bellowing\r\nof beasts, mixed with sounds resembling thunder, having, it would seem, very\r\ncorrectly observed, that of all our senses hearing most confounds and disorders\r\nus, and that the feelings excited through it most quickly disturb, and most\r\nentirely overpower the understanding.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen they had sufficiently terrified the Romans with their noise, they threw\r\noff the covering of their armor, and shone like lightning in their breastplates\r\nand helmets of polished Margianian steel, and with their horses covered with\r\nbrass and steel trappings. Surena was the tallest and finest looking man\r\nhimself, but the delicacy of his looks and effeminacy of his dress did not\r\npromise so much manhood as he really was master of; for his face was painted,\r\nand his hair parted after the fashion of the Medes, whereas the other Parthians\r\nmade a more terrible appearance, with their shaggy hair gathered in a mass upon\r\ntheir foreheads after the Scythian mode. Their first design was with their\r\nlances to beat down and force back the first ranks of the Romans, but when they\r\nperceived the depth of their battle, and that the soldiers firmly kept their\r\nground, they made a retreat, and pretending to break their order and disperse,\r\nthey encompassed the Roman square before they were aware of it. Crassus\r\ncommanded his light-armed soldiers to charge, but they had not gone far before\r\nthey were received with such a shower of arrows that they were glad to retire\r\namongst the heavy-armed, with whom this was the first occasion of disorder and\r\nterror, when they perceived the strength and force of their darts, which\r\npierced their arms, and passed through every kind of covering, hard and soft\r\nalike. The Parthians now placing themselves at distances began to shoot from\r\nall sides, not aiming at any particular mark, (for, indeed, the order of the\r\nRomans was so close, that they could not miss if they would,) but simply sent\r\ntheir arrows with great force out of strong bent bows, the strokes from which\r\ncame with extreme violence. The position of the Romans was a very bad one from\r\nthe first; for if they kept their ranks, they were wounded, and if they tried\r\nto charge, they hurt the enemy none the more, and themselves suffered none the\r\nless. For the Parthians threw their darts as they fled, an art in which none\r\nbut the Scythians excel them, and it is, indeed, a cunning practice, for while\r\nthey thus fight to make their escape, they avoid the dishonor of a flight.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, the Romans had some comfort to think that when they had spent all\r\ntheir arrows, they would either give over or come to blows; but when they\r\npresently understood that there were numerous camels loaded with arrows, and\r\nthat when the first ranks had discharged those they had, they wheeled off and\r\ntook more, Crassus seeing no end of it, was out of all heart, and sent to his\r\nson that he should endeavor to fall in upon them before he was quite\r\nsurrounded; for the enemy advanced most upon that quarter, and seemed to be\r\ntrying to ride round and come upon the rear. Therefore the young man, taking\r\nwith him thirteen hundred horse, one thousand of which he had from Caesar, five\r\nhundred archers, and eight cohorts of the full-armed soldiers that stood next\r\nhim, led them up with design to charge the Parthians. Whether it was that they\r\nfound themselves in a piece of marshy ground, as some think, or else designing\r\nto entice young Crassus as far as they could from his father, they turned and\r\nbegan to fly; whereupon he crying out that they durst not stand, pursued them,\r\nand with him Censorinus and Megabacchus, both famous, the latter for his\r\ncourage and prowess, the other for being of a senator’s family, and an\r\nexcellent orator, both intimates of Crassus, and of about the same age. The\r\nhorse thus pushing on, the infantry stayed little behind, being exalted with\r\nhopes and joy, for they supposed they had already conquered, and now were only\r\npursuing; till when they were gone too far, they perceived the deceit, for they\r\nthat seemed to fly, now turned again, and a great many fresh ones came on. Upon\r\nthis they made an halt, for they doubted not but now the enemy would attack\r\nthem, because they were so few. But they merely placed their cuirassiers to\r\nface the Romans, and with the rest of their horse rode about scouring the\r\nfield, and thus stirring up the sand, they raised such a dust that the Romans\r\ncould neither see nor speak to one another, and being driven in upon one\r\nanother in one close body, they were thus hit and killed, dying, not by a quick\r\nand easy death, but with miserable pains and convulsions; for writhing upon the\r\ndarts in their bodies, they broke them in their wounds, and when they would by\r\nforce pluck out the barbed points, they caught the nerves and veins, so that\r\nthey tore and tortured themselves. Many of them died thus, and those that\r\nsurvived were disabled for any service, and when Publius exhorted them to\r\ncharge the cuirassiers, they showed him their hands nailed to their shields,\r\nand their feet stuck to the ground, so that they could neither fly nor fight.\r\nHe charged in himself boldly, however, with his horse, and came to close\r\nquarters with them, but was very unequal, whether as to the offensive or\r\ndefensive part; for with his weak and little javelins, he struck against\r\ntargets that were of tough raw hides and iron, whereas the lightly clad bodies\r\nof his Gaulish horsemen were exposed to the strong spears of the enemy. For\r\nupon these he mostly depended, and with them he wrought wonders; for they would\r\ncatch hold of the great spears, and close upon the enemy, and so pull them off\r\nfrom their horses, where they could scarce stir by reason of the heaviness of\r\ntheir armor, and many of the Gauls quitting their own horses, would creep under\r\nthose of the enemy, and stick them in the belly; which, growing unruly with the\r\npain, trampled upon their riders and upon the enemies promiscuously. The Gauls\r\nwere chiefly tormented by the heat and drought being not accustomed to either,\r\nand most of their horses were slain by being spurred on against the spears, so\r\nthat they were forced to retire among the foot, bearing off Publius grievously\r\nwounded. Observing a sandy hillock not far off, they made to it, and tying\r\ntheir horses to one another, and placing them in the midst, and joining all\r\ntheir shields together before them, they thought they might make some defense\r\nagainst the barbarians. But it fell out quite contrary, for when they were\r\ndrawn up in a plain, the front in some measure secured those that were behind;\r\nbut when they were upon the hill, one being of necessity higher up than\r\nanother, none were in shelter, but all alike stood equally exposed, bewailing\r\ntheir inglorious and useless fate. There were with Publius two Greeks that\r\nlived near there at Carrhae, Hieronymus and Nicomachus; these men urged him to\r\nretire with them and fly to Ichnae, a town not far from thence, and friendly to\r\nthe Romans. “No,” said he, “there is no death so terrible, for the fear of\r\nwhich Publius would leave his friends that die upon his account;” and bidding\r\nthem to take care of themselves, he embraced them and sent them away, and,\r\nbecause he could not use his arm, for he was run through with a dart, he opened\r\nhis side to his armor-bearer, and commanded him to run him through. It is said\r\nthat Censorinus fell in the same manner. Megabacchus slew himself, as did also\r\nthe rest of best note. The Parthians coming upon the rest with their lances,\r\nkilled them fighting, nor were there above five hundred taken prisoners.\r\nCutting off the head of Publius, they rode off directly towards Crassus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis condition was thus. When he had commanded his son to fall upon the enemy,\r\nand word was brought him that they fled and that there was a distant pursuit,\r\nand perceiving also that the enemy did not press upon him so hard as formerly,\r\nfor they were mostly gone to fall upon Publius, he began to take heart a\r\nlittle; and drawing his army towards some sloping ground, expected when his son\r\nwould return from the pursuit. Of the messengers whom Publius sent to him, (as\r\nsoon as he saw his danger,) the first were intercepted by the enemy, and slain;\r\nthe last hardly escaping, came and declared that Publius was lost, unless he\r\nhad speedy succors. Crassus was terribly distracted, not knowing what counsel\r\nto take, and indeed no longer capable of taking any; overpowered now by fear\r\nfor the whole army, now by desire to help his son. At last he resolved to move\r\nwith his forces. Just upon this, up came the enemy with their shouts and noises\r\nmore terrible than before, their drums sounding again in the ears of the\r\nRomans, who now feared a fresh engagement. And they who brought Publius’s head\r\nupon the point of a spear, riding up near enough that it could be known,\r\nscoffingly inquired where were his parents and what family he was of, for it\r\nwas impossible that so brave and gallant a warrior should be the son of so\r\npitiful a coward as Crassus. This sight above all the rest dismayed the Romans,\r\nfor it did not incite them to anger as it might have done, but to horror and\r\ntrembling, though they say Crassus outdid himself in this calamity, for he\r\npassed through the ranks and cried out to them, “This, O my countrymen, is my\r\nown peculiar loss, but the fortune and the glory of Rome is safe and untainted\r\nso long as you are safe. But if any one be concerned for my loss of the best of\r\nsons, let him show it in revenging him upon the enemy. Take away their joy,\r\nrevenge their cruelty, nor be dismayed at what is past; for whoever tries for\r\ngreat objects must suffer something. Neither did Lucullus overthrow Tigranes\r\nwithout bloodshed, nor Scipio Antiochus; our ancestors lost one thousand ships\r\nabout Sicily, and how many generals and captains in Italy? no one of which\r\nlosses hindered them from overthrowing their conquerors; for the State of Rome\r\ndid not arrive to this height by fortune, but by perseverance and virtue in\r\nconfronting danger.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile Crassus thus spoke exhorting them, he saw but few that gave much heed to\r\nhim, and when he ordered them to shout for the battle, he could no longer\r\nmistake the despondency of his army, which made but a faint and unsteady noise,\r\nwhile the shout of the enemy was clear and bold. And when they came to the\r\nbusiness, the Parthian servants and dependents riding about shot their arrows,\r\nand the horsemen in the foremost ranks with their spears drove the Romans close\r\ntogether, except those who rushed upon them for fear of being killed by their\r\narrows. Neither did these do much execution, being quickly dispatched; for the\r\nstrong thick spear made large and mortal wounds, and often run through two men\r\nat once. As they were thus fighting, the night coming on parted them, the\r\nParthians boasting that they would indulge Crassus with one night to mourn his\r\nson, unless upon better consideration he would rather go to Arsaces, than be\r\ncarried to him. These, therefore, took up their quarters near them, being\r\nflushed with their victory. But the Romans had a sad night of it; for neither\r\ntaking care for the burial of their dead, nor the cure of the wounded, nor the\r\ngroans of the expiring, everyone bewailed his own fate. For there was no means\r\nof escaping, whether they should stay for the light, or venture to retreat into\r\nthe vast desert in the dark. And now the wounded men gave them new trouble,\r\nsince to take them with them would retard their flight, and if they should\r\nleave them, they might serve as guides to the enemy by their cries. However,\r\nthey were all desirous to see and hear Crassus, though they were sensible that\r\nhe was the cause of all their mischief. But he wrapped his cloak around him,\r\nand hid himself, where he lay as an example, to ordinary minds, of the caprice\r\nof fortune, but to the wise, of inconsiderateness and ambition; who, not\r\ncontent to be superior to so many millions of men, being inferior to two,\r\nesteemed himself as the lowest of all. Then came Octavius, his lieutenant, and\r\nCassius, to comfort him, but he being altogether past helping, they themselves\r\ncalled together the centurions and tribunes, and agreeing that the best way was\r\nto fly, they ordered the army out, without sound of trumpet, and at first with\r\nsilence. But before long, when the disabled men found they were left behind,\r\nstrange confusion and disorder, with an outcry and lamentation, seized the\r\ncamp, and a trembling and dread presently fell upon them, as if the enemy were\r\nat their heels. By which means, now and then fuming out of their way, now and\r\nthen standing to their ranks, sometimes taking up the wounded that followed,\r\nsometimes laying them down, they wasted the time, except three hundred horse,\r\nwhom Egnatius brought safe to Carrhae about midnight; where calling, in the\r\nRoman tongue, to the watch, as soon as they heard him, he bade them tell\r\nCoponius, the governor, that Crassus had fought a very great battle with the\r\nParthians; and having said but this, and not so much as telling his name, he\r\nrode away at full speed to Zeugma. And by this means he saved himself and his\r\nmen, but lost his reputation by deserting his general. However, his message to\r\nCoponius was for the advantage of Crassus; for he, suspecting by this hasty and\r\nconfused delivery of the message that all was not well, immediately ordered the\r\ngarrison to be in arms, and as soon as he understood that Crassus was upon the\r\nway towards him, he went out to meet him, and received him with his army into\r\nthe town.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Parthians, although they perceived their dislodgement in the night, yet did\r\nnot pursue them, but as soon as it was day, they came upon those that were left\r\nin the camp, and put no less than four thousand to the sword, and with their\r\nlight; horse picked up a great many stragglers. Varguntinus, the lieutenant,\r\nwhile it was yet dark, had broken off from the main body with four cohorts\r\nwhich had strayed out of the way; and the Parthians, encompassing these on a\r\nsmall hill, slew every man of them excepting twenty, who with their drawn\r\nswords forced their way through the thickest, and they admiring their courage,\r\nopened their ranks to the right and left, and let them pass without molestation\r\nto Carrhae.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSoon after a false report was brought to Surena, that Crassus, with his\r\nprincipal officers, had escaped, and that those who were got into Carrhae were\r\nbut a confused rout of insignificant people, not worth further pursuit.\r\nSupposing, therefore, that he had lost the very crown and glory of his victory,\r\nand yet being uncertain whether it were so or not, and anxious to ascertain the\r\nfact, that so he should either stay and besiege Carrhae or follow Crassus, he\r\nsent one of his interpreters to the walls, commanding him in Latin to call for\r\nCrassus or Cassius, for that the general, Surena, desired a conference. As soon\r\nas Crassus heard this, he embraced the proposal, and soon after there came up a\r\nband of Arabians, who very well knew the faces of Crassus and Cassius, as\r\nhaving been frequently in the Roman camp before the battle. They having espied\r\nCassius from the wall, told him that Surena desired a peace, and would give\r\nthem safe convoy, if they would make a treaty with the king his master, and\r\nwithdraw all their troops out of Mesopotamia; and this he thought most\r\nadvisable for them both, before things came to the last extremity; Cassius,\r\nembracing the proposal, desired that a time and place might be appointed where\r\nCrassus and Surena might have an interview. The Arabians, having charged\r\nthemselves with the message, went back to Surena, who wee not a little rejoiced\r\nthat Crassus was there to be besieged.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNext day, therefore, he came up with his army, insulting over the Romans, and\r\nhaughtily demanding of them Crassus and Cassius bound, if they expected any\r\nmercy. The Romans, seeing themselves deluded and mocked, were much troubled at\r\nit, but advising Crassus to lay aside his distant and empty hopes of aid from\r\nthe Armenians, resolved to fly for it; and this design ought to have been kept\r\nprivate, till they were upon their way, and not have been told to any of the\r\npeople of Carrhae. But Crassus let this also be known to Andromachus, the most\r\nfaithless of men, nay he was so infatuated as to choose him for his guide. The\r\nParthians then, to be sure, had punctual intelligence of all that passed; but\r\nit being contrary to their usage, and also difficult for them to fight by\r\nnight, and Crassus having chosen that time to set out, Andromachus, lest he\r\nshould get the start too far of his pursuers, led him hither and thither, and\r\nat last conveyed him into the midst of morasses and places full of ditches, so\r\nthat the Romans had a troublesome and perplexing journey of it, and some there\r\nwere who, supposing by these windings and turnings of Andromachus that no good\r\nwas intended, resolved to follow him no further. And at last Cassius himself\r\nreturned to Carrhae, and his guides, the Arabians, advising him to tarry there\r\ntill the moon was got out of Scorpio, he told them that he was most afraid of\r\nSagittarius, and so with five hundred horse went off to Syria. Others there\r\nwere, who having got honest guides, took their way by the mountains called\r\nSinnaca, and got into places of security by daybreak; these were five thousand\r\nunder the command of Octavius, a very gallant man. But Crassus fared worse; day\r\novertook him still deceived by Andromachus, and entangled in the fens and the\r\ndifficult country. There were with him four cohorts of legionary soldiers, a\r\nvery few horsemen, and five lictors, with whom having with great difficulty got\r\ninto the way, and not being a mile and a half from Octavius, instead of going\r\nto join him, although the enemy were already upon him, he retreated to another\r\nhill, neither so defensible nor impassable for the horse, but lying under the\r\nhills of Sinnaca, and continued so as to join them in a long ridge through the\r\nplain. Octavius could see in what danger the general was, and himself, at first\r\nbut slenderly followed, hurried to the rescue. Soon after, the rest, upbraiding\r\none another with baseness in forsaking their officers, marched down, and\r\nfalling upon the Parthians, drove them from the hill, and compassing Crassus\r\nabout, and fencing him with their shields, declared proudly, that no arrow in\r\nParthia should ever touch their general, so long as there was a man of them\r\nleft alive to protect him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSurena, therefore, perceiving his soldiers less inclined to expose themselves,\r\nand knowing that if the Romans should prolong the battle till night, they might\r\nthen gain the mountains and be out of his reach, betook himself to his usual\r\ncraft. Some of the prisoners were set free, who had, as it was contrived, been\r\nin hearing, while some of the barbarians spoke of a set purpose in the camp to\r\nthe effect that the king did not design the war to be pursued to extremity\r\nagainst the Romans, but rather desired, by his gentle treatment of Crassus, to\r\nmake a step towards reconciliation. And the barbarians desisted from fighting,\r\nand Surena himself, with his chief officers, riding gently to the hill, unbent\r\nhis bow and held out his hand, inviting Crassus to an agreement, and saying\r\nthat it was beside the king’s intentions, that they had thus had experience of\r\nthe courage and the strength of his soldiers; that now he desired no other\r\ncontention but that of kindness and friendship, by making a truce, and\r\npermitting them to go away in safety. These words of Surena the rest received\r\njoyfully, and were eager to accept the offer; but Crassus, who had had\r\nsufficient experience of their perfidiousness, and was unable to see any reason\r\nfor the sudden change, would give no ear to them, and only took time to\r\nconsider. But the soldiers cried out and advised him to treat, and then went on\r\nto upbraid and affront him, saying that it was very unreasonable that he should\r\nbring them to fight with such men armed, whom himself, without their arms,\r\ndurst not look in the face. He tried first to prevail with them by entreaties,\r\nand told them that if they would have patience till evening, they might get\r\ninto the mountains and passes, inaccessible for horse, and be out of danger,\r\nand withal he pointed out the way with his hand, entreating them not to abandon\r\ntheir preservation, now close before them. But when they mutinied and clashed\r\ntheir targets in a threatening manner, he was overpowered and forced to go, and\r\nonly turning about at parting, said, “You, Octavius and Petronius, and the rest\r\nof the officers who are present, see the necessity of going which I lie under,\r\nand cannot but be sensible of the indignities and violence offered to me. Tell\r\nall men when you have escaped, that Crassus perished rather by the subtlety of\r\nhis enemies, than by the disobedience of his countrymen.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOctavius, however, would not stay there, but with Petronius went down from the\r\nhill; as for the lictors, Crassus bade them be gone. The first that met him\r\nwere two half-blood Greeks, who, leaping from their horses, made a profound\r\nreverence to Crassus, and desired him, in Greek, to send some before him, who\r\nmight see that Surena himself was coming towards them, his retinue disarmed,\r\nand not having so much as their wearing swords along with them. But Crassus\r\nanswered, that if he had the least concern for his life, he would never have\r\nentrusted himself in their hands, but sent two brothers of the name of Roscius,\r\nto inquire on what terms, and in what numbers they should meet. These Surena\r\nordered immediately to be seized, and himself with his principal officers came\r\nup on horseback, and greetings him, said, “How is this, then? A Roman commander\r\nis on foot, whilst I and my train are mounted.” But Crassus replied, that there\r\nwas no error committed on either side, for they both met according to the\r\ncustom of their own country. Surena told him that from that time there was a\r\nleague between the king his master and the Romans, but that Crassus must go\r\nwith him to the river to sign it, “for you Romans,” said he, “have not good\r\nmemories for conditions,” and so saying, reached out his hand to him. Crassus,\r\ntherefore, gave order that one of his horses should be brought; but Surena told\r\nhim there was no need, “the king, my master, presents you with this;” and\r\nimmediately a horse with a golden bit was brought up to him, and himself was\r\nforcibly put into the saddle by the grooms, who ran by the side and struck the\r\nhorse to make the more haste. But Octavius running up, got hold of the bridle,\r\nand soon after one of the officers, Petronius, and the rest of the company came\r\nup, striving to stop the horse, and pulling back those who on both sides of him\r\nforced Crassus forward. Thus from pulling and thrusting one another, they came\r\nto a tumult, and soon after to blows. Octavius, drawing his sword, killed a\r\ngroom of one of the barbarians, and one of them, getting behind Octavius,\r\nkilled him. Petronius was not armed, but being struck on the breastplate, fell\r\ndown from his horse, though without hurt. Crassus was killed by a Parthian,\r\ncalled Pomaxathres; others say, by a different man, and that Pomaxathres only\r\ncut off his head and right hand after he had fallen. But this is conjecture\r\nrather than certain knowledge, for those that were by had not leisure to\r\nobserve particulars, and were either killed fighting about Crassus, or ran off\r\nat once to get to their comrades on the hill. But the Parthians coming up to\r\nthem, and saying that Crassus had the punishment he justly deserved, and that\r\nSurena bade the rest come down from the hill without fear, some of them came\r\ndown and surrendered themselves, others were scattered up and down in the\r\nnight, a very few of whom got safe home, and others the Arabians, beating\r\nthrough the country, hunted down and put to death. It is generally said, that\r\nin all twenty thousand men were slain, and ten thousand taken prisoners.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSurena sent the head and hand of Crassus to Hyrodes, the king, into Armenia,\r\nbut himself by his messengers scattering a report that he was bringing Crassus\r\nalive to Seleucia, made a ridiculous procession, which by way of scorn, he\r\ncalled a triumph. For one Caius Paccianus, who of all the prisoners was most\r\nlike Crassus, being put into a woman’s dress of the fashion of the barbarians,\r\nand instructed to answer to the title of Crassus and Imperator, was brought\r\nsitting upon his horse, while before him went a parcel of trumpeters and\r\nlictors upon camels. Purses were hung at the end of the bundles of rods, and\r\nthe heads of the slain fresh bleeding at the end of their axes. After them\r\nfollowed the Seleucian singing women, repeating scurrilous and abusive songs\r\nupon the effeminacy and cowardliness of Crassus. This show was seen by\r\neverybody; but Surena, calling together the senate of Seleucia, laid before\r\nthem certain wanton books, of the writings of Aristides, the Milesian; neither,\r\nindeed, was this any forgery, for they had been found among the baggage of\r\nRustius, and were a good subject to supply Surena with insulting remarks upon\r\nthe Romans, who were not able even in the time of war to forget such writings\r\nand practices. But the people of Seleucia had reason to commend the wisdom of\r\nAesop’s fable of the wallet, seeing their general Surena carrying a bag full of\r\nloose Milesian stories before him, but keeping behind him a whole Parthian\r\nSybaris in his many wagons full of concubines; like the vipers and asps people\r\ntalk of, all the foremost and more visible parts fierce and terrible with\r\nspears and arrows and horsemen, but the rear terminating in loose women and\r\ncastanets, music of the lute, and midnight revellings. Rustius, indeed, is not\r\nto be excused, but the Parthians had forgot, when they mocked at the Milesian\r\nstories, that many of the royal line of their Arsacidae had been born of\r\nMilesian and Ionian mistresses.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst these things were doing, Hyrodes had struck up a peace with the king of\r\nArmenia, and made a match between his son Pacorus and the king of Armenia’s\r\nsister. Their feastings and entertainments in consequence were very sumptuous,\r\nand various Grecian compositions, suitable to the occasion, were recited before\r\nthem. For Hyrodes was not ignorant of the Greek language and literature, and\r\nArtavasdes was so expert in it, that he wrote tragedies and orations and\r\nhistories, some of which are still extant. When the head of Crassus was brought\r\nto the door, the tables were just taken away, and one Jason, a tragic actor, of\r\nthe town of Tralles, was singing the scene in the Bacchae of Euripides\r\nconcerning Agave. He was receiving much applause, when Sillaces coming to the\r\nroom, and having made obeisance to the king, threw down the head of Crassus\r\ninto the midst of the company. The Parthians receiving it with joy and\r\nacclamations, Sillaces, by the king’s command, was made to sit down, while\r\nJason handed over the costume of Pentheus to one of the dancers in the chorus,\r\nand taking up the head of Crassus, and acting the part of a bacchante in her\r\nfrenzy, in a rapturous impassioned manner, sang the lyric passages,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWe’ve hunted down a mighty chase to-day,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd from the mountain bring the noble prey;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nto the great delight of all the company; but when the verses of the dialogue\r\nfollowed,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWhat happy hand the glorious victim slew?\u003cbr\u003e\r\nI claim that honor to my courage due;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nPomaxathres, who happened to be there at the supper, started up and would have\r\ngot the head into his own hands, “for it is my due,” said he, “and no man’s\r\nelse.” The king was greatly pleased, and gave presents, according to the custom\r\nof the Parthians, to them, and to Jason, the actor, a talent. Such was the\r\nburlesque that was played, they tell us, as the afterpiece to the tragedy of\r\nCrassus’s expedition. But divine justice failed not to punish both Hyrodes, for\r\nhis cruelty, and Surena for his perjury; for Surena not long after was put to\r\ndeath by Hyrodes, out of mere envy to his glory; and Hyrodes himself, having\r\nlost his son Pacorus, who was beaten in a battle with the Romans, falling into\r\na disease which turned to a dropsy, had aconite given him by his second son,\r\nPhraates; but the poison working only upon the disease, and carrying away the\r\ndropsical matter with itself, the king began suddenly to recover, so that\r\nPhraates at length was forced to take the shortest course, and strangled him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap40\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF CRASSUS WITH NICIAS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the comparison of these two, first, if we compare the estate of Nicias with\r\nthat of Crassus, we must acknowledge Nicias’s to have been more honestly got.\r\nIn itself, indeed, one cannot much approve of gaining riches by working mines,\r\nthe greatest part of which is done by malefactors and barbarians, some of them,\r\ntoo, bound, and perishing in those close and unwholesome places. But if we\r\ncompare this with the sequestrations of Sylla, and the contracts for houses\r\nruined by fire, we shall then think Nicias came very honestly by his money. For\r\nCrassus publicly and avowedly made use of these arts, as other men do of\r\nhusbandry, and putting out money to interest; while as for other matters which\r\nhe used to deny, when taxed with them, as, namely, selling his voice in the\r\nsenate for gain’s sake, and injuring allies, and courting women, and conniving\r\nat criminals, these are things which Nicias was never so much as falsely\r\naccused of; nay, he was rather laughed at for giving money to those who made a\r\ntrade of impeachments, merely out of timorousness, a course, indeed, that would\r\nby no means become Pericles and Aristides, but necessary for him who by nature\r\nwas wanting in assurance, even as Lycurgus, the orator, frankly acknowledged to\r\nthe people; for when he was accused for buying off an evidence, he said that he\r\nwas very much pleased that having administered their affairs for some time, he\r\nwas at last accused, rather for giving, than receiving. Again, Nicias, in his\r\nexpenses, was of a more public spirit than Crassus, priding himself much on the\r\ndedication of gifts in temples, on presiding at gymnastic games, and furnishing\r\nchoruses for the plays, and adorning processions, while the expenses of\r\nCrassus, in feasting and afterwards providing food for so many myriads of\r\npeople, were much greater than all that Nicias possessed as well as spent, put\r\ntogether. So that one might wonder at anyone’s failing to see that vice is a\r\ncertain inconsistency and incongruity of habit, after such an example of money\r\ndishonorably obtained, and wastefully lavished away.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLet so much be said of their estates; as for their management of public\r\naffairs, I see not that any dishonesty, injustice, or arbitrary action can be\r\nobjected to Nicias, who was rather the victim of Alcibiades’s tricks, and was\r\nalways careful and scrupulous in his dealings with the people. But Crassus is\r\nvery generally blamed for his changeableness in his friendships and enmities,\r\nfor his unfaithfulness, and his mean and underhand proceedings; since he\r\nhimself could not deny that to compass the consulship, he hired men to lay\r\nviolent hands upon Domitius and Cato. Then at the assembly held for assigning\r\nthe provinces, many were wounded and four actually killed, and he himself,\r\nwhich I had omitted in the narrative of his life, struck with his fist one\r\nLucius Analius, a senator, for contradicting him, so that he left the place\r\nbleeding. But as Crassus was to be blamed for his violent and arbitrary\r\ncourses, so is Nicias no less to be blamed for his timorousness and meanness of\r\nspirit, which made him submit and give in to the basest people, whereas in this\r\nrespect Crassus showed himself lofty spirited and magnanimous, who having to do\r\nnot with such as Cleon or Hyperbolus, but with the splendid acts of Caesar and\r\nthe three triumphs of Pompey, would not stoop, but bravely bore up against\r\ntheir joint interests, and in obtaining the office of censor, surpassed even\r\nPompey himself For a statesman ought not to regard how invidious the thing is,\r\nbut how noble, and by his greatness to overpower envy; but if he will be always\r\naiming at security and quiet, and dread Alcibiades upon the hustings, and the\r\nLacedaemonians at Pylos, and Perdiccas in Thrace, there is room and opportunity\r\nenough for retirement, and he may sit out of the noise of business, and weave\r\nhimself, as one of the sophists says, his triumphal garland of inactivity. His\r\ndesire of peace, indeed, and of finishing the war, was a divine and truly\r\nGrecian ambition, nor in this respect would Crassus deserve to be compared to\r\nhim, though he had enlarged the Roman empire to the Caspian Sea or the Indian\r\nOcean.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn a State where there is a sense of virtue, a powerful man ought not to give\r\nway to the ill-affected, or expose the government to those that are incapable\r\nof it, nor suffer high trusts to be committed to those who want common honesty.\r\nYet Nicias, by his connivance, raised Cleon, a fellow remarkable for nothing\r\nbut his loud voice and brazen face, to the command of an army. Indeed, I do not\r\ncommend Crassus, who in the war with Spartacus was more forward to fight than\r\nbecame a discreet general, though he was urged into it by a point of honor,\r\nlest Pompey by his coming should rob him of the glory of the action, as Mummius\r\ndid Metellus at the taking of Corinth, but Nicias’s proceedings are\r\ninexcusable. For he did not yield up a mere opportunity of getting honor and\r\nadvantage to his competitor, but believing that the expedition would be very\r\nhazardous, was thankful to take care of himself, and left the Commonwealth to\r\nshift for itself. And whereas Themistocles, lest a mean and incapable fellow\r\nshould ruin the State by holding command in the Persian war, bought him off,\r\nand Cato, in a most dangerous and critical conjuncture, stood for the\r\ntribuneship for the sake of his country, Nicias, reserving himself for trifling\r\nexpeditions against Minoa and Cythera, and the miserable Melians, if there be\r\noccasion to come to blows with the Lacedaemonians, slips off his general’s\r\ncloak and hands over to the unskillfulness and rashness of Cleon, fleet, men,\r\nand arms, and the whole command, where the utmost possible skill was called\r\nfor. Such conduct, I say, is not to be thought so much carelessness of his own\r\nfame, as of the interest and preservation of his country. By this means it came\r\nto pass he was compelled to the Sicilian war, men generally believing that he\r\nwas not so much honestly convinced of the difficulty of the enterprise, as\r\nready out of mere love of ease and cowardice to lose the city the conquest of\r\nSicily. But yet it is a great sign of his integrity, that though he was always\r\naverse from war, and unwilling to command, yet they always continued to appoint\r\nhim as the best experienced and ablest general they had. On the other hand\r\nCrassus, though always ambitious of command, never attained to it, except by\r\nmere necessity in the servile war, Pompey and Metellus and the two brothers\r\nLucullus being absent, although at that time he was at his highest pitch of\r\ninterest and reputation. Even those who thought most of him seem to have\r\nthought him, as the comic poet says:\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nA brave man anywhere but in the field.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThere was no help, however, for the Romans, against his passion for command and\r\nfor distinction. The Athenians sent out Nicias against his will to the war, and\r\nCrassus led out the Romans against theirs; Crassus brought misfortune on Rome,\r\nas Athens brought it on Nicias.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nStill this is rather ground for praising Nicias, than for finding fault with\r\nCrassus. His experience and sound judgment as a general saved him from being\r\ncarried away by the delusive hopes of his fellow-citizens, and made him refuse\r\nto entertain any prospect of conquering Sicily. Crassus, on the other hand,\r\nmistook, in entering on a Parthian war as an easy matter. He was eager, while\r\nCaesar was subduing the west, Gaul, Germany, and Britain, to advance for his\r\npart to the east and the Indian Sea, by the conquest of Asia, to complete the\r\nincursions of Pompey and the attempts of Lucullus, men of prudent temper and of\r\nunimpeachable worth, who, nevertheless, entertained the same projects as\r\nCrassus, and acted under the same convictions. When Pompey was appointed to the\r\nlike command, the senate was opposed to it; and after Caesar had routed three\r\nhundred thousand Germans, Cato recommended that he should be surrendered to the\r\ndefeated enemy, to expiate in his own person the guilt of breach of faith. The\r\npeople, meantime, (their service to Cato!) kept holiday for fifteen days, and\r\nwere overjoyed. What would have been their feelings, and how many holidays\r\nwould they have celebrated, if Crassus had sent news from Babylon of victory,\r\nand thence marching onward had converted Media and Persia, the Hyrcanians,\r\nSusa, and Bactra, into Roman provinces?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIf wrong we must do, as Euripides says, and cannot be content with peace and\r\npresent good things, let it not be for such results as destroying Mende or\r\nScandea, or beating up the exiled Aeginetans in the coverts to which like\r\nhunted birds they had fled, when expelled from their homes, but let it be for\r\nsome really great remuneration; nor let us part with justice, like a cheap and\r\ncommon thing, for a small and trifling price. Those who praise Alexander’s\r\nenterprise and blame that of Crassus, judge of the beginning unfairly by the\r\nresults.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn actual service, Nicias did much that deserves high praise. He frequently\r\ndefeated the enemy in battle, and was on the very point of capturing Syracuse;\r\nnor should he bear the whole blame of the disaster, which may fairly be\r\nascribed in part to his want of health and to the jealousy entertained of him\r\nat home. Crassus, on the other hand, committed so many errors as not to leave\r\nfortune room to show him favor. It is no surprise to find such imbecility fall\r\na victim to the power of Parthia; the only wonder is to see it prevailing over\r\nthe wonted good-fortune of Rome. One scrupulously observed, the other entirely\r\nslighted the arts of divination; and as both equally perished, it is difficult\r\nto see what inference we should draw. Yet the fault of over-caution, supported\r\nby old and general opinion, better deserves forgiveness than that of\r\nself-willed and lawless transgression.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn his death, however, Crassus has the advantage, as he did not surrender\r\nhimself, nor submit to bondage, or let himself be taken in by trickery, but was\r\nthe victim only of the entreaties of his friends and the perfidy of his\r\nenemies; whereas Nicias enhanced the shame of his death by yielding himself up\r\nin the hope of a disgraceful and inglorious escape.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap41\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eSERTORIUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is no great wonder if in long process of time, while fortune takes her\r\ncourse hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur. If\r\nthe number and variety of subjects to be wrought upon be infinite, it is all\r\nthe more easy for fortune, with such an abundance of material, to effect this\r\nsimilarity of results. Or if, on the other hand, events are limited to the\r\ncombinations of some finite number, then of necessity the same must often\r\nrecur, and in the same sequence. There are people who take a pleasure in making\r\ncollections of all such fortuitous occurrences that they have heard or read of,\r\nas look like works of a rational power and design; they observe, for example,\r\nthat two eminent persons, whose names were Attis, the one a Syrian, the other\r\nof Arcadia, were both slain by a wild boar; that of two whose names were\r\nActaeon, the one was torn in pieces by his dogs, the other by his lovers; that\r\nof two famous Scipios, the one overthrew the Carthaginians in war, the other\r\ntotally ruined and destroyed them; the city of Troy was the first time taken by\r\nHercules for the horses promised him by Laomedon, the second time by Agamemnon,\r\nby means of the celebrated great wooden horse, and the third time by\r\nCharidemus, by occasion of a horse falling down at the gate, which hindered the\r\nTrojans, so that they could not shut them soon enough; and of two cities which\r\ntake their names from the most agreeable odoriferous plants, Ios and Smyrna,\r\nthe one from a violet, the other from myrrh, the poet Homer is reported to have\r\nbeen born in the one, and to have died in the other. And so to these instances\r\nlet us further add, that the most warlike commanders, and most remarkable for\r\nexploits of skillful stratagem, have had but one eye; as Philip, Antigonus,\r\nHannibal, and Sertorius, whose life and actions we describe at present; of\r\nwhom, indeed, we might truly say, that he was more continent than Philip, more\r\nfaithful to his friend than Antigonus, and more merciful to his enemies than\r\nHannibal; and that for prudence and judgment he gave place to none of them, but\r\nin fortune was inferior to them all. Yet though he had continually in her a far\r\nmore difficult adversary to contend against than his open enemies, he\r\nnevertheless maintained his ground, with the military skill of Metellus, the\r\nboldness of Pompey, the success of Sylla, and the power of the Roman people,\r\nall to be encountered by one who was a banished man and a stranger at the head\r\nof a body of barbarians. Among Greek commanders, Eumenes of Cardia may be best\r\ncompared with him; they were both of them men born for command, for warfare,\r\nand for stratagem; both banished from their countries, and holding command over\r\nstrangers; both had fortune for their adversary, in their last days so harshly\r\nso, that they were both betrayed and murdered by those who served them, and\r\nwith whom they had formerly overcome their enemies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nQuintus Sertorius was of a noble family, born in the city of Nursia, in the\r\ncountry of the Sabines; his father died when he was young, and he was carefully\r\nand decently educated by his mother, whose name was Rhea, and whom he appears\r\nto have extremely loved and honored. He paid some attention to the study of\r\noratory and pleading in his youth, and acquired some reputation and influence\r\nin Rome by his eloquence; but the splendor of his actions in arms, and his\r\nsuccessful achievements in the wars, drew off his ambition in that direction.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt his first beginning, he served under Caepio, when the Cimbri and Teutones\r\ninvaded Gaul; where the Romans fighting unsuccessfully, and being put to\r\nflight, he was wounded in many parts of his body, and lost his horse, yet,\r\nnevertheless, swam across the river Rhone in his armor, with his breastplate\r\nand shield, bearing himself up against the violence of the current; so strong\r\nand so well inured to hardship was his body.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe second time that the Cimbri and Teutones came down with some hundreds of\r\nthousands, threatening death and destruction to all, when it was no small piece\r\nof service for a Roman soldier to keep his ranks and obey his commander,\r\nSertorius undertook, while Marius led the army, to spy out the enemy’s camp.\r\nProcuring a Celtic dress, and acquainting himself with the ordinary expressions\r\nof their language requisite for common intercourse, he threw himself in amongst\r\nthe barbarians; where having carefully seen with his own eyes, or having been\r\nfully informed by persons upon the place of all their most important concerns,\r\nhe returned to Marius, from whose hands he received the rewards of valor; and\r\nafterwards giving frequent proofs both of conduct and courage in all the\r\nfollowing war, he was advanced to places of honor and trust under his general.\r\nAfter the wars with the Cimbri and Teutones, he was sent into Spain, having the\r\ncommand of a thousand men under Didius, the Roman general, and wintered in the\r\ncountry of the Celtiberians, in the city of Castulo, where the soldiers\r\nenjoying great plenty, and growing insolent, and continually drinking, the\r\ninhabitants despised them and sent for aid by night to the Gyrisoenians, their\r\nnear neighbors, who fell upon the Romans in their lodgings and slew a great\r\nnumber of them. Sertorius, with a few of his soldiers, made his way out, and\r\nrallying together the rest who escaped, he marched round about the walls, and\r\nfinding the gate open, by which the Gyrisoenians had made their secret\r\nentrance, he gave not them the same opportunity, but placing a guard at the\r\ngate, and seizing upon all quarters of the city, he slew all who were of age to\r\nbear arms, and then ordering his soldiers to lay aside their weapons and put\r\noff their own clothes, and put on the accoutrements of the barbarians, he\r\ncommanded them to follow him to the city, from whence the men came who had made\r\nthis night attack upon the Romans. And thus deceiving the Gyrisoenians with the\r\nsight of their own armor, he found the gates of their city open, and took a\r\ngreat number prisoners, who came out thinking to meet their friends and\r\nfellow-citizens come home from a successful expedition. Most of them were thus\r\nslain by the Romans at their own gates, and the rest within yielded up\r\nthemselves and were sold for slaves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis action made Sertorius highly renowned throughout all Spain, and as soon as\r\nhe returned to Rome he was appointed quaestor of Cisalpine Gaul, at a very\r\nseasonable moment for his country, the Marsian war being on the point of\r\nbreaking out. Sertorius was ordered to raise soldiers and provide arms, which\r\nhe performed with a diligence and alacrity, so contrasting with the feebleness\r\nand slothfulness of other officers of his age, that he got the repute of a man\r\nwhose life would be one of action. Nor did he relinquish the part of a soldier,\r\nnow that he had arrived at the dignity of a commander, but performed wonders\r\nwith his own hands, and never sparing himself, but exposing his body freely in\r\nall conflicts, he lost one of his eyes. This he always esteemed an honor to\r\nhim; observing that others do not continually carry about with them the marks\r\nand testimonies of their valor, but must often lay aside their chains of gold,\r\ntheir spears and crowns; whereas his ensigns of honor, and the manifestations\r\nof his courage always remained with him, and those who beheld his misfortune,\r\nmust at the same time recognize his merits. The people also paid him the\r\nrespect he deserved, and when he came into the theater, received him with\r\nplaudits and joyful acclamations, an honor rarely bestowed even on persons of\r\nadvanced standing and established reputation. Yet, notwithstanding this\r\npopularity, when he stood to be tribune of the people, he was disappointed, and\r\nlost the place, being opposed by the party of Sylla, which seems to have been\r\nthe principal cause of his subsequent enmity to Sylla.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter that Marius was overcome by Sylla and fled into Africa, and Sylla had\r\nleft Italy to go to the wars against Mithridates, and of the two consuls\r\nOctavius and Cinna, Octavius remained steadfast to the policy of Sylla, but\r\nCinna, desirous of a new revolution, attempted to recall the lost interest of\r\nMarius, Sertorius joined Cinna’s party, more particularly as he saw that\r\nOctavius was not very capable, and was also suspicious of anyone that was a\r\nfriend to Marius. When a great battle was fought between the two consuls in the\r\nforum, Octavius overcame, and Cinna and Sertorius, having lost not less than\r\nten thousand men, left the city, and gaining over most part of the troops who\r\nwere dispersed about and remained still in many parts of Italy, they in a short\r\ntime mustered up a force against Octavius sufficient to give him battle again,\r\nand Marius, also, now coming by sea out of Africa, proffered himself to serve\r\nunder Cinna, as a private soldier under his consul and commander.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMost were for the immediate reception of Marius, but Sertorius openly declared\r\nagainst it, whether he thought that Cinna would not now pay as much attention\r\nto himself, when a man of higher military repute was present, or feared that\r\nthe violence of Marius would bring all things to confusion, by his boundless\r\nwrath and vengeance after victory. He insisted upon it with Cinna that they\r\nwere already victorious, that there remained little to be done, and that, if\r\nthey admitted Marius, he would deprive them of the glory and advantage of the\r\nwar, as there was no man less easy to deal with, or less to be trusted in, as a\r\npartner in power. Cinna answered, that Sertorius rightly judged the affair, but\r\nthat he himself was at a loss, and ashamed, and knew not how to reject him,\r\nafter he had sent for him to share in his fortunes. To which Sertorius\r\nimmediately replied, that he had thought that Marius came into Italy of his own\r\naccord, and therefore had deliberated as to what might be most expedient, but\r\nthat Cinna ought not so much as to have questioned whether he should accept him\r\nwhom he had already invited, but should have honorably received and employed\r\nhim, for his word once past left no room for debate. Thus Marius being sent for\r\nby Cinna, and their forces being divided into three parts, under Cinna, Marius,\r\nand Sertorius, the war was brought to a successful conclusion; but those about\r\nCinna and Marius committing all manner of insolence and cruelty, made the\r\nRomans think the evils of war a golden time in comparison. On the contrary, it\r\nis reported of Sertorius, that he never slew any man in his anger, to satisfy\r\nhis own private revenge, nor ever insulted over anyone whom he had overcome,\r\nbut was much offended with Marius, and often privately entreated Cinna to use\r\nhis power more moderately. And in the end, when the slaves whom Marius had\r\nfreed at his landing to increase his army, being made not only his\r\nfellow-soldiers in the war, but also now his guard in his usurpation, enriched\r\nand powerful by his favor, either by the command or permission of Marius, or by\r\ntheir own lawless violence, committed all sorts of crimes, killed their\r\nmasters, ravished their masters’ wives, and abused their children, their\r\nconduct appeared so intolerable to Sertorius that he slew the whole body of\r\nthem, four thousand in number, commanding his soldiers to shoot them down with\r\ntheir javelins, as they lay encamped together.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfterwards, when Marius died, and Cinna shortly after was slain, when the\r\nyounger Marius made himself consul against Sertorius’s wishes and contrary to\r\nlaw, when Carbo, Norbanus, and Scipio fought unsuccessfully against Sylla, now\r\nadvancing to Rome, when much was lost by the cowardice and remissness of the\r\ncommanders, but more by the treachery of their party, when with the want of\r\nprudence in the chief leaders, all went so ill that his presence could do no\r\ngood, in the end when Sylla had placed his camp near to Scipio, and by\r\npretending friendship, and putting him in hopes of a peace, corrupted his army,\r\nand Scipio could not be made sensible of this, although often forewarned of it\r\nby Sertorius, at last he utterly despaired of Rome, and hasted into Spain, that\r\nby taking possession there beforehand, he might secure refuge to his friends,\r\nfrom their misfortunes at home. Having bad weather in his journey, and\r\ntraveling through mountainous countries, and the inhabitants stopping the way,\r\nand demanding a toll and money for passage, those who were with him were out of\r\nall patience at the indignity and shame it would be for a proconsul of Rome to\r\npay tribute to a crew of wretched barbarians. But he little regarded their\r\ncensure, and slighting that which had only the appearance of an indecency, told\r\nthem he must buy time, the most precious of all things to those who go upon\r\ngreat enterprises; and pacifying the barbarous people with money, he hastened\r\nhis journey, and took possession of Spain, a country flourishing and populous,\r\nabounding with young men fit to bear arms; but on account of the insolence and\r\ncovetousness of the governors from time to time sent thither from Rome, they\r\nhad generally an aversion to the Roman supremacy. He, however, soon gained the\r\naffection of their nobles by intercourse with them, and the good opinion of the\r\npeople by remitting their taxes. But that which won him most popularity, was\r\nhis exempting them from finding lodgings for the soldiers, when he commanded\r\nhis army to take up their winter quarters outside the cities, and to pitch\r\ntheir camp in the suburbs; and when he himself, first of all, caused his own\r\ntent to be raised without the walls. Yet not being willing to rely totally upon\r\nthe good inclination of the inhabitants, he armed all the Romans who lived in\r\nthose countries that were of military age, and undertook the building of ships\r\nand the making of all sorts of warlike engines, by which means he kept the\r\ncities in due obedience, showing himself gentle in all peaceful business, and\r\nat the same time formidable to his enemies by his great preparations for war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as he was informed that Sylla had made himself master of Rome, and that\r\nthe party which sided with Marius and Carbo was going to destruction, he\r\nexpected that some commander with a considerable army would speedily come\r\nagainst him, and therefore sent away Julius Salinator immediately, with six\r\nthousand men fully armed, to fortify and defend the passes of the Pyrenees. And\r\nCaius Annius not long after being sent out by Sylla, finding Julius\r\nunassailable, sat down short at the foot of the mountains in perplexity. But a\r\ncertain Calpurnius, surnamed Lanarius, having treacherously slain Julius, and\r\nhis soldiers then forsaking the heights of the Pyrenees, Caius Annius advanced\r\nwith large numbers and drove before him all who endeavored to hinder his march.\r\nSertorius, also, not being strong enough to give him battle, retreated with\r\nthree thousand men into New Carthage, where he took shipping, and crossed the\r\nseas into Africa. And coming near the coast of Mauritania, his men went on\r\nshore to water, and straggling about negligently, the natives fell upon them\r\nand slew a great number. This new misfortune forced him to sail back again into\r\nSpain, whence he was also repulsed, and, some Cilician pirate ships joining\r\nwith him, they made for the island of Pityussa, where they landed and\r\noverpowered the garrison placed there by Annius, who, however, came not long\r\nafter with a great fleet of ships, and five thousand soldiers. And Sertorius\r\nmade ready to fight him by sea, although his ships were not built for strength,\r\nbut for lightness and swift sailing; but a violent west wind raised such a sea\r\nthat many of them were run aground and shipwrecked, and he himself, with a few\r\nvessels, being kept from putting further out to sea by the fury of the weather,\r\nand from landing by the power of his enemies, was tossed about painfully for\r\nten days together, amidst the boisterous and adverse waves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe escaped with difficulty, and after the wind ceased, ran for certain desert\r\nislands scattered in those seas, affording no water, and after passing a night\r\nthere, making out to sea again, he went through the straits of Cadiz, and\r\nsailing outward keeping the Spanish shore on his right hand, he landed a little\r\nabove the mouth of the river Baetis, where it falls into the Atlantic sea, and\r\ngives the name to that part of Spain. Here he met with seamen recently arrived\r\nfrom the Atlantic islands, two in number, divided from one another only by a\r\nnarrow channel, and distant from the coast of Africa ten thousand furlongs.\r\nThese are called the Islands of the Blest; rains fall there seldom, and in\r\nmoderate showers, but for the most part they have gentle breezes, bringing\r\nalong with them soft dews, which render the soil not only rich for plowing and\r\nplanting, but so abundantly fruitful that it produces spontaneously an\r\nabundance of delicate fruits, sufficient to feed the inhabitants, who may here\r\nenjoy all things without trouble or labor. The seasons of the year are\r\ntemperate, and the transitions from one to another so moderate, that the air is\r\nalmost always serene and pleasant. The rough northerly and easterly winds which\r\nblow from the coasts of Europe and Africa, dissipated in the vast open space,\r\nutterly lose their force before they reach the islands. The soft western and\r\nsoutherly winds which breathe upon them sometimes produce gentle sprinkling\r\nshowers, which they convey along with them from the sea, but more usually bring\r\ndays of moist bright weather, cooling and gently fertilizing the soil, so that\r\nthe firm belief prevails even among the barbarians, that this is the seat of\r\nthe blessed, and that these are the Elysian Fields celebrated by Homer.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Sertorius heard this account, he was seized with a wonderful passion for\r\nthese islands, and had an extreme desire to go and live there in peace and\r\nquietness, and safe from oppression and unending wars; but his inclinations\r\nbeing perceived by the Cilician pirates, who desired not peace nor quiet, but\r\nriches and spoils, they immediately forsook him, and sailed away into Africa to\r\nassist Ascalis, the son of Iphtha, and to help to restore him to his kingdom of\r\nMauritania. Their sudden departure noways discouraged Sertorius; he presently\r\nresolved to assist the enemies of Ascalis, and by this new adventure trusted to\r\nkeep his soldiers together, who from this might conceive new hopes, and a\r\nprospect of a new scene of action. His arrival in Mauritania being very\r\nacceptable to the Moors, he lost no time, but immediately giving battle to\r\nAscalis, beat him out of the field and besieged him; and Paccianus being sent\r\nby Sylla, with a powerful supply, to raise the siege, Sertorius slew him in the\r\nfield, gained over all his forces, and took the city of Tingis, into which\r\nAscalis and his brothers were fled for refuge. The Africans tell that Antaeus\r\nwas buried in this city, and Sertorius had the grave opened, doubting the story\r\nbecause of the prodigious size, and finding there his body, in effect, it is\r\nsaid, full sixty cubits long, he was infinitely astonished, offered sacrifice,\r\nand heaped up the tomb again, gave his confirmation to the story, and added new\r\nhonors to the memory of Antaeus. The Africans tell that after the death of\r\nAntaeus, his wife Tinga lived with Hercules, and had a son by him called\r\nSophax, who was king of these countries, and gave his mother’s name to this\r\ncity, whose son, also, was Diodorus, a great conqueror, who brought the\r\ngreatest part of the Libyan tribes under his subjection, with an army of\r\nGreeks, raised out of the colonies of the Olbians and Myceneans placed here by\r\nHercules. Thus much I may mention for the sake of king Juba, of all monarchs\r\nthe greatest student of history, whose ancestors are said to have sprung from\r\nDiodorus and Sophax.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Sertorius had made himself absolute master of the whole country, he acted\r\nwith great fairness to those who had confided in him, and who yielded to his\r\nmercy; he restored to them their property, cities, and government, accepting\r\nonly of such acknowledgments as they themselves freely offered. And whilst he\r\nconsidered which way next to turn his arms, the Lusitanians sent ambassadors to\r\ndesire him to be their general; for being terrified with the Roman power, and\r\nfinding the necessity of having a commander of great authority and experience\r\nin war, being also sufficiently assured of his worth and valor by those who had\r\nformerly known him, they were desirous to commit themselves especially to his\r\ncare. And in fact Sertorius is said to have been of a temper unassailable\r\neither by fear or pleasure, in adversity and dangers undaunted, and noways\r\npuffed up with prosperity. In straightforward fighting, no commander in his\r\ntime was more bold and daring, and in whatever was to be performed in war by\r\nstratagem, secrecy, or surprise, if any strong place was to be secured, any\r\npass to be gained speedily, for deceiving and overreaching an enemy, there was\r\nno man equal to him in subtlety and skill. In bestowing rewards and conferring\r\nhonors upon those who had performed good service in the wars he was bountiful\r\nand magnificent, and was no less sparing and moderate in inflicting punishment.\r\nIt is true that that piece of harshness and cruelty which he executed in the\r\nlatter part of his days upon the Spanish hostages, seems to argue that his\r\nclemency was not natural to him, but only worn as a dress, and employed upon\r\ncalculation, as his occasion or necessity required. As to my own opinion, I am\r\npersuaded that pure virtue, established by reason and judgment, can never be\r\ntotally perverted or changed into its opposite, by any misfortune whatever. Yet\r\nI think it at the same time possible, that virtuous inclinations and natural\r\ngood qualities may, when unworthily oppressed by calamities, show, with change\r\nof fortune, some change and alteration of their temper; and thus I conceive it\r\nhappened to Sertorius, who when prosperity failed him, became exasperated by\r\nhis disasters against those who had done him wrong.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Lusitanians having sent for Sertorius, he left Africa, and being made\r\ngeneral with absolute authority, he put all in order amongst them, and brought\r\nthe neighboring parts of Spain under subjection. Most of the tribes voluntarily\r\nsubmitted themselves, won by the fame of his clemency and of his courage, and,\r\nto some extent, also, he availed himself of cunning artifices of his own\r\ndevising to impose upon them and gain influence over them. Amongst which,\r\ncertainly, that of the hind was not the least. Spanus, a countryman who lived\r\nin those parts, meeting by chance a hind that had recently calved, flying from\r\nthe hunters, let the dam go, and pursuing the fawn, took it, being wonderfully\r\npleased with the rarity of the color, which was all milk white. And as at that\r\ntime Sertorius was living in the neighborhood, and accepted gladly any presents\r\nof fruit, fowl, or venison, that the country afforded, and rewarded liberally\r\nthose who presented them, the countryman brought him his young hind, which he\r\ntook and was well pleased with at the first sight, but when in time he had made\r\nit so tame and gentle that it would come when he called, and follow him\r\nwheresoever he went, and could endure the noise and tumult of the camp, knowing\r\nwell that uncivilized people are naturally prone to superstition, by little and\r\nlittle he raised it into something preternatural, saying that it was given him\r\nby the goddess Diana, and that it revealed to him many secrets. He added, also,\r\nfurther contrivances. If he had received at any time private intelligence that\r\nthe enemies had made an incursion into any part of the districts under his\r\ncommand, or had solicited any city to revolt, he pretended that the hind had\r\ninformed him of it in his sleep, and charged him to keep his forces in\r\nreadiness. Or if again he had notice that any of the commanders under him had\r\ngot a victory, he would hide the messengers and bring forth the hind crowned\r\nwith flowers, for joy of the good news that was to come, and would encourage\r\nthem to rejoice and sacrifice to the gods for the good account they should soon\r\nreceive of their prosperous success.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBy such practices, he brought them to be more tractable and obedient in all\r\nthings; for now they thought themselves no longer to be led by a stranger, but\r\nrather conducted by a god, and the more so, as the facts themselves seemed to\r\nbear witness to it, his power, contrary to all expectation or probability,\r\ncontinually increasing. For with two thousand six hundred men, whom for honor’s\r\nsake he called Romans, combined with seven hundred Africans, who landed with\r\nhim when he first entered Lusitania, together with four thousand targeteers,\r\nand seven hundred horse of the Lusitanians themselves, he made war against four\r\nRoman generals, who commanded a hundred and twenty thousand foot, six thousand\r\nhorse, two thousand archers and slingers, and had cities innumerable in their\r\npower; whereas at the first he had not above twenty cities in all. And from\r\nthis weak and slender beginning, he raised himself to the command of large\r\nnations of men, and the possession of numerous cities; and of the Roman\r\ncommanders who were sent against him, he overthrew Cotta in a sea-fight, in the\r\nchannel near the town of Mellaria; he routed Fufidius, the governor of Baetica,\r\nwith the loss of two thousand Romans, near the banks of the river Baetis;\r\nLucius Domitius, proconsul of the other province of Spain, was overthrown by\r\none of his lieutenants; Thoranius, another commander sent against him by\r\nMetellus with a great force, was slain, and Metellus, one of the greatest and\r\nmost approved Roman generals then living, by a series of defeats, was reduced\r\nto such extremities, that Lucius Manlius came to his assistance out of Gallia\r\nNarbonensis, and Pompey the Great, was sent from Rome, itself, in all haste,\r\nwith considerable forces. Nor did Metellus know which way to turn himself, in a\r\nwar with such a bold and ready commander, who was continually molesting him,\r\nand yet could not be brought to a set battle, but by the swiftness and\r\ndexterity of his Spanish soldiery, was enabled to shift and adapt himself to\r\nany change of circumstances. Metellus had had experience in battles fought by\r\nregular legions of soldiers, fully armed and drawn up in due order into a heavy\r\nstanding phalanx, admirably trained for encountering and overpowering an enemy\r\nwho came to close combat, hand to hand, but entirely unfit for climbing among\r\nthe hills, and competing incessantly with the swift attacks and retreats of a\r\nset of fleet mountaineers, or to endure hunger and thirst, and live exposed\r\nlike them to the wind and weather, without fire or covering.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBesides, being now in years, and having been formerly engaged in many fights\r\nand dangerous conflicts, he had grown inclined to a more remiss, easy, and\r\nluxurious life, and was the less able to contend with Sertorius, who was in the\r\nprime of his strength and vigor, and had a body wonderfully fitted for war,\r\nbeing strong, active, and temperate, continually accustomed to endure hard\r\nlabor, to take long tedious journeys, to pass many nights together without\r\nsleep, to eat little, and to be satisfied with very coarse fare, and who was\r\nnever stained with the least excess in wine, even when he was most at leisure.\r\nWhat leisure time he allowed himself, he spent in hunting and riding about, and\r\nso made himself thoroughly acquainted with every passage for escape when he\r\nwould fly, and for overtaking and intercepting in pursuit, and gained a perfect\r\nknowledge of where he could and where he could not go. Insomuch that Metellus\r\nsuffered all the inconveniences of defeat, although he earnestly desired to\r\nfight, and Sertorius, though he refused the field, reaped all the advantages of\r\na conqueror. For he hindered them from foraging, and cut them off from water;\r\nif they advanced, he was nowhere to be found; if they stayed in any place and\r\nencamped, he continually molested and alarmed them; if they besieged any town,\r\nhe presently appeared and besieged them again, and put them to extremities for\r\nwant of necessaries. And thus he so wearied out the Roman army, that when\r\nSertorius challenged Metellus to fight singly with him, they commended it, and\r\ncried out, it was a fair offer, a Roman to fight against a Roman, and a general\r\nagainst a general; and when Metellus refused the challenge, they reproached\r\nhim. Metellus derided and contemned this, and rightly so; for, as Theophrastus\r\nobserves, a general should die like a general, and not like a skirmisher. But\r\nperceiving that the town of the Langobritae, who gave great assistance to\r\nSertorius, might easily be taken for want of water, as there was but one well\r\nwithin the walls, and the besieger would be master of the springs and fountains\r\nin the suburbs, he advanced against the place, expecting to carry it in two\r\ndays’ time, there being no more water, and gave command to his soldiers to take\r\nfive days’ provision only. Sertorius, however, resolving to send speedy relief,\r\nordered two thousand skins to be filled with water, naming a considerable sum\r\nof money for the carriage of every skin; and many Spaniards and Moors\r\nundertaking the work, he chose out those who were the strongest and swiftest of\r\nfoot, and sent them through the mountains, with order that when they had\r\ndelivered the water, they should convey away privately all those who would be\r\nleast serviceable in the siege, that there might be water sufficient for the\r\ndefendants. As soon as Metellus understood this, he was disturbed, as he had\r\nalready consumed most part of the necessary provisions for his army, but he\r\nsent out Aquinus with six thousand soldiers to fetch in fresh supplies. But\r\nSertorius having notice of it, laid an ambush for him, and having sent out\r\nbeforehand three thousand men to take post in a thickly wooded watercourse,\r\nwith these he attacked the rear of Aquinus in his return, while he himself,\r\ncharging him in the front, destroyed part of his army, and took the rest\r\nprisoners, Aquinus only escaping, after the loss of both his horse and his\r\narmor. And Metellus, being forced shamefully to raise the siege, withdrew\r\namidst the laughter and contempt of the Spaniards; while Sertorius became yet\r\nmore the object of their esteem and admiration.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was also highly honored for his introducing discipline and good order\r\namongst them, for he altered their furious savage manner of fighting, and\r\nbrought them to make use of the Roman armor, taught them to keep their ranks,\r\nand observe signals and watchwords; and out of a confused number of thieves and\r\nrobbers, he constituted a regular, well-disciplined army. He bestowed silver\r\nand gold upon them liberally to gild and adorn their helmets, he had their\r\nshields worked with various figures and designs, he brought them into the mode\r\nof wearing flowered and embroidered cloaks and coats, and by supplying money\r\nfor these purposes, and joining with them in all improvements, he won the\r\nhearts of all. That, however, which delighted them most, was the care that he\r\ntook of their children. He sent for all the boys of noblest parentage out of\r\nall their tribes, and placed them in the great city of Osca, where he appointed\r\nmasters to instruct them in the Grecian and Roman learning, that when they came\r\nto be men, they might, as he professed, be fitted to share with him in\r\nauthority, and in conducting the government, although under this pretext he\r\nreally made them hostages. However, their fathers were wonderfully pleased to\r\nsee their children going daily to the schools in good order, handsomely dressed\r\nin gowns edged with purple, and that Sertorius paid for their lessons, examined\r\nthem often, distributed rewards to the most deserving, and gave them the golden\r\nbosses to hang about their necks, which the Romans called bullae.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere being a custom in Spain, that when a commander was slain in battle, those\r\nwho attended his person fought it out till they all died with him, which the\r\ninhabitants of those countries called an offering, or libation, there were few\r\ncommanders that had any considerable guard or number of attendants; but\r\nSertorius was followed by many thousands who offered themselves, and vowed to\r\nspend their blood with his. And it is told that when his army was defeated near\r\na city in Spain, and the enemy pressed hard upon them, the Spaniards, with no\r\ncare for themselves, but being totally solicitous to save Sertorius, took him\r\nup on their shoulders and passed him from one to another, till they carried him\r\ninto the city, and only when they had thus placed their general in safety,\r\nprovided afterwards each man for his own security.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNor were the Spaniards alone ambitious to serve him, but the Roman soldiers,\r\nalso, that came out of Italy, were impatient to be under his command; and when\r\nPerpenna Vento, who was of the same faction with Sertorius, came into Spain\r\nwith a quantity of money and a large number of troops, and designed to make war\r\nagainst Metellus on his own account, his own soldiers opposed it, and talked\r\ncontinually of Sertorius, much to the mortification of Perpenna, who was puffed\r\nup with the grandeur of his family and his riches. And when they afterwards\r\nreceived tidings that Pompey was passing the Pyrenees, they took up their arms,\r\nlaid hold on their ensigns, called upon Perpenna to lead them to Sertorius, and\r\nthreatened him that if he refused they would go without him, and place\r\nthemselves under a commander who was able to defend himself and those that\r\nserved him. And so Perpenna was obliged to yield to their desires, and joining\r\nSertorius, added to his army three and fifty cohorts.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd when now all the cities on this side of the river Ebro also united their\r\nforces together under his command, his army grew great, for they flocked\r\ntogether and flowed in upon him from all quarters. But when they continually\r\ncried out to attack the enemy, and were impatient of delay, their\r\ninexperienced, disorderly rashness caused Sertorius much trouble, who at first\r\nstrove to restrain them with reason and good counsel, but when he perceived\r\nthem refractory and unseasonably violent, he gave way to their impetuous\r\ndesires, and permitted them to engage with the enemy, in such sort that they\r\nmight, being repulsed, yet not totally routed, become more obedient to his\r\ncommands for the future. Which happening as he had anticipated, he soon rescued\r\nthem, and brought them safe into his camp. And after a few days, being willing\r\nto encourage them again, when he had called all his army together, he caused\r\ntwo horses to be brought into the field, one an old, feeble, lean animal, the\r\nother a lusty, strong horse, with a remarkably thick and long tail. Near the\r\nlean one he placed a tall strong man, and near the strong young horse a weak\r\ndespicable-looking fellow; and at a sign given, the strong man took hold of the\r\nweak horse’s tail with both his hands, and drew it to him with his whole force,\r\nas if he would pull it off; the other, the weak man, in the mean time, set to\r\nwork to pluck off hair by hair from the great horse’s tail. And when the strong\r\nman had given trouble enough to himself in vain, and sufficient diversion to\r\nthe company, and had abandoned his attempt, whilst the weak pitiful fellow in a\r\nshort time and with little pains had left not a hair on the great horse’s tail,\r\nSertorius rose up and spoke to his army, “You see, fellow soldiers, that\r\nperseverance is more prevailing than violence, and that many things which\r\ncannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken\r\nlittle by little. Assiduity and persistence are irresistible, and in time\r\noverthrow and destroy the greatest powers whatever. Time being the favorable\r\nfriend and assistant of those who use their judgment to await his occasions,\r\nand the destructive enemy of those who are unseasonably urging and pressing\r\nforward.” With a frequent use of such words and such devices, he soothed the\r\nfierceness of the barbarous people, and taught them to attend and watch for\r\ntheir opportunities.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf all his remarkable exploits, none raised greater admiration than that which\r\nhe put in practice against the Characitanians. These are a people beyond the\r\nriver Tagus, who inhabit neither cities nor towns, but live in a vast high\r\nhill, within the deep dens and caves of the rocks, the mouths of which open all\r\ntowards the north. The country below is of a soil resembling a light clay, so\r\nloose as easily to break into powder, and is not firm enough to bear anyone\r\nthat treads upon it, and if you touch it in the least, it flies about like\r\nashes or unslaked lime. In any danger of war, these people descend into their\r\ncaves, and carrying in their booty and prey along with them, stay quietly\r\nwithin, secure from every attack. And when Sertorius, leaving Metellus some\r\ndistance off had placed his camp near this hill, they slighted and despised\r\nhim, imagining, that he retired into these parts, being overthrown by the\r\nRomans. And whether out of anger and resentment, or out of his unwillingness to\r\nbe thought to fly from his enemies, early in the morning he rode up to view the\r\nsituation of the place. But finding there was no way to come at it, as he rode\r\nabout, threatening them in vain and disconcerted, he took notice that the wind\r\nraised the dust and carried it up towards the caves of the Characitanians, the\r\nmouths of which, as I said before, opened towards the north; and the northerly\r\nwind, which some call Caecias, prevailing most in those parts, coming up out of\r\nmoist plains or mountains covered with snow, at this particular time, in the\r\nheat of summer, being further supplied and increased by the melting of the ice\r\nin the northern regions, blew a delightful fresh gale, cooling and refreshing\r\nthe Characitanians and their cattle all the day long. Sertorius, considering\r\nwell all circumstances in which either the information of the inhabitants, or\r\nhis own experience had instructed him, commanded his soldiers to shovel up a\r\ngreat quantity of this light, dusty earth, to heap it up together, and make a\r\nmount of it over against the hill in which these barbarous people resided, who,\r\nimagining that all this preparation was for raising a mound to get at them,\r\nonly mocked and laughed at it. However, he continued the work till the evening,\r\nand brought his soldiers back into their camp. The next morning a gentle breeze\r\nat first arose, and moved the lightest parts of the earth, and dispersed it\r\nabout as the chaff before the wind; but when the sun coming to be higher, the\r\nstrong northerly wind had covered the hills with the dust, the soldiers came\r\nand turned this mound of earth over and over, and broke the hard clods in\r\npieces, whilst others on horseback rode through it backward and forward, and\r\nraised a cloud of dust into the air: there with the wind the whole of it was\r\ncarried away and blown into the dwellings of the Characitanians, all lying open\r\nto the north. And there being no other vent or breathing-place than that\r\nthrough which the Caecias rushed in upon them, it quickly blinded their eyes,\r\nand filled their lungs, and all but choked them, whilst they strove to draw in\r\nthe rough air mingled with dust and powdered earth. Nor were they able, with\r\nall they could do, to hold out above two days, but yielded up themselves on the\r\nthird, adding, by their defeat, not so much to the power of Sertorius, as to\r\nhis renown, in proving that he was able to conquer places by art, which were\r\nimpregnable by the force of arms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo long as he had to do with Metellus, he was thought to owe his successes to\r\nhis opponent’s age and slow temper, which were ill-suited for coping with the\r\ndaring and activity of one who commanded a light army more like a band of\r\nrobbers than regular soldiers. But when Pompey also passed over the Pyrenees,\r\nand Sertorius pitched his camp near him, and offered and himself accepted every\r\noccasion by which military skill could be put to the proof, and in this contest\r\nof dexterity was found to have the better, both in baffling his enemy’s designs\r\nand in counter-scheming himself, the fame of him now spread even to Rome\r\nitself, as the most expert commander of his time. For the renown of Pompey was\r\nnot small, who had already won much honor by his achievements in the wars of\r\nSylla, from whom he received the title of Magnus, and was called Pompey the\r\nGreat; and who had risen to the honor of a triumph before the beard had grown\r\non his face. And many cities which were under Sertorius were on the very eve of\r\nrevolting and going over to Pompey, when they were deterred from it by that\r\ngreat action, amongst others, which he performed near the city of Lauron,\r\ncontrary to the expectation of all.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor Sertorius had laid siege to Lauron, and Pompey came with his whole army to\r\nrelieve it; and there being a hill near this city very advantageously situated,\r\nthey both made haste to take it. Sertorius was beforehand, and took possession\r\nof it first, and Pompey, having drawn down his forces, was not sorry that it\r\nhad thus happened, imagining that he had hereby enclosed his enemy between his\r\nown army and the city, and sent in a messenger to the citizens of Lauron, to\r\nbid them be of good courage, and to come upon their walls, where they might see\r\ntheir besieger besieged. Sertorius, perceiving their intentions, smiled, and\r\nsaid, he would now teach Sylla’s scholar, for so he called Pompey in derision,\r\nthat it was the part of a general to look as well behind him as before him, and\r\nat the same time showed them six thousand soldiers, whom he had left in his\r\nformer camp, from whence he marched out to take the hill, where if Pompey\r\nshould assault him, they might fall upon his rear. Pompey discovered this too\r\nlate, and not daring to give battle, for fear of being encompassed, and yet\r\nbeing ashamed to desert his friends and confederates in their extreme danger,\r\nwas thus forced to sit still, and see them ruined before his face. For the\r\nbesieged despaired of relief, and delivered up themselves to Sertorius, who\r\nspared their lives and granted them their liberty, but burnt their city, not\r\nout of anger or cruelty, for of all commanders that ever were, Sertorius seems\r\nleast of all to have indulged these passions, but only for the greater shame\r\nand confusion of the admirers of Pompey, and that it might be reported amongst\r\nthe Spaniards, that though he had been so close to the fire which burnt down\r\nthe city of his confederates as actually to feel the heat of it, he still had\r\nnot dared to make any opposition.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSertorius, however, sustained many losses; but he always maintained himself and\r\nthose immediately with him undefeated, and it was by other commanders under him\r\nthat he suffered; and he was more admired for being able to repair his losses,\r\nand for recovering the victory, than the Roman generals against him for gaining\r\nthese advantages; as at the battle of the Sucro against Pompey, and at the\r\nbattle near Tuttia, against him and Metellus together. The battle near the\r\nSucro was fought, it is said, through the impatience of Pompey, lest Metellus\r\nshould share with him in the victory, Sertorius being also willing to engage\r\nPompey before the arrival of Metellus. Sertorius delayed the time till the\r\nevening, considering that the darkness of the night would be a disadvantage to\r\nhis enemies, whether flying or pursuing, being strangers, and having no\r\nknowledge of the country. When the fight began, it happened that Sertorius was\r\nnot placed directly against Pompey, but against Afranius, who had command of\r\nthe left wing of the Roman army, as he commanded the right wing of his own; but\r\nwhen he understood that his left wing began to give way, and yield to the\r\nassault of Pompey, he committed the care of his right wing to other commanders,\r\nand made haste to relieve those in distress; and rallying some that were\r\nflying, and encouraging others that still kept their ranks, he renewed the\r\nfight, and attacked the enemy in their pursuit so effectively as to cause a\r\nconsiderable rout, and brought Pompey into great danger of his life. For after\r\nbeing wounded and losing his horse, he escaped unexpectedly. For the Africans\r\nwith Sertorius, who took Pompey’s horse, set out with gold, and covered with\r\nrich trappings, fell out with one another; and upon the dividing of the spoil,\r\ngave over the pursuit. Afranius, in the meantime, as soon as Sertorius had left\r\nhis right wing, to assist the other part of his army, overthrew all that\r\nopposed him; and pursuing them to their camp, fell in together with them, and\r\nplundered them till it was dark night; knowing nothing of Pompey’s overthrow,\r\nnor being able to restrain his soldiers from pillaging; when Sertorius,\r\nreturning with victory, fell upon him and upon his men, who were all in\r\ndisorder, and slew many of them. And the next morning he came into the field\r\nagain, well armed, and offered battle, but perceiving that Metellus was near,\r\nhe drew off, and returned to his camp, saying, “If this old woman had not come\r\nup, I would have whipped that boy soundly and sent him to Rome.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was much concerned that his white hind could nowhere be found; as he was\r\nthus destitute of an admirable contrivance to encourage the barbarous people,\r\nat a time when he most stood in need of it. Some men, however, wandering in the\r\nnight, chanced to meet her, and knowing her by her color, took her; to whom\r\nSertorius promised a good reward, if they would tell no one of it; and\r\nimmediately shut her up. A few days after, he appeared in public with a very\r\ncheerful look, and declared to the chief men of the country, that the gods had\r\nforetold him in a dream that some great good fortune should shortly attend him;\r\nand, taking his seat, proceeded to answer the petitions of those who applied\r\nthemselves to him. The keepers of the hind, who were not far off, now let her\r\nloose, and she no sooner espied Sertorius, but she came leaping with great joy\r\nto his feet, laid her head upon his knees, and licked his hands, as she\r\nformerly used to do. And Sertorius stroking her, and making much of her again,\r\nwith that tenderness that the tears stood in his eyes, all that were present\r\nwere immediately filled with wonder and astonishment, and accompanying him to\r\nhis house with loud shouts for joy, looked upon him as a person above the rank\r\nof mortal men, and highly beloved by the gods; and were in great courage and\r\nhope for the future.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he had reduced his enemies to the last extremity for want of provision, he\r\nwas forced to give them battle, in the plains near Saguntum, to hinder them\r\nfrom foraying, and plundering the country. Both parties fought gloriously.\r\nMemmius, the best commander in Pompey’s army, was slain in the heat of the\r\nbattle. Sertorius over threw all before him, and with great slaughter of his\r\nenemies pressed forward towards Metellus. This old commander, making a\r\nresistance beyond what could be expected from one of his years, was wounded\r\nwith a lance; an occurrence which filled all who either saw it or heard of it,\r\nwith shame, to be thought to have left their general in distress, but at the\r\nsame time it provoked them to revenge and fury against their enemies; they\r\ncovered Metellus with their shields, and brought him off in safety, and then\r\nvaliantly repulsed the Spaniards; and so victory changed sides, and Sertorius,\r\nthat he might afford a more secure retreat to his army, and that fresh forces\r\nmight more easily be raised, retired into a strong city in the mountains. And\r\nthough it was the least of his intention to sustain a long siege, yet he began\r\nto repair the walls, and to fortify the gates, thus deluding his enemies, who\r\ncame and sat down before the town, hoping to take it without much resistance;\r\nand meantime gave over the pursuit of the Spaniards, and allowed opportunity\r\nfor raising new forces for Sertorius, to which purpose he had sent commanders\r\nto all their cities, with orders, when they had sufficiently increased their\r\nnumbers, to send him word of it. This news he no sooner received, but he\r\nsallied out and forced his way through his enemies, and easily joined them with\r\nthe rest of his army. And having received this considerable reinforcement, he\r\nset upon the Romans again, and by rapidly assaulting them, by alarming them on\r\nall sides, by ensnaring, circumventing, and laying ambushes for them, he cut\r\noff all provisions by land, while with his piratical vessels, he kept all the\r\ncoast in awe, and hindered their supplies by sea. He thus forced the Roman\r\ngenerals to dislodge, and to separate from one another: Metellus departed into\r\nGaul, and Pompey wintered among the Vaccaeans, in a wretched condition, where,\r\nbeing in extreme want of money, he wrote a letter to the senate, to let them\r\nknow that if they did not speedily supply him, he must draw off his army; for\r\nhe had already spent his own money in the defense of Italy. To these\r\nextremities, the chiefest and the most powerful commanders of the age were\r\nreduced by the skill of Sertorius; and it was the common opinion in Rome, that\r\nhe would be in Italy before Pompey.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHow far Metellus was terrified, and at what rate he esteemed him, he plainly\r\ndeclared, when he offered by proclamation a hundred talents, and twenty\r\nthousand acres of land, to any Roman that should kill him, and leave, if he\r\nwere banished, to return; attempting villainously to buy his life by treachery,\r\nwhen he despaired of ever being able to overcome him in open war. And when once\r\nhe gained the advantage in a battle against Sertorius, he was so pleased and\r\ntransported with his good fortune, that he caused himself to be publicly\r\nproclaimed imperator; and all the cities which he visited received him with\r\naltars and sacrifices; he allowed himself, it is said, to have garlands placed\r\non his head, and accepted sumptuous entertainments, at which he sat drinking in\r\ntriumphal robes, while images and figures of victory were introduced by the\r\nmotion of machines, bringing in with them crowns and trophies of gold to\r\npresent to him, and companies of young men and women danced before him, and\r\nsang to him songs of joy and triumph. By all which he rendered himself\r\ndeservedly ridiculous, for being so excessively delighted and puffed up with\r\nthe thoughts of having followed one who was retiring of his own accord, and for\r\nhaving once had the better of him whom he used to call Sylla’s runaway slave,\r\nand his forces, the remnant of the defeated troops of Carbo.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSertorius, meantime, showed the loftiness of his temper in calling together all\r\nthe Roman senators who had fled from Rome, and had come and resided with him,\r\nand giving them the name of a senate; and out of these he chose praetors and\r\nquaestors, and adorned his government with all the Roman laws and institutions.\r\nAnd though he made use of the arms, riches, and cities of the Spaniards, yet he\r\nwould never, even in word, remit to them the imperial authority, but set Roman\r\nofficers and commanders over them, intimating his purpose to restore liberty to\r\nthe Romans, not to raise up the Spaniard’s power against them. For he was a\r\nsincere lover of his country, and had a great desire to return home; but in his\r\nadverse fortune he showed undaunted courage, and behaved himself towards his\r\nenemies in a manner free from all dejection and mean-spiritedness; and when he\r\nwas in his prosperity, and in the height of his victories, he sent word to\r\nMetellus and Pompey, that he was ready to lay down his arms, and live a private\r\nlife, if he were allowed to return home, declaring that he had rather live as\r\nthe meanest citizen in Rome, than, exiled from it, be supreme commander of all\r\nother cities together. And it is thought that his great desire for his country\r\nwas in no small measure promoted by the tenderness he had for his mother, under\r\nwhom he was brought up after the death of his father, and upon whom he had\r\nplaced his entire affection. And after that his friends had sent for him into\r\nSpain to be their general, as soon as he heard of his mother’s death, he had\r\nalmost cast away himself and died for grief; for he lay seven days together\r\ncontinually in his tent, without giving the word, or being seen by the nearest\r\nof his friends; and when the chief commanders of the army, and persons of the\r\ngreatest note came about his tent, with great difficulty they prevailed with\r\nhim at last to come abroad, and speak to his soldiers, and to take upon him the\r\nmanagement of affairs, which were in a prosperous condition. And thus, to many\r\nmen’s judgment, he seemed to have been in himself of a mild and compassionate\r\ntemper, and naturally given to ease and quietness, and to have accepted of the\r\ncommand of military forces contrary to his own inclination, and not being able\r\nto live in safety otherwise, to have been driven by his enemies to have\r\nrecourse to arms, and to espouse the wars as a necessary guard for the defense\r\nof his person.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis negotiations with king Mithridates further argue the greatness of his mind.\r\nFor when Mithridates, recovering himself from his overthrow by Sylla, like a\r\nstrong wrestler that gets up to try another fall, was again endeavoring to\r\nreestablish his power in Asia, at this time the great fame of Sertorius was\r\ncelebrated in all places and when the merchants who came out of the western\r\nparts of Europe, bringing these, as it were, among their other foreign wares,\r\nhad filled the kingdom of Pontus with their stories of his exploits in war,\r\nMithridates was extremely desirous to send an embassy to him, being also highly\r\nencouraged to it by the boastings of his flattering courtiers, who, comparing\r\nMithridates to Pyrrhus, and Sertorius to Hannibal, professed that the Romans\r\nwould never be able to make any considerable resistance against such great\r\nforces, and such admirable commanders, when they should be set upon on both\r\nsides at once, on one by the most warlike general, and on the other by the most\r\npowerful prince in existence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAccordingly, Mithridates sends ambassadors into Spain to Sertorius with letters\r\nand instructions, and commission to promise ships and money towards the charge\r\nof the war, if Sertorius would confirm his pretensions upon Asia, and authorize\r\nhim to possess all that he had surrendered to the Romans in his treaty with\r\nSylla. Sertorius summoned a full council which he called a senate, where, when\r\nothers joyfully approved of the conditions, and were desirous immediately to\r\naccept of his offer, seeing that he desired nothing of them but a name, and an\r\nempty title to places not in their power to dispose of, in recompense of which\r\nthey should be supplied with what they then stood most in need of, Sertorius\r\nwould by no means agree to it; declaring that he was willing that king\r\nMithridates should exercise all royal power and authority over Bithynia and\r\nCappadocia, countries accustomed to a monarchical government, and not belonging\r\nto Rome, but he could never consent that he should seize or detain a province,\r\nwhich, by the justest right and title, was possessed by the Romans, which\r\nMithridates had formerly taken away from them, and had afterwards lost in open\r\nwar to Fimbria, and quitted upon a treaty of peace with Sylla. For he looked\r\nupon it as his duty to enlarge the Roman possessions by his conquering arms,\r\nand not to increase his own power by the diminution of the Roman territories.\r\nSince a noble-minded man, though he willingly accepts of victory when it comes\r\nwith honor, will never so much as endeavor to save his own life upon any\r\ndishonorable terms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen this was related to Mithridates, he was struck with amazement, and said to\r\nhis intimate friends, “What will Sertorius enjoin us to do when he comes to be\r\nseated in the Palatium in Rome, who at present, when he is driven out to the\r\nborders of the Atlantic sea, sets bounds to our kingdoms in the east, and\r\nthreatens us with war, if we attempt the recovery of Asia?” However, they\r\nsolemnly, upon oath, concluded a league between them, upon these terms: that\r\nMithridates should enjoy the free possession of Cappadocia and Bithynia, and\r\nthat Sertorius should send him soldiers, and a general for his army, in\r\nrecompense of which the king was to supply him with three thousand talents and\r\nforty ships. Marcus Marius, a Roman senator who had quitted Rome to follow\r\nSertorius, was sent general into Asia, in company with whom when Mithridates\r\nhad reduced divers of the Asian cities, Marius made his entrance with rods and\r\naxes carried before him, and Mithridates followed in the second place,\r\nvoluntarily waiting upon him. Some of these cities he set at liberty, and\r\nothers he freed from taxes, signifying to them that these privileges were\r\ngranted to them by the favor of Sertorius, and hereby Asia, which had been\r\nmiserably tormented by the revenue-farmers, and oppressed by the insolent pride\r\nand covetousness of the soldiers, began to rise again to new hopes, and to look\r\nforward with joy to the expected change of government.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut in Spain, the senators about Sertorius, and others of the nobility, finding\r\nthemselves strong enough for their enemies, no sooner laid aside fear, but\r\ntheir minds were possessed by envy and irrational jealousies of Sertorius’s\r\npower. And chiefly Perpenna, elevated by the thoughts of his noble birth, and\r\ncarried away with a fond ambition of commanding the army, threw out villainous\r\ndiscourses in private amongst his acquaintance. “What evil genius,” he would\r\nsay, “hurries us perpetually from worse to worse? We who disdained to obey the\r\ndictates of Sylla, the ruler of sea and land, and thus to live at home in peace\r\nand quiet, are come hither to our destruction, hoping to enjoy our liberty, and\r\nhave made ourselves slaves of our own accord, and are become the contemptible\r\nguards and attendants of the banished Sertorius, who, that he may expose us the\r\nfurther, gives us name that renders us ridiculous to all that hear it, and\r\ncalls us the Senate, when at the same time he makes us undergo as much hard\r\nlabor, and forces us to be as subject to his haughty commands and insolences,\r\nas any Spaniards and Lusitanians.” With these mutinous discourses, he seduced\r\nthem; and though the greater number could not be led into open rebellion\r\nagainst Sertorius, fearing his power, they were prevailed with to endeavor to\r\ndestroy his interest secretly. For by abusing the Lusitanians and Spaniards, by\r\ninflicting severe punishments upon them, by raising exorbitant taxes, and by\r\npretending that all this was done by the strict command of Sertorius, they\r\ncaused great troubles, and made many cities to revolt; and those who were sent\r\nto mitigate and heal these differences, did rather exasperate them, and\r\nincrease the number of his enemies, and left them at their return more\r\nobstinate and rebellious than they found them. And Sertorius, incensed with all\r\nthis, now so far forgot his former clemency and goodness, as to lay hands on\r\nthe sons of the Spaniards, educated in the city of Oscar and, contrary to all\r\njustice, he cruelly put some of them to death, and sold others.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime, Perpenna, having increased the number of his conspirators,\r\ndrew in Manlius, a commander in the army, who, at that time being attached to a\r\nyouth, to gain his affections the more, discovered the confederacy to him,\r\nbidding him neglect others, and be constant to him alone; who, in a few days,\r\nwas to be a person of great power and authority. But the youth having a greater\r\ninclination for Aufidius, disclosed all to him, which much surprised and amazed\r\nhim. For he was also one of the confederacy, but knew not that Manlius was\r\nanyways engaged in it; but when the youth began to name Perpenna, Gracinus, and\r\nothers, whom he knew very well to be sworn conspirators, he was very much\r\nterrified and astonished; but made light of it to the youth, and bade him not\r\nregard what Manlius said, a vain boasting fellow. However, he went presently to\r\nPerpenna, and giving him notice of the danger they were in, and of the\r\nshortness of their time, desired him immediately to put their designs in\r\nexecution. And when all the confederates had consented to it, they provided a\r\nmessenger who brought feigned letters to Sertorius, in which he had notice of a\r\nvictory obtained, it said, by one of his lieutenants, and of the great\r\nslaughter of his enemies; and as Sertorius, being extremely well pleased, was\r\nsacrificing and giving thanks to the gods for his prosperous success, Perpenna\r\ninvited him, and those with him, who were also of the conspiracy, to an\r\nentertainment, and being very importunate, prevailed with him to come. At all\r\nsuppers and entertainments where Sertorius was present, great order and decency\r\nwas wont to be observed, for he would not endure to hear or see any thing that\r\nwas rude or unhandsome, but made it the habit of all who kept his company, to\r\nentertain themselves with quiet and inoffensive amusements. But in the middle\r\nof this entertainment, those who sought occasion to quarrel, fell into\r\ndissolute discourse openly, and making as if they were very drunk, committed\r\nmany insolences on purpose to provoke him. Sertorius, being offended with their\r\nill behavior, or perceiving the state of their minds by their way of speaking\r\nand their unusually disrespectful manner, changed the posture of his lying, and\r\nleaned backward, as one that neither heard nor regarded them. Perpenna now took\r\na cup full of wine, and, as he was drinking, let it fall out of his hand and\r\nmake a noise, which was the sign agreed upon amongst them; and Antonius, who\r\nwas next to Sertorius, immediately wounded him with his sword. And whilst\r\nSertorius, upon receiving the wound, turned himself, and strove to get up,\r\nAntonius threw himself upon his breast, and held both his hands, so that he\r\ndied by a number of blows, without being able even to defend himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon the first news of his death, most of the Spaniards left the conspirators,\r\nand sent ambassadors to Pompey and Metellus, and yielded themselves up to them.\r\nPerpenna attempted to do something with those that remained, but he made only\r\nso much use of Sertorius’s arms and preparations for war, as to disgrace\r\nhimself in them, and to let it be evident to all, that he understood no more\r\nhow to command, than he knew how to obey; and when he came against Pompey, he\r\nwas soon overthrown, and taken prisoner. Neither did he bear this last\r\naffliction with any bravery, but having Sertorius’s papers and writings in his\r\nhands, he offered to show Pompey letters from persons of consular dignity, and\r\nof the highest quality in Rome, written with their own hands, expressly to call\r\nSertorius into Italy, and to let him know what great numbers there were that\r\nearnestly desired to alter the present state of affairs, and to introduce\r\nanother manner of government. Upon this occasion, Pompey behaved not like a\r\nyouth, or one of a light inconsiderate mind, but as a man of a confirmed,\r\nmature, and solid judgment; and so freed Rome from great fears and dangers of\r\nchange. For he put all Sertorius’s writings and letters together and read not\r\none of them, nor suffered anyone else to read them, but burnt them all, and\r\ncaused Perpenna immediately to be put to death, lest by discovering their\r\nnames, further troubles and revolutions might ensue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf the rest of the conspirators with Perpenna, some were taken and slain by the\r\ncommand of Pompey, others fled into Africa, and were set upon by the Moors, and\r\nrun through with their darts; and in a short time, not one of them was left\r\nalive, except only Aufidius, the rival of Manlius, who, hiding himself, or not\r\nbeing much inquired after, died an old man, in an obscure village in Spain, in\r\nextreme poverty, and hated by all.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap42\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eEUMENES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDuris reports that Eumenes, the Cardian, was the son of a poor wagoner in the\r\nThracian Chersonesus, yet liberally educated, both as a scholar and a soldier;\r\nand that while he was but young, Philip, passing through Cardia, diverted\r\nhimself with a sight of the wrestling-matches and other exercises of the youth\r\nof that place, among whom Eumenes performing with success, and showing signs of\r\nintelligence and bravery, Philip was so pleased with him, as to take him into\r\nhis service. But they seem to speak more probably, who tell us that Philip\r\nadvanced Eumenes for the friendship he bore to his father, whose guest he had\r\nsometime been. After the death of Philip, he continued in the service of\r\nAlexander, with the title of his principal secretary, but in as great favor as\r\nthe most intimate of his familiars, being esteemed as wise and faithful as any\r\nperson about him, so that he went with troops under his immediate command as\r\ngeneral in the expedition against India, and succeeded to the post of\r\nPerdiccas, when Perdiccas was advanced to that of Hephaestion, then newly\r\ndeceased. And therefore, after the death of Alexander, when Neoptolemus, who\r\nhad been captain of his lifeguard, said that he had followed Alexander with\r\nshield and spear, but Eumenes only with pen and paper, the Macedonians laughed\r\nat him, as knowing very well that, besides other marks of favor, the king had\r\ndone him the honor to make him a kind of kinsman to himself by marriage. For\r\nAlexander’s first mistress in Asia, by whom he had his son Hercules, was\r\nBarsine the daughter of Artabazus; and in the distribution of the Persian\r\nladies amongst his captains, Alexander gave Apame, one of her sisters, to\r\nPtolemy, and another, also called Barsine, to Eumenes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNotwithstanding, he frequently incurred Alexander’s displeasure, and put\r\nhimself into some danger, through Hephaestion. The quarters that had been taken\r\nup for Eumenes, Hephaestion assigned to Euius, the flute-player. Upon which, in\r\ngreat anger, Eumenes and Mentor came to Alexander, and loudly complained,\r\nsaying that the way to be regarded was to throw away their arms, and turn\r\nflute-players or tragedians; so much so that Alexander took their part and chid\r\nHephaestion; but soon after changed his mind again, and was angry with Eumenes,\r\nand accounted the freedom he had taken to be rather an affront to the king,\r\nthan a reflection upon Hephaestion. Afterwards, when Nearchus, with a fleet,\r\nwas to be sent to the Southern Sea, Alexander borrowed money of his friends,\r\nhis own treasury being exhausted, and would have had three hundred talents of\r\nEumenes, but he sent a hundred only, pretending; that it was not without great\r\ndifficulty he had raised so much from his stewards. Alexander neither\r\ncomplained nor took the money, but gave private order to set Eumenes’s tent on\r\nfire, designing to take him in a manifest lie, when his money was carried out.\r\nBut before that could be done, the tent was consumed, and Alexander repented of\r\nhis orders, all his papers being burnt; the gold and silver, however, which was\r\nmelted down in the fire, being afterwards collected, was found to be more than\r\none thousand talents; yet Alexander took none of it, and only wrote to the\r\nseveral governors and generals to send new copies of the papers that were\r\nburnt, and ordered them to be delivered to Eumenes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnother difference happened between him and Hephaestion concerning a gift, and\r\na great deal of ill language passed between them, yet Eumenes still continued\r\nin favor. But Hephaestion dying soon after, the king, in his grief, presuming\r\nall those that differed with Hephaestion in his lifetime were now rejoicing at\r\nhis death, showed much harshness and severity in his behavior with them,\r\nespecially towards Eumenes, whom he often upbraided with his quarrels and ill\r\nlanguage to Hephaestion. But he, being a wise and dexterous courtier, made\r\nadvantage of what had done him prejudice, and struck in with the king’s passion\r\nfor glorifying his friend’s memory, suggesting various plans to do him honor,\r\nand contributing largely and readily towards erecting his monument.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter Alexander’s death, when the quarrel broke out between the troops of the\r\nphalanx and the officers, his companions, Eumenes, though in his judgment he\r\ninclined to the latter, yet in his professions stood neuter, as if he thought\r\nit unbecoming him, who was a stranger, to interpose in the private quarrels of\r\nthe Macedonians. And when the rest of Alexander’s friends left Babylon, he\r\nstayed behind, and did much to pacify the foot-soldiers, and to dispose them\r\ntowards an accommodation. And when the officers had agreed among themselves,\r\nand, recovering from the first disorder, proceeded to share out the several\r\ncommands and provinces, they made Eumenes governor of Cappadocia and\r\nPaphlagonia, and all the coast upon the Pontic Sea as far as Trebizond, which\r\nat that time was not subject to the Macedonians, for Ariarathes kept it as\r\nking, but Leonnatus and Antigonus, with a large army, were to put him in\r\npossession of it. Antigonus, already filled with hopes of his own, and\r\ndespising all men, took no notice of Perdiccas’s letters; but Leonnatus with\r\nhis army came down into Phrygia to the service of Eumenes. But being visited by\r\nHecataeus, the tyrant of the Cardians, and requested rather to relieve\r\nAntipater and the Macedonians that were besieged in Lamia, he resolved upon\r\nthat expedition, inviting Eumenes to a share in it, and endeavoring to\r\nreconcile him to Hecataeus. For there was an hereditary feud between them,\r\narising out of political differences, and Eumenes had more than once been known\r\nto denounce Hecataeus as a tyrant, and to exhort Alexander to restore the\r\nCardians their liberty. Therefore at this time, also, he declined the\r\nexpedition proposed, pretending that he feared lest Antipater, who already\r\nhated him, should for that reason and to gratify Hecataeus, kill him. Leonnatus\r\nso far believed, as to impart to Eumenes his whole design, which, as he had\r\npretended and given out, was to aid Antipater, but in truth was to seize the\r\nkingdom of Macedon; and he showed him letters from Cleopatra, in which, it\r\nappeared, she invited him to Pella, with promises to marry him. But Eumenes,\r\nwhether fearing Antipater, or looking upon Leonnatus as a rash, headstrong, and\r\nunsafe man, stole away from him by night, taking with him all his men, namely,\r\nthree hundred horse, and two hundred of his own servants armed, and all his\r\ngold, to the value of five thousand talents of silver, and fled to Perdiccas,\r\ndiscovered to him Leonnatus’s design, and thus gained great interest with him,\r\nand was made of the council. Soon after, Perdiccas, with a great army, which he\r\nled himself, conducted Eumenes into Cappadocia, and, having taken Ariarathes\r\nprisoner, and subdued the whole country, declared him governor of it. He\r\naccordingly proceeded to dispose of the chief cities among his own friends, and\r\nmade captains of garrisons, judges, receivers, and other officers, of such as\r\nhe thought fit himself, Perdiccas not at all interposing. Eumenes, however,\r\nstill continued to attend upon Perdiccas, both out of respect to him, and a\r\ndesire not to be absent from the royal family.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Perdiccas, believing he was able enough to attain his own further objects\r\nwithout assistance, and that the country he left behind him might stand in need\r\nof an active and faithful governor, when he came into Cilicia, dismissed\r\nEumenes, under color of sending him to his command, but in truth to secure\r\nArmenia, which was on its frontier, and was unsettled through the practices of\r\nNeoptolemus. Him, a proud and vain man, Eumenes exerted himself to gain by\r\npersonal attentions; but to balance the Macedonian foot, whom he found insolent\r\nand self-willed, he contrived to raise an army of horse, excusing from tax and\r\ncontribution all those of the country that were able to serve on horseback, and\r\nbuying up a number of horses, which he distributed among such of his own men as\r\nhe most confided in, stimulating the courage of his new soldiers by gifts and\r\nhonors, and inuring their bodies to service, by frequent marching and\r\nexercising; so that the Macedonians were some of them astonished, others\r\noverjoyed, to see that in so short a time he had got together a body of no less\r\nthan six thousand three hundred horsemen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when Craterus and Antipater, having subdued the Greeks, advanced into Asia,\r\nwith intentions to quell the power of Perdiccas, and were reported to design an\r\ninvasion of Cappadocia, Perdiccas, resolving himself to march against Ptolemy,\r\nmade Eumenes commander-in-chief of all the forces of Armenia and Cappadocia,\r\nand to that purpose wrote letters, requiring Alcetas and Neoptolemus to be\r\nobedient to Eumenes, and giving full commission to Eumenes to dispose and order\r\nall things as he thought fit. Alcetas flatly refused to serve, because his\r\nMacedonians, he said, were ashamed to fight against Antipater, and loved\r\nCraterus so well, they were ready to receive him for their commander.\r\nNeoptolemus designed treachery against Eumenes, but was discovered; and being\r\nsummoned, refused to obey, and put himself in a posture of defense. Here\r\nEumenes first found the benefit of his own foresight and contrivance, for his\r\nfoot being beaten, he routed Neoptolemus with his horse, and took all his\r\nbaggage; and coming up with his whole force upon the phalanx while broken and\r\ndisordered in its flight, obliged the men to lay down their arms, and take an\r\noath to serve under him. Neoptolemus, with some few stragglers whom he rallied,\r\nfled to Craterus and Antipater. From them had come an embassy to Eumenes,\r\ninviting him over to their side, offering to secure him in his present\r\ngovernment and to give him additional command, both of men and of territory,\r\nwith the advantage of gaining his enemy Antipater to become his friend, and\r\nkeeping Craterus his friend from turning to be his enemy. To which Eumenes\r\nreplied, that he could not so suddenly be reconciled to his old enemy\r\nAntipater, especially at a time when he saw him use his friends like enemies,\r\nbut was ready to reconcile Craterus to Perdiccas, upon any just and equitable\r\nterms; but in case of any aggression, he would resist the injustice to his last\r\nbreath, and would rather lose his life than betray his word.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntipater, receiving this answer, took time to consider upon the whole matter;\r\nwhen Neoptolemus arrived from his defeat, and acquainted them with the ill\r\nsuccess of his arms, and urged them to give him assistance, to come, both of\r\nthem, if possible, but Craterus at any rate, for the Macedonians loved him so\r\nexcessively, that if they saw but his hat, or heard his voice, they would all\r\npass over in a body with their arms. And in truth, Craterus had a mighty name\r\namong them, and the soldiers after Alexander’s death were extremely fond of\r\nhim, remembering how he had often for their sakes incurred Alexander’s\r\ndispleasure, doing his best to withhold him when he began to follow the Persian\r\nfashions, and always maintaining the customs of his country, when, through\r\npride and luxuriousness, they began to be disregarded. Craterus, therefore,\r\nsent on Antipater into Cilicia, and himself and Neoptolemus marched with a\r\nlarge division of the army against Eumenes; expecting to come upon him\r\nunawares, and to find his army disordered with reveling after the late victory.\r\nNow that Eumenes should suspect his coming, and be prepared to receive him, is\r\nan argument of his vigilance, but not perhaps a proof of any extraordinary\r\nsagacity, but that he should contrive both to conceal from his enemies the\r\ndisadvantages of his position, and from his own men whom they were to fight\r\nwith, so that he led them on against Craterus himself, without their knowing\r\nthat he commanded the enemy, this, indeed, seems to show peculiar address and\r\nskill in the general. He gave out that Neoptolemus and Pigres were approaching\r\nwith some Cappadocian and Paphlagonian horse. And at night, having resolved on\r\nmarching, he fell asleep, and had an extraordinary dream. For he thought he saw\r\ntwo Alexanders ready to engage, each commanding his several phalanx, the one\r\nassisted by Minerva, the other by Ceres; and that after a hot dispute, he on\r\nwhose side Minerva was, was beaten, and Ceres, gathering ears of corn, wove\r\nthem into a crown for the victor. This vision Eumenes interpreted at once as\r\nboasting success to himself, who was to fight for a fruitful country, and at\r\nthat very time covered with the young ears, the whole being sowed with corn,\r\nand the fields so thick with it, that they made a beautiful show of a long\r\npeace. And he was further emboldened, when he understood that the enemy’s\r\npass-word was Minerva and Alexander. Accordingly he also gave out as his, Ceres\r\nand Alexander, and gave his men orders to make garlands for themselves, and to\r\ndress their arms with wreaths of corn. He found himself under many temptations\r\nto discover to his captains and officers whom they were to engage with, and not\r\nto conceal a secret of such moment in his own breast alone, yet he kept to his\r\nfirst resolutions, and ventured to run the hazard of his own judgment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he came to give battle, he would not trust any Macedonian to engage\r\nCraterus, but appointed two troops of foreign horse, commanded by Pharnabazus,\r\nson to Artabazus, and Phoenix of Tenedos, with order to charge as soon as ever\r\nthey saw the enemy, without giving them leisure to speak or retire, or\r\nreceiving any herald or trumpet from them. For he was exceedingly afraid about\r\nhis Macedonians, lest, if they found out Craterus to be there, they should go\r\nover to his side. He himself, with three hundred of his best horse, led the\r\nright wing against Neoptolemus. When having passed a little hill they came in\r\nview, and were seen advancing with more than ordinary briskness, Craterus was\r\namazed, and bitterly reproached Neoptolemus for deceiving him with hopes of the\r\nMacedonians’ revolt, but he encouraged his men to do bravely, and forthwith\r\ncharged. The first engagement was very fierce, and the spears being soon broken\r\nto pieces, they came to close fighting with their swords; and here Craterus did\r\nby no means dishonor Alexander, but slew many of his enemies, and repulsed many\r\nassaults, but at last received a wound in his side from a Thracian, and fell\r\noff his horse. Being down, many not knowing him went past him, but Gorgias, one\r\nof Eumenes’s captains, knew him, and alighting from his horse, kept guard over\r\nhim, as he lay badly wounded and slowly dying. In the meantime Neoptolemus and\r\nEumenes were engaged; who, being inveterate and mortal enemies, sought for one\r\nanother, but missed for the two first courses, but in the third discovering one\r\nanother, they drew their swords, and with loud shouts immediately charged. And\r\ntheir horses striking against one another like two galleys, they quitted their\r\nreins, and taking mutual hold pulled at one another’s helmets, and at the armor\r\nfrom their shoulders. While they were thus struggling, their horses went from\r\nunder them, and they fell together to the ground, there again still keeping\r\ntheir hold and wrestling. Neoptolemus was getting up first, but Eumenes wounded\r\nhim in the ham, and got upon his feet before him. Neoptolemus supporting\r\nhimself upon one knee, the other leg being disabled, and himself undermost,\r\nfought courageously, though his blows were not mortal, but receiving a stroke\r\nin the neck he fell and ceased to resist. Eumenes, transported with passion and\r\nhis inveterate hatred to him, fell to reviling and stripping him, and perceived\r\nnot that his sword was still in his hand. And with this he wounded Eumenes\r\nunder the bottom of his corslet in the groin, but in truth more frightened than\r\nhurt him; his blow being faint for want of strength. Having stripped the dead\r\nbody, ill as he was with the wounds he had received in his legs and arms, he\r\ntook horse again, and hurried towards the left wing of his army, which he\r\nsupposed to be still engaged. Hearing of the death of Craterus, he rode up to\r\nhim, and finding there was yet some life in him, alighted from his horse and\r\nwept, and laying his right hand upon him, inveighed bitterly against\r\nNeoptolemus, and lamented both Craterus’s misfortune and his own hard fate,\r\nthat he should be necessitated to engage against an old friend and\r\nacquaintance, and either do or suffer so much mischief.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis victory Eumenes obtained about ten days after the former, and got great\r\nreputation alike for his conduct and his valor in achieving it. But on the\r\nother hand, it created him great envy both among his own troops, and his\r\nenemies, that he, a stranger and a foreigner, should employ the forces and arms\r\nof Macedon, to cut off the bravest and most approved man among them. Had the\r\nnews of this defeat come timely enough to Perdiccas, he had doubtless been the\r\ngreatest of all the Macedonians; but now, he being slain in a mutiny in Egypt,\r\ntwo days before the news arrived, the Macedonians in a rage decreed Eumenes’s\r\ndeath, giving joint commission to Antigonus and Antipater to prosecute the war\r\nagainst him. Passing by Mount Ida, where there was a royal establishment of\r\nhorses, Eumenes took as many as he had occasion for, and sent an account of his\r\ndoing so to the overseers, at which Antipater is said to have laughed, calling\r\nit truly laudable in Eumenes thus to hold himself prepared for giving in to\r\nthem (or would it be taking from them?) strict account of all matters of\r\nadministration. Eumenes had designed to engage in the plains of Lydia, near\r\nSardis, both because his chief strength lay in horse, and to let Cleopatra see\r\nhow powerful he was. But at her particular request, for she was afraid to give\r\nany umbrage to Antipater, he marched into the upper Phrygia, and wintered in\r\nCelaenae; when Alcetas, Polemon, and Docimus disputing with him who should\r\ncommand in chief, “You know,” said he, “the old saying, That destruction\r\nregards no punctilios.” Having promised his soldiers pay within three days, he\r\nsold them all the farms and castles in the country, together with the men and\r\nbeasts with which they were filled; every captain or officer that bought,\r\nreceived from Eumenes the use of his engines to storm the place, and divided\r\nthe spoil among his company, proportionably to every man’s arrears. By this\r\nEumenes came again to be popular, so that when letters were found thrown about\r\nthe camp by the enemy, promising one hundred talents, besides great honors, to\r\nanyone that should kill Eumenes, the Macedonians were extremely offended, and\r\nmade an order that from that time forward one thousand of their best men should\r\ncontinually guard his person, and keep strict watch about him by night in their\r\nseveral turns. This order was cheerfully obeyed, and they gladly received of\r\nEumenes the same honors which the kings used to confer upon their favorites. He\r\nnow had leave to bestow purple hats and cloaks, which among the Macedonians is\r\none of the greatest honors the king can give.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nGood fortune will elevate even petty minds, and gives them the appearance of a\r\ncertain greatness and stateliness, as from their high place they look down upon\r\nthe world; but the truly noble and resolved spirit raises itself, and becomes\r\nmore conspicuous in times of disaster and ill fortune, as was now the case with\r\nEumenes. For having by the treason of one of his own men lost the field to\r\nAntigonus at Orcynii, in Cappadocia, in his flight he gave the traitor no\r\nopportunity to escape to the enemy, but immediately seized and hanged him. Then\r\nin his flight, taking a contrary course to his pursuers, he stole by them\r\nunawares, returned to the place where the battle had been fought, and encamped.\r\nThere he gathered up the dead bodies, and burnt them with the doors and windows\r\nof the neighboring villages, and raised heaps of earth upon their graves;\r\ninsomuch that Antigonus, who came thither soon after, expressed his\r\nastonishment at his courage and firm resolution. Falling afterwards upon the\r\nbaggage of Antigonus, he might easily have taken many captives, both bond and\r\nfreemen, and much wealth collected from the spoils of so many wars; but he\r\nfeared lest his men, overladen with so much booty, might become unfit for rapid\r\nretreat, and too fond of their ease to sustain the continual marches and endure\r\nthe long waiting on which he depended for success, expecting to tire Antigonus\r\ninto some other course. But then considering it would be extremely difficult to\r\nrestrain the Macedonians from plunder, when it seemed to offer itself, he gave\r\nthem order to refresh themselves, and bait their horses, and then attack the\r\nenemy. In the meantime he sent privately to Menander, who had care of all this\r\nbaggage, professing a concern for him upon the score of old friendship and\r\nacquaintance; and therefore advising him to quit the plain and secure himself\r\nupon the sides of the neighboring hills, where the horse might not be able to\r\nhem him in. When Menander, sensible of his danger, had speedily packed up his\r\ngoods and decamped, Eumenes openly sent his scouts to discover the enemy’s\r\nposture, and commanded his men to arm, and bridle their horses, as designing\r\nimmediately to give battle; but the scouts returning with news that Menander\r\nhad secured so difficult a post it was impossible to take him, Eumenes,\r\npretending to be grieved with the disappointment, drew off his men another way.\r\nIt is said that when Menander reported this afterwards to Antigonus, and the\r\nMacedonians commended Eumenes, imputing it to his singular good-nature, that\r\nhaving it in his power to make slaves of their children, and outrage their\r\nwives, he forbore and spared them all, Antigonus replied, “Alas, good friends,\r\nhe had no regard to us, but to himself, being loath to wear so many shackles\r\nwhen he designed to fly.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom this time Eumenes, daily flying and wandering about, persuaded many of his\r\nmen to disband, whether out of kindness to them, or unwillingness to lead about\r\nsuch a body of men as were too few to engage, and too many to fly undiscovered.\r\nTaking refuge at Nora, a place on the confines of Lycaonia and Cappadocia, with\r\nfive hundred horse, and two hundred heavy-armed foot, he again dismissed as\r\nmany of his friends as desired it, through fear of the probable hardships to be\r\nencountered there, and embracing them with all demonstrations of kindness, gave\r\nthem license to depart. Antigonus, when he came before this fort, desired to\r\nhave an interview with Eumenes before the siege; but he returned answer, that\r\nAntigonus had many friends who might command in his room; but they whom Eumenes\r\ndefended, had no body to substitute if he should miscarry; therefore, if\r\nAntigonus thought it worth while to treat with him, he should first send him\r\nhostages. And when Antigonus required that Eumenes should first address himself\r\nto him as his superior, he replied, “While I am able to wield a sword, I shall\r\nthink no man greater than myself.” At last, when according to Eumenes’s demand,\r\nAntigonus sent his own nephew Ptolemy to the fort, Eumenes went out to him, and\r\nthey mutually embraced with great tenderness and friendship, as having formerly\r\nbeen very intimate. After long conversation, Eumenes making no mention of his\r\nown pardon and security, but requiring that he should be confirmed in his\r\nseveral governments, and restitution be made him of the rewards of his service,\r\nall that were present were astonished at his courage and gallantry. And many of\r\nthe Macedonians flocked to see what sort of person Eumenes was, for since the\r\ndeath of Craterus, no man had been so much talked of in the army. But\r\nAntigonus, being afraid lest he might suffer some violence, first commanded the\r\nsoldiers to keep off, calling out and throwing stones at those who pressed\r\nforwards. At last, taking Eumenes in his arms, and keeping off the crowd with\r\nhis guards, not without great difficulty, he returned him safe into the fort.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen Antigonus, having built a wall round Nora, left a force sufficient to\r\ncarry on the siege, and drew off the rest of his army; and Eumenes was\r\nbeleaguered and kept garrison, having plenty of corn and water and salt but no\r\nother thing, either for food, or delicacy; yet with such as he had, he kept a\r\ncheerful table for his friends, inviting them severally in their turns, and\r\nseasoning his entertainment with a gentle and affable behavior. For he had a\r\npleasant countenance, and looked not like an old and practiced soldier, but was\r\nsmooth and florid, and his shape as delicate as if his limbs had been carved by\r\nart in the most accurate proportions. He was not a great orator, but winning\r\nand persuasive, as may be seen in his letters. The greatest distress of the\r\nbesieged was the narrowness of the place they were in, their quarters being\r\nvery confined, and the whole place but two furlongs in compass; so that both\r\nthey and their horses fed without exercise. Accordingly, not only to prevent\r\nthe listlessness of such inactive living, but to have them in condition to fly\r\nif occasion required, he assigned a room one and twenty feet long, the largest\r\nin all the fort, for the men to walk in, directing them to begin their walk\r\ngently, and so gradually mend their pace. And for the horses, he tied them to\r\nthe roof with great halters, fastening which about their necks, with a pulley\r\nhe gently raised them, till standing upon the ground with their hinder feet,\r\nthey just touched it with the very ends of their fore feet. In this posture the\r\ngrooms plied them with whips and shouts, provoking them to curvet and kick out\r\nwith their hind legs, struggling and stamping at the same time to find support\r\nfor their fore feet, and thus their whole body was exercised, till they were\r\nall in a foam and sweat; excellent exercise, whether for strength or speed; and\r\nthen he gave them their corn already coarsely ground, that they might sooner\r\ndispatch, and better digest it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe siege continuing long, Antigonus received advice that Antipater was dead in\r\nMacedon, and that affairs were embroiled by the differences of Cassander and\r\nPolysperchon, upon which he conceived no mean hopes, purposing to make himself\r\nmaster of all, and, in order to his design, thought to bring over Eumenes, that\r\nhe might have his advice and assistance. He, therefore, sent Hieronymus to\r\ntreat with him, proposing a certain oath, which Eumenes first corrected, and\r\nthen referred himself to the Macedonians themselves that besieged him, to be\r\njudged by them, which of the two forms were the most equitable. Antigonus in\r\nthe beginning of his had slightly mentioned the kings as by way of ceremony,\r\nwhile all the sequel referred to himself alone; but Eumenes changed the form of\r\nit to Olympias and the kings, and proceeded to swear not to be true to\r\nAntigonus only, but to them, and to have the same friends and enemies, not with\r\nAntigonus, but with Olympias and the kings. This form the Macedonians thinking\r\nthe more reasonable, swore Eumenes according to it, and raised the siege,\r\nsending also to Antigonus, that he should swear in the same form to Eumenes.\r\nMeantime, all the hostages of the Cappadocians whom Eumenes had in Nora he\r\nreturned, obtaining from their friends war horses, beasts of carriage, and\r\ntents in exchange. And collecting again all the soldiers who had dispersed at\r\nthe time of his flight, and were now wandering about the country, he got\r\ntogether a body of near a thousand horse, and with them fled from Antigonus,\r\nwhom he justly feared. For he had sent orders not only to have him blocked up\r\nand besieged again, but had given a very sharp answer to the Macedonians, for\r\nadmitting Eumenes’s amendment of the oath.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile Eumenes was flying, he received letters from those in Macedonia, who were\r\njealous of Antigonus’s greatness, from Olympias, inviting him thither, to take\r\nthe charge and protection of Alexander’s infant son, whose person was in\r\ndanger, and other letters from Polysperchon, and Philip the king, requiring him\r\nto make war upon Antigonus, as general of the forces in Cappadocia, and\r\nempowering him out of the treasure at Quinda to take five hundred talents,\r\ncompensation for his own losses, and to levy as much as he thought necessary to\r\ncarry on the war. They wrote also to the same effect to Antigenes and Teutamus,\r\nthe chief officers of the Argyraspids; who, on receiving these letters, treated\r\nEumenes with a show of respect and kindness; but it was apparent enough they\r\nwere full of envy and emulation, disdaining to give place to him. Their envy\r\nEumenes moderated, by refusing to accept the money, as if he had not needed it;\r\nand their ambition and emulation, who were neither able to govern, nor willing\r\nto obey, he conquered by help of superstition. For he told them that Alexander\r\nhad appeared to him in a dream, and showed him a regal pavilion richly\r\nfurnished, with a throne in it; and told him if they would sit in council\r\nthere, he himself would be present and prosper all the consultations and\r\nactions upon which they should enter in his name. Antigenes and Teutamus were\r\neasily prevailed upon to believe this, being as little willing to come and\r\nconsult Eumenes, as he himself was to be seen waiting at other men’s doors.\r\nAccordingly, they erected a tent royal, and a throne, called Alexander’s, and\r\nthere they met to consult upon all affairs of moment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfterwards they advanced into the interior of Asia, and in their march met with\r\nPeucestes, who was friendly to them, and with the other satraps, who joined\r\nforces with them, and greatly encouraged the Macedonians with the number and\r\nappearance of their men. But they themselves, having since Alexander’s decease\r\nbecome imperious and ungoverned in their tempers, and luxurious in their daily\r\nhabits, imagining themselves great princes, and pampered in their conceit by\r\nthe flattery of the barbarians, when all these conflicting pretensions now came\r\ntogether, were soon found to be exacting and quarrelsome one with another,\r\nwhile all alike unmeasurably flattered the Macedonians, giving them money for\r\nrevels and sacrifices, till in a short time they brought the camp to be a\r\ndissolute place of entertainment, and the army a mere multitude of voters,\r\ncanvassed as in a democracy for the election of this or that commander.\r\nEumenes, perceiving they despised one another, and all of them feared him, and\r\nsought an opportunity to kill him, pretended to be in want of money, and\r\nborrowed many talents, of those especially who most hated him, to make them at\r\nonce confide in him, and forbear all violence to him for fear of losing their\r\nown money. Thus his enemies’ estates were the guard of his person, and by\r\nreceiving money he purchased safety, for which it is more common to give it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Macedonians, also, while there was no show of danger, allowed themselves to\r\nbe corrupted, and made all their court to those who gave them presents, who had\r\ntheir body-guards, and affected to appear as generals-in-chief. But when\r\nAntigonus came upon them with a great army, and their affairs themselves seemed\r\nto call out for a true general, then not only the common soldiers cast their\r\neyes upon Eumenes, but these men, who had appeared so great in a peaceful time\r\nof ease, submitted all of them to him, and quietly posted themselves severally\r\nas he appointed them. And when Antigonus attempted to pass the river\r\nPasitigris, all the rest that were appointed to guard the passes were not so\r\nmuch as aware of his march; only Eumenes met and encountered him, slew many of\r\nhis men, and filled the river with the dead, and took four thousand prisoners.\r\nBut it was most particularly when Eumenes was sick, that the Macedonians let it\r\nbe seen how in their judgment, while others could feast them handsomely and\r\nmake entertainments, he alone knew how to fight and lead an army. For\r\nPeucestes, having made a splendid entertainment in Persia, and given each of\r\nthe soldiers a sheep to sacrifice with, made himself sure of being\r\ncommander-in-chief. Some few days after, the army was to march, and Eumenes,\r\nhaving been dangerously ill, was carried in a litter apart from the body of the\r\narmy, that any rest he got might not be disturbed. But when they were a little\r\nadvanced, unexpectedly they had a view of the enemy, who had passed the hills\r\nthat lay between them, and was marching down into the plain. At the sight of\r\nthe golden armor glittering in the sun as they marched down in their order, the\r\nelephants with their castles on their backs, and the men in their purple, as\r\ntheir manner was when they were going to give battle, the front stopped their\r\nmarch, and called out for Eumenes, for they would not advance a step but under\r\nhis conduct; and fixing their arms in the ground, gave the word among\r\nthemselves to stand, requiring their officers also not to stir or engage or\r\nhazard themselves without Eumenes. News of this being brought to Eumenes, he\r\nhastened those that carried his litter, and drawing back the curtains on both\r\nsides, joyfully put forth his right hand. As soon as the soldiers saw him, they\r\nsaluted him in their Macedonian dialect, and took up their shields, and\r\nstriking them with their pikes, gave a great shout; inviting the enemy to come\r\non, for now they had a leader.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntigonus understanding by some prisoners he had taken that Eumenes was out of\r\nhealth, to that degree that he was carried in a litter, presumed it would be no\r\nhard matter to crush the rest of them, since he was ill. He therefore made the\r\ngreater haste to come up with them and engage. But being come so near as to\r\ndiscover how the enemy was drawn up and appointed, he was astonished, and\r\npaused for some time; at last he saw the litter carrying from one wing of the\r\narmy to the other, and, as his manner was, laughing aloud, he said to his\r\nfriends, “That litter there, it seems, is the thing that offers us battle;” and\r\nimmediately wheeled about, retired with all his army, and pitched his camp. The\r\nmen on the other side, finding a little respite, returned to their former\r\nhabits, and allowing themselves to be flattered, and making the most of the\r\nindulgence of their generals, took up for their winter quarters near the whole\r\ncountry of the Gabeni, so that the front was quartered nearly a thousand\r\nfurlongs from the rear; which Antigonus understanding, marched suddenly towards\r\nthem, taking the most difficult road through a country that wanted water; but\r\nthe way was short though uneven; hoping, if he should surprise them thus\r\nscattered in their winter quarters, the soldiers would not easily be able to\r\ncome up time enough, and join with their officers. But having to pass through a\r\ncountry uninhabited, where he met with violent winds and severe frosts, he was\r\nmuch checked in his march, and his men suffered exceedingly. The only possible\r\nrelief was making numerous fires, by which his enemies got notice of his\r\ncoming. For the barbarians who dwelt on the mountains overlooking the desert,\r\namazed at the multitude of fires they saw, sent messengers upon dromedaries to\r\nacquaint Peucestes. He being astonished and almost out of his senses with the\r\nnews, and finding the rest in no less disorder, resolved to fly, and collect\r\nwhat men he could by the way. But Eumenes relieved him from his fear and\r\ntrouble, undertaking so to stop the enemy’s advance, that he should arrive\r\nthree days later than he was expected. Having persuaded them, he immediately\r\ndispatched expresses to all the officers to draw the men out of their winter\r\nquarters, and muster them with all speed. He himself with some of the chief\r\nofficers rode out, and chose an elevated tract within view, at a distance, of\r\nsuch as traveled the desert; this he occupied and quartered out, and commanded\r\nmany fires to be made in it, as the custom is in a camp. This done, and the\r\nenemies seeing the fire upon the mountains, Antigonus was filled with vexation\r\nand despondency, supposing that his enemies had been long since advertised of\r\nhis march, and were prepared to receive him. Therefore, lest his army, now\r\ntired and wearied out with their march, should be forced immediately to\r\nencounter with fresh men, who had wintered well, and were ready for him,\r\nquitting the near way, he marched slowly through the towns and villages to\r\nrefresh his men. But meeting with no such skirmishes as are usual when two\r\narmies lie near one another, and being assured by the people of the country\r\nthat no army had been seen, but only continual fires in that place, he\r\nconcluded he had been outwitted by a stratagem of Eumenes, and much troubled,\r\nadvanced to give open battle.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBy this time, the greatest part of the forces were come together to Eumenes,\r\nand admiring his sagacity, declared him alone commander-in-chief of the whole\r\narmy; upon which Antigenes and Teutamus, the commanders of the Argyraspids,\r\nbeing very much offended, and envying Eumenes, formed a conspiracy against him;\r\nand assembling the greater part of the satraps and officers, consulted when and\r\nhow to cut him off. When they had unanimously agreed, first to use his service\r\nin the next battle, and then to take an occasion to destroy him, Eudamus, the\r\nmaster of the elephants, and Phaedimus, gave Eumenes private advice of this\r\ndesign, not out of kindness or good-will to him, but lest they should lose the\r\nmoney they had lent him. Eumenes, having commended them, retired to his tent,\r\nand telling his friends he lived among a herd of wild beasts, made his will,\r\nand tore up all his letters, lest his correspondents after his death should be\r\nquestioned or punished on account of anything in his secret papers. Having thus\r\ndisposed of his affairs, he thought of letting the enemy win the field, or of\r\nflying through Media and Armenia and seizing Cappadocia, but came to no\r\nresolution while his friends stayed with him. After turning to many expedients\r\nin his mind, which his changeable fortune had made versatile, he at last put\r\nhis men in array, and encouraged the Greeks and barbarians; as for the phalanx\r\nand the Argyraspids, they encouraged him, and bade him be of good heart; for\r\nthe enemy would never be able to stand them. For indeed they were the oldest of\r\nPhilip’s and Alexander’s soldiers, tried men, that had long made war their\r\nexercise, that had never been beaten or foiled; most of them seventy, none less\r\nthan sixty years old. And so when they charged Antigonus’s men, they cried out,\r\n“You fight against your fathers, you rascals,” and furiously falling on, routed\r\nthe whole phalanx at once, nobody being able to stand them, and the greatest\r\npart dying by their hands. So that Antigonus’s foot were routed, but his horse\r\ngot the better, and he became master of the baggage, through the cowardice of\r\nPeucestes, who behaved himself negligently and basely; while Antigonus used his\r\njudgment calmly in the danger, being aided moreover by the ground. For the\r\nplace where they fought was a large plain, neither deep, nor hard under foot,\r\nbut, like the sea-shore, covered with a fine soft sand, which the treading of\r\nso many men and horses, in the time of the battle, reduced to a small white\r\ndust, that like a cloud of lime darkened the air, so that one could not see\r\nclearly at any distance, and so made it easy for Antigonus to take the baggage\r\nunperceived.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the battle, Teutamus sent a message to Antigonus to demand the baggage.\r\nHe made answer, he would not only restore it to the Argyraspids, but serve them\r\nfurther in other things if they would but deliver up Eumenes. Upon which the\r\nArgyraspids took a villainous resolution to deliver him up alive into the hands\r\nof his enemies. So they came to wait upon him, being unsuspected by him, but\r\nwatching their opportunity, some lamenting the loss of the baggage, some\r\nencouraging him as if he had been victor, some accusing the other commanders,\r\ntill at last they all fell upon him, and seizing his sword, bound his hands\r\nbehind him with his own girdle. When Antigonus had sent Nicanor to receive him,\r\nhe begged he might be led through the body of the Macedonians, and have liberty\r\nto speak to them, neither to request, nor deprecate anything, but only to\r\nadvise them what would be for their interest. A silence being made, as he stood\r\nupon a rising ground, he stretched out his hands bound, and said, “What trophy,\r\nO ye basest of all the Macedonians, could Antigonus have wished for so great as\r\nyou yourselves have erected for him, in delivering up your general captive into\r\nhis hands? You are not ashamed, when you are conquerors, to own yourselves\r\nconquered, for the sake only of your baggage, as if it were wealth, not arms,\r\nwherein victory consisted; nay, you deliver up your general to redeem your\r\nstuff. As for me, I am unvanquished, though a captive, conqueror of my enemies,\r\nand betrayed by my fellow soldiers. For you, I adjure you by Jupiter, the\r\nprotector of arms, and by all the gods that are the avengers of perjury, to\r\nkill me here with your own hands; for it is all one; and if I am murdered\r\nyonder, it will be esteemed your act, nor will Antigonus complain, for he\r\ndesires not Eumenes alive, but dead. Or if you withhold your own hands, release\r\nbut one of mine, it shall suffice to do the work; and if you dare not trust me\r\nwith a sword throw me bound as I am under the feet of the wild beasts. This if\r\nyou do I shall freely acquit you from the guilt of my death, as the most just\r\nand kind of men to their general.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile Eumenes was thus speaking, the rest of the soldiers wept for grief, but\r\nthe Argyraspids shouted out to lead him on, and give no attention to his\r\ntrilling. For it was no such great matter if this Chersonesian pest should meet\r\nhis death, who in thousands of battles had annoyed and wasted the Macedonians;\r\nit would be a much more grievous thing for the choicest of Philip’s and\r\nAlexander’s soldiers to be defrauded of the fruits of so long service, and in\r\ntheir old age to come to beg their bread, and to leave their wives three nights\r\nin the power of their enemies. So they hurried him on with violence. But\r\nAntigonus, fearing the multitude, for nobody was left in the camp, sent ten of\r\nhis strongest elephants with divers of his Mede and Parthian lances to keep off\r\nthe press. Then he could not endure to have Eumenes brought into his presence,\r\nby reason of their former intimacy and friendship; but when they that had taken\r\nhim inquired how he would have him kept, “As I would,” said he, “an elephant,\r\nor a lion.” A little after, being loved with compassion, he commanded the\r\nheaviest of his irons to be knocked off, one of his servants to be admitted to\r\nanoint him, and that any of his friends that were willing should have liberty\r\nto visit him, and bring him what he wanted. Long time he deliberated what to do\r\nwith him, sometimes inclining to the advice and promises of Nearchus of Crete,\r\nand Demetrius his son, who were very earnest to preserve Eumenes, whilst all\r\nthe rest were unanimously instant and importunate to have him taken off. It is\r\nrelated that Eumenes inquired of Onomarchus, his keeper, why Antigonus, now he\r\nhad his enemy in his hands, would not either forthwith dispatch or generously\r\nrelease him? And that Onomarchus contumeliously answered him, that the field\r\nhad been a more proper place than this to show his contempt of death. To whom\r\nEumenes replied, “And by heavens, I showed it there; ask the men else that\r\nengaged me, but I could never meet a man that was my superior.” “Therefore,”\r\nrejoined Onomarchus, “now you have found such a man, why don’t you submit\r\nquietly to his pleasure?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Antigonus resolved to kill Eumenes, he commanded to keep his food from\r\nhim, and so with two or three days’ fasting he began to draw near his end; but\r\nthe camp being on a sudden to remove, an executioner was sent to dispatch him.\r\nAntigonus granted his body to his friends, permitted them to burn it, and\r\nhaving gathered his ashes into a silver urn, to send them to his wife and\r\nchildren.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nEumenes was thus taken off; and Divine Providence assigned to no other man the\r\nchastisement of the commanders and soldiers that had betrayed him; but\r\nAntigonus himself, abominating the Argyraspids as wicked and inhuman villains,\r\ndelivered them up to Sibyrtius, the governor of Arachosia, commanding him by\r\nall ways and means to destroy and exterminate them, so that not a man of them\r\nmight ever come to Macedon, or so much as within sight of the Greek sea.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap43\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF SERTORIUS WITH EUMENES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese are the most remarkable passages that are come to our knowledge\r\nconcerning Eumenes and Sertorius. In comparing their lives, we may observe that\r\nthis was common to them both; that being aliens, strangers, and banished men,\r\nthey came to be commanders of powerful forces, and had the leading of numerous\r\nand warlike armies, made up of divers nations. This was peculiar to Sertorius,\r\nthat the chief command was, by his whole party, freely yielded to him, as to\r\nthe person of the greatest merit and renown, whereas Eumenes had many who\r\ncontested the office with him, and only by his actions obtained the\r\nsuperiority. They followed the one honestly, out of desire to be commanded by\r\nhim; they submitted themselves to the other for their own security, because\r\nthey could not commend themselves. The one, being a Roman, was the general of\r\nthe Spaniards and Lusitanians, who for many years had been under the subjection\r\nof Rome; and the other, a Chersonesian, was chief commander of the Macedonians,\r\nwho were the great conquerors of mankind, and were at that time subduing the\r\nworld. Sertorius, being already in high esteem for his former services in the\r\nwars, and his abilities in the senate, was advanced to the dignity of a\r\ngeneral; whereas Eumenes obtained this honor from the office of a writer, or\r\nsecretary, in which he had been despised. Nor did he only at first rise from\r\ninferior opportunities, but afterwards, also, met with greater impediments in\r\nthe progress of his authority, and that not only from those who publicly\r\nresisted him, but from many others that privately conspired against him. It was\r\nmuch otherwise with Sertorius, not one of whose party publicly opposed him,\r\nonly late in life and secretly a few of his acquaintance entered into a\r\nconspiracy against him. Sertorius put an end to his dangers as often as he was\r\nvictorious in the field, whereas the victories of Eumenes were the beginning of\r\nhis perils, through the malice of those that envied him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTheir deeds in war were equal and parallel, but their general inclinations\r\ndifferent. Eumenes naturally loved war and contention, but Sertorius esteemed\r\npeace and tranquillity; when Eumenes might have lived in safety, with honor, if\r\nhe would have quietly retired out of their way, he persisted in a dangerous\r\ncontest with the greatest of the Macedonian leaders; but Sertorius, who was\r\nunwilling to trouble himself with any public disturbances, was forced, for the\r\nsafety of his person, to make war against those who would not suffer him to\r\nlive in peace. If Eumenes could have contented himself with the second place,\r\nAntigonus, freed from his competition for the first, would have used him well,\r\nand shown him favor, whereas Pompey’s friends would never permit Sertorius so\r\nmuch as to live in quiet. The one made war of his own accord, out of a desire\r\nfor command; and the other was constrained to accept of command, to defend\r\nhimself from war that was made against him. Eumenes was certainly a true lover\r\nof war, for he preferred his covetous ambition before his own security; but\r\nSertorius was truly warlike, who procured his own safety by the success of his\r\narms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs to the manner of their deaths, it happened to one without the least thought\r\nor surmise of it; but to the other when he suspected it daily; which in the\r\nfirst, argues an equitable temper, and a noble mind, not to distrust his\r\nfriends; but in the other, it showed some infirmity of spirit, for Eumenes\r\nintended to fly and was taken. The death of Sertorius dishonored not his life;\r\nhe suffered that from his companions which none of his enemies were ever able\r\nto perform. The other, not being able to deliver himself before his\r\nimprisonment, being willing also to live in captivity, did neither prevent nor\r\nexpect his fate with honor or bravery; for by meanly supplicating and\r\npetitioning, he made his enemy, that pretended only to have power over his\r\nbody, to be lord and master of his body and mind.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap44\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eAGESILAUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nArchidamus, the son of Zeuxidamus, having reigned gloriously over the\r\nLacedaemonians, left behind him two sons, Agis the elder, begotten of Lampido,\r\na noble lady, Agesilaus, much the younger, born of Eupolia, the daughter of\r\nMelesippidas. Now the succession belonging to Agis by law, Agesilaus, who in\r\nall probability was to be but a private man, was educated according to the\r\nusual discipline of the country, hard and severe, and meant to teach young men\r\nto obey their superiors. Whence it was that, men say, Simonides called Sparta\r\n“the tamer of men,” because by early strictness of education, they, more than\r\nany nation, trained the citizens to obedience to the laws, and made them\r\ntractable and patient of subjection, as horses that are broken in while colts.\r\nThe law did not impose this harsh rule on the heirs apparent of the kingdom.\r\nBut Agesilaus, whose good fortune it was to be born a younger brother, was\r\nconsequently bred to all the arts of obedience, and so the better fitted for\r\nthe government, when it fell to his share; hence it was that he proved the most\r\npopular-tempered of the Spartan kings, his early life having added to his\r\nnatural kingly and commanding qualities the gentle and humane feelings of a\r\ncitizen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile he was yet a boy, bred up in one of what are called the flocks, or\r\nclasses, he attracted the attachment of Lysander, who was particularly struck\r\nwith the orderly temper that he manifested. For though he was one of the\r\nhighest spirits, emulous above any of his companions, ambitious of preeminence\r\nin everything, and showed an impetuosity and fervor of mind which irresistibly\r\ncarried him through all opposition or difficulty he could meet with; yet, on\r\nthe other side, he was so easy and gentle in his nature, and so apt to yield to\r\nauthority, that though he would do nothing on compulsion, upon ingenuous\r\nmotives he would obey any commands, and was more hurt by the least rebuke or\r\ndisgrace, than he was distressed by any toil or hardship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe had one leg shorter than the other, but this deformity was little observed\r\nin the general beauty of his person in youth. And the easy way in which he bore\r\nit, (he being the first always to pass a jest upon himself,) went far to make\r\nit disregarded. And indeed his high spirit and eagerness to distinguish himself\r\nwere all the more conspicuous by it, since he never let his lameness withhold\r\nhim from any toil or any brave action. Neither his statue nor picture are\r\nextant, he never allowing them in his life, and utterly forbidding them to be\r\nmade after his death. He is said to have been a little man, of a contemptible\r\npresence; but the goodness of his humor, and his constant cheerfulness and\r\nplayfulness of temper, always free from anything of moroseness or haughtiness,\r\nmade him more attractive, even to his old age, than the most beautiful and\r\nyouthful men of the nation. Theophrastus writes, that the Ephors laid a fine\r\nupon Archidamus for marrying a little wife, “For” said they, “she will bring us\r\na race of kinglets, instead of kings.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst Agis, the elder brother, reigned, Alcibiades, being then an exile from\r\nAthens, came from Sicily to Sparta; nor had he stayed long there, before his\r\nfamiliarity with Timaea, the king’s wife, grew suspected, insomuch that Agis\r\nrefused to own a child of hers, which, he said, was Alcibiades’s, not his. Nor,\r\nif we may believe Duris, the historian, was Timaea much concerned at it, being\r\nherself forward enough to whisper among her helot maid-servants, that the\r\ninfant’s true name was Alcibiades, not Leotychides. Meanwhile it was believed,\r\nthat the amour he had with her was not the effect of his love but of his\r\nambition, that he might have Spartan kings of his posterity. This affair being\r\ngrown public, it became needful for Alcibiades to withdraw from Sparta. But the\r\nchild Leotychides had not the honors due to a legitimate son paid him, nor was\r\nhe ever owned by Agis, till by his prayers and tears he prevailed with him to\r\ndeclare him his son before several witnesses upon his death-bed. But this did\r\nnot avail to fix him in the throne of Agis, after whose death Lysander, who had\r\nlately achieved his conquest of Athens by sea, and was of the greatest power in\r\nSparta, promoted Agesilaus, urging Leotychides’s bastardy as a bar to his\r\npretensions. Many of the other citizens, also, were favorable to Agesilaus and\r\nzealously joined his party, induced by the opinion they had of his merits, of\r\nwhich they themselves had been spectators, in the time that he had been bred up\r\namong them. But there was a man, named Diopithes, at Sparta, who had a great\r\nknowledge of ancient oracles, and was thought particularly skillful and clever\r\nin all points of religion and divination. He alleged, that it was unlawful to\r\nmake a lame man king of Lacedaemon, citing in the debate the following oracle:\r\n—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBeware, great Sparta, lest there come of thee\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThough sound thyself; an halting sovereignty;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTroubles, both long and unexpected too,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd storms of deadly warfare shall ensue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut Lysander was not wanting with an evasion, alleging that if the Spartans\r\nwere really apprehensive of the oracle, they must have a care of Leotychides;\r\nfor it was not the limping foot of a king that the gods cared about, but the\r\npurity of the Herculean family, into whose sights if a spurious issue were\r\nadmitted, it would make the kingdom to halt indeed. Agesilaus likewise alleged,\r\nthat the bastardy of Leotychides was witnessed to by Neptune, who threw Agis\r\nout of bed by a violent earthquake, after which time he ceased to visit his\r\nwife, yet Leotychides was born above ten months after this.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgesilaus was upon these allegations declared king, and soon possessed himself\r\nof the private estate of Agis, as well as his throne, Leotychides being wholly\r\nrejected as a bastard. He now turned his attention to his kindred by the\r\nmother’s side, persons of worth and virtue, but miserably poor. To them he gave\r\nhalf his brother’s estate, and by this popular act gained general good-will and\r\nreputation, in the place of the envy and ill-feeling which the inheritance\r\nmight otherwise have procured him. What Xenophon tells us of him, that by\r\ncomplying with, and, as it were, being ruled by his country, he grew into such\r\ngreat power with them, that he could do what he pleased, is meant to apply to\r\nthe power he gained in the following manner with the Ephors and Elders. These\r\nwere at that time of the greatest authority in the State; the former, officers\r\nannually chosen; the Elders, holding their places during life; both instituted,\r\nas already told in the life of Lycurgus, to restrain the power of the kings.\r\nHence it was that there was always from generation to generation, a feud and\r\ncontention between them and the kings. But Agesilaus took another course.\r\nInstead of contending with them, he courted them; in all proceedings he\r\ncommenced by taking their advice, was always ready to go, nay almost run, when\r\nthey called him; if he were upon his royal seat hearing causes and the Ephors\r\ncame in, he rose to them; whenever any man was elected into the Council of\r\nElders, he presented him with a gown and an ox. Thus, whilst he made show of\r\ndeference to them, and of a desire to extend their authority, he secretly\r\nadvanced his own, and enlarged the prerogatives of the kings by several\r\nliberties which their friendship to his person conceded.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo other citizens he so behaved himself, as to be less blamable in his enmities\r\nthan in his friendships; for against his enemy he forbore to take any unjust\r\nadvantage, but his friends he would assist, even in what was unjust. If an\r\nenemy had done anything praiseworthy, he felt it shameful to detract from his\r\ndue, but his friends he knew not how to reprove when they did ill, nay, he\r\nwould eagerly join with them, and assist them in their misdeed, and thought all\r\noffices of friendship commendable, let the matter in which they were employed\r\nbe what it would. Again, when any of his adversaries was overtaken in a fault,\r\nhe would be the first to pity him, and be soon entreated to procure his pardon,\r\nby which he won the hearts of all men. Insomuch that his popularity grew at\r\nlast suspected by the Ephors, who laid a fine on him, professing that he was\r\nappropriating the citizens to himself, who ought to be the common property of\r\nthe State. For as it is the opinion of philosophers, that could you take away\r\nstrife and opposition out of the universe, all the heavenly bodies would stand\r\nstill, generation and motion would cease in the mutual concord and agreement of\r\nall things, so the Spartan legislator seems to have admitted ambition and\r\nemulation, among the ingredients of his Commonwealth as the incentives of\r\nvirtue, distinctly wishing that there should be some dispute and competition\r\namong his men of worth, and pronouncing the mere idle, uncontested, mutual\r\ncompliance to unproved deserts to be but a false sort of concord. And some\r\nthink Homer had an eye to this, when he introduces Agamemnon well pleased with\r\nthe quarrel arising between Ulysses and Achilles, and with the “terrible words”\r\nthat passed between them, which he would never have done, unless he had thought\r\nemulations and dissensions between the noblest men to be of great public\r\nbenefit. Yet this maxim is not simply to be granted, without restriction, for\r\nif animosities go too far, they are very dangerous to cities, and of most\r\npernicious consequence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Agesilaus was newly entered upon the government, there came news from\r\nAsia, that the Persian king was making great naval preparations, resolving with\r\na high hand to dispossess the Spartans of their maritime supremacy. Lysander\r\nwas eager for the opportunity of going over and succoring his friends in Asia,\r\nwhom he had there left governors and masters of the cities, whose\r\nmal-administration and tyrannical behavior was causing them to be driven out,\r\nand in some cases put to death. He therefore persuaded Agesilaus to claim the\r\ncommand of the expedition, and by carrying the war far from Greece into Persia,\r\nto anticipate the designs of the barbarian. He also wrote to his friends in\r\nAsia, that by embassy they should demand Agesilaus for their captain.\r\nAgesilaus, therefore, coming into the public assembly, offered his service,\r\nupon condition that he might have thirty Spartans for captains and counselors,\r\ntwo thousand chosen men of the newly enfranchised helots, and allies to the\r\nnumber of six thousand. Lysander’s authority and assistance soon obtained his\r\nrequest, so that he was sent away with the thirty Spartans, of whom Lysander\r\nwas at once the chief, not only because of his power and reputation, but also\r\non account of his friendship with Agesilaus, who esteemed his procuring him\r\nthis charge a greater obligation, than that of preferring him to the kingdom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst the army was collecting to the rendezvous at Geraestus, Agesilaus went\r\nwith some of his friends to Aulis, where in a dream he saw a man approach him,\r\nand speak to him after this manner: “O king of the Lacedaemonians, you cannot\r\nbut know that, before yourself, there hath been but one general captain of the\r\nwhole of the Greeks, namely, Agamemnon; now, since you succeed him in the same\r\noffice and command of the same men, since you war against the same enemies, and\r\nbegin your expedition from the same place, you ought also to offer such a\r\nsacrifice, as he offered before he weighed anchor.” Agesilaus at the same\r\nmoment remembered that the sacrifice which Agamemnon offered was his own\r\ndaughter, he being so directed by the oracle. Yet was he not at all disturbed\r\nat it, but as soon as he arose, he told his dream to his friends, adding, that\r\nhe would propitiate the goddess with the sacrifices a goddess must delight in,\r\nand would not follow the ignorant example of his predecessor. He therefore\r\nordered a hind to be crowned with chaplets, and bade his own soothsayer perform\r\nthe rite, not the usual person whom the Boeotians, in ordinary course,\r\nappointed to that office. When the Boeotian magistrates understood it, they\r\nwere much offended, and sent officers to Agesilaus, to forbid his sacrificing\r\ncontrary to the laws of the country. These having delivered their message to\r\nhim, immediately went to the altar, and threw down the quarters of the hind\r\nthat lay upon it. Agesilaus took this very ill, and without further sacrifice\r\nimmediately sailed away, highly displeased with the Boeotians, and much\r\ndiscouraged in his mind at the omen, boding to himself an unsuccessful voyage,\r\nand an imperfect issue of the whole expedition.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he came to Ephesus, he found the power and interest of Lysander, and the\r\nhonors paid to him, insufferably great; all applications were made to him,\r\ncrowds of suitors attended at his door, and followed upon his steps, as if\r\nnothing but the mere name of commander belonged, to satisfy the usage, to\r\nAgesilaus, the whole power of it being devolved upon Lysander. None of all the\r\ncommanders that had been sent into Asia was either so powerful or so formidable\r\nas he; no one had rewarded his friends better, or had been more severe against\r\nhis enemies; which things having been lately done, made the greater impression\r\non men’s minds, especially when they compared the simple and popular behavior\r\nof Agesilaus, with the harsh and violent and brief-spoken demeanor which\r\nLysander still retained. Universal deference was yielded to this, and little\r\nregard shown to Agesilaus. This first occasioned offense to the other Spartan\r\ncaptains, who resented that they should rather seem the attendants of Lysander,\r\nthan the councilors of Agesilaus. And at length Agesilaus himself, though not\r\nperhaps all envious man in his nature, nor apt to be troubled at the honors\r\nredounding upon other men, yet eager for honor and jealous of his glory, began\r\nto apprehend that Lysander’s greatness would carry away from him the reputation\r\nof whatever great action should happen. He therefore went this way to work. He\r\nfirst opposed him in all his counsels; whatever Lysander specially advised was\r\nrejected, and other proposals followed. Then whoever made any address to him,\r\nif he found him attached to Lysander, certainly lost his suit. So also in\r\njudicial cases, anyone whom he spoke strongly against was sure to come off with\r\nsuccess, and any man whom he was particularly solicitous to procure some\r\nbenefit for, might think it well if he got away without an actual loss. These\r\nthings being clearly not done by chance, but constantly and of a set purpose,\r\nLysander was soon sensible of them, and hesitated not to tell his friends, that\r\nthey suffered for his sake, bidding them apply themselves to the king, and such\r\nas were more powerful with him than he was. Such sayings of his seeming to be\r\ndesigned purposely to excite ill feeling, Agesilaus went on to offer him a yet\r\nmore open affront, appointing him his meat-carver; and would in public\r\ncompanies scornfully say, “Let them go now and pay their court to my carver.”\r\nLysander, no longer able to brook these indignities, complained at last to\r\nAgesilaus himself, telling him, that he knew very well how to humble his\r\nfriends. Agesilaus answered, “I know certainly how to humble those who pretend\r\nto more power than myself.” “That,” replied Lysander, “is perhaps rather said\r\nby you, than done by me; I desire only, that you will assign me some office and\r\nplace, in which I may serve you without incurring your displeasure.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this Agesilaus sent him to the Hellespont, whence he procured\r\nSpithridates, a Persian of the province of Pharnabazus, to come to the\r\nassistance of the Greeks with two hundred horse, and a great supply of money.\r\nYet his anger did not so come down, but he thenceforward pursued the design of\r\nwresting the kingdom out of the hands of the two families which then enjoyed\r\nit, and making it wholly elective; and it is thought that he would on account\r\nof this quarrel have excited a great commotion in Sparta, if he had not died in\r\nthe Boeotian war. Thus ambitious spirits in a commonwealth, when they\r\ntransgress their bounds, are apt to do more harm than good. For though\r\nLysander’s pride and assumption was most ill-timed and insufferable in its\r\ndisplay, yet Agesilaus surely could have found some other way of setting him\r\nright, less offensive to a man of his reputation and ambitious temper. Indeed\r\nthey were both blinded with the same passion, so as one not to recognize the\r\nauthority of his superior, the other not to bear with the imperfections of his\r\nfriend.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTisaphernes being at first afraid of Agesilaus, treated with him about setting\r\nthe Grecian cities at liberty, which was agreed on. But soon after finding a\r\nsufficient force drawn together, he resolved upon war, for which Agesilaus was\r\nnot sorry. For the expectation of this expedition was great, and he did not\r\nthink it for his honor, that Xenophon with ten thousand men should march\r\nthrough the heart of Asia to the sea, beating the Persian forces when and how\r\nhe pleased, and that he at the head of the Spartans, then sovereigns both at\r\nsea and land, should not achieve some memorable action for Greece. And so to be\r\neven with Tisaphernes, he requites his perjury by a fair stratagem. He pretends\r\nto march into Caria, whither when he had drawn Tisaphernes and his army, he\r\nsuddenly turns back, and falls upon Phrygia, takes many of their cities, and\r\ncarries away great booty, showing his allies, that to break a solemn league was\r\na downright contempt of the gods, but the circumvention of an enemy in war was\r\nnot only just but glorious, a gratification at once and an advantage.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBeing weak in horse, and discouraged by ill omens in the sacrifices, he retired\r\nto Ephesus, and there raised cavalry. He obliged the rich men, that were not\r\ninclined to serve in person, to find each of them a horseman armed and mounted;\r\nand there being many who preferred doing this, the army was quickly reinforced\r\nby a body, not of unwilling recruits for the infantry, but of brave and\r\nnumerous horsemen. For those that were not good at fighting themselves, hired\r\nsuch as were more military in their inclinations, and such as loved not\r\nhorse-service substituted in their places such as did. Agamemnon’s example had\r\nbeen a good one, when he took the present of an excellent mare, to dismiss a\r\nrich coward from the army.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen by Agesilaus’s order the prisoners he had taken in Phrygia were exposed to\r\nsale, they were first stripped of their garments, and then sold naked. The\r\nclothes found many customers to buy them, but the bodies being, from the want\r\nof all exposure and exercise, white and tender-skinned, were derided and\r\nscorned as unserviceable. Agesilaus, who stood by at the auction, told his\r\nGreeks, “These are the men against whom ye fight, and these the things you will\r\ngain by it.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe season of the year being come, he boldly gave out that he would invade\r\nLydia; and this plaindealing of his was now mistaken for a stratagem by\r\nTisaphernes, who, by not believing Agesilaus, having been already deceived by\r\nhim, overreached himself. He expected that he should have made choice of Caria,\r\nas a rough country, not fit for horse, in which he deemed Agesilaus to be weak,\r\nand directed his own marches accordingly. But when he found him to be as good\r\nas his word, and to have entered into the country of Sardis, he made great\r\nhaste after him, and by great marches of his horse, overtaking the loose\r\nstragglers who were pillaging the country, he cut them off. Agesilaus\r\nmeanwhile, considering that the horse had outridden the foot, but that he\r\nhimself had the whole body of his own army entire, made haste to engage them.\r\nHe mingled his light-armed foot, carrying targets, with the horse, commanding\r\nthem to advance at full speed and begin the battle, whilst he brought up the\r\nheavier-armed men in the rear. The success was answerable to the design; the\r\nbarbarians were put to the rout, the Grecians pursued hard, took their camp,\r\nand put many of them to the sword. The consequence of this victory was very\r\ngreat; for they had not only the liberty of foraging the Persian country, and\r\nplundering at pleasure, but also saw Tisaphernes pay dearly for all the cruelty\r\nhe had showed the Greeks, to whom he was a professed enemy. For the king of\r\nPersia sent Tithraustes, who took off his head, and presently dealt with\r\nAgesilaus about his return into Greece, sending to him ambassadors to that\r\npurpose, with commission to offer him great sums of money. Agesilaus’s answer\r\nwas, that the making of peace belonged to the Lacedaemonians, not to him; as\r\nfor wealth, he had rather see it in his soldiers’ hands than his own; that the\r\nGrecians thought it not honorable to enrich themselves with the bribes of their\r\nenemies, but with their spoils only. Yet, that he might gratify Tithraustes for\r\nthe justice he had done upon Tisaphernes, the common enemy of the Greeks, he\r\nremoved his quarters into Phrygia, accepting thirty talents for his expenses.\r\nWhilst he was upon his march, he received a staff from the government at\r\nSparta, appointing him admiral as well as general. This was an honor which was\r\nnever done to any but Agesilaus, who being now undoubtedly the greatest and\r\nmost illustrious man of his time, still, as Theopompus has said, gave himself\r\nmore occasion of glory in his own virtue and merit than was given him in this\r\nauthority and power. Yet he committed a fault in preferring Pisander to the\r\ncommand of the navy, when there were others at hand both older and more\r\nexperienced; in this not so much consulting the public good, as the\r\ngratification of his kindred, and especially his wife, whose brother Pisander\r\nwas.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving removed his camp into Pharnabazus’s province, he not only met with great\r\nplenty of provisions, but also raised great sums of money, and marching on to\r\nthe bounds of Paphlagonia, he soon drew Cotys, the king of it, into a league,\r\nto which he of his own accord inclined, out of the opinion he had of\r\nAgesilaus’s honor and virtue. Spithridates, from the time of his abandoning\r\nPharnabazus, constantly attended Agesilaus in the camp whithersoever he went.\r\nThis Spithridates had a son, a very handsome boy, called Megabates, of whom\r\nAgesilaus was extremely fond, and also a very beautiful daughter, that was\r\nmarriageable. Her Agesilaus matched to Cotys, and taking of him a thousand\r\nhorse, with two thousand light-armed foot, he returned into Phrygia, and there\r\npillaged the country of Pharnabazus, who durst not meet him in the field, nor\r\nyet trust to his garrisons, but getting his valuables together, got out of the\r\nway and moved about up and down with a flying army, till Spithridates joining\r\nwith Herippidas the Spartan, took his camp, and all his property. Herippidas\r\nbeing too severe an inquirer into the plunder with which the barbarian soldiers\r\nhad enriched themselves, and forcing them to deliver it up with too much\r\nstrictness, so disobliged Spithridates with his questioning and examining, that\r\nhe changed sides again, and went off with the Paphlagonians to Sardis. This was\r\na very great vexation to Agesilaus, not only that he had lost the friendship of\r\na valiant commander, and with him a considerable part of his army, but still\r\nmore that it had been done with the disrepute of a sordid and petty\r\ncovetousness, of which he always had made it a point of honor to keep both\r\nhimself and his country clear. Besides these public causes, he had a private\r\none, his excessive fondness for the son, which touched him to the quick, though\r\nhe endeavored to master it, and, especially in presence of the boy, to suppress\r\nall appearance of it; so much so that when Megabates, for that was his name,\r\ncame once to receive a kiss from him, he declined it. At which when the young\r\nboy blushed and drew back, and afterward saluted him at a more reserved\r\ndistance, Agesilaus soon repenting his coldness, and changing his mind,\r\npretended to wonder why he did not salute him with the same familiarity as\r\nformerly. His friends about him answered, “You are in the fault, who would not\r\naccept the kiss of the boy, but turned away in alarm; he would come to you\r\nagain, if you would have the courage to let him do so.” Upon this Agesilaus\r\npaused a while, and at length answered, “You need not encourage him to it; I\r\nthink I had rather be master of myself in that refusal, than see all things\r\nthat are now before my eyes turned into gold.” Thus he demeaned himself to\r\nMegabates when present, but he had so great a passion for him in his absence,\r\nthat it may be questioned whether if the boy had returned again, all the\r\ncourage he had would have sustained him in such another refusal.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Pharnabazus sought an opportunity of conferring with Agesilaus,\r\nwhich Apollophanes of Cyzicus, the common host of them both, procured for him.\r\nAgesilaus coming first to the appointed place, threw himself down upon the\r\ngrass under a tree, lying there in expectation of Pharnabazus, who, bringing\r\nwith him soft skins and wrought carpets to lie down upon, when he saw\r\nAgesilaus’s posture, grew ashamed of his luxuries and made no use of them, but\r\nlaid himself down upon the grass also, without regard for his delicate and\r\nrichly dyed clothing. Pharnabazus had matter enough of complaint against\r\nAgesilaus, and therefore, after the mutual civilities were over, he put him in\r\nmind of the great services he had done the Lacedaemonians in the Attic war, of\r\nwhich he thought it an ill recompense to have his country thus harassed and\r\nspoiled, by those men who owed so much to him. The Spartans that were present\r\nhung down their heads, as conscious of the wrong they had done to their ally.\r\nBut Agesilaus said, “We, O Pharnabazus, when we were in amity with your master\r\nthe king, behaved ourselves like friends, and now that we are at war with him,\r\nwe behave ourselves as enemies. As for you, we must look upon you as a part of\r\nhis property, and must do these outrages upon you, not intending the harm to\r\nyou, but to him whom we wound through you. But whenever you will choose rather\r\nto be a friend to the Grecians, than a slave of the king of Persia, you may\r\nthen reckon this army and navy to be all at your command, to defend both you,\r\nyour country, and your liberties, without which there is nothing honorable, or\r\nindeed desirable among men.” Upon this Pharnabazus discovered his mind, and\r\nanswered, “If the king sends another governor in my room, I will certainly come\r\nover to you, but as long as he trusts me with the government, I shall be just\r\nto him, and not fail to do my utmost endeavors in opposing you.” Agesilaus was\r\ntaken with the answer, and shook hands with him; and rising, said, “How much\r\nrather had I have so brave a man my friend than mine enemy.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPharnabazus being gone off, his son, staying behind, ran up to Agesilaus, and\r\nsmilingly said, “Agesilaus, I make you my guest;” and thereupon presented him\r\nwith a javelin which he had in his hand. Agesilaus received it, and being much\r\ntaken with the good mien and the courtesy of the youth, looked about to see if\r\nthere were anything in his train fit to offer him in return; and observing the\r\nhorse of Idaeus, the secretary, to have very fine trappings on, he took them\r\noff, and bestowed them upon the young gentleman. Nor did his kindness rest\r\nthere, but he continued ever after to be mindful of him, so that when he was\r\ndriven out of his country by his brothers, and lived an exile in Peloponnesus,\r\nhe took great care of him, and condescended even to assist him in some\r\nlove-matters. He had an attachment for a youth of Athenian birth, who was bred\r\nup as an athlete; and when at the Olympic games this boy, on account of his\r\ngreat size and general strong and full-grown appearance, was in some danger of\r\nnot being admitted into the list, the Persian betook himself to Agesilaus, and\r\nmade use of his friendship. Agesilaus readily assisted him, and not without a\r\ngreat deal of difficulty effected his desires. He was in all other things a man\r\nof great and exact justice, but when the case concerned a friend, to be\r\nstraitlaced in point of justice, he said, was only a colorable presence of\r\ndenying him. There is an epistle written to Idrieus, prince of Caria, that is\r\nascribed to Agesilaus; it is this: “If Nicias be innocent, absolve him; if he\r\nbe guilty, absolve him upon my account; however be sure to absolve him.” This\r\nwas his usual character in his deportment towards his friends. Yet his rule was\r\nnot without exception; for sometimes he considered the necessity of his affairs\r\nmore than his friend, of which he once gave an example, when upon a sudden and\r\ndisorderly removal of his camp, he left a sick friend behind him, and when he\r\ncalled loudly after him, and implored his help, turned his back, and said it\r\nwas hard to be compassionate and wise too. This story is related by Hieronymus,\r\nthe philosopher.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnother year of the war being spent, Agesilaus’s fame still increased, insomuch\r\nthat the Persian king received daily information concerning his many virtues,\r\nand the great esteem the world had of his temperance, his plain living, and his\r\nmoderation. When he made any journey, he would usually take up his lodging in a\r\ntemple, and there make the gods witnesses of his most private actions, which\r\nothers would scarce permit men to be acquainted with. In so great an army, you\r\nshould scarce find common soldier lie on a coarser mattress, than Agesilaus; he\r\nwas so indifferent to the varieties of heat and cold, that all the seasons, as\r\nthe gods sent them, seemed natural to him. The Greeks that inhabited Asia were\r\nmuch pleased to see the great lords and governors of Persia, with all the\r\npride, cruelty, and luxury in which they lived, trembling and bowing before a\r\nman in a poor threadbare cloak, and at one laconic word out of his mouth,\r\nobsequiously deferring and changing their wishes and purposes. So that it\r\nbrought to the minds of many the verses of Timotheus,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nMars is the tyrant, gold Greece does not fear.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMany parts of Asia now revolting from the Persians, Agesilaus restored order in\r\nthe cities, and without bloodshed or banishment of any of their members,\r\nreestablished the proper constitution in the governments, and now resolved to\r\ncarry away the war from the seaside, and to march further up into the country,\r\nand to attack the king of Persia himself in his own home in Susa and Ecbatana;\r\nnot willing to let the monarch sit idle in his chair, playing umpire in the\r\nconflicts of the Greeks, and bribing their popular leaders. But these great\r\nthoughts were interrupted by unhappy news from Sparta; Epicydidas is from\r\nthence sent to remand him home, to assist his own country, which was then\r\ninvolved in a great war;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nGreece to herself doth a barbarian grow,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOthers could not, she doth herself o’erthrow.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nWhat better can we say of those jealousies, and that league and conspiracy of\r\nthe Greeks for their own mischief, which arrested fortune in full career, and\r\nturned back arms that were already uplifted against the barbarians, to be used\r\nupon themselves, and recalled into Greece the war which had been banished out\r\nof her? I by no means assent to Demaratus of Corinth, who said, that those\r\nGreeks lost a great satisfaction, that did not live to see Alexander sit in the\r\nthrone of Darius. That sight should rather have drawn tears from them, when\r\nthey considered, that they had left that glory to Alexander and the\r\nMacedonians, whilst they spent all their own great commanders in playing them\r\nagainst each other in the fields of Leuctra, Coronea, Corinth, and Arcadia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNothing was greater or nobler than the behavior of Agesilaus on this occasion,\r\nnor can a nobler instance be found in story, of a ready obedience and just\r\ndeference to orders. Hannibal, though in a bad condition himself, and almost\r\ndriven out of Italy, could scarcely be induced to obey, when he was called home\r\nto serve his country. Alexander made a jest of the battle between Agis and\r\nAntipater, laughing and saying, “So, whilst we were conquering Darius in Asia,\r\nit seems there was a battle of mice in Arcadia.” Happy Sparta, meanwhile, in\r\nthe justice and modesty of Agesilaus, and in the deference he paid to the laws\r\nof his country; who, immediately upon receipt of his orders, though in the\r\nmidst of his high fortune and power, and in full hope of great and glorious\r\nsuccess, gave all up and instantly departed, “his object unachieved,” leaving\r\nmany regrets behind him among his allies in Asia, and proving by his example\r\nthe falseness of that saying of Demostratus, the son of Phaeax, “That the\r\nLacedaemonians were better in public, but the Athenians in private.” For while\r\napproving himself an excellent king and general, he likewise showed himself in\r\nprivate an excellent friend, and a most agreeable companion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe coin of Persia was stamped with the figure of an archer; Agesilaus said,\r\nThat a thousand Persian archers had driven him out of Asia; meaning the money\r\nthat had been laid out in bribing the demagogues and the orators in Thebes and\r\nAthens, and thus inciting those two States to hostility against Sparta.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving passed the Hellespont, he marched by land through Thrace, not begging or\r\nentreating a passage anywhere, only he sent his messengers to them, to demand\r\nwhether they would have him pass as a friend or as an enemy. All the rest\r\nreceived him as a friend, and assisted him on his journey. But the Trallians,\r\nto whom Xerxes also is said to have given money, demanded a price of him,\r\nnamely, one hundred talents of silver, and one hundred women. Agesilaus in\r\nscorn asked, Why they were not ready to receive them? He marched on, and\r\nfinding the Trallians in arms to oppose him, fought them, and slew great\r\nnumbers of them. He sent the like embassy to the king of Macedonia, who\r\nreplied, He would take time to deliberate: “Let him deliberate,” said\r\nAgesilaus, “we will go forward in the meantime.” The Macedonian, being\r\nsurprised and daunted at the resolution of the Spartan, gave orders to let him\r\npass as friend. When he came into Thessaly, he wasted the country, because they\r\nwere in league with the enemy. To Larissa, the chief city of Thessaly, he sent\r\nXenocles and Scythes to treat of a peace, whom when the Larissaeans had laid\r\nhold of, and put into custody, others were enraged, and advised the siege of\r\nthe town; but he answered, That he valued either of those men at more than the\r\nwhole country of Thessaly. He therefore made terms with them, and received his\r\nmen again upon composition. Nor need we wonder at this saying of Agesilaus,\r\nsince when he had news brought him from Sparta, of several great captains slain\r\nin a battle near Corinth, in which the slaughter fell upon other Greeks, and\r\nthe Lacedaemonians obtained a great victory with small loss, he did not appear\r\nat all satisfied; but with a great sigh cried out, “O Greece, how many brave\r\nmen hast thou destroyed; who, if they had been preserved to so good an use, had\r\nsufficed to have conquered all Persia!” Yet when the Pharsalians grew\r\ntroublesome to him, by pressing upon his army, and incommoding his passage, he\r\nled out five hundred horse, and in person fought and routed them, setting up a\r\ntrophy under the mount Narthacius. He valued himself very much upon that\r\nvictory, that with so small a number of his own training, he had vanquished a\r\nbody of men that thought themselves the best horsemen of Greece.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHere Diphridas, the Ephor, met him, and delivered his message from Sparta,\r\nwhich ordered him immediately to make an inroad into Boeotia; and though he\r\nthought this fitter to have been done at another time, and with greater force,\r\nhe yet obeyed the magistrates. He thereupon told his soldiers that the day was\r\ncome, on which they were to enter upon that employment, for the performance of\r\nwhich they were brought out of Asia. He sent for two divisions of the army near\r\nCorinth to his assistance. The Lacedaemonians at home, in honor to him, made\r\nproclamation for volunteers that would serve under the king, to come in and be\r\nenlisted. Finding all the young men in the city ready to offer themselves, they\r\nchose fifty of the strongest, and sent them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgesilaus having gained Thermopylae, and passed quietly through Phocis, as soon\r\nas he had entered Boeotia, and pitched his camp near Chaeronea, at once met\r\nwith an eclipse of the sun, and with ill news from the navy, Pisander, the\r\nSpartan admiral, being beaten and slain at Cnidos, by Pharnabazus and Conon. He\r\nwas much moved at it, both upon his own and the public account. Yet lest his\r\narmy, being now near engaging, should meet with any discouragement, he ordered\r\nthe messengers to give out, that the Spartans were the conquerors, and he\r\nhimself putting on a garland, solemnly sacrificed for the good news, and sent\r\nportions of the sacrifices to his friends.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he came near to Coronea, and was within view of the enemy, he drew up his\r\narmy, and giving the left wing to the Orchomenians, he himself led the right.\r\nThe Thebans took the right wing of their army, leaving the left to the Argives.\r\nXenophon, who was present, and fought on Agesilaus’s side, reports it to be the\r\nhardest fought battle that he had seen. The beginning of it was not so, for the\r\nThebans soon put the Orchomenians to rout, as also did Agesilaus the Argives.\r\nBut both parties having news of the misfortune of their left wings, they betook\r\nthemselves to their relief. Here Agesilaus might have been sure of his victory,\r\nhad he contented himself not to charge them in the front, but in the flank or\r\nrear; but being angry and heated in the fight, he would not wait the\r\nopportunity, but fell on at once, thinking to bear them down before him. The\r\nThebans were not behind him in courage, so that the battle was fiercely carried\r\non on both sides, especially near Agesilaus’s person, whose new guard of fifty\r\nvolunteers stood him in great stead that day, and saved his life. They fought\r\nwith great valor, and interposed their bodies frequently between him and\r\ndanger, yet could they not so preserve him, but that he received many wounds\r\nthrough his armor with lances and swords, and was with much difficulty gotten\r\noff alive by their making a ring about him, and so guarding him, with the\r\nslaughter of many of the enemy and the loss of many of their own number. At\r\nlength finding it too hard a task to break the front of the Theban troops, they\r\nopened their own files, and let the enemy march through them, (an artifice\r\nwhich in the beginning they scorned,) watching in the meantime the posture of\r\nthe enemy, who having passed through, grew careless, as esteeming themselves\r\npast danger; in which position they were immediately set upon by the Spartans.\r\nYet were they not then put to rout, but marched on to Helicon, proud of what\r\nthey had done, being able to say, that they themselves, as to their part of the\r\narmy, were not worsted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgesilaus, sore wounded as he was, would not be borne to his tent, till he had\r\nbeen first carried about the field, and had seen the dead conveyed within his\r\nencampment. As many of his enemies as had taken sanctuary in the temple, he\r\ndismissed. For there stood near the battlefield, the temple of Minerva the\r\nItonian, and before it a trophy erected by the Boeotians, for the victory which\r\nunder the conduct of Sparton, their general, they obtained over the Athenians\r\nunder Tolmides, who himself fell in the battle. And next morning early, to make\r\ntrial of the Theban courage, whether they had any mind to a second encounter,\r\nhe commanded his soldiers to put on garlands on their heads, and play with\r\ntheir flutes, and raise a trophy before their faces; but when they, instead of\r\nfighting, sent for leave to bury their dead, he gave it them; and having so\r\nassured himself of the victory, after this he went to Delphi, to the Pythian\r\ngames, which were then celebrating, at which feast he assisted, and there\r\nsolemnly offered the tenth part of the spoils he had brought from Asia, which\r\namounted to a hundred talents.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThence he returned to his own country, where his way and habits of life quickly\r\nexcited the affection and admiration of the Spartans; for, unlike other\r\ngenerals, he came home from foreign lands the same man that he went out, having\r\nnot so learned the fashions of other countries, as to forget his own, much less\r\nto dislike or despise them. He followed and respected all the Spartan customs,\r\nwithout any change either in the manner of his supping, or bathing, or his\r\nwife’s apparel, as if he had never traveled over the river Eurotas. So also\r\nwith his household furniture and his own armor; nay, the very gates of his\r\nhouse were so old, that they might well be thought of Aristodemus’s setting up.\r\nHis daughter’s Canathrum, says Xenophon, was no richer than that of any one\r\nelse. The Canathrum, as they call it, is a chair or chariot made of wood, in\r\nthe shape of a griffin, or tragelaphus, on which the children and young virgins\r\nare carried in processions. Xenophon has not left us the name of this daughter\r\nof Agesilaus; and Dicaearchus expresses some indignation, because we do not\r\nknow, he says, the name of Agesilaus’s daughter, nor of Epaminondas’s mother.\r\nBut in the records of Laconia, we ourselves found his wife’s name to have been\r\nCleora, and his two daughters to have been called Eupolia and Prolyta. And you\r\nmay also to this day see Agesilaus’s spear kept in Sparta, nothing differing\r\nfrom that of other men.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was a vanity he observed among the Spartans, about keeping running horses\r\nfor the Olympic games, upon which he found they much valued themselves.\r\nAgesilaus regarded it as a display not of any real virtue, but of wealth and\r\nexpense; and to make this evident to the Greeks, induced his sister, Cynisca,\r\nto send a chariot into the course. He kept with him Xenophon, the philosopher,\r\nand made much of him, and proposed to him to send for his children, and educate\r\nthem at Sparta, where they would be taught the best of all learning; how to\r\nobey, and how to command. Finding on Lysander’s death a large faction formed,\r\nwhich he on his return from Asia had established against Agesilaus, he thought\r\nit advisable to expose both him and it, by showing what manner of a citizen he\r\nhad been whilst he lived. To that end, finding among his writings all oration,\r\ncomposed by Cleon the Halicarnassean, but to have been spoken by Lysander in a\r\npublic assembly, to excite the people to innovations and changes in the\r\ngovernment, he resolved to publish it, as an evidence of Lysander’s practices.\r\nBut one of the Elders having the perusal of it, and finding it powerfully\r\nwritten, advised him to have a care of digging up Lysander again, and rather\r\nbury that oration in the grave with him; and this advice he wisely hearkened\r\nto, and hushed the whole thing up; and ever after forbore publicly to affront\r\nany of his adversaries, but took occasions of picking out the ringleaders, and\r\nsending them away upon foreign services. He thus had means for exposing the\r\navarice and the injustice of many of them in their employments; and again when\r\nthey were by others brought into question, he made it his business to bring\r\nthem off, obliging them, by that means, of enemies to become his friends, and\r\nso by degrees left none remaining.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgesipolis, his fellow king, was under the disadvantage of being born of an\r\nexiled father, and himself young, modest, and inactive, meddled not much in\r\naffairs. Agesilaus took a course of gaining him over, and making him entirely\r\ntractable. According to the custom of Sparta, the kings, if they were in town,\r\nalways dined together. This was Agesilaus’s opportunity of dealing with\r\nAgesipolis, whom he found quick, as he himself was, in forming attachments for\r\nyoung men, and accordingly talked with him always on such subjects, joining and\r\naiding him, and acting as his confidant, such attachments in Sparta being\r\nentirely honorable, and attended always with lively feeling of modesty, love of\r\nvirtue, and a noble emulation; of which more is said in Lycurgus’s life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving thus established his power in the city, he easily obtained that his\r\nhalf-brother Teleutias might be chosen admiral, and thereupon making all\r\nexpedition against the Corinthians, he made himself master of the long walls by\r\nland, through the assistance of his brother at sea. Coming thus upon the\r\nArgives, who then held Corinth, in the midst of their Isthmian festival, he\r\nmade them fly from the sacrifice they had just commenced, and leave all their\r\nfestive provision behind them. The exiled Corinthians that were in the Spartan\r\narmy, desired him to keep the feast, and to preside in the celebration of it.\r\nThis he refused, but gave them leave to carry on the solemnity if they pleased,\r\nand he in the meantime stayed and guarded them. When Agesilaus marched off, the\r\nArgives returned and celebrated the games over again, when some who were\r\nvictors before, became victors a second time, others lost the prizes which\r\nbefore they had gained. Agesilaus thus made it clear to everybody, that the\r\nArgives must in their own eyes have been guilty of great cowardice, since they\r\nset such a value on presiding at the games, and yet had not dared to fight for\r\nit. He himself was of opinion, that to keep a mean in such things was best; he\r\nassisted at the sports and dances usual in his own country, and was always\r\nready and eager to be present at the exercises either of the young men, or of\r\nthe girls, but things that many men used to be highly taken with, he seemed not\r\nat all concerned about. Callippides, the tragic actor, who had a great name in\r\nall Greece and was made much of, once met and saluted him; of which when he\r\nfound no notice taken, he confidently thrust himself into his train, expecting\r\nthat Agesilaus would pay him some attention. When all that failed, he boldly\r\naccosted him, and asked him, whether he did not remember him? Agesilaus turned,\r\nand looking him in the face, “Are you not,” said he, “Callippides the showman?”\r\nBeing invited once to hear a man who admirably imitated the nightingale, he\r\ndeclined, saying, he had heard the nightingale itself. Menecrates, the\r\nphysician, having had great success in some desperate diseases, was by way of\r\nflattery called Jupiter; he was so vain as to take the name, and having\r\noccasion to write a letter to Agesilaus, thus addressed it: “Jupiter Menecrates\r\nto King Agesilaus, greeting.” The king returned answer: “Agesilaus to\r\nMenecrates, health and a sound mind.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst Agesilaus was in the Corinthian territories, having just taken the\r\nHeraeum, he was looking on while his soldiers were carrying away the prisoners\r\nand the plunder, when ambassadors from Thebes came to him to treat of peace.\r\nHaving a great aversion for that city, and thinking it then advantageous to his\r\naffairs publicly to slight them, he took the opportunity, and would not seem\r\neither to see them, or hear them speak. But as if on purpose to punish him in\r\nhis pride, before they parted from him, messengers came with news of the\r\ncomplete slaughter of one of the Spartan divisions by Iphicrates, a greater\r\ndisaster than had befallen them for many years; and that the more grievous,\r\nbecause it was a choice regiment of full-armed Lacedaemonians overthrown by a\r\nparcel of mere mercenary targeteers. Agesilaus leapt from his seat, to go at\r\nonce to their rescue, but found it too late, the business being over. He\r\ntherefore returned to the Heraeum, and sent for the Theban ambassadors to give\r\nthem audience. They now resolved to be even with him for the affront he gave\r\nthem, and without speaking one word of the peace, only desired leave to go into\r\nCorinth. Agesilaus, irritated with this proposal, told them in scorn, that if\r\nthey were anxious to go and see how proud their friends were of their success,\r\nthey should do it tomorrow with safety. Next morning, taking the ambassadors\r\nwith him, he ravaged the Corinthian territories, up to the very gates of the\r\ncity, where having made a stand, and let the ambassadors see that the\r\nCorinthians durst not come out to defend themselves, he dismissed them. Then\r\ngathering up the small remainders of the shattered regiment, he marched\r\nhomewards, always removing his camp before day, and always pitching his tents\r\nafter night, that he might prevent their enemies among the Arcadians from\r\ntaking any opportunity of insulting over their loss.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, at the request of the Achaeans, he marched with them into\r\nAcarnania, and there collected great spoils, and defeated the Acarnanians in\r\nbattle. The Achaeans would have persuaded him to keep his winter quarters\r\nthere, to hinder the Acarnanians from sowing their corn; but he was of the\r\ncontrary opinion, alleging, that they would be more afraid of a war next\r\nsummer, when their fields were sown, than they would be if they lay fallow. The\r\nevent justified his opinion; for next summer, when the Achaeans began their\r\nexpedition again, the Acarnanians immediately made peace with them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Conon and Pharnabazus with the Persian navy were grown masters of the sea,\r\nand had not only infested the coast of Laconia, but also rebuilt the walls of\r\nAthens at the cost of Pharnabazus, the Lacedaemonians thought fit to treat of\r\npeace with the king of Persia. To that end, they sent Antalcidas to Tiribazus,\r\nbasely and wickedly betraying the Asiatic Greeks, on whose behalf Agesilaus had\r\nmade the war. But no part of this dishonor fell upon Agesilaus, the whole being\r\ntransacted by Antalcidas, who was his bitter enemy, and was urgent for peace\r\nupon any terms, because war was sure to increase his power and reputation.\r\nNevertheless once being told by way of reproach, that the Lacedaemonians had\r\ngone over to the Medes, he replied, “No, the Medes have come over to the\r\nLacedaemonians.” And when the Greeks were backward to submit to the agreement,\r\nhe threatened them with war, unless they fulfilled the king of Persia’s\r\nconditions, his particular end in this being to weaken the Thebans; for it was\r\nmade one of the articles of peace, that the country of Boeotia should be left\r\nindependent. This feeling of his to Thebes appeared further afterwards, when\r\nPhoebidas, in full peace, most unjustifiably seized upon the Cadmea. The thing\r\nwas much resented by all Greece, and not well liked by the Lacedaemonians\r\nthemselves; those especially who were enemies to Agesilaus, required an account\r\nof the action, and by whose authority it was done, laying the suspicion of it\r\nat his door. Agesilaus resolutely answered, on the behalf of Phoebidas, that\r\nthe profitableness of the act was chiefly to be considered; if it were for the\r\nadvantage of the commonwealth, it was no matter whether it were done with or\r\nwithout authority. This was the more remarkable in him, because in his ordinary\r\nlanguage, he was always observed to be a great maintainer of justice, and would\r\ncommend it as the chief of virtues, saying, that valor without justice was\r\nuseless, and if all the world were just, there would be no need of valor. When\r\nany would say to him, the Great King will have it so; he would reply, “How is\r\nhe greater than I, unless he be juster?” nobly and rightly taking, as a sort of\r\nroyal measure of greatness, justice, and not force. And thus when, on the\r\nconclusion of the peace, the king of Persia wrote to Agesilaus, desiring a\r\nprivate friendship and relations of hospitality, he refused it, saying, that\r\nthe public friendship was enough; whilst that lasted there was no need of\r\nprivate. Yet in his acts he was not constant to his doctrine, but sometimes out\r\nof ambition, and sometimes out of private pique, he let himself be carried\r\naway; and particularly in this case of the Thebans, he not only saved\r\nPhoebidas, but persuaded the Lacedaemonians to take the fault upon themselves,\r\nand to retain the Cadmea, putting a garrison into it, and to put the government\r\nof Thebes into the hands of Archias and Leontidas, who had been betrayers of\r\nthe castle to them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis excited strong suspicion that what Phoebidas did was by Agesilaus’s order,\r\nwhich was corroborated by after occurrences. For when the Thebans had expelled\r\nthe garrison, and asserted their liberty, he, accusing them of the murder of\r\nArchias and Leontidas, who indeed were tyrants, though in name holding the\r\noffice of Polemarchs, made war upon them. He sent Cleombrotus on that errand,\r\nwho was now his fellow king, in the place of Agesipolis, who was dead, excusing\r\nhimself by reason of his age; for it was forty years since he had first borne\r\narms, and he was consequently exempt by the law; meanwhile the true reason was,\r\nthat he was ashamed, having so lately fought against tyranny in behalf of the\r\nPhliasians, to fight now in defense of a tyranny against the Thebans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOne Sphodrias, of Lacedaemon, of the contrary faction to Agesilaus, was\r\ngovernor in Thespiae, a bold and enterprising man, though he had perhaps more\r\nof confidence than wisdom. This action of Phoebidas fired him, and incited his\r\nambition to attempt some great enterprise, which might render him as famous as\r\nhe perceived the taking of the Cadmea had made Phoebidas. He thought the sudden\r\ncapture of the Piraeus, and the cutting off thereby the Athenians from the sea,\r\nwould be a matter of far more glory. It is said, too, that Pelopidas and Melon,\r\nthe chief captains of Boeotia, put him upon it; that they privily sent men to\r\nhim, pretending to be of the Spartan faction, who, highly commending Sphodrias,\r\nfilled him with a great opinion of himself, protesting him to be the only man\r\nin the world that was fit for so great an enterprise. Being thus stimulated, he\r\ncould hold no longer, but hurried into an attempt as dishonorable and\r\ntreacherous as that of the Cadmea, but executed with less valor and less\r\nsuccess; for the day broke whilst he was yet in the Thriasian plain, whereas he\r\ndesigned the whole exploit to have been done in the night. As soon as the\r\nsoldiers perceived the rays of light reflecting from the temples of Eleusis,\r\nupon the first rising of the sun, it is said that their hearts failed them;\r\nnay, he himself, when he saw that he could not have the benefit of the night,\r\nhad not courage enough to go on with his enterprise; but, having pillaged the\r\ncountry, he returned with shame to Thespiae. An embassy was upon this sent from\r\nAthens to Sparta, to complain of the breach of peace; but the ambassadors found\r\ntheir journey needless, Sphodrias being then under process by the magistrates\r\nof Sparta. Sphodrias durst not stay to expect judgment, which he found would be\r\ncapital, the city being highly incensed against him, out of the shame they felt\r\nat the business, and their desire to appear in the eyes of the Athenians as\r\nfellow-sufferers; in the wrong, rather than accomplices in its being done.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis Sphodrias had a son of great beauty named Cleonymus, to whom Archidamus,\r\nthe son of Agesilaus, was extremely attached. Archidamus, as became him, was\r\nconcerned for the danger of his friend’s father, but yet he durst not do\r\nanything openly for his assistance, he being one of the professed enemies of\r\nAgesilaus. But Cleonymus having solicited him with tears about it, as knowing\r\nAgesilaus to be of all his father’s enemies the most formidable, the young man\r\nfor two or three days followed after his father with such fear and confusion,\r\nthat he durst not speak to him. At last, the day of sentence being at hand, he\r\nventured to tell him, that Cleonymus had entreated him to intercede for his\r\nfather Agesilaus, though well aware of the love between the two young men, yet\r\ndid not prohibit it, because Cleonymus from his earliest years had been looked\r\nupon as a youth of very great promise; yet he gave not his son any kind or\r\nhopeful answer in the case, but coldly told him, that he would consider what he\r\ncould honestly and honorably do in it, and so dismissed him. Archidamus, being\r\nashamed of his want of success, forbore the company of Cleonymus, whom he\r\nusually saw several times every day. This made the friends of Sphodrias to\r\nthink his case desperate, till Etymocles, one of Agesilaus’s friends,\r\ndiscovered to them the king’s mind, namely, that he abhorred the fact, but yet\r\nhe thought Sphodrias a gallant man, such as the commonwealth much wanted at\r\nthat time. For Agesilaus used to talk thus concerning the cause, out of a\r\ndesire to gratify his son. And now Cleonymus quickly understood, that\r\nArchidamus had been true to him, in using all his interest with his father; and\r\nSphodrias’s friends ventured to be forward in his defense. The truth is, that\r\nAgesilaus was excessively fond of his children; and it is to him the story\r\nbelongs, that when they were little ones, he used to make a horse of a stick,\r\nand ride with them; and being caught at this sport by a friend, he desired him\r\nnot to mention it, till he himself were the father of children.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMeanwhile, Sphodrias being acquitted, the Athenians betook themselves to arms,\r\nand Agesilaus fell into disgrace with the people; since to gratify the whims of\r\na boy, he had been willing to pervert justice, and make the city accessory to\r\nthe crimes of private men, whose most unjustifiable actions had broken the\r\npeace of Greece. He also found his colleague, Cleombrotus, little inclined to\r\nthe Theban war; so that it became necessary for him to waive the privilege of\r\nhis age, which he before had claimed, and to lead the army himself into\r\nBoeotia; which he did with variety of success, sometimes conquering, and\r\nsometimes conquered; insomuch that receiving a wound in a battle, he was\r\nreproached by Antalcidas, that the Thebans had paid him well for the lessons he\r\nhad given them in fighting. And, indeed, they were now grown far better\r\nsoldiers than ever they had been, being so continually kept in training, by the\r\nfrequency of the Lacedaemonian expeditions against them. Out of the foresight\r\nof which it was, that anciently Lycurgus, in three several laws, forbade them\r\nto make many wars with the same nation, as this would be to instruct their\r\nenemies in the art of it. Meanwhile, the allies of Sparta were not a little\r\ndiscontented at Agesilaus, because this war was commenced not upon any fair\r\npublic ground of quarrel, but merely out of his private hatred to the Thebans;\r\nand they complained with indignation, that they, being the majority of the\r\narmy, should from year to year be thus exposed to danger and hardship here and\r\nthere, at the will of a few persons. It was at this time, we are told, that\r\nAgesilaus, to obviate the objection, devised this expedient, to show the allies\r\nwere not the greater number. He gave orders that all the allies, of whatever\r\ncountry, should sit down promiscuously on one side, and all the Lacedaemonians\r\non the other: which being done, he commanded a herald to proclaim, that all the\r\npotters of both divisions should stand out; then all the blacksmiths; then all\r\nthe masons; next the carpenters; and so he went through all the handicrafts. By\r\nthis time almost all the allies were risen, but of the Lacedaemonians not a\r\nman, they being by law forbidden to learn any mechanical business; and now\r\nAgesilaus laughed and said, “You see, my friends, how many more soldiers we\r\nsend out than you do.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he brought back his army from Boeotia through Megara, as he was going up\r\nto the magistrate’s office in the Acropolis, he was suddenly seized with pain\r\nand cramp in his sound leg, and great swelling and inflammation ensued. He was\r\ntreated by a Syracusan physician, who let him blood below the ankle; this soon\r\neased his pain, but then the blood could not be stopped, till the loss of it\r\nbrought on fainting and swooning; at length, with much trouble, he stopped it.\r\nAgesilaus was carried home to Sparta in a very weak condition, and did not\r\nrecover strength enough to appear in the field for a long time after.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMeanwhile, the Spartan fortune was but ill; they received many losses both by\r\nsea and land; but the greatest was that at Tegyrae, when for the first time\r\nthey were beaten by the Thebans in a set battle.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll the Greeks were, accordingly, disposed to a general peace, and to that end\r\nambassadors came to Sparta. Among these was Epaminondas, the Theban, famous at\r\nthat time for his philosophy and learning, but he had not yet given proof of\r\nhis capacity as a general. He, seeing all the others crouch to Agesilaus, and\r\ncourt favor with him, alone maintained the dignity of an ambassador, and with\r\nthat freedom that became his character, made a speech in behalf not of Thebes\r\nonly, from whence he came, but of all Greece, remonstrating, that Sparta alone\r\ngrew great by war, to the distress and suffering of all her neighbors. He\r\nurged, that a peace should be made upon just and equal terms, such as alone\r\nwould be a lasting one, which could not otherwise be done, than by reducing all\r\nto equality. Agesilaus, perceiving all the other Greeks to give much attention\r\nto this discourse, and to be pleased with it, presently asked him, whether he\r\nthought it a part of this justice and equality that the Boeotian towns should\r\nenjoy their independence. Epaminondas instantly and without wavering asked him\r\nin return, whether he thought it just and equal that the Laconian towns should\r\nenjoy theirs. Agesilaus started from his seat and bade him once for all speak\r\nout and say whether or not Boeotia should be independent. And when Epaminondas\r\nreplied once again with the same inquiry, whether Laconia should be so,\r\nAgesilaus was so enraged that, availing himself of the pretext he immediately\r\nstruck the name of the Thebans out of the league, and declared war against\r\nthem. With the rest of the Greeks he made a peace, and dismissed them with this\r\nsaying, that what could be peaceably adjusted, should; what was otherwise\r\nincurable, must be committed to the success of war, it being a thing of too\r\ngreat difficulty to provide for all things by treaty. The Ephors upon this\r\ndispatched their orders to Cleombrotus, who was at that time in Phocis, to\r\nmarch directly into Boeotia, and at the same time sent to their allies for aid.\r\nThe confederates were very tardy in the business, and unwilling to engage, but\r\nas yet they feared the Spartans too much to dare to refuse. And although many\r\nportents, and prodigies of ill presage, which I have mentioned in the life of\r\nEpaminondas, had appeared; and though Prothous, the Laconian, did all he could\r\nto hinder it, yet Agesilaus would needs go forward, and prevailed so, that the\r\nwar was decreed. He thought the present juncture of affairs very advantageous\r\nfor their revenge, the rest of Greece being wholly free, and the Thebans\r\nexcluded from the peace. But that this war was undertaken more upon passion\r\nthan judgment, the event may prove; for the treaty was finished but the\r\nfourteenth of Scirophorion, and the Lacedaemonians received their great\r\noverthrow at Leuctra, on the fifth of Hecatombaeon, within twenty days. There\r\nfell at that time a thousand, Spartans, and Cleombrotus their king, and around\r\nhim the bravest men of the nation; particularly, the beautiful youth, Cleonymus\r\nthe son of Sphodrias, who was thrice struck down at the feet of the king, and\r\nas often rose, but was slain at the last.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis unexpected blow, which fell so heavy upon the Lacedaemonians, brought\r\ngreater glory to Thebes than ever was acquired by any other of the Grecian\r\nrepublics, in their civil wars against each other. The behavior,\r\nnotwithstanding, of the Spartans, though beaten, was as great, and as highly to\r\nbe admired, as that of the Thebans. And indeed, if, as Xenophon says, in\r\nconversation good men even in their sports and at their wine let fall many\r\nsayings that are worth the preserving; how much more worthy to be recorded, is\r\nan exemplary constancy of mind, as shown both in the words and in the acts of\r\nbrave men, when they are pressed by adverse fortune! It happened that the\r\nSpartans were celebrating a solemn feast, at which many strangers were present\r\nfrom other countries, and the town full of them, when this news of the\r\noverthrow came. It was the gymnopaediae, and the boys were dancing in the\r\ntheater, when the messengers arrived from Leuctra. The Ephors, though they were\r\nsufficiently aware that this blow had ruined the Spartan power, and that their\r\nprimacy over the rest of Greece was gone for ever, yet gave orders that the\r\ndances should not break off, nor any of the celebration of the festival abate;\r\nbut privately sending the names of the slain to each family, out of which they\r\nwere lost, they continued the public spectacles. The next morning, when they\r\nhad full intelligence concerning it, and everybody knew who were slain, and who\r\nsurvived, the fathers, relatives, and friends of the slain came out rejoicing\r\nin the market-place, saluting each other with a kind of exultation; on the\r\ncontrary, the fathers of the survivors hid themselves at home among the women.\r\nIf necessity drove any of them abroad, they went very dejectedly, with downcast\r\nlooks, and sorrowful countenances. The women outdid the men in it; those whose\r\nsons were slain, openly rejoicing, cheerfully making visits to one another, and\r\nmeeting triumphantly in the temples; they who expected their children home,\r\nbeing very silent, and much troubled.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the people in general, when their allies now began to desert them, and\r\nEpaminondas, in all the confidence of victory, was expected with an invading\r\narmy in Peloponnesus, began to think again of Agesilaus’s lameness, and to\r\nentertain feelings of religious fear and despondency, as if their having\r\nrejected the sound-footed, and having chosen the halting king, which the oracle\r\nhad specially warned them against, was the occasion of all their distresses.\r\nYet the regard they had to the merit and reputation of Agesilaus, so far\r\nstilled this murmuring of the people, that notwithstanding it, they entrusted\r\nthemselves to him in this distress, as the only man that was fit to heal the\r\npublic malady, the arbiter of all their difficulties, whether relating to the\r\naffairs of war or peace. One great one was then before them, concerning the\r\nrunaways (as their name is for them) that had fled out of the battle, who being\r\nmany and powerful, it was feared that they might make some commotion in the\r\nrepublic, to prevent the execution of the law upon them for their cowardice.\r\nThe law in that case was very severe; for they were not only to be debarred\r\nfrom all honors, but also it was a disgrace to intermarry with them; whoever\r\nmet any of them in the streets, might beat him if he chose, nor was it lawful\r\nfor him to resist; they in the meanwhile were obliged to go about unwashed and\r\nmeanly dressed, with their clothes patched with divers colors, and to wear\r\ntheir beards half shaved half unshaven. To execute so rigid a law as this, in a\r\ncase where the offenders were so many, and many of them of such distinction,\r\nand that in a time when the commonwealth wanted soldiers so much as then it\r\ndid, was of dangerous consequence. Therefore they chose Agesilaus as a sort of\r\nnew lawgiver for the occasion. But he, without adding to or diminishing from or\r\nany way changing the law, came out into the public assembly, and said, that the\r\nlaw should sleep for today, but from this day forth be vigorously executed. By\r\nthis means he at once preserved the law from abrogation, and the citizens from\r\ninfamy; and that he might alleviate the despondency and self-distrust of the\r\nyoung men, he made an inroad into Arcadia, where carefully avoiding all\r\nfighting, he contented himself with spoiling the territory, and taking a small\r\ntown belonging to the Mantineans, thus reviving the hearts of the people,\r\nletting them see that they were not everywhere unsuccessful.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nEpaminondas now invaded Laconia, with an army of forty thousand, besides\r\nlight-armed men and others that followed the camp only for plunder, so that in\r\nall they were at least seventy thousand. It was now six hundred years since the\r\nDorians had possessed Laconia, and in all that time the face of an enemy had\r\nnot been seen within their territories, no man daring to invade them; but now\r\nthey made their entrance, and burnt and plundered without resistance the\r\nhitherto untouched and sacred territory, up to Eurotas, and the very suburbs of\r\nSparta; for Agesilaus would not permit them to encounter so impetuous a\r\ntorrent, as Theopompus calls it, of war. He contented himself with fortifying\r\nthe chief parts of the city, and with placing guards in convenient places,\r\nenduring meanwhile the taunts of the Thebans, who reproached him by name as the\r\nkindler of the war, and the author of all that mischief to his country, bidding\r\nhim defend himself if he could. But this was not all; he was equally disturbed\r\nat home with the tumults of the city, the outcries and running about of the old\r\nmen, who were enraged at their present condition, and the women, yet worse, out\r\nof their senses with the clamors, and the fires of the enemy in the field. He\r\nwas also himself afflicted by the sense of his lost glory; who having come to\r\nthe throne of Sparta when it was in its most flourishing and powerful\r\ncondition, now lived to see it laid low in esteem, and all its great vaunts cut\r\ndown, even that which he himself had been accustomed to use, that the women of\r\nSparta had never seen the smoke of the enemy’s fire. As it is said, also, that\r\nwhen Antalcidas once being in dispute with an Athenian about the valor of the\r\ntwo nations, the Athenian boasted, that they had often driven the Spartans from\r\nthe river Cephisus, “Yes,” said Antalcidas, “but we never had occasion to drive\r\nyou from Eurotas.” And a common Spartan of less note, being in company with an\r\nArgive, who was bragging how many Spartans lay buried in the fields of Argos,\r\nreplied, “None of you are buried in the country of Laconia.” Yet now the case\r\nwas so altered, that Antalcidas, being one of the Ephors, out of fear sent away\r\nhis children privately to the island of Cythera.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the enemy essayed to get over the river, and thence to attack the town,\r\nAgesilaus, abandoning the rest, betook himself to the high places and\r\nstrong-holds of it. But it happened, that Eurotas at that time was swollen to a\r\ngreat height with the snow that had fallen, and made the passage very difficult\r\nto the Thebans, not only by its depth, but much more by its extreme coldness.\r\nWhilst this was doing, Epaminondas was seen in the front of the phalanx, and\r\nwas pointed out to Agesilaus, who looked long at him, and said but these words,\r\n“O, bold man!” But when he came to the city, and would have fain attempted\r\nsomething within the limits of it that might raise him a trophy there, he could\r\nnot tempt Agesilaus out of his hold, but was forced to march off again, wasting\r\nthe country as he went.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMeanwhile, a body of long discontented and bad citizens, about two hundred in\r\nnumber, having got into a strong part of the town called the Issorion, where\r\nthe temple of Diana stands, seized and garrisoned it. The Spartans would have\r\nfallen upon them instantly; but Agesilaus, not knowing how far the sedition\r\nmight reach, bade them forbear, and going himself in his ordinary dress, with\r\nbut one servant, when he came near the rebels, called out, and told them, that\r\nthey mistook their orders; this was not the right place; they were to go, one\r\npart of them thither, showing them another place in the city, and part to\r\nanother, which he also showed. The conspirators gladly heard this, thinking\r\nthemselves unsuspected of treason, and readily went off to the places which he\r\nshowed them. Whereupon Agesilaus placed in their room a guard of his own; and\r\nof the conspirators he apprehended fifteen, and put them to death in the night.\r\nBut after this, a much more dangerous conspiracy was discovered of Spartan\r\ncitizens, who had privately met in each other’s houses, plotting a revolution.\r\nThese were men whom it was equally dangerous to prosecute publicly according to\r\nlaw, and to connive at. Agesilaus took counsel with the Ephors, and put these\r\nalso to death privately without process; a thing never before known in the case\r\nof any born Spartan.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt this time, also, many of the Helots and country people, who were in the\r\narmy, ran away to the enemy, which was matter of great consternation to the\r\ncity. He therefore caused some officers of his, every morning before day, to\r\nsearch the quarters of the soldiers, and where any man was gone, to hide his\r\narms, that so the greatness of the number might not appear.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHistorians differ about the cause of the Thebans’ departure from Sparta. Some\r\nsay, the winter forced them; as also that the Arcadian soldiers disbanding,\r\nmade it necessary for the rest to retire. Others say, that they stayed there\r\nthree months, till they had laid the whole country waste. Theopompus is the\r\nonly author who says that when the Boeotian generals had already resolved upon\r\nthe retreat, Phrixus, the Spartan, came to them, and offered them from\r\nAgesilaus ten talents to be gone, so hiring them to do what they were already\r\ndoing of their own accord. How he alone should come to be aware of this, I know\r\nnot; only in this all authors agree, that the saving of Sparta from ruin was\r\nwholly due to the wisdom of Agesilaus, who in this extremity of affairs quitted\r\nall his ambition and his haughtiness, and resolved to play a saving game. But\r\nall his wisdom and courage was not sufficient to recover the glory of it, and\r\nto raise it to its ancient greatness. For as we see in human bodies, long used\r\nto a very strict and too exquisitely regular diet, any single great disorder is\r\nusually fatal; so here one stroke overthrew the whole State’s long prosperity.\r\nNor can we be surprised at this. Lycurgus had formed a polity admirably\r\ndesigned for the peace, harmony, and virtuous life of the citizens; and their\r\nfall came from their assuming foreign dominion and arbitrary sway, things\r\nwholly undesirable, in the judgment of Lycurgus, for a well-conducted and happy\r\nState.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgesilaus being now in years, gave over all military employments; but his son\r\nArchidamus, having received help from Dionysius of Sicily, gave a great defeat\r\nto the Arcadians, in the fight known by the name of the Tearless Battle, in\r\nwhich there was a great slaughter of the enemy, without the loss of one\r\nSpartan. Yet this victory, more than anything else, discovered the present\r\nweakness of Sparta; for heretofore victory was esteemed so usual a thing with\r\nthem, that for their greatest successes, they merely sacrificed a cock to the\r\ngods. The soldiers never vaunted, nor did the citizens display any great joy at\r\nthe news; even when the great victory, described by Thucydides, was obtained at\r\nMantinea, the messenger that brought the news had no other reward than a piece\r\nof meat, sent by the magistrates from the common table. But at the news of this\r\nArcadian victory, they were not able to contain themselves; Agesilaus went out\r\nin procession with tears of joy in his eyes, to meet and embrace his son, and\r\nall the magistrates and public officers attended him. The old men and the women\r\nmarched out as far as the river Eurotas, lifting up their hands, and thanking\r\nthe gods, that Sparta was now cleared again of the disgrace and indignity that\r\nhad befallen her, and once more saw the light of day. Since before, they tell\r\nus, the Spartan men, out of shame at their disasters, did not dare so much as\r\nto look their wives in the face.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Epaminondas restored Messene, and recalled from all quarters the ancient\r\ncitizens to inhabit it, they were not able to obstruct the design, being not in\r\ncondition of appearing in the field against them. But it went greatly against\r\nAgesilaus in the minds of his countrymen, when they found so large a territory,\r\nequal to their own in compass, and for fertility the richest of all Greece,\r\nwhich they had enjoyed so long, taken from them in his reign. Therefore it was\r\nthat the king broke off treaty with the Thebans, when they offered him peace,\r\nrather than set his hand to the passing away of that country, though it was\r\nalready taken from him. Which point of honor had like to have cost him dear;\r\nfor not long after he was overreached by a stratagem, which had almost amounted\r\nto the loss of Sparta. For when the Mantineans again revolted from Thebes to\r\nSparta, and Epaminondas understood that Agesilaus was come to their assistance\r\nwith a powerful army, he privately in the night quitted his quarters at Tegea,\r\nand unknown to the Mantineans, passing by Agesilaus, marched towards Sparta,\r\ninsomuch that he failed very little of taking it empty and unarmed. Agesilaus\r\nhad intelligence sent him by Euthynus, the Thespian, as Callisthenes says, but\r\nXenophon says by a Cretan; and immediately dispatched a horseman to Lacedaemon,\r\nto apprise them of it, and to let them know that he was hastening to them.\r\nShortly after his arrival the Thebans crossed the Eurotas. They made an assault\r\nupon the town, and were received by Agesilaus with great courage, and with\r\nexertions beyond what was to be expected at his years. For he did not now fight\r\nwith that caution and cunning which he formerly made use of, but put all upon a\r\ndesperate push; which, though not his usual method, succeeded so well, that he\r\nrescued the city out of the very hands of Epaminondas, and forced him to\r\nretire, and, at the erection of a trophy, was able, in the presence of their\r\nwives and children, to declare that the Lacedaemonians had nobly paid their\r\ndebt to their country, and particularly his son Archidamus, who had that day\r\nmade himself illustrious, both by his courage and agility of body, rapidly\r\npassing about by the short lanes to every endangered point, and everywhere\r\nmaintaining the town against the enemy with but few to help him. Isadas,\r\nhowever, the son of Phoebidas, must have been, I think, the admiration of the\r\nenemy as well as of his friends. He was a youth of remarkable beauty and\r\nstature, in the very flower of the most attractive time of life, when the boy\r\nis just rising into the man. He had no arms upon him, and scarcely clothes; he\r\nhad just anointed himself at home, when upon the alarm, without further\r\nwaiting, in that undress, he snatched a spear in one hand, and a sword in the\r\nother, and broke his way through the combatants to the enemies, striking at all\r\nhe met. He received no wound, whether it were that a special divine care\r\nrewarded his valor with an extraordinary protection, or whether his shape being\r\nso large and beautiful, and his dress so unusual, they thought him more than a\r\nman. The Ephors gave him a garland; but as soon as they had done so, they fined\r\nhim a thousand drachmas, for going out to battle unarmed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA few days after this there was another battle fought near Mantinea, in which\r\nEpaminondas, having routed the van of the Lacedaemonians, was eager in the\r\npursuit of them, when Anticrates, the Laconian, wounded him with a spear, says\r\nDioscorides; but the Spartans to this day call the posterity of this\r\nAnticrates, swordsmen, because he wounded Epaminondas with a sword. They so\r\ndreaded Epaminondas when living, that the slayer of him was embraced and\r\nadmired by all; they decreed honors and gifts to him, and an exemption from\r\ntaxes to his posterity, a privilege enjoyed at this day by Callicrates, one of\r\nhis descendants.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nEpaminondas being slain, there was a general peace again concluded, from which\r\nAgesilaus’s party excluded the Messenians, as men that had no city, and\r\ntherefore would not let them swear to the league; to which when the rest of the\r\nGreeks admitted them, the Lacedaemonians broke off, and continued the war\r\nalone, in hopes of subduing the Messenians. In this Agesilaus was esteemed a\r\nstubborn and headstrong man, and insatiable of war, who took such pains to\r\nundermine the general peace, and to protract the war at a time when he had not\r\nmoney to carry it on with, but was forced to borrow of his friends and raise\r\nsubscriptions, with much difficulty, while the city, above all things, needed\r\nrepose. And all this to recover the one poor town of Messene, after he had lost\r\nso great an empire both by sea and land, as the Spartans were possessed of,\r\nwhen he began to reign.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut it added still more to his ill-repute when he put himself into the service\r\nof Tachos, the Egyptian. They thought it too unworthy of a man of his high\r\nstation, who was then looked upon as the first commander in all Greece, who had\r\nfilled all countries with his renown, to let himself out to hire to a\r\nbarbarian, an Egyptian rebel, (for Tachos was no better) and to fight for pay,\r\nas captain only of a band of mercenaries. If, they said, at those years of\r\neighty and odd, after his body had been worn out with age, and enfeebled with\r\nwounds, he had resumed that noble undertaking, the liberation of the Greeks\r\nfrom Persia, it had been worthy of some reproof. To make an action honorable,\r\nit ought to be agreeable to the age, and other circumstances of the person;\r\nsince it is circumstance and proper measure that give an action its character,\r\nand make it either good or bad. But Agesilaus valued not other men’s\r\ndiscourses; he thought no public employment dishonorable; the ignoblest thing\r\nin his esteem, was for a man to sit idle and useless at home, waiting for his\r\ndeath to come and take him. The money, therefore, that he received from Tachos,\r\nhe laid out in raising men, with whom having filled his ships, he took also\r\nthirty Spartan counselors with him, as formerly he had done in his Asiatic\r\nexpedition, and set sail for Egypt.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as he arrived in Egypt, all the great officers of the kingdom came to\r\npay their compliments to him at his landing. His reputation being so great had\r\nraised the expectation of the whole country, and crowds flocked in to see him;\r\nbut when they found, instead of the splendid prince whom they looked for, a\r\nlittle old man of contemptible appearance, without all ceremony lying down upon\r\nthe grass, in coarse and threadbare clothes, they fell into laughter and scorn\r\nof him, crying out, that the old proverb was; now made good, “The mountain had\r\nbrought forth a mouse.” They were yet more astonished at his stupidity, as they\r\nthought it, who, when presents were made him of all sorts of provisions, took\r\nonly the meal, the calves, and the geese, but rejected the sweetmeats, the\r\nconfections and perfumes; and when they urged him to the acceptance of them,\r\ntook them and gave them to the helots in his army. Yet he was taken,\r\nTheophrastus tells us, with the garlands they made of the papyrus, because of\r\ntheir simplicity, and when he returned home, he demanded one of the king, which\r\nhe carried with him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he joined with Tachos, he found his expectation of being general-in-chief\r\ndisappointed. Tachos reserved that place for himself, making Agesilaus only\r\ncaptain of the mercenaries, and Chabrias, the Athenian, commander of the fleet.\r\nThis was the first occasion of his discontent, but there followed others; he\r\nwas compelled daily to submit to the insolence and vanity of this Egyptian, and\r\nwas at length forced to attend him into Phoenicia, in a condition much below\r\nhis character and dignity, which he bore and put up with for a time, till he\r\nhad opportunity of showing his feelings. It was afforded him by Nectanabis, the\r\ncousin of Tachos, who commanded a large force under him, and shortly after\r\ndeserted him, and was proclaimed king by the Egyptians. This man invited\r\nAgesilaus to join his party, and the like he did to Chabrias, offering great\r\nrewards to both. Tachos, suspecting it, immediately applied himself both to\r\nAgesilaus and Chabrias, with great humility beseeching their continuance in his\r\nfriendship. Chabrias consented to it, and did what he could by persuasion and\r\ngood words to keep Agesilaus with them. But he gave this short reply, “You, O\r\nChabrias, came hither a volunteer, and may go and stay as you see cause; but I\r\nam the servant of Sparta, appointed to head the Egyptians, and therefore I\r\ncannot fight against those to whom I was sent as a friend, unless I am\r\ncommanded to do so by my country.” This being said, he dispatched messengers to\r\nSparta, who were sufficiently supplied with matter both for dispraise of\r\nTachos, and commendation of Nectanabis. The two Egyptians also sent their\r\nambassadors to Lacedaemon, the one to claim continuance of the league already\r\nmade, the other to make great offers for the breaking of it, and making a new\r\none. The Spartans having heard both sides, gave in their public answer, that\r\nthey referred the whole matter to Agesilaus; but privately wrote to him, to act\r\nas he should find it best for the profit of the commonwealth. Upon receipt of\r\nhis orders, he at once changed sides, carrying all the mercenaries with him to\r\nNectanabis, covering with the plausible presence of acting for the benefit of\r\nhis country, a most questionable piece of conduct, which, stripped of that\r\ndisguise, in real truth was no better than downright treachery. But the\r\nLacedaemonians, who make it their first principle of action to serve their\r\ncountry’s interest, know not anything to be just or unjust by any measure but\r\nthat.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTachos, being thus deserted by the mercenaries, fled for it; upon which a new\r\nking of the Mendesian province was proclaimed his successor, and came against\r\nNectanabis with an army of one hundred thousand men. Nectanabis, in his talk\r\nwith Agesilaus, professed to despise them as newly raised men, who, though many\r\nin number, were of no skill in war, being most of them mechanics and tradesmen,\r\nnever bred to war. To whom Agesilaus answered, that he did not fear their\r\nnumbers, but did fear their ignorance, which gave no room for employing\r\nstratagem against them. Stratagem only avails with men who are alive to\r\nsuspicion, and expecting to be assailed, expose themselves by their attempts at\r\ndefense; but one who has no thought or expectation of anything, gives as little\r\nopportunity to the enemy, as he who stands stock-still does to a wrestler. The\r\nMendesian was not wanting in solicitations of Agesilaus, insomuch that\r\nNectanabis grew jealous. But when Agesilaus advised to fight the enemy at once,\r\nsaying, it was folly to protract the war and rely on time, in a contest with\r\nmen who had no experience in fighting battles, but with their great numbers\r\nmight be able to surround them, and cut off their communications by\r\nentrenchments, and anticipate them in many matters of advantage, this\r\naltogether confirmed him in his fears and suspicions. He took quite the\r\ncontrary course, and retreated into a large and strongly fortified town.\r\nAgesilaus, finding himself mistrusted, took it very ill, and was full of\r\nindignation, yet was ashamed to change sides back again, or to go away without\r\neffecting anything, so that he was forced to follow Nectanabis into the town.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the enemy came up, and began to draw lines about the town, and to\r\nentrench, the Egyptian now resolved upon a battle, out of fear of a siege. And\r\nthe Greeks were eager for it, provisions growing already scarce in the town.\r\nWhen Agesilaus opposed it, the Egyptians then suspected him much more, publicly\r\ncalling him the betrayer of the king. But Agesilaus, being now satisfied within\r\nhimself, bore these reproaches patiently, and followed the design which he had\r\nlaid, of overreaching the enemy, which was this.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe enemy were forming a deep ditch and high wall, resolving to shut up the\r\ngarrison and starve it. When the ditch was brought almost quite round, and the\r\ntwo ends had all but met, he took the advantage of the night, and armed all his\r\nGreeks. Then going to the Egyptian, “This, young man, is your opportunity,”\r\nsaid he, “of saving yourself, which I all this while durst not announce, lest\r\ndiscovery should prevent it; but now the enemy has, at his own cost, and the\r\npains and labor of his own men, provided for our security. As much of this wall\r\nas is built will prevent them from surrounding us with their multitude, the gap\r\nyet left will be sufficient for us to sally out by; now play the man, and\r\nfollow the example the Greeks will give you, and by fighting valiantly, save\r\nyourself and your army; their front will not be able to stand against us, and\r\ntheir rear we are sufficiently secured from, by a wall of their own making.”\r\nNectanabis, admiring the sagacity of Agesilaus, immediately placed himself in\r\nthe middle of the Greek troops, and fought with them; and upon the first charge\r\nsoon routed the enemy. Agesilaus having now gained credit with the king,\r\nproceeded to use, like a trick in wrestling, the same stratagem over again. He\r\nsometimes pretended a retreat, at other times advanced to attack their flanks,\r\nand by this means at last drew them into a place enclosed between two ditches\r\nthat were very deep, and full of water. When he had them at this advantage, he\r\nsoon charged them, drawing up the front of his battle equal to the space\r\nbetween the two ditches, so that they had no way of surrounding him, being\r\nenclosed themselves on both sides. They made but little resistance; many fell,\r\nothers fled and were dispersed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNectanabis, being thus settled and fixed in his kingdom, with much kindness and\r\naffection invited Agesilaus to spend his winter in Egypt, but he made haste\r\nhome to assist in the wars of his own country, which was he knew in want of\r\nmoney, and forced to hire mercenaries, whilst their own men were fighting\r\nabroad. The king, therefore, dismissed him very honorably, and among other\r\ngifts presented him with two hundred and thirty talents of silver toward the\r\ncharge of the war. But the weather being tempestuous, his ships kept in shore,\r\nand passing along the coast of Africa he reached an uninhabited spot called the\r\nPort of Menelaus, and here, when his ships were just upon landing, he expired,\r\nbeing eighty-four years old, and having reigned in Lacedaemon forty-one. Thirty\r\nof which years he passed with the reputation of being the greatest and most\r\npowerful man of all Greece, and was looked upon as, in a manner, general and\r\nking of it, until the battle of Leuctra. It was the custom of the Spartans to\r\nbury their common dead in the place where they died, whatsoever country it was,\r\nbut their kings they carried home. The followers of Agesilaus, for want of\r\nhoney, enclosed his body in wax, and so conveyed him to Lacedaemon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis son Archidamus succeeded him on his throne; so did his posterity\r\nsuccessively to Agis, the fifth from Agesilaus; who was slain by Leonidas,\r\nwhile attempting to restore the ancient discipline of Sparta.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap45\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003ePOMPEY\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe people of Rome seem to have entertained for Pompey from his childhood, the\r\nsame affection that Prometheus in the tragedy of Aeschylus expresses for\r\nHercules, speaking of him as the author of his deliverance, in these words,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAh cruel Sire! how dear thy son to me!\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe generous offspring of my enemy!\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor on the one hand, never did the Romans give such demonstrations of a\r\nvehement and fierce hatred against any of their generals, as they did against\r\nStrabo, the father of Pompey; during whose lifetime, it is true, they stood in\r\nawe of his military power, as indeed he was a formidable warrior, but\r\nimmediately upon his death, which happened by a stroke of thunder, they treated\r\nhim with the utmost contumely, dragging his corpse from the bier, as it was\r\ncarried to his funeral. On the other side, never had any Roman the people’s\r\ngood-will and devotion more zealous throughout all the changes of fortune, more\r\nearly in its first springing up, or more steadily rising with his prosperity,\r\nor more constant in his adversity, than Pompey had. In Strabo, there was one\r\ngreat cause of their hatred, his insatiable covetousness; in Pompey, there were\r\nmany that helped to make him the object of their love; his temperance, his\r\nskill, and exercise in war, his eloquence of speech, integrity of mind and\r\naffability in conversation and address; insomuch that no man ever asked a favor\r\nwith less offense, or conferred one with a better grace. When he gave, it was\r\nwithout assumption, when he received, it was with dignity and honor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn his youth, his countenance pleaded for him, seeming to anticipate his\r\neloquence, and win upon the affections of the people before he spoke. His\r\nbeauty even in his bloom of youth had something in it at once of gentleness and\r\ndignity; and when his prime of manhood came, the majesty kingliness of his\r\ncharacter at once became visible in it. His hair sat somewhat hollow or rising\r\na little; and this, with the languishing motion of his eyes, seemed to form a\r\nresemblance in his face, though perhaps more talked of than really apparent, to\r\nthe statues of king Alexander. And because many applied that name to him in his\r\nyouth, Pompey himself did not decline it, insomuch that some called him so in\r\nderision. And Lucius Philippus, a man of consular dignity, when he was pleading\r\nin favor of him, thought it not unfit to say, that people could not be\r\nsurprised if Philip was a lover of Alexander.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is related of Flora, the courtesan, that when she was now pretty old; she\r\ntook great delight in speaking of her early familiarity with Pompey, and was\r\nwont to say, that she could never part after being with him without a bite. She\r\nwould further tell, that Geminius, a companion of Pompey’s, fell in love with\r\nher, and made his court with great importunity; and on her refusing, and\r\ntelling him, however her inclinations were, yet she could not gratify his\r\ndesires for Pompey’s sake, he therefore made his request to Pompey, and Pompey\r\nfrankly gave his consent, but never afterwards would have any converse with\r\nher, notwithstanding, that he seemed to have a great passion for her; and\r\nFlora, on this occasion, showed none of the levity that might have been\r\nexpected of her, but languished for some time after under a sickness brought on\r\nby grief and desire. This Flora, we are told, was such a celebrated beauty,\r\nthat Caecilius Metellus, when he adorned the temple of Castor and Pollux with\r\npaintings and statues, among the rest dedicated hers for her singular beauty.\r\nIn his conduct also to the wife of Demetrius, his freed servant, (who had great\r\ninfluence with him in his lifetime, and left an estate of four thousand\r\ntalents,) Pompey acted contrary to his usual habits, not quite fairly or\r\ngenerously, fearing lest he should fall under the common censure of being\r\nenamored and charmed with her beauty, which was irresistible, and became famous\r\neverywhere. Nevertheless, though he seemed to be so extremely circumspect and\r\ncautious, yet even in matters of this nature, he could not avoid the calumnies\r\nof his enemies, but upon the score of married women, they accused him, as if he\r\nhad connived at many things, and embezzled the public revenue to gratify their\r\nluxury.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf his easiness of temper and plainness, in what related to eating and\r\ndrinking, the story is told, that once in a sickness, when his stomach\r\nnauseated common meats, his physician prescribed him a thrush to eat; but upon\r\nsearch, there was none to be bought, for they were not then in season, and one\r\ntelling him they were to be had at Lucullus’s, who kept them all the year\r\nround, “So then,” said he, “if it were not for Lucullus’s luxury, Pompey should\r\nnot live;” and thereupon not minding the prescription of the physician, he\r\ncontented himself with such meat as could easily be procured. But this was at a\r\nlater time.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBeing as yet a very young man, and upon an expedition in which his father was\r\ncommanding against Cinna, he had in his tent with him one Lucius Terentius, as\r\nhis companion and comrade, who, being corrupted by Cinna, entered into an\r\nengagement to kill Pompey, as others had done, to set the general’s tent on\r\nfire. This conspiracy being discovered to Pompey at supper, he showed no\r\ndiscomposure at it, but on the contrary drank more liberally than usual, and\r\nexpressed great kindness to Terentius; but about bedtime, pretending to go to\r\nhis repose, he stole away secretly out of the tent, and setting a guard about\r\nhis father, quietly expected the event. Terentius, when he thought the proper\r\ntime come, rose with his naked sword, and coming to Pompey’s bedside, stabbed\r\nseveral strokes through the bedclothes, as if he were lying there. Immediately\r\nafter this there was a great uproar throughout all the camp, arising from the\r\nhatred they bore to the general, and a universal movement of the soldiers to\r\nrevolt, all tearing down their tents, and betaking themselves to their arms.\r\nThe general himself all this while durst not venture out because of the tumult;\r\nbut Pompey, going about in the midst of them, besought them with tears; and at\r\nlast threw himself prostrate upon his face before the gate of the camp, and lay\r\nthere in the passage at their feet, shedding tears, and bidding those that were\r\nmarching off, if they would go, trample upon him. Upon which, none could help\r\ngoing back again, and all, except eight hundred, either through shame or\r\ncompassion, repented, and were reconciled to the general.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nImmediately upon the death of Strabo, there was an action commenced against\r\nPompey, as his heir, for that his father had embezzled the public treasure. But\r\nPompey, having traced the principal thefts, charged them upon one Alexander, a\r\nfreed slave of his father’s, and proved before the judges that he had been the\r\nappropriator. But he himself was accused of having in his possession some\r\nhunting tackle, and books, that were taken at Asculum. To this he confessed\r\nthus far, that he received them from his father when he took Asculum, but\r\npleaded further, that he had lost them since, upon Cinna’s return to Rome when\r\nhis home was broken open and plundered by Cinna’s guards. In this cause he had\r\na great many preparatory pleadings against his accuser, in which he showed an\r\nactivity and steadfastness beyond his years, and gained great reputation and\r\nfavor; insomuch that Antistius, the praetor and judge of the cause, took a\r\ngreat liking to him, and offered him his daughter in marriage, having had some\r\ncommunications with his friends about it. Pompey accepted the proposal, and\r\nthey were privately contracted; however, the secret was not so closely kept as\r\nto escape the multitude, but it was discernible enough from the favor shown him\r\nby Antistius in his cause. And at last, when Antistius pronounced the\r\nabsolutory sentence of the judges, the people, as if it had been upon a signal\r\ngiven, made the acclamation used according to ancient custom, at marriages,\r\nTalasio. The origin of which custom is related to be this. At the time when the\r\ndaughters of the Sabines came to Rome, to see the shows and sports there, and\r\nwere violently seized upon by the most distinguished and bravest of the Romans\r\nfor wives, it happened that some goatswains and herdsmen of the meaner rank\r\nwere carrying off a beautiful and tall maiden; and lest any of their betters\r\nshould meet them, and take her away, as they ran, they cried out with one\r\nvoice, Talasio, Talasius being a well-known and popular person among them,\r\ninsomuch that all that heard the name, clapped their hands for joy, and joined\r\nwith them in the shout, as applauding and congratulating the chance. Now, say\r\nthey, because this proved a fortunate match to Talasius, hence it is that this\r\nacclamation is sportively used as a nuptial cry at all weddings. This is the\r\nmost credible of the accounts that are given of the Talasio. And some few days\r\nafter this judgment, Pompey married Antistia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this he went to Cinna’s camp, where finding some false suggestions and\r\ncalumnies prevailing against him, he began to be afraid and presently withdrew\r\nhimself secretly; which sudden disappearance occasioned great suspicion. And\r\nthere went a rumor and speech through all the camp, that Cinna had murdered the\r\nyoung man; upon which all that had been anyways disobliged, and bore any malice\r\nto him, resolved to make an assault upon him. He, endeavoring to make his\r\nescape, was seized by a centurion, who pursued him with his naked sword. Cinna,\r\nin this distress, fell upon his knees, and offered him his seal-ring, of great\r\nvalue, for his ransom; but the centurion repulsed him insolently, saying, “I\r\ndid not come to seal a covenant, but to be revenged upon a lawless and wicked\r\ntyrant;” and so dispatched him immediately.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus Cinna being slain, Carbo, a tyrant yet more senseless than he, took the\r\ncommand and exercised it, while Sylla meantime was approaching, much to the joy\r\nand satisfaction of most people, who in their present evils were ready to find\r\nsome comfort if it were but in the exchange of a master. For the city was\r\nbrought to that pass by oppression and calamities, that being utterly in\r\ndespair of liberty, men were only anxious for the mildest and most tolerable\r\nbondage. At that time Pompey was in Picenum in Italy, where he spent some time\r\namusing himself, as he had estates in the country there, though the chief\r\nmotive of his stay was the liking he felt for the towns of that district, which\r\nall regarded him with hereditary feelings of kindness and attachment. But when\r\nhe now saw that the noblest and best of the city began to forsake their homes\r\nand property, and fly from all quarters to Sylla’s camp, as to their haven, he\r\nlikewise was desirous to go; not, however, as a fugitive, alone and with\r\nnothing to offer, but as a friend rather than a suppliant, in a way that would\r\ngain him honor, bringing help along with him, and at the head of a body of\r\ntroops. Accordingly he solicited the Picentines for their assistance, who as\r\ncordially embraced his motion, and rejected the messengers sent from Carbo;\r\ninsomuch that a certain Vindius taking upon him to say, that Pompey was come\r\nfrom the school-room to put himself at the head of the people, they were so\r\nincensed that they fell forthwith upon this Vindius and killed him. From\r\nhenceforward Pompey, finding a spirit of government upon him, though not above\r\ntwenty-three years of age, nor deriving, an authority by commission from any\r\nman, took the privilege to grant himself full power, and causing a tribunal to\r\nbe erected in the market-place of Auximum, a populous city, expelled two of\r\ntheir principal men, brothers, of the name of Ventidius, who were acting\r\nagainst him in Carbo’s interest, commanding them by a public edict to depart\r\nthe city; and then proceeded to levy soldiers, issuing out commissions to\r\ncenturions, and other officers, according to the form of military discipline.\r\nAnd in this manner he went round all the rest of the cities in the district. So\r\nthat those of Carbo’s faction flying, and all others cheerfully submitting to\r\nhis command, in a little time he mustered three entire legions, having supplied\r\nhimself beside with all manner of provisions, beasts of burden, carriages, and\r\nother necessaries of war. And with this equipage he set forward on his march\r\ntowards Sylla, not as if he were in haste, or desirous of escaping observation,\r\nbut by small journeys, making several halts upon the road, to distress and\r\nannoy the enemy, and exerting himself to detach from Carbo’s interest every\r\npart of Italy that he passed through.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThree commanders of the enemy encountered him at once, Carinna, Cloelius, and\r\nBrutus, and drew up their forces, not all in the front, nor yet together on any\r\none part, but encamping three several armies in a circle about him, they\r\nresolved to encompass and overpower him. Pompey was no way alarmed at this, but\r\ncollecting all his troops into one body, and placing his horse in the front of\r\nthe battle, where he himself was in person, he singled out and bent all his\r\nforces against Brutus, and when the Celtic horsemen from the enemy’s side rode\r\nout to meet him, Pompey himself encountering hand to hand with the foremost and\r\nstoutest among them, killed him with his spear. The rest seeing this turned\r\ntheir backs, and fled, and breaking the ranks of their own foot, presently\r\ncaused a general rout; whereupon the commanders fell out among themselves, and\r\nmarched off, some one way, some another, as their fortunes led them, and the\r\ntowns round about came in and surrendered themselves to Pompey, concluding that\r\nthe enemy was dispersed for fear. Next after these, Scipio, the consul, came to\r\nattack him, and with as little success; for before the armies could join, or be\r\nwithin the throw of their javelins, Scipio’s soldiers saluted Pompey’s, and\r\ncame over to them, while Scipio made his escape by flight. Last of all, Carbo\r\nhimself sent down several troops of horse against him by the river Arsis, which\r\nPompey assailed with the same courage and success as before; and having routed\r\nand put them to flight, he forced them in the pursuit into difficult ground,\r\nunpassable for horse, where seeing no hopes of escape, they yielded themselves\r\nwith their horses and armor, all to his mercy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla was hitherto unacquainted with all these actions; and on the first\r\nintelligence he received of his movements was in great anxiety about him,\r\nfearing lest he should be cut off among so many and such experienced commanders\r\nof the enemy, and marched therefore with all speed to his aid. Now Pompey,\r\nhaving advice of his approach, sent out orders to his officers, to marshal and\r\ndraw up all his forces in full array, that they might make the finest and\r\nnoblest appearance before the commander-in-chief; for he expected indeed great\r\nhonors from him, but met with even greater. For as soon as Sylla saw him thus\r\nadvancing, his army so well appointed, his men so young and strong, and their\r\nspirits so high and hopeful with their successes, he alighted from his horse,\r\nand being first, as was his due, saluted by them with the title of Imperator,\r\nhe returned the salutation upon Pompey, in the same term and style of\r\nImperator, which might well cause surprise, as none could have ever anticipated\r\nthat he would have imparted, to one so young in years and not yet a senator, a\r\ntitle which was the object of contention between him and the Scipios and Marii.\r\nAnd indeed all the rest of his deportment was agreeable to this first\r\ncompliment; whenever Pompey came into his presence, he paid some sort of\r\nrespect to him, either in rising and being uncovered, or the like, which he was\r\nrarely seen to do to anyone else, notwithstanding that there were many about\r\nhim of great rank and honor. Yet Pompey was not puffed up at all, or exalted\r\nwith these favors. And when Sylla would have sent him with all expedition into\r\nGaul, a province in which it was thought Metellus who commanded in it had done\r\nnothing worthy of the large forces at his disposal, Pompey urged, that it could\r\nnot be fair or honorable for him, to take a province out of the hands of his\r\nsenior in command and superior in reputation; however, if Metellus were\r\nwilling, and should request his service, he should be very ready to accompany\r\nand assist him in the war. Which when Metellus came to understand, he approved\r\nof the proposal, and invited him over by letter. And on this Pompey fell\r\nimmediately into Gaul, where he not only achieved wonderful exploits of\r\nhimself, but also fired up and kindled again that bold and warlike spirit,\r\nwhich old age had in a manner extinguished in Metellus, into a new heat; just\r\nas molten copper, they say, when poured upon that which is cold and solid, will\r\ndissolve and melt it faster than fire itself. But as when a famous wrestler has\r\ngained the first place among men, and borne away the prizes at all the games,\r\nit is not usual to take account of his victories as a boy, or to enter them\r\nupon record among the rest; so with the exploits of Pompey in his youth, though\r\nthey were extraordinary in themselves, yet because they were obscured and\r\nburied in the multitude and greatness of his later wars and conquests, I dare\r\nnot be particular in them, lest, by trifling away time in the lesser moments of\r\nhis youth, we should be driven to omit those greater actions and fortunes which\r\nbest illustrate his character.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow, when Sylla had brought all Italy under his dominion, and was proclaimed\r\ndictator, he began to reward the rest of his followers, by giving them wealth,\r\nappointing them to offices in the State, and granting them freely and without\r\nrestriction any favors they asked for. But as for Pompey, admiring his valor\r\nand conduct, and thinking that he might prove a great stay and support to him\r\nhereafter in his affairs, he sought means to attach him to himself by some\r\npersonal alliance, and his wife Metella joining in his wishes, they two\r\npersuaded Pompey to put away Antistia, and marry Aemilia, the step-daughter of\r\nSylla, borne by Metella to Scaurus her former husband, she being at that very\r\ntime the wife of another man, living with him, and with child by him. These\r\nwere the very tyrannies of marriage, and much more agreeable to the times under\r\nSylla, than to the nature and habits of Pompey; that Aemilia great with child\r\nshould be, as it were, ravished from the embraces of another for him, and that\r\nAntistia should be divorced with dishonor and misery by him, for whose sake she\r\nhad been but just before bereft of her father. For Antistius was murdered in\r\nthe senate, because he was suspected to be a favorer of Sylla for Pompey’s\r\nsake; and her mother, likewise, after she had seen all these indignities, made\r\naway with herself; a new calamity to be added to the tragic accompaniments of\r\nthis marriage, and that there might be nothing wanting to complete them,\r\nAemilia herself died, almost immediately after entering Pompey’s house, in\r\nchildbed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout this time news came to Sylla, that Perpenna was fortifying himself in\r\nSicily, that the island was now become a refuge and receptacle for the relics\r\nof the adverse party; that Carbo was hovering about those seas with a navy,\r\nthat Domitius had fallen in upon Africa and that many of the exiled men of note\r\nwho had escaped from the proscriptions were daily flocking into those parts.\r\nAgainst these, therefore, Pompey was sent with a large force; and no sooner was\r\nhe arrived in Sicily but Perpenna immediately departed, leaving the whole\r\nisland to him. Pompey received the distressed cities into favor, and treated\r\nall with great humanity, except the Mamertines in Messena; for when they\r\nprotested against his court and jurisdiction, alleging their privilege and\r\nexemption founded upon an ancient charter or grant of the Romans, he replied\r\nsharply, “What! will you never cease prating of laws to us that have swords by\r\nour sides?” It was thought, likewise, that he showed some inhumanity to Carbo,\r\nseeming rather to insult over his misfortunes, than to chastise his crimes. For\r\nif there had been a necessity, as perhaps there was, that he should be taken\r\noff, that might have been done at first, as soon as he was taken prisoner, for\r\nthen it would have been the act of him that commanded it. But here Pompey\r\ncommended a man that had been thrice consul of Rome, to be brought in fetters\r\nto stand at the bar, he himself sitting upon the bench in judgment, examining\r\nthe cause with the formalities of law, to the offense and indignation of all\r\nthat were present, and afterwards ordered him to be taken away and put to\r\ndeath. It is related, by the way, of Carbo, that as soon as he was brought to\r\nthe place, and saw the sword drawn for execution, he was suddenly seized with a\r\nlooseness or pain in his bowels, and desired a little respite of the\r\nexecutioner, and a convenient place to relieve himself. And yet further, Caius\r\nOppius, the friend of Caesar, tells us, that Pompey dealt cruelly with Quintus\r\nValerius, a man of singular learning and science. For when he was brought to\r\nhim, he walked aside, and drew him into conversation, and after putting a\r\nvariety of questions to him, and receiving answers from him, he ordered his\r\nofficers to take him away, and put him to death. But we must not be too\r\ncredulous in the case of narratives told by Oppius, especially when he\r\nundertakes to relate anything touching the friends or foes of Caesar. This is\r\ncertain, that there lay a necessity upon Pompey to be severe upon many of\r\nSylla’s enemies, those at least that were eminent persons in themselves, and\r\nnotoriously known to be taken; but for the rest, he acted with all the clemency\r\npossible for him, conniving at the concealment of some, and himself being the\r\ninstrument in the escape of others. So in the case of the Himeraeans; for when\r\nPompey had determined on severely punishing their city, as they had been\r\nabettors of the enemy, Sthenis, the leader of the people there, craving liberty\r\nof speech, told him, that what he was about to do was not at all consistent\r\nwith justice, for that he would pass by the guilty, and destroy the innocent;\r\nand on Pompey demanding, who that guilty person was that would assume the\r\noffenses of them all, Sthenis replied, it was himself, who had engaged his\r\nfriends by persuasion to what they had done, and his enemies by force;\r\nwhereupon Pompey being much taken with the frank speech and noble spirit of the\r\nman, first forgave his crime, and then pardoned all the rest of the Himeraeans.\r\nHearing, likewise, that his soldiers were very disorderly their march, doing\r\nviolence upon the roads, he ordered their swords to be sealed up in their\r\nscabbards, and whosoever kept them not so, were severely punished.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst Pompey was thus busy in the affairs and government of Sicily, he\r\nreceived a decree of the senate, and a commission from Sylla, commanding him\r\nforthwith to sail into Africa, and make war upon Domitius with all his forces:\r\nfor Domitius had rallied up a far greater army than Marius had had not long\r\nsince, when he sailed out of Africa into Italy, and caused a revolution in\r\nRome, and himself, of a fugitive outlaw, became a tyrant. Pompey, therefore,\r\nhaving prepared everything with the utmost speed, left Memmius, his sister’s\r\nhusband, governor of Sicily, and set sail with one hundred and twenty galleys,\r\nand eight hundred other vessels laden with provisions, money, ammunition, and\r\nengines of battery. He arrived with his fleet, part at the port of Utica, part\r\nat Carthage; and no sooner was he landed, but seven thousand of the enemy\r\nrevolted and came over to him, while his own forces that he brought with him\r\nconsisted of six entire legions. Here they tell us of a pleasant incident that\r\nhappened to him at his first arrival. For some of his soldiers having by\r\naccident stumbled upon a treasure, by which they got a good sum of money, the\r\nrest of the army hearing this, began to fancy that the field was full of gold\r\nand silver, which had been hid there of old by the Carthaginians in the time of\r\ntheir calamities, and thereupon fell to work, so that the army was useless to\r\nPompey for many days, being totally engaged in digging for the fancied\r\ntreasure, he himself all the while walking up and down only, and laughing to\r\nsee so many thousands together, digging and turning up the earth. Until at\r\nlast, growing weary and hopeless, they came to themselves, and returned to\r\ntheir general, begging him to lead them where he pleased, for that they had\r\nalready received the punishment of their folly. By this time Domitius had\r\nprepared himself; and drawn out his army in array against Pompey; but there was\r\na watercourse betwixt them, craggy, and difficult to pass over; and this,\r\ntogether with a great storm of wind and rain pouring down even from break of\r\nday, seemed to leave but little possibility of their coming together, so that\r\nDomitius, not expecting any engagement that day, commanded his forces to draw\r\noff and retire to the camp. Now Pompey, who was watchful upon every occasion,\r\nmaking use of the opportunity, ordered a march forthwith, and having passed\r\nover the torrent, fell in immediately upon their quarters. The enemy was in a\r\ngreat disorder and tumult, and in that confusion attempted a resistance; but\r\nthey neither were all there, nor supported one another; besides, the wind\r\nhaving veered about, beat the rain full in their faces. Neither indeed was the\r\nstorm less troublesome to the Romans, for that they could not clearly discern\r\none another, insomuch that even Pompey himself, being unknown, escaped\r\nnarrowly; for when one of his soldiers demanded of him the word of battle, it\r\nhappened that he was somewhat slow in his answer, which might have cost him his\r\nlife.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe enemy being routed with a great slaughter, (for it is said, that of twenty\r\nthousand there escaped but three thousand,) the army saluted Pompey by the name\r\nof Imperator; but he declined it, telling them, that he could not by any means\r\naccept of that title, as long as he saw the camp of the enemy standing; but if\r\nthey designed to make him worthy of the honor, they must first demolish that.\r\nThe soldiers on hearing this, went at once and made an assault upon the works\r\nand trenches, and there Pompey fought without his helmet, in memory of his\r\nformer danger, and to avoid the like. The camp was thus taken by storm, and\r\namong the rest, Domitius was slain. After that overthrow, the cities of the\r\ncountry thereabouts were all either secured by surrender, or taken by storm.\r\nKing Iarbas, likewise, a confederate and auxiliary of Domitius, was taken\r\nprisoner, and his kingdom was given to Hiempsal.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey could not rest here, but being ambitious to follow the good fortune and\r\nuse the valor of his army, entered Numidia; and marching forward many days’\r\njourney up into the country, he conquered all wherever he came. And having\r\nrevived the terror of the Roman power, which was now almost obliterated among\r\nthe barbarous nations, he said likewise, that the wild beasts of Africa ought\r\nnot to be left without some experience of the courage and success of the\r\nRomans; and therefore he bestowed some few days in hunting lions and elephants.\r\nAnd it is said, that it was not above the space of forty days at the utmost, in\r\nwhich he gave a total overthrow to the enemy, reduced Africa, and established\r\nthe affairs of the kings and kingdoms of all that country, being then in the\r\ntwenty-fourth year of his age.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Pompey returned back to the city of Utica, there were presented to him\r\nletters and orders from Sylla, commanding him to disband the rest of his army,\r\nand himself with one legion only to wait there the coming of another general,\r\nto succeed him in the government. This, inwardly, was extremely grievous to\r\nPompey, though he made no show of it. But the army resented it openly, and when\r\nPompey besought them to depart and go home before him, they began to revile\r\nSylla, and declared broadly, that they were resolved not to forsake him,\r\nneither did they think it safe for him to trust the tyrant. Pompey at first\r\nendeavored to appease and pacify them by fair speeches; but when he saw that\r\nhis persuasions were vain, he left the bench, and retired to his tent with\r\ntears in his eyes. But the soldiers followed him, and seizing upon him, by\r\nforce brought him again, and placed him in his tribunal; where great part of\r\nthat day was spent in dispute, they on their part persuading him to stay and\r\ncommand them, he, on the other side, pressing upon them obedience, and the\r\ndanger of mutiny. At last, when they grew yet more importunate and clamorous,\r\nhe swore that he would kill himself if they attempted to force him; and\r\nscarcely even thus appeased them. Nevertheless, the first tidings brought to\r\nSylla were, that Pompey was up in rebellion; on which he remarked to some of\r\nhis friends, “I see, then, it is my destiny to contend with children in my old\r\nage;” alluding at the same time to Marius, who, being but a mere youth, had\r\ngiven him great trouble, and brought him into extreme danger. But being\r\nundeceived afterwards by better intelligence, and finding the whole city\r\nprepared to meet Pompey, and receive him with every display of kindness and\r\nhonor, he resolved to exceed them all. And, therefore, going out foremost to\r\nmeet him, and embracing him with great cordiality, he gave him his welcome\r\naloud in the title of Magnus, or the Great, and bade all that were present call\r\nhim by that name. Others say that he had this title first given him by a\r\ngeneral acclamation of all the army in Africa, but that it was fixed upon him\r\nby this ratification of Sylla. It is certain that he himself was the last that\r\nowned the title; for it was a long time after, when he was sent proconsul into\r\nSpain against Sertorius, that he began to write himself in his letters and\r\ncommissions by the name of Pompeius Magnus; common and familiar use having then\r\nworn off the invidiousness of the title. And one cannot but accord respect and\r\nadmiration to the ancient Romans, who did not reward the successes of action\r\nand conduct in war alone with such honorable titles, but adorned likewise the\r\nvirtues and services of eminent men in civil government with the same\r\ndistinctions and marks of honor. Two persons received from the people the name\r\nof Maximus, or the Greatest, Valerius, for reconciling the senate and people,\r\nand Fabius Rullus, because he put out of the senate certain sons of freed\r\nslaves who had been admitted into it because of their wealth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey now desired the honor of a triumph, which Sylla opposed, alleging that\r\nthe law allowed that honor to none but consuls and praetors, and therefore\r\nScipio the elder, who subdued the Carthaginians in Spain in far greater and\r\nnobler conflicts, never petitioned for a triumph, because he had never been\r\nconsul or praetor; and if Pompey, who had scarcely yet fully grown a beard, and\r\nwas not of age to be a senator, should enter the city in triumph, what a weight\r\nof envy would it bring, he said, at once upon his government and Pompey’s\r\nhonor. This was his language to Pompey, intimating that he could not by any\r\nmeans yield to his request, but if he would persist in his ambition, that he\r\nwas resolved to interpose his power to humble him. Pompey, however, was not\r\ndaunted; but bade Sylla recollect, that more worshiped the rising than the\r\nsetting sun; as if to tell him that his power was increasing, and Sylla’s in\r\nthe wane. Sylla did not perfectly hear the words, but observing a sort of\r\namazement and wonder in the looks and gestures of those that did hear them, he\r\nasked what it was that he said. When it was told him, he seemed astounded at\r\nPompey’s boldness, and cried out twice together, “Let him triumph,” and when\r\nothers began to show their disapprobation and offense at it, Pompey, it is\r\nsaid, to gall and vex them the more, designed to have his triumphant chariot\r\ndrawn with four elephants, (having brought over several which belonged to the\r\nAfrican kings,) but the gates of the city being too narrow, he was forced to\r\ndesist from that project, and be content with horses. And when his soldiers,\r\nwho had not received as large rewards as they had expected, began to clamor,\r\nand interrupt the triumph, Pompey regarded these as little as the rest, and\r\nplainly told them that he had rather lose the honor of his triumph, than\r\nflatter them. Upon which Servilius, a man of great distinction, and at first\r\none of the chief opposers of Pompey’s triumph, said, he now perceived that\r\nPompey was truly great and worthy of a triumph. It is clear that he might\r\neasily have been a senator, also, if he had wished, but he did not sue for\r\nthat, being ambitious, it seems, only of unusual honors. For what wonder had it\r\nbeen for Pompey, to sit in the senate before his time? But to triumph before he\r\nwas in the senate, was really an excess of glory.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd moreover, it did not a little ingratiate him with the people; who were much\r\npleased to see him after his triumph take his place again among the Roman\r\nknights. On the other side, it was no less distasteful to Sylla to see how fast\r\nhe came on, and to what a height of glory and power he was advancing; yet being\r\nashamed to hinder him, he kept quiet. But when, against his direct wishes,\r\nPompey got Lepidus made consul, having openly joined in the canvass and, by the\r\ngood-will the people felt for himself, conciliated their favor for Lepidus,\r\nSylla could forbear no longer; but when he saw him coming away from the\r\nelection through the forum with a great train after him, cried out to him,\r\n“Well, young man, I see you rejoice in your victory. And, indeed, is it not a\r\nmost generous and worthy act, that the consulship should be given to Lepidus,\r\nthe vilest of men, in preference to Catulus, the best and most deserving in the\r\ncity, and all by your influence with the people? It will be well, however, for\r\nyou to be wakeful and look to your interests; as you have been making your\r\nenemy stronger than yourself.” But that which gave the clearest demonstration\r\nof Sylla’s ill-will to Pompey, was his last will and testament; for whereas he\r\nhad bequeathed several legacies to all the rest of his friends, and appointed\r\nsome of them guardians to his eon, he passed by Pompey without the least\r\nremembrance. However, Pompey bore this with great moderation and temper; and\r\nwhen Lepidus and others were disposed to obstruct his interment in the Campus\r\nMartius, and to prevent any public funeral taking place, came forward in\r\nsupport of it, and saw his obsequies performed with all honor and security.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nShortly after the death of Sylla, his prophetic words were fulfilled; and\r\nLepidus proposing to be the successor to all his power and authority, without\r\nany ambiguities or pretences, immediately appeared in arms, rousing once more\r\nand gathering about him all the long dangerous remains of the old factions,\r\nwhich had escaped the hand of Sylla. Catulus, his colleague, who was followed\r\nby the sounder part of the senate and people, was a man of the greatest esteem\r\namong the Romans for wisdom and justice; but his talent lay in the government\r\nof the city rather than the camp, whereas the exigency required the skill of\r\nPompey. Pompey, therefore, was not long in suspense which way to dispose of\r\nhimself, but joining with the nobility, was presently appointed general of the\r\narmy against Lepidus, who had already raised up war in great part of Italy, and\r\nheld Cisalpine Gaul in subjection with an army under Brutus. As for the rest of\r\nhis garrisons, Pompey subdued them with ease in his march, but Mutina in Gaul\r\nresisted in a formal siege, and he lay here a long time encamped against\r\nBrutus. In the meantime Lepidus marched in all haste against Rome, and sitting\r\ndown before it with a crowd of followers, to the terror of those within,\r\ndemanded a second consulship. But that fear quickly vanished upon letters sent\r\nfrom Pompey, announcing that he had ended the war without a battle; for Brutus,\r\neither betraying his army, or being betrayed by their revolt, surrendered\r\nhimself to Pompey, and receiving a guard of horse, was conducted to a little\r\ntown upon the river Po; where he was slain the next day by Geminius, in\r\nexecution of Pompey’s commands. And for this Pompey was much censured; for,\r\nhaving at the beginning of the revolt written to the senate that Brutus had\r\nvoluntarily surrendered himself, immediately afterward he sent other letters,\r\nwith matter of accusation against the man, after he was taken off. Brutus, who\r\nwith Cassius slew Caesar, was son to this Brutus; neither in war nor in his\r\ndeath like his father, as appears at large in his life. Lepidus upon this being\r\ndriven out of Italy, fled to Sardinia, where he fell sick and died of sorrow,\r\nnot for his public misfortunes, as they say, but, upon the discovery of a\r\nletter, proving his wife to have been unfaithful to him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere yet remained Sertorius, a very different general from Lepidus, in\r\npossession of Spain, and making himself formidable to Rome; the final disease,\r\nas it were, in which the scattered evils of the civil wars had now collected.\r\nHe had already cut off various inferior commanders, and was at this time coping\r\nwith Metellus Pius, a man of repute and a good soldier, though perhaps he might\r\nnow seem too slow, by reason of his age, to second and improve the happier\r\nmoments of war, and might be sometimes wanting to those advantages which\r\nSertorius by his quickness and dexterity would wrest out of his hands. For\r\nSertorius was always hovering about, and coming upon him unawares, like a\r\ncaptain of thieves rather than soldiers, disturbing him perpetually with\r\nambuscades and light skirmishes; whereas Metellus was accustomed to regular\r\nconduct, and fighting in battle array with full-armed soldiers. Pompey,\r\ntherefore, keeping his army in readiness, made it his object to be sent in aid\r\nto Metellus; neither would he be induced to disband his forces, notwithstanding\r\nthat Catulus called upon him to do so, but by some colorable device or other he\r\nstill kept them in arms about the city, until the senate at last thought fit,\r\nupon the report of Lucius Philippus, to decree him that government. At that\r\ntime, they say, one of the senators there expressing his wonder and demanding\r\nof Philippus whether his meaning was that Pompey should be sent into Spain as\r\nproconsul, “No,” replied Philippus, “but as proconsuls,” as if both consuls for\r\nthat year were in his opinion wholly useless.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Pompey was arrived in Spain, as is usual upon the fame of a new leader,\r\nmen began to be inspired with new hopes, and those nations that had not entered\r\ninto a very strict alliance with Sertorius, began to waver and revolt;\r\nwhereupon Sertorius uttered various arrogant and scornful speeches against\r\nPompey, saying in derision, that he should want no other weapon but a ferula\r\nand rod to chastise this boy with, if he were not afraid of that old woman,\r\nmeaning Metellus. Yet in deed and reality he stood in awe of Pompey, and kept\r\non his guard against him, as appeared by his whole management of the war, which\r\nhe was observed to conduct much more warily than before; for Metellus, which\r\none would not have imagined, was grown excessively luxurious in his habits\r\nhaving given himself over to self-indulgence and pleasure, and from a moderate\r\nand temperate, became suddenly a sumptuous and ostentatious liver, so that this\r\nvery thing gained Pompey great reputation and goodwill, as he made himself\r\nsomewhat specially an example of frugality, although that virtue was habitual\r\nin him, and required no great industry to exercise it, as he was naturally\r\ninclined to temperance, and no ways inordinate in his desires. The fortune of\r\nthe war was very various; nothing however annoyed Pompey so much as the taking\r\nof the town of Lauron by Sertorius. For when Pompey thought he had him safe\r\ninclosed, and had boasted somewhat largely of raising the siege, he found\r\nhimself all of a sudden encompassed; insomuch that he durst not move out of his\r\ncamp, but was forced to sit still whilst the city was taken and burnt before\r\nhis face. However, afterwards in a battle near Valentia, he gave great defeat\r\nto Herennius and Perpenna, two commanders among the refugees who had fled to\r\nSertorius, and now lieutenants under him, in which he slew above ten thousand\r\nmen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey, being elated and filled with confidence by this victory, made all haste\r\nto engage Sertorius himself, and the rather lest Metellus should come in for a\r\nshare in the honor of the victory. Late in the day, towards sunset, they joined\r\nbattle near the river Sucro, both being in fear lest Metellus should come;\r\nPompey, that he might engage alone, Sertorius, that he might have one alone to\r\nengage with. The issue of the battle proved doubtful, for a wing of each side\r\nhad the better; but of the generals, Sertorius had the greater honor, for that\r\nhe maintained his post, having put to flight the entire division that was\r\nopposed to him, whereas Pompey was himself almost made a prisoner; for being\r\nset upon by a strong man at arms that fought on foot, (he being on horseback,)\r\nas they were closely engaged hand to hand, the strokes of their swords chanced\r\nto light upon their hands, but with a different success; for Pompey’s was a\r\nslight wound only, whereas he cut off the other’s hand. However, it happened\r\nso, that many now falling upon Pompey together, and his own forces there being\r\nput to the rout, he made his escape beyond expectation, by quitting his horse,\r\nand turning him out among the enemy. For the horse being richly adorned with\r\ngolden trappings, and having a caparison of great value, the soldiers quarreled\r\namong themselves for the booty, so that while they were fighting with one\r\nanother, and dividing the spoil, Pompey made his escape. By break of day the\r\nnext morning, each drew out his forces into the field to claim the victory; but\r\nMetellus coming up, Sertorius vanished, having broken up and dispersed his\r\narmy. For this was the way in which he used to raise and disband his armies, so\r\nthat sometimes he would be wandering up and down all alone, and at other times\r\nagain he would come pouring into the field at the head of no less than one\r\nhundred and fifty thousand fighting-men, swelling of a sudden like a winter\r\ntorrent.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Pompey was going after the battle to meet and welcome Metellus, and when\r\nthey were near one another, he commanded his attendants to lower their rods in\r\nhonor of Metellus, as his senior and superior. But Metellus on the other side\r\nforbade it, and behaved himself in general very obligingly to him, not claiming\r\nany prerogative either in respect of his consular rank or seniority; excepting\r\nonly that when they encamped together, the watchword was given to the whole\r\ncamp by Metellus. But generally they had their camps asunder, being divided and\r\ndistracted by the enemy, who took all shapes, and being always in motion, would\r\nby some skillful artifice appear in a variety of places almost in the same\r\ninstant, drawing them from one attack to another, and at last keeping them from\r\nforaging, wasting the country, and holding the dominion of the sea, Sertorius\r\ndrove them both out of that part of Spain which was under his control, and\r\nforced them for want of necessaries to retreat into provinces that did not\r\nbelong to them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey, having made use of and expended the greatest part of his own private\r\nrevenues upon the war, sent and demanded moneys of the senate, adding, that in\r\ncase they did not furnish him speedily, he should be forced to return into\r\nItaly with his army. Lucullus being consul at that time, though at variance\r\nwith Pompey, yet in consideration that he himself was a candidate for the\r\ncommand against Mithridates, procured and hastened these supplies, fearing lest\r\nthere should be any presence or occasion given to Pompey of returning home, who\r\nof himself was no less desirous of leaving Sertorius, and of undertaking the\r\nwar against Mithridates, as an enterprise which by all appearance would prove\r\nmuch more honorable and not so dangerous. In the meantime Sertorius died, being\r\ntreacherously murdered by some of his own party; and Perpenna, the chief among\r\nthem, took the command, and attempted to carry on the same enterprises with\r\nSertorius, having indeed the same forces and the same means, only wanting the\r\nsame skill and conduct in the use of them. Pompey therefore marched directly\r\nagainst, Perpenna, and finding him acting merely at random in his affairs, had\r\na decoy ready for him, and sent out a detachment of ten cohorts into the level\r\ncountry with orders to range up and down and disperse themselves abroad. The\r\nbait took accordingly, and no sooner had Perpenna turned upon the prey and had\r\nthem in chase, but Pompey appeared suddenly with all his army and joining\r\nbattle, gave him a total overthrow. Most of his officers were slain in the\r\nfield, and he himself being brought prisoner to Pompey, was by his order put to\r\ndeath. Neither was Pompey guilty in this of ingratitude or unmindfulness of\r\nwhat had occurred in Sicily, which some have laid to his charge, but was guided\r\nby a high minded policy and a deliberate counsel for the security of his\r\ncountry. For Perpenna, having in his custody all Sertorius’s papers, offered to\r\nproduce several letters from the greatest men in Rome, who, desirous of a\r\nchange and subversion of the government, had invited Sertorius into Italy. And\r\nPompey, fearing that these might be the occasion of worse wars than those which\r\nwere now ended, thought it advisable to put Perpenna to death, and burnt the\r\nletters without reading them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey continued in Spain after this so long a time as was necessary for the\r\nsuppression of all the greatest disorders in the province; and after moderating\r\nand allaying the more violent heats of affairs there, returned with his army\r\ninto Italy, where he arrived, as chance would have it, in the height of the\r\nservile war. Accordingly, upon his arrival, Crassus, the commander in that war,\r\nat some hazard precipitated a battle, in which he had great success, and slew\r\nupon the place twelve thousand three hundred of the insurgents. Nor yet was he\r\nso quick, but that fortune reserved to Pompey some share of honor in the\r\nsuccess of this war, for five thousand of those that had escaped out of the\r\nbattle fell into his hands; and when he had totally cut them off, he wrote to\r\nthe senate, that Crassus had overthrown the slaves in battle, but that he had\r\nplucked up the whole war by the roots. And it was agreeable to the people in\r\nRome both thus to say, and thus to hear said, because of the general favor of\r\nPompey. But of the Spanish war and the conquest of Sertorius, no one, even in\r\njest, could have ascribed the honor to anyone else. Nevertheless, all this high\r\nrespect for him, and this desire to see him come home, were not unmixed with\r\napprehensions and suspicions that he might perhaps not disband his army, but\r\ntake his way by the force of arms and a supreme command to the seat of Sylla.\r\nAnd so in the number of all those that ran out to meet him and congratulate his\r\nreturn, as many went out of fear as affection. But after Pompey had removed\r\nthis alarm, by declaring beforehand that he would discharge the army after his\r\ntriumph, those that envied him could now only complain that he affected\r\npopularity, courting the common people more than the nobility, and that whereas\r\nSylla had abolished the tribuneship of the people, he designed to gratify the\r\npeople by restoring that office, which was indeed the fact. For there was not\r\nany one thing that the people of Rome were more wildly eager for, or more\r\npassionately desired, than the restoration of that office, insomuch that Pompey\r\nthought himself extremely fortunate in this opportunity, despairing (if he were\r\nanticipated by someone else in this) of ever meeting with any other sufficient\r\nmeans of expressing his gratitude for the favors which he had received from the\r\npeople.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThough a second triumph was decreed him, and he was declared consul, yet all\r\nthese honors did not seem so great an evidence of his power and glory, as the\r\nascendant which he had over Crassus; for he, the wealthiest among all the\r\nstatesmen of his time, and the most eloquent and greatest too, who had looked\r\ndown on Pompey himself, and on all others as beneath him, durst not appear a\r\ncandidate for the consulship before he had applied to Pompey. The request was\r\nmade accordingly, and was eagerly embraced by Pompey, who had long sought an\r\noccasion to oblige him in some friendly office; so that he solicited for\r\nCrassus, and entreated the people heartily, declaring, that their favor would\r\nbe no less to him in choosing Crassus his colleague, than in making himself\r\nconsul. Yet for all this, when they were created consuls, they were always at\r\nvariance, and opposing one another. Crassus prevailed most in the senate, and\r\nPompey’s power was no less with the people, he having restored to them the\r\noffice of tribune, and having allowed the courts of judicature to be\r\ntransferred back to the knights by a new law. He himself in person, too,\r\nafforded them a most grateful spectacle, when he appeared and craved his\r\ndischarge from the military service. For it is an ancient custom among the\r\nRomans, that the knights, when they had served out their legal time in the\r\nwars, should lead their horses into the market-place before the two officers,\r\ncalled censors, and having given an account of the commanders and generals\r\nunder whom they served, as also of the places and actions of their service,\r\nshould be discharged, every man with honor or disgrace, according to his\r\ndeserts. There were then sitting in state upon the bench two censors, Gellius\r\nand Lentulus, inspecting the knights, who were passing by in muster before\r\nthem, when Pompey was seen coming down into the forum, with all the ensigns of\r\na consul, but leading his horse in his hand. When he came up, he bade his\r\nlictors make way for him, and so he led his horse to the bench; the people\r\nbeing all this while in a sort of amaze, and all in silence, and the censors\r\nthemselves regarding the sight with a mixture of respect and gratification.\r\nThen the senior censor examined him: “Pompeius Magnus, I demand of you whether\r\nyou have served the full time in the wars that is prescribed by the law?”\r\n“Yes,” replied Pompey with a loud voice, “I have served all, and all under\r\nmyself as general.” The people hearing this gave a great shout, and made such\r\nan outcry for delight, that there was no appeasing it; and the censors rising\r\nfrom their judgment-seat, accompanied him home to gratify the multitude, who\r\nfollowed after, clapping their hands and shouting.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey’s consulship was now expiring, and yet his difference with Crassus\r\nincreasing, when one Caius Aurelius, a knight, a man who had declined public\r\nbusiness all his lifetime, mounted the hustings, and addressed himself in an\r\noration to the assembly, declaring that Jupiter had appeared to him in a dream,\r\ncommanding him to tell the consuls, that they should not give up office until\r\nthey were friends. After this was said, Pompey stood silent, but Crassus took\r\nhim by the hand, and spoke in this manner: “I do not think, fellow-citizens,\r\nthat I shall do anything mean or dishonorable, in yielding first to Pompey,\r\nwhom you were pleased to ennoble with the title of Great, when as yet he scarce\r\nhad a hair on his face; and granted the honor of two triumphs, before he had a\r\nplace in the senate.” Hereupon they were reconciled and laid down their office.\r\nCrassus resumed the manner of life which he had always pursued before; but\r\nPompey in the great generality of causes for judgment declined appearing on\r\neither side, and by degrees withdrew himself totally from the forum, showing\r\nhimself but seldom in public; and whenever he did, it was with a great train\r\nafter him. Neither was it easy to meet or visit him without a crowd of people\r\nabout him; he was most pleased to make his appearance before large numbers at\r\nonce, as though he wished to maintain in this way his state and majesty, and as\r\nif he held himself bound to preserve his dignity from contact with the\r\naddresses and conversation of common people. And life in the robe of peace is\r\nonly too apt to lower the reputation of men that have grown great by arms, who\r\nnaturally find difficulty in adapting themselves to the habits of civil\r\nequality. They expect to be treated as the first in the city, even as they were\r\nin the camp; and on the other hand, men who in war were nobody, think it\r\nintolerable if in the city at any rate they are not to take the lead. And so,\r\nwhen a warrior renowned for victories and triumphs shall turn advocate and\r\nappear among them in the forum, they endeavor their utmost to obscure and\r\ndepress him; whereas, if he gives up any pretensions here and retires, they\r\nwill maintain his military honor and authority beyond the reach of envy. Events\r\nthemselves not long after showed the truth of this.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe power of the pirates first commenced in Cilicia, having in truth but a\r\nprecarious and obscure beginning, but gained life and boldness afterwards in\r\nthe wars of Mithridates, where they hired themselves out, and took employment\r\nin the king’s service. Afterwards, whilst the Romans were embroiled in their\r\ncivil wars, being engaged against one another even before the very gates of\r\nRome, the seas lay waste and unguarded, and by degrees enticed and drew them on\r\nnot only to seize upon and spoil the merchants and ships upon the seas, but\r\nalso to lay waste the islands and seaport towns. So that now there embarked\r\nwith these pirates men of wealth and noble birth and superior abilities, as if\r\nit had been a natural occupation to gain distinction in. They had divers\r\narsenals, or piratic harbors, as likewise watch towers and beacons, all along\r\nthe sea-coast; and fleets were here received that were well manned with the\r\nfinest mariners, and well served with the expertest pilots, and composed of\r\nswift sailing and light-built vessels adapted for their special purpose. Nor\r\nwas it merely their being thus formidable that excited indignation; they were\r\neven more odious for their ostentation than they were feared for their force.\r\nTheir ships had gilded masts at their stems; the sails woven of purple, and the\r\noars plated with silver, as if their delight were to glory in their iniquity.\r\nThere was nothing but music and dancing, banqueting and revels, all along the\r\nshore. Officers in command were taken prisoners, and cities put under\r\ncontribution, to the reproach and dishonor of the Roman supremacy. There were\r\nof these corsairs above one thousand sail, and they had taken no less than four\r\nhundred cities, committing sacrilege upon the temples of the gods, and\r\nenriching themselves with the spoils of many never violated before, such as\r\nwere those of Claros, Didyma, and Samothrace; and the temple of the Earth in\r\nHermione, and that of Aesculapius in Epidaurus, those of Neptune at the\r\nIsthmus, at Taenarus, and at Calauria; those of Apollo at Actium and Leucas,\r\nand those of Juno, in Samos, at Argos, and at Lacinium. They themselves offered\r\nstrange sacrifices upon Mount Olympus, and performed certain secret rites or\r\nreligious mysteries, among which those of Mithras have been preserved to our\r\nown time, having received their previous institution from them. But besides\r\nthese insolencies by sea, they were also injurious to the Romans by land; for\r\nthey would often go inland up the roads, plundering and destroying their\r\nvillages and country-houses. And once they seized upon two Roman praetors,\r\nSextilius and Bellinus, in their purple-edged robes, and carried them off\r\ntogether with their officers and lictors. The daughter also of Antonius, a man\r\nthat had had the honor of a triumph, taking a journey into the country, was\r\nseized, and redeemed upon payment of a large ransom. But it was most abusive of\r\nall, that when any of the captives declared himself to be a Roman and told his\r\nname, they affected to be surprised, and feigning fear, smote their thighs and\r\nfell down at his feet, humbly beseeching him to be gracious and forgive them.\r\nThe captive seeing them so humble and suppliant, believed them to be in\r\nearnest; and some of them now would proceed to put Roman shoes on his feet, and\r\nto dress him in a Roman gown, to prevent, they said, his being mistaken another\r\ntime. After all this pageantry, when they had thus deluded and mocked him long\r\nenough, at last putting out a ship’s ladder, when they were in the midst of the\r\nsea, they told him he was free to go, and wished him a pleasant journey; and if\r\nhe resisted, they themselves threw him overboard, and drowned him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis piratic power having got the dominion and control of all the\r\nMediterranean, there was left no place for navigation or commerce. And this it\r\nwas which most of all made the Romans, finding themselves to be extremely\r\nstraitened in their markets, and considering that if it should continue, there\r\nwould be a dearth and famine in the land, determine at last to send out Pompey\r\nto recover the seas from the pirates. Gabinius, one of Pompey’s friends,\r\npreferred a law, whereby there was granted to him, not only the government of\r\nthe seas as admiral, but in direct words, sole and irresponsible sovereignty\r\nover all men. For the decree gave him absolute power and authority in all the\r\nseas within the pillars of Hercules, and in the adjacent mainland for the space\r\nof four hundred furlongs from the sea. Now there were but few regions in the\r\nRoman empire out of that compass; and the greatest of the nations and most\r\npowerful of the kings were included in the limit. Moreover by this decree he\r\nhad a power of selecting fifteen lieutenants out of the senate, and of\r\nassigning to each his province in charge; then he might take likewise out of\r\nthe treasury and out of the hands of the revenue-farmers what moneys he\r\npleased; as also two hundred sail of ships, with a power to press and levy what\r\nsoldiers and seamen he thought fit. When this law was read, the common people\r\napproved of it exceedingly, but the chief men and most important among the\r\nsenators looked upon it as an exorbitant power, even beyond the reach of envy,\r\nbut well deserving their fears. Therefore concluding with themselves that such\r\nunlimited authority was dangerous, they agreed unanimously to oppose the bill,\r\nand all went against it, except Caesar, who gave his vote for the law, not to\r\ngratify Pompey, but the people, whose favor he had courted underhand from the\r\nbeginning, and hoped to compass for himself. The rest inveighed bitterly\r\nagainst Pompey, insomuch that one of the consuls told him, that if he was\r\nambitious of the place of Romulus, he would scarce avoid his end, but he was in\r\ndanger of being torn in pieces by the multitude for his speech. Yet when\r\nCatulus stood up to speak against the law, the people in reverence to him were\r\nsilent and attentive. And when, after saying much in the most honorable terms\r\nin favor of Pompey, he proceeded to advise the people in kindness to spare him,\r\nand not to expose a man of his value to such a succession of dangers and wars,\r\n“For,” said he, “where could you find another Pompey, or whom would you have in\r\ncase you should chance to lose him?” they all cried out with one voice,\r\n“Yourself.” And so Catulus, finding all his rhetoric ineffectual, desisted.\r\nThen Roscius attempted to speak, but could obtain no hearing, and made signs\r\nwith his fingers, intimating, “Not him alone,” but that there might be a second\r\nPompey or colleague in authority with him. Upon this, it is said, the multitude\r\nbeing extremely incensed, made such a loud outcry, that a crow flying over the\r\nmarket-place at that instant was struck, and drops down among the crowd; whence\r\nit would appear that the cause of birds falling down to the ground, is not any\r\nrupture or division of the air causing a vacuum, but purely the actual stroke\r\nof the voice, which when carried up in a great mass and with violence, raises a\r\nsort of tempest and billow, as it were, in the air.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe assembly broke up for that day; and when the day was come, on which the\r\nbill was to pass by suffrage into a decree, Pompey went privately into the\r\ncountry; but hearing that it was passed and confirmed, he resumed again into\r\nthe city by night, to avoid the envy that might be occasioned by the concourse\r\nof people that would meet and congratulate him. The next morning he came abroad\r\nand sacrificed to the gods, and having audience at an open assembly, so handled\r\nthe matter that they enlarged his power, giving him many things besides what\r\nwas already granted, and almost doubling the preparation appointed in the\r\nformer decree. Five hundred ships were manned for him, and an army raised of\r\none hundred and twenty thousand foot, and five thousand horse. Twenty-four\r\nsenators that had been generals of armies were appointed to serve as\r\nlieutenants under him, and to these were added two quaestors. Now it happened\r\nwithin this time that the prices of provisions were much reduced, which gave an\r\noccasion to the joyful people of saying, that the very name of Pompey had ended\r\nthe war. However, Pompey in pursuance of his charge divided all the seas, and\r\nthe whole Mediterranean into thirteen parts, allotting a squadron to each,\r\nunder the command of his officers; and having thus dispersed his power into all\r\nquarters, and encompassed the pirates everywhere, they began to fall into his\r\nhands by whole shoals, which he seized and brought into his harbors. As for\r\nthose that withdrew themselves betimes, or otherwise escaped his general chase,\r\nthey all made to Cilicia, where they hid themselves as in their hive; against\r\nwhom Pompey now proceeded in person with sixty of his best ships, not however\r\nuntil he had first scoured and cleared all the seas near Rome, the Tyrrhenian,\r\nand the African, and all the waters of Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicily; all which\r\nhe performed in the space of forty days, by his own indefatigable industry and\r\nthe zeal of his lieutenants.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey met with some interruption in Rome, through the malice and envy of Piso,\r\nthe consul, who had given some check to his proceedings, by withholding his\r\nstores and discharging his seamen; whereupon he sent his fleet round to\r\nBrundusium, himself going the nearest way by land through Tuscany to Rome;\r\nwhich was no sooner known by the people, than they all flocked out to meet him\r\nupon the way, as if they had not sent him out but few days before. What chiefly\r\nexcited their joy, was the unexpectedly rapid change in the markets, which\r\nabounded now with the greatest plenty, so that Piso was in great danger to have\r\nbeen deprived of his consulship, Gabinius having a law ready prepared for that\r\npurpose; but Pompey forbade it, behaving himself as in that, so in all things\r\nelse, with great moderation, and when he had made sure of all that he wanted or\r\ndesired, he departed for Brundusium, whence he set sail in pursuit of the\r\npirates. And though he was straitened in time, and his hasty voyage forced him\r\nto sail by several cities without touching, yet he would not pass by the city\r\nof Athens unsaluted; but landing there, after he had sacrificed to the gods,\r\nand made an address to the people, as he was returning out of the city, he read\r\nat the gates two epigrams, each in a single line, written in his own praise;\r\none within the gate: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThy humbler thoughts make thee a god the more;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nthe other without: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAdieu we bid, who welcome bade before.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nNow because Pompey had shown himself merciful to some of these pirates that\r\nwere yet roving in bodies about the seas, having upon their supplication\r\nordered a seizure of their ships and persons only, without any further process\r\nor severity, therefore the rest of their comrades in hopes of mercy too, made\r\ntheir escape from his other commanders, and surrendered themselves with their\r\nwives and children into his protection. He continued to pardon all that came\r\nin, and the rather because by them he might make discovery of those who fled\r\nfrom his justice, as conscious that their crimes were beyond an act of\r\nindemnity. The most numerous and important part of these conveyed their\r\nfamilies and treasures, with all their people that were unfit for war, into\r\ncastles and strong forts about Mount Taurus; but they themselves having well\r\nmanned their galleys, embarked for Coracesium in Cilicia, where they received\r\nPompey and gave him battle. Here they had a final overthrow, and retired to the\r\nland, where they were besieged. At last, having dispatched their heralds to him\r\nwith a submission, they delivered up to his mercy themselves, their towns,\r\nislands, and strong-holds, all which they had so fortified that they were\r\nalmost impregnable, and scarcely even accessible.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus was this war ended, and the whole power of the pirates at sea dissolved\r\neverywhere in the space of three months, wherein, besides a great number of\r\nother vessels, he took ninety men-of-war with brazen beaks; and likewise\r\nprisoners of war to the number of no less than twenty thousand.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs regarded the disposal of these prisoners, he never so much as entertained\r\nthe thought of putting them to death; and yet it might be no less dangerous on\r\nthe other hand to disperse them, as they might reunite and make head again,\r\nbeing numerous, poor, and warlike. Therefore wisely weighing with himself, that\r\nman by nature is not a wild or unsocial creature, neither was he born so, but\r\nmakes himself what he naturally is not, by vicious habit; and that again on the\r\nother side, he is civilized and grows gentle by a change of place, occupation,\r\nand manner of life, as beasts themselves that are wild by nature, become tame\r\nand tractable by housing and gentler usage, upon this consideration he\r\ndetermined to translate these pirates from sea to land, and give them a taste\r\nof an honest and innocent course of life, by living in towns, and tilling the\r\nground. Some therefore were admitted into the small and half-peopled towns of\r\nthe Cilicians, who for an enlargement of their territories, were willing to\r\nreceive them. Others he planted in the city of the Solians, which had been\r\nlately laid waste by Tigranes, king of Armenia, and which he now restored. But\r\nthe largest number were settled in Dyme, the town of Achaea, at that time\r\nextremely depopulated, and possessing an abundance of good land.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, these proceedings could not escape the envy and censure of his\r\nenemies; and the course he took against Metellus in Crete was disapproved of\r\neven by the chiefest of his friends. For Metellus, a relation of Pompey’s\r\nformer colleague in Spain, had been sent praetor into Crete, before this\r\nprovince of the seas was assigned to Pompey. Now Crete was the second source of\r\npirates next to Cilicia, and Metellus having shut up a number of them in their\r\nstrong-holds there, was engaged in reducing and extirpating them. Those that\r\nwere yet remaining and besieged sent their supplications to Pompey, and invited\r\nhim into the island as a part of his province, alleging it to fall, every part\r\nof it, within the distance from the sea specified in his commission, and so\r\nwithin the precincts of his charge. Pompey receiving the submission, sent\r\nletters to Metellus, commanding him to leave off the war; and others in like\r\nmanner to the cities, in which he charged them not to yield any obedience to\r\nthe commands of Metellus. And after these, he sent Lucius Octavius, one of his\r\nlieutenants, to act as general, who entering the besieged fortifications, and\r\nfighting in defense of the pirates, rendered Pompey not odious only, but even\r\nridiculous too; that he should lend his name as a guard to a nest of thieves,\r\nthat knew neither god nor law, and make his reputation serve as a sanctuary to\r\nthem, only out of pure envy and emulation to Metellus. For neither was Achilles\r\nthought to act the part of a man, but rather of a mere boy, mad after glory,\r\nwhen by signs he forbade the rest of the Greeks to strike at Hector: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“for fear\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSome other hand should give the blow, and he\u003cbr\u003e\r\nLose the first honor of the victory.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nWhereas Pompey even sought to preserve the common enemies of the world, only\r\nthat he might deprive a Roman praetor, after all his labors, of the honor of a\r\ntriumph. Metellus however was not daunted, but prosecuted the war against the\r\npirates, expelled them from their strongholds and punished them; and dismissed\r\nOctavius with the insults and reproaches of the whole camp.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the news came to Rome that the war with the pirates was at an end, and\r\nthat Pompey was unoccupied, diverting himself in visits to the cities for want\r\nof employment, one Manlius, a tribune of the people, preferred a law that\r\nPompey should have all the forces of Lucullus, and the provinces under his\r\ngovernment, together with Bithynia, which was under the command of Glabrio; and\r\nthat he should forthwith conduct the war against the two kings, Mithridates and\r\nTigranes, retaining still the same naval forces and the sovereignty of the seas\r\nas before. But this was nothing less than to constitute one absolute monarch of\r\nall the Roman empire. For the provinces which seemed to be exempt from his\r\ncommission by the former decree, such as were Phrygia, Lycaonia, Galatia,\r\nCappadocia, Cilicia, the upper Colchis, and Armenia, were all added in by this\r\nlatter law, together with all the troops and forces with which Lucullus had\r\ndefeated Mithridates and Tigranes. And though Lucullus was thus simply robbed\r\nof the glory of his achievements in having a successor assigned him, rather to\r\nthe honor of his triumph, than the danger of the war; yet this was of less\r\nmoment in the eyes of the aristocratical party, though they could not but admit\r\nthe injustice and ingratitude to Lucullus. But their great grievance was, that\r\nthe power of Pompey should be converted into a manifest tyranny; and they\r\ntherefore exhorted and encouraged one another privately to bend all their\r\nforces in opposition to this law, and not tamely to cast away their liberty;\r\nyet when the day came on which it was to pass into a decree, their hearts\r\nfailed them for fear of the people, and all were silent except Catulus, who\r\nboldly inveighed against the law and its proposer, and when he found that he\r\ncould do nothing with the people, turned to the senate, crying out and bidding\r\nthem seek out some mountain as their forefathers had done, and fly to the rocks\r\nwhere they might preserve their liberty. The law passed into a decree, as it is\r\nsaid, by the suffrages of all the tribes. And Pompey in his absence was made\r\nlord of almost all that power, which Sylla only obtained by force of arms,\r\nafter a conquest of the very city itself. When Pompey had advice by letters of\r\nthe decree, it is said that in the presence of his friends, who came to give\r\nhim joy of his honor, he seemed displeased, frowning and smiting his thigh, and\r\nexclaimed as one overburdened, and weary of government, “Alas, what a series of\r\nlabors upon labors! If I am never to end my service as a soldier, nor to escape\r\nfrom this invidious greatness, and live at home in the country with my wife, I\r\nhad better have been an unknown man.” But all this was looked upon as mere\r\ntrifling, neither indeed could the best of his friends call it anything else,\r\nwell knowing that his enmity with Lucullus, setting a flame just now to his\r\nnatural passion for glory and empire, made him feel more than usually\r\ngratified.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs indeed appeared not long afterwards by his actions, which clearly unmasked\r\nhim; for in the first place, he sent out his proclamations into all quarters,\r\ncommanding the soldiers to join him, and summoned all the tributary kings and\r\nprinces within his charge; and in short, as soon as he had entered upon his\r\nprovince, he left nothing unaltered that had been done and established by\r\nLucullus. To some he remitted their penalties, and deprived others of their\r\nrewards, and acted in all respects as if with the express design that the\r\nadmirers of Lucullus might know that all his authority was at an end. Lucullus\r\nexpostulated by friends, and it was thought fitting that there should be a\r\nmeeting betwixt them; and accordingly they met in the country of Galatia. As\r\nthey were both great and successful generals, their officers bore their rods\r\nbefore them all wreathed with branches of laurel; Lucullus came through a\r\ncountry full of green trees and shady woods, but Pompey’s march was through a\r\ncold and barren district. Therefore the lictors of Lucullus, perceiving that\r\nPompey’s laurels were withered and dry, helped him to some of their own, and\r\nadorned and crowned his rods with fresh laurels. This was thought ominous, and\r\nlooked as if Pompey came to take away the reward and honor of Lucullus’s\r\nvictories. Lucullus had the priority in the order of consulships, and also in\r\nage; but Pompey’s two triumphs made him the greater man. Their first addresses\r\nin this interview were dignified and friendly, each magnifying the other’s\r\nactions, and offering congratulations upon his success. But when they came to\r\nthe matter of their conference or treaty, they could agree on no fair or\r\nequitable terms of any kind, but even came to harsh words against each other,\r\nPompey upbraiding Lucullus with avarice, and Lucullus retorting ambition upon\r\nPompey, so that their friends could hardly part them. Lucullus, remaining in\r\nGalatia, made a distribution of the lands within his conquests, and gave\r\npresents to whom he pleased; and Pompey encamping not far distant from him,\r\nsent out his prohibitions, forbidding the execution of any of the orders of\r\nLucullus, and commanded away all his soldiers, except sixteen hundred, whom he\r\nthought likely to be unserviceable to himself, being disorderly and mutinous,\r\nand whom he knew to be hostile to Lucullus; and to these acts he added\r\nsatirical speeches, detracting openly from the glory of his actions, and giving\r\nout, that the battles of Lucullus had been but with the mere stage-shows and\r\nidle pictures of royal pomp, whereas the real war against a genuine army,\r\ndisciplined by defeat, was reserved to him, Mithridates having now begun to be\r\nin earnest, and having betaken himself to his shields, swords, and horses.\r\nLucullus, on the other side, to be even with him, replied, that Pompey came to\r\nfight with the mere image and shadow of war, it being his usual practice, like\r\na lazy bird of prey, to come upon the carcass, when others had slain the dead,\r\nand to tear in pieces the relics of a war. Thus he had appropriated to himself\r\nthe victories over Sertorius, over Lepidus, and over the insurgents under\r\nSpartacus; whereas this last had been achieved by Crassus, that obtained by\r\nCatulus, and the first won by Metellus. And therefore it was no great wonder,\r\nthat the glory of the Pontic and Armenian war should be usurped by a man who\r\nhad condescended to any artifices to work himself into the honor of a triumph\r\nover a few runaway slaves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this Lucullus went away, and Pompey having placed his whole navy in guard\r\nupon the seas betwixt Phoenicia and Bosporus, himself marched against\r\nMithridates, who had a phalanx of thirty thousand foot, with two thousand\r\nhorse, yet durst not bid him battle. He had encamped upon a strong mountain\r\nwhere it would have been hard to attack him, but abandoned it in no long time,\r\nas destitute of water. No sooner was he gone but Pompey occupied it, and\r\nobserving the plants that were thriving there, together with the hollows which\r\nhe found in several places, conjectured that such a plot could not be without\r\nsprings, and therefore ordered his men to sink wells in every corner. After\r\nwhich there was, in a little time, great plenty of water throughout all the\r\ncamp, insomuch that he wondered how it was possible for Mithridates to be\r\nignorant of this, during all that time of his encampment there. After this\r\nPompey followed him to his next camp, and there drawing lines round about him,\r\nshut him in. But he, after having endured a siege of forty-five days, made his\r\nescape secretly, and fled away with all the best part of his army, having first\r\nput to death all the sick and unserviceable. Not long after Pompey overtook him\r\nagain near the banks of the river Euphrates, and encamped close by him; but\r\nfearing lest he should pass over the river and give him the slip there too, he\r\ndrew up his army to attack him at midnight. And at that very time Mithridates,\r\nit is said, saw a vision in his dream foreshowing what should come to pass. For\r\nhe seemed to be under sail in the Euxine Sea with a prosperous gale, and just\r\nin view of Bosporus, discoursing pleasantly with the ship’s company, as one\r\noverjoyed for his past danger and present security, when on a sudden he found\r\nhimself deserted of all, and floating upon a broken plank of the ship at the\r\nmercy of the sea. Whilst he was thus laboring under these passions and\r\nphantasms, his friends came and awaked him with the news of Pompey’s approach;\r\nwho was now indeed so near at hand, that the fight must be for the camp itself,\r\nand the commanders accordingly drew up the forces in battle array. Pompey\r\nperceiving how ready they were and well prepared for defense, began to doubt\r\nwith himself whether he should put it to the hazard of a fight in the dark,\r\njudging it more prudent to encompass them only at present, lest they should\r\nfly, and to give them battle with the advantage of numbers the next day. But\r\nhis oldest officers were of another opinion, and by entreaties and\r\nencouragements obtained permission that they might charge them immediately.\r\nNeither was the night so very dark, but that, though the moon was going down,\r\nit yet gave light enough to discern a body. And indeed this was one especial\r\ndisadvantage to the king’s army. For the Romans coming upon them with the moon\r\non their backs, the moon, being very low, and just upon setting, cast the\r\nshadows a long way before their bodies, reaching almost to the enemy, whose\r\neyes were thus so much deceived that not exactly discerning the distance, but\r\nimagining them to be near at hand, they threw their darts at the shadows,\r\nwithout the least execution. The Romans therefore perceiving this, ran in upon\r\nthem with a great shout; but the barbarians, all in a panic, unable to endure\r\nthe charge, turned and fled, and were put to great slaughter, above ten\r\nthousand being slain; the camp also was taken. As for Mithridates himself, he\r\nat the beginning of the onset, with a body of eight hundred horse charged\r\nthrough the Roman army, and made his escape. But before long all the rest\r\ndispersed, some one way, some another, and he was left only with three persons,\r\namong whom was his concubine, Hypsicratia, a girl always of a manly and daring\r\nspirit, and the king called her on that account Hypsicrates. She being attired\r\nand mounted like a Persian horseman, accompanied the king in all his flight,\r\nnever weary even in the longest journey, nor ever failing to attend the king in\r\nperson, and look after his horse too, until they came to Inora, a castle of the\r\nking’s, well stored with gold and treasure. From thence Mithridates took his\r\nrichest apparel, and gave it among those that had resorted to him in their\r\nflight; and to every one of his friends he gave a deadly poison, that they\r\nmight not fall into the power of the enemy against their wills. From thence he\r\ndesigned to have gone to Tigranes in Armenia, but being prohibited by Tigranes,\r\nwho put out a proclamation with a reward of one hundred talents to any one that\r\nshould apprehend him, he passed by the head-waters of the river Euphrates, and\r\nfled through the country of Colchis.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey in the meantime made an invasion into Armenia, upon the invitation of\r\nyoung Tigranes, who was now in rebellion against his father, and gave Pompey a\r\nmeeting about the river Araxes, which rises near the head of Euphrates, but\r\nturning its course and bending towards the east, falls into the Caspian Sea.\r\nThey two, therefore, marched together through the country, taking in all the\r\ncities by the way, and receiving their submission. But king Tigranes, having\r\nlately suffered much in the war with Lucullus, and understanding that Pompey\r\nwas of a kind and gentle disposition, admitted Roman troops into his royal\r\npalaces, and taking along with him his friends and relations, went in person to\r\nsurrender himself into the hands of Pompey. He came as far as the trenches on\r\nhorseback, but there he was met by two of Pompey’s lictors, who commanded him\r\nto alight and walk on foot, for no man ever was seen on horseback within a\r\nRoman camp. Tigranes submitted to this immediately, and not only so, but\r\nloosing his sword, delivered up that too; and last of all, as soon as he\r\nappeared before Pompey, he pulled off his royal turban, and attempted to have\r\nlaid it at his feet. Nay, worst of all, even he himself had fallen prostrate as\r\nan humble suppliant at his knees, had not Pompey prevented it, taking him by\r\nthe hand and placing him near him, Tigranes himself on one side of him and his\r\nson upon the other. Pompey now told him that the rest of his losses were\r\nchargeable upon Lucullus, by whom he had been dispossessed of Syria, Phoenicia,\r\nCilicia, Galatia, and Sophene; but all that he had preserved to himself entire\r\ntill that time he should peaceably enjoy, paying the sum of six thousand\r\ntalents as a fine or penalty for injuries done to the Romans, and that his son\r\nshould have the kingdom of Sophene. Tigranes himself was well pleased with\r\nthese conditions of peace, and when the Romans saluted him king, seemed to be\r\noverjoyed, and promised to every common soldier half a mina of silver, to every\r\ncenturion ten minas, and to every tribune a talent; but the son was displeased,\r\ninsomuch that when he was invited to supper, he replied, that he did not stand\r\nin need of Pompey for that sort of honor, for he would find out some other\r\nRoman to sup with. Upon this he was put into close arrest, and reserved for the\r\ntriumph.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after this Phraates, king of Parthia, sent to Pompey, and demanded to\r\nhave young Tigranes, as his son-in-law, given up to him, and that the river\r\nEuphrates should be the boundary of the empires. Pompey replied, that for\r\nTigranes, he belonged more to his own natural father than his father-in-law,\r\nand for the boundaries, he would take care that they should be according to\r\nright and justice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo Pompey, leaving Armenia in the custody of Afranius, went himself in chase of\r\nMithridates; to do which he was forced of necessity to march through several\r\nnations inhabiting about Mount Caucasus. Of these the Albanians and Iberians\r\nwere the two chiefest. The Iberians stretch out as far as the Moschian\r\nmountains and the Pontus; the Albanians lie more eastwardly, and towards the\r\nCaspian Sea. These Albanians at first permitted Pompey, upon his request, to\r\npass through the country; but when winter had stolen upon the Romans whilst\r\nthey were still in the country, and they were busy celebrating the festival of\r\nSaturn, they mustered a body of no less than forty thousand fighting men, and\r\nset upon them, having passed over the river Cyrnus, which rising from the\r\nmountains of Iberia, and receiving the river Araxes in its course from Armenia,\r\ndischarges itself by twelve mouths into the Caspian. Or, according to others,\r\nthe Araxes does not fall into it, but they flow near one another, and so\r\ndischarge themselves as neighbors into the same sea. It was in the power of\r\nPompey to have obstructed the enemy’s passage over the river, but he suffered\r\nthem to pass over quietly; and then leading on his forces and giving battle, he\r\nrouted them, and slew great numbers of them in the field. The king sent\r\nambassadors with his submission, and Pompey upon his supplication pardoned the\r\noffense, and making a treaty with him, he marched directly against the\r\nIberians, a nation no less in number than the other, but much more warlike, and\r\nextremely desirous of gratifying Mithridates, and driving out Pompey. These\r\nIberians were never subject to the Medes or Persians, and they happened\r\nlikewise to escape the dominion of the Macedonians, because Alexander was so\r\nquick in his march through Hyrcania. But these also Pompey subdued in a great\r\nbattle, where there were slain nine thousand upon the spot, and more than ten\r\nthousand taken prisoners. From thence he entered into the country of Colchis,\r\nwhere Servilius met him by the river Phasis, bringing the fleet with which he\r\nwas guarding the Pontus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe pursuit of Mithridates, who had thrown himself among the tribes inhabiting\r\nBosporus and the shores of the Maeotian Sea, presented great difficulties. News\r\nwas also brought to Pompey that the Albanians had again revolted. This made him\r\nturn back, out of anger and determination not to be beaten by them, and with\r\ndifficulty and great danger he passed back over the Cyrnus, which the barbarous\r\npeople had fortified a great way down the banks with palisadoes. And after\r\nthis, having a tedious march to make through a waterless and difficult country,\r\nhe ordered ten thousand skins to be filled with water, and so advanced towards\r\nthe enemy; whom he found drawn up in order of battle near the river Abas, to\r\nthe number of sixty thousand horse, and twelve thousand foot, ill armed\r\ngenerally, and most of them covered only with the skins of wild beasts. Their\r\ngeneral was Cosis, the king’s brother, who as soon as the battle was begun,\r\nsingled out Pompey, and rushing in upon him, darted his javelin into the joints\r\nof his breastplate; while Pompey, in return, struck him through the body with\r\nhis lance, and slew him. It is related that in this battle there were Amazons\r\nfighting as auxiliaries with the barbarians, and that they came down from the\r\nmountains by the river Thermodon. For that after the battle, when the Romans\r\nwere taking the spoil and plunder of the field, they met with several targets\r\nand buskins of the Amazons; but no woman’s body was found among the dead. They\r\ninhabit the parts of Mount Caucasus that reach down to the Hyrcanian Sea, not\r\nimmediately bordering upon the Albanians, for the Gelae and the Leges lie\r\nbetwixt; and they keep company with these people yearly, for two months only,\r\nnear the river Thermodon; after which they retire to their own habitations, and\r\nlive alone all the rest of the year.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this engagement, Pompey was eager to advance with his forces upon the\r\nHyrcanian and Caspian Sea, but was forced to retreat at a distance of three\r\ndays’ march from it, by the number of venomous serpents, and so he retreated\r\ninto Armenia the Less. Whilst he was there, kings of the Elymaeans and Medes\r\nsent ambassadors to him, to whom he gave friendly answer by letter; and sent\r\nagainst the king of Parthia, who had made incursions upon Gordyene, and\r\ndespoiled the subjects of Tigranes, an army under the command of Afranius, who\r\nput him to the rout, and followed him in chase as far as the district of\r\nArbela.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf the concubines of king Mithridates that were brought before Pompey, he took\r\nnone to himself, but sent them all away to their parents and relations; most of\r\nthem being either the daughters or wives of princes and great commanders.\r\nStratonice, however, who had the greatest power and influence with him, and to\r\nwhom he had committed the custody of his best and richest fortress, had been,\r\nit seems, the daughter of a musician, an old man, and of no great fortune, and\r\nhappening to sing one night before Mithridates at a banquet, she struck his\r\nfancy so, that immediately he took her with him, and sent away the old man much\r\ndissatisfied, the king having not so much as said one kind word to himself. But\r\nwhen he rose in the morning, and saw tables in his house richly covered with\r\ngold and silver plate, a great retinue of servants, eunuchs, and pages,\r\nbringing him rich garments, and a horse standing before the door richly\r\ncaparisoned, in all respects as was usual with the king’s favorites, he looked\r\nupon it all as a piece of mockery, and thinking himself trifled with, attempted\r\nto make off and run away. But the servants laying hold upon him, and informing\r\nhim really that the king had bestowed on him the house and furniture of a rich\r\nman lately deceased, and that these were but the first-fruits or earnests of\r\ngreater riches and possessions that were to come, he was persuaded at last with\r\nmuch difficulty to believe them. And so putting on his purple robes, and\r\nmounting his horse, he rode through the city, crying out, “All this is mine;”\r\nand to those that laughed at him, he said, there was no such wonder in this,\r\nbut it was a wonder rather that he did not throw stones at all he met, he was\r\nso transported with joy. Such was the parentage and blood of Stratonice. She\r\nnow delivered up this castle into the hands of Pompey, and offered him many\r\npresents of great value, of which he accepted only such as he thought might\r\nserve to adorn the temples of the gods, and add to the splendor of his triumph;\r\nthe rest he left to Stratonice’s disposal, bidding her please herself in the\r\nenjoyment of them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd in the same manner he dealt with the presents offered him by the king of\r\nIberia, who sent him a bedstead, table, and a chair of state, all of gold,\r\ndesiring him to accept of them; but he delivered them all into the custody of\r\nthe public treasurers, for the use of the Commonwealth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn another castle called Caenum, Pompey found and read with pleasure several\r\nsecret writings of Mithridates, containing much that threw light on his\r\ncharacter. For there were memoirs by which it appeared that besides others, he\r\nhad made away with his son Ariarathes by poison, as also with Alcaeus the\r\nSardian, for having robbed him of the first honors in a horse-race. There were\r\nseveral judgments upon the interpretation of dreams, which either he himself or\r\nsome of his mistresses had had; and besides these, there was a series of wanton\r\nletters to and from his concubine Monime. Theophanes tells us that there was\r\nfound also an address by Rutilius, in which he attempted to exasperate him to\r\nthe laughter of all the Romans in Asia; though most men justly conjecture this\r\nto be a malicious invention of Theophanes, who probably hated Rutilius because\r\nhe was a man in nothing like himself; or perhaps it might be to gratify Pompey,\r\nwhose father is described by Rutilius in his history, as the vilest man alive.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom thence Pompey came to the city of Amisus, where his passion for glory put\r\nhim into a position which might be called a punishment on himself. For whereas\r\nhe had often sharply reproached Lucullus, in that while the enemy was still\r\nliving, he had taken upon him to issue decrees, and distribute rewards and\r\nhonors, as conquerors usually do only when the war is brought to an end, yet\r\nnow was he himself, while Mithridates was paramount in the kingdom of Bosporus,\r\nand at the head of a powerful army, as if all were ended, just doing the same\r\nthing, regulating the provinces, and distributing rewards, many great\r\ncommanders and princes having flocked to him, together with no less than twelve\r\nbarbarian kings; insomuch that to gratify these other kings, when he wrote to\r\nthe king of Parthia, he would not condescend, as others used to do, in the\r\nsuperscription of his letter, to give him his title of king of kings.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMoreover, he had a great desire and emulation to occupy Syria, and to march\r\nthrough Arabia to the Red Sea, that he might thus extend his conquests every\r\nway to the great ocean that encompasses the habitable earth; as in Africa he\r\nwas the first Roman that advanced his victories to the ocean; and again in\r\nSpain he made the Atlantic Sea the limit of the empire; and then thirdly, in\r\nhis late pursuit of the Albanians, he had wanted but little of reaching the\r\nHyrcanian Sea. Accordingly he raised his camp, designing to bring the Red Sea\r\nwithin the circuit of his expedition, especially as he saw how difficult it was\r\nto hunt after Mithridates with an army, and that he would prove a worse enemy\r\nflying than fighting. But yet he declared, that he would leave a sharper enemy\r\nbehind him than himself, namely, famine; and therefore he appointed a guard of\r\nships to lie in wait for the merchants that sailed to Bosporus, death being the\r\npenalty for any who should attempt to carry provisions thither.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen he set forward with the greatest part of his army, and in his march\r\ncasually fell in with several dead bodies still uninterred, of those soldiers\r\nwho were slain with Triarius in his unfortunate engagement with Mithridates;\r\nthese he buried splendidly and honorably. The neglect of whom, it is thought,\r\ncaused, as much as anything, the hatred that was felt against Lucullus, and\r\nalienated the affections of the soldiers from him. Pompey having now by his\r\nforces under the command of Afranius, subdued the Arabians about the mountain\r\nAmanus, himself entered Syria, and finding it destitute of any natural and\r\nlawful prince, reduced it into the form of a province, as a possession of the\r\npeople of Rome. He conquered also Judaea, and took its king, Aristobulus,\r\ncaptive. Some cities he built anew, and to others he gave their liberty,\r\nchastising their tyrants. Most part of the time that he spent there was\r\nemployed in the administration of justice, In deciding controversies of kings\r\nand States; and where he himself could not be present in person, he gave\r\ncommissions to his friends, and sent them. Thus when there arose a difference\r\nbetwixt the Armenians and Parthians about some territory, and the judgment was\r\nreferred to him, he gave a power by commission to three judges and arbiters to\r\nhear and determine the controversy. For the reputation of his power was great;\r\nnor was the fame of his justice and clemency inferior to that of his power, and\r\nserved indeed as a veil for a multitude of faults committed by his friends and\r\nfamiliars. For although it was not in his nature to check or chastise\r\nwrongdoers, yet he himself always treated those that had to do with him in such\r\na manner, that they submitted to endure with patience the acts of covetousness\r\nand oppression done by others.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmong these friends of his, there was one Demetrius who had the greatest\r\ninfluence with him of all; he was a freed slave, a youth of good understanding,\r\nbut somewhat too insolent in his good fortune, of whom there goes this story.\r\nCato, the philosopher, being as yet a very young man, but of great repute and a\r\nnoble mind, took a journey of pleasure to Antioch, at a time when Pompey was\r\nnot there, having a great desire to see the city. He, as his custom was, walked\r\non foot, and his friends accompanied him on horseback; and seeing before the\r\ngates of the city a multitude dressed in white, the young men on one side of\r\nthe road, and the boys on the other, he was somewhat offended at it, imagining\r\nthat it was officiously done in honor of him, which was more than he had any\r\nwish for. However, he desired his companions to alight and walk with him; but\r\nwhen they drew near, the master of the ceremonies in this procession came out\r\nwith a garland and a rod in his hand, and met them, inquiring, where they had\r\nleft Demetrius, and when he would come? Upon which Cato’s companions burst out\r\ninto laughter, but Cato said only, “Alas, poor city!” and passed by without any\r\nother answer. However, Pompey rendered Demetrius less odious to others by\r\nenduring his presumption and impertinence to himself. For it is reported how\r\nthat Pompey, when he had invited his friends to an entertainment, would be very\r\nceremonious in waiting, till they all came and were placed, while Demetrius\r\nwould be already stretched upon the couch as if he cared for no one, with his\r\ndress over his ears, hanging down from his head. Before his return into Italy,\r\nhe had purchased the pleasantest country-seat about Rome, with the finest walks\r\nand places for exercise, and there were sumptuous gardens, called by the name\r\nof Demetrius, while Pompey his master, up to his third triumph, was contented\r\nwith an ordinary and simple habitation. Afterwards, it is true, when he had\r\nerected his famous and stately theater for the people of Rome, he built as a\r\nsort of appendix to it, a house for himself, much more splendid than his\r\nformer, and yet no object even this to excite men’s envy, since he who came to\r\nbe master of it after Pompey could not but express wonder and inquire where\r\nPompey the Great used to sup. Such is the story told us.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe king of the Arabs near Petra, who had hitherto despised the power of the\r\nRomans, now began to be in great alarm at it, and sent letters to him promising\r\nto be at his commands, and to do whatever he should see fit to order. However,\r\nPompey having a desire to confirm and keep him in the same mind, marched\r\nforwards for Petra, an expedition not altogether irreprehensible in the opinion\r\nof many; who thought it a mere running away from their proper duty, the pursuit\r\nof Mithridates, Rome’s ancient and inveterate enemy, who was now rekindling the\r\nwar once more, and making preparations, it was reported, to lead his army\r\nthrough Scythia and Paeonia, into Italy. Pompey, on the other side, judging it\r\neasier to destroy his forces in battle, than to seize his person in flight,\r\nresolved not to tire himself out in a vain pursuit, but rather to spend his\r\nleisure upon another enemy, as a sort of digression in the meanwhile. But\r\nfortune resolved the doubt; for when he was now not far from Petra, and had\r\npitched his tents and encamped for that day, as he was talking exercise with\r\nhis horse outside the camp, couriers came riding up from Pontus, bringing good\r\nnews, as was known at once by the heads of their javelins, which it is the\r\ncustom to carry crowned with branches of laurel. The soldiers, as soon as they\r\nsaw them, flocked immediately to Pompey, who notwithstanding was minded to\r\nfinish his exercise; but when they began to be clamorous and importunate, he\r\nalighted from his horse, and taking the letters went before them into the camp.\r\nNow there being no tribunal erected there, not even that military substitute\r\nfor one which they make by cutting up thick turfs of earth and piling them one\r\nupon another, they, through eagerness and impatience, heaped up a pile of\r\npack-saddles, and Pompey standing upon that, told them the news of\r\nMithridates’s death, how that he had himself put an end to his life upon the\r\nrevolt of his son Pharnaces, and that Pharnaces had taken all things there into\r\nhis hands and possession, which he did, his letters said, in right of himself\r\nand the Romans. Upon this news, the whole army expressing their joy, as was to\r\nbe expected, fell to sacrificing to the gods, and feasting, as if in the person\r\nof Mithridates alone there had died many thousands of their enemies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey by this event having brought this war to its completion, with much more\r\nease than was expected, departed forthwith out of Arabia, and passing rapidly\r\nthrough the intermediate provinces, he came at length to the city Amisus. There\r\nhe received many presents brought from Pharnaces, with several dead bodies of\r\nthe royal blood, and the corpse of Mithridates himself, which was not easy to\r\nbe known by the face, for the physicians that embalmed him had not dried up his\r\nbrain, but those who were curious to see him knew him by the scars there.\r\nPompey himself would not endure to see him, but to deprecate the divine\r\njealousy, sent it away to the city of Sinope. He admired the richness of his\r\nrobes, no less than the size and splendor of his armor. His swordbelt, however,\r\nwhich had cost four hundred talents, was stolen by Publius, and sold to\r\nAriarathes; his tiara also, a piece of admirable workmanship, Gaius, the roster\r\nbrother of Mithridates, gave secretly to Faustus, the son of Sylla, at his\r\nrequest. All which Pompey was ignorant of, but afterwards, when Pharnaces came\r\nto understand it, he severely punished those that embezzled them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey now having ordered all things, and established that province, took his\r\njourney homewards in greater pomp and with more festivity. For when he came to\r\nMitylene, he gave the city their freedom upon the intercession of Theophanes,\r\nand was present at the contest, there periodically held, of the poets, who took\r\nat that time no other theme or subject than the actions of Pompey. He was\r\nextremely pleased with the theater itself, and had a model of it taken,\r\nintending to erect one in Rome on the same design, but larger and more\r\nmagnificent. When he came to Rhodes, he attended the lectures of all the\r\nphilosophers there, and gave to every one of them a talent. Posidonius has\r\npublished the disputation which he held before him against Hermagoras the\r\nrhetorician, upon the subject of Invention in general. At Athens, also, he\r\nshowed similar, munificence to the philosophers, and gave fifty talents towards\r\nthe repairing and beautifying the city. So that now by all these acts he well\r\nhoped to return into Italy in the greatest splendor and glory possible to man,\r\nand find his family as desirous to see him, as he felt himself to come home to\r\nthem. But that supernatural agency, whose province and charge it is always to\r\nmix some ingredient of evil with the greatest and most glorious goods of\r\nfortune, had for some time back been busy in his household, preparing him a sad\r\nwelcome. For Mucia during his absence had dishonored his bed. Whilst he was\r\nabroad at a distance, he had refused all credence to the report; but when he\r\ndrew nearer to Italy, where his thoughts were more at leisure to give\r\nconsideration to the charge, he sent her a bill of divorce; but neither then in\r\nwriting, nor afterwards by word of mouth, did he ever give a reason why he\r\ndischarged her; the cause of it is mentioned in Cicero’s epistles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nRumors of every kind were scattered abroad about Pompey, and were carried to\r\nRome before him, so that there was a great tumult and stir, as if he designed\r\nforthwith to march with his army into the city, and establish himself securely\r\nas sole ruler. Crassus withdrew himself, together with his children and\r\nproperty, out of the city, either that he was really afraid, or that he\r\ncounterfeited rather, as is most probable, to give credit to the calumny and\r\nexasperate the jealousy of the people. Pompey, therefore, as soon as he entered\r\nItaly, called a general muster of the army; and having made a suitable address\r\nand exchanged a kind farewell with his soldiers, he commanded them to depart\r\nevery man to his country and place of habitation, only taking care that they\r\nshould not fail to meet again at his triumph. Thus the army being disbanded,\r\nand the news commonly reported, a wonderful result ensued. For when the cities\r\nsaw Pompey the Great passing through the country unarmed, and with a small\r\ntrain of familiar friends only, as if he was returning from a journey of\r\npleasure, not from his conquests, they came pouring out to display their\r\naffection for him, attending and conducting him to Rome with far greater forces\r\nthan he disbanded; insomuch that if he had designed any movement or innovation\r\nin the State, he might have done it without his army.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow, because the law permitted no commander to enter into the city before his\r\ntriumph, he sent to the senate, entreating them as a favor to him to prorogue\r\nthe election of consuls, that thus he might be able to attend and give\r\ncountenance to Piso, one of the candidates. The request was resisted by Cato,\r\nand met with a refusal. However, Pompey could not but admire the liberty and\r\nboldness of speech which Cato alone had dared to use in the maintenance of law\r\nand justice. He therefore had a great desire to win him over, and purchase his\r\nfriendship at any rate; and to that end, Cato having two nieces, Pompey asked\r\nfor one in marriage for himself, the other for his son. But Cato looked\r\nunfavorably on the proposal, regarding it as a design for undermining his\r\nhonesty, and in a manner bribing him by a family alliance; much to the\r\ndispleasure of his wife and sister, who were indignant that he should reject a\r\nconnection with Pompey the Great. About that time Pompey having a design of\r\nsetting up Afranius for the consulship, gave a sum of money among the tribes\r\nfor their votes, and people came and received it in his own gardens a\r\nproceeding which, when it came to be generally known, excited great\r\ndisapprobation, that he should thus for the sake of men who could not obtain\r\nthe honor by their own merits, make merchandise of an office which had been\r\ngiven to himself as the highest reward of his services. “Now,” said Cato to his\r\nwife and sister, “had we contracted an alliance with Pompey, we had been allied\r\nto this dishonor too;” and this they could not but acknowledge, and allow his\r\njudgment of what was right and fitting to have been wiser and better than\r\ntheirs.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe splendor and magnificence of Pompey’s triumph was such that though it took\r\nup the space of two days, yet they were extremely straitened in time, so that\r\nof what was prepared for that pageantry, there was as much withdrawn as would\r\nhave set out and adorned another triumph. In the first place, there were tables\r\ncarried, inscribed with the names and titles of the nations over whom he\r\ntriumphed, Pontus, Armenia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Media, Colchis, the\r\nIberians, the Albanians, Syria, Cilicia, and Mesopotamia, together with\r\nPhoenicia and Palestine, Judaea, Arabia, and all the power of the pirates\r\nsubdued by sea and land. And in these different countries there appeared the\r\ncapture of no less than one thousand fortified places, nor much less than nine\r\nhundred cities, together with eight hundred ships of the pirates, and the\r\nfoundation of thirty-nine towns. Besides, there was set forth in these tables\r\nan account of all the tributes throughout the empire, and how that before these\r\nconquests the revenue amounted but to fifty millions, whereas from his\r\nacquisitions they had a revenue of eighty-five millions; and that in present\r\npayment he was bringing into the common treasury ready money, and gold and\r\nsilver plate, and ornaments, to the value of twenty thousand talents, over and\r\nabove what had been distributed among the soldiers, of whom he that had least\r\nhad fifteen hundred drachmas for his share. The prisoners of war that were led\r\nin triumph, besides the chief pirates, were the son of Tigranes, king of\r\nArmenia, with his wife and daughter; as also Zosime, wife of king Tigranes\r\nhimself, and Aristobulus, king of Judaea, the sister of king Mithridates and\r\nher five sons, and some Scythian women. There were likewise the hostages of the\r\nAlbanians and Iberians, and of the king of Commagene, besides a vast number of\r\ntrophies, one for every battle in which he was conqueror, either himself in\r\nperson, or by his lieutenants. But that which seemed to be his greatest glory,\r\nbeing one which no other Roman ever attained to, was this, that he made his\r\nthird triumph over the third division of the world. For others among the Romans\r\nhad the honor of triumphing thrice, but his first triumph was over Africa, his\r\nsecond, over Europe, and this last, over Asia; so that he seemed in these three\r\ntriumphs to have led the whole world captive.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for his age, those who affect to make the parallel exact in all things\r\nbetwixt him and Alexander the Great, do not allow him to have been quite\r\nthirty-four, whereas in truth at that time he was near forty. And well had it\r\nbeen for him had he terminated his life at this date, while he still enjoyed\r\nAlexander’s fortune, since all his aftertime served only either to bring him\r\nprosperity that made him odious, or calamities too great to be retrieved. For\r\nthat great authority which he had gained in the city by his merits, he made use\r\nof only in patronizing the iniquities of others, so that by advancing their\r\nfortunes, he detracted from his own glory, till at last he was overthrown even\r\nby the force and greatness of his own power. And as the strongest citadel or\r\nfort in a town, when it is taken by an enemy, does then afford the same\r\nstrength to the foe, as it had done to friends before; so Caesar, after\r\nPompey’s aid had made him strong enough to defy his country, ruined and\r\noverthrew at last the power which had availed him against the rest. The course\r\nof things was as follows. Lucullus, when he returned out of Asia, where he had\r\nbeen treated with insult by Pompey, was received by the senate with great\r\nhonor, which was yet increased when Pompey came home; to check whose ambition\r\nthey encouraged him to assume the administration of the government, whereas he\r\nwas now grown cold and disinclined to business, having given himself over to\r\nthe pleasures of ease and the enjoyment of a splendid fortune. However, he\r\nbegan for the time to exert himself against Pompey, attacked him sharply, and\r\nsucceeded in having his own acts and decrees, which were repealed by Pompey,\r\nreestablished, and with the assistance of Cato, gained the superiority in the\r\nsenate. Pompey having fallen from his hopes in such an unworthy repulse, was\r\nforced to fly to the tribunes of the people for refuge, and to attach himself\r\nto the young men, among whom was Clodius, the vilest and most impudent wretch\r\nalive, who took him about, and exposed him as a tool to the people, carrying\r\nhim up and down among the throngs in the market-place, to countenance those\r\nlaws and speeches which he made to cajole the people and ingratiate himself.\r\nAnd at last for his reward, he demanded of Pompey, as if he had not disgraced,\r\nbut done him great kindness, that he should forsake (as in the end he did\r\nforsake) Cicero, his friend, who on many public occasions had done him the\r\ngreatest service. And so when Cicero was in danger, and implored his aid, he\r\nwould not admit him into his presence, but shutting up his gates against those\r\nthat came to mediate for him, slips out at a back door, whereupon Cicero\r\nfearing the result of his trial, departed privately from Rome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout that time Caesar, returning from military service, started a course of\r\npolicy which brought him great present favor, and much increased his power for\r\nthe future, and proved extremely destructive both to Pompey and the\r\ncommonwealth. For now he stood candidate for his first consulship, and well\r\nobserving the enmity betwixt Pompey and Crassus, and finding that by joining\r\nwith one he should make the other his enemy, he endeavored by all means to\r\nreconcile them, an object in itself honorable and tending to the public good,\r\nbut as he undertook it, a mischievous and subtle intrigue. For he well knew\r\nthat opposite parties or factions in a commonwealth, like passengers in a boat,\r\nserve to trim and balance the unready motions of power there; whereas if they\r\ncombine and come all over to one side, they cause a shock which will be sure to\r\noverset the vessel and carry down everything. And therefore Cato wisely told\r\nthose who charged all the calamities of Rome upon the disagreement betwixt\r\nPompey and Caesar, that they were in error in charging all the crime upon the\r\nlast cause; for it was not their discord and enmity, but their unanimity and I\r\nfriendship, that gave the first and greatest blow to the commonwealth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar being thus elected consul, began at once to make an interest with the\r\npoor and meaner sort, by preferring and establishing laws for planting colonies\r\nand dividing lands, lowering the dignity of his office, and turning his\r\nconsulship into a sort of tribuneship rather. And when Bibulus, his colleague,\r\nopposed him, and Cato was prepared to second Bibulus, and assist him\r\nvigorously, Caesar brought Pompey upon the hustings, and addressing him in the\r\nsight of the people, demanded his opinion upon the laws that were proposed.\r\nPompey gave his approbation. “Then,” said Caesar, “in case any man should offer\r\nviolence to these laws, will you be reedy to give assistance to the people?”\r\n“Yes,” replied Pompey, “I shall be ready, and against those that threaten the\r\nsword, I will appear with sword and buckler.” Nothing ever was said or done by\r\nPompey up to that day, that seemed more insolent or overbearing; so that his\r\nfriends endeavored to apologize for it as a word spoken inadvertently; but by\r\nhis actions afterwards it appeared plainly that he was totally devoted to\r\nCaesar’s service. For on a sudden, contrary to all expectation, he married\r\nJulia, the daughter of Caesar, who had been affianced before and was to be\r\nmarried within a few days to Caepio. And to appease Caepio’s wrath, he gave him\r\nhis own daughter in marriage, who had been espoused before to Faustus, the son\r\nof Sylla. Caesar himself married Calpurnia, the daughter of Piso.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this Pompey, filling the city with soldiers, carried all things by force\r\nas he pleased. As Bibulus, the consul, was going to the forum, accompanied by\r\nLucullus and Cato, they fell upon him on a sudden and broke his rods; and\r\nsomebody threw a vessel of ordure upon the head of Bibulus himself; and two\r\ntribunes of the people, who escorted him, were desperately wounded in the fray.\r\nAnd thus having cleared the forum of all their adversaries, they got their bill\r\nfor the division of lands established and passed into an act; and not only so,\r\nbut the whole populace being taken with this bait, became totally at their\r\ndevotion, inquiring into nothing and without a word giving their suffrages to\r\nwhatever they propounded. Thus they confirmed all those acts and decrees of\r\nPompey, which were questioned and contested by Lucullus; and to Caesar they\r\ngranted the provinces of Gaul, both within and without the Alps, together with\r\nIllyricum, for five years, and likewise an army of four entire legions; then\r\nthey created consuls for the year ensuing, Piso, the father-in-law of Caesar,\r\nand Gabinius, the most extravagant of Pompey’s flatterers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDuring all these transactions, Bibulus kept close within doors, nor did he\r\nappear publicly in person for the space of eight months together,\r\nnotwithstanding he was consul, but sent out proclamations full of bitter\r\ninvectives and accusations against them both. Cato turned prophet, and, as if\r\nhe had been possessed with a spirit of divination, did nothing else in the\r\nsenate but foretell what evils should befall the Commonwealth and Pompey.\r\nLucullus pleaded old age, and retired to take his ease, as superannuated for\r\naffairs of State; which gave occasion to the saying of Pompey, that the\r\nfatigues of luxury were not more seasonable for an old man than those of\r\ngovernment. Which in truth proved a reflection upon himself; for he not long\r\nafter let his fondness for his young wife seduce him also into effeminate\r\nhabits. He gave all his time to her, and passed his days in her company in\r\ncountry-houses and gardens, paying no heed to what was going on in the forum.\r\nInsomuch that Clodius, who was then tribune of the people, began to despise\r\nhim, and engage in the most audacious attempts. For when he had banished\r\nCicero, and sent away Cato into Cyprus under pretence of military duty, and\r\nwhen Caesar was gone upon his expedition to Gaul, finding the populace now\r\nlooking to him as the leader who did everything according to their pleasure, he\r\nattempted forthwith to repeal some of Pompey’s decrees; he took Tigranes, the\r\ncaptive, out of prison, and kept him about him as his companion; and commenced\r\nactions against several of Pompey’s friends, thus designing to try the extent\r\nof his power. At last, upon a time when Pompey was present at the hearing of a\r\ncertain cause, Clodius, accompanied with a crowd of profligate and impudent\r\nruffians, standing up in a place above the rest, put questions to the populace\r\nas follows: “Who is the dissolute general? who is the man that seeks another\r\nman? who scratches his head with one finger?” and the rabble, upon the signal\r\nof his shaking his gown, with a great shout to every question, like singers\r\nmaking, responses in a chorus, made answer, “Pompey.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis indeed was no small annoyance to Pompey, who was quite unaccustomed to\r\nhear anything ill of himself, and unexperienced altogether in such encounters;\r\nand he was yet more vexed, when he saw that the senate rejoiced at this foul\r\nusage, and regarded it as a just punishment upon him for his treachery to\r\nCicero. But when it came even to blows and wounds in the forum, and that one of\r\nClodius’s bondslaves was apprehended, creeping through the crowd towards Pompey\r\nwith a sword in his hand, Pompey laid hold of this pretence, though perhaps\r\notherwise apprehensive of Clodius’s insolence and bad language, and never\r\nappeared again in the forum during all the time he was tribune, but kept close\r\nat home, and passed his time in consulting with his friends, by what means he\r\nmight best allay the displeasure of the senate and nobles against him. Among\r\nother expedients, Culleo advised the divorce of Julia, and to abandon Caesar’s\r\nfriendship to gain that of the senate; this he would not hearken to. Others\r\nagain advised him to call home Cicero from banishment, a man who was always the\r\ngreat adversary of Clodius, and as great a favorite of the senate; to this he\r\nwas easily persuaded. And therefore he brought Cicero’s brother into the forum,\r\nattended with a strong party, to petition for his return; where, after a warm\r\ndispute, in which several were wounded and some slain, he got the victory over\r\nClodius. No sooner was Cicero returned home upon this decree, but immediately\r\nhe used his efforts to reconcile the senate to Pompey; and by speaking in favor\r\nof the law upon the importation of corn, did again, in effect, make Pompey\r\nsovereign lord of all the Roman possessions by sea and land. For by that law,\r\nthere were placed under his control all ports, markets, and storehouses, and in\r\nshort, all the concerns both of the merchants and the husbandmen; which gave\r\noccasion to the charge brought against it by Clodius, that the law was not made\r\nbecause of the scarcity of corn, but the scarcity of corn was made, that they\r\nmight pass a law, whereby that power of his, which was now grown feeble and\r\nconsumptive, might be revived again, and Pompey reinstated in a new empire.\r\nOthers look upon it as a politic device of Spinther, the consul, whose design\r\nit was to secure Pompey in a greater authority, that he himself might be sent\r\nin assistance to king Ptolemy. However, it is certain that Canidius, the\r\ntribune, preferred a law to dispatch Pompey in the character of an ambassador,\r\nwithout an army, attended only with two lictors, as a mediator betwixt the king\r\nand his subjects of Alexandria. Neither did this proposal seem unacceptable to\r\nPompey, though the senate cast it out upon the specious pretence, that they\r\nwere unwilling to hazard his person. However, there were found several writings\r\nscattered about the forum and near the senate-house, intimating how grateful it\r\nwould be to Ptolemy to have Pompey appointed for his general instead of\r\nSpinther. And Timagenes even asserts that Ptolemy went away and left Egypt, not\r\nout of necessity, but purely upon the persuasion of Theophanes, who was anxious\r\nto give Pompey the opportunity for holding a new command, and gaining further\r\nwealth. But Theophanes’s want of honesty does not go so far to make this story\r\ncredible as does Pompey’s own nature, which was averse, with all its ambition,\r\nto such base and disingenuous acts, to render it improbable.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus Pompey being appointed chief purveyor, and having within his\r\nadministration and management all the corn trade, sent abroad his factors and\r\nagents into all quarters, and he himself sailing into Sicily, Sardinia, and\r\nAfrica, collected vast stores of corn. He was just ready to set sail upon his\r\nvoyage home, when a great storm arose upon the sea, and the ships’ commanders\r\ndoubted whether it were safe. Upon which Pompey himself went first aboard, and\r\nbid the mariners weigh anchor, declaring with a loud voice, that there was a\r\nnecessity to sail, but no necessity to live. So that with this spirit and\r\ncourage, and having met with favorable fortune, he made a prosperous return,\r\nand filled the markets with corn, and the sea with ships. So much so that this\r\ngreat plenty and abundance of provisions yielded a sufficient supply, not only\r\nto the city of Rome, but even to other places too, dispersing itself; like\r\nwaters from a spring, into all quarters.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMeantime Caesar grew great and famous with his wars in Gaul, and while in\r\nappearance he seemed far distant from Rome, entangled in the affairs of the\r\nBelgians, Suevians, and Britons, in truth he was working craftily by secret\r\npractices in the midst of the people, and countermining Pompey in all political\r\nmatters of most importance. He himself with his army close about him, as if it\r\nhad been his own body, not with mere views of conquest over the barbarians, but\r\nas though his contests with them were but mere sports and exercises of the\r\nchase, did his utmost with this training and discipline to make it invincible\r\nand alarming. And in the meantime his gold and silver and other spoils and\r\ntreasure which he took from the enemy in his conquests, he sent to Rome in\r\npresents, tempting people with his gifts, and aiding aediles, praetors, and\r\nconsuls, as also their wives, in their expenses, and thus purchasing himself\r\nnumerous friends. Insomuch, that when he passed back again over the Alps, and\r\ntook up his winter quarters in the city of Luca, there flocked to him an\r\ninfinite number of men and women, striving who should get first to him, two\r\nhundred senators included, among whom were Pompey and Crassus; so that there\r\nwere to be seen at once before Caesar’s door no less than six score rods of\r\nproconsuls and praetors. The rest of his addressers he sent all away full\r\nfraught with hopes and money; but with Crassus and Pompey, he entered into\r\nspecial articles of agreement, that they should stand candidates for the\r\nconsulship next year; that Caesar on his part should send a number of his\r\nsoldiers to give their votes at the election; that as soon as they were\r\nelected, they should use their interest to have the command of some provinces\r\nand legions assigned to themselves, and that Caesar should have his present\r\ncharge confirmed to him for five years more. When these arrangements came to be\r\ngenerally known, great indignation was excited among the chief men in Rome; and\r\nMarcellinus, in an open assembly of the people, demanded of them both, whether\r\nthey designed to sue for the consulship or no. And being urged by the people\r\nfor their answer, Pompey spoke first, and told them, perhaps he would sue for\r\nit, perhaps he would not. Crassus was more temperate, and said, that he would\r\ndo what should be judged most agreeable with the interest of the Commonwealth;\r\nand when Marcellinus persisted in his attack on Pompey, and spoke, as it was\r\nthought, with some vehemence, Pompey remarked that Marcellinus was certainly\r\nthe unfairest of men, to show him no gratitude for having thus made him an\r\norator out of a mute, and converted him from a hungry starveling into a man so\r\nfull-fed that he could not contain himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMost of the candidates nevertheless abandoned their canvass for the consulship;\r\nCato alone persuaded and encouraged Lucius Domitius not to desist, “since,”\r\nsaid he, “the contest now is not for office, but for liberty against tyrants\r\nand usurpers.” Therefore those of Pompey’s party, fearing this inflexible\r\nconstancy in Cato, by which he kept with him the whole senate, lest by this he\r\nshould likewise pervert and draw after him all the well-affected part of the\r\ncommonalty, resolved to withstand Domitius at once, and to prevent his entrance\r\ninto the forum. To this end, therefore, they sent in a band of armed men, who\r\nslew the torchbearer of Domitius, as he was leading the way before him, and put\r\nall the rest to flight; last of all, Cato himself retired, having received a\r\nwound in his right arm while defending Domitius. Thus by these means and\r\npractices they obtained the consulship; neither did they behave themselves with\r\nmore decency in their further proceedings; but in the first place, when the\r\npeople were choosing Cato praetor, and just ready with their votes for the\r\npoll, Pompey broke up the assembly, upon a pretext of some inauspicious\r\nappearance, and having gained the tribes by money, they publicly proclaimed\r\nVatinius praetor. Then, in pursuance of their covenants with Caesar, they\r\nintroduced several laws by Trebonius, the tribune, continuing Caesar’s\r\ncommission to another five years’ charge of his province; to Crassus there were\r\nappointed Syria, and the Parthian war; and to Pompey himself, all Africa,\r\ntogether with both Spains, and four legions of soldiers, two of which he lent\r\nto Caesar upon his request, for the wars in Gaul.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCrassus, upon the expiration of his consulship, departed forthwith into his\r\nprovince; but Pompey spent some time in Rome, upon the opening or dedication of\r\nhis theater, where he treated the people with all sorts of games, shows, and\r\nexercises, in gymnastics alike and in music. There was likewise the hunting or\r\nbaiting of wild beasts, and combats with them, in which five hundred lions were\r\nslain; but above all, the battle of elephants was a spectacle full of horror\r\nand amazement.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese entertainments brought him great honor and popularity; but on the other\r\nside he created no less envy to himself, in that he committed the government of\r\nhis provinces and legions into the hands of friends as his lieutenants, whilst\r\nhe himself was going about and spending his time with his wife in all the\r\nplaces of amusement in Italy; whether it were he was so fond of her himself, or\r\nshe so fond of him, and he unable to distress her by going away, for this also\r\nis stated. And the love displayed by this young wife for her elderly husband\r\nwas a matter of general note, to be attributed, it would seem, to his constancy\r\nin married life, and to his dignity of manner, which in familiar intercourse\r\nwas tempered with grace and gentleness, and was particularly attractive to\r\nwomen, as even Flora, the courtesan, may be thought good enough evidence to\r\nprove. It once happened in a public assembly, as they were at an election of\r\nthe aediles, that the people came to blows, and several about Pompey were\r\nslain, so that he, finding himself all bloody, ordered a change of apparel; but\r\nthe servants who brought home his clothes, making a great bustle and hurry\r\nabout the house, it chanced that the young lady, who was then with child, saw\r\nhis gown all stained with blood; upon which she dropped immediately into a\r\nswoon, and was hardly brought to life again; however, what with her fright and\r\nsuffering, she fell into labor and miscarried; even those who chiefly censured\r\nPompey for his friendship to Caesar, could not reprove him for his affection to\r\nso attached a wife. Afterwards she was great again, and brought to bed of a\r\ndaughter, but died in childbed; neither did the infant outlive her mother many\r\ndays. Pompey had prepared all things for the interment of her corpse at his\r\nhouse near Alba, but the people seized upon it by force, and performed the\r\nsolemnities in the field of Mars, rather in compassion for the young lady, than\r\nin favor either for Pompey or Caesar; and yet of these two, the people seemed\r\nat that time to pay Caesar a greater share of honor in his absence, than to\r\nPompey, though he was present.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor the city now at once began to roll and swell, so to say, with the stir of\r\nthe coming storm. Things everywhere were in a state of agitation, and\r\neverybody’s discourse tended to division, now that death had put an end to that\r\nrelation which hitherto had been a disguise rather than restraint to the\r\nambition of these men. Besides, not long after came messengers from Parthia\r\nwith intelligence of the death of Crassus there, by which another safeguard\r\nagainst civil war was removed, since both Caesar and Pompey kept their eyes on\r\nCrassus, and awe of him held them together more or less within the bounds of\r\nfair-dealing all his lifetime. But when fortune had taken away this second,\r\nwhose province it might have been to revenge the quarrel of the conquered, you\r\nmight then say with the comic poet,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe combatants are waiting to begin,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSmearing their hands with dust and oiling each his skin.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nSo inconsiderable a thing is fortune in respect of human nature, and so\r\ninsufficient to give content to a covetous mind, that an empire of that mighty\r\nextent and sway could not satisfy the ambition of two men; and though they knew\r\nand had read, that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe gods, when they divided out ’twixt three,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThis massive universe, heaven, hell, and sea,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nEach one sat down contented on his throne,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd undisturbed each god enjoys his own,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nyet they thought the whole Roman empire not sufficient to contain them, though\r\nthey were but two.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey once in an oration to the people, told them, that he had always come\r\ninto office before he expected he should, and that he had always left it sooner\r\nthan they expected he would; and, indeed, the disbanding of all his armies\r\nwitnessed as much. Yet when he perceived that Caesar would not so willingly\r\ndischarge his forces, he endeavored to strengthen himself against him by\r\noffices and commands in the city; but beyond this he showed no desire for any\r\nchange, and would not seem to distrust, but rather to disregard and contemn\r\nhim. And when he saw how they bestowed the places of government quite contrary\r\nto his wishes, because the citizens were bribed in their elections, he let\r\nthings take their course, and allowed the city to be left without any\r\ngovernment at all. Hereupon there was mention straightaway made of appointing a\r\ndictator. Lucilius, a tribune of the people, was the man who first adventured\r\nto propose it, urging the people to make Pompey dictator. But the tribune was\r\nin danger of being turned out of his office, by the opposition that Cato made\r\nagainst it. And for Pompey, many of his friends appeared and excused him,\r\nalleging that he never was desirous of that government, neither would he accept\r\nof it. And when Cato therefore made a speech in commendation of Pompey, and\r\nexhorted him to support the cause of good order in the Commonwealth, he could\r\nnot for shame but yield to it, and so for the present Domitius and Messala were\r\nelected consuls. But shortly afterwards, when there was another anarchy, or\r\nvacancy in the government, and the talk of a dictator was much louder and more\r\ngeneral than before, those of Cato’s party, fearing lest they should be forced\r\nto appoint Pompey, thought it policy to keep him from that arbitrary and\r\ntyrannical power, by giving him an office of more legal authority. Bibulus\r\nhimself, who was Pompey’s enemy, first gave his vote in the senate, that Pompey\r\nshould be created consul alone; alleging, that by these means either the\r\nCommonwealth would be freed from its present confusion, or that its bondage\r\nshould be lessened by serving the worthiest. This was looked upon as a very\r\nstrange opinion, considering the man that spoke it; and therefore on Cato’s\r\nstanding up, everybody expected that he would have opposed it; but after\r\nsilence made, he said that he would never have been the author of that advice\r\nhimself, but since it was propounded by another, his advice was to follow it,\r\nadding, that any form of government was better than none at all; and that in a\r\ntime so full of distraction, he thought no man fitter to govern than Pompey.\r\nThis counsel was unanimously approved of, and a decree passed that Pompey\r\nshould be made sole consul, with this clause, that if he thought it necessary\r\nto have a colleague, he might choose whom he pleased, provided it were not till\r\nafter two months expired.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus was Pompey created and declared sole consul by Sulpicius, regent in this\r\nvacancy; upon which he made very cordial acknowledgments to Cato, professing\r\nhimself much his debtor, and requesting his good advice in conducting the\r\ngovernment; to this Cato replied, that Pompey had no reason to thank him, for\r\nall that he had said was for the service of the commonwealth, not of Pompey;\r\nbut that he would be always ready to give his advice privately, if he were\r\nasked for it; and if not, he should not fail to say what he thought in public.\r\nSuch was Cato’s conduct on all occasions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn his return into the city Pompey married Cornelia, the daughter of Metellus\r\nScipio, not a maiden, but lately left a widow by Publius, the son of Crassus,\r\nher first husband, who had been killed in Parthia. The young lady had other\r\nattractions besides those of youth and beauty; for she was highly educated,\r\nplayed well upon the lute, understood geometry, and had been accustomed to\r\nlisten with profit to lectures on philosophy; all this, too, without in any\r\ndegree becoming unamiable or pretentious, as sometimes young women do when they\r\npursue such studies. Nor could any fault be found either with her father’s\r\nfamily or reputation. The disparity of their ages was however not liked by\r\neverybody; Cornelia being in this respect a fitter match for Pompey’s son. And\r\nwiser judges thought it rather a slight upon the commonwealth when he, to whom\r\nalone they had committed their broken fortunes, and from whom alone, as from\r\ntheir physician, they expected a cure to these distractions, went about crowned\r\nwith garlands and celebrating his nuptial feasts; never considering, that his\r\nvery consulship was a public calamity, which would never have been given him,\r\ncontrary to the rules of law, had his country been in a flourishing state.\r\nAfterwards, however, he took cognizance of the cases of those that had obtained\r\noffices by gifts and bribery, and enacted laws and ordinances, setting forth\r\nthe rules of judgment by which they should be arraigned; and regulating all\r\nthings with gravity and justice, he restored security, order, and silence to\r\ntheir courts of judicature, himself giving his presence there with a band of\r\nsoldiers. But when his father-in-law Scipio was accused, he sent for the three\r\nhundred and sixty judges to his house, and entreated them to be favorable to\r\nhim; whereupon his accuser, seeing Scipio come into the court, accompanied by\r\nthe judges themselves, withdrew the prosecution. Upon this Pompey was very ill\r\nspoken of, and much worse in the case of Plancus; for whereas he himself had\r\nmade a law, putting a stop to the practice of making speeches in praise of\r\npersons under trial, yet notwithstanding this prohibition, he came into court,\r\nand spoke openly in commendation of Plancus, insomuch that Cato, who happened\r\nto be one of the judges at that time, stopping his ears with his hands, told\r\nhim, he could not in conscience listen to commendations contrary to law. Cato\r\nupon this was refused, and set aside from being a judge, before sentence was\r\ngiven, but Plancus was condemned by the rest of the judges, to Pompey’s\r\ndishonor. Shortly after, Hypsaeus, a man of consular dignity, who was under\r\naccusation, waited for Pompey’s return from his bath to his supper, and falling\r\ndown at his feet, implored his favor; but he disdainfully passed him by,\r\nsaying, that he did nothing else but spoil his supper. Such partiality was\r\nlooked upon as a great fault in Pompey, and highly condemned; however, he\r\nmanaged all things else discreetly, and having put the government in very good\r\norder, he chose his father-in-law to be his colleague in the consulship for the\r\nlast five months. His provinces were continued to him for the term of four\r\nyears longer, with a commission to take one thousand talents yearly out of the\r\ntreasury for the payment of his army.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis gave occasion to some of Caesar’s friends to think it reasonable, that\r\nsome consideration should be had of him too, who had done such signal services\r\nin war, and fought so many battles for the empire, alleging, that he deserved\r\nat least a second consulship, or to have the government of his province\r\ncontinued, that so he might command and enjoy in peace what he had obtained in\r\nwar, and no successor come in to reap the fruits of his labor, and carry off\r\nthe glory of his actions. There arising some debate about this matter, Pompey\r\ntook upon him, as it were out of kindness to Caesar, to plead his cause, and\r\nallay any jealousy that was conceived against him, telling them, that he had\r\nletters from Caesar, expressing his desire for a successor, and his own\r\ndischarge from the command; but it would be only right that they should give\r\nhim leave to stand for the consulship though in his absence. But those of\r\nCato’s party withstood this, saying, that if he expected any favor from the\r\ncitizens, he ought to leave his army, and come in a private capacity to canvas\r\nfor it. And Pompey’s making no rejoinder, but letting it pass as a matter in\r\nwhich he was overruled, increased the suspicion of his real feelings towards\r\nCaesar. Presently, also, under presence of a war with Parthia, he sent for his\r\ntwo legions which he had lent him. However, Caesar, though he well knew why\r\nthey were asked for, sent them home very liberally rewarded.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout that time Pompey recovered of a dangerous fit of sickness which seized\r\nhim at Naples, where the whole city, upon the suggestion of Praxagoras, made\r\nsacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods for his recovery. The neighboring towns\r\nlikewise happening to follow their example, the thing then went its course\r\nthroughout all Italy, so that there was not a city either great or small, that\r\ndid not feast and rejoice for many days together. And the company of those that\r\ncame from all parts to meet him was so numerous, that no place was able to\r\ncontain them, but the villages, seaport towns, and the very highways, were all\r\nfull of people, feasting and sacrificing to the gods. Nay, many went to meet\r\nhim with garlands on their heads, and flambeaux in their hands, casting flowers\r\nand nosegays upon him as he went along; so that this progress of his, and\r\nreception, was one of the noblest and most glorious sights imaginable. And yet\r\nit is thought that this very thing was not one of the least causes and\r\noccasions of the civil war. For Pompey, yielding to a feeling of exultation,\r\nwhich in the greatness of the present display of joy lost sight of more solid\r\ngrounds of consideration, and abandoning that prudent temper which had guided\r\nhim hitherto to a safe use of all his good fortune and his successes, gave\r\nhimself up to an extravagant confidence in his own, and contempt of Caesar’s\r\npower; insomuch that he thought neither force of arms nor care necessary\r\nagainst him, but that he could pull him down much easier than he had set him\r\nup. Besides this, Appius, under whose command those legions which Pompey lent\r\nto Caesar were returned, coming lately out of Gaul, spoke slightingly of\r\nCaesar’s actions there, and spread scandalous reports about him, at the same\r\ntime telling Pompey, that he was unacquainted with his own strength and\r\nreputation, if he made use of any other forces against Caesar than Caesar’s\r\nown; for such was the soldiers’ hatred to Caesar, and their love to Pompey so\r\ngreat, that they would all come over to him upon his first appearance. By these\r\nflatteries Pompey was so puffed up, and led on into such a careless security,\r\nthat he could not choose but laugh at those who seemed to fear a war; and when\r\nsome were saying, that if Caesar should march against the city, they could not\r\nsee what forces there were to resist him, he replied with a smile, bidding them\r\nbe in no concern, “for,” said he, “whenever I stamp with my foot in any part of\r\nItaly, there will rise up forces enough in an instant, both horse and foot.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, on the other side, was more and more vigorous in his proceedings,\r\nhimself always at hand about the frontiers of Italy, and sending his soldiers\r\ncontinually into the city to attend all elections with their votes. Besides, he\r\ncorrupted several of the magistrates, and kept them in his pay; among others,\r\nPaulus, the consul, who was brought over by a bribe of one thousand and five\r\nhundred talents; and Curio, tribune of the people, by a discharge of the debts\r\nwith which he was overwhelmed; together with Mark Antony, who, out of\r\nfriendship to Curio, had become bound with him in the same obligations for them\r\nall. And it was stated as a fact, that a centurion of Caesar’s waiting at the\r\nsenate-house, and hearing that the senate refused to give him a longer term of\r\nhis government, clapped his hand upon his sword, and said, “But this shall give\r\nit.” And indeed all his practices and preparations seemed to bear this\r\nappearance. Curio’s demands, however, and requests in favor of Caesar, were\r\nmore popular in appearance; for he desired one of these two things, either that\r\nPompey also should be called upon to resign his army, or that Caesar’s should\r\nnot be taken away from him; for if both of them became private persons, both\r\nwould be satisfied with simple justice; or if both retained their present\r\npower, each being a match for the other, they would be contented with what they\r\nalready had; but he that weakens one, does at the same time strengthen the\r\nother, and so doubles that very strength and power which he stood in fear of\r\nbefore. Marcellus, the consul, replied nothing to all this, but that Caesar was\r\na robber, and should be proclaimed an enemy to the state, if he did not disband\r\nhis army. However, Curio, with the assistance of Antony and Piso, prevailed,\r\nthat the matter in debate should be put to the question, and decided by vote in\r\nthe senate. So that it being ordered upon the question for those to withdraw,\r\nwho were of opinion that Caesar only should lay down his army and Pompey\r\ncommand, the majority withdrew. But when it was ordered again for those to\r\nwithdraw, whose vote was that both should lay down their arms and neither\r\ncommand, there were but twenty-two for Pompey, all the rest remained on Curio’s\r\nside. Whereupon he, as one proud of his conquest, leaped out in triumph among\r\nthe people, who received him with as great tokens of joy, clapping their hands,\r\nand crowning him with garlands and flowers. Pompey was not then present in the\r\nsenate, because it is not lawful for generals in command of an army to come\r\ninto the city. But Marcellus rising up, said, that he would not sit there\r\nhearing speeches, when he saw ten legions already passing the Alps on their\r\nmarch toward the city, but on his own authority would send someone to oppose\r\nthem in defense of the country.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this the city went into mourning, as in a public calamity, and Marcellus,\r\naccompanied by the senate, went solemnly through the forum to meet Pompey, and\r\nmade him this address. “I hereby give you orders, O Pompey, to defend your\r\ncountry, to employ the troops you now command, and to levy more.” Lentulus,\r\nconsul elect for the year following, spoke to the same purpose. Antony,\r\nhowever, contrary to the will of the senate, having in a public assembly read a\r\nletter of Caesar’s, containing various plausible overtures such as were likely\r\nto gain the common people, proposing, namely, that both Pompey and he quitting\r\ntheir governments, and dismissing their armies, should submit to the judgment\r\nof the people, and give an account of their actions before them, the\r\nconsequence was that when Pompey began to make his levies, he found himself\r\ndisappointed in his expectations. Some few, indeed, came in, but those very\r\nunwillingly; others would not answer to their names, and the generality cried\r\nout for peace. Lentulus, notwithstanding he was now entered upon his\r\nconsulship, would not assemble the senate; but Cicero, who was lately returned\r\nfrom Cilicia, labored for a reconciliation, proposing that Caesar should leave\r\nhis province of Gaul and army, reserving two legions only, together with the\r\ngovernment of Illyricum, and should thus be put in nomination for a second\r\nconsulship. Pompey disliking this motion, Caesar’s friends were contented that\r\nhe should surrender one of the two; but Lentulus still opposing, and Cato\r\ncrying out that Pompey did ill to be deceived again, the reconciliation did not\r\ntake effect.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime, news was brought that Caesar had occupied Ariminum, a great\r\ncity in Italy, and was marching directly towards Rome with all his forces. But\r\nthis latter was altogether false, for he had no more with him at that time than\r\nthree hundred horse and five thousand foot; and he did not mean to tarry for\r\nthe body of his army, which lay beyond the Alps, choosing rather to fall in on\r\na sudden upon his enemies, while they were in confusion, and did not expect\r\nhim, than to give them time, and fight them after they had made preparations.\r\nFor when he came to the banks of the Rubicon, a river that made the bounds of\r\nhis province, there he made a halt, pausing a little, and considering, we may\r\nsuppose, with himself the greatness of the enterprise which he had undertaken;\r\nthen, at last, like men that are throwing themselves headlong from some\r\nprecipice into a vast abyss, having shut, as it were, his mind’s eyes and put\r\naway from his sight the idea of danger, he merely uttered to those near him in\r\nGreek the words, “Anerriphtho kubos,” (let the die be cast,) and led his army\r\nthrough it. No sooner was the news arrived, but there was an uproar throughout\r\nall the city, and a consternation in the people even to astonishment, such as\r\nnever was known in Rome before; all the senate ran immediately to Pompey, and\r\nthe magistrates followed. And when Tullus made inquiry about his legions and\r\nforces, Pompey seemed to pause a little, and answered with some hesitation,\r\nthat he had those two legions ready that Caesar sent back, and that out of the\r\nmen who had been previously enrolled he believed he could shortly make up a\r\nbody of thirty thousand men. On which Tullus crying out aloud, “O Pompey, you\r\nhave deceived us,” gave his advice to send off a deputation to Caesar.\r\nFavonius, a man of fair character, except that he used to suppose his own\r\npetulance and abusive talking a copy of Cato’s straight-forwardness, bade\r\nPompey stamp upon the ground, and call forth the forces he had promised. But\r\nPompey bore patiently with this unseasonable raillery; and on Cato putting him\r\nin mind of what he had foretold from the very beginning about Caesar, made this\r\nanswer only, that Cato indeed had spoken more like a prophet, but he had acted\r\nmore like a friend. Cato then advised them to choose Pompey general with\r\nabsolute power and authority, saying that the same men who do great evils, know\r\nbest how to cure them. He himself went his way forthwith into Sicily, the\r\nprovince that was allotted him, and all the rest of the senators likewise\r\ndeparted every one to his respective government.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus all Italy in a manner being up in arms, no one could say what was best to\r\nbe done. For those that were without, came from all parts flocking into the\r\ncity; and they who were within, seeing the confusion and disorder so great\r\nthere, all good things impotent, and disobedience and insubordination grown too\r\nstrong to be controlled by the magistrates, were quitting it as fast as the\r\nothers came in. Nay, it was so far from being possible to allay their fears,\r\nthat they would not suffer Pompey to follow out his own judgment, but every man\r\npressed and urged him according to his particular fancy, whether it proceeded\r\nfrom doubt, fear, grief, or any meaner passion; so that even in the same day\r\nquite contrary counsels were acted upon. Then, again, it was as impossible to\r\nhave any good intelligence of the enemy; for what each man heard by chance upon\r\na flying rumor, he would report for truth, and exclaim against Pompey if he did\r\nnot believe it. Pompey, at length, seeing such a confusion in Rome, determined\r\nwith himself to put an end to their clamors by his departure, and therefore\r\ncommanding all the senate to follow him, and declaring, that whosoever tarried\r\nbehind, should be judged a confederate of Caesar’s, about the dusk of the\r\nevening he went out and left the city. The consuls also followed after in a\r\nhurry, without offering the sacrifices to the gods, usual before a war. But in\r\nall this, Pompey himself had the glory, that in the midst of such calamities,\r\nhe had so much of men’s love and good-will. For though many found fault with\r\nthe conduct of the war, yet no man hated the general; and there were more to be\r\nfound of those that went out of Rome, because that they could not forsake\r\nPompey, than of those that fled for love of liberty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome few days after Pompey was gone out, Caesar came into the city, and made\r\nhimself master of it, treating everyone with a great deal of courtesy, and\r\nappeasing their fears, except only Metellus, one of the tribunes; on whose\r\nrefusing to let him take any money out of the treasury, Caesar threatened him\r\nwith death, adding words yet harsher than the threat, that it was far easier\r\nfor him to do it than say it. By this means removing Metellus, and taking what\r\nmoneys were of use for his occasions, he set forwards in pursuit of Pompey,\r\nendeavoring with all speed to drive him out of Italy before his army, that was\r\nin Spain, could join him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Pompey arriving at Brundusium, and having plenty of ships there, bade the\r\ntwo consuls embark immediately, and with them shipped thirty cohorts of foot,\r\nbound before him for Dyrrhachium. He sent likewise his father-in-law Scipio,\r\nand Cnaeus his son, into Syria, to provide and fit out a fleet there; himself\r\nin the meantime having blocked up the gates, placed his lightest soldiers as\r\nguards upon the walls; and giving express orders that the citizens should keep\r\nwithin doors, he dug up all the ground inside the city, cutting trenches, and\r\nfixing stakes and palisades throughout all the streets of the city, except only\r\ntwo that led down to the sea-side. Thus in three days space having with ease\r\nput all the rest of his army on shipboard, he suddenly gave the signal to those\r\nthat guarded the walls, who nimbly repairing to the ships, were received on\r\nboard and carried off. Caesar meantime perceiving their departure by seeing the\r\nwalls unguarded, hastened after, and in the heat of pursuit was all but\r\nentangled himself among the stakes and trenches. But the Brundusians\r\ndiscovering the danger to him, and showing him the way, he wheeled about, and\r\ntaking a circuit round the city, made towards the haven, where he found all the\r\nships on their way, excepting only two vessels that had but a few soldiers\r\naboard.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMost are of opinion, that this departure of Pompey’s is to be counted among the\r\nbest of his military performances, but Caesar himself could not but wonder that\r\nhe, who was thus ingarrisoned in a city well fortified, who was in expectation\r\nof his forces from Spain, and was master of the sea besides, should leave and\r\nabandon Italy. Cicero accuses him of imitating the conduct of Themistocles,\r\nrather than of Pericles, when the circumstances were more like those of\r\nPericles than they were like those of Themistocles. However, it appeared\r\nplainly, and Caesar showed it by his actions, that he was in great fear of\r\ndelay, for when he had taken Numerius, a friend of Pompey’s, prisoner, he sent\r\nhim as an ambassador to Brundusium, with offers of peace and reconciliation\r\nupon equal terms; but Numerius sailed away with Pompey. And now Caesar having\r\nbecome master of all Italy in sixty days, without a drop of blood shed, had a\r\ngreat desire forthwith to follow Pompey; but being destitute of shipping, he\r\nwas forced to divert his course, and march into Spain, designing to bring over\r\nPompey’s forces there to his own.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime Pompey raised a mighty army both by sea and land. As for his\r\nnavy, it was irresistible. For there were five hundred men of war, besides an\r\ninfinite company of light vessels, Liburnians, and others; and for his land\r\nforces, the cavalry made up a body of seven thousand horse, the very flower of\r\nRome and Italy, men of family, wealth, and high spirit; but the infantry was a\r\nmixture of unexperienced soldiers drawn from different quarters, and these he\r\nexercised and trained near Beroea, where he quartered his army; himself noways\r\nslothful, but performing all his exercises as if he had been in the flower of\r\nhis youth, conduct which raised the spirits of his soldiers extremely. For it\r\nwas no small encouragement for them to see Pompey the Great, sixty years of age\r\nwanting two, at one time handling his arms among the foot, then again mounted\r\namong the horse, drawing out his sword with ease in full career, and sheathing\r\nit up as easily; and in darting the javelin, showing not only skill and\r\ndexterity in hitting the mark, but also strength and activity in throwing it so\r\nfar that few of the young men went beyond him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSeveral kings and princes of nations came thither to him, and there was a\r\nconcourse of Roman citizens who had held the magistracies, so numerous that\r\nthey made up a complete senate. Labienus forsook his old friend Caesar, whom he\r\nhad served throughout all his wars in Gaul, and came over to Pompey; and\r\nBrutus, son to that Brutus that was put to death in Gaul, a man of a high\r\nspirit, and one that to that day had never so much as saluted or spoke to\r\nPompey, looking upon him as the murderer of his father, came then and submitted\r\nhimself to him as the defender of their liberty. Cicero likewise, though he had\r\nwritten and advised otherwise, yet was ashamed not to be accounted in the\r\nnumber of those that would hazard their lives and fortunes for the safeguard of\r\ntheir country. There came to him also into Macedonia, Tidius Sextius, a man\r\nextremely old, and lame of one leg; so that others indeed mocked and laughed at\r\nthe spectacle, but Pompey, as soon as he saw him, rose and ran to meet him,\r\nesteeming it no small testimony in his favor, when men of such age and\r\ninfirmities should rather choose to be with him in danger, than in safety at\r\nhome. Afterwards in a meeting of their senate they passed a decree, on the\r\nmotion of Cato, that no Roman citizen should be put to death but in battle, and\r\nthat they should not sack or plunder any city that was subject to the Roman\r\nempire, a resolution which gained Pompey’s party still greater reputation,\r\ninsomuch that those who were noways at all concerned in the war, either because\r\nthey dwelt afar off, or were thought incapable of giving help, were yet, in\r\ntheir good wishes, upon his side, and in all their words, so far as that went,\r\nsupported the good or just cause, as they called it; esteeming those as enemies\r\nto the gods and men, that wished not victory to Pompey.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNeither was Pompey’s clemency such, but that Caesar likewise showed himself as\r\nmerciful a conqueror; for when he had taken and overthrown all Pompey’s forces\r\nin Spain, he gave them easy terms, leaving the commanders at their liberty, and\r\ntaking the common soldiers into his own pay. Then repassing the Alps, and\r\nmaking a running march through Italy, he came to Brundusium about the winter\r\nsolstice, and crossing the sea there, landed at the port of Oricum. And having\r\nJubius, an intimate friend of Pompey’s, with him as his prisoner, he dispatched\r\nhim to Pompey with an invitation, that they, meeting together in a conference,\r\nshould disband both their armies within three days, and renewing their former\r\nfriendship with solemn oaths, should return together into Italy. Pompey looked\r\nupon this again as some new stratagem, and therefore marching down in all haste\r\nto the sea-coast, possessed himself of all forts and places of strength\r\nsuitable to encamp in, and to secure his laud forces, as likewise of all ports\r\nand harbors commodious to receive any that came by sea, so that what wind\r\nsoever blew, it must needs in some way or other be favorable to him, bringing\r\nin either provision, men, or money; while Caesar, on the contrary, was so\r\nhemmed in both by sea and land, that he was forced to desire battle, daily\r\nprovoking the enemy, and assailing them in their very forts; and in these light\r\nskirmishes for the most part had the better. Once only he was dangerously\r\noverthrown, and was within a little of losing his whole army, Pompey having\r\nfought nobly, routing the whole force, and killing two thousand on the spot.\r\nBut either he was not able, or was afraid, to go on and force his way into\r\ntheir camp with them, so that Caesar made the remark, that “Today the victory\r\nhad been the enemy’s, had there been anyone among them to gain it.” Pompey’s\r\nsoldiers were so encouraged by this victory that they were eager now to have\r\nall put to the decision of a battle; but Pompey himself, though he wrote to\r\ndistant kings, generals, and states in confederacy with him, as a conqueror,\r\nyet was afraid to hazard the success of a battle, choosing rather by delays,\r\nand distress of provisions, to tire out a body of men, who had never yet been\r\nconquered by force of arms, and had long been used to fight and conquer\r\ntogether; while their time of life, now an advanced one, which made them\r\nquickly weary of those other hardships of war, such as were long marches, and\r\nfrequent decampings, making trenches, and building fortifications, made them\r\neager to come to close combat and venture a battle with all speed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey had all along hitherto by his persuasions pretty well quieted his\r\nsoldiers; but after this last engagement, when Caesar for want of provisions\r\nwas forced to raise his camp, and passed through Athamania into Thessaly, it\r\nwas impossible to curb or allay the heat of their spirits any longer. For all\r\ncrying out with a general voice, that Caesar was fled, some were for pursuing\r\nand pressing upon him, others for returning into Italy; some there were that\r\nsent their friends and servants beforehand to Rome, to hire houses near the\r\nforum, that they might be in readiness to sue for offices; several of their own\r\nmotion sailed off at once to Lesbos to carry to Cornelia, (whom Pompey had\r\nconveyed thither to be in safety,) the joyful news, that the war was ended. And\r\na senate being called, and the matter being under debate, Afranius was of\r\nopinion, that Italy should first be regained, for that it was the grand prize\r\nand crown of all the war; and they who were masters of that, would quickly have\r\nat their devotion all the provinces of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Spain, and\r\nGaul; but what was of greatest weight and moment to Pompey, it was his own\r\nnative country that lay near, reaching out her hand for his help; and certainly\r\nit could not be consistent with his honor to leave her thus exposed to all\r\nindignities, and in bondage under slaves and the flatterers of a tyrant. But\r\nPompey himself, on the contrary, thought it neither honorable to fly a second\r\ntime before Caesar, and be pursued, when fortune had given him the advantage of\r\na pursuit; nor indeed lawful before the gods to forsake Scipio and divers other\r\nmen of consular dignity dispersed throughout Greece and Thessaly, who must\r\nnecessarily fall into Caesar’s hands, together with large sums of money and\r\nnumerous forces; and as to his care for the city of Rome, that would most\r\neminently appear, by removing the scene of war to a greater distance, and\r\nleaving her, without feeling the distress or even hearing the sound of these\r\nevils, to await in peace the return of whichever should be the victor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWith this determination, Pompey marched forwards in pursuit of Caesar, firmly\r\nresolved with himself not to give him battle, but rather to besiege and\r\ndistress him, by keeping close at his heels, and cutting him short. There were\r\nother reasons that made him continue this resolution, but especially because a\r\nsaying that was current among the Romans serving in the cavalry came to his\r\near, to the effect, that they ought to beat Caesar as soon as possible, and\r\nthen humble Pompey too. And some report, it was for this reason that Pompey\r\nnever employed Cato in any matter of consequence during the whole war, but now\r\nwhen he pursued Caesar, left him to guard his baggage by sea, fearing lest, if\r\nCaesar should be taken off, he himself also by Cato’s means not long after\r\nshould be forced to give up his power.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst he was thus slowly attending the motions of the enemy, he was exposed on\r\nall sides to outcries, and imputations of using his generalship to defeat, not\r\nCaesar, but his country and the senate, that he might always continue in\r\nauthority, and never cease to keep those for his guards and servants, who\r\nthemselves claimed to govern the world. Domitius Aenobarbus, continually\r\ncalling him Agamemnon, and king of kings, excited jealousy against him; and\r\nFavonius, by his unseasonable raillery, did him no less injury than those who\r\nopenly attacked him, as when he cried out, “Good friends, you must not expect\r\nto gather any figs in Tusculum this year.” But Lucius Afranius, who had lain\r\nunder an imputation of treachery for the loss of the army in Spain, when he saw\r\nPompey purposely declining an engagement, declared openly, that he could not\r\nbut admire, why those who were so ready to accuse him, did not go themselves\r\nand fight this buyer and seller of their provinces.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWith these and many such speeches they wrought upon Pompey, who never could\r\nbear reproach, or resist the expectations of his friends; and thus they forced\r\nhim to break his measures, so that he forsook his own prudent resolution to\r\nfollow their vain hopes and desires: weakness that would have been blamable ill\r\nthe pilot of a ship, how much more in the sovereign commander of such an army,\r\nand so many nations. But he, though he had often commended those physicians who\r\ndid not comply with the capricious appetites of their patients, yet himself\r\ncould not but yield to the malady and disease of his companions and advisers in\r\nthe war, rather than use some severity in their cure. Truly who could have said\r\nthat health was not disordered and a cure not required in the case of men who\r\nwent up and down the camp, suing already for the consulship and office of\r\npraetor, while Spinther, Domitius, and Scipio made friends, raised factions,\r\nand quarrelled among themselves, who should succeed Caesar in the dignity of\r\nhis high-priesthood, esteeming all as lightly, as if they were to engage only\r\nwith Tigranes, king of Armenia, or some petty Nabathaean king, not with that\r\nCaesar and his army that had stormed a thousand towns, and subdued more than\r\nthree hundred several nations; that had fought innumerable battles with the\r\nGermans and Gauls, and always carried the victory; that had taken a million of\r\nmen prisoners, and slain as many upon the spot in pitched battles?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut they went on soliciting and clamoring, and on reaching the plain of\r\nPharsalia, they forced Pompey by their pressure and importunities to call a\r\ncouncil of war, where Labienus, general of the horse, stood up first and swore\r\nthat he would not return out of the battle if he did not rout the enemies; and\r\na]l the rest took the same oath. That night Pompey dreamed that as he went into\r\nthe theater, the people received him with great applause, and that he himself\r\nadorned the temple of Venus the Victorious, with many spoils. This vision\r\npartly encouraged, but partly also disheartened him, fearing lest that splendor\r\nand ornament to Venus should be made with spoils furnished by himself to\r\nCaesar, who derived his family from that goddess. Besides there were some panic\r\nfears and alarms that ran through the camp, with such a noise that it awaked\r\nhim out of his sleep. And about the time of renewing the watch towards morning,\r\nthere appeared a great light over Caesar’s camp, whilst they were all at rest,\r\nand from thence a ball of flaming fire was carried into Pompey’s camp, which\r\nCaesar himself says he saw, as he was walking his rounds.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Caesar having designed to raise his camp with the morning and move to\r\nScotussa, whilst the soldiers were busy in pulling down their tents, and\r\nsending on their cattle and servants before them with their baggage, there came\r\nin scouts who brought word that they saw arms carried to and fro in the enemy’s\r\ncamp, and heard a noise and running up and down, as of men preparing for\r\nbattle; not long after there came in other scouts with further intelligence,\r\nthat the first ranks were already set in battle array. Thereupon Caesar, when\r\nhe had told them that the wished for day was come at last, when they should\r\nfight with men, not with hunger and famine, instantly gave orders for the red\r\ncolors to be set up before his tent, that being the ordinary signal of battle\r\namong the Romans. As soon as the soldiers saw that, they left their tents, and\r\nwith great shouts of joy ran to their arms; the officers, likewise, on their\r\nparts drawing up their companies in order of battle, every man fell into his\r\nproper rank without any trouble or noise, as quietly and orderly as if they had\r\nbeen in a dance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey himself led the right wing of his army against Antony, and placed his\r\nfather-in-law Scipio in the middle against Lucius Calvinus. The left wing was\r\ncommanded by Lucius Domitius; and supported by the great mass of the horse. For\r\nalmost the whole cavalry was posted there, in the hope of crushing Caesar, and\r\ncutting off the tenth legion, which was spoken of as the stoutest in all the\r\narmy, and in which Caesar himself usually fought in person. Caesar observing\r\nthe left wing of the enemy to be lined and fortified with such a mighty guard\r\nof horse, and alarmed at the gallantry of their appearance, sent for a\r\ndetachment of six cohorts out of the reserves, and placed them in the rear of\r\nthe tenth legion, commanding them not to stir, lest they should be discovered\r\nby the enemy; but when the enemy’s horse should begin to charge, and press upon\r\nthem, that they should make up with all speed to the front through the foremost\r\nranks, and not throw their javelins at a distance, as is usual with brave\r\nsoldiers, that they may come to a close fight with their swords the sooner, but\r\nthat they should strike them upwards into the eyes and faces of the enemy;\r\ntelling them that those fine young dancers would never endure the steel shining\r\nin their eyes, but would fly to save their handsome faces. This was Caesar’s\r\nemployment at that time. But while he was thus instructing his soldiers, Pompey\r\non horseback was viewing the order of both armies, and when he saw how well the\r\nenemy kept their ranks, expecting quietly the signal of battle; and, on the\r\ncontrary, how impatient and unsteady his own men were, waving up and down in\r\ndisorder for want of experience, he was very much afraid that their ranks would\r\nbe broken upon the first onset; and therefore he gave out orders that the van\r\nshould make a stand, and keeping close in their ranks, should receive the\r\nenemy’s charge. Caesar much condemns this command; which he says not only took\r\noff from the strength of the blows, which would otherwise have been made with a\r\nspring; but also lost the men the impetus, which, more than anything, in the\r\nmoment of their coming upon the enemy, fills soldiers with impulse and\r\ninspiration, the very shouts and rapid pace adding to their fury; of which\r\nPompey deprived his men, arresting them in their course and cooling down their\r\nheat.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar’s army consisted of twenty-two thousand, and Pompey’s of somewhat above\r\ntwice as many. When the signal of battle was given on both sides, and the\r\ntrumpets began to sound a charge, most men of course were fully occupied with\r\ntheir own matters; only some few of the noblest Romans, together with certain\r\nGreeks there present, standing as spectators without the battle, seeing the\r\narmies now ready to join, could not but consider in themselves to what a pass\r\nprivate ambition and emulation had brought the empire. Common arms, and kindred\r\nranks drawn up under the self-same standards, the whole flower and strength of\r\nthe same single city here meeting in collision with itself, offered plain proof\r\nhow blind and how mad a thing human nature is, when once possessed with any\r\npassion; for if they had been desirous only to rule, and enjoy in peace what\r\nthey had conquered in war, the greatest and best part of the world was subject\r\nto them both by sea and land. But if there was yet a thirst in their ambition,\r\nthat must still be fed with new trophies and triumphs, the Parthian and German\r\nwars would yield matter enough to satisfy the most covetous of honor. Scythia,\r\nmoreover, was yet unconquered, and the Indians too, where their ambition might\r\nbe colored over with the specious pretext of civilizing barbarous nations. And\r\nwhat Scythian horse, Parthian arrows, or Indian riches, could be able to resist\r\nseventy thousand Roman soldiers, well appointed in arms, under the command of\r\ntwo such generals as Pompey and Caesar, whose names they had heard of before\r\nthat of the Romans, and whose prowess, by their conquests of such wild, remote,\r\nsavage, and brutish nations, was spread further than the fame of the Romans\r\nthemselves? Today they met in conflict, and could no longer be induced to spare\r\ntheir country, even out of regard for their own glory or the fear of losing the\r\nname which till this day both had held, of having never yet been defeated. As\r\nfor their former private ties, and the charms of Julia, and the marriage that\r\nhad made them near connections, these could now only be looked upon as tricks\r\nof state, the mere securities of a treaty made to serve the needs of an\r\noccasion, not the pledges of any real friendship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow, therefore, as soon as the plains of Pharsalia were covered with men,\r\nhorse, and armor, and that the signal of battle was raised on either side,\r\nCaius Crassianus, a centurion, who commanded a company of one hundred and\r\ntwenty men, was the first that advanced out of Caesar’s army, to give the\r\ncharge, and acquit himself of a solemn engagement that he had made to Caesar.\r\nHe had been the first man that Caesar had seen going out of the camp in the\r\nmorning, and Caesar, after saluting him, had asked him what he thought of the\r\ncoming battle. To which he, stretching out his right hand, replied aloud,\r\n“Thine is the victory, O Caesar, thou shalt conquer gloriously, and I myself\r\nthis day will be the subject of thy praise either alive or dead.” In pursuance\r\nof this promise he hastened forward, and being followed by many more, charged\r\ninto the midst of the enemy. There they came at once to a close fight with\r\ntheir swords, and made a great slaughter; but as he was still pressing forward,\r\nand breaking the ranks of the vanguard, one of Pompey’s soldiers ran him in at\r\nthe mouth, so that the point of the sword came out behind at his neck; and\r\nCrassianus being thus slain, the fight became doubtful, and continued equal on\r\nthat part of the battle.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey had not yet brought on the right wing, but stayed and looked about,\r\nwaiting to see what execution his cavalry would do on the left. They had\r\nalready drawn out their squadrons in form, designing to turn Caesar’s flank,\r\nand force those few horse, which he had placed in the front, to give back upon\r\nthe battalion of foot. But Caesar, on the other side, having given the signal,\r\nhis horse retreated back a little, and gave way to those six subsidiary\r\ncohorts, which had been posted in the rear, as a reserve to cover the flank;\r\nand which now came out, three thousand men in number, and met the enemy; and\r\nwhen they came up, standing by the horses, struck their javelins upwards,\r\naccording to their instructions, and hit the horsemen full in their faces.\r\nThey, unskillful in any manner of fight, and least of all expecting or\r\nunderstanding such a kind as this, had not courage enough to endure the blows\r\nupon their faces, but turning their backs, and covering their eyes with their\r\nhands, shamefully took to flight. Caesar’s men, however, did not follow them,\r\nbut marched upon the foot, and attacked the wing, which the flight of the\r\ncavalry had left unprotected, and liable to be turned and taken in the rear, so\r\nthat this wing now being attacked in the flank by these, and charged in the\r\nfront by the tenth legion, was not able to abide the charge, or make any longer\r\nresistance, especially when they saw themselves surrounded and circumvented in\r\nthe very way in which they had designed to invest the enemy. Thus these being\r\nlikewise routed and put to flight, when Pompey, by the dust flying in the air,\r\nconjectured the fate of his horse, it were very hard to say what his thoughts\r\nor intentions were, but looking like one distracted and beside himself, and\r\nwithout any recollection or reflection that he was Pompey the Great, he retired\r\nslowly towards his camp, without speaking a word to any man, exactly according\r\nto the description in the verses,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBut Jove from heaven struck Ajax with a fear;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAjax the bold then stood astonished there,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFlung o’er his back the mighty sevenfold shield,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd trembling gazed and spied about the field.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this state and condition he went into his own tent, and sat down, speechless\r\nstill, until some of the enemy fell in together with his men that were flying\r\ninto the camp, and then he let fall only this one word, “What? into the very\r\ncamp?” and said no more; but rose up, and putting on a dress suitable to his\r\npresent fortune, made his way secretly out.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBy this time the rest of the army was put to flight, and there was a great\r\nslaughter in the camp among the servants and those that guarded the tents, but\r\nof the soldiers themselves there were not above six thousand slain, as is\r\nstated by Asinius Pollio, who himself fought in this battle on Caesar’s side.\r\nWhen Caesar’s soldiers had taken the camp, they saw clearly the folly and\r\nvanity of the enemy; for all their tents and pavilions were richly set out with\r\ngarlands of myrtle, embroidered carpets and hangings, and tables laid and\r\ncovered with goblets. There were large bowls of wine ready, and everything\r\nprepared and put in array, in the manner rather of people who had offered\r\nsacrifice and were going to celebrate a holiday, than of soldiers who had armed\r\nthemselves to go out to battle, so possessed with the expectation of success\r\nand so full of empty confidence had they gone out that morning.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Pompey had got a little way from the camp, he dismounted and forsook his\r\nhorse, having but a small retinue with him; and finding that no man pursued\r\nhim, walked on softly afoot, taken up altogether with thoughts, such as\r\nprobably might possess a man that for the space of thirty-four years together\r\nhad been accustomed to conquest and victory, and was then at last, in his old\r\nage, learning for the first time what defeat and flight were. And it was no\r\nsmall affliction to consider, that he had lost in one hour all that glory and\r\npower, which he had been getting in so many wars, and bloody battles; and that\r\nhe who but a little before was guarded with such an army of foot, so many\r\nsquadrons of horse, and such a mighty fleet, was now flying in so mean a\r\ncondition, and with such a slender retinue, that his very enemies who fought\r\nhim could not know him. Thus, when he had passed by the city of Larissa, and\r\ncame into the pass of Tempe, being very thirsty, he kneeled down and drank out\r\nof the river; then rising up again, he passed through Tempe, until he came to\r\nthe seaside, and there he betook himself to a poor fisherman’s cottage, where\r\nhe rested the remainder of the night. The next morning about break of day he\r\nwent into one of the river boats, and taking none of those that followed him\r\nexcept such as were free, dismissed his servants, advising them to go boldly to\r\nCaesar, and not be afraid. As he was rowing up and down near the shore, he\r\nchanced to spy a large merchant-ship, lying off, just ready to set sail; the\r\nmaster of which was a Roman citizen, named Peticius, who, though he was not\r\nfamiliarly acquainted with Pompey, yet knew him well by sight. Now it happened\r\nthat this Peticius dreamed, the night before, that he saw Pompey, not like the\r\nman he had often seen him, but in a humble and dejected condition, and in that\r\nposture discoursing with him. He was then telling his dream to the people on\r\nboard, as men do when at leisure, and especially dreams of that consequence,\r\nwhen of a sudden one of the mariners told him, he saw a river boat with oars\r\nputting off from shore, and that some of the men there shook their garments,\r\nand held out their hands, with signs to take them in; thereupon Peticius\r\nlooking attentively, at once recognized Pompey, just as he appeared in his\r\ndream, and smiting his hand on his head, ordered the mariners to let down the\r\nship’s boat, he himself waving his hand, and calling to him by his name,\r\nalready assured of his change and the change of his fortune by that of his\r\ngarb. So that without waiting for any further entreaty or discourse, he took\r\nhim into his ship, together with as many of his company as he thought fit, and\r\nhoisted sail. There were with him the two Lentuli, and Favonius; and a little\r\nafter they spied king Deiotarus, making up towards them from the shore; so they\r\nstayed and took him in along with them. At supper time, the master of the ship\r\nhaving made ready such provisions as he had aboard, Pompey, for want of his\r\nservants, began to undo his shoes himself; which Favonius noticing ran to him\r\nand undid them, and helped him to anoint himself, and always after continued to\r\nwait upon, and attend him in all things, as servants do their masters, even to\r\nthe washing of his feet, and preparing his supper. Insomuch that anyone there\r\npresent, observing the free and unaffected courtesy of these services, might\r\nhave well exclaimed,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nO heavens, in those that noble are,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhate’er they do is fit and fair.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey, sailing by the city of Amphipolis, crossed over from thence to\r\nMitylene, with a design to take in Cornelia and his son; and as soon as he\r\narrived at the port in that island, he dispatched a messenger into the city,\r\nwith news very different from Cornelia’s expectation. For she, by all the\r\nformer messages and letters sent to please her, had been put in hopes that the\r\nwar was ended at Dyrrhachium, and that there was nothing more remaining for\r\nPompey, but the pursuit of Caesar. The messenger finding her in the same hopes\r\nstill, was not able to salute or speak to her, but declaring the greatness of\r\nher misfortune by his tears rather than by his words, desired her to make haste\r\nif she would see Pompey, with one ship only, and that not of his own. The young\r\nlady hearing this, fell down in a swoon, and continued a long time senseless\r\nand speechless. And when with some trouble she was brought to her senses again,\r\nbeing conscious to herself that this was no time for lamentation and tears, she\r\nstarted up and ran through the city towards the seaside, where Pompey meeting\r\nand embracing her, as she sank down, supported by his arms, “This, sir,” she\r\nexclaimed, “is the effect of my fortune, not of yours, that I see you thus\r\nreduced to one poor vessel, who before your marriage with Cornelia, were wont\r\nto sail in these seas with a fleet of five hundred ships. Why therefore should\r\nyou come to see me, or why not rather have left to her evil genius one who has\r\nbrought upon you her own ill-fortune? How happy a woman had I been, if I had\r\nbreathed out my last, before the news came from Parthia of the death of\r\nPublius, the husband of my youth, and how prudent if I had followed his\r\ndestiny, as I designed! But I was reserved for a greater mischief, even the\r\nruin of Pompey the Great.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus, they say, Cornelia spoke to him, and this was Pompey’s reply: “You have\r\nhad, Cornelia, but one season of a better fortune, which it may be, gave you\r\nunfounded hopes, by attending me a longer time than is usual. It behoves us,\r\nwho are mortals born, to endure these events, and to try fortune yet again;\r\nneither is it any less possible to recover our former state, than it was to\r\nfall from that into this.” Thereupon Cornelia sent for her servants and baggage\r\nout of the city. The citizens also of Mitylene came out to salute and invite\r\nPompey into the city, but he refused, advising them to be obedient to the\r\nconqueror, and fear not, for that Caesar was a man of great goodness and\r\nclemency. Then turning to Cratippus, the philosopher, who came among the rest\r\nout of the city to visit him, he began to find some fault, and briefly argued\r\nwith him upon Providence, but Cratippus modestly declined the dispute, putting\r\nhim in better hopes only, lest by opposing, he might seem too austere or\r\nunseasonable. For he might have put Pompey a question in his turn, in defense\r\nof Providence; and might have demonstrated the necessity there was that the\r\ncommonwealth should be turned into a monarchy, because of their ill government\r\nin the state; and could have asked, “How, O Pompey, and by what token or\r\nassurance can we ascertain, that if the victory had been yours, you would have\r\nused your fortune better than Caesar? We must leave the divine power to act as\r\nwe find it do.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey having taken his wife and friends aboard, set sail, making no port, nor\r\ntouching anywhere, but when he was necessitated to take in provisions, or fresh\r\nwater. The first city he entered was Attalia, in Pamphylia, and whilst he was\r\nthere, there came some galleys thither to him out of Cilicia, together with a\r\nsmall body of soldiers, and he had almost sixty senators with him again; then\r\nhearing that his navy was safe too, and that Cato had rallied a considerable\r\nbody of soldiers after their overthrow, and was crossing with them over into\r\nAfrica, he began to complain and blame himself to his friends that he had\r\nallowed himself to be driven into engaging by land, without making use of his\r\nother forces, in which he was irresistibly the stronger, and had not kept near\r\nenough to his fleet, that failing by land, he might have reinforced himself\r\nfrom the sea, and would have been again at the head of a power quite sufficient\r\nto encounter the enemy on equal terms. And in truth, neither did Pompey during\r\nall the war commit a greater oversight, nor Caesar use a more subtle stratagem,\r\nthan in drawing the fight so far off from the naval forces.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs it now was, however, since he must come to some decision, and try some plan\r\nwithin his present ability, he dispatched his agents to the neighboring cities,\r\nand himself sailed about in person to others, requiring their aid in money and\r\nmen for his ships. But, fearing lest the rapid approach of the enemy might cut\r\noff all his preparations, he began to consider what place would yield him the\r\nsafest refuge and retreat at present. A consultation was held, and it was\r\ngenerally agreed that no province of the Romans was secure enough. As for\r\nforeign kingdoms, he himself was of opinion, that Parthia would be the fittest\r\nto receive and defend them in their present weakness, and best able to furnish\r\nthem with new means and send them out again with large forces. Others of the\r\ncouncil were for going into Africa, and to king Juba. But Theophanes the\r\nLesbian, thought it madness to leave Egypt, that was but at a distance of three\r\ndays’ sailing, and make no use of Ptolemy, who was still a boy, and was highly\r\nindebted to Pompey for the friendship and favor he had shown to his father,\r\nonly to put himself under the Parthian, and trust the most treacherous nation\r\nin the world; and rather than make any trial of the clemency of a Roman, and\r\nhis own near connection, to whom if he would but yield to be second, he might\r\nbe the first and chief over all the rest, to go and place himself at the mercy\r\nof Arsaces, which even Crassus had not submitted to, while alive; and,\r\nmoreover, to expose his young wife, of the family of the Scipios, among a\r\nbarbarous people, who govern by their lusts, and measure their greatness by\r\ntheir power to commit affronts and insolencies; from whom, though she suffered\r\nno dishonor, yet it might be thought she did, being in the hands of those who\r\nhad the power to do it. This argument alone, they say, was persuasive enough to\r\ndivert his course, that was designed towards Euphrates, if it were so indeed\r\nthat any counsel of Pompey’s, and not some superior power, made him take this\r\nother way.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon, therefore, as it was resolved upon, that he should fly into Egypt,\r\nsetting sail from Cyprus in a galley of Seleucia, together with Cornelia, while\r\nthe rest of his company sailed along near him, some in ships of war, and others\r\nin merchant vessels, he passed over sea without danger. But on hearing that\r\nking Ptolemy was posted with his army at the city of Pelusium, making war\r\nagainst his sister, he steered his course that way, and sent a messenger before\r\nto acquaint the king with his arrival, and to crave his protection. Ptolemy\r\nhimself was quite young, and therefore Pothinus, who had the principal\r\nadministration of all affairs, called a council of the chief men, those being\r\nthe greatest whom he pleased to make so, and commanded them every man to\r\ndeliver his opinion touching the reception of Pompey. It was, indeed, a\r\nmiserable thing, that the fate of the great Pompey should be left to the\r\ndeterminations of Pothinus the eunuch, Theodotus of Chios, the paid rhetoric\r\nmaster, and Achillas the Egyptian. For these, among the chamberlains and menial\r\ndomestics, that made up the rest of the council, were the chief and leading\r\nmen. Pompey, who thought it dishonorable for him to owe his safety to Caesar,\r\nriding at anchor at a distance from shore, was forced to wait the sentence of\r\nthis tribunal. It seems they were so far different in their opinions that some\r\nwere for sending the man away, and others again for inviting and receiving him;\r\nbut Theodotus, to show his cleverness and the cogency of his rhetoric,\r\nundertook to demonstrate, that neither the one nor the other was safe in that\r\njuncture of affairs. For if they entertained him, they would be sure to make\r\nCaesar their enemy, and Pompey their master; or if they dismissed him, they\r\nmight render themselves hereafter obnoxious to Pompey, for that inhospitable\r\nexpulsion, and to Caesar, for the escape; so that the most expedient course\r\nwould be to send for him and take away his life, for by that means they would\r\ningratiate themselves with the one, and have no reason to fear the other;\r\nadding, it is related, with a smile, that “a dead man cannot bite.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis advice being approved of, they committed the execution of it to Achillas.\r\nHe, therefore, taking with him as his accomplices one Septimius, a man that had\r\nformerly held a command under Pompey, and Salvius, another centurion, with\r\nthree or four attendants, made up towards Pompey’s galley. In the meantime, all\r\nthe chiefest of those who accompanied Pompey in this voyage, were come into his\r\nship to learn the event of their embassy. But when they saw the manner of their\r\nreception, that in appearance it was neither princely nor honorable, nor indeed\r\nin any way answerable to the hopes of Theophanes, or their expectation, (for\r\nthere came but a few men in a fisherman’s boat to meet them,) they began to\r\nsuspect the meanness of their entertainment, and gave warning to Pompey that he\r\nshould row back his galley, whilst he was out of their reach, and make for the\r\nsea. By this time, the Egyptian boat drew near, and Septimius standing up\r\nfirst, saluted Pompey in the Latin tongue, by the title of imperator. Then\r\nAchillas, saluting him in the Greek language, desired him to come aboard his\r\nvessel, telling him, that the sea was very shallow towards the shore, and that\r\na galley of that burden could not avoid striking upon the sands. At the same\r\ntime they saw several of the king’s galleys getting their men on board, and all\r\nthe shore covered with soldiers; so that even if they changed their minds, it\r\nseemed impossible for them to escape, and besides, their distrust would have\r\ngiven the assassins a pretence for their cruelty. Pompey, therefore, taking his\r\nleave of Cornelia, who was already lamenting his death before it came, bade two\r\ncenturions, with Philip, one of his freedmen, and a slave called Scythes, go on\r\nboard the boat before him. And as some of the crew with Achillas were reaching\r\nout their hands to help him, he turned about towards his wife and son, and\r\nrepeated those iambics of Sophocles,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHe that once enters at a tyrant’s door,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBecomes a slave, though he were free before.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThese were the last words he spoke to his friends, and so he went aboard.\r\nObserving presently that notwithstanding there was a considerable distance\r\nbetwixt his galley and the shore, yet none of the company addressed any words\r\nof friendliness or welcome to him all the way, he looked earnestly upon\r\nSeptimius, and said, “I am not mistaken, surely, in believing you to have been\r\nformerly my fellow-soldier.” But he only nodded with his head, making no reply\r\nat all, nor showing any other courtesy. Since, therefore, they continued\r\nsilent, Pompey took a little book in his hand, in which was written out an\r\naddress in Greek, which he intended to make to king Ptolemy, and began to read\r\nit. When they drew near to the shore, Cornelia, together with the rest of his\r\nfriends in the galley, was very impatient to see the event, and began to take\r\ncourage at last, when she saw several of the royal escort coming to meet him,\r\napparently to give him a more honorable reception; but in the meantime, as\r\nPompey took Philip by the hand to rise up more easily, Septimius first stabbed\r\nhim from behind with his sword; and after him likewise Salvius and Achillas\r\ndrew out their swords. He, therefore, taking up his gown with both hands, drew\r\nit over his face, and neither saying nor doing anything unworthy of himself,\r\nonly groaning a little, endured the wounds they gave him, and so ended his\r\nlife, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, the very next day after the day of\r\nhis birth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCornelia, with her company from the galley, seeing him murdered, gave such a\r\ncry that it was heard to the shore, and weighing anchor with all speed, they\r\nhoisted sail, and fled. A strong breeze from the shore assisted their flight\r\ninto the open sea, so that the Egyptians, though desirous to overtake them,\r\ndesisted from the pursuit. But they cut off Pompey’s head, and threw the rest\r\nof his body overboard, leaving it naked upon the shore, to be viewed by any\r\nthat had the curiosity to see so sad a spectacle. Philip stayed by and watched\r\ntill they had glutted their eyes in viewing it; and then washing it with\r\nsea-water, having nothing else, he wrapped it up in a shirt of his own for a\r\nwinding-sheet. Then seeking up and down about the sands, at last he found some\r\nrotten planks of a little fisher-boat, not much, but yet enough to make up a\r\nfuneral pile for a naked body, and that not quite entire. As Philip was busy in\r\ngathering and putting these old planks together, an old Roman citizen, who in\r\nhis youth had served in the wars under Pompey, came up to him and demanded, who\r\nhe was that was preparing the funeral of Pompey the Great. And Philip making\r\nanswer, that he was his freedman, “Nay, then,” said he, “you shall not have\r\nthis honor alone; let even me, too, I pray you, have my share in such a pious\r\noffice. that I may not altogether repent me of this pilgrimage in a strange\r\nland, but in compensation of many misfortunes, may obtain this happiness at\r\nlast, even with mine own hands to touch the body of Pompey, and do the last\r\nduties to the greatest general among the Romans.” And in this manner were the\r\nobsequies of Pompey performed. The next day Lucius Lentulus, not knowing what\r\nhad passed, came sailing from Cyprus along the shore of that coast, and seeing\r\na funeral pile, and Philip standing by, exclaimed, before he was yet seen by\r\nany one, “Who is this that has found his end here?” adding, after a short\r\npause, with a sigh, “Possibly even thou, Pompeius Magnus!” and so going ashore,\r\nhe was presently apprehended and slain. This was the end of Pompey.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after, Caesar arrived in the country that was polluted with this foul\r\nact, and when one of the Egyptians was sent to present him with Pompey’s head,\r\nhe turned away from him with abhorrence as from a murderer; and on receiving\r\nhis seal, on which was engraved a lion holding a sword in his paw, he burst\r\ninto tears. Achillas and Pothinus he put to death; and king Ptolemy himself,\r\nbeing overthrown in battle upon the banks of the Nile, fled away and was never\r\nheard of afterwards. Theodotus, the rhetorician, flying out of Egypt, escaped\r\nthe hands of Caesar’s justice, but lived a vagabond in banishment; wandering up\r\nand down, despised and hated of all men, till at last Marcus Brutus, after he\r\nhad killed Caesar, finding him in his province of Asia, put him to death, with\r\nevery kind of ignominy. The ashes of Pompey were carried to his wife Cornelia,\r\nwho deposited them at his country house near Alba.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap46\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF POMPEY AND AGESILAUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus having drawn out the history of the lives of Agesilaus and Pompey, the\r\nnext thing is to compare them; and in order to this, to take a cursory view,\r\nand bring together the points in which they chiefly disagree; which are these.\r\nIn the first place, Pompey attained to all his greatness and glory by the\r\nfairest and justest means, owing his advancement to his own efforts, and to the\r\nfrequent and important aid which he rendered Sylla, in delivering Italy from\r\nits tyrants. But Agesilaus appears to have obtained his kingdom, not without\r\noffense both towards gods and towards men, towards these, by procuring judgment\r\nof bastardy against Leotychides, whom his brother had declared his lawful son,\r\nand towards those, by putting a false gloss upon the oracle, and eluding its\r\nsentence against his lameness. Secondly, Pompey never ceased to display his\r\nrespect for Sylla during his lifetime, and expressed it also after his death,\r\nby enforcing the honorable interment of his corpse, in despite of Lepidus, and\r\nby giving his daughter in marriage to his son Faustus. But Agesilaus, upon a\r\nslight presence, cast off Lysander with reproach and dishonor. Yet Sylla in\r\nfact had owed to Pompey’s services, as much as Pompey ever received from him,\r\nwhereas Lysander made Agesilaus king of Sparta, and general of all Greece.\r\nThirdly, Pompey’s transgressions of right and justice in his political life\r\nwere occasioned chiefly by his relations with other people, and most of his\r\nerrors had some affinity, as well as himself, to Caesar and Scipio, his\r\nfathers-in-law. But Agesilaus, to gratify the fondness of his son, saved the\r\nlife of Sphodrias by a sort of violence, when he deserved death for the wrong\r\nhe had done to the Athenians; and when Phoebidas treacherously broke the peace\r\nwith Thebes, zealously abetted him for the sake, it was clear, of the unjust\r\nact itself. In short, what mischief soever Pompey might be said to have brought\r\non Rome through compliance with the wishes of his friends or through\r\ninadvertency, Agesilaus may be said to have brought on Sparta out of obstinacy\r\nand malice, by kindling the Boeotian war. And if, moreover, we are to attribute\r\nany part of these disasters to some personal ill-fortune attaching to the men\r\nthemselves, in the case of Pompey, certainly, the Romans had no reason to\r\nanticipate it. Whereas Agesilaus would not suffer the Lacedaemonians to avoid\r\nwhat they foresaw and were forewarned must attend the “lame sovereignty.” For\r\nhad Leotychides been chargeable ten thousand times as foreign and spurious, yet\r\nthe race of the Eurypontidae was still in being, and could easily have\r\nfurnished Sparta with a lawful king, that was sound in his limbs, had not\r\nLysander darkened and disguised the true sense of the oracle in favor of\r\nAgesilaus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSuch a politic piece of sophistry as was devised by Agesilaus, in that great\r\nperplexity of the people as to the treatment to be given to those who had\r\nplayed the coward at the battle of Leuctra, when after that unhappy defeat, he\r\ndecreed, that the laws should sleep for that day, it would be hard to find any\r\nparallel to; neither indeed have we the fellow of it in all Pompey’s story. But\r\non the contrary, Pompey for a friend thought it no sin to break those very laws\r\nwhich he himself had made; as if to show at once the force of his friendship,\r\nand the greatness of his power; whereas Agesilaus, under the necessity, as it\r\nseemed, of either rescinding the laws, or not saving the citizens, contrived an\r\nexpedient by the help of which the laws should not touch these citizens, and\r\nyet should not, to avoid it, be overthrown. Then I must commend it as an\r\nincomparable act of civil virtue and obedience in Agesilaus, that immediately\r\nupon the receipt of the scytala, he left the wars in Asia, and returned into\r\nhis country. For he did not like Pompey merely advance his country’s interest\r\nby acts that contributed at the same time to promote his own greatness, but\r\nlooking to his country’s good, for its sake laid aside as great authority and\r\nhonor as ever any man had before or since, except Alexander the Great.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut now to take another point of view, if we sum up Pompey’s military\r\nexpeditions and exploits of war, the number of his trophies, and the greatness\r\nof the powers which he subdued, and the multitude of battles in which he\r\ntriumphed, I am persuaded even Xenophon himself would not put the victories of\r\nAgesilaus in balance with his, though Xenophon has this privilege allowed him,\r\nas a sort of special reward for his other excellences, that he may write and\r\nspeak, in favor of his hero, whatever he pleases. Methinks, too, there is a\r\ngreat deal of difference betwixt these men, in their clemency and moderation\r\ntowards their enemies. For Agesilaus, while attempting to enslave Thebes and\r\nexterminate Messene, the latter, his country’s ancient associate, and Thebes,\r\nthe mother-city of his own royal house, almost lost Sparta itself, and did\r\nreally lose the government of Greece; whereas Pompey gave cities to those of\r\nthe pirates who were willing to change their manner of life; and when it was in\r\nhis power to lead Tigranes, king of Armenia, in triumph, he chose rather to\r\nmake him a confederate of the Romans, saying, that a single day was worth less\r\nthan all future time. But if the preeminence in that which relates to the\r\noffice and virtues of a general, should be determined by the greatest and most\r\nimportant acts and counsels of war, the Lacedaemonian would not a little exceed\r\nthe Roman. For Agesilaus never deserted his city, though it was besieged by an\r\narmy of seventy thousand men, when there were very few soldiers within to\r\ndefend it, and those had been defeated too, but a little before, at the battle\r\nof Leuctra. But Pompey, when Caesar with a body only of fifty-three hundred\r\nmen, had taken but one town in Italy, departed in a panic out of Rome, either\r\nthrough cowardice, when there were so few, or at least through a false and\r\nmistaken belief that there were more; and having conveyed away his wife and\r\nchildren, he left all the rest of the citizens defenseless, and fled; whereas\r\nhe ought either to have conquered in fight for the defense of his country, or\r\nyielded upon terms to the conqueror, who was moreover his fellow-citizen, and\r\nallied to him; but now to the same man to whom he refused a prolongation of the\r\nterm of his government, and thought it intolerable to grant another consulship,\r\nto him he gave the power, by letting him take the city, to tell Metellus,\r\ntogether with all the rest, that they were his prisoners.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThat which is chiefly the office of a general, to force the enemy into fighting\r\nwhen he finds himself the stronger, and to avoid being driven into it himself\r\nwhen he is the weaker, this excellence Agesilaus always displayed, and by it\r\nkept himself invincible; whereas in contending with Pompey, Caesar, who was the\r\nweaker, successfully declined the danger, and his own strength being in his\r\nland forces. drove him into putting the conflict to issue with these, and thus\r\nmade himself master of the treasure, stores, and the sea too, which were all in\r\nhis enemy’s hands, and by the help of which the victory could have been secured\r\nwithout fighting. And what is alleged as an apology in vindication of Pompey,\r\nis to a general of his age and standing the greatest of disgraces. For,\r\ngranting that a young commander might by clamor and outcry be deprived of his\r\nfortitude and strength of mind, and weakly forsake his better judgment, and the\r\nthing be neither strange nor altogether unpardonable, yet for Pompey the Great,\r\nwhose camp the Romans called their country, and his tent the senate, styling\r\nthe consuls, praetors, and all other magistrates who were conducting, the\r\ngovernment at Rome, by no better title than that of rebels and traitors, for\r\nhim, whom they well knew never to have been under the command of any but\r\nhimself, having served all his campaigns under himself as sole general, for him\r\nupon so small a provocation as the scoffs of Favonius and Domitius, and lest he\r\nshould bear the nickname of Agamemnon, to be wrought upon, and even forced to\r\nhazard the whole empire and liberty of Rome upon the cast of a die, was surely\r\nindeed intolerable. Who, if he had so much regarded a present infamy, should\r\nhave guarded the city at first with his arms, and fought the battle in defense\r\nof Rome, not have left it as he did; nor while declaring his flight from Italy\r\nan artifice in the manner of Themistocles, nevertheless be ashamed in Thessaly\r\nof a prudent delay before engaging. Heaven had not appointed the Pharsalian\r\nfields to be the stage and theater upon which they should contend for the\r\nempire of Rome, neither was he summoned thither by any herald upon challenge,\r\nwith intimation that he must either undergo the combat, or surrender the prize\r\nto another. There were many other fields, thousands of cities, and even the\r\nwhole earth placed at his command, by the advantage of his fleet, and his\r\nsuperiority at sea, if he would but have followed the examples of Maximus,\r\nMarius, Lucullus, and even Agesilaus himself, who endured no less tumults\r\nwithin the city of Sparta, when the Thebans provoked him to come out and fight\r\nin defense of the land, and sustained in Egypt also numerous calumnies,\r\nslanders, and suspicions on the part of the king, whom he counseled to abstain\r\nfrom a battle. And thus following always what he had determined in his own\r\njudgment upon mature advice, by that means he not only preserved the Egyptians,\r\nagainst their wills, not only kept Sparta, in those desperate convulsions, by\r\nhis sole act, safe from overthrow, but even was able to set up trophies\r\nlikewise in the city over the Thebans, having given his countrymen an occasion\r\nof being victorious afterwards by not at first leading them out, as they tried\r\nto force him to do to their own destruction. The consequence was that in the\r\nend Agesilaus was commended by the very men, when they found themselves saved,\r\nupon whom he had put this compulsion, whereas Pompey, whose error had been\r\noccasioned by others, found those his accusers whose advice had misled him.\r\nSome indeed profess that he was deceived by his father-in-law Scipio, who,\r\ndesigning to conceal and keep to himself the greatest part of that treasure\r\nwhich he had brought out of Asia, pressed Pompey to battle, upon the pretence\r\nthat there would be a want of money. Yet admitting he was deceived, one in his\r\nplace ought not to have been so, nor should have allowed so slight an artifice\r\nto cause the hazard of such mighty interests. And thus we have taken a view of\r\neach, by comparing together their conduct, and actions in war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs to their voyages into Egypt, one steered his course thither out of necessity\r\nin flight; the other neither honorably, nor of necessity, but as a mercenary\r\nsoldier, having enlisted himself into the service of a barbarous nation for\r\npay, that he might be able afterwards to wage war upon the Greeks. And\r\nsecondly, what we charge upon the Egyptians in the name of Pompey, the\r\nEgyptians lay to the charge of Agesilaus. Pompey trusted them and was betrayed\r\nand murdered by them; Agesilaus accepted their confidence and deserted them,\r\ntransferring his aid to the very enemies who were now attacking those whom be\r\nhad been brought over to assist.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap47\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eALEXANDER\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt being my purpose to write the lives of Alexander the king, and of Caesar, by\r\nwhom Pompey was destroyed, the multitude of their great actions affords so\r\nlarge a field that I were to blame if I should not by way of apology forewarn\r\nmy reader that I have chosen rather to epitomize the most celebrated parts of\r\ntheir story, than to insist at large on every particular circumstance of it. It\r\nmust be borne in mind that my design is not to write histories, but lives. And\r\nthe most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest\r\ndiscoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less moment, an\r\nexpression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations,\r\nthan the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles\r\nwhatsoever. Therefore as portrait-painters are more exact in the lines and\r\nfeatures of the face in which the character is seen, than in the other parts of\r\nthe body, so I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the\r\nmarks and indications of the souls of men, and while I endeavor by these to\r\nportray their lives, may be free to leave more weighty matters and great\r\nbattles to be treated of by others.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is agreed on by all hands, that on the father’s side, Alexander descended\r\nfrom Hercules by Caranus, and from Aeacus by Neoptolemus on the mother’s side.\r\nHis father Philip, being in Samothrace, when he was quite young, fell in love\r\nthere with Olympias, in company with whom he was initiated in the religious\r\nceremonies of the country, and her father and mother being both dead, soon\r\nafter, with the consent of her brother Arymbas, he married her. The night\r\nbefore the consummation of their marriage, she dreamed that a thunderbolt fell\r\nupon her body, which kindled a great fire, whose divided flames dispersed\r\nthemselves all about, and then were extinguished. And Philip some time after he\r\nwas married, dreamt that he sealed up his wife’s body with a seal, whose\r\nimpression, as he fancied, was the figure of a lion. Some of the diviners\r\ninterpreted this as a warning to Philip to look narrowly to his wife; but\r\nAristander of Telmessus, considering how unusual it was to seal up anything\r\nthat was empty, assured him the meaning of his dream was, that the queen was\r\nwith child of a boy, who would one day prove as stout and courageous as a lion.\r\nOnce, moreover, a serpent was found lying by Olympias as she slept, which more\r\nthan anything else, it is said, abated Philip’s passion for her; and whether he\r\nfeared her as an enchantress, or thought she had commerce with some god, and so\r\nlooked on himself as excluded, he was ever after less fond of her conversation.\r\nOthers say, that the women of this country having always been extremely\r\naddicted to the enthusiastic Orphic rites, and the wild worship of Bacchus,\r\n(upon which account they were called Clodones, and Mimallones,) imitated in\r\nmany things the practices of the Edonian and Thracian women about Mount Haemus,\r\nfrom whom the word threskeuein, seems to have been derived, as a special term\r\nfor superfluous and over-curious forms of adoration; and that Olympias,\r\nzealously affecting these fanatical and enthusiastic inspirations, to perform\r\nthem with more barbaric dread, was wont in the dances proper to these\r\nceremonies to have great tame serpents about her, which sometimes creeping out\r\nof the ivy and the mystic fans, sometimes winding themselves about the sacred\r\nspears, and the women’s chaplets, made a spectacle which the men could not look\r\nupon without terror.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPhilip, after this vision, sent Chaeron of Megalopolis to consult the oracle of\r\nApollo at Delphi, by which he was commanded to perform sacrifice, and\r\nhenceforth pay particular honor, above all other gods, to Ammon; and was told\r\nhe should one day lose that eye with which he presumed to peep through the\r\nchink of the door, when he saw the god, under the form of a serpent, in the\r\ncompany of his wife. Eratosthenes says that Olympias, when she attended\r\nAlexander on his way to the army in his first expedition, told him the secret\r\nof his birth, and bade him behave himself with courage suitable to his divine\r\nextraction. Others again affirm that she wholly disclaimed any pretensions of\r\nthe kind, and was wont to say, “When will Alexander leave off slandering me to\r\nJuno?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlexander was born the sixth of Hecatombaeon, which month the Macedonians call\r\nLous, the same day that the temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt; which\r\nHegesias of Magnesia makes the occasion of a conceit, frigid enough to have\r\nstopped the conflagration. The temple, he says, took fire and was burnt while\r\nits mistress was absent, assisting at the birth of Alexander. And all the\r\nEastern soothsayers who happened to be then at Ephesus, looking upon the ruin\r\nof this temple to be the forerunner of some other calamity, ran about the town,\r\nbeating their faces, and crying, that this day had brought forth something that\r\nwould prove fatal and destructive to all Asia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nJust after Philip had taken Potidaea, he received these three messages at one\r\ntime, that Parmenio had overthrown the Illyrians in a great battle, that his\r\nrace-horse had won the course at the Olympic games, and that his wife had given\r\nbirth to Alexander; with which being naturally well pleased, as an addition to\r\nhis satisfaction, he was assured by the diviners that a son, whose birth was\r\naccompanied with three such successes, could not fail of being invincible.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe statues that gave the best representation of Alexander’s person, were those\r\nof Lysippus, (by whom alone he would suffer his image to be made,) those\r\npeculiarities which many of his successors afterwards and his friends used to\r\naffect to imitate, the inclination of his head a little on one side towards his\r\nleft shoulder, and his melting eye, having been expressed by this artist with\r\ngreat exactness. But Apelles, who drew him with thunderbolts in his hand, made\r\nhis complexion browner and darker than it was naturally; for he was fair and of\r\na light color, passing into ruddiness in his face and upon his breast.\r\nAristoxenus in his Memoirs tells us that a most agreeable odor exhaled from his\r\nskin, and that his breath and body all over was so fragrant as to perfume the\r\nclothes which he wore next him; the cause of which might probably be the hot\r\nand adjust temperament of his body. For sweet smells, Theophrastus conceives,\r\nare produced by the concoction of moist humors by heat, which is the reason\r\nthat those parts of the world which are driest and most burnt up, afford spices\r\nof the best kind, and in the greatest quantity; for the heat of the sun\r\nexhausts all the superfluous moisture which lies in the surface of bodies,\r\nready to generate putrefaction. And this hot constitution, it may be, rendered\r\nAlexander so addicted to drinking, and so choleric. His temperance, as to the\r\npleasures of the body, was apparent in him in his very childhood, as he was\r\nwith much difficulty incited to them, and always used them with great\r\nmoderation; though in other things he was extremely eager and vehement, and in\r\nhis love of glory, and the pursuit of it, he showed a solidity of high spirit\r\nand magnanimity far above his age. For he neither sought nor valued it upon\r\nevery occasion, as his father Philip did, (who affected to show his eloquence\r\nalmost to a degree of pedantry, and took care to have the victories of his\r\nracing chariots at the Olympic games engraved on his coin,) but when he was\r\nasked by some about him, whether he would run a race in the Olympic games, as\r\nhe was very swift-footed, he answered, he would, if he might have kings to run\r\nwith him. Indeed, he seems in general to have looked with indifference, if not\r\nwith dislike, upon the professed athletes. He often appointed prizes, for which\r\nnot only tragedians and musicians, pipers and harpers, but rhapsodists also,\r\nstrove to outvie one another; and delighted in all manner of hunting and\r\ncudgel-playing, but never gave any encouragement to contests either of boxing\r\nor of the pancratium.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile he was yet very young, he entertained the ambassadors from the king of\r\nPersia, in the absence of his father, and entering much into conversation with\r\nthem, gained so much upon them by his affability, and the questions he asked\r\nthem, which were far from being childish or trifling, (for he inquired of them\r\nthe length of the ways, the nature of the road into inner Asia, the character\r\nof their king, how he carried himself to his enemies, and what forces he was\r\nable to bring, into the field,) that they were struck with admiration of him,\r\nand looked upon the ability so much famed of Philip, to be nothing in\r\ncomparison with the forwardness and high purpose that appeared thus early in\r\nhis son. Whenever he heard Philip had taken any town of importance, or won any\r\nsignal victory, instead of rejoicing at it altogether, he would tell his\r\ncompanions that his father would anticipate everything, and leave him and them\r\nno opportunities of performing great and illustrious actions. For being more\r\nbent upon action and glory than either upon pleasure or riches, he esteemed all\r\nthat he should receive from his father as a diminution and prevention of his\r\nown future achievements; and would have chosen rather to succeed to a kingdom\r\ninvolved in troubles and wars, which would have afforded him frequent exercise\r\nof his courage, and a large field of honor, than to one already flourishing and\r\nsettled, where his inheritance would be an inactive life, and the mere\r\nenjoyment of wealth and luxury.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe care of his education, as it might be presumed, was committed to a great\r\nmany attendants, preceptors, and teachers, over the whole of whom Leonidas, a\r\nnear kinsman of Olympias, a man of an austere temper, presided, who did not\r\nindeed himself decline the name of what in reality is a noble and honorable\r\noffice, but in general his dignity, and his near relationship, obtained him\r\nfrom other people the title of Alexander’s foster father and governor. But he\r\nwho took upon him the actual place and style of his pedagogue, was Lysimachus\r\nthe Acarnanian, who, though he had nothing specially to recommend him, but his\r\nlucky fancy of calling himself Phoenix, Alexander Achilles, and Philip Peleus,\r\nwas therefore well enough esteemed, and ranked in the next degree after\r\nLeonidas.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPhilonicus the Thessalian brought the horse Bucephalas to Philip, offering to\r\nsell him for thirteen talents; but when they went into the field to try him,\r\nthey found him so very vicious and unmanageable, that he reared up when they\r\nendeavored to mount him, and would not so much as endure the voice of any of\r\nPhilip’s attendants. Upon which, as they were leading him away as wholly\r\nuseless and untractable, Alexander, who stood by, said, “What an excellent\r\nhorse do they lose, for want of address and boldness to manage him!” Philip at\r\nfirst took no notice of what he said; but when he heard him repeat the same\r\nthing several times, and saw he was much vexed to see the horse sent away, “Do\r\nyou reproach,” said he to him, “those who are older than yourself, as if you\r\nknew more, and were better able to manage him than they?” “I could manage this\r\nhorse,” replied he, “better than others do.” “And if you do not,” said Philip,\r\n“what will you forfeit for your rashness?” “I will pay,” answered Alexander,\r\n“the whole price of the horse.” At this the whole company fell a laughing; and\r\nas soon as the wager was settled amongst them, he immediately ran to the horse,\r\nand taking hold of the bridle, turned him directly towards the sun, having, it\r\nseems, observed that he was disturbed at and afraid of the motion of his own\r\nshadow; then letting him go forward a little, still keeping the reins in his\r\nhand, and stroking him gently when he found him begin to grow eager and fiery,\r\nhe let fall his upper garment softly, and with one nimble leap securely mounted\r\nhim, and when he was seated, by little and little drew in the bridle, and\r\ncurbed him without either striking or spurring him. Presently, when he found\r\nhim free from all rebelliousness, and on]y impatient for the course, he let him\r\ngo at full speed, inciting him now with a commanding voice, and urging him also\r\nwith his heel. Philip and his friends looked on at first in silence and anxiety\r\nfor the result, till seeing him turn at the end of his career, and come back\r\nrejoicing and triumphing for what he had performed, they all burst out into\r\nacclamations of applause; and his father, shedding tears, it is said, for joy,\r\nkissed him as he came down from his horse, and in his transport, said, “O my\r\nson, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is\r\ntoo little for thee.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, considering him to be of a temper easy to be led to his duty by\r\nreason, but by no means to be compelled, he always endeavored to persuade\r\nrather than to command or force him to anything; and now looking upon the\r\ninstruction and tuition of his youth to be of greater difficulty and\r\nimportance, than to be wholly trusted to the ordinary masters in music and\r\npoetry, and the common school subjects, and to require, as Sophocles says,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe bridle and the rudder too,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nhe sent for Aristotle, the most learned and most cerebrated philosopher of his\r\ntime, and rewarded him with a munificence proportionable to and becoming the\r\ncare he took to instruct his son. For he repeopled his native city Stagira,\r\nwhich he had caused to be demolished a little before, and restored all the\r\ncitizens who were in exile or slavery, to their habitations. As a place for the\r\npursuit of their studies and exercises, he assigned the temple of the Nymphs,\r\nnear Mieza, where, to this very day, they show you Aristotle’s stone seats, and\r\nthe shady walks which he was wont to frequent. It would appear that Alexander\r\nreceived from him not only his doctrines of Morals, and of Politics, but also\r\nsomething of those more abstruse and profound theories which these\r\nphilosophers, by the very names they gave them, professed to reserve for oral\r\ncommunication to the initiated, and did not allow many to become acquainted\r\nwith. For when he was in Asia, and heard Aristotle had published some treatises\r\nof that kind, he wrote to him, using very plain language to him in behalf of\r\nphilosophy, the following letter. “Alexander to Aristotle greeting. You have\r\nnot done well to publish your books of oral doctrine; for what is there now\r\nthat we excel others in, if those things which we have been particularly\r\ninstructed in be laid open to all? For my part, I assure you, I had rather\r\nexcel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my\r\npower and dominion. Farewell.” And Aristotle, soothing this passion for\r\npreeminence, speaks, in his excuse for himself, of these doctrines, as in fact\r\nboth published and not published: as indeed, to say the truth, his books on\r\nmetaphysics are written in a style which makes them useless for ordinary\r\nteaching, and instructive only, in the way of memoranda, for those who have\r\nbeen already conversant in that sort of learning.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDoubtless also it was to Aristotle, that he owed the inclination he had, not to\r\nthe theory only, but likewise to the practice of the art of medicine. For when\r\nany of his friends were sick, he would often prescribe them their course of\r\ndiet, and medicines proper to their disease, as we may find in his epistles. He\r\nwas naturally a great lover of all kinds of learning and reading; and\r\nOnesicritus informs us, that he constantly laid Homer’s Iliads, according to\r\nthe copy corrected by Aristotle, called the casket copy, with his dagger under\r\nhis pillow, declaring that he esteemed it a perfect portable treasure of all\r\nmilitary virtue and knowledge. When he was in the upper Asia, being destitute\r\nof other books, he ordered Harpalus to send him some; who furnished him with\r\nPhilistus’s History, a great many of the plays of Euripides, Sophocles, and\r\nAeschylus, and some dithyrambic odes, composed by Telestes and Philoxenus. For\r\nawhile he loved and cherished Aristotle no less, as he was wont to say himself,\r\nthan if he had been his father, giving this reason for it, that as he had\r\nreceived life from the one, so the other had taught him to live well. But\r\nafterwards, upon some mistrust of him, yet not so great as to make him do him\r\nany hurt, his familiarity and friendly kindness to him abated so much of its\r\nformer force and affectionateness, as to make it evident he was alienated from\r\nhim. However, his violent thirst after and passion for learning, which were\r\nonce implanted, still grew up with him, and never decayed; as appears by his\r\nveneration of Anaxarchus, by the present of fifty talents which he sent to\r\nXenocrates, and his particular care and esteem of Dandamis and Calanus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile Philip went on his expedition against the Byzantines, he left Alexander,\r\nthen sixteen years old, his lieutenant in Macedonia, committing the charge of\r\nhis seal to him; who, not to sit idle, reduced the rebellious Maedi, and having\r\ntaken their chief town by storm, drove out the barbarous inhabitants, and\r\nplanting a colony of several nations in their room, called the place after his\r\nown name, Alexandropolis. At the battle of Chaeronea, which his father fought\r\nagainst the Grecians, he is said to have been the first man that charged the\r\nThebans’ sacred band. And even in my remembrance, there stood an old oak near\r\nthe river Cephisus, which people called Alexander’s oak, because his tent was\r\npitched under it. And not far off are to be seen the graves of the Macedonians\r\nwho fell in that battle. This early bravery made Philip so fond of him, that\r\nnothing pleased him more than to hear his subjects call himself their general\r\nand Alexander their king.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the disorders of his family, chiefly caused by his new marriages and\r\nattachments, (the troubles that began in the women’s chambers spreading, so to\r\nsay, to the whole kingdom,) raised various complaints and differences between\r\nthem, which the violence of Olympias, a woman of a jealous and implacable\r\ntemper, made wider, by exasperating Alexander against his father. Among the\r\nrest, this accident contributed most to their falling out. At the wedding of\r\nCleopatra, whom Philip fell in love with and married, she being much too young\r\nfor him, her uncle Attalus in his drink desired the Macedonians would implore\r\nthe gods to give them a lawful successor to the kingdom by his niece. This so\r\nirritated Alexander, that throwing one of the cups at his head, “You villain,”\r\nsaid he, “what, am I then a bastard?” Then Philip taking Attalus’s part, rose\r\nup and would have run his son through; but by good fortune for them both,\r\neither his over-hasty rage, or the wine he had drunk, made his foot slip, so\r\nthat he fell down on the floor. At which Alexander reproachfully insulted over\r\nhim: “See there,” said he, “the man, who makes preparations to pass out of\r\nEurope into Asia, overturned in passing from one seat to another.” After this\r\ndebauch, he and his mother Olympias withdrew from Philip’s company, and when he\r\nhad placed her in Epirus, he himself retired into Illyria.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout this time, Demaratus the Corinthian, an old friend of the family, who had\r\nthe freedom to say anything among them without offense, coming to visit Philip,\r\nafter the first compliments and embraces were over, Philip asked him, whether\r\nthe Grecians were at amity with one another. “It ill becomes you,” replied\r\nDemaratus, “to be so solicitous about Greece, when you have involved your own\r\nhouse in so many dissensions and calamities.” He was so convinced by this\r\nseasonable reproach, that he immediately sent for his son home, and by\r\nDemartatus’s mediation prevailed with him to return. But this reconciliation\r\nlasted not long; for when Pixodorus, viceroy of Caria, sent Aristocritus to\r\ntreat for a match between his eldest daughter and Philip’s son Arrhidaeus,\r\nhoping by this alliance to secure his assistance upon occasion, Alexander’s\r\nmother, and some who pretended to be his friends, presently filled his head\r\nwith tales and calumnies, as if Philip, by a splendid marriage and important\r\nalliance, were preparing the way for settling the kingdom upon Arrhidaeus. In\r\nalarm at this, he dispatched Thessalus, the tragic actor, into Caria, to\r\ndispose Pixodorus to slight Arrhidaeus, both as illegitimate and a fool, and\r\nrather to accept of himself for his son-in-law. This proposition was much more\r\nagreeable to Pixodorus than the former. But Philip, as soon as he was made\r\nacquainted with this transaction, went to his son’s apartment, taking with him\r\nPhilotas, the son of Parmenio, one of Alexander’s intimate friends and\r\ncompanions, and there reproved him severely, and reproached him bitterly, that\r\nhe should be so degenerate, and unworthy of the power he was to leave him, as\r\nto desire the alliance of a mean Carian, who was at best but the slave of a\r\nbarbarous prince. Nor did this satisfy his resentment, for he wrote to the\r\nCorinthians, to send Thessalus to him in chains, and banished Harpalus,\r\nNearchus, Erigyius, and Ptolemy, his son’s friends and favorites, whom\r\nAlexander afterwards recalled, and raised to great honor and preferment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after this, Pausanias, having had an outrage done to him at the\r\ninstance of Attalus and Cleopatra, when he found he could get no reparation for\r\nhis disgrace at Philip’s hands, watched his opportunity and murdered him. The\r\nguilt of which fact was laid for the most part upon Olympias, who was said to\r\nhave encouraged and exasperated the enraged youth to revenge; and some sort of\r\nsuspicion attached even to Alexander himself, who, it was said, when Pausanias\r\ncame and complained to him of the injury he had received, repeated the verse\r\nout of Euripides’s Medea: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nOn husband, and on father, and on bride.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nHowever, he took care to find out and punish the accomplices of the conspiracy\r\nseverely, and was very angry with Olympias for treating Cleopatra inhumanly in\r\nhis absence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlexander was but twenty years old when his father was murdered, and succeeded\r\nto a kingdom beset on all sides with great dangers, and rancorous enemies. For\r\nnot only the barbarous nations that bordered on Macedonia, were impatient of\r\nbeing governed by any but their own native princes; but Philip likewise, though\r\nhe had been victorious over the Grecians, yet, as the time had not been\r\nsufficient for him to complete his conquest and accustom them to his sway, had\r\nsimply left all things in a general disorder and confusion. It seemed to the\r\nMacedonians a very critical time; and some would have persuaded Alexander to\r\ngive up all thought of retaining the Grecians in subjection by force of arms,\r\nand rather to apply himself to win back by gentle means the allegiance of the\r\ntribes who were designing revolt, and try the effect of indulgence in arresting\r\nthe first motions towards revolution. But he rejected this counsel as weak and\r\ntimorous, and looked upon it to be more prudence to secure himself by\r\nresolution and magnanimity, than, by seeming to buckle to any, to encourage all\r\nto trample on him. In pursuit of this opinion, he reduced the barbarians to\r\ntranquility, and put an end to all fear of war from them, by a rapid expedition\r\ninto their country as far as the river Danube, where he gave Syrmus, king of\r\nthe Triballians, an entire overthrow. And hearing the Thebans were in revolt,\r\nand the Athenians in correspondence with them, he immediately marched through\r\nthe pass of Thermopylae, saying that to Demosthenes who had called him a child\r\nwhile he was in Illyria and in the country of the Triballians, and a youth when\r\nhe was in Thessaly, he would appear a man before the walls of Athens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he came to Thebes, to show how willing he was to accept of their\r\nrepentance for what was past, he only demanded of them Phoenix and Prothytes,\r\nthe authors of the rebellion, and proclaimed a general pardon to those who\r\nwould come over to him. But when the Thebans merely retorted by demanding\r\nPhilotas and Antipater to be delivered into their hands, and by a proclamation\r\non their part, invited all who would assert the liberty of Greece to come over\r\nto them, he presently applied himself to make them feel the last extremities of\r\nwar. The Thebans indeed defended themselves with a zeal and courage beyond\r\ntheir strength, being much outnumbered by their enemies. But when the\r\nMacedonian garrison sallied out upon them from the citadel, they were so hemmed\r\nin on all sides, that the greater part of them fell in the battle; the city\r\nitself being taken by storm, was sacked and razed, Alexander’s hope being that\r\nso severe an example might terrify the rest of Greece into obedience, and also\r\nin order to gratify the hostility of his confederates, the Phocians and\r\nPlataeans. So that, except the priests, and some few who had heretofore been\r\nthe friends and connections of the Macedonians, the family of the poet Pindar,\r\nand those who were known to have opposed the public vote for the war, all the\r\nrest, to the number of thirty thousand, were publicly sold for slaves; and it\r\nis computed that upwards of six thousand were put to the sword. Among the other\r\ncalamities that befell the city, it happened that some Thracian soldiers having\r\nbroken into the house of a matron of high character and repute, named Timoclea,\r\ntheir captain, after he had used violence with her, to satisfy his avarice as\r\nwell as lust, asked her, if she knew of any money concealed; to which she\r\nreadily answered she did, and bade him follow her into a garden, where she\r\nshowed him a well, into which, she told him, upon the taking of the city she\r\nhad thrown what she had of most value. The greedy Thracian presently stooping\r\ndown to view the place where he thought the treasure lay, she came behind him,\r\nand pushed him into the well, and then flung great stones in upon him, till she\r\nhad killed him. After which, when the soldiers led her away bound to Alexander,\r\nher very mien and gait showed her to be a woman of dignity, and of a mind no\r\nless elevated, not betraying the least sign of fear or astonishment. And when\r\nthe king asked her who she was, “I am,” said she, “the sister of Theagenes, who\r\nfought the battle of Chaeronea with your father Philip, and fell there in\r\ncommand for the liberty of Greece.” Alexander was so surprised, both at what\r\nshe had done, and what she said, that he could not choose but give her and her\r\nchildren their freedom to go whither they pleased.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this he received the Athenians into favor, although they had shown\r\nthemselves so much concerned at the calamity of Thebes that out of sorrow they\r\nomitted the celebration of the Mysteries, and entertained those who escaped\r\nwith all possible humanity. Whether it were, like the lion, that his passion\r\nwas now satisfied, or that after an example of extreme cruelty, he had a mind\r\nto appear merciful, it happened well for the Athenians; for he not only forgave\r\nthem all past offenses, but bade them to look to their affairs with vigilance,\r\nremembering that if he should miscarry, they were likely to be the arbiters of\r\nGreece. Certain it is, too, that in after-time he often repented of his\r\nseverity to the Thebans, and his remorse had such influence on his temper as to\r\nmake him ever after less rigorous to all others. He imputed also the murder of\r\nClitus, which he committed in his wine, and the unwillingness of the\r\nMacedonians to follow him against the Indians, by which his enterprise and\r\nglory was left imperfect, to the wrath and vengeance of Bacchus, the protector\r\nof Thebes. And it was observed that whatsoever any Theban, who had the good\r\nfortune to survive this victory, asked of him, he was sure to grant without the\r\nleast difficulty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSoon after, the Grecians, being assembled at the Isthmus, declared their\r\nresolution of joining with Alexander in the war against the Persians, and\r\nproclaimed him their general. While he stayed here, many public ministers and\r\nphilosophers came from all parts to visit him, and congratulated him on his\r\nelection, but contrary to his expectation, Diogenes of Sinope, who then was\r\nliving at Corinth, thought so little of him, that instead of coming to\r\ncompliment him, he never so much as stirred out of the suburb called the\r\nCranium, where Alexander found him lying along in the sun. When he saw so much\r\ncompany near him, he raised himself a little, and vouchsafed to look upon\r\nAlexander; and when he kindly asked him whether he wanted anything, “Yes,” said\r\nhe, “I would have you stand from between me and the sun.” Alexander was so\r\nstruck at this answer, and surprised at the greatness of the man, who had taken\r\nso little notice of him, that as he went away, he told his followers who were\r\nlaughing at the moroseness of the philosopher, that if he were not Alexander,\r\nhe would choose to be Diogenes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen he went to Delphi, to consult Apollo concerning the success of the war he\r\nhad undertaken, and happening to come on one of the forbidden days, when it was\r\nesteemed improper to give any answers from the oracle, he sent messengers to\r\ndesire the priestess to do her office; and when she refused, on the plea of a\r\nlaw to the contrary, he went up himself, and began to draw her by force into\r\nthe temple, until tired and overcome with his importunity, “My son,” said she,\r\n“thou art invincible.” Alexander taking hold of what she spoke, declared he had\r\nreceived such an answer as he wished for, and that it was needless to consult\r\nthe god any further. Among other prodigies that attended the departure of his\r\narmy, the image of Orpheus at Libethra, made of cypress-wood, was seen to sweat\r\nin great abundance, to the discouragement of many. But Aristander told him,\r\nthat far from presaging any ill to him, it signified he should perform acts so\r\nimportant and glorious as would make the poets and musicians of future ages\r\nlabor and sweat to describe and celebrate them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis army, by their computation who make the smallest amount, consisted of\r\nthirty thousand foot, and four thousand horse; and those who make the most of\r\nit, speak but of forty-three thousand foot, and three thousand horse.\r\nAristobulus says, he had not a fund of above seventy talents for their pay, nor\r\nhad he more than thirty days’ provision, if we may believe Duris; Onesicritus\r\ntells us, he was two hundred talents in debt. However narrow and\r\ndisproportionable the beginnings of so vast an undertaking might seem to be,\r\nyet he would not embark his army until he had informed himself particularly\r\nwhat means his friends had to enable them to follow him, and supplied what they\r\nwanted, by giving good farms to some, a village to one, and the revenue of some\r\nhamlet or harbor town to another. So that at last he had portioned out or\r\nengaged almost all the royal property; which giving Perdiccas an occasion to\r\nask him what he would leave himself, he replied, his hopes. “Your soldiers,”\r\nreplied Perdiccas, “will be your partners in those,” and refused to accept of\r\nthe estate he had assigned him. Some others of his friends did the like, but to\r\nthose who willingly received, or desired assistance of him, he liberally\r\ngranted it, as far as his patrimony in Macedonia would reach, the most part of\r\nwhich was spent in these donations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWith such vigorous resolutions, and his mind thus disposed, he passed the\r\nHellespont, and at Troy sacrificed to Minerva, and honored the memory of the\r\nheroes who were buried there, with solemn libations; especially Achilles, whose\r\ngravestone he anointed, and with his friends, as the ancient custom is, ran\r\nnaked about his sepulchre, and crowned it with garlands, declaring how happy he\r\nesteemed him, in having while he lived so faithful a friend, and when he was\r\ndead, so famous a poet to proclaim his actions. While he was viewing the rest\r\nof the antiquities and curiosities of the place, being told he might see\r\nParis’s harp, if he pleased, he said, he thought it not worth looking on, but\r\nhe should be glad to see that of Achilles, to which he used to sing the glories\r\nand great actions of brave men.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime Darius’s captains having collected large forces, were encamped\r\non the further bank of the river Granicus, and it was necessary to fight, as it\r\nwere, in the gate of Asia for an entrance into it. The depth of the river, with\r\nthe unevenness and difficult ascent of the opposite bank, which was to be\r\ngained by main force, was apprehended by most, and some pronounced it an\r\nimproper time to engage, because it was unusual for the kings of Macedonia to\r\nmarch with their forces in the month called Daesius. But Alexander broke\r\nthrough these scruples, telling; them they should call it a second Artemisius.\r\nAnd when Parmenio advised him not to attempt anything that day, because it was\r\nlate, he told him that he should disgrace the Hellespont, should he fear the\r\nGranicus. And so without more saying, he immediately took the river with\r\nthirteen troops of horse, and advanced against whole showers of darts thrown\r\nfrom the steep opposite side, which was covered with armed multitudes of the\r\nenemy’s horse and foot, notwithstanding the disadvantage of the ground and the\r\nrapidity of the stream; so that the action seemed to have more of frenzy and\r\ndesperation in it, than of prudent conduct. However, he persisted obstinately\r\nto gain the passage, and at last with much ado making his way up the banks,\r\nwhich were extremely muddy and slippery, he had instantly to join in a mere\r\nconfused hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, before he could draw up his men,\r\nwho were still passing over, into any order. For the enemy pressed upon him\r\nwith loud and warlike outcries; and charging horse against horse, with their\r\nlances, after they had broken and spent these, they fell to it with their\r\nswords. And Alexander, being easily known by his buckler, and a large plume of\r\nwhite feathers on each side of his helmet, was attacked on all sides, yet\r\nescaped wounding, though his cuirass was pierced by a javelin in one of the\r\njoinings. And Rhoesaces and Spithridates, two Persian commanders, falling upon\r\nhim at once, he avoided one of them, and struck at Rhoesaces, who had a good\r\ncuirass on, with such force, that his spear breaking in his hand, he was glad\r\nto betake himself to his dagger. While they were thus engaged, Spithridates\r\ncame up on one side of him, and raising himself upon his horse, gave him such a\r\nblow with his battle-axe on the helmet, that he cut off the crest of it, with\r\none of his plumes, and the helmet was only just so far strong enough to save\r\nhim, that the edge of the weapon touched the hair of his head. But as he was\r\nabout to repeat his stroke, Clitus, called the black Clitus, prevented him, by\r\nrunning him through the body with his spear. At the same time Alexander\r\ndispatched Rhoesaces with his sword. While the horse were thus dangerously\r\nengaged, the Macedonian phalanx passed the river, and the foot on each side\r\nadvanced to fight. But the enemy hardly sustaining the first onset, soon gave\r\nground and fled, all but the mercenary Greeks, who, making a stand upon a\r\nrising ground, desired quarter, which Alexander, guided rather by passion than\r\njudgment, refused to grant, and charging them himself first, had his horse (not\r\nBucephalas, but another) killed under him. And this obstinacy of his to cut off\r\nthese experienced desperate men, cost him the lives of more of his own soldiers\r\nthan all the battle before, besides those who were wounded. The Persians lost\r\nin this battle twenty thousand foot, and two thousand five hundred horse. On\r\nAlexander’s side, Aristobulus says there were not wanting above four and\r\nthirty, of whom nine were foot-soldiers; and in memory of them he caused so\r\nmany statues of brass, of Lysippus’s making, to be erected. And that the\r\nGrecians might participate the honor of his victory, he sent a portion of the\r\nspoils home to them, particularly to the Athenians three hundred bucklers, and\r\nupon all the rest he ordered this inscription to be set: “Alexander the son of\r\nPhilip, and the Grecians, except the Lacedaemonians, won these from the\r\nbarbarians who inhabit Asia.” All the plate and purple garments, and other\r\nthings of the same kind that he took from the Persians, except a very small\r\nquantity which he reserved for himself, he sent as a present to his mother.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis battle presently made a great change of affairs to Alexander’s advantage.\r\nFor Sardis itself, the chief seat of the barbarian’s power in the maritime\r\nprovinces, and many other considerable places were surrendered to him; only\r\nHalicarnassus and Miletus stood out, which he took by force, together with the\r\nterritory about them. After which he was a little unsettled in his opinion how\r\nto proceed. Sometimes he thought it best to find out Darius as soon as he\r\ncould, and put all to the hazard of a battle; another while he looked upon it\r\nas a more prudent course to make an entire reduction of the sea-coast, and not\r\nto seek the enemy till he had first exercised his power here and made himself\r\nsecure of the resources of these provinces. While he was thus deliberating what\r\nto do, it happened that a spring of water near the city of Xanthus in Lycia, of\r\nits own accord swelled over its banks, and threw up a copper plate upon the\r\nmargin, in which was engraven in ancient characters, that the time would come,\r\nwhen the Persian empire should be destroyed by the Grecians. Encouraged by this\r\naccident, he proceeded to reduce the maritime parts of Cilicia and Phoenicia,\r\nand passed his army along the sea-coasts of Pamphylia with such expedition that\r\nmany historians have described and extolled it with that height of admiration,\r\nas if it were no less than a miracle, and an extraordinary effect of divine\r\nfavor, that the waves which usually come rolling in violently from the main,\r\nand hardly ever leave so much as a narrow beach under the steep, broken cliffs\r\nat any time uncovered, should on a sudden retire to afford him passage.\r\nMenander, in one of his comedies, alludes to this marvel when he says,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWas Alexander ever favored more?\u003cbr\u003e\r\nEach man I wish for meets me at my door,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd should I ask for passage through the sea,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe sea I doubt not would retire for me.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Alexander himself in his epistles mentions nothing unusual in this at all,\r\nbut says he went from Phaselis, and passed through what they call the Ladders.\r\nAt Phaselis he stayed some time, and finding the statue of Theodectes, who was\r\na native of this town and was now dead, erected in the marketplace, after he\r\nhad supped, having drunk pretty plentifully, he went and danced about it, and\r\ncrowned it with garlands, honoring not ungracefully in his sport, the memory of\r\na philosopher whose conversation he had formerly enjoyed, when he was\r\nAristotle’s scholar.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen he subdued the Pisidians who made head against him, and conquered the\r\nPhrygians, at whose chief city Gordium, which is said to be the seat of the\r\nancient Midas, he saw the famous chariot fastened with cords made of the rind\r\nof the corner-tree, which whosoever should untie, the inhabitants had a\r\ntradition, that for him was reserved the empire of the world. Most authors tell\r\nthe story that Alexander, finding himself unable to untie the knot, the ends of\r\nwhich were secretly twisted round and folded up within it, cut it asunder with\r\nhis sword. But Aristobulus tells us it was easy for him to undo it, by only\r\npulling the pin out of the pole, to which the yoke was tied, and afterwards\r\ndrawing off the yoke itself from below. From hence he advanced into Paphlagonia\r\nand Cappadocia, both which countries he soon reduced to obedience, and then\r\nhearing of the death of Memnon, the best commander Darius had upon the\r\nsea-coasts, who, if he had lived, might, it was supposed, have put many\r\nimpediments and difficulties in the way of the progress of his arms, he was the\r\nrather encouraged to carry the war into the upper provinces of Asia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDarius was by this time upon his march from Susa, very confident, not only in\r\nthe number of his men, which amounted to six hundred thousand, but likewise in\r\na dream, which the Persian soothsayers interpreted rather in flattery to him,\r\nthan according to the natural probability. He dreamed that he saw the\r\nMacedonian phalanx all on fire, and Alexander waiting on him, clad in the same\r\ndress which he himself had been used to wear when he was courier to the late\r\nking; after which, going into the temple of Belus, he vanished out of his\r\nsight. The dream would appear to have supernaturally signified to him the\r\nillustrious actions the Macedonians were to perform, and that as he from a\r\ncourier’s place had risen to the throne, so Alexander should come to be master\r\nof Asia, and not long surviving his conquests, conclude his life with glory.\r\nDarius’s confidence increased the more, because Alexander spent so much time in\r\nCilicia, which he imputed to his cowardice. But it was sickness that detained\r\nhim there, which some say he contracted from his fatigues, others from bathing\r\nin the river Cydnus, whose waters were exceedingly cold. However it happened,\r\nnone of his physicians would venture to give him any remedies, they thought his\r\ncase so desperate, and were so afraid of the suspicions and ill-will of the\r\nMacedonians if they should fail in the cure; till Philip, the Acarnanian,\r\nseeing how critical his case was, but relying on his own well-known friendship\r\nfor him, resolved to try the last efforts of his art, and rather hazard his own\r\ncredit and life, than suffer him to perish for want of physic, which he\r\nconfidently administered to him, encouraging him to take it boldly, if he\r\ndesired a speedy recovery, in order to prosecute the war. At this very time,\r\nParmenio wrote to Alexander from the camp, bidding him have a care of Philip,\r\nas one who was bribed by Darius to kill him, with great sums of money, and a\r\npromise of his daughter in marriage. When he had perused the letter, he put it\r\nunder his pillow, without showing it so much as to any of his most intimate\r\nfriends, and when Philip came in with the potion, he took it with great\r\ncheerfulness and assurance, giving him meantime the letter to read. This was a\r\nspectacle well worth being present at, to see Alexander take the draught, and\r\nPhilip read the letter at the same time, and then turn and look upon one\r\nanother, but with different sentiments; for Alexander’s looks were cheerful and\r\nopen, to show his kindness to and confidence in his physician, while the other\r\nwas full of surprise and alarm at the accusation, appealing to the gods to\r\nwitness his innocence, sometimes lifting up his hands to heaven, and then\r\nthrowing himself down by the bedside, and beseeching Alexander to lay aside all\r\nfear, and follow his directions without apprehension. For the medicine at first\r\nworked so strongly as to drive, so to say, the vital forces into the interior;\r\nhe lost his speech, and falling into a swoon, had scarce any sense or pulse\r\nleft. However, in no long time, by Philip’s means, his health and strength\r\nreturned, and he showed himself in public to the Macedonians, who were in\r\ncontinual fear and dejection until they saw him abroad again.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was at this time in Darius’s army a Macedonian refugee, named Amyntas,\r\none who was pretty well acquainted with Alexander’s character. This man, when\r\nhe saw Darius intended to fall upon the enemy in the passes and defiles,\r\nadvised him earnestly to keep where he was, in the open and extensive plains,\r\nit being the advantage of a numerous army to have field-room enough when it\r\nengages with a lesser force. Darius, instead of taking his counsel, told him he\r\nwas afraid the enemy would endeavor to run away, and so Alexander would escape\r\nout of his hands. “That fear,” replied Amyntas, “is needless, for assure\r\nyourself that far from avoiding, you, he will make all the speed he can to meet\r\nyou, and is now most likely on his march towards you.” But Amyntas’s counsel\r\nwas to no purpose, for Darius immediately decamping, marched into Cilicia, at\r\nthe same time that Alexander advanced into Syria to meet him; and missing one\r\nanother in the night, they both turned back again. Alexander, greatly pleased\r\nwith the event, made all the haste he could to fight in the defiles, and Darius\r\nto recover his former ground, and draw his army out of so disadvantageous a\r\nplace. For now he began to perceive his error in engaging himself too far in a\r\ncountry in which the sea, the mountains, and the river Pinarus running through\r\nthe midst of it, would necessitate him to divide his forces, render his horse\r\nalmost unserviceable, and only cover and support the weakness of the enemy.\r\nFortune was not kinder to Alexander in the choice of the ground, than he was\r\ncareful to improve it to his advantage. For being much inferior in numbers, so\r\nfar from allowing himself to be outflanked, he stretched his right wing much\r\nfurther out than the left wing of his enemies, and fighting there himself in\r\nthe very foremost ranks, put the barbarians to flight. In this battle he was\r\nwounded in the thigh, Chares says by Darius, with whom he fought hand to hand.\r\nBut in the account which he gave Antipater of the battle though indeed he owns\r\nhe was wounded in the thigh with sword, though not dangerously, yet he takes no\r\nnotice who it was that wounded him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNothing was wanting to complete this victory, in which he overthrew above a\r\nhundred and ten thousand of his enemies, but the taking the person of Darius,\r\nwho escaped very narrowly by flight. However, having taken his chariot and his\r\nbow, he returned from pursuing him, and found his own men busy in pillaging the\r\nbarbarians’ camp, which (though to disburden themselves, they had left most of\r\ntheir baggage at Damascus) was exceedingly rich. But Darius’s tent, which was\r\nfull of splendid furniture, and quantities of gold and silver, they reserved\r\nfor Alexander himself, who after he had put off his arms, went to bathe\r\nhimself, saying, “Let us now cleanse ourselves from the toils of war in the\r\nbath of Darius.” “Not so,” replied one of his followers, “but in Alexander’s\r\nrather; for the property of the conquered is, and should be called the\r\nconqueror’s.” Here, when he beheld the bathing vessels, the water-pots, the\r\npans, and the ointment boxes, all of gold, curiously wrought, and smelt the\r\nfragrant odors with which the whole place was exquisitely perfumed, and from\r\nthence passed into a pavilion of great size and height, where the couches and\r\ntables and preparations for an entertainment were perfectly magnificent, he\r\nturned to those about him and said, “This, it seems, is royalty.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut as he was going to supper, word was brought him that Darius’s mother and\r\nwife and two unmarried daughters, being taken among the rest of the prisoners,\r\nupon the sight of his chariot and bow were all in mourning and sorrow,\r\nimagining him to be dead. After a little pause, more livelily affected with\r\ntheir affliction than with his own success he sent Leonnatus to them to let\r\nthem know Darius was not dead, and that they need not fear any harm from\r\nAlexander, who made war upon him only for dominion; they should themselves be\r\nprovided with everything they had been used to receive from Darius. This kind\r\nmessage could not but be very welcome to the captive ladies, especially being\r\nmade good by actions no less humane and generous. For he gave them leave to\r\nbury whom they pleased of the Persians, and to make use for this purpose of\r\nwhat garments and furniture they thought fit out of the booty. He diminished\r\nnothing of their equipage, or of the attentions and respect formerly paid them,\r\nand allowed larger pensions for their maintenance than they had before. But the\r\nnoblest and most royal part of their usage was, that he treated these\r\nillustrious prisoners according to their virtue and character, not suffering\r\nthem to hear, or receive, or so much as to apprehend anything that was\r\nunbecoming. So that they seemed rather lodged in some temple, or some holy\r\nvirgin chambers, where they enjoyed their privacy sacred and uninterrupted,\r\nthan in the camp of an enemy. Nevertheless Darius’s wife was accounted the most\r\nbeautiful princess then living, as her husband the tallest and handsomest man\r\nof his time, and the daughters were not unworthy of their parents. But\r\nAlexander, esteeming it more kingly to govern himself than to conquer his\r\nenemies, sought no intimacy with any one of them, nor indeed with any other\r\nwoman before marriage, except Barsine, Memnon’s widow, who was taken prisoner\r\nat Damascus. She had been instructed in the Grecian learning, was of a gentle\r\ntemper, and, by her father Artabazus, royally descended, which good qualities,\r\nadded to the solicitations and encouragement of Parmenio, as Aristobulus tells\r\nus, made him the more willing to attach himself to so agreeable and illustrious\r\na woman. Of the rest of the female captives though remarkably handsome and well\r\nproportioned, he took no further notice than to say jestingly, that Persian\r\nwomen were terrible eye-sores. And he himself, retaliating, as it were, by the\r\ndisplay of the beauty of his own temperance and self-control, bade them be\r\nremoved, as he would have done so many lifeless images. When Philoxenus, his\r\nlieutenant on the sea-coast, wrote to him to know if he would buy two young\r\nboys, of great beauty, whom one Theodorus, a Tarentine, had to sell, he was so\r\noffended, that he often expostulated with his friends, what baseness Philoxenus\r\nhad ever observed in him, that he should presume to make him such a reproachful\r\noffer. And he immediately wrote him a very sharp letter, telling him Theodorus\r\nand his merchandise might go with his good-will to destruction. Nor was he less\r\nsevere to Hagnon, who sent him word he would buy a Corinthian youth named\r\nCrobylus, as a present for him. And hearing that Damon and Timotheus, two of\r\nParmenio’s Macedonian soldiers, had abused the wives of some strangers who were\r\nin his pay, he wrote to Parmenio, charging him strictly, if he found them\r\nguilty, to put them to death, as wild beasts that were only made for the\r\nmischief of mankind. In the same letter he added, that he had not so much as\r\nseen or desired to see the wife of Darius, no, nor suffered anybody to speak of\r\nher beauty before him. He was wont to say, that sleep and the act of generation\r\nchiefly made him sensible that he was mortal; as much as to say, that weariness\r\nand pleasure proceed both from the same frailty and imbecility of human nature.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn his diet, also, he was most temperate, as appears, omitting many other\r\ncircumstances, by what he said to Ada, whom he adopted, with the title of\r\nmother, and afterwards created queen of Caria. For when she out of kindness\r\nsent him every day many curious dishes, and sweetmeats, and would have\r\nfurnished him with some cooks and pastry-men, who were thought to have great\r\nskill, he told her he wanted none of them, his preceptor, Leonidas, having\r\nalready given him the best, which were a night march to prepare for breakfast,\r\nand a moderate breakfast to create an appetite for supper. Leonidas also, he\r\nadded, used to open and search the furniture of his chamber, and his wardrobe,\r\nto see if his mother had left him anything that was delicate or superfluous. He\r\nwas much less addicted to wine than was generally believed; that which gave\r\npeople occasion to think so of him was, that when he had nothing else to do, he\r\nloved to sit long and talk, rather than drink, and over every cup hold a long\r\nconversation. For when his affairs called upon him, he would not be detained,\r\nas other generals often were, either by wine, or sleep, nuptial solemnities,\r\nspectacles, or any other diversion whatsoever; a convincing argument of which\r\nis, that in the short time he lived, he accomplished so many and so great\r\nactions. When he was free from employment, after he was up, and had sacrificed\r\nto the gods, he used to sit down to breakfast, and then spend the rest of the\r\nday in hunting, or writing memoirs, giving decisions on some military\r\nquestions, or reading. In marches that required no great haste, he would\r\npractice shooting as he went along, or to mount a chariot, and alight from it\r\nin full speed. Sometimes, for sport’s sake, as his journals tell us, he would\r\nhunt foxes and go fowling. When he came in for the evening, after he had bathed\r\nand was anointed, he would call for his bakers and chief cooks, to know if they\r\nhad his dinner ready. He never cared to dine till it was pretty late and\r\nbeginning to be dark, and was wonderfully circumspect at meals that everyone\r\nwho sat with him should be served alike and with proper attention; and his love\r\nof talking, as was said before, made him delight to sit long at his wine. And\r\nthen, though otherwise no prince’s conversation was ever so agreeable, he would\r\nfall into a temper of ostentation and soldierly boasting, which gave his\r\nflatterers a great advantage to ride him, and made his better friends very\r\nuneasy. For though they thought it too base to strive who should flatter him\r\nmost, yet they found it hazardous not to do it; so that between the shame and\r\nthe danger, they were in a great strait how to behave themselves. After such an\r\nentertainment, he was wont to bathe, and then perhaps he would sleep till noon,\r\nand sometimes all day long. He was so very temperate in his eating, that when\r\nany rare fish or fruits were sent him, he would distribute them among his\r\nfriends, and often reserve nothing for himself. His table, however, was always\r\nmagnificent, the expense of it still increasing with his good fortune, till it\r\namounted to ten thousand drachmas a day, to which sum he limited it, and beyond\r\nthis he would suffer none to lay out in any entertainment where he himself was\r\nthe guest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the battle of Issus, he sent to Damascus to seize upon the money and\r\nbaggage, the wives and children of the Persians, of which spoil the Thessalian\r\nhorsemen had the greatest share; for he had taken particular notice of their\r\ngallantry in the fight, and sent them thither on purpose to make their reward\r\nsuitable to their courage. Not but that the rest of the army had so\r\nconsiderable a part of the booty as was sufficient to enrich them all. This\r\nfirst gave the Macedonians such a taste of the Persian wealth and women and\r\nbarbaric splendor of living, that they were ready to pursue and follow upon it\r\nwith all the eagerness of hounds upon a scent. But Alexander, before he\r\nproceeded any further, thought it necessary to assure himself of the sea-coast.\r\nThose who governed in Cyprus, put that island into his possession, and\r\nPhoenicia, Tyre only excepted, was surrendered to him. During the siege of this\r\ncity, which with mounds of earth cast up, and battering engines, and two\r\nhundred galleys by sea, was carried on for seven months together, he dreamt\r\nthat he saw Hercules upon the walls, reaching, out his hand, and calling to\r\nhim. And many of the Tyrians in their sleep, fancied that Apollo told them he\r\nwas displeased with their actions, and was about to leave them and go over to\r\nAlexander. Upon which, as if the god had been a deserting soldier, they seized\r\nhim, so to say, in the act, tied down the statue with ropes, and nailed it to\r\nthe pedestal, reproaching him, that he was a favorer of Alexander. Another\r\ntime, Alexander dreamed he saw a Satyr mocking him at a distance, and when he\r\nendeavored to catch him, he still escaped from him, till at last with much\r\nperseverance, and running about after him, he got him into his power. The\r\nsoothsayers making two words of Satyrus, assured him, that Tyre should he his\r\nown. The inhabitants at this time show a spring of water, near which they say\r\nAlexander slept, when he fancied the Satyr appeared to him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile the body of the army lay before Tyre, he made an excursion against the\r\nArabians who inhabit the Mount Antilibanus, in which he hazarded his life\r\nextremely to bring off his master Lysimachus, who would needs go along with\r\nhim, declaring he was neither older nor inferior in courage to Phoenix,\r\nAchilles’s guardian. For when, quitting their horses, they began to march up\r\nthe hills on foot, the rest of the soldiers outwent them a great deal, so that\r\nnight drawing on, and the enemy near, Alexander was fain to stay behind so\r\nlong, to encourage and help up the lagging and tired old man, that before he\r\nwas aware, he was left behind, a great way from his soldiers, with a slender\r\nattendance, and forced to pass an extremely cold night in the dark, and in a\r\nvery inconvenient place; till seeing a great many scattered fires of the enemy\r\nat some distance, and trusting to his agility of body, and as he was always\r\nwont by undergoing toils and labors himself to cheer and support the\r\nMacedonians in any distress, he ran straight to one of the nearest fires, and\r\nwith his dagger dispatching two of the barbarians that sat by it, snatched up a\r\nlighted brand, and returned with it to his own men. They immediately made a\r\ngreat fire, which so alarmed the enemy that most of them fled, and those that\r\nassaulted them were soon routed, and thus they rested securely the remainder of\r\nthe night. Thus Chares writes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut to return to the siege, it had this issue. Alexander, that he might refresh\r\nhis army, harassed with many former encounters, had led only a small party\r\ntowards the walls, rather to keep the enemy busy, than with any prospect of\r\nmuch advantage. It happened at this time that Aristander, the soothsayer, after\r\nhe had sacrificed, upon view of the entrails, affirmed confidently to those who\r\nstood by, that the city should be certainly taken that very month, upon which\r\nthere was a laugh and some mockery among the soldiers, as this was the last day\r\nof it. The king seeing him in perplexity, and always anxious to support the\r\ncredit of the predictions, gave order that they should not count it as the\r\nthirtieth, but as the twenty-third of the month, and ordering the trumpets to\r\nsound, attacked the walls more seriously than he at first intended. The\r\nsharpness of the assault so inflamed the rest of his forces who were left in\r\nthe camp, that they could not hold from advancing to second it, which they\r\nperformed with so much vigor, that the Tyrians retired, and the town was\r\ncarried that very day. The next place he sat down before was Gaza, one of the\r\nlargest cities of Syria, where this accident befell him. A large bird flying\r\nover him, let a clod of earth fall upon his shoulder, and then settling upon\r\none of the battering engines, was suddenly entangled and caught in the nets\r\ncomposed of sinews, which protected the ropes with which the machine was\r\nmanaged. This fell out exactly according to Aristander’s prediction, which was,\r\nthat Alexander should be wounded, and the city reduced.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom hence he sent great part of the spoils to Olympias, Cleopatra, and the\r\nrest of his friends, not omitting his preceptor Leonidas, on whom he bestowed\r\nfive hundred talents weight of frankincense, and a hundred of myrrh, in\r\nremembrance of the hopes he had once expressed of him when he was but a child.\r\nFor Leonidas, it seems, standing by him one day while he was sacrificing, and\r\nseeing him take both his hands full of incense to throw into the fire, told him\r\nit became him to be more sparing in his offerings, and not be so profuse till\r\nhe was master of the countries which those sweet gums and spices came from. So\r\nAlexander now wrote to him, saying, “We have sent you abundance of myrrh and\r\nfrankincense, that for the future you may not be stingy to the gods.” Among the\r\ntreasures and other booty that was taken from Darius, there was a very precious\r\ncasket, which being brought to Alexander for a great rarity, he asked those\r\nabout him what they thought fittest to be laid up in it; and when they had\r\ndelivered their various opinions, he told them he should keep Homer’s Iliad in\r\nit. This is attested by many credible authors, and if what those of Alexandria\r\ntell us, relying upon the authority of Heraclides, be true, Homer was neither\r\nan idle, nor an unprofitable companion to him in his expedition. For when he\r\nwas master of Egypt, designing to settle a colony of Grecians there, he\r\nresolved to build a large and populous city, and give it his own name. In order\r\nto which, after he had measured and staked out the ground with the advice of\r\nthe best architects, he chanced one night in his sleep to see a wonderful\r\nvision; a grey-headed old man, of a venerable aspect, appeared to stand by him,\r\nand pronounce these verses:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAn island lies, where loud the billows roar,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nPharos they call it, on the Egyptian shore.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlexander upon this immediately rose up and went to Pharos, which, at that\r\ntime, was an island lying a little above the Canobic mouth of the river Nile,\r\nthough it has now been joined to the main land by a mole. As soon as he saw the\r\ncommodious situation of the place, it being a long neck of land, stretching\r\nlike an isthmus between large lagoons and shallow waters on one side, and the\r\nsea on the other, the latter at the end of it making a spacious harbor, he\r\nsaid, Homer, besides his other excellences, was a very good architect, and\r\nordered the plan of a city to be drawn out answerable to the place. To do\r\nwhich, for want of chalk, the soil being black, they laid out their lines with\r\nflour, taking in a pretty large compass of ground in a semicircular figure, and\r\ndrawing into the inside of the circumference equal straight lines from each\r\nend, thus giving it something of the form of a cloak or cape. While he was\r\npleasing himself with his design, on a sudden an infinite number of great birds\r\nof several kinds, rising like a black cloud out of the river and the lake,\r\ndevoured every morsel of the flour that had been used in setting out the lines;\r\nat which omen even Alexander himself was troubled, till the augurs restored his\r\nconfidence again by telling him, it was a sign the city he was about to build\r\nwould not only abound in all things within itself, but also be the nurse and\r\nfeeder of many nations. He commanded the workmen to proceed, while he went to\r\nvisit the temple of Ammon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was a long and painful, and, in two respects, a dangerous journey; first,\r\nif they should lose their provision of water, as for several days none could be\r\nobtained; and, secondly, if a violent south wind should rise upon them, while\r\nthey were traveling through the wide extent of deep sands, as it is said to\r\nhave done when Cambyses led his army that way, blowing the sand together in\r\nheaps, and raising, as it were, the whole desert like a sea upon them, till\r\nfifty thousand were swallowed up and destroyed by it. All these difficulties\r\nwere weighed and represented to him; but Alexander was not easily to be\r\ndiverted from anything he was bent upon. For fortune having hitherto seconded\r\nhim in his designs, made him resolute and firm in his opinions, and the\r\nboldness of his temper raised a sort of passion in him for surmounting\r\ndifficulties; as if it were not enough to be always victorious in the field,\r\nunless places and seasons and nature herself submitted to him. In this journey,\r\nthe relief and assistance the gods afforded him in his distresses, were more\r\nremarkable, and obtained greater belief than the oracles he received\r\nafterwards, which, however, were valued and credited the more on account of\r\nthose occurrences. For first, plentiful rains that fell, preserved them from\r\nany fear of perishing by drought, and, allaying the extreme dryness of the\r\nsand, which now became moist and firm to travel on, cleared and purified the\r\nair. Besides this, when they were out of their way, and were wandering up and\r\ndown, because the marks which were wont to direct the guides were disordered\r\nand lost, they were set right again by some ravens, which flew before them when\r\non their march, and waited for them when they lingered and fell behind; and the\r\ngreatest miracle, as Callisthenes tells us, was that if any of the company went\r\nastray in the night, they never ceased croaking and making a noise, till by\r\nthat means they had brought them into the right way again. Having passed\r\nthrough the wilderness, they came to the place; where the high-priest at the\r\nfirst salutation bade Alexander welcome from his father Ammon. And being asked\r\nby him whether any of his father’s murderers had escaped punishment, he charged\r\nhim to speak with more respect, since his was not a mortal father. Then\r\nAlexander, changing his expression, desired to know of him if any of those who\r\nmurdered Philip were yet unpunished, and further concerning dominion, whether\r\nthe empire of the world was reserved for him? This, the god answered, he should\r\nobtain, and that Philip’s death was fully revenged, which gave him so much\r\nsatisfaction, that he made splendid offerings to Jupiter, and gave the priests\r\nvery rich presents. This is what most authors write concerning the oracles. But\r\nAlexander, in a letter to his mother, tells her there were some secret answers,\r\nwhich at his return he would communicate to her only. Others say that the\r\npriest, desirous as a piece of courtesy to address him in Greek, “O Paidion,”\r\nby a slip in pronunciation ended with the s instead of the n, and said, “O\r\nPaidios,” which mistake Alexander was well enough pleased with, and it went for\r\ncurrent that the oracle had called him so.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmong the sayings of one Psammon, a philosopher, whom he heard in Egypt, he\r\nmost approved of this, that all men are governed by God, because in everything,\r\nthat which is chief and commands, is divine. But what he pronounced himself\r\nupon this subject, was even more like a philosopher, for he said, God was the\r\ncommon father of us all, but more particularly of the best of us. To the\r\nbarbarians he carried himself very haughtily, as if he were fully persuaded of\r\nhis divine birth and parentage; but to the Grecians more moderately, and with\r\nless affectation of divinity, except it were once in writing to the Athenians\r\nabout Samos, when he tells them that he should not himself have bestowed upon\r\nthem that free and glorious city; “You received it,” he says, “from the bounty\r\nof him who at that time was called my lord and father,” meaning Philip.\r\nHowever, afterwards being wounded with an arrow, and feeling much pain, he\r\nturned to those about him, and told them, “This, my friends, is real flowing\r\nblood, not Ichor,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“Such as immortal gods are wont to shed.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd another time, when it thundered so much that everybody was afraid, and\r\nAnaxarchus, the sophist, asked him if he who was Jupiter’s son could do\r\nanything like this, “Nay,” said Alexander, laughing, “I have no desire to be\r\nformidable to my friends, as you would have me, who despised my table for being\r\nfurnished with fish, and not with the heads of governors of provinces.” For in\r\nfact it is related as true, that Anaxarchus seeing a present of small fishes,\r\nwhich the king sent to Hephaestion, had used this expression, in a sort of\r\nirony, and disparagement of those who undergo vast labors and encounter great\r\nhazards in pursuit of magnificent objects, which after all bring them little\r\nmore pleasure or enjoyment than what others have. From what I have said upon\r\nthis subject, it is apparent that Alexander in himself was not foolishly\r\naffected, or had the vanity to think himself really a god, but merely used his\r\nclaims to divinity as a means of maintaining among other people the sense of\r\nhis superiority.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt his return out of Egypt into Phoenicia, he sacrificed and made solemn\r\nprocessions, to which were added shows of lyric dances and tragedies,\r\nremarkable not merely for the splendor of the equipage and decorations, but for\r\nthe competition among those who exhibited them. For the kings of Cyprus were\r\nhere the exhibitors, just in the same manner as at Athens those who are chosen\r\nby lot out of the tribes. And, indeed, they showed the greatest emulation to\r\noutvie each other; especially Nicocreon, king of Salamis, and Pasicrates of\r\nSoli, who furnished the chorus, and defrayed the expenses of the two most\r\ncelebrated actors, Athenodorus and Thessalus, the former performing for\r\nPasicrates, and the latter for Nicocreon. Thessalus was most favored by\r\nAlexander, though it did not appear till Athenodorus was declared victor by the\r\nplurality of votes. For then at his going away, he said the judges deserved to\r\nbe commended for what they had done, but that he would willingly have lost part\r\nof his kingdom, rather than to have seen Thessalus overcome. However, when he\r\nunderstood Athenodorus was fined by the Athenians for being absent at the\r\nfestivals of Bacchus, though he refused his request that he would write a\r\nletter in his behalf, he gave him a sufficient sum to satisfy the penalty.\r\nAnother time, when Lycon of Scarphia happened to act with great applause in the\r\ntheater, and in a verse which he introduced into the comic part which he was\r\nacting, begged for a present of ten talents, he laughed and gave him the money.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDarius wrote him a letter, and sent friends to intercede with him, requesting\r\nhim to accept as a ransom of his captives the sum of a thousand talents, and\r\noffering him in exchange for his amity and alliance, all the countries on this\r\nside the river Euphrates, together with one of his daughters in marriage. These\r\npropositions he communicated to his friends, and when Parmenio told him, that\r\nfor his part, if he were Alexander, he should readily embrace them, “So would\r\nI,” said Alexander, “if I were Parmenio.” Accordingly, his answer to Darius\r\nwas, that if he would come and yield himself up into his power, he would treat\r\nhim with all possible kindness; if not, he was resolved immediately to go\r\nhimself and seek him. But the death of Darius’s wife in childbirth made him\r\nsoon after regret one part of this answer, and he showed evident marks of\r\ngrief, at being thus deprived of a further opportunity of exercising his\r\nclemency and good nature, which he manifested, however, as far as he could, by\r\ngiving her a most sumptuous funeral.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmong the eunuchs who waited in the queen’s chamber, and were taken prisoners\r\nwith the women, there was one Tireus, who getting out of the camp, fled away on\r\nhorseback to Darius, to inform him of his wife’s death. He, when he heard it,\r\nbeating his head, and bursting into tears and lamentations, said, “Alas! how\r\ngreat is the calamity of the Persians! Was it not enough that their king’s\r\nconsort and sister was a prisoner in her lifetime, but she must, now she is\r\ndead also, be but meanly and obscurely buried?” “Oh king,” replied the eunuch,\r\n“as to her funeral rites, or any respect or honor that should have been shown\r\nin them, you have not the least reason to accuse the ill-fortune of your\r\ncountry; for to my knowledge neither your queen Statira when alive, nor your\r\nmother, nor children, wanted anything of their former happy condition, unless\r\nit were the light of your countenance, which I doubt not but the lord Oromasdes\r\nwill yet restore to its former glory. And after her decease, I assure you, she\r\nhad not only all due funeral ornaments, but was honored also with the tears of\r\nyour very enemies; for Alexander is as gentle after victory, as he is terrible\r\nin the field.” At the hearing of these words, such was the grief and emotion of\r\nDarius’s mind, that they carried him into extravagant suspicions; and taking\r\nTireus aside into a more private part of his tent, “Unless thou likewise,” said\r\nhe to him, “hast deserted me, together with the good fortune of Persia, and art\r\nbecome a Macedonian in thy heart; if thou yet ownest me for thy master Darius,\r\ntell me, I charge thee, by the veneration thou payest the light of Mithras, and\r\nthis right hand of thy king, do I not lament the least of Statira’s misfortunes\r\nin her captivity and death? Have I not suffered something more injurious and\r\ndeplorable in her lifetime? And had I not been miserable with less dishonor, if\r\nI had met with a more severe and inhuman enemy? For how is it possible a young\r\nman as he is, should treat the wife of his opponent with so much distinction,\r\nwere it not from some motive that does me disgrace?” Whilst he was yet\r\nspeaking, Tireus threw himself at his feet, and besought him neither to wrong\r\nAlexander so much, nor his dead wife and sister, as to give utterance to any\r\nsuch thoughts, which deprived him of the greatest consolation left him in his\r\nadversity, the belief that he was overcome by a man whose virtues raised him\r\nabove human nature; that he ought to look upon Alexander with love and\r\nadmiration, who had given no less proofs of his continence towards the Persian\r\nwomen, than of his valor among the men. The eunuch confirmed all he said with\r\nsolemn and dreadful oaths, and was further enlarging upon Alexander’s\r\nmoderation and magnanimity on other occasions, when Darius, breaking away from\r\nhim into the other division of the tent, where his friends and courtiers were,\r\nlifted up his hands to heaven, and uttered this prayer, “Ye gods,” said he, “of\r\nmy family, and of my kingdom, if it be possible, I beseech you to restore the\r\ndeclining affairs of Persia, that I may leave them in as flourishing a\r\ncondition as I found them, and have it in my power to make a grateful return to\r\nAlexander for the kindness which in my adversity he has shown to those who are\r\ndearest to me. But if, indeed, the fatal time be come, which is to give a\r\nperiod to the Persian monarchy, if our ruin be a debt that must be paid to the\r\ndivine jealousy and the vicissitude of things, then I beseech you grant that no\r\nother man but Alexander may sit upon the throne of Cyrus.” Such is the\r\nnarrative given by the greater number of the historians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut to return to Alexander. After he had reduced all Asia on this side the\r\nEuphrates, he advanced towards Darius, who was coming down against him with a\r\nmillion of men. In his march, a very ridiculous passage happened. The servants\r\nwho followed the camp, for sport’s sake divided themselves into two parties,\r\nand named the commander of one of them Alexander, and of the other Darius. At\r\nfirst they only pelted one another with clods of earth, but presently took to\r\ntheir fists, and at last, heated with the contention, they fought in good\r\nearnest with stones and clubs, so that they had much ado to part them; till\r\nAlexander, upon hearing of it, ordered the two captains to decide the quarrel\r\nby single combat, and armed him who bore his name himself, while Philotas did\r\nthe same to him who represented Darius. The whole army were spectators of this\r\nencounter, willing from the event of it to derive an omen of their own future\r\nsuccess. After they had fought stoutly a pretty long while, at last he who was\r\ncalled Alexander had the better, and for a reward of his prowess, had twelve\r\nvillages given him, with leave to wear the Persian dress. So we are told by\r\nEratosthenes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the great battle of all that was fought with Darius, was not, as most\r\nwriters tell us, at Arbela, but at Gaugamela, which, in their language,\r\nsignifies the camel’s house, forasmuch as one of their ancient kings having\r\nescaped the pursuit of his enemies on a swift camel, in gratitude to his beast,\r\nsettled him at this place, with an allowance of certain villages and rents for\r\nhis maintenance. It came to pass that in the month Boedromion, about the\r\nbeginning of the feast of Mysteries at Athens, there was an eclipse of the\r\nmoon, the eleventh night after which, the two armies being now in view of one\r\nanother, Darius kept his men in arms, and by torchlight took a general review\r\nof them. But Alexander, while his soldiers slept, spent the night before his\r\ntent with his diviner Aristander, performing certain mysterious ceremonies, and\r\nsacrificing to the god Fear. In the meanwhile the oldest of his commanders, and\r\nchiefly Parmenio, when they beheld all the plain between Niphates and the\r\nGordyaean mountains shining with the lights and fires which were made by the\r\nbarbarians, and heard the uncertain and confused sound of voices out of their\r\ncamp, like the distant roaring of a vast ocean, were so amazed at the thoughts\r\nof such a multitude, that after some conference among themselves, they\r\nconcluded it an enterprise too difficult and hazardous for them to engage so\r\nnumerous an enemy in the day, and therefore meeting the king as he came from\r\nsacrificing, besought him to attack Darius by night, that the darkness might\r\nconceal the danger of the ensuing battle. To this he gave them the celebrated\r\nanswer, “I will not steal a victory,” which though some at the time thought a\r\nboyish and inconsiderate speech, as if he played with danger, others, however,\r\nregarded as an evidence that he confided in his present condition, and acted on\r\na true judgment of the future, not wishing to leave Darius, in case he were\r\nworsted, the pretext of trying his fortune again, which he might suppose\r\nhimself to have, if he could impute his overthrow to the disadvantage of the\r\nnight, as he did before to the mountains, the narrow passages, and the sea. For\r\nwhile he had such numerous forces and large dominions still remaining, it was\r\nnot any want of men or arms that could induce him to give up the war, but only\r\nthe loss of all courage and hope upon the conviction of an undeniable and\r\nmanifest defeat.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter they were gone from him with this answer, he laid himself down in his\r\ntent and slept the rest of the night more soundly than was usual with him, to\r\nthe astonishment of the commanders, who came to him early in the morning, and\r\nwere fain themselves to give order that the soldiers should breakfast. But at\r\nlast, time not giving them leave to wait any longer, Parmenio went to his\r\nbedside, and called him twice or thrice by his name, till he waked him, and\r\nthen asked him how it was possible, when he was to fight the most important\r\nbattle of all, he could sleep as soundly as if he were already victorious. “And\r\nare we not so, indeed,” replied Alexander, smiling, “since we are at last\r\nrelieved from the trouble of wandering in pursuit of Darius through a wide and\r\nwasted country, hoping in vain that he would fight us?” And not only before the\r\nbattle, but in the height of the danger, he showed himself great, and\r\nmanifested the self-possession of a just foresight and confidence. For the\r\nbattle for some time fluctuated and was dubious. The left wing, where Parmenio\r\ncommanded, was so impetuously charged by the Bactrian horse that it was\r\ndisordered and forced to give ground, at the same time that Mazaeus had sent a\r\ndetachment round about to fall upon those who guarded the baggage, which so\r\ndisturbed Parmenio, that he sent messengers to acquaint Alexander that the camp\r\nand baggage would be all lost unless he immediately believed the rear by a\r\nconsiderable reinforcement drawn out of the front. This message being brought\r\nhim just as he was giving the signal to those about him for the onset, he bade\r\nthem tell Parmenio that he must have surely lost the use of his reason, and had\r\nforgotten, in his alarm, that soldiers, if victorious, become masters of their\r\nenemies’ baggage; and if defeated, instead of taking care of their wealth or\r\ntheir slaves, have nothing more to do but to fight gallantly and die with\r\nhonor. When he had said this, he put on his helmet, having the rest of his arms\r\non before he came out of his tent, which were coat of the Sicilian make, girt\r\nclose about him, and over that a breastpiece of thickly quilted linen, which\r\nwas taken among other booty at the battle of Issus. The helmet, which was made\r\nby Theophilus, though of iron, was so well wrought and polished, that it was as\r\nbright as the most refined silver. To this was fitted a gorget of the same\r\nmetal, set with precious stones. His sword, which was the weapon he most used\r\nin fight, was given him by the king of the Citieans, and was of an admirable\r\ntemper and lightness. The belt which he also wore in all engagements, was of\r\nmuch richer workmanship than the rest of his armor. It was a work of the\r\nancient Helicon, and had been presented to him by the Rhodians, as mark of\r\ntheir respect to him. So long as he was engaged in drawing up his men, or\r\nriding about to give orders or directions, or to view them, he spared\r\nBucephalas, who was now growing old, and made use of another horse; but when he\r\nwas actually to fight, he sent for him again, and as soon as he was mounted,\r\ncommenced the attack.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe made the longest address that day to the Thessalians and other Greeks, who\r\nanswered him with loud shouts, desiring him to lead them on against the\r\nbarbarians, upon which he shifted his javelin into his left hand, and with his\r\nright lifted up towards heaven, besought the gods, as Callisthenes tells us,\r\nthat if he was of a truth the son of Jupiter, they would he pleased to assist\r\nand strengthen the Grecians. At the same time the augur Aristander, who had a\r\nwhite mantle about him, and a crown of gold on his head, rode by and showed\r\nthem an eagle that soared just over Alexander, and directed his Right towards\r\nthe enemy; which so animated the beholders, that after mutual encouragements\r\nand exhortations, the horse charged at full speed, and were followed in a mass\r\nby the whole phalanx of the foot. But before they could well come to blows with\r\nthe first ranks, the barbarians shrunk back, and were hotly pursued by\r\nAlexander, who drove those that fled before him into the middle of the battle,\r\nwhere Darius himself was in person, whom he saw from a distance over the\r\nforemost ranks, conspicuous in the midst of his life-guard, a tall and\r\nfine-looking man, drawn in a lofty chariot, defended by an abundance of the\r\nbest horse, who stood close in order about it, ready to receive the enemy. But\r\nAlexander’s approach was so terrible, forcing those who gave back upon those\r\nwho yet maintained their ground, that he beat down and dispersed them almost\r\nall. Only a few of the bravest and valiantest opposed the pursuit, who were\r\nslain in their king’s presence, falling in heaps upon one another, and in the\r\nvery pangs of death striving to catch hold of the horses. Darius now seeing all\r\nwas lost, that those who were placed in front to defend him were broken and\r\nbeat back upon him, that he could not turn or disengage his chariot without\r\ngreat difficulty, the wheels being clogged and entangled among the dead bodies,\r\nwhich lay in such heaps as not only stopped, but almost covered the horses, and\r\nmade them rear and grow so unruly, that the frighted charioteer could govern\r\nthem no longer, in this extremity was glad to quit his chariot and his arms,\r\nand mounting, it is said, upon a mare that had been taken from her foal, betook\r\nhimself to flight. But he had not escaped so either, if Parmenio had not sent\r\nfresh messengers to Alexander, to desire him to return and assist him against a\r\nconsiderable body of the enemy which yet stood together, and would not give\r\nground. For, indeed, Parmenio is on all hands accused of having been sluggish\r\nand unserviceable in this battle, whether age had impaired his courage, or\r\nthat, as Callisthenes says, he secretly disliked and envied Alexander’s growing\r\ngreatness. Alexander, though he was not a little vexed to be so recalled and\r\nhindered from pursuing his victory, yet concealed the true reason from his men,\r\nand causing a retreat to be sounded, as if it were too late to continue the\r\nexecution any longer, marched back towards the place of danger, and by the way\r\nmet with the news of the enemy’s total overthrow and flight.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis battle being thus over, seemed to put a period to the Persian empire; and\r\nAlexander, who was now proclaimed king of Asia, returned thanks to the gods in\r\nmagnificent sacrifices, and rewarded his friends and followers with great sums\r\nof money, and places, and governments of provinces. And eager to gain honor\r\nwith the Grecians, he wrote to them that he would have all tyrannies abolished,\r\nthat they might live free according to their own laws, and specially to the\r\nPlataeans, that their city should be rebuilt, because their ancestors had\r\npermitted their countrymen of old to make their territory the seat of the war,\r\nwhen they fought with the barbarians for their common liberty. He sent also\r\npart of the spoils into Italy, to the Crotoniats, to honor the zeal and courage\r\nof their citizen Phayllus, the wrestler, who, in the Median war, when the other\r\nGrecian colonies in Italy disowned Greece, that he might have a share in the\r\ndanger, joined the fleet at Salamis, with a vessel set forth at his own charge.\r\nSo affectionate was Alexander to all kind of virtue, and so desirous to\r\npreserve the memory of laudable actions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom hence he marched through the province of Babylon, which immediately\r\nsubmitted to him, and in Ecbatana was much surprised at the sight of the place\r\nwhere fire issues in a continuous stream, like a spring of water, out of a\r\ncleft in the earth, and the stream of naphtha, which, not far from this spot,\r\nflows out so abundantly as to form a sort of lake. This naphtha, in other\r\nrespects resembling bitumen, is so subject to take fire, that before it touches\r\nthe flame, it will kindle at the very light that surrounds it, and often\r\ninflame the intermediate air also. The barbarians, to show the power and nature\r\nof it, sprinkled the street that led to the king’s lodgings with little drops\r\nof it, and when it was almost night, stood at the further end with torches,\r\nwhich being applied to the moistened places, the first at once taking fire,\r\ninstantly, as quick as a man could think of it, it caught from one end to\r\nanother, in such a manner that the whole street was one continued flame. Among\r\nthose who used to wait on the king and find occasion to amuse him when he\r\nanointed and washed himself, there was one Athenophanes, an Athenian, who\r\ndesired him to make an experiment of the naphtha upon Stephanus, who stood by\r\nin the bathing place, a youth with a ridiculously ugly face, whose talent was\r\nsinging well, “For,” said he, “if it take hold of him and is not put out, it\r\nmust undeniably be allowed to be of the most invincible strength.” The youth,\r\nas it happened, readily consented to undergo the trial, and as soon as he was\r\nanointed and rubbed with it, his whole body broke out into such a flame, and\r\nwas so seized by the fire, that Alexander was in the greatest perplexity and\r\nalarm for him, and not without reason; for nothing could have prevented his\r\nbeing consumed by it, if by good chance there had not been people at hand with\r\na great many vessels of water for the service of the bath, with all which they\r\nhad much ado to extinguish the fire; and his body was so burned all over, that\r\nhe was not cured of it a good while after. And thus it is not without some\r\nplausibility that they endeavor to reconcile the fable to truth, who say this\r\nwas the drug in the tragedies with which Medea anointed the crown and veil\r\nwhich she gave to Creon’s daughter. For neither the things themselves, nor the\r\nfire could kindle of its own accord, but being prepared for it by the naphtha,\r\nthey imperceptibly attracted and caught a flame which happened to be brought\r\nnear them. For the rays and emanations of fire at a distance have no other\r\neffect upon some bodies than bare light and heat, but in others, where they\r\nmeet with airy dryness, and also sufficient rich moisture, they collect\r\nthemselves and soon kindle and create a transformation. The manner, however, of\r\nthe production of naphtha admits of a diversity of opinion on whether this\r\nliquid substance that feeds the flame does not rather proceed from a soil that\r\nis unctuous and productive of fire, as that of the province of Babylon is,\r\nwhere the ground is so very hot, that oftentimes the grains of barley leap up,\r\nand are thrown out, as if the violent inflammation had made the earth throb;\r\nand in the extreme heats the inhabitants are wont to sleep upon skins filled\r\nwith water. Harpalus, who was left governor of this country, and was desirous\r\nto adorn the palace gardens and walks with Grecian plants, succeeded in raising\r\nall but ivy, which the earth would not bear, but constantly killed. For being a\r\nplant that loves a cold soil, the temper of this hot and fiery earth was\r\nimproper for it. But such digressions as these the impatient reader will be\r\nmore willing to pardon, if they are kept within a moderate compass.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt the taking of Susa, Alexander found in the palace forty thousand talents in\r\nmoney ready coined, besides an unspeakable quantity of other furniture and\r\ntreasure; amongst which was five thousand talents’ worth of Hermionian purple,\r\nthat had been laid up there a hundred and ninety years, and yet kept its color\r\nas fresh and lively as at first. The reason of which, they say, is that in\r\ndyeing the purple they made use of honey, and of white oil in the white\r\ntincture, both which after the like space of time preserve the clearness and\r\nbrightness of their luster. Dinon also relates that the Persian kings had water\r\nfetched from the Nile and the Danube, which they laid up in their treasuries as\r\na sort of testimony of the greatness of their power and universal empire.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe entrance into Persia was through a most difficult country, and was guarded\r\nby the noblest of the Persians, Darius himself having escaped further.\r\nAlexander, however, chanced to find a guide in exact correspondence with what\r\nthe Pythia had foretold when he was a child, that a lycus should conduct him\r\ninto Persia. For by such an one, whose father was a Lycian, and his mother a\r\nPersian, and who spoke both languages, he was now led into the country, by a\r\nway something about, yet without fetching any considerable compass. Here a\r\ngreat many of the prisoners were put to the sword, of which himself gives this\r\naccount, that he commanded them to be killed in the belief that it would be for\r\nhis advantage. Nor was the money found here less, he says, than at Susa,\r\nbesides other movables and treasure, as much as ten thousand pair of mules and\r\nfive thousand camels could well carry away. Amongst other things he happened to\r\nobserve a large statue of Xerxes thrown carelessly down to the ground in the\r\nconfusion made by the multitude of soldiers pressing; into the palace. He stood\r\nstill, and accosting it as if it had been alive, “Shall we,” said he,\r\n“neglectfully pass thee by, now thou art prostrate on the ground, because thou\r\nonce invadedst Greece, or shall we erect thee again in consideration of the\r\ngreatness of thy mind and thy other virtues?” But at last, after he had paused\r\nsome time, and silently considered with himself, he went on without taking any\r\nfurther notice of it. In this place he took up his winter quarters, and stayed\r\nfour months to refresh his soldiers. It is related that the first time he sat\r\non the royal throne of Persia, under the canopy of gold, Demaratus, the\r\nCorinthian, who was much attached to him and had been one of his father’s\r\nfriends, wept, in an old man’s manner, and deplored the misfortune of those\r\nCreeks whom death had deprived of the satisfaction of seeing Alexander seated\r\non the throne of Darius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom hence designing to march against Darius, before he set out, he diverted\r\nhimself with his officers at an entertainment of drinking and other pastimes,\r\nand indulged so far as to let every one’s mistress sit by and drink with them.\r\nThe most celebrated of them was Thais, an Athenian, mistress of Ptolemy, who\r\nwas afterwards king of Egypt. She, partly as a sort of well-turned compliment\r\nto Alexander, partly out of sport, as the drinking went on, at last was carried\r\nso far as to utter a saying, not misbecoming her native country’s character,\r\nthough somewhat too lofty for her own condition. She said it was indeed some\r\nrecompense for the toils she had undergone in following the camp all over Asia,\r\nthat she was that day treated in, and could insult over, the stately palace of\r\nthe Persian monarchs. But, she added, it would please her much better, if while\r\nthe king looked on, she might in sport, with her own hands, set fire to the\r\ncourt of that Xerxes who reduced the city of Athens to ashes, that it might be\r\nrecorded to posterity, that the women who followed Alexander had taken a\r\nseverer revenge on the Persians for the sufferings and affronts of Greece, than\r\nall the famed commanders had been able to do by sea or land. What she said was\r\nreceived with such universal liking and murmurs of applause, and so seconded by\r\nthe encouragement and eagerness of the company, that the king himself,\r\npersuaded to be of the party, started from his seat, and with a chaplet of\r\nflowers on his head, and a lighted torch in his hand, led them the way, while\r\nthey went after him in a riotous manner, dancing and making loud cries about\r\nthe place; which when the rest of the Macedonians perceived, they also in great\r\ndelight ran thither with torches; for they hoped the burning and destruction of\r\nthe royal palace was an argument that he looked homeward, and had no design to\r\nreside among the barbarians. Thus some writers give their account of this\r\naction, while others say it was done deliberately; however, all agree that he\r\nsoon repented of it, and gave order to put out the fire.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlexander was naturally most munificent, and grew more so as his fortune\r\nincreased, accompanying what he gave with that courtesy and freedom, which, to\r\nspeak truth, is necessary to make a benefit really obliging. I will give a few\r\ninstances of this kind. Ariston, the captain of the Paeonians, having killed an\r\nenemy, brought his head to show him, and told him that in his country, such a\r\npresent was recompensed with a cup of gold. “With an empty one,” said\r\nAlexander, smiling, “but I drink to you in this, which I give you full of\r\nwine.” Another time, as one of the common soldier was driving a mule laden with\r\nsome of the king’s treasure, the beast grew tired, and the soldier took it upon\r\nhis own back, and began to march with it, till Alexander seeing the man so\r\novercharged, asked what was the matter; and when he was informed, just as he\r\nwas ready to lay down his burden for weariness, “Do not faint now,” said he to\r\nhim, “but finish the journey, and carry what you have there to your own tent\r\nfor yourself.” He was always more displeased with those who would not accept of\r\nwhat he gave than with those who begged of him. And therefore he wrote to\r\nPhocion, that he would not own him for his friend any longer, if he refused his\r\npresents. He had never given anything to Serapion, one of the youths that\r\nplayed at ball with him, because he did not ask of him, till one day, it coming\r\nto Serapion’s turn to play, he still threw the ball to others, and when the\r\nking asked him why he did not direct it to him, “Because you do not ask for\r\nit,” said he; which answer pleased him so, that he was very liberal to him\r\nafterwards. One Proteas, a pleasant, jesting, drinking fellow, having incurred\r\nhis displeasure, got his friends to intercede for him, and begged his pardon\r\nhimself with tears, which at last prevailed, and Alexander declared he was\r\nfriends with him. “I cannot believe it,” said Proteas, “unless you first give\r\nme some pledge of it.” The king understood his meaning, and presently ordered\r\nfive talents to be given him. How magnificent he was in enriching his friends,\r\nand those who attended on his person, appears by a letter which Olympias wrote\r\nto him, where she tells him he should reward and honor those about him in a\r\nmore moderate way, For now,” said she, “you make them all equal to kings, you\r\ngive them power and opportunity of making many friends of their own, and in the\r\nmeantime you leave yourself destitute.” She often wrote to him to this purpose,\r\nand he never communicated her letters to anybody, unless it were one which he\r\nopened when Hephaestion was by, whom he permitted, as his custom was, to read\r\nit along with him; but then as soon as he had done, he took off his ring, and\r\nset the seal upon Hephaestion’s lips. Mazaeus, who was the most considerable\r\nman in Darius’s court, had a son who was already governor of a province.\r\nAlexander bestowed another upon him that was better; he, however, modestly\r\nrefused, and told him, instead of one Darius, he went the way to make many\r\nAlexanders. To Parmenio he gave Bagoas’s house, in which he found a wardrobe of\r\napparel worth more than a thousand talents. He wrote to Antipater, commanding\r\nhim to keep a life-guard about him for the security of his person against\r\nconspiracies. To his mother he sent many presents, but would never suffer her\r\nto meddle with matters of state or war, not indulging her busy temper, and when\r\nshe fell out with him upon this account, he bore her ill-humor very patiently.\r\nNay more, when he read a long letter from Antipater, full of accusations\r\nagainst her, “Antipater,” he said, “does not know that one tear of a mother\r\neffaces a thousand such letters as these.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when he perceived his favorites grow so luxurious and extravagant in their\r\nway of living and expenses, that Hagnon, the Teian, wore silver nails in his\r\nshoes, that Leonnatus employed several camels, only to bring him powder out of\r\nEgypt to use when he wrestled, and that Philotas had hunting nets a hundred\r\nfurlongs in length, that more used precious ointment than plain oil when they\r\nwent to bathe, and that they carried about servants everywhere with them to rub\r\nthem and wait upon them in their chambers, he reproved them in gentle and\r\nreasonable terms, telling them he wondered that they who had been engaged in so\r\nmany signal battles did not know by experience, that those who labor sleep more\r\nsweetly and soundly than those who are labored for, and could fail to see by\r\ncomparing the Persians’ manner of living with their own, that it was the most\r\nabject and slavish condition to be voluptuous, but the most noble arid royal to\r\nundergo pain and labor. He argued with them further, how it was possible for\r\nanyone who pretended to be a soldier, either to look well after his horse, or\r\nto keep his armor bright and in good order, who thought it much to let his\r\nhands be serviceable to what was nearest to him, his own body. “Are you still\r\nto learn,” said he, “that the end and perfection of our victories is to avoid\r\nthe vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue?” And to strengthen his\r\nprecepts by example, he applied himself now more vigorously than ever to\r\nhunting and warlike expeditions, embracing all opportunities of hardship and\r\ndanger, insomuch that a Lacedaemonian, who was there on an embassy to him, and\r\nchanced to be by when he encountered with and mastered a huge lion, told him he\r\nhad fought gallantly with the beast, which of the two should be king. Craterus\r\ncaused a representation to be made of this adventure, consisting of the lion\r\nand the dogs, of the king engaged with the lion, and himself coming in to his\r\nassistance, all expressed in figures of brass, some of which were by Lysippus,\r\nand the rest by Leochares; and had it dedicated in the temple of Apollo at\r\nDelphi. Alexander exposed his person to danger in this manner, with the object\r\nboth of inuring himself, and inciting others to the performance of brave and\r\nvirtuous actions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut his followers, who were grown rich, and consequently proud, longed to\r\nindulge themselves in pleasure and idleness, and were weary of marches and\r\nexpeditions, and at last went on so far as to censure and speak ill of him. All\r\nwhich at first he bore very patiently, saying, it became a king well to do good\r\nto others, and be evil spoken of. Meantime, on the smallest occasions that\r\ncalled for a show of kindness to his friends, there was every indication on his\r\npart of tenderness and respect. Hearing Peucestes was bitten by a bear, he\r\nwrote to him, that he took it unkindly he should send others notice of it, and\r\nnot make him acquainted with it; “But now,” said he, “since it is so, let me\r\nknow how you do, and whether any of your companions forsook you when you were\r\nin danger, that I may punish them.” He sent Hephaestion, who was absent about\r\nsome business, word how while they were fighting for their diversion with an\r\nichneumon, Craterus was by chance run through both thighs with Perdiccas’s\r\njavelin. And upon Peucestes’s recovery from a fit of sickness, he sent a letter\r\nof thanks to his physician Alexippus. When Craterus was ill, he saw a vision in\r\nhis sleep, after which he offered sacrifices for his health, and bade him to do\r\nso likewise. He wrote also to Pausanias, the physician, who was about to purge\r\nCraterus with hellebore, partly out of an anxious concern for him, and partly\r\nto give him a caution how he used that medicine. He was so tender of his\r\nfriends’ reputation that he imprisoned Ephialtes and Cissus, who brought him\r\nthe first news of Harpalus’s flight and withdrawal from his service, as if they\r\nhad falsely accused him. When he sent the old and infirm soldiers home,\r\nEurylochus, a citizen of Aegae, got his name enrolled among the sick, though he\r\nailed nothing, which being discovered, he confessed he was in love with a young\r\nwoman named Telesippa, and wanted to go along with her to the seaside.\r\nAlexander inquired to whom the woman belonged, and being told she was a free\r\ncourtesan, “I will assist you,” said he to Eurylochus, “in your amour, if your\r\nmistress be to be gained either by presents or persuasions; but we must use no\r\nother means, because she is free-born.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is surprising to consider upon what slight occasions he would write letters\r\nto serve his friends. As when he wrote one in which he gave order to search for\r\na youth that belonged to Seleucus, who was run away into Cilicia; and in\r\nanother, thanked and commended Peucestes for apprehending Nicon, a servant of\r\nCraterus; and in one to Megabyzus, concerning a slave that had taken sanctuary\r\nin a temple, gave direction that he should not meddle with him while he was\r\nthere, but if he could entice him out by fair means, then he gave him leave to\r\nseize him. It is reported of him that when he first sat in judgment upon\r\ncapital causes, he would lay his hand upon one of his ears while the accuser\r\nspoke, to keep it free and unprejudiced in behalf of the party accused. But\r\nafterwards such a multitude of accusations were brought before him, and so many\r\nproved true, that he lost his tenderness of heart, and gave credit to those\r\nalso that were false; and especially when anybody spoke ill of him, he would be\r\ntransported out of his reason, and show himself cruel and inexorable, valuing\r\nhis glory and reputation beyond his life or kingdom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe now, as we said, set forth to seek Darius, expecting he should be put to the\r\nhazard of another battle, but heard he was taken and secured by Bessus, upon\r\nwhich news he sent home the Thessalians, and gave them a largess of two\r\nthousand talents over and above the pay that was due to them. This long and\r\npainful pursuit of Darius, for in eleven days he marched thirty-three hundred\r\nfurlongs, harassed his soldiers so that most of them were ready to give it up,\r\nchiefly for want of water. While they were in this distress, it happened that\r\nsome Macedonians who had fetched water in skins upon their mules from a river\r\nthey had found out, came about noon to the place where Alexander was, and\r\nseeing him almost choked with thirst, presently filled a helmet and offered it\r\nhim. He asked them to whom they were carrying the water; they told him to their\r\nchildren, adding, that if his life were but saved, it was no matter for them,\r\nthey should be able well enough to repair that loss, though they all perished.\r\nThen he took the helmet into his hands, and looking round about, when he saw\r\nall those who were near him stretching their heads out and looking, earnestly\r\nafter the drink, he returned it again with thanks without tasting a drop of it,\r\n“For,” said he, “if I alone should drink, the rest will be out of heart.” The\r\nsoldiers no sooner took notice of his temperance and magnanimity upon this\r\noccasion, but they one and all cried out to him to lead them forward boldly,\r\nand began whipping on their horses. For whilst they had such a king, they said\r\nthey defied both weariness and thirst, and looked upon themselves to be little\r\nless than immortal. But though they were all equally cheerful and willing, yet\r\nnot above threescore horse were able, it is said, to keep up, and to fall in\r\nwith Alexander upon the enemy’s camp, where they rode over abundance of gold\r\nand silver that lay scattered about, and passing by a great many chariots full\r\nof women that wandered here and there for want of drivers, they endeavored to\r\novertake the first of those that fled, in hopes to meet with Darius among them.\r\nAnd at last, after much trouble, they found him lying in a chariot, wounded all\r\nover with darts, just at the point of death. However, he desired they would\r\ngive him some drink, and when he had drunk a little cold water, he told\r\nPolystratus, who gave it him, that it had become the last extremity of his ill\r\nfortune, to receive benefits and not be able to return them. “But Alexander,”\r\nsaid he, “whose kindness to my mother, my wife, and my children I hope the gods\r\nwill recompense, will doubtless thank you for your humanity to me. Tell him,\r\ntherefore, in token of my acknowledgment, I give him this right hand,” with\r\nwhich words he took hold of Polystratus’s hand and died. When Alexander came up\r\nto them, he showed manifest tokens of sorrow, and taking off his own cloak,\r\nthrew it upon the body to cover it. And sometime afterwards, when Bessus was\r\ntaken, he ordered him to be torn in pieces in this manner. They fastened him to\r\na couple of trees which were bound down so as to meet, and then being let\r\nloose, with a great force returned to their places, each of them carrying that\r\npart of the body along with it that was tied to it. Darius’s body was laid in\r\nstate, and sent to his mother with pomp suitable to his quality. His brother\r\nExathres, Alexander received into the number of his intimate friends.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now with the flower of his army he marched into Hyrcania, where he saw a\r\nlarge bay of an open sea, apparently not much less than the Euxine, with water,\r\nhowever, sweeter than that of other seas, but could learn nothing of certainty\r\nconcerning it, further than that in all probability it seemed to him to be an\r\narm issuing from the lake of Maeotis. However, the naturalists were better\r\ninformed of the truth, and had given an account of it many years before\r\nAlexander’s expedition; that of four gulfs which out of the main sea enter into\r\nthe continent, this, known indifferently as the Caspian and as the Hyrcanian\r\nsea, is the most northern. Here the barbarians, unexpectedly meeting with those\r\nwho led Bucephalas, took them prisoners, and carried the horse away with them,\r\nat which Alexander was so much vexed, that he sent a herald to let them know he\r\nwould put them all to the sword, men, women, and children, without mercy, if\r\nthey did not restore him. But on their doing so, and at the same time\r\nsurrendering their cities into his hands, he not only treated them kindly, but\r\nalso paid a ramsom for his horse to those who took him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom hence he marched into Parthia, where not having much to do, he first put\r\non the barbaric dress, perhaps with the view of making the work of civilizing\r\nthem the easier, as nothing gains more upon men than a conformity to their\r\nfashions and customs. Or it may have been as a first trial, whether the\r\nMacedonians might be brought to adore him, as the Persians did their kings, by\r\naccustoming them by little and little to bear with the alteration of his rule\r\nand course of life in other things. However, he followed not the Median\r\nfashion, which was altogether foreign and uncouth, and adopted neither the\r\ntrousers nor the sleeved vest, nor the tiara for the head, but taking a middle\r\nway between the Persian mode and the Macedonian, so contrived his habit that it\r\nwas not so flaunting as the one, and yet more pompous and magnificent than the\r\nother. At first he wore this habit only when he conversed with the barbarians,\r\nor within doors, among his intimate friends and companions, but afterwards he\r\nappeared in it abroad, when he rode out, and at public audiences, a sight which\r\nthe Macedonians beheld with grief; but they so respected his other virtues and\r\ngood qualities, that they felt it reasonable in some things to gratify his\r\nfancies and his passion of glory, in pursuit of which he hazarded himself so\r\nfar, that, besides his other adventures, he had but lately been wounded in the\r\nleg by an arrow, which had so shattered the shank-bone that splinters were\r\ntaken out. And on another occasion he received a violent blow with a stone upon\r\nthe nape of the neck, which dimmed his sight for a good while afterwards. And\r\nyet all this could not hinder him from exposing himself freely to any dangers,\r\ninsomuch that he passed the river Orexartes, which he took to be the Tanais,\r\nand putting the Scythians to flight, followed them above a hundred furlongs,\r\nthough suffering all the time from a diarrhea.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHere many affirm that the Amazon came to give him a visit. So Clitarchus,\r\nPolyclitus, Onesicritus, Antigenes, and Ister, tell us. But Aristobulus and\r\nChares, who held the office of reporter of requests, Ptolemy and Anticlides,\r\nPhilon the Theban, Philip of Theangela, Hecataeus the Eretrian, Philip the\r\nChalcidian, and Duris the Samian, say it is wholly a fiction. And truly\r\nAlexander himself seems to confirm the latter statement, for in a letter in\r\nwhich he gives Antipater an account of all that happened, he tells him that the\r\nking of Scythia offered him his daughter in marriage, but makes no mention at\r\nall of the Amazon. And many years after, when Onesicritus read this story in\r\nhis fourth book to Lysimachus, who then reigned, the king laughed quietly and\r\nasked, “Where could I have been at that time?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut it signifies little to Alexander whether this be credited or no. Certain it\r\nis, that apprehending the Macedonians would be weary of pursuing the war, he\r\nleft the greater part of them in their quarters; and having with him in\r\nHyrcania the choice of his men only, amounting to twenty thousand foot, and\r\nthree thousand horse, he spoke to them to this effect: That hitherto the\r\nbarbarians had seen them no otherwise than as it were in a dream, and if they\r\nshould think of returning when they had only alarmed Asia, and not conquered\r\nit, their enemies would set upon them as upon so many women. However, he told\r\nthem he would keep none of them with him against their will, they might go if\r\nthey pleased; he should merely enter his protest, that when on his way to make\r\nthe Macedonians the masters of the world, he was left alone with a few friends\r\nand volunteers. This is almost word for word, as he wrote in a letter to\r\nAntipater, where he adds, that when he had thus spoken to them, they all cried\r\nout, they would go along with him whithersoever it was his pleasure to lead\r\nthem. After succeeding with these, it was no hard matter for him to bring over\r\nthe multitude, which easily followed the example of their betters. Now, also,\r\nhe more and more accommodated himself in his way of living to that of the\r\nnatives, and tried to bring them, also, as near as he could to the Macedonian\r\ncustoms, wisely considering that whilst he was engaged in an expedition which\r\nwould carry him far from thence, it would be wiser to depend upon the goodwill\r\nwhich might arise from intermixture and association as a means of maintaining\r\ntranquillity, than upon force and compulsion. In order to this, he chose out\r\nthirty thousand boys, whom he put under masters to teach them the Greek tongue,\r\nand to train them up to arms in the Macedonian discipline. As for his marriage\r\nwith Roxana, whose youthfulness and beauty had charmed him at a drinking\r\nentertainment, where he first happened to see her, taking part in a dance, it\r\nwas, indeed, a love affair, yet it seemed at the same time to be conducive to\r\nthe object he had in hand. For it gratified the conquered people to see him\r\nchoose a wife from among themselves, and it made them feel the most lively\r\naffection for him, to find that in the only passion which he, the most\r\ntemperate of men, was overcome by, he yet forbore till he could obtain her in a\r\nlawful and honorable way.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNoticing, also, that among his chief friends and favorites, Hephaestion most\r\napproved all that he did, and complied with and imitated him in his change of\r\nhabits, while Craterus continued strict in the observation of the customs and\r\nfashions of his own country, he made it his practice to employ the first in all\r\ntransactions with the Persians, and the latter when he had to do with the\r\nGreeks or Macedonians. And in general he showed more affection for Hephaestion,\r\nand more respect for Craterus; Hephaestion, as he used to say, being\r\nAlexander’s, and Craterus the king’s friend. And so these two friends always\r\nbore in secret a grudge to each other, and at times quarreled openly, so much\r\nso, that once in India they drew upon one another, and were proceeding in good\r\nearnest, with their friends on each side to second them, when Alexander rode up\r\nand publicly reproved Hephaestion, calling him fool and madman, not to be\r\nsensible that without his favor he was nothing. He rebuked Craterus, also, in\r\nprivate, severely, and then causing them both to come into his presence, he\r\nreconciled them, at the same time swearing by Ammon and the rest of the gods,\r\nthat he loved them two above all other men, but if ever he perceived them fall\r\nout again he would be sure to put both of them to death, or at least the\r\naggressor. After which they neither ever did or said anything, so much as in\r\njest, to offend one another.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was scarcely anyone who had greater repute among the Macedonians than\r\nPhilotas, the son of Parmenio. For besides that he was valiant and able to\r\nendure any fatigue of war, he was also next to Alexander himself the most\r\nmunificent, and the greatest lover of his friends, one of whom asking him for\r\nsome money, he commanded his steward to give it him; and when he told him he\r\nhad not wherewith, “Have you not any plate then,” said he, “or any clothes of\r\nmine to sell?” But he carried his arrogance and his pride of wealth and his\r\nhabits of display and luxury to a degree of assumption unbecoming a private\r\nman, and affecting all the loftiness without succeeding in showing any of the\r\ngrace or gentleness of true greatness, by this mistaken and spurious majesty he\r\ngained so much envy and ill-will, that Parmenio would sometimes tell him, “My\r\nson, to be not quite so great would be better.” For he had long before been\r\ncomplained of, and accused to Alexander. Particularly when Darius was defeated\r\nin Cilicia, and an immense booty was taken at Damascus, among the rest of the\r\nprisoners who were brought into the camp, there was one Antigone of Pydna, a\r\nvery handsome woman, who fell to Philotas’s share. The young man one day in his\r\ncups, in the vaunting, outspoken, soldier’s manner, declared to his mistress,\r\nthat all the great actions were performed by him and his father, the glory and\r\nbenefit of which, he said, together with the title of king, the boy Alexander\r\nreaped and enjoyed by their means. She could not hold, but discovered what he\r\nhad said to one of her acquaintance, and he, as is usual in such cases, to\r\nanother, till at last the story came to the ears of Craterus, who brought the\r\nwoman secretly to the king. When Alexander had heard what she had to say, he\r\ncommanded her to continue her intrigue with Philotas, and give him an account\r\nfrom time to time of all that should fall from him to this purpose. He thus\r\nunwittingly caught in a snare, to gratify some times a fit of anger, sometimes\r\na mere love of vainglory, let himself utter numerous foolish, indiscreet\r\nspeeches against the king in Antigone’s hearing, of which though Alexander was\r\ninformed and convinced by strong evidence, yet he would take no notice of it at\r\npresent, whether it was that he confided in Parmenio’s affection and loyalty,\r\nor that he apprehended their authority and interest in the army. But about this\r\ntime one Limnus, a Macedonian of Chalastra, conspired against Alexander’s life,\r\nand communicated his design to a youth whom he was fond of, named Nicomachus,\r\ninviting him to be of the party. But he not relishing the thing, revealed it to\r\nhis brother Balinus, who immediately addressed himself to Philotas, requiring\r\nhim to introduce them both to Alexander, to whom they had something of great\r\nmoment to impart which very nearly concerned him. But he, for what reason is\r\nuncertain, went not with them, professing that the king was engaged with\r\naffairs of more importance. And when they had urged him a second time, and were\r\nstill slighted by him, they applied themselves to another, by whose means being\r\nadmitted into Alexander’s presence, they first told about Limnus’s conspiracy,\r\nand by the way let Philotas’s negligence appear, who had twice disregarded\r\ntheir application to him. Alexander was greatly incensed, and on finding that\r\nLimnus had defended himself, and had been killed by the soldier who was sent to\r\nseize him, he was still more discomposed, thinking he had thus lost the means\r\nof detecting the plot. As soon as his displeasure against Philotas began to\r\nappear, presently all his old enemies showed themselves, and said openly, the\r\nking was too easily imposed on, to imagine that one so inconsiderable as\r\nLimnus, a Chalastrian, should of his own head undertake such an enterprise;\r\nthat in all likelihood he was but subservient to the design, an instrument that\r\nwas moved by some greater spring; that those ought to be more strictly examined\r\nabout the matter whose interest it was so much to conceal it. When they had\r\nonce gained the king’s ear for insinuations of this sort, they went on to show\r\na thousand grounds of suspicion against Philotas, till at last they prevailed\r\nto have him seized and put to the torture, which was done in the presence of\r\nthe principal officers, Alexander himself being placed behind some tapestry to\r\nunderstand what passed. Where, when he heard in what a miserable tone, and with\r\nwhat abject submissions Philotas applied himself to Hephaestion, he broke out,\r\nit is said, in this manner: “Are you so mean-spirited and effeminate, Philotas,\r\nand yet can engage in so desperate a design?” After his death, he presently\r\nsent into Media, and put also Parmenio, his father, to death, who had done\r\nbrave service under Philip, and was the only man, of his older friends and\r\ncounselors, who had encouraged Alexander to invade Asia. Of three sons whom he\r\nhad had in the army, he had already lost two, and now was himself put to death\r\nwith the third. These actions rendered Alexander an object of terror to many of\r\nhis friends, and chiefly to Antipater, who, to strengthen himself, sent\r\nmessengers privately to treat for an alliance with the Aetolians, who stood in\r\nfear of Alexander, because they had destroyed the town of the Oeniadae; on\r\nbeing informed of which, Alexander had said the children of the Oeniadae need\r\nnot revenge their fathers’ quarrel, for he would himself take care to punish\r\nthe Aetolians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after this happened the deplorable end of Clitus, which to those who\r\nbarely hear the matter-of-fact, may seem more inhuman than that of Philotas;\r\nbut if we consider the story with its circumstance of time, and weigh the\r\ncause, we shall find it to have occurred rather through a sort of mischance of\r\nthe king’s, whose anger and over-drinking offered an occasion to the evil\r\ngenius of Clitus. The king had a present of Grecian fruit brought him from the\r\nsea-coast, which was so fresh and beautiful, that he was surprised at it, and\r\ncalled Clitus to him to see it, and to give him a share of it. Clitus was then\r\nsacrificing, but he immediately left off and came, followed by three sheep, on\r\nwhom the drink-offering had been already poured preparatory to sacrificing\r\nthem. Alexander, being informed of this, told his diviners, Aristander and\r\nCleomantis the Lacedaemonian, and asked them what it meant; on whose assuring\r\nhim, it was an ill omen, he commanded them in all haste to offer sacrifices for\r\nClitus’s safety, forasmuch as three days before he himself had seen a strange\r\nvision in his sleep, of Clitus all in mourning, sitting by Parmenio’s sons who\r\nwere dead. Clitus, however, stayed not to finish his devotions, but came\r\nstraight to supper with the king, who had sacrificed to Castor and Pollux. And\r\nwhen they had drunk pretty hard, some of the company fell a singing the verses\r\nof one Pranichus, or as others say of Pierion, which were made upon those\r\ncaptains who had been lately worsted by the barbarians, on purpose to disgrace\r\nand turn them to ridicule. This gave offense to the older men who were there,\r\nand they upbraided both the author and the singer of the verses, though\r\nAlexander and the younger men about him were much amused to hear them, and\r\nencouraged them to go on, till at last Clitus, who had drunk too much, and was\r\nbesides of a froward and willful temper, was so nettled that he could hold no\r\nlonger, saying, it was not well done to expose the Macedonians so before the\r\nbarbarians and their enemies, since though it was their unhappiness to be\r\novercome, yet they were much better men than those who laughed at them. And\r\nwhen Alexander remarked, that Clitus was pleading his own cause, giving\r\ncowardice the name of misfortune, Clitus started up; “This cowardice, as you\r\nare pleased to term it,” said he to him, “saved the life of a son of the gods,\r\nwhen in flight from Spithridates’s sword; and it is by the expense of\r\nMacedonian blood, and by these wounds, that you are now raised to such a\r\nheight, as to be able to disown your father Philip, and call yourself the Son\r\nof Ammon.” “Thou base fellow,” said Alexander, who was now thoroughly\r\nexasperated, “dost thou think to utter these things everywhere of me, and stir\r\nup the Macedonians to sedition, and not be punished for it?” “We are\r\nsufficiently punished already,” answered Clitus, “if this be the recompense of\r\nour toils, and we must esteem theirs a happy lot, who have not lived to see\r\ntheir countrymen scourged with Median rods, and forced to sue to the Persians\r\nto have access to their king.” While he talked thus at random, and those near\r\nAlexander got up from their seats and began to revile him in turn, the elder\r\nmen did what they could to compose the disorder. Alexander, in the meantime\r\nturning about to Xenodochus, the Cardian, and Artemius, the Colophonian, asked\r\nthem if they were not of opinion that the Greeks, in comparison with the\r\nMacedonians, behaved themselves like so many demi-gods among wild beasts. But\r\nClitus for all this would not give over, desiring Alexander to speak out if he\r\nhad anything more to say, or else why did he invite men who were freeborn and\r\naccustomed to speak their minds openly without restraint, to sup with him. He\r\nhad better live and converse with barbarians and slaves who would not scruple\r\nto bow the knee to his Persian girdle and his white tunic. Which words so\r\nprovoked Alexander, that not able to suppress his anger any longer, he threw\r\none of the apples that lay upon the table at him, and hit him, and then looked\r\nabout for his sword. But Aristophanes, one of his life-guard, had hid that out\r\nof the way, and others came about him and besought him, but in vain. For\r\nbreaking from them, he called out aloud to his guards in the Macedonian\r\nlanguage, which was a certain sign of some great disturbance in him, and\r\ncommanded a trumpeter to sound, giving him a blow with his clenched fist for\r\nnot instantly obeying him; though afterwards the same man was commended for\r\ndisobeying an order which would have put the whole army into tumult and\r\nconfusion. Clitus still refusing to yield, was with much trouble forced by his\r\nfriends out of the room. But he came in again immediately at another door, very\r\nirreverently and confidently singing the verses out of Euripides’s Andromache,\r\n—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIn Greece, alas! how ill things ordered are!\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nUpon this, at last, Alexander, snatching a spear from one of the soldiers, met\r\nClitus as he was coming forward and was putting by the curtain that hung before\r\nthe door, and ran him through the body. He fell at once with a cry and a groan.\r\nUpon which the king’s anger immediately vanishing, he came perfectly to\r\nhimself, and when he saw his friends about him all in a profound silence, he\r\npulled the spear out of the dead body, and would have thrust it into his own\r\nthroat, if the guards had not held his hands, and by main force carried him\r\naway into his chamber, where all that night and the next day he wept bitterly,\r\ntill being quite spent with lamenting and exclaiming, he lay as it were\r\nspeechless, only fetching deep sighs. His friends apprehending some harm from\r\nhis silence, broke into the room, but he took no notice of what any of them\r\nsaid, till Aristander putting him in mind of the vision he had seen concerning\r\nClitus, and the prodigy that followed, as if all had come to pass by an\r\nunavoidable fatality, he then seemed to moderate his grief. They now brought\r\nCallisthenes, the philosopher, who was the near friend of Aristotle, and\r\nAnaxarchus of Abdera, to him. Callisthenes used moral language, and gentle and\r\nsoothing means, hoping to find access for words of reason, and get a hold upon\r\nthe passion. But Anaxarchus, who had always taken a course of his own in\r\nphilosophy, and had a name for despising and slighting his contemporaries, as\r\nsoon as he came in, cried out aloud, “Is this the Alexander whom the whole\r\nworld looks to, lying here weeping like a slave, for fear of the censure and\r\nreproach of men, to whom he himself ought to be a law and measure of equity, if\r\nhe would use the right his conquests have given him as supreme lord and\r\ngovernor of all, and not be the victim of a vain and idle opinion? Do not you\r\nknow,” said he, “that Jupiter is represented to have Justice and Law on each\r\nhand of him, to signify that all the actions of a conqueror are lawful and\r\njust?” With these and the like speeches, Anaxarchus indeed allayed the king’s\r\ngrief, but withal corrupted his character, rendering him more audacious and\r\nlawless than he had been. Nor did he fail by these means to insinuate himself\r\ninto his favor, and to make Callisthenes’s company, which at all times, because\r\nof his austerity, was not very acceptable, more uneasy and disagreeable to him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt happened that these two philosophers meeting at an entertainment, where\r\nconversation turned on the subject of climate and the temperature of the air,\r\nCallisthenes joined with their opinion, who held that those countries were\r\ncolder, and the winter sharper there than in Greece. Anaxarchus would by no\r\nmeans allow this, but argued against it with some heat. “Surely,” said\r\nCallisthenes, “you cannot but admit this country to be colder than Greece, for\r\nthere you used to have but one threadbare cloak to keep out the coldest winter,\r\nand here you have three good warm mantles one over another.” This piece of\r\nraillery irritated Anaxarchus and the other pretenders to learning, and the\r\ncrowd of flatterers in general could not endure to see Callisthenes so much\r\nadmired and followed by the youth, and no less esteemed by the older men for\r\nhis orderly life, and his gravity, and for being contented with his condition;\r\nall confirming what he had professed about the object he had in his journey to\r\nAlexander, that it was only to get his countrymen recalled from banishment, and\r\nto rebuild and repeople his native town. Besides the envy which his great\r\nreputation raised, he also, by his own deportment, gave those who wished him\r\nill, opportunity to do him mischief. For when he was invited to public\r\nentertainments, he would most times refuse to come, or if he were present at\r\nany, he put a constraint upon the company by his austerity and silence, which\r\nseemed to intimate his disapproval of what he saw. So that Alexander himself\r\nsaid in application to him,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThat vain pretense to wisdom I detest,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhere a man’s blind to his own interest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBeing with many more invited to sup with the king, he was called upon when the\r\ncup came to him, to make an oration extempore in praise of the Macedonians; and\r\nhe did it with such a flow of eloquence, that all who heard it rose from their\r\nseats to clap and applaud him, and threw their garland upon him; only Alexander\r\ntold him out of Euripides,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nI wonder not that you have spoke so well,\u003cbr\u003e\r\n’Tis easy on good subjects to excel.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\n“Therefore,” said he, “if you will show the force of your eloquence, tell my\r\nMacedonians their faults, and dispraise them, that by hearing their errors they\r\nmay learn to he better for the future.” Callisthenes presently obeyed him,\r\nretracting all he had said before, and, inveighing against the Macedonians with\r\ngreat freedom, added, that Philip thrived and grew powerful, chiefly by the\r\ndiscord of the Grecians, applying this verse to him:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIn civil strife e’en villains rise to fame;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nwhich so offended the Macedonians, that he was odious to them ever after. And\r\nAlexander said, that instead of his eloquence, he had only made his ill-will\r\nappear in what he had spoken. Hermippus assures us, that one Stroebus, a\r\nservant whom Callisthenes kept to read to him, gave this account of these\r\npassages afterwards to Aristotle; and that when he perceived the king grow more\r\nand more averse to him, two or three times, as he was going away, he repeated\r\nthe verses, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nDeath seiz’d at last on great Patroclus too,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThough he in virtue far exceeded you.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nNot without reason, therefore, did Aristotle give this character of\r\nCallisthenes, that he was, indeed, a powerful speaker, but had no judgment. He\r\nacted certainly a true philosopher’s part in positively refusing, as he did, to\r\npay adoration; and by speaking out openly against that which the best and\r\ngravest of the Macedonians only repined at in secret, he delivered the Grecians\r\nand Alexander himself from a great disgrace, when the practice was given up.\r\nBut he ruined himself by it, because he went too roughly to work, as if he\r\nwould have forced the king to that which he should have effected by reason and\r\npersuasion. Chares of Mitylene writes, that at a banquet, Alexander, after he\r\nhad drunk, reached the cup to one of his friends, who, on receiving it, rose up\r\ntowards the domestic altar, and when he had drunk, first adored, and then\r\nkissed Alexander, and afterwards laid himself down at the table with the rest.\r\nWhich they all did one after another, till it came to Callisthenes’s turn, who\r\ntook the cup and drank, while the king who was engaged in conversation with\r\nHephaestion was not observing, and then came and offered to kiss him. But\r\nDemetrius, surnamed Phidon, interposed, saying, “Sir, by no means let him kiss\r\nyou, for he only of us all has refused to adore you;” upon which the king\r\ndeclined it, and all the concern Callisthenes showed was, that he said aloud,\r\n“Then I go away with a kiss less than the rest.” The displeasure he incurred by\r\nthis action procured credit for Hephaestion’s declaration that he had broken\r\nhis word to him in not paying the king the same veneration that others did, as\r\nhe had faithfully promised to do. And to finish his disgrace, a number of such\r\nmen as Lysimachus and Hagnon now came in with their asseverations that the\r\nsophist went about everywhere boasting of his resistance to arbitrary power,\r\nand that the young men all ran after him, and honored him as the only man among\r\nso many thousands who had the courage to preserve his liberty. Therefore when\r\nHermolaus’s conspiracy came to be discovered, the charges which his enemies\r\nbrought against him were the more easily believed, particularly that when the\r\nyoung man asked him what he should do to be the most illustrious person on\r\nearth, he told him the readiest way was to kill him who was already so; and\r\nthat to incite him to commit the deed, he bade him not be awed by the golden\r\ncouch, but remember Alexander was a man equally infirm and vulnerable as\r\nanother. However, none of Hermolaus’s accomplices, in the utmost extremity,\r\nmade any mention of Callisthenes’s being engaged in the design. Nay, Alexander\r\nhimself, in the letters which he wrote soon after to Craterus, Attalus, and\r\nAlcetas, tells them that the young men who were put to the torture, declared\r\nthey had entered into the conspiracy of themselves, without any others being\r\nprivy to, or guilty of it. But yet afterwards, in a letter to Antipater, he\r\naccuses Callisthenes. “The young men,” he says, “were stoned to death by the\r\nMacedonians, but for the sophist,” (meaning Callisthenes,) “I will take care to\r\npunish him with them too who sent him to me, and who harbor those in their\r\ncities who conspire against my life,” an unequivocal declaration against\r\nAristotle, in whose house Callisthenes, for his relationship’s sake, being his\r\nniece Hero’s son, had been educated. His death is variously related. Some say\r\nhe was hanged by Alexander’s orders; others, that he died of sickness in\r\nprison; but Chares writes he was kept in chains seven months after he was\r\napprehended, on purpose that he might be proceeded against in full council,\r\nwhen Aristotle should be present; and that growing very fat, and contracting a\r\ndisease of vermin, he there died, about the time that Alexander was wounded in\r\nIndia, in the country of the Malli Oxydracae, all which came to pass\r\nafterwards.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor to go on in order, Demaratus of Corinth, now quite an old man, had made a\r\ngreat effort, about this time, to pay Alexander a visit; and when he had seen\r\nhim, said he pitied the misfortune of those Grecians, who were so unhappy as to\r\ndie before they had beheld Alexander seated on the throne of Darius. But he did\r\nnot long enjoy the benefit of the king’s kindness for him, any otherwise than\r\nthat soon after falling sick and dying, he had a magnificent funeral, and the\r\narmy raised him a monument of earth, fourscore cubits high, and of a vast\r\ncircumference. His ashes were conveyed in a very rich chariot, drawn by four\r\nhorses, to the seaside.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlexander now intent upon his expedition into India, took notice that his\r\nsoldiers were so charged with booty that it hindered their marching. Therefore,\r\nat break of day, as soon as the baggage wagons were laden, first he set fire to\r\nhis own, and to those of his friends, and then commanded those to be burnt\r\nwhich belonged to the rest of the army. An act which in the deliberation of it\r\nhad seemed more dangerous and difficult than it proved in the execution, with\r\nwhich few were dissatisfied; for most of the soldiers, as if they had been\r\ninspired, uttering loud outcries and warlike shoutings, supplied one another\r\nwith what was absolutely necessary, and burnt and destroyed all that was\r\nsuperfluous, the sight of which redoubled Alexander’s zeal and eagerness for\r\nhis design. And, indeed, he was now grown very severe and inexorable in\r\npunishing those who committed any fault. For he put Menander, one of his\r\nfriends, to death, for deserting a fortress where he had placed him in\r\ngarrison, and shot Orsodates, one of the barbarians who revolted from him, with\r\nhis own hand.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt this time a sheep happened to yean a lamb, with the perfect shape and color\r\nof a tiara upon the head, and testicles on each side; which portent Alexander\r\nregarded with such dislike, that he immediately caused his Babylonian priests,\r\nwhom he usually carried about with him for such purposes, to purify him, and\r\ntold his friends he was not so much concerned for his own sake as for theirs,\r\nout of an apprehension that after his death the divine power might suffer his\r\nempire to fall into the hands of some degenerate, impotent person. But this\r\nfear was soon removed by a wonderful thing that happened not long after, and\r\nwas thought to presage better. For Proxenus, a Macedonian, who was the chief of\r\nthose who looked to the king’s furniture, as he was breaking up the ground near\r\nthe river Oxus, to set up the royal pavilion, discovered a spring of a fat,\r\noily liquor, which after the top was taken off, ran pure, clear oil, without\r\nany difference either of taste or smell, having exactly the same smoothness and\r\nbrightness, and that, too, in a country where no olives grew. The water,\r\nindeed, of the river Oxus, is said to be the smoothest to the feeling of all\r\nwaters, and to leave a gloss on the skins of those who bathe themselves in it.\r\nWhatever might be the cause, certain it is that Alexander was wonderfully\r\npleased with it, as appears by his letters to Antipater, where he speaks of it\r\nas one of the most remarkable presages that God had ever favored him with. The\r\ndiviners told him it signified his expedition would be glorious in the event,\r\nbut very painful, and attended with many difficulties; for oil, they said, was\r\nbestowed on mankind by God as a refreshment of their labors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNor did they judge amiss, for he exposed himself to many hazards in the battles\r\nwhich he fought, and received very severe wounds, but the greatest loss in his\r\narmy was occasioned through the unwholesomeness of the air, and the want of\r\nnecessary provisions. But he still applied himself to overcome fortune and\r\nwhatever opposed him, by resolution and virtue, and thought nothing impossible\r\nto true intrepidity, and on the other hand nothing secure or strong for\r\ncowardice. It is told of him that when he besieged Sisimithres, who held an\r\ninaccessible, impregnable rock against him, and his soldiers began to despair\r\nof taking it, he asked Oxyartes whether Sisimithres was a man of courage, who\r\nassuring him he was the greatest coward alive, “Then you tell me,” said he,\r\n“that the place may easily be taken, since what is in command of it is weak.”\r\nAnd in a little time he so terrified Sisimithres, that he took it without any\r\ndifficulty. At an attack which he made upon such another precipitous place with\r\nsome of his Macedonian soldiers, he called to one whose name was Alexander, and\r\ntold him, he at any rate must fight bravely, if it were but for his name’s\r\nsake. The youth fought gallantly and was killed in the action, at which he was\r\nsensibly afflicted. Another time, seeing his men march slowly and unwillingly\r\nto the siege of the place called Nysa, because of a deep river between them and\r\nthe town, he advanced before them, and standing upon the bank, “What a\r\nmiserable man,” said he, “am I, that I have not learned to swim!” and then was\r\nhardly dissuaded from endeavoring to pass it upon his shield. Here, after the\r\nassault was over, the ambassadors who from several towns which he had blocked\r\nup, came to submit to him and make their peace, were surprised to find him\r\nstill in his armor, without anyone in waiting or attendance upon him, and when\r\nat last some one brought him a cushion, he made the eldest of them, named\r\nAcuphis, take it and sit down upon it. The old man, marveling at his\r\nmagnanimity and courtesy, asked him what his countrymen should do to merit his\r\nfriendship. “I would have them,” said Alexander, “choose you to govern them,\r\nand send one hundred of the most worthy men among them to remain with me as\r\nhostages.” Acuphis laughed and answered, “I shall govern them with more ease,\r\nSir, if I send you so many of the worst, rather than the best of my subjects.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe extent of king Taxiles’s dominions in India was thought to be as large as\r\nEgypt, abounding in good pastures, and producing beautiful fruits. The king\r\nhimself had the reputation of a wise man, and at his first interview with\r\nAlexander, he spoke to him in these terms: “To what purpose,” said he, “should\r\nwe make war upon one another, if the design of your coming into these parts be\r\nnot to rob us of our water or our necessary food, which are the only things\r\nthat wise men are indispensably obliged to fight for? As for other riches and\r\npossessions, as they are accounted in the eye of the world, if I am better\r\nprovided of them than you, I am ready to let you share with me; but if fortune\r\nhas been more liberal to you than me, I have no objection to be obliged to\r\nyou.” This discourse pleased Alexander so much, that embracing him, “Do you\r\nthink,” said he to him, “your kind words and courteous behavior will bring you\r\noff in this interview without a contest? No, you shall not escape so. I shall\r\ncontend and do battle with you so far, that how obliging soever you are, you\r\nshall not have the better of me.” Then receiving some presents from him, he\r\nreturned him others of greater value, and to complete his bounty, gave him in\r\nmoney ready coined one thousand talents; at which his old friends were much\r\ndispleased, but it gained him the hearts of many of the barbarians. But the\r\nbest soldiers of the Indians now entering into the pay of several of the\r\ncities, undertook to defend them, and did it so bravely, that they put\r\nAlexander to a great deal of trouble, till at last, after a capitulation, upon\r\nthe surrender of the place, he fell upon them as they were marching away, and\r\nput them all to the sword. This one breach of his word remains as a blemish\r\nupon his achievements in war, which he otherwise had performed throughout with\r\nthat justice and honor that became a king. Nor was he less incommoded by the\r\nIndian philosophers, who inveighed against those princes who joined his party,\r\nand solicited the free nations to oppose him. He took several of these also,\r\nand caused them to be hanged.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlexander, in his own letters, has given us an account of his war with Porus.\r\nHe says the two armies were separated by the river Hydaspes, on whose opposite\r\nbank Porus continually kept his elephants in order of battle, with their heads\r\ntowards their enemies, to guard the passage; that he, on the other hand, made\r\nevery day a great noise and clamor in his camp, to dissipate the apprehensions\r\nof the barbarians; that one stormy dark night he passed the river, at a\r\ndistance from the place where the enemy lay, into a little island, with part of\r\nhis foot, and the best of his horse. Here there fell a most violent storm of\r\nrain, accompanied with lightning and whirlwinds, and seeing some of his men\r\nburnt and dying with the lightning, he nevertheless quitted the island and made\r\nover to the other side. The Hydaspes, he says, now after the storm, was so\r\nswollen and grown so rapid, as to have made a breach in the bank, and a part of\r\nthe river was now pouring in here, so that when he came across, it was with\r\ndifficulty he got a footing on the land, which was slippery and unsteady, and\r\nexposed to the force of the currents on both sides. This is the occasion when\r\nhe is related to have said, “O ye Athenians, will ye believe what dangers I\r\nincur to merit your praise?” This, however, is Onesicritus’s story. Alexander\r\nsays, here the men left their boats, and passed the breach in their armor, up\r\nto the breast in water, and that then he advanced with his horse about twenty\r\nfurlongs before his foot, concluding that if the enemy charged him with their\r\ncavalry, he should be too strong for them; if with their foot, his own would\r\ncome up time enough to his assistance. Nor did he judge amiss; for being\r\ncharged by a thousand horse, and sixty armed chariots, which advanced before\r\ntheir main body, he took all the chariots, and killed four hundred horse upon\r\nthe place. Porus, by this time guessing that Alexander himself had crossed\r\nover, came on with his whole army, except a party which he left behind, to hold\r\nthe rest of the Macedonians in play, if they should attempt to pass the river.\r\nBut he, apprehending the multitude of the enemy, and to avoid the shock of\r\ntheir elephants, dividing his forces, attacked their left wing himself, and\r\ncommanded Coenus to fall upon the right, which was performed with good success.\r\nFor by this means both wings being broken, the enemies fell back in their\r\nretreat upon the center, and crowded in upon their elephants. There rallying,\r\nthey fought a hand to hand battle, and it was the eighth hour of the day before\r\nthey were entirely defeated. This description the conqueror himself has left us\r\nin his own epistles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlmost all the historians agree in relating that Porus was four cubits and a\r\nspan high, and that when he was upon his elephant, which was of the largest\r\nsize, his stature and bulk were so answerable, that he appeared to be\r\nproportionably mounted, as a horseman on his horse. This elephant, during the\r\nwhole battle, gave many singular proofs of sagacity and of particular care of\r\nthe king, whom as long as he was strong and in a condition to fight, he\r\ndefended with great courage, repelling those who set upon him; and as soon as\r\nhe perceived him overpowered with his numerous wounds and the multitude of\r\ndarts that were thrown at him, to prevent his falling off, he softly knelt down\r\nand began to draw out the darts with his proboscis. When Porus was taken\r\nprisoner; and Alexander asked him how he expected to be used, he answered, “As\r\na king.” For that expression, he said, when the same question was put to him a\r\nsecond time, comprehended everything. And Alexander, accordingly, not only\r\nsuffered him to govern his own kingdom as satrap under himself, but gave him\r\nalso the additional territory of various independent tribes whom he subdued, a\r\ndistrict which, it is said, contained fifteen several nations and five thousand\r\nconsiderable towns, besides abundance of villages. To another government, three\r\ntimes as large as this, he appointed Philip, one of his friends.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome little time after the battle with Porus, Bucephalas died, as most of the\r\nauthorities state, under cure of his wounds, or as Onesicritus says, of fatigue\r\nand age, being thirty years old. Alexander was no less concerned at his death,\r\nthan if he had lost an old companion or an intimate friend, and built a city,\r\nwhich he named Bucephalia, in memory of him, on the bank of the river Hydaspes.\r\nHe also, we are told, built another city, and called it after the name of a\r\nfavorite dog, Peritas, which he had brought up himself. So Sotion assures us he\r\nwas informed by Potamon of Lesbos.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut this last combat with Porus took off the edge of the Macedonians’ courage,\r\nand stayed their further progress into India. For having found it hard enough\r\nto defeat an enemy who brought but twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse\r\ninto the field, they thought they had reason to oppose Alexander’s design of\r\nleading them on to pass the Ganges too, which they were told was thirty-two\r\nfurlongs broad and a hundred fathoms deep, and the banks on the further side\r\ncovered with multitudes of enemies. For they were told that the kings of the\r\nGandaritans and Praesians expected them there with eighty thousand horse, two\r\nhundred thousand foot, eight thousand armed chariots, and six thousand fighting\r\nelephants. Nor was this a mere vain report, spread to discourage them. For\r\nAndrocottus, who not long after reigned in those parts, made a present of five\r\nhundred elephants at once to Seleucus, and with an army of six hundred thousand\r\nmen subdued all India. Alexander at first was so grieved and enraged at his\r\nmen’s reluctancy, that he shut himself up in his tent, and threw himself upon\r\nthe ground, declaring, if they would not pass the Ganges, he owed them no\r\nthanks for anything they had hitherto done, and that to retreat now, was\r\nplainly to confess himself vanquished. But at last the reasonable persuasions\r\nof his friends and the cries and lamentations of his soldiers, who in a\r\nsuppliant manner crowded about the entrance of his tent, prevailed with him to\r\nthink of returning. Yet he could not refrain from leaving behind him various\r\ndeceptive memorials of his expedition, to impose upon after-times, and to\r\nexaggerate his glory with posterity, such as arms larger than were really worn,\r\nand mangers for horses, with bits of bridles above the usual size, which he set\r\nup, and distributed in several places. He erected altars, also, to the gods,\r\nwhich the kings of the Praesians even in our time do honor to when they pass\r\nthe river, and offer sacrifice upon them after the Grecian manner. Androcottus,\r\nthen a boy, saw Alexander there, and is said often afterwards to have been\r\nheard to say, that he missed but little of making himself master of those\r\ncountries; their king, who then reigned, was so hated and despised for the\r\nviciousness of his life, and the meanness of his extraction.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlexander was now eager to see the ocean. To which purpose he caused a great\r\nmany row-boats and rafts to be built, in which he fell gently down the rivers\r\nat his leisure, yet so that his navigation was neither unprofitable nor\r\ninactive. For by several descents upon the banks, he made himself master of the\r\nfortified towns, and consequently of the country on both sides. But at a siege\r\nof a town of the Mallians, who have the repute of being the bravest people of\r\nIndia, he ran in great danger of his life. For having beaten off the defendants\r\nwith showers of arrows, he was the first man that mounted the wall by a scaling\r\nladder, which, as soon as he was up, broke and left him almost alone, exposed\r\nto the darts which the barbarians threw at him in great numbers from below. In\r\nthis distress, turning himself as well as he could, he leaped down in the midst\r\nof his enemies, and had the good fortune to light upon his feet. The brightness\r\nand clattering of his armor when he came to the ground, made the barbarians\r\nthink they saw rays of light, or some bright phantom playing before his body,\r\nwhich frightened them so at first, that they ran away and dispersed. Till\r\nseeing him seconded but by two of his guards, they fell upon him hand to hand,\r\nand some, while he bravely defended himself, tried to wound him through his\r\narmor with their swords and spears. And one who stood further off, drew a bow\r\nwith such just strength, that the arrow finding its way through his cuirass,\r\nstuck in his ribs under the breast. This stroke was so violent, that it made\r\nhim give back, and set one knee to the ground, upon which the man ran up with\r\nhis drawn scimitar, thinking to dispatch him, and had done it, if Peucestes and\r\nLimnaeus had not interposed, who were both wounded, Limnaeus mortally, but\r\nPeucestes stood his ground, while Alexander killed the barbarian. But this did\r\nnot free him from danger; for besides many other wounds, at last he received so\r\nweighty a stroke of a club upon his neck, that he was forced to lean his body\r\nagainst the wall, still, however, facing the enemy. At this extremity, the\r\nMacedonians made their way in and gathered round him. They took him up, just as\r\nhe was fainting away, having lost all sense of what was done near him, and\r\nconveyed him to his tent, upon which it was presently reported all over the\r\ncamp that he was dead. But when they had with great difficulty and pains sawed\r\noff the shaft of the arrow, which was of wood, and so with much trouble got off\r\nhis cuirass, they came to cut out the head of it, which was three fingers broad\r\nand four long, and stuck fast in the bone. During the operation, he was taken\r\nwith almost mortal swoonings, but when it was out he came to himself again. Yet\r\nthough all danger was past, he continued very weak, and confined himself a\r\ngreat while to a regular diet and the method of his cure, till one day hearing\r\nthe Macedonians clamoring outside in their eagerness to see him, he took his\r\ncloak and went out. And having sacrificed to the gods, without more delay he\r\nwent on board again, and as he coasted along, subdued a great deal of the\r\ncountry on both sides, and several considerable cities.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this voyage, he took ten of the Indian philosophers prisoners, who had been\r\nmost active in persuading Sabbas to revolt, and had caused the Macedonians a\r\ngreat deal of trouble. These men, called Gymnosophists, were reputed to be\r\nextremely ready and succinct in their answers, which he made trial of, by\r\nputting difficult questions to them, letting them know that those whose answers\r\nwere not pertinent, should be put to death, of which he made the eldest of them\r\njudge. The first being asked which he thought most numerous, the dead or the\r\nliving, answered, “The living, because those who are dead are not at all.” Of\r\nthe second, he desired to know whether the earth or the sea produced the\r\nlargest beast; who told him, “The earth, for the sea is but a part of it.” His\r\nquestion to the third was, Which is the cunningest of beasts? “That,” said he,\r\n“which men have not yet found out.” He bade the fourth tell him what argument\r\nhe used to Sabbas to persuade him to revolt. “No other,” said he, “than that he\r\nshould either live or die nobly.” Of the fifth he asked, Which was eldest,\r\nnight or day? The philosopher replied, “Day was eldest, by one day at least.”\r\nBut perceiving Alexander not well satisfied with that account, he added, that\r\nhe ought not to wonder if strange questions had as strange answers made to\r\nthem. Then he went on and inquired of the next, what a man should do to be\r\nexceedingly beloved. “He must be very powerful,” said he, “without making\r\nhimself too much feared.” The answer of the seventh to his question, how a man\r\nmight become a god, was, “By doing that which was impossible for men to do.”\r\nThe eighth told him, “Life is stronger than death, because it supports so many\r\nmiseries.” And the last being asked, how long he thought it decent for a man to\r\nlive, said, “Till death appeared more desirable than life.” Then Alexander\r\nturned to him whom he had made judge, and commanded him to give sentence. “All\r\nthat I can determine,” said he, “is, that they have every one answered worse\r\nthan another.” “Nay,” said the king, “then you shall die first, for giving such\r\na sentence.” “Not so, O king,” replied the gymnosophist, “unless you said\r\nfalsely that he should die first who made the worst answer.” In conclusion he\r\ngave them presents and dismissed them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut to those who were in greatest reputation among them, and lived a private\r\nquiet life, he sent Onesicritus, one of Diogenes the Cynic’s disciples,\r\ndesiring them to come to him. Calanus, it is said, very arrogantly and roughly\r\ncommanded him to strip himself, and hear what he said, naked, otherwise he\r\nwould not speak a word to him, though he came from Jupiter himself. But\r\nDandamis received him with more civility, and hearing him discourse of\r\nSocrates, Pythagoras, and Diogenes, told him he thought them men of great\r\nparts, and to have erred in nothing so much as in having too great respect for\r\nthe laws and customs of their country. Others say, Dandamis only asked him the\r\nreason why Alexander undertook so long a journey to come into those parts.\r\nTaxiles, however, persuaded Calanus to wait upon Alexander. His proper name was\r\nSphines, but because he was wont to say Cale, which in the Indian tongue is a\r\nform of salutation, to those he met with anywhere, the Greeks called him\r\nCalanus. He is said to have shown Alexander an instructive emblem of\r\ngovernment, which was this. He threw a dry shriveled hide upon the ground, and\r\ntrod upon the edges of it. The skin when it was pressed in one place, still\r\nrose up in another, wheresoever he trod round about it, till he set his foot in\r\nthe middle, which made all the parts lie even and quiet. The meaning of this\r\nsimilitude being that he ought to reside most in the middle of his empire, and\r\nnot spend too much time on the borders of it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis voyage down the rivers took up seven months’ time, and when he came to the\r\nsea, he sailed to an island which he himself called Scillustis, others\r\nPsiltucis, where going ashore, he sacrificed, and made what observations he\r\ncould as to the nature of the sea and the sea-coast. Then having besought the\r\ngods that no other man might ever go beyond the bounds of this expedition, he\r\nordered his fleet of which he made Nearchus admiral, and Onesicritus pilot, to\r\nsail round about, keeping the Indian shore on the right hand, and returned\r\nhimself by land through the country of the Orites, where he was reduced to\r\ngreat straits for want of provisions, and lost a vast number of men, so that of\r\nan army of one hundred and twenty thousand foot and fifteen thousand horse, he\r\nscarcely brought back above a fourth part out of India, they were so diminished\r\nby diseases, ill diet, and the scorching heats, but most by famine. For their\r\nmarch was through an uncultivated country whose inhabitants fared hardly,\r\npossessing only a few sheep, and those of a wretched kind, whose flesh was rank\r\nand unsavory, by their continual feeding upon sea-fish.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter sixty days march he came into Gedrosia, where he found great plenty of\r\nall things, which the neighboring kings and governors of provinces, hearing of\r\nhis approach, had taken care to provide. When he had here refreshed his army,\r\nhe continued his march through Carmania, feasting all the way for seven days\r\ntogether. He with his most intimate friends banqueted and reveled night and day\r\nupon a platform erected on a lofty, conspicuous scaffold, which was slowly\r\ndrawn by eight horses. This was followed by a great many chariots, some covered\r\nwith purple and embroidered canopies, and some with green boughs, which were\r\ncontinually supplied afresh, and in them the rest of his friends and commanders\r\ndrinking, and crowned with garlands of flowers. Here was now no target or\r\nhelmet or spear to be seen; instead of armor, the soldiers handled nothing but\r\ncups and goblets and Thericlean drinking vessels, which, along the whole way,\r\nthey dipped into large bowls and jars, and drank healths to one another, some\r\nseating themselves to it, others as they went along. All places resounded with\r\nmusic of pipes and flutes, with harping and singing, and women dancing as in\r\nthe rites of Bacchus. For this disorderly, wandering march, besides the\r\ndrinking part of it, was accompanied with all the sportiveness and insolence of\r\nbacchanals, as much as if the god himself had been there to countenance and\r\nlead the procession. As soon as he came to the royal palace of Gedrosia, he\r\nagain refreshed and feasted his army; and one day after he had drunk pretty\r\nhard, it is said, he went to see a prize of dancing contended for, in which his\r\nfavorite Bagoas, having gained the victory, crossed the theater in his dancing\r\nhabit, and sat down close by him, which so pleased the Macedonians, that they\r\nmade loud acclamations for him to kiss Bagoas, and never stopped clapping their\r\nhands and shouting till Alexander put his arms round him and kissed him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHere his admiral, Nearchus, came to him and delighted him so with the narrative\r\nof his voyage, that he resolved himself to sail out of the mouth of Euphrates\r\nwith a great fleet, with which he designed to go round by Arabia and Africa,\r\nand so by Hercules’s Pillars into the Mediterranean; in order for which, he\r\ndirected all sorts of vessels to be built at Thapsacus, and made great\r\nprovision everywhere of seamen and pilots. But the tidings of the difficulties\r\nhe had gone through in his Indian expedition, the danger of his person among\r\nthe Mallians, the reported loss of a considerable part of his forces, and a\r\ngeneral doubt as to his own safety, had begun to give occasion for revolt among\r\nmany of the conquered nations, and for acts of great injustice, avarice, and\r\ninsolence on the part of the satraps and commanders in the provinces, so that\r\nthere seemed to be an universal fluctuation and disposition to change. Even at\r\nhome, Olympias and Cleopatra had raised a faction against Antipater, and\r\ndivided his government between them, Olympias seizing upon Epirus, and\r\nCleopatra upon Macedonia. When Alexander was told of it, he said his mother had\r\nmade the best choice, for the Macedonians would never endure to be ruled by a\r\nwoman. Upon this he dispatched Nearchus again to his fleet, to carry the war\r\ninto the maritime provinces, and as he marched that way himself, he punished\r\nthose commanders who had behaved ill, particularly Oxyartes, one of the sons of\r\nAbuletes, whom he killed with his own hand, thrusting him through the body with\r\nhis spear. And when Abuletes, instead of the necessary provisions which he\r\nought to have furnished, brought him three thousand talents in coined money, he\r\nordered it to be thrown to his horses, and when they would not touch it, “What\r\ngood,” he said, “will this provision do us?” and sent him away to prison.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he came into Persia, he distributed money among the women, as their own\r\nkings had been wont to do, who as often as they came thither, gave every one of\r\nthem a piece of gold; on account of which custom, some of them, it is said, had\r\ncome but seldom, and Ochus was so sordidly covetous, that to avoid this\r\nexpense, he never visited his native country once in all his reign. Then\r\nfinding Cyrus’s sepulchre opened and rifled, he put Polymachus, who did it, to\r\ndeath, though he was a man of some distinction, a born Macedonian of Pella. And\r\nafter he had read the inscription, he caused it to be cut again below the old\r\none in Greek characters; the words being these: “O man, whosoever thou art, and\r\nfrom whencesoever thou comest (for I know thou wilt come), I am Cyrus, the\r\nfounder of the Persian empire; do not grudge me this little earth which covers\r\nmy body.” The reading of this sensibly touched Alexander, filling him with the\r\nthought of the uncertainty and mutability of human affairs. At the same time,\r\nCalanus having been a little while troubled with a disease in the bowels,\r\nrequested that he might have a funeral pile erected, to which he came on\r\nhorseback, and after he had said some prayers and sprinkled himself and cut off\r\nsome of his hair to throw into the fire, before he ascended it, he embraced and\r\ntook leave of the Macedonians who stood by, desiring them to pass that day in\r\nmirth and good-fellowship with their king, whom in a little time, he said, he\r\ndoubted not but to see again at Babylon. Having thus said, he lay down, and\r\ncovering up his face, he stirred not when the fire came near him, but continued\r\nstill in the same posture as at first, and so sacrificed himself, as it was the\r\nancient custom of the philosophers in those countries to do. The same thing was\r\ndone long after by another Indian, who came with Caesar to Athens, where they\r\nstill show you “the Indian’s monument.” At his return from the funeral pile,\r\nAlexander invited a great many of his friends and principal officers to supper,\r\nand proposed a drinking match, in which the victor should receive a crown.\r\nPromachus drank twelve quarts of wine, and won the prize, which was a talent,\r\nfrom them all; but he survived his victory but three days, and was followed, as\r\nChares says, by forty-one more, who died of the same debauch, some extremely\r\ncold weather having set in shortly after.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt Susa, he married Darius’s daughter Statira, and celebrated also the nuptials\r\nof his friends, bestowing the noblest of the Persian ladies upon the worthiest\r\nof them, at the same time making in an entertainment in honor of the other\r\nMacedonians whose marriages had already taken place. At this magnificent\r\nfestival, it is reported, there were no less than nine thousand guests, to each\r\nof whom he gave a golden cup for the libations. Not to mention other instances\r\nof his wonderful magnificence, he paid the debts of his army, which amounted to\r\nnine thousand eight hundred and seventy talents. But Antigenes, who had lost\r\none of his eyes, though he owed nothing, got his name set down in the list of\r\nthose who were in debt, and bringing one who pretended to be his creditor, and\r\nto have supplied him from the bank, received the money. But when the cheat was\r\nfound out, the king was so incensed at it, that he banished him from court, and\r\ntook away his command, though he was an excellent soldier, and a man of great\r\ncourage. For when he was but a youth, and served under Philip at the siege of\r\nPerinthus, where he was wounded in the eye by an arrow shot out of an engine,\r\nhe would neither let the arrow be taken out, nor be persuaded to quit the\r\nfield, till he had bravely repulsed the enemy and forced them to retire into\r\nthe town. Accordingly he was not able to support such a disgrace with any\r\npatience, and it was plain that grief and despair would have made him kill\r\nhimself, but that the king fearing it, not only pardoned him, but let him also\r\nenjoy the benefit of his deceit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe thirty thousand boys whom he left behind him to be taught and disciplined,\r\nwere so improved at his return, both in strength and beauty, and performed\r\ntheir exercises with such dexterity and wonderful agility, that he was\r\nextremely pleased with them, which grieved the Macedonians, and made them fear\r\nhe would have the less value for them. And when he proceeded to send down the\r\ninfirm and maimed soldiers to the sea, they said they were unjustly and\r\ninfamously dealt with, after they were worn out in his service upon all\r\noccasions, now to be turned away with disgrace and sent home into their country\r\namong their friends and relations, in a worse condition than when they came\r\nout; therefore they desired him to dismiss them one and all, and to account his\r\nMacedonians useless, now he was so well furnished with a set of dancing boys,\r\nwith whom, if he pleased, he might go on and conquer the world. These speeches\r\nso incensed Alexander, that after he had given them a great deal of reproachful\r\nlanguage in his passion, he drove them away, and committed the watch to\r\nPersians, out of whom he chose his guards and attendants. When the Macedonians\r\nsaw him escorted by these men, and themselves excluded and shamefully\r\ndisgraced, their high spirits fell, and conferring with one another, they found\r\nthat jealousy and rage had almost distracted them. But at last coming to\r\nthemselves again, they went without their arms, with on]y their under garments\r\non, crying and weeping, to offer themselves at his tent, and desired him to\r\ndeal with them as their baseness and ingratitude deserved. However, this would\r\nnot prevail; for though his anger was already something mollified, yet he would\r\nnot admit them into his presence, nor would they stir from thence, but\r\ncontinued two days and nights before his tent, bewailing themselves, and\r\nimploring him as their lord to have compassion on them. But the third day he\r\ncame out to them, and seeing them very humble and penitent, he wept himself a\r\ngreat while, and after a gentle reproof spoke kindly to them, and dismissed\r\nthose who were unserviceable with magnificent rewards, and with this\r\nrecommendation to Antipater, that when they came home, at all public shows and\r\nin the theaters, they should sit on the best and foremost seats, crowned with\r\nchaplets of flowers. He ordered, also, that the children of those who had lost\r\ntheir lives in his service, should have their fathers’ pay continued to them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he came to Ecbatana in Media, and had dispatched his most urgent affairs,\r\nhe began to divert himself again with spectacles and public entertainments, to\r\ncarry on which he had a supply of three thousand actors and artists, newly\r\narrived out of Greece. But they were soon interrupted by Hephaestion’s falling\r\nsick of a fever, in which, being a young man and a soldier too, he could not\r\nconfine himself to so exact a diet as was necessary; for whilst his physician\r\nGlaucus was gone to the theater, he ate a fowl for his dinner, and drank a\r\nlarge draught of wine, upon which he became very ill, and shortly after died.\r\nAt this misfortune, Alexander was so beyond all reason transported, that to\r\nexpress his sorrow, he immediately ordered the manes and tails of all his\r\nhorses and mules to be cut, and threw down the battlements of the neighboring\r\ncities. The poor physician he crucified, and forbade playing on the flute, or\r\nany other musical instrument in the camp a great while, till directions came\r\nfrom the oracle of Ammon, and enjoined him to honor Hephaestion, and sacrifice\r\nto him as to a hero. Then seeking to alleviate his grief in war, he set out, as\r\nit were, to a hunt and chase of men, for he fell upon the Cossaeans, and put\r\nthe whole nation to the sword. This was called a sacrifice to Hephaestion’s\r\nghost. In his sepulchre and monument and the adorning of them, he intended to\r\nbestow ten thousand talents; and designing that the excellence of the\r\nworkmanship and the singularity of the design might outdo the expense, his\r\nwishes turned, above all other artists, to Stasicrates, because he always\r\npromised something very bold, unusual, and magnificent in his projects. Once\r\nwhen they had met before, he had told him, that of all the mountains he knew,\r\nthat of Athos in Thrace was the most capable of being adapted to represent the\r\nshape and lineaments of a man; that if he pleased to command him, he would make\r\nit the noblest and most durable statue in the world, which in its left hand\r\nshould hold a city of ten thousand inhabitants, and out of its right should\r\npour a copious river into the sea. Though Alexander declined this proposal, yet\r\nnow he spent a great deal of time with workmen to invent and contrive others\r\neven more extravagant and sumptuous.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs he was upon his way to Babylon, Nearchus, who had sailed back out of the\r\nocean up the mouth of the river Euphrates, came to tell him he had met with\r\nsome Chaldaean diviners, who had warned him against Alexander’s going thither.\r\nAlexander, however, took no thought of it, and went on, and when he came near\r\nthe walls of the place, he saw a great many crows fighting with one another,\r\nsome of whom fell down just by him. After this, being privately informed that\r\nApollodorus, the governor of Babylon, had sacrificed, to know what would become\r\nof him, he sent for Pythagoras, the soothsayer, and on his admitting the thing,\r\nasked him, in what condition he found the victim; and when he told him the\r\nliver was defective in its lobe, “A great presage indeed!” said Alexander.\r\nHowever, he offered Pythagoras no injury, but was sorry that he had neglected\r\nNearchus’s advice, and stayed for the most part outside the town, removing his\r\ntent from place to place, and sailing up and down the Euphrates. Besides this,\r\nhe was disturbed by many other prodigies. A tame ass fell upon the biggest and\r\nhandsomest lion that he kept, and killed him by a kick. And one day after he\r\nhad undressed himself to be anointed, and was playing at ball, just as they\r\nwere going to bring his clothes again, the young men who played with him\r\nperceived a man clad in the king’s robes, with a diadem upon his head, sitting\r\nsilently upon his throne. They asked him who he was, to which he gave no answer\r\na good while, till at last coming to himself, he told them his name was\r\nDionysius, that he was of Messenia, that for some crime of which he was\r\naccused, he was brought thither from the sea-side, and had been kept long in\r\nprison, that Serapis appeared to him, had freed him from his chains, conducted\r\nhim to that place, and commanded him to put on the king’s robe and diadem, and\r\nto sit where they found him, and to say nothing. Alexander, when he heard this,\r\nby the direction of his soothsayers, put the fellow to death, but he lost his\r\nspirits, and grew diffident of the protection and assistance of the gods, and\r\nsuspicious of his friends. His greatest apprehension was of Antipater and his\r\nsons, one of whom, Iolaus, was his chief cupbearer; and Cassander, who had\r\nlately arrived, and had been bred up in Greek manners, the first time he saw\r\nsome of the barbarians adore the king, could not forbear laughing at it aloud,\r\nwhich so incensed Alexander, that he took him by the hair with both hands, and\r\ndashed his head against the wall. Another time, Cassander would have said\r\nsomething in defense of Antipater to those who accused him, but Alexander\r\ninterrupting him said, “What is it you say? Do you think people, if they had\r\nreceived no injury, would come such a journey only to calumniate your father?”\r\nTo which when Cassander replied, that their coming so far from the evidence was\r\na great proof of the falseness of their charges, Alexander smiled, and said\r\nthose were some of Aristotle’s sophisms, which would serve equally on both\r\nsides; and added, that both he and his father should be severely punished, if\r\nthey were found guilty of the least injustice towards those who complained. All\r\nwhich made such a deep impression of terror in Cassander’s mind, that long\r\nafter when he was king of Macedonia, and master of Greece, as he was walking up\r\nand down at Delphi, and looking at the statues, at the sight of that of\r\nAlexander he was suddenly struck with alarm, and shook all over, his eyes\r\nrolled, his head grew dizzy, and it was long before he recovered himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen once Alexander had given way to fears of supernatural influence, his mind\r\ngrew so disturbed and so easily alarmed, that if the least unusual or\r\nextraordinary thing happened, he thought it a prodigy or a presage, and his\r\ncourt was thronged with diviners and priests whose business was to sacrifice\r\nand purify and foretell the future. So miserable a thing is incredulity and\r\ncontempt of divine power on the one hand, and so miserable, also, superstition\r\non the other, which like water, where the level has been lowered, flowing in\r\nand never stopping, fills the mind with slavish fears and follies, as now in\r\nAlexander’s case. But upon some answers which were brought him from the oracle\r\nconcerning Hephaestion, he laid aside his sorrow, and fell again to sacrificing\r\nand drinking; and having given Nearchus a splendid entertainment, after he had\r\nbathed, as was his custom, just as he was going to bed, at Medius’s request he\r\nwent to supper with him. Here he drank all the next day, and was attacked with\r\na fever, which seized him, not as some write, after he had drunk of the bowl of\r\nHercules; nor was he taken with any sudden pain in his back, as if he had been\r\nstruck with lance, for these are the inventions of some authors who thought it\r\ntheir duty to make the last scene of so great an action as tragical and moving\r\nas they could. Aristobulus tells us, that in the rage of his fever and a\r\nviolent thirst, he took a draught of wine, upon which he fell into delirium,\r\nand died on the thirtieth day of the month Daesius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the journals give the following record. On the eighteenth of the month, he\r\nslept in the bathing-room on account of his fever. The next day he bathed and\r\nremoved into his chamber, and spent his time in playing dice with Medius. In\r\nthe evening he bathed and sacrificed, and ate freely, and had the fever on him\r\nthrough the night. On the twentieth, after the usual sacrifices and bathing, he\r\nlay in the bathing-room and heard Nearchus’s narrative of his voyage, and the\r\nobservations he had made in the great sea. The twenty-first he passed in the\r\nsame manner, his fever still increasing, and suffered much during the night.\r\nThe next day the fever was very violent, and he had himself removed and his bed\r\nset by the great bath, and discoursed with his principal officers about finding\r\nfit men to fill up the vacant places in the army. On the twenty-fourth he was\r\nmuch worse, and was carried out of his bed to assist at the sacrifices, and\r\ngave order that the general officers should wait within the court, whilst the\r\ninferior officers kept watch without doors. On the twenty-fifth he was removed\r\nto his palace on the other side the river, where he slept a little, but his\r\nfever did not abate, and when the generals came into his chamber, he was\r\nspeechless, and continued so the following day. The Macedonians, therefore,\r\nsupposing he was dead, came with great clamors to the gates, and menaced his\r\nfriends so that they were forced to admit them, and let them all pass through\r\nunarmed along by his bedside. The same day Python and Seleucus were dispatched\r\nto the temple of Serapis to inquire if they should bring Alexander thither, and\r\nwere answered by the god, that they should not remove him. On the\r\ntwenty-eighth, in the evening, he died. This account is most of it word for\r\nword as it is written in the diary.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt the time, nobody had any suspicion of his being poisoned, but upon some\r\ninformation given six years after, they say Olympias put many to death, and\r\nscattered the ashes of Iolaus, then dead, as if he had given it him. But those\r\nwho affirm that Aristotle counseled Antipater to do it, and that by his means\r\nthe poison was brought, adduce one Hagnothemis as their authority, who, they\r\nsay, heard king Antigonus speak of it, and tell us that the poison was water,\r\ndeadly cold as ice, distilling from a rock in the district of Nonacris, which\r\nthey gathered like a thin dew, and kept in an ass’s hoof; for it was so very\r\ncold and penetrating that no other vessel would hold it. However, most are of\r\nopinion that all this is a mere made-up story, no slight evidence of which is,\r\nthat during the dissensions among the commanders, which lasted several days,\r\nthe body continued clear and fresh, without any sign of such taint or\r\ncorruption, though it lay neglected in a close, sultry place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nRoxana, who was now with child, and upon that account much honored by the\r\nMacedonians, being jealous of Statira, sent for her by a counterfeit letter, as\r\nif Alexander had been still alive; and when she had her in her power, killed\r\nher and her sister, and threw their bodies into a well, which they filled up\r\nwith earth, not without the privity and assistance of Perdiccas, who in the\r\ntime immediately following the king’s death, under cover of the name of\r\nArrhidaeus, whom he carried about him as a sort of guard to his person,\r\nexercised the chief authority Arrhidaeus, who was Philip’s son by an obscure\r\nwoman of the name of Philinna, was himself of weak intellect, not that he had\r\nbeen originally deficient either in body or mind; on the contrary, in his\r\nchildhood, he had showed a happy and promising character enough. But a diseased\r\nhabit of body, caused by drugs which Olympias gave him, had ruined not only his\r\nhealth, but his understanding.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap48\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCAESAR\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter Sylla became master of Rome, he wished to make Caesar put away his wife\r\nCornelia, daughter of Cinna, the late sole ruler of the commonwealth, but was\r\nunable to effect it either by promises or intimidation, and so contented\r\nhimself with confiscating her dowry. The ground of Sylla’s hostility to Caesar,\r\nwas the relationship between him and Marius; for Marius, the elder, married\r\nJulia, the sister of Caesar’s father, and had by her the younger Marius, who\r\nconsequently was Caesar’s first cousin. And though at the beginning, while so\r\nmany were to be put to death and there was so much to do, Caesar was overlooked\r\nby Sylla, yet he would not keep quiet, but presented himself to the people as a\r\ncandidate for the priesthood, though he was yet a mere boy. Sylla, without any\r\nopen opposition, took measures to have him rejected, and in consultation\r\nwhether he should be put to death, when it was urged by some that it was not\r\nworth his while to contrive the death of a boy, he answered, that they knew\r\nlittle who did not see more than one Marius in that boy. Caesar, on being\r\ninformed of this saying, concealed himself, and for a considerable time kept\r\nout of the way in the country of the Sabines, often changing his quarters, till\r\none night, as he was removing from one house to another on account of his\r\nhealth, he fell into the hands of Sylla’s soldiers, who were searching those\r\nparts in order to apprehend any who had absconded. Caesar, by a bribe of two\r\ntalents, prevailed with Cornelius, their captain, to let him go, and was no\r\nsooner dismissed but he put to sea, and made for Bithynia. After a short stay\r\nthere with Nicomedes, the king, in his passage back he was taken near the\r\nisland Pharmacusa by some of the pirates, who, at that time, with large fleets\r\nof ships and innumerable smaller vessels infested the seas everywhere.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen these men at first demanded of him twenty talents for his ransom, he\r\nlaughed at them for not understanding the value of their prisoner, and\r\nvoluntarily engaged to give them fifty. He presently dispatched those about him\r\nto several places to raise the money, till at last he was left among a set of\r\nthe most bloodthirsty people in the world, the Cilicians, only with one friend\r\nand two attendants. Yet he made so little of them, that when he had a mind to\r\nsleep, he would send to them, and order them to make no noise. For thirty-eight\r\ndays, with all the freedom in the world, he amused himself with joining in\r\ntheir exercises and games, as if they had not been his keepers, but his guards.\r\nHe wrote verses and speeches, and made them his auditors, and those who did not\r\nadmire them, he called to their faces illiterate and barbarous, and would\r\noften, in raillery, threaten to hang them. They were greatly taken with this,\r\nand attributed his free talking to a kind of simplicity and boyish playfulness.\r\nAs soon as his ransom was come from Miletus, he paid it, and was discharged,\r\nand proceeded at once to man some ships at the port of Miletus, and went in\r\npursuit of the pirates, whom he surprised with their ships still stationed at\r\nthe island, and took most of them. Their money he made his prize, and the men\r\nhe secured in prison at Pergamus, and made application to Junius, who was then\r\ngovernor of Asia, to whose office it belonged, as praetor, to determine their\r\npunishment. Junius, having his eye upon the money, for the sum was\r\nconsiderable, said he would think at his leisure what to do with the prisoners,\r\nupon which Caesar took his leave of him, and went off to Pergamus, where he\r\nordered the pirates to be brought forth and crucified; the punishment he had\r\noften threatened them with whilst he was in their hands, and they little\r\ndreamed he was in earnest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime Sylla’s power being now on the decline, Caesar’s friends\r\nadvised him to return to Rome, but he went to Rhodes, and entered himself in\r\nthe school of Apollonius, Molon’s son, a famous rhetorician, one who had the\r\nreputation of a worthy man, and had Cicero for one of his scholars. Caesar is\r\nsaid to have been admirably fitted by nature to make a great statesman and\r\norator, and to have taken such pains to improve his genius this way, that\r\nwithout dispute he might challenge the second place. More he did not aim at, as\r\nchoosing to be first rather amongst men of arms and power, and, therefore,\r\nnever rose to that height of eloquence to which nature would have carried him,\r\nhis attention being diverted to those expeditions and designs, which at length\r\ngained him the empire. And he himself, in his answer to Cicero’s panegyric on\r\nCato, desires his reader not to compare the plain discourse of a soldier with\r\nthe harangues of an orator who had not only fine parts, but had employed his\r\nlife in this study.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he was returned to Rome, he accused Dolabella of maladministration, and\r\nmany cities of Greece came in to attest it. Dolabella was acquitted, and\r\nCaesar, in return for the support he had received from the Greeks, assisted\r\nthem in their prosecution of Publius Antonius for corrupt practices, before\r\nMarcus Lucullus, praetor of Macedonia. In this cause he so far succeeded, that\r\nAntonius was forced to appeal to the tribunes at Rome, alleging that in Greece\r\nhe could not have fair play against Grecians. In his pleadings at Rome, his\r\neloquence soon obtained him great credit and favor, and he won no less upon the\r\naffections of the people by the affability of his manners and address, in which\r\nhe slowed a tact and consideration beyond what could have been expected at his\r\nage; and the open house he kept, the entertainments he gave, and the general\r\nsplendor of his manner of life contributed little by little to create and\r\nincrease his political influence. His enemies slighted the growth of it at\r\nfirst, presuming it would soon fail when his money was gone; whilst in the\r\nmeantime it was growing up and flourishing among the common people. When his\r\npower at last was established and not to be overthrown, and now openly tended\r\nto the altering of the whole constitution, they were aware too late, that there\r\nis no beginning so mean, which continued application will not make\r\nconsiderable, and that despising a danger at first, will make it at last\r\nirresistible. Cicero was the first who had any suspicions of his designs upon\r\nthe government, and, as a good pilot is apprehensive of a storm when the sea is\r\nmost smiling, saw the designing temper of the man through this disguise of\r\ngood-humor and affability, and said, that in general, in all he did and\r\nundertook, he detected the ambition for absolute power, “but when I see his\r\nhair so carefully arranged, and observe him adjusting it with one finger, I\r\ncannot imagine it should enter into such a man’s thoughts to subvert the Roman\r\nstate.” But of this more hereafter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe first proof he had of the people’s good-will to him, was when he received\r\nby their suffrages a tribuneship in the army, and came out on the list with a\r\nhigher place than Caius Popilius. A second and clearer instance of their favor\r\nappeared upon his making a magnificent oration in praise of his aunt Julia,\r\nwife to Marius, publicly in the forum, at whose funeral he was so bold as to\r\nbring forth the images of Marius, which nobody had dared to produce since the\r\ngovernment came into Sylla’s hands, Marius’s party having from that time been\r\ndeclared enemies of the State. When some who were present had begun to raise a\r\ncry against Caesar, the people answered with loud shouts and clapping in his\r\nfavor, expressing their joyful surprise and satisfaction at his having, as it\r\nwere, brought up again from the grave those honors of Marius, which for so long\r\na time had been lost to the city. It had always been the custom at Rome to make\r\nfuneral orations in praise of elderly matrons, but there was no precedent of\r\nany upon young women till Caesar first made one upon the death of his own wife.\r\nThis also procured him favor, and by this show of affection he won upon the\r\nfeelings of the people, who looked upon him as a man of great tenderness and\r\nkindness of heart. After he had buried his wife, he went as quaestor into Spain\r\nunder one of the praetors, named Vetus, whom he honored ever after, and made\r\nhis son his own quaestor, when he himself came to be praetor. After this\r\nemployment was ended, he married Pompeia, his third wife, having then a\r\ndaughter by Cornelia, his first wife, whom he afterwards married to Pompey the\r\nGreat. He was so profuse in his expenses, that before he had any public\r\nemployment, he was in debt thirteen hundred talents, and many thought that by\r\nincurring such expense to be popular, he changed a solid good for what would\r\nprove but short and uncertain return; but in truth he was purchasing what was\r\nof the greatest value at an inconsiderable rate. When he was made surveyor of\r\nthe Appian Way, he disbursed, besides the public money, a great sum out of his\r\nprivate purse; and when he was aedile, be provided such a number of gladiators,\r\nthat he entertained the people with three hundred and twenty single combats,\r\nand by his great liberality and magnificence in theatrical shows, in\r\nprocessions, and public feastings, he threw into the shade all the attempts\r\nthat had been made before him, and gained so much upon the people, that\r\neveryone was eager to find out new offices and new honors for him in return for\r\nhis munificence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere being two factions in the city, one that of Sylla, which was very\r\npowerful, the other that of Marius, which was then broken and in a very low\r\ncondition, he undertook to revive this and to make it his own. And to this end,\r\nwhilst he was in the height of his repute with the people for the magnificent\r\nshows he gave as aedile, he ordered images of Marius, and figures of Victory,\r\nwith trophies in their hands, to be carried privately in the night and placed\r\nin the capitol. Next morning, when some saw them bright with gold and\r\nbeautifully made, with inscriptions upon them, referring them to Marius’s\r\nexploits over the Cimbrians, they were surprised at the boldness of him who had\r\nset them up, nor was it difficult to guess who it was. The fame of this soon\r\nspread and brought together a great concourse of people. Some cried out that it\r\nwas an open attempt against the established government thus to revive those\r\nhonors which had been buried by the laws and decrees of the senate; that Caesar\r\nhad done it to sound the temper of the people whom he had prepared before, and\r\nto try whether they were tame enough to bear his humor, and would quietly give\r\nway to his innovations. On the other hand, Marius’s party took courage, and it\r\nwas incredible how numerous they were suddenly seen to be, and what a multitude\r\nof them appeared and came shouting into the capitol. Many, when they saw\r\nMarius’s likeness, cried for joy, and Caesar was highly extolled as the one\r\nman, in the place of all others, who was a relation worthy of Marius. Upon this\r\nthe senate met, and Catulus Lutatius, one of the most eminent Romans of that\r\ntime, stood up and inveighed against Caesar, closing his speech with the\r\nremarkable saying, that Caesar was now not working mines, but planting\r\nbatteries to overthrow the state. But when Caesar had made an apology for\r\nhimself, and satisfied the senate, his admirers were very much animated, and\r\nadvised him not to depart from his own thoughts for anyone, since with the\r\npeople’s good favor he would erelong get the better of them all, and be the\r\nfirst man in the commonwealth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt this time, Metellus, the High-Priest, died, and Catulus and Isauricus,\r\npersons of the highest reputation, and who had great influence in the senate,\r\nwere competitors for the office; yet Caesar would not give way to them, but\r\npresented himself to the people as a candidate against them. The several\r\nparties seeming very equal, Catulus, who, because he had the most honor to\r\nlose, was the most apprehensive of the event, sent to Caesar to buy him off,\r\nwith offers of a great sum of money. But his answer was, that he was ready to\r\nborrow a larger sum than that, to carry on the contest. Upon the day of\r\nelection, as his mother conducted him out of doors with tears, after embracing\r\nher, “My mother,” he said, “today you will see me either High-Priest, or an\r\nexile.” When the votes were taken, after a great struggle, he carried it, and\r\nexcited among the senate and nobility great alarm lest he might now urge on the\r\npeople to every kind of insolence. And Piso and Catulus found fault with Cicero\r\nfor having let Caesar escape, when in the conspiracy of Catiline he had given\r\nthe government such advantage against him. For Catiline, who had designed not\r\nonly to change the present state of affairs, but to subvert the whole empire\r\nand confound all, had himself taken to flight, while the evidence was yet\r\nincomplete against him, before his ultimate purposes had been properly\r\ndiscovered. But he had left Lentulus and Cethegus in the city to supply his\r\nplace in the conspiracy, and whether they received any secret encouragement and\r\nassistance from Caesar is uncertain; all that is certain, is, that they were\r\nfully convicted in the senate, and when Cicero, the consul, asked the several\r\nopinions of the senators, how they would have them punished, all who spoke\r\nbefore Caesar sentenced them to death; but Caesar stood up and made a set\r\nspeech, in which he told them, that he thought it without precedent and not\r\njust to take away the lives of persons of their birth and distinction before\r\nthey were fairly tried, unless there was an absolute necessity for it; but that\r\nif they were kept confined in any towns of Italy Cicero himself should choose,\r\ntill Catiline was defeated, then the senate might in peace and at their leisure\r\ndetermine what was best to be done.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis sentence of his carried so much appearance of humanity, and he gave it\r\nsuch advantage by the eloquence with which he urged it, that not only those who\r\nspoke after him closed with it, but even they who had before given a contrary\r\nopinion, now came over to his, till it came about to Catulus’s and Cato’s turn\r\nto speak. They warmly opposed it, and Cato intimated in his speech the\r\nsuspicion of Caesar himself, and pressed the matter so strongly, that the\r\ncriminals were given up to suffer execution. As Caesar was going out of the\r\nsenate, many of the young men who at that time acted as guards to Cicero, ran\r\nin with their naked swords to assault him. But Curio, it is said, threw his\r\ngown over him, and conveyed him away, and Cicero himself, when the young men\r\nlooked up to see his wishes, gave a sign not to kill him, either for fear of\r\nthe people, or because he thought the murder unjust and illegal. If this be\r\ntrue, I wonder how Cicero came to omit all mention of it in his book about his\r\nconsulship. He was blamed, however, afterwards, for not having made use of so\r\nfortunate an opportunity against Caesar, as if he had let it escape him out of\r\nfear of the populace, who, indeed, showed remarkable solicitude about Caesar,\r\nand some time after, when he went into the senate to clear himself of the\r\nsuspicions he lay under, and found great clamors raised against him, upon the\r\nsenate in consequence sitting longer than ordinary, they went up to the house\r\nin a tumult, and beset it, demanding Caesar, and requiring them to dismiss him.\r\nUpon this, Cato, much fearing some movement among the poor citizens, who were\r\nalways the first to kindle the flame among the people, and placed all their\r\nhopes in Caesar, persuaded the senate to give them a monthly allowance of corn,\r\nan expedient which put the commonwealth to the extraordinary charge of seven\r\nmillion five hundred thousand drachmas in the year, but quite succeeded in\r\nremoving the great cause of terror for the present, and very much weakened\r\nCaesar’s power, who at that time was just going to be made praetor, and\r\nconsequently would have been more formidable by his office.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut there was no disturbance during his praetorship, only what misfortune he\r\nmet with in his own domestic affairs. Publius Clodius was a patrician by\r\ndescent, eminent both for his riches and eloquence, but in licentiousness of\r\nlife and audacity exceeded the most noted profligates of the day. He was in\r\nlove with Pompeia, Caesar’s wife, and she had no aversion to him. But there was\r\nstrict watch kept on her apartment, and Caesar’s mother, Aurelia, who was a\r\ndiscreet woman, being continually about her, made any interview very dangerous\r\nand difficult. The Romans have a goddess whom they call Bona, the same whom the\r\nGreeks call Gynaecea. The Phrygians, who claim a peculiar title to her, say she\r\nwas mother to Midas. The Romans profess she was one of the Dryads, and married\r\nto Faunus. The Grecians affirm that she is that mother of Bacchus whose name is\r\nnot to be uttered, and, for this reason, the women who celebrate her festival,\r\ncover the tents with vine-branches, and, in accordance with the fable, a\r\nconsecrated serpent is placed by the goddess. It is not lawful for a man to be\r\nby, nor so much as in the house, whilst the rites are celebrated, but the women\r\nby themselves perform the sacred offices, which are said to be much the same\r\nwith those used in the solemnities of Orpheus. When the festival comes, the\r\nhusband, who is either consul or praetor; and with him every male creature,\r\nquits the house. The wife then taking it under her care, sets it in order, and\r\nthe principal ceremonies are performed during the night, the women playing\r\ntogether amongst themselves as they keep watch, and music of various kinds\r\ngoing on.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs Pompeia was at that time celebrating this feast, Clodius, who as yet had no\r\nbeard, and so thought to pass undiscovered, took upon him the dress and\r\nornaments of a singing woman, and so came thither, having the air of a young\r\ngirl. Finding the doors open, he was without any stop introduced by the maid,\r\nwho was in the intrigue. She presently ran to tell Pompeia, but as she was away\r\na long time, he grew uneasy in waiting for her, and left his post and traversed\r\nthe house from one room to another, still taking care to avoid the lights, till\r\nat last Aurelia’s woman met him, and invited him to play with her, as the women\r\ndid among themselves. He refused to comply, and she presently pulled him\r\nforward, and asked him who he was, and whence he came. Clodius told her he was\r\nwaiting for Pompeia’s own maid, Abra, being in fact her own name also, and as\r\nhe said so, betrayed himself by his voice. Upon which the woman shrieking, ran\r\ninto the company where there were lights, and cried out, she had discovered a\r\nman. The women were all in a fright. Aurelia covered up the sacred things and\r\nstopped the proceedings, and having ordered the doors to be shut, went about\r\nwith lights to find Clodius, who was got into the maid’s room that he had come\r\nin with, and was seized there. The women knew him, and drove him out of doors,\r\nand at once, that same night, went home and told their husbands the story. In\r\nthe morning, it was all about the town, what an impious attempt Clodius had\r\nmade, and how he ought to be punished as an offender, not only against those\r\nwhom he had affronted, but also against the public and the gods. Upon which one\r\nof the tribunes impeached him for profaning the holy rites, and some of the\r\nprincipal senators combined together and gave evidence against him, that\r\nbesides many other horrible crimes, he had been guilty of incest with his own\r\nsister, who was married to Lucullus. But the people set themselves against this\r\ncombination of the nobility, and defended Clodius, which was of great service\r\nto him with the judges, who took alarm and were afraid to provoke the\r\nmultitude. Caesar at once dismissed Pompeia, but being summoned as a witness\r\nagainst Clodius, said he had nothing to charge him with. This looking like a\r\nparadox, the accuser asked him why he parted with his wife. Caesar replied, “I\r\nwished my wife to be not so much as suspected.” Some say that Caesar spoke this\r\nas his real thought; others, that he did it to gratify the people, who were\r\nvery earnest to save Clodius. Clodius, at any rate, escaped; most of the judges\r\ngiving their opinions so written as to be illegible, that they might not be in\r\ndanger from the people by condemning him, nor in disgrace with the nobility by\r\nacquitting him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, in the meantime, being out of his praetorship, had got the province of\r\nSpain, but was in great embarrassment with his creditors, who, as he was going\r\noff, came upon him, and were very pressing and importunate. This led him to\r\napply himself to Crassus, who was the richest man in Rome, but wanted Caesar’s\r\nyouthful vigor and heat to sustain the opposition against Pompey. Crassus took\r\nupon him to satisfy those creditors who were most uneasy to him, and would not\r\nbe put off any longer, and engaged himself to the amount of eight hundred and\r\nthirty talents, upon which Caesar was now at liberty to go to his province. In\r\nhis journey, as he was crossing the Alps, and passing by a small village of the\r\nbarbarians with but few inhabitants and those wretchedly poor, his companions\r\nasked the question among themselves by way of mockery, if there were any\r\ncanvassing for offices there; any contention which should be uppermost, or\r\nfeuds of great men one against another. To which Caesar made answer seriously,\r\n“For my part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows, than the\r\nsecond man in Rome.” It is said that another time, when free from business in\r\nSpain, after reading some part of the history of Alexander, he sat a great\r\nwhile very thoughtful, and at last burst out into tears. His friends were\r\nsurprised, and asked him the reason of it. “Do you think,” said he, “I have not\r\njust cause to weep, when I consider that Alexander at my age had conquered so\r\nmany nations, and I have all this time done nothing that is memorable?” As soon\r\nas he came into Spain he was very active, and in a few days had got together\r\nten new cohorts of foot in addition to the twenty which were there before. With\r\nthese he marched against the Calaici and Lusitani and conquered them, and\r\nadvancing as far as the ocean, subdued the tribes which never before had been\r\nsubject to the Romans. Having managed his military affairs with good success,\r\nhe was equally happy in the course of his civil government. He took pains to\r\nestablish a good understanding amongst the several states, and no less care to\r\nheal the differences between debtors and creditors. He ordered that the\r\ncreditor should receive two parts of the debtor’s yearly income, and that the\r\nother part should be managed by the debtor himself, till by this method the\r\nwhole debt was at last discharged. This conduct made him leave his province\r\nwith a fair reputation; being rich himself, and having enriched his soldiers,\r\nand having received from them the honorable name of Imperator.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere is a law among the Romans, that whoever desires the honor of a triumph\r\nmust stay without the city and expect his answer. And another, that those who\r\nstand for the consulship shall appear personally upon the place. Caesar was\r\ncome home at the very time of choosing consuls, and being in a difficulty\r\nbetween these two opposite laws, sent to the senate to desire that since he was\r\nobliged to be absent, he might sue for the consulship by his friends. Cato,\r\nbeing backed by the law, at first opposed his request; afterwards perceiving\r\nthat Caesar had prevailed with a great part of the senate to comply with it, he\r\nmade it his business to gain time, and went on wasting the whole day in\r\nspeaking. Upon which Caesar thought fit to let the triumph fall, and pursued\r\nthe consulship. Entering the town and coming forward immediately, he had\r\nrecourse to a piece of state-policy by which everybody was deceived but Cato.\r\nThis was the reconciling of Crassus and Pompey, the two men who then were most\r\npowerful in Rome. There had been a quarrel between them, which he now succeeded\r\nin making up, and by this means strengthened himself by the united power of\r\nboth, and so under the cover of an action which carried all the appearance of a\r\npiece of kindness and good-nature, caused what was in effect a revolution in\r\nthe government. For it was not the quarrel between Pompey and Caesar, as most\r\nmen imagine, which was the origin of the civil wars, but their union, their\r\nconspiring together at first to subvert the aristocracy, and so quarreling\r\nafterwards between themselves. Cato, who often foretold what the consequence of\r\nthis alliance would be, had then the character of a sullen, interfering man,\r\nbut in the end the reputation of a wise but unsuccessful counselor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus Caesar being doubly supported by the interests of Crassus and Pompey, was\r\npromoted to the consulship, and triumphantly proclaimed with Calpurnius\r\nBibulus. When he entered on his office, he brought in bills which would have\r\nbeen preferred with better grace by the most audacious of the tribunes than by\r\na consul, in which he proposed the plantation of colonies and division of\r\nlands, simply to please the commonalty. The best and most honorable of the\r\nsenators opposed it, upon which, as he had long wished for nothing more than\r\nfor such a colorable pretext, he loudly protested how much against his will it\r\nwas to be driven to seek support from the people, and how the senate’s\r\ninsulting and harsh conduct left no other course possible for him, than to\r\ndevote himself henceforth to the popular cause and interest. And so he hurried\r\nout of the senate, and presenting himself to the people, and there placing\r\nCrassus and Pompey, one on each side of him, he asked them whether they\r\nconsented to the bills he had proposed. They owned their assent, upon which he\r\ndesired them to assist him against those who had threatened to oppose him with\r\ntheir swords. They engaged they would, and Pompey added further, that he would\r\nmeet their swords with a sword and buckler too. These words the nobles much\r\nresented, as neither suitable to his own dignity, nor becoming the reverence\r\ndue to the senate, but resembling rather the vehemence of a boy, or the fury of\r\na madman. But the people were pleased with it. In order to get a yet firmer\r\nhold upon Pompey, Caesar having a daughter, Julia, who had been before\r\ncontracted to Servilius Caepio, now betrothed her to Pompey, and told Servilius\r\nhe should have Pompey’s daughter, who was not unengaged either, but promised to\r\nSylla’s son, Faustus. A little time after, Caesar married Calpurnia, the\r\ndaughter of Piso, and got Piso made consul for the year following. Cato\r\nexclaimed loudly against this, and protested with a great deal of warmth, that\r\nit was intolerable the government should be prostituted by marriages, and that\r\nthey should advance one another to the commands of armies, provinces, and other\r\ngreat posts, by means of women. Bibulus, Caesar’s colleague, finding it was to\r\nno purpose to oppose his bills, but that he was in danger of being murdered in\r\nthe forum, as also was Cato, confined himself to his house, and there let the\r\nremaining part of his consulship expire. Pompey, when he was married, at once\r\nfilled the forum with soldiers, and gave the people his help in passing the new\r\nlaws, and secured Caesar the government of all Gaul, both on this and the other\r\nside of the Alps, together with Illyricum, and the command of four legions for\r\nfive years. Cato made some attempts against these proceedings, but was seized\r\nand led off on the way to prison by Caesar, who expected he would appeal to the\r\ntribunes. But when he saw that Cato went along without speaking a word, and not\r\nonly the nobility were indignant, but that the people, also, out of respect for\r\nCato’s virtue, were following in silence, and with dejected looks, he himself\r\nprivately desired one of the tribunes to rescue Cato. As for the other\r\nsenators, some few of them attended the house, the rest being disgusted,\r\nabsented themselves. Hence Considius, a very old man, took occasion one day to\r\ntell Caesar, that the senators did not meet because they were afraid of his\r\nsoldiers. Caesar asked, “Why don’t you then, out of the same fear, keep at\r\nhome?” To which Considius replied, that age was his guard against fear, and\r\nthat the small remains of his life were not worth much caution. But the most\r\ndisgraceful thing that was done in Caesar’s consulship, was his assisting to\r\ngain the tribuneship for the same Clodius who had made the attempt upon his\r\nwife’s chastity, and intruded upon the secret vigils. He was elected on purpose\r\nto effect Cicero’s downfall; nor did Caesar leave the city to join his army,\r\ntill they two had overpowered Cicero, and driven him out of Italy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus far have we followed Caesar’s actions before the wars of Gaul. After this,\r\nhe seems to begin his course afresh, and to enter upon a new life and scene of\r\naction. And the period of those wars which he now fought, and those many\r\nexpeditions in which he subdued Gaul, showed him to be a soldier and general\r\nnot in the least inferior to any of the greatest and most admired commanders\r\nwho had ever appeared at the head of armies. For if we compare him with the\r\nFabii, the Metelli, the Scipios, and with those who were his contemporaries, or\r\nnot long before him, Sylla, Marius, the two Luculli, or even Pompey himself,\r\nwhose glory, it may be said, went up at that time to heaven for every\r\nexcellence in war, we shall find Caesar’s actions to have surpassed them all.\r\nOne he may be held to have outdone in consideration of the difficulty of the\r\ncountry in which he fought, another in the extent of territory which he\r\nconquered; some, in the number and strength of the enemies whom he defeated;\r\none man, because of the wildness and perfidiousness of the tribes whose\r\ngood-will he conciliated, another in his humanity and clemency to those he\r\noverpowered; others, again in his gifts and kindnesses to his soldiers; all\r\nalike in the number of the battles which he fought and the enemies whom he\r\nkilled. For he had not pursued the wars in Gaul full ten years, when he had\r\ntaken by storm above eight hundred towns, subdued three hundred states, and of\r\nthe three millions of men, who made up the gross sum of those with whom at\r\nseveral times he engaged, he had killed one million, and taken captive a\r\nsecond.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was so much master of the good-will and hearty service of his soldiers, that\r\nthose who in other expeditions were but ordinary men, displayed a courage past\r\ndefeating or withstanding when they went upon any danger where Caesar’s glory\r\nwas concerned. Such a one was Acilius, who, in the sea-fight before Marseilles,\r\nhad his right hand struck off with a sword, yet did not quit his buckler out of\r\nhis left, but struck the enemies in the face with it, till he drove them off,\r\nand made himself master of the vessel. Such another was Cassius Scaeva, who, in\r\na battle near Dyrrhachium, had one of his eyes shot out with an arrow, his\r\nshoulder pierced with one javelin, and his thigh with another; and having\r\nreceived one hundred and thirty darts upon his target, called to the enemy, as\r\nthough he would surrender himself. But when two of them came up to him, he cut\r\noff the shoulder of one with a sword, and by a blow over the face forced the\r\nother to retire, and so with the assistance of his friends, who now came up,\r\nmade his escape. Again, in Britain, when some of the foremost officers had\r\naccidentally got into a morass full of water, and there were assaulted by the\r\nenemy, a common soldier, whilst Caesar stood and looked on, threw himself into\r\nthe midst of them, and after many signal demonstrations of his valor, rescued\r\nthe officers, and beat off the barbarians. He himself, in the end, took to the\r\nwater, and with much difficulty, partly by swimming, partly by wading, passed\r\nit, but in the passage lost his shield. Caesar and his officers saw it and\r\nadmired, and went to meet him with joy and acclamation. But the soldier, much\r\ndejected and in tears, threw himself down at Caesar’s feet, and begged his\r\npardon for having let go his buckler. Another time in Africa, Scipio having\r\ntaken a ship of Caesar’s in which Granius Petro, lately appointed quaestor, was\r\nsailing, gave the other passengers as free prize to his soldiers, but thought\r\nfit to offer the quaestor his life. But he said it was not usual for Caesar’s\r\nsoldiers to take, but give mercy, and having said so, fell upon his sword and\r\nkilled himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis love of honor and passion for distinction were inspired into them and\r\ncherished in them by Caesar himself, who, by his unsparing distribution of\r\nmoney and honors, showed them that he did not heap up wealth from the wars for\r\nhis own luxury, or the gratifying his private pleasures, but that all he\r\nreceived was but a public fund laid by for the reward and encouragement of\r\nvalor, and that he looked upon all he gave to deserving soldiers as so much\r\nincrease to his own riches. Added to this, also, there was no danger to which\r\nhe did not willingly expose himself, no labor from which he pleaded all\r\nexemption. His contempt of danger was not so much wondered at by his soldiers,\r\nbecause they knew how much he coveted honor. But his enduring so much hardship,\r\nwhich he did to all appearance beyond his natural strength, very much\r\nastonished them. For he was a spare man, had a soft and white skin, was\r\ndistempered in the head, and subject to an epilepsy, which, it is said, first\r\nseized him at Corduba. But he did not make the weakness of his constitution a\r\npretext for his ease, but rather used war as the best physic against his\r\nindispositions; whilst by indefatigable journeys, coarse diet, frequent lodging\r\nin the field, and continual laborious exercise, he struggled with his diseases,\r\nand fortified his body against all attacks. He slept generally in his chariots\r\nor litters, employing even his rest in pursuit of action. In the day he was\r\nthus carried to the forts, garrisons, and camps, one servant sitting with him,\r\nwho used to write down what he dictated as he went, and a soldier attending\r\nbehind with his sword drawn. He drove so rapidly, that when he first left Rome,\r\nhe arrived at the river Rhone within eight days. He had been an expert rider\r\nfrom his childhood; for it was usual with him to sit with his hands joined\r\ntogether behind his back, and so to put his horse to its full speed. And in\r\nthis war he disciplined himself so far as to be able to dictate letters from on\r\nhorseback, and to give directions to two who took notes at the same time, or,\r\nas Oppius says, to more. And it is thought that he was the first who contrived\r\nmeans for communicating with friends by cipher, when either press of business,\r\nor the large extent of the city, left him no time for a personal conference\r\nabout matters that required dispatch. How little nice he was in his diet, may\r\nbe seen in the following instance. When at the table of Valerius Leo, who\r\nentertained him at supper at Milan, a dish of asparagus was put before him, on\r\nwhich his host instead of oil had poured sweet ointment. Caesar partook of it\r\nwithout any disgust, and reprimanded his friends for finding fault with it.\r\n“For it was enough,” said he, “not to eat what you did not like; but he who\r\nreflects on another man’s want of breeding, shows he wants it as much himself.”\r\nAnother time upon the road he was driven by a storm into a poor man’s cottage,\r\nwhere he found but one room, and that such as would afford but a mean reception\r\nto a single person, and therefore told his companions, places of honor should\r\nbe given up to the greater men, and necessary accommodations to the weaker, and\r\naccordingly ordered that Oppius, who was in bad health, should lodge within,\r\nwhilst he and the rest slept under a shed at the door.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis first war in Gaul was against the Helvetians and Tigurini, who having burnt\r\ntheir own towns, twelve in number, and four hundred villages, would have\r\nmarched forward through that part of Gaul which was included in the Roman\r\nprovince, as the Cimbrians and Teutons formerly had done. Nor were they\r\ninferior to these in courage; and in numbers they were equal, being in all\r\nthree hundred thousand, of which one hundred and ninety thousand were fighting\r\nmen. Caesar did not engage the Tigurini in person, but Labienus, under his\r\ndirections, routed them near the river Arar. The Helvetians surprised Caesar,\r\nand unexpectedly set upon him as he was conducting his army to a confederate\r\ntown. He succeeded, however, in making his retreat into a strong position,\r\nwhere, when he had mustered and marshalled his men, his horse was brought to\r\nhim; upon which he said, “When I have won the battle, I will use my horse for\r\nthe chase, but at present let us go against the enemy,” and accordingly charged\r\nthem on foot. After a long and severe combat, he drove the main army out of the\r\nfield, but found the hardest work at their carriages and ramparts, where not\r\nonly the men stood and fought, but the women also and children defended\r\nthemselves, till they were cut to pieces; insomuch that the fight was scarcely\r\nended till midnight. This action, glorious in itself, Caesar crowned with\r\nanother yet more noble, by gathering in a body all the barbarians that had\r\nescaped out of the battle, above one hundred thousand in number, and obliging\r\nthem to reoccupy the country which they had deserted, and the cities which they\r\nhad burnt. This he did for fear the Germans should pass in and possess\r\nthemselves of the land whilst it lay uninhabited.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis second war was in defense of the Gauls against the Germans, though some\r\ntime before he had made Ariovistus, their king, recognized at Rome as an ally.\r\nBut they were very insufferable neighbors to those under his government; and it\r\nwas probable, when occasion offered, they would renounce the present\r\narrangements, and march on to occupy Gaul. But finding his officers timorous,\r\nand especially those of the young nobility who came along with him in hopes of\r\nturning their campaigns with him into a means for their own pleasure or profit,\r\nhe called them together, and advised them to march off, and not run the hazard\r\nof a battle against their inclinations, since they had such weak and unmanly\r\nfeelings; telling them that he would take only the tenth legion, and march\r\nagainst the barbarians, whom he did not expect to find an enemy more formidable\r\nthan the Cimbri, nor, he added, should they find him a general inferior to\r\nMarius. Upon this, the tenth legion deputed some of their body to pay him their\r\nacknowledgments and thanks, and the other legions blamed their officers, and\r\nall, with great vigor and zeal, followed him many days’ journey, till they\r\nencamped within two hundred furlongs of the enemy. Ariovistus’s courage to some\r\nextent was cooled upon their very approach; for never expecting the Romans\r\nwould attack the Germans, whom he had thought it more likely they would not\r\nventure to withstand even in defense of their own subjects, he was the more\r\nsurprised at Caesar’s conduct, and saw his army to be in consternation. They\r\nwere still more discouraged by the prophecies of their holy women, who foretell\r\nthe future by observing the eddies of rivers, and taking signs from the\r\nwindings and noise of streams, and who now warned them not to engage before the\r\nnext new moon appeared. Caesar having had intimation of this, and seeing the\r\nGermans lie still, thought it expedient to attack them whilst they were under\r\nthese apprehensions, rather than sit still and wait their time. Accordingly he\r\nmade his approaches to the strong-holds and hills on which they lay encamped,\r\nand so galled and fretted them, that at last they came down with great fury to\r\nengage. But he gained a signal victory, and pursued them for four hundred\r\nfurlongs, as far as the Rhine; all which space was covered with spoils and\r\nbodies of the slain. Ariovistus made shift to pass the Rhine with the small\r\nremains of an army, for it is said the number of the slain amounted to eighty\r\nthousand.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this action, Caesar left his army at their winter-quarters in the country\r\nof the Sequani, and in order to attend to affairs at Rome, went into that part\r\nof Gaul which lies on the Po, and was part of his province; for the river\r\nRubicon divides Gaul, which is on this side the Alps, from the rest of Italy.\r\nThere he sat down and employed himself in courting people’s favor; great\r\nnumbers coming to him continually, and always finding their requests answered;\r\nfor he never failed to dismiss all with present pledges of his kindness in\r\nhand, and further hopes for the future. And during all this time of the war in\r\nGaul, Pompey never observed how Caesar was on the one hand using the arms of\r\nRome to effect his conquests, and on the other was gaining over and securing to\r\nhimself the favor of the Romans, with the wealth which those conquests obtained\r\nhim. But when he heard that the Belgae, who were the most powerful of all the\r\nGauls, and inhabited a third part of the country, were revolted, and had got\r\ntogether a great many thousand men in arms, he immediately set out and took his\r\nway thither with great expedition, and falling upon the enemy as they were\r\nravaging the Gauls, his allies, he soon defeated and put to flight the largest\r\nand least scattered division of them. For though their numbers were great, yet\r\nthey made but a slender defense, and the marshes and deep rivers were made\r\npassable to the Roman foot by the vast quantity of dead bodies. Of those who\r\nrevolted, all the tribes that lived near the ocean came over without fighting,\r\nand he, therefore, led his army against the Nervii, the fiercest and most\r\nwarlike people of all in those parts. These live in a country covered with\r\ncontinuous woods, and having lodged their children and property out of the way\r\nin the depth of the forest, fell upon Caesar with a body of sixty thousand men,\r\nbefore he was prepared for them, while he was making his encampment. They soon\r\nrouted his cavalry, and having surrounded the twelfth and seventh legions,\r\nkilled all the officers, and had not Caesar himself snatched up a buckler, and\r\nforced his way through his own men to come up to the barbarians, or had not the\r\ntenth legion, when they saw him in danger, run in from the tops of the hills,\r\nwhere they lay, and broken through the enemy’s ranks to rescue him, in all\r\nprobability not a Roman would have been saved. But now, under the influence of\r\nCaesar’s bold example, they fought a battle, as the phrase is, of more than\r\nhuman courage, and yet with their utmost efforts they were not able to drive\r\nthe enemy out of the field, but cut them down fighting in their defense. For\r\nout of sixty thousand men, it is stated that not above five hundred survived\r\nthe battle, and of four hundred of their senators not above three.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the Roman senate had received news of this, they voted sacrifices and\r\nfestivals to the gods, to be strictly observed for the space of fifteen days, a\r\nlonger space than ever was observed for any victory before. The danger to which\r\nthey had been exposed by the joint outbreak of such a number of nations was\r\nfelt to have been great; and the people’s fondness for Caesar gave additional\r\nluster to successes achieved by him. He now, after settling everything in Gaul,\r\ncame back again, and spent the winter by the Po, in order to carry on the\r\ndesigns he had in hand at Rome. All who were candidates for offices used his\r\nassistance, and were supplied with money from him to corrupt the people and buy\r\ntheir votes, in return of which, when they were chosen, they did all things to\r\nadvance his power. But what was more considerable, the most eminent and\r\npowerful men in Rome in great numbers came to visit him at Lucca, Pompey, and\r\nCrassus, and Appius, the governor of Sardinia, and Nepos, the proconsul of\r\nSpain, so that there were in the place at one time one hundred and twenty\r\nlictors, and more than two hundred senators. In deliberation here held, it was\r\ndetermined that Pompey and Crassus should be consuls again for the following\r\nyear; that Caesar should have a fresh supply of money, and that his command\r\nshould be renewed to him for five years more. It seemed very extravagant to all\r\nthinking men, that those very persons who had received so much money from\r\nCaesar should persuade the senate to grant him more, as if he were in want.\r\nThough in truth it was not so much upon persuasion as compulsion, that, with\r\nsorrow and groans for their own acts, they passed the measure. Cato was not\r\npresent, for they had sent him seasonably out of the way into Cyprus; but\r\nFavonius, who was a zealous imitator of Cato, when he found he could do no good\r\nby opposing it, broke out of the house, and loudly declaimed against these\r\nproceedings to the people, but none gave him any hearing; some slighting him\r\nout of respect to Crassus and Pompey, and the greater part to gratify Caesar,\r\non whom depended their hopes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Caesar returned again to his forces in Gaul, where he found that\r\ncountry involved in a dangerous war, two strong nations of the Germans having\r\nlately passed the Rhine, to conquer it; one of them called the Usipes, the\r\nother the Tenteritae. Of the war with this people, Caesar himself has given\r\nthis account in his commentaries, that the barbarians, having sent ambassadors\r\nto treat with him, did, during the treaty, set upon him in his march, by which\r\nmeans with eight hundred men they routed five thousand of his horse, who did\r\nnot suspect their coming; that afterwards they sent other ambassadors to renew\r\nthe same fraudulent practices, whom he kept in custody, and led on his army\r\nagainst the barbarians, as judging it mere simplicity to keep faith with those\r\nwho had so faithlessly broken the terms they had agreed to. But Tanusius\r\nstates, that when the senate decreed festivals and sacrifices for this victory,\r\nCato declared it to be his opinion that Caesar ought to be given into the hands\r\nof the barbarians, that so the guilt which this breach of faith might otherwise\r\nbring upon the state, might be expiated by transferring the curse on him, who\r\nwas the occasion of it. Of those who passed the Rhine, there were four hundred\r\nthousand cut off; those few who escaped were sheltered by the Sugambri, a\r\npeople of Germany. Caesar took hold of this pretense to invade the Germans,\r\nbeing at the same time ambitious of the honor of being the first man that\r\nshould pass the Rhine with an army. He carried a bridge across it, though it\r\nwas very wide, and the current at that particular point very full, strong, and\r\nviolent, bringing down with its waters trunks of trees, and other lumber, which\r\nmuch shook and weakened the foundations of his bridge. But he drove great piles\r\nof wood into the bottom of the river above the passage, to catch and stop these\r\nas they floated down, and thus fixing his bridle upon the stream, successfully\r\nfinished this bridge, which no one who saw could believe to be the work but of\r\nten days.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the passage of his army over it, he met with no opposition; the Suevi\r\nthemselves, who are the most warlike people of all Germany, flying with their\r\neffects into the deepest and most densely wooded valleys. When he had burnt all\r\nthe enemy’s country, and encouraged those who embraced the Roman interest, he\r\nwent back into Gaul, after eighteen days’ stay in Germany. But his expedition\r\ninto Britain was the most famous testimony of his courage. For he was the first\r\nwho brought a navy into the western ocean, or who sailed into the Atlantic with\r\nan army to make war; and by invading an island, the reported extent of which\r\nhad made its existence a matter of controversy among historians, many of whom\r\nquestioned whether it were not a mere name and fiction, not a real place, he\r\nmight be said to have carried the Roman empire beyond the limits of the known\r\nworld. He passed thither twice from that part of Gaul which lies over against\r\nit, and in several battles which he fought, did more hurt to the enemy than\r\nservice to himself, for the islanders were so miserably poor, that they had\r\nnothing worth being plundered of. When he found himself unable to put such an\r\nend to the war as he wished, he was content to take hostages from the king, and\r\nto impose a tribute, and then quitted the island. At his arrival in Gaul, he\r\nfound letters which lay ready to be conveyed over the water to him from his\r\nfriends at Rome, announcing his daughter’s death, who died in labor of a child\r\nby Pompey. Caesar and Pompey both were much afflicted with her death, nor were\r\ntheir friends less disturbed, believing that the alliance was now broken, which\r\nhad hitherto kept the sickly commonwealth in peace, for the child also died\r\nwithin a few days after the mother. The people took the body of Julia, in spite\r\nof the opposition of the tribunes, and carried it into the field of Mars, and\r\nthere her funeral rites were performed, and her remains are laid.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar’s army was now grown very numerous, so that he was forced to disperse\r\nthem into various camps for their winter-quarters, and he having gone himself\r\nto Italy as he used to do, in his absence a general outbreak throughout the\r\nwhole of Gaul commenced, and large armies marched about the country, and\r\nattacked the Roman quarters, and attempted to make themselves masters of the\r\nforts where they lay. The greatest and strongest party of the rebels, under the\r\ncommand of Abriorix, cut off Costa and Titurius with all their men, while a\r\nforce sixty thousand strong besieged the legion under the command of Cicero,\r\nand had almost taken it by storm, the Roman soldiers being all wounded, and\r\nhaving quite spent themselves by a defense beyond their natural strength. But\r\nCaesar, who was at a great distance, having received the news, quickly got\r\ntogether seven thousand men, and hastened to relieve Cicero. The besiegers were\r\naware of it, and went to meet him, with great confidence that they should\r\neasily overpower such an handful of men. Caesar, to increase their presumption,\r\nseemed to avoid fighting, and still marched off, till he found a place\r\nconveniently situated for a few to engage against many, where he encamped. He\r\nkept his soldiers from making any attack upon the enemy, and commanded them to\r\nraise the ramparts higher, and barricade the gates, that by show of fear, they\r\nmight heighten the enemy’s contempt of them. Till at last they came without any\r\norder in great security to make an assault, when he issued forth, and put them\r\nto flight with the loss of many men.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis quieted the greater part of the commotions in these parts of Gaul, and\r\nCaesar, in the course of the winter, visited every part of the country, and\r\nwith great vigilance took precautions against all innovations. For there were\r\nthree legions now come to him to supply the place of the men he had lost, of\r\nwhich Pompey furnished him with two, out of those under his command; the other\r\nwas newly raised in the part of Gaul by the Po. But in a while the seeds of\r\nwar, which had long since been secretly sown and scattered by the most powerful\r\nmen in those warlike nations, broke forth into the greatest and most dangerous\r\nwar that ever was in those parts, both as regards the number of men in the\r\nvigor of their youth who were gathered and armed from all quarters, the vast\r\nfunds of money collected to maintain it, the strength of the towns, and the\r\ndifficulty of the country where it was carried on. It being winter, the rivers\r\nwere frozen, the woods covered with snow, and the level country flooded, so\r\nthat in some places the ways were lost through the depth of the snow; in\r\nothers, the overflowing of marshes and streams made every kind of passage\r\nuncertain. All which difficulties made it seem impracticable for Caesar to make\r\nany attempt upon the insurgents. Many tribes had revolted together, the chief\r\nof them being the Arverni and Carnutini ; the general who had the supreme\r\ncommand in war was Vergentorix, whose father the Gauls had put to death on\r\nsuspicion of his aiming at absolute government.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe having disposed his army in several bodies, and set officers over them, drew\r\nover to him all the country round about as far as those that lie upon the Arar,\r\nand having intelligence of the opposition which Caesar now experienced at Rome,\r\nthought to engage all Gaul in the war. Which if he had done a little later,\r\nwhen Caesar was taken up with the civil wars, Italy had been put into as great\r\na terror as before it was by the Cimbri. But Caesar, who above all men was\r\ngifted with the faculty of making the right use of everything in war, and most\r\nespecially of seizing the right moment, as soon as he heard of the revolt,\r\nreturned immediately the same way he went, and showed the barbarians, by the\r\nquickness of his march in such a severe season, that an army was advancing\r\nagainst them which was invincible. For in the time that one would have thought\r\nit scarce credible that a courier or express should have come with a message\r\nfrom him, he himself appeared with all his army, ravaging the country, reducing\r\ntheir posts, subduing their towns, receiving into his protection those who\r\ndeclared for him. Till at last the Edui, who hitherto had styled themselves\r\nbrethren to the Romans, and had been much honored by them, declared against\r\nhim, and joined the rebels, to the great discouragement of his army.\r\nAccordingly he removed thence, and passed the country of the Lingones, desiring\r\nto reach the territories of the Sequani, who were his friends, and who lay like\r\na bulwark in front of Italy against the other tribes of Gaul. There the enemy\r\ncame upon him, and surrounded him with many myriads, whom he also was eager to\r\nengage; and at last, after some time and with much slaughter, gained on the\r\nwhole a complete victory; though at first he appears to have met with some\r\nreverse, and the Aruveni show you a small sword hanging up in a temple, which\r\nthey say was taken from Caesar. Caesar saw this afterwards himself, and smiled,\r\nand when his friends advised it should be taken down, would not permit it,\r\nbecause he looked upon it as consecrated.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the defeat a great part of those who had escaped, fled with their king\r\ninto a town called Alesia, which Caesar besieged, though the height of the\r\nwalls, and number of those who defended them, made it appear impregnable; and\r\nmeantime, from without the walls, he was assailed by a greater danger than can\r\nbe expressed. For the choice men of Gaul, picked out of each nation, and well\r\narmed, came to relieve Alesia, to the number of three hundred thousand; nor\r\nwere there in the town less than one hundred and seventy thousand. So that\r\nCaesar being shut up betwixt two such forces, was compelled to protect himself\r\nby two walls, one towards the town, the other against the relieving army, as\r\nknowing it these forces should join, his affairs would be entirely ruined. The\r\ndanger that he underwent before Alesia, justly gained him great honor on many\r\naccounts, and gave him an opportunity of showing greater instances of his valor\r\nand conduct than any other contest had done. One wonders much how he should be\r\nable to engage and defeat so many thousands of men without the town, and not be\r\nperceived by those within, but yet more, that the Romans themselves, who\r\nguarded their wall which was next the town, should be strangers to it. For even\r\nthey knew nothing of the victory, till they heard the cries of the men and\r\nlamentations of the women who were in the town, and had from thence seen the\r\nRomans at a distance carrying into their camp a great quantity of bucklers,\r\nadorned with gold and silver, many breastplates stained with blood, besides\r\ncups and tents made in the Gallic fashion. So soon did so vast an army dissolve\r\nand vanish like a ghost or dream, the greatest part of them being killed upon\r\nthe spot. Those who were in Alesia, having given themselves and Caesar much\r\ntrouble, surrendered at last; and Vergentorix, who was the chief spring of all\r\nthe war, putting his best armor on, and adorning his horse, rode out of the\r\ngates, and made a turn about Caesar as he was sitting, then quitted his horse,\r\nthrew off his armor, and remained seated quietly at Caesar’s feet until he was\r\nled away to be reserved for the triumph.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar had long ago resolved upon the overthrow of Pompey, as had Pompey, for\r\nthat matter, upon his. For Crassus, the fear of whom had hitherto kept them in\r\npeace, having now been killed in Parthia, if the one of them wished to make\r\nhimself the greatest man in Rome, he had only to overthrow the other; and if he\r\nagain wished to prevent his own fall, he had nothing for it but to be\r\nbeforehand with him whom he feared. Pompey had not been long under any such\r\napprehensions, having till lately despised Caesar, as thinking it no difficult\r\nmatter to put down him whom he himself had advanced. But Caesar had entertained\r\nthis design from the beginning against his rivals, and had retired, like an\r\nexpert wrestler, to prepare himself apart for the combat. Making the Gallic\r\nwars his exercise-ground, he had at once improved the strength of his soldiery,\r\nand had heightened his own glory by his great actions, so that he was looked on\r\nas one who might challenge comparison with Pompey. Nor did he let go any of\r\nthose advantages which were now given him both by Pompey himself and the times,\r\nand the ill government of Rome, where all who were candidates for offices\r\npublicly gave money, and without any shame bribed the people, who having\r\nreceived their pay, did not contend for their benefactors with their bare\r\nsuffrages, but with bows, swords, and slings. So that after having many times\r\nstained the place of election with the blood of men killed upon the spot, they\r\nleft the city at last without a government at all, to be carried about like a\r\nship without a pilot to steer her; while all who had any wisdom could only be\r\nthankful if a course of such wild and stormy disorder and madness might end no\r\nworse than in a monarchy. Some were so bold as to declare openly, that the\r\ngovernment was incurable but by a monarchy, and that they ought to take that\r\nremedy from the hands of the gentlest physician, meaning Pompey, who, though in\r\nwords he pretended to decline it, yet in reality made his utmost efforts to be\r\ndeclared dictator. Cato perceiving his design, prevailed with the senate to\r\nmake him sole consul, that with the offer of a more legal sort of monarchy he\r\nmight be withheld from demanding the dictatorship. They over and above voted\r\nhim the continuance of his provinces, for he had two, Spain and all Africa,\r\nwhich he governed by his lieutenants, and maintained armies under him, at the\r\nyearly charge of a thousand talents out of the public treasury.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this Caesar also sent and petitioned for the consulship, and the\r\ncontinuance of his provinces. Pompey at first did not stir in it, but Marcellus\r\nand Lentulus opposed it, who had always hated Caesar, and now did every thing,\r\nwhether fit or unfit, which might disgrace and affront him. For they took away\r\nthe privilege of Roman citizens from the people of New Comum, who were a colony\r\nthat Caesar had lately planted in Gaul; and Marcellus, who was then consul,\r\nordered one of the senators of that town, then at Rome, to be whipped, and told\r\nhim he laid that mark upon him to signify he was no citizen of Rome, bidding\r\nhim, when he went back again, to show it to Caesar. After Marcellus’s\r\nconsulship, Caesar began to lavish gifts upon all the public men out of the\r\nriches he had taken from the Gauls; discharged Curio, the tribune, from his\r\ngreat debts; gave Paulus, then consul, fifteen hundred talents, with which he\r\nbuilt the noble court of justice adjoining the forum, to supply the place of\r\nthat called the Fulvian. Pompey, alarmed at these preparations, now openly took\r\nsteps, both by himself and his friends, to have a successor appointed in\r\nCaesar’s room, and sent to demand back the soldiers whom he had lent him to\r\ncarry on the wars in Gaul. Caesar returned them, and made each soldier a\r\npresent of two hundred and fifty drachmas. The officer who brought them home to\r\nPompey, spread amongst the people no very fair or favorable report of Caesar,\r\nand flattered Pompey himself with false suggestions that he was wished for by\r\nCaesar’s army; and though his affairs here were in some embarrassment through\r\nthe envy of some, and the ill state of the government, yet there the army was\r\nat his command, and if they once crossed into Italy, would presently declare\r\nfor him; so weary were they of Caesar’s endless expeditions, and so suspicious\r\nof his designs for a monarchy. Upon this Pompey grew presumptuous, and\r\nneglected all warlike preparations, as fearing no danger, and used no other\r\nmeans against him than mere speeches and votes, for which Caesar cared nothing.\r\nAnd one of his captains, it is said, who was sent by him to Rome, standing\r\nbefore the senate-house one day, and being told that the senate would not give\r\nCaesar a longer time in his government, clapped his hand on the hilt of his\r\nsword, and said, “But this shall.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet the demands which Caesar made had the fairest colors of equity imaginable.\r\nFor he proposed to lay down his arms, and that Pompey should do the same, and\r\nboth together should become private men, and each expect a reward of his\r\nservices from the public. For that those who proposed to disarm him, and at the\r\nsame time to confirm Pompey in all the power he held, were simply establishing\r\nthe one in the tyranny which they accused the other of aiming at. When Curio\r\nmade these proposals to the people in Caesar’s name, he was loudly applauded,\r\nand some threw garlands towards him, and dismissed him as they do successful\r\nwrestlers, crowned with flowers. Antony, being tribune, produced a letter sent\r\nfrom Caesar on this occasion, and read it, though the consuls did what they\r\ncould to oppose it. But Scipio, Pompey’s father-in-law, proposed in the senate,\r\nthat if Caesar did not lay down his arms within such a time, he should be voted\r\nan enemy; and the consuls putting it to the question, whether Pompey should\r\ndismiss his soldiers, and again, whether Caesar should disband his, very few\r\nassented to the first, but almost all to the latter. But Antony proposing\r\nagain, that both should lay down their commissions, all but a very few agreed\r\nto it. Scipio was upon this very violent, and Lentulus the consul cried aloud,\r\nthat they had need of arms, and not of suffrages, against a robber; so that the\r\nsenators for the present adjourned, and appeared in mourning as a mark of their\r\ngrief for the dissension.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfterwards there came other letters from Caesar, which seemed yet more\r\nmoderate, for he proposed to quit everything else, and only to retain Gaul\r\nwithin the Alps, Illyricum, and two legions, till he should stand a second time\r\nfor consul. Cicero, the orator, who was lately returned from Cilicia,\r\nendeavored to reconcile differences, and softened Pompey, who was willing to\r\ncomply in other things, but not to allow him the soldiers. At last Cicero used\r\nhis persuasions with Caesar’s friends to accept of the provinces, and six\r\nthousand soldiers only, and so to make up the quarrel. And Pompey was inclined\r\nto give way to this, but Lentulus, the consul, would not hearken to it, but\r\ndrove Antony and Curio out of the senate-house with insults, by which he\r\nafforded Caesar the most plausible pretense that could be, and one which he\r\ncould readily use to inflame the soldiers, by showing them two persons of such\r\nrepute and authority, who were forced to escape in a hired carriage in the\r\ndress of slaves. For so they were glad to disguise themselves, when they fled\r\nout of Rome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were not about him at that time above three hundred horse, and five\r\nthousand foot; for the rest of his army, which was left behind the Alps, was to\r\nbe brought after him by officers who had received orders for that purpose. But\r\nhe thought the first motion towards the design which he had on foot did not\r\nrequire large forces at present, and that what was wanted was to make this\r\nfirst step suddenly, and so as to astound his enemies with the boldness of it;\r\nas it would be easier, he thought, to throw them into consternation by doing\r\nwhat they never anticipated, than fairly to conquer them, if he had alarmed\r\nthem by his preparations. And therefore, he commanded his captains and other\r\nofficers to go only with their swords in their hands, without any other arms,\r\nand make themselves masters of Ariminum, a large city of Gaul, with as little\r\ndisturbance and bloodshed as possible. He committed the care of these forces to\r\nHortensius, and himself spent the day in public as a stander-by and spectator\r\nof the gladiators, who exercised before him. A little before night he attended\r\nto his person, and then went into the hall, and conversed for some time with\r\nthose he had invited to supper, till it began to grow dusk, when he rose from\r\ntable, and made his excuses to the company, begging them to stay till he came\r\nback, having already given private directions to a few immediate friends, that\r\nthey should follow him, not all the same way, but some one way, some another.\r\nHe himself got into one of the hired carriages, and drove at first another way,\r\nbut presently turned towards Ariminum. When he came to the river Rubicon, which\r\nparts Gaul within the Alps from the rest of Italy, his thoughts began to work,\r\nnow he was just entering upon the danger, and he wavered much in his mind, when\r\nhe considered the greatness of the enterprise into which he was throwing\r\nhimself. He checked his course, and ordered a halt, while he revolved with\r\nhimself, and often changed his opinion one way and the other, without speaking\r\na word. This was when his purposes fluctuated most; presently he also discussed\r\nthe matter with his friends who were about him, (of which number Asinius Pollio\r\nwas one,) computing how many calamities his passing that river would bring upon\r\nmankind, and what a relation of it would be transmitted to posterity. At last,\r\nin a sort of passion, casting aside calculation, and abandoning himself to what\r\nmight come, and using the proverb frequently in their mouths who enter upon\r\ndangerous and bold attempts, “The die is cast,” with these words he took the\r\nriver. Once over, he used all expedition possible, and before it was day\r\nreached Ariminum, and took it. It is said that the night before he passed the\r\nriver, he had an impious dream, that he was unnaturally familiar with his own\r\nmother.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as Ariminum was taken, wide gates, so to say, were thrown open, to let\r\nin war upon every land alike and sea, and with the limits of the province, the\r\nboundaries of the laws were transgressed. Nor would one have thought that, as\r\nat other times, the mere men and women fled from one town of Italy to another\r\nin their consternation, but that the very towns themselves left their sites,\r\nand fled for succor to each other. The city of Rome was overrun as it were with\r\na deluge, by the conflux of people flying in from all the neighboring places.\r\nMagistrates could no longer govern, nor the eloquence of any orator quiet it;\r\nit was all but suffering shipwreck by the violence of its own tempestuous\r\nagitation. The most vehement contrary passions and impulses were at work\r\neverywhere. Nor did those who rejoiced at the prospect of the change altogether\r\nconceal their feelings, but when they met, as in so great a city they\r\nfrequently must, with the alarmed and dejected of the other party, they\r\nprovoked quarrels by their bold expressions of confidence in the event. Pompey,\r\nsufficiently disturbed of himself; was yet more perplexed by the clamors of\r\nothers; some telling him that he justly suffered for having armed Caesar\r\nagainst himself and the government; others blaming him for permitting Caesar to\r\nbe insolently used by Lentulus, when he made such ample concessions, and\r\noffered such reasonable proposals towards an accommodation. Favonius bade him\r\nnow stamp upon the ground; for once talking big in the senate, he desired them\r\nnot to trouble themselves about making any preparations for the war, for that\r\nhe himself, with one stamp of his foot, would fill all Italy with soldiers. Yet\r\nstill Pompey at that time had more forces than Caesar; but he was not permitted\r\nto pursue his own thoughts, but being continually disturbed with false reports\r\nand alarms, as if the enemy was close upon him and carrying all before him, he\r\ngave way, and let himself be borne down by the general cry. He put forth an\r\nedict declaring the city to be in a state of anarchy, and left it with orders\r\nthat the senate should follow him, and that no one should stay behind who did\r\nnot prefer tyranny to their country and liberty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe consuls at once fled, without making even the usual sacrifices; so did most\r\nof the senators, carrying off their own goods in as much haste as if they had\r\nbeen robbing their neighbors. Some, who had formerly much favored Caesar’s\r\ncause, in the prevailing alarm, quitted their own sentiments, and without any\r\nprospect of good to themselves, were carried along by the common stream. It was\r\na melancholy thing to see the city tossed in these tumults, like a ship given\r\nup by her pilots, and left to run, as chance guides her, upon any rock in her\r\nway. Yet, in spite of their sad condition, people still esteemed the place of\r\ntheir exile to be their country for Pompey’s sake, and fled from Rome, as if it\r\nhad been Caesar’s camp. Labienus even, who had been one of Caesar’s nearest\r\nfriends, and his lieutenant, and who had fought by him zealously in the Gallic\r\nwars, now deserted him, and went over to Pompey. Caesar sent all his money and\r\nequipage after him, and then sat down before Corfinium, which was garrisoned\r\nwith thirty cohorts under the command of Domitius. He, in despair of\r\nmaintaining the defense, requested a physician, whom he had among his\r\nattendants, to give him poison; and taking the dose, drank it, in hopes of\r\nbeing dispatched by it. But soon after, when he was told that Caesar showed the\r\nutmost clemency towards those he took prisoners, he lamented his misfortune,\r\nand blamed the hastiness of his resolution. His physician consoled him, by\r\ninforming him that he had taken a sleeping draught, not a poison; upon which,\r\nmuch rejoiced, and rising from his bed, he went presently to Caesar, and gave\r\nhim the pledge of his hand, yet afterwards again went over to Pompey. The\r\nreport of these actions at Rome, quieted those who were there, and some who had\r\nfled thence returned.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar took into his army Domitius’s soldiers, as he did all those whom he\r\nfound in any town enlisted for Pompey’s service. Being now strong and\r\nformidable enough, he advanced against Pompey himself, who did not stay to\r\nreceive him, but fled to Brundisium, having sent the consuls before with a body\r\nof troops to Dyrrhachium. Soon after, upon Caesar’s approach, he set to sea, as\r\nshall be more particularly related in his Life. Caesar would have immediately\r\npursued him, but wanted shipping, and therefore went back to Rome, having made\r\nhimself master of all Italy without bloodshed in the space of sixty days. When\r\nhe came thither, he found the city more quiet than he expected, and many\r\nsenators present, to whom he addressed himself with courtesy and deference,\r\ndesiring them to send to Pompey about any reasonable accommodations towards a\r\npeace. But nobody complied with this proposal; whether out of fear of Pompey,\r\nwhom they had deserted, or that they thought Caesar did not mean what he said,\r\nbut thought it his interest to talk plausibly. Afterwards, when Metellus, the\r\ntribune, would have hindered him from taking money out of the public treasure,\r\nand adduced some laws against it, Caesar replied, that arms and laws had each\r\ntheir own time; “If what I do displeases you, leave the place; war allows no\r\nfree talking. When I have laid down my arms, and made peace, come back and make\r\nwhat speeches you please. And this,” he added, “I tell you in diminution of my\r\nown just right, as indeed you and all others who have appeared against me and\r\nare now in my power, may be treated as I please.” Having said this to Metellus,\r\nhe went to the doors of the treasury, and the keys being not to be found, sent\r\nfor smiths to force them open. Metellus again making resistance, and some\r\nencouraging him in it, Caesar, in a louder tone, told him he would put him to\r\ndeath, if he gave him any further disturbance. “And this,” said he, “you know,\r\nyoung man, is more disagreeable for me to say, than to do.” These words made\r\nMetellus withdraw for fear, and obtained speedy execution henceforth for all\r\norders that Caesar gave for procuring necessaries for the war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was now proceeding to Spain, with the determination of first crushing\r\nAfranius and Varro, Pompey’s lieutenants, and making himself master of the\r\narmies and provinces under them, that he might then more securely advance\r\nagainst Pompey, when he had no enemy left behind him. In this expedition his\r\nperson was often in danger from ambuscades, and his army by want of provisions,\r\nyet he did not desist from pursuing the enemy, provoking them to fight, and\r\nhemming them with his fortifications, till by main force he made himself master\r\nof their camps and their forces. Only the generals got off, and fled to Pompey.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Caesar came back to Rome, Piso, his father-in-law, advised him to send men\r\nto Pompey, to treat of a peace; but Isauricus, to ingratiate himself with\r\nCaesar, spoke against it. After this, being created dictator by the senate, he\r\ncalled home the exiles, and gave back then rights as citizens to the children\r\nof those who had suffered under Sylla; he relieved the debtors by an act\r\nremitting some part of the interest on their debts, and passed some other\r\nmeasures of the same sort, but not many. For within eleven days he resigned his\r\ndictatorship, and having declared himself consul, with Servilius Isauricus,\r\nhastened again to the war. He marched so fast, that he left all his army behind\r\nhim, except six hundred chosen horse, and five legions, with which he put to\r\nsea in the very middle of winter, about the beginning of the month January,\r\n(which corresponds pretty nearly with the Athenian month Posideon,) and having\r\npast the Ionian Sea, took Oricum and Apollonia, and then sent back the ships to\r\nBrundisium, to bring over the soldiers who were left behind in the march. They,\r\nwhile yet on the march, their bodies now no longer in the full vigor of youth,\r\nand they themselves weary with such a multitude of wars, could not but exclaim\r\nagainst Caesar, “When at last, and where, will this Caesar let us be quiet? He\r\ncarries us from place to place, and uses us as if we were not to be worn out,\r\nand had no sense of labor. Even our iron itself is spent by blows, and we ought\r\nto have some pity on our bucklers and breastplates, which have been used so\r\nlong. Our wounds, if nothing else, should make him see that we are mortal men,\r\nwhom he commands, subject to the same pains and sufferings as other human\r\nbeings. The very gods themselves cannot force the winter season, or hinder the\r\nstorms in their time; yet he pushes forward, as if he were not pursuing, but\r\nflying from an enemy.” So they talked as they marched leisurely towards\r\nBrundisium. But when they came thither, and found Caesar gone off before them,\r\ntheir feelings changed, and they blamed themselves as traitors to their\r\ngeneral. They now railed at their officers for marching so slowly, and placing\r\nthemselves on the heights overlooking the sea towards Epirus, they kept watch\r\nto see if they could espy the vessels which were to transport them to Caesar.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe in the meantime was posted in Apollonia, but had not an army with him able\r\nto fight the enemy, the forces from Brundisium being so long in coming, which\r\nput him to great suspense and embarrassment what to do. At last he resolved\r\nupon a most hazardous experiment, and embarked, without anyone’s knowledge, in\r\na boat of twelve oars, to cross over to Brundisium, though the sea was at that\r\ntime covered with a vast fleet of the enemies. He got on board in the night\r\ntime, in the dress of a slave, and throwing himself down like a person of no\r\nconsequence, lay along at the bottom of the vessel. The river Anius was to\r\ncarry them down to sea, and there used to blow a gentle gale every morning from\r\nthe land, which made it calm at the mouth of the river, by driving the waves\r\nforward; but this night there had blown a strong wind from the sea, which\r\noverpowered that from the land, so that where the river met the influx of the\r\nsea-water and the opposition of the waves, it was extremely rough and angry;\r\nand the current was beaten back with such a violent swell, that the master of\r\nthe boat could not make good his passage, but ordered his sailors to tack about\r\nand return. Caesar, upon this, discovers himself, and taking the man by the\r\nhand, who was surprised to see him there, said, “Go on, my friend, and fear\r\nnothing; you carry Caesar and his fortune in your boat.” The mariners, when\r\nthey heard that, forgot the storm, and laying all their strength to their oars,\r\ndid what they could to force their way down the river. But when it was to no\r\npurpose, and the vessel now took in much water, Caesar finding himself in such\r\ndanger in the very mouth of the river, much against his will permitted the\r\nmaster to turn back. When he was come to land, his soldiers ran to him in a\r\nmultitude, reproaching him for what he had done, and indignant that he should\r\nthink himself not strong enough to get a victory by their sole assistance, but\r\nmust disturb himself, and expose his life for those who were absent, as if he\r\ncould not trust those who were with him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Antony came over with the forces from Brundisium, which encouraged\r\nCaesar to give Pompey battle, though he was encamped very advantageously, and\r\nfurnished with plenty of provisions both by sea and land, whilst he himself was\r\nat the beginning but ill-supplied, and before the end was extremely pinched for\r\nwant of necessaries, so that his soldiers were forced to dig up a kind of root\r\nwhich grew there, and tempering it with milk, to feed on it. Sometimes they\r\nmade a kind of bread of it, and advancing up to the enemy’s outposts, would\r\nthrow in these loaves, telling them, that as long as the earth produced such\r\nroots they would not give up blockading Pompey. But Pompey took what care he\r\ncould, that neither the loaves nor the words should reach his men, who were out\r\nof heart and despondent, through terror at the fierceness and hardiness of\r\ntheir enemies, whom they looked upon as a sort of wild beasts. There were\r\ncontinual skirmishes about Pompey’s outworks, in all which Caesar had the\r\nbetter, except one, when his men were forced to fly in such a manner that he\r\nhad like to have lost his camp. For Pompey made such a vigorous sally on them\r\nthat not a man stood his ground; the trenches were filled with the slaughter,\r\nmany fell upon their own ramparts and bulwarks, whither they were driven in\r\nflight by the enemy. Caesar met them, and would have turned them back, but\r\ncould not. When he went to lay hold of the ensigns, those who carried them\r\nthrew them down, so that the enemies took thirty-two of them. He himself\r\nnarrowly escaped; for taking hold of one of his soldiers, a big and strong man,\r\nthat was flying by him, he bade him stand and face about; but the fellow, full\r\nof apprehensions from the danger he was in, laid hold of his sword, as if he\r\nwould strike Caesar, but Caesar’s armor-bearer cut off his arm. Caesar’s\r\naffairs were so desperate at that time, that when Pompey, either through\r\nover-cautiousness, or his ill fortune, did not give the finishing stroke to\r\nthat great success, but retreated after he had driven the routed enemy within\r\ntheir camp, Caesar, upon seeing his withdrawal, said to his friends, “The\r\nvictory to-day had been on the enemies’ side, if they had had a general who\r\nknew how to gain it.” When he was retired into his tent, he laid himself down\r\nto sleep, but spent that night as miserably as ever he did any, in perplexity\r\nand consideration with himself, coming to the conclusion that he had conducted\r\nthe war amiss. For when he had a fertile country before him, and all the\r\nwealthy cities of Macedonia and Thessaly, he had neglected to carry the war\r\nthither, and had sat down by the seaside, where his enemies had such a powerful\r\nfleet, so that he was in fact rather besieged by the want of necessaries, than\r\nbesieging others with his arms. Being thus distracted in his thoughts with the\r\nview of the difficulty and distress he was in, he raised his camp, with the\r\nintention of advancing towards Scipio, who lay in Macedonia; hoping either to\r\nentice Pompey into a country where he should fight without the advantage he now\r\nhad of supplies from the sea, or to overpower Scipio, if not assisted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis set all Pompey’s army and officers on fire to hasten and pursue Caesar,\r\nwhom they concluded to be beaten and flying. But Pompey was afraid to hazard a\r\nbattle on which so much depended, and being himself provided with all\r\nnecessaries for any length of time, thought to tire out and waste the vigor of\r\nCaesar’s army, which could not last long. For the best part of his men, though\r\nthey had great experience and showed an irresistible courage in all\r\nengagements, yet by their frequent marches, changing their camps, attacking\r\nfortifications, and keeping long night-watches, were getting worn-out and\r\nbroken; they being now old, their bodies less fit for labor, and their courage,\r\nalso, beginning to give way with the failure of their strength. Besides, it was\r\nsaid that an infectious disease, occasioned by their irregular diet, was\r\nprevailing in Caesar’s army, and what was of greatest moment, he was neither\r\nfurnished with money nor provisions, so that in a little time he must needs\r\nfall of himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor these reasons Pompey had no mind to fight him, but was thanked for it by\r\nnone but Cato, who rejoiced at the prospect of sparing his fellow-citizens. For\r\nhe when he saw the dead bodies of those who had fallen in the last battle on\r\nCaesar’s side, to the number of a thousand, turned away, covered his face, and\r\nshed tears. But everyone else upbraided Pompey for being reluctant to fight,\r\nand tried to goad him on by such nicknames as Agamemnon, and king of kings, as\r\nif he were in no hurry to lay down his sovereign authority, but was pleased to\r\nsee so many commanders attending on him, and paying their attendance at his\r\ntent. Favonius, who affected Cato’s free way of speaking his mind, complained\r\nbitterly that they should eat no figs even this year at Tusculum, because of\r\nPompey’s love of command. Afranius, who was lately returned out of Spain, and\r\non account of his ill success there, labored under the suspicion of having been\r\nbribed to betray the army, asked why they did not fight this purchaser of\r\nprovinces. Pompey was driven, against his own will, by this kind of language,\r\ninto offering battle, and proceeded to follow Caesar. Caesar had found great\r\ndifficulties in his march, for no country would supply him with provisions, his\r\nreputation being very much fallen since his late defeat. But after he took\r\nGomphi, a town of Thessaly, he not only found provisions for his army, but\r\nphysic too. For there they met with plenty of wine, which they took very\r\nfreely, and heated with this, sporting and reveling on their march in\r\nbacchanalian fashion, they shook off the disease, and their whole constitution\r\nwas relieved and changed into another habit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the two armies were come into Pharsalia, and both encamped there, Pompey’s\r\nthoughts ran the same way as they had done before, against fighting, and the\r\nmore because of some unlucky presages, and a vision he had in a dream. But\r\nthose who were about him were so confident of success, that Domitius, and\r\nSpinther, and Scipio, as if they had already conquered, quarreled which should\r\nsucceed Caesar in the pontificate. And many sent to Rome to take houses fit to\r\naccommodate consuls and praetors, as being sure of entering upon those offices,\r\nas soon as the battle was over. The cavalry especially were obstinate for\r\nfighting, being splendidly armed and bravely mounted, and valuing themselves\r\nupon the fine horses they kept, and upon their own handsome persons; as also\r\nupon the advantage of their numbers, for they were five thousand against one\r\nthousand of Caesar’s. Nor were the numbers of the infantry less\r\ndisproportionate, there being forty-five thousand of Pompey’s, against\r\ntwenty-two thousand of the enemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, collecting his soldiers together, told them that Corfinius was coming\r\nup to them with two legions, and that fifteen cohorts more under Calenus were\r\nposted at Megara and Athens; he then asked them whether they would stay till\r\nthese joined them, or would hazard the battle by themselves. They all cried out\r\nto him not to wait, but on the contrary to do whatever he could to bring about\r\nan engagement as soon as possible. When he sacrificed to the gods for the\r\nlustration of his army, upon the death of the first victim, the augur told him,\r\nwithin three days he should come to a decisive action. Caesar asked him whether\r\nhe saw anything in the entrails, which promised a happy event. “That,” said the\r\npriest, “you can best answer yourself; for the gods signify a great alteration\r\nfrom the present posture of affairs. If, therefore, you think yourself well off\r\nnow, expect worse fortune; if unhappy, hope for better.” The night before the\r\nbattle, as he walked the rounds about midnight, there was a light seen in the\r\nheaven, very bright and flaming, which seemed to pass over Caesar’s camp, and\r\nfall into Pompey’s. And when Caesar’s soldiers came to relieve the watch in the\r\nmorning, they perceived a panic disorder among the enemies. However, he did not\r\nexpect to fight that day, but set about raising his camp with the intention of\r\nmarching towards Scotussa.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when the tents were now taken down, his scouts rode up to him, and told him\r\nthe enemy would give him battle. With this news he was extremely pleased, and\r\nhaving performed his devotions to the gods, set his army in battle array,\r\ndividing them into three bodies. Over the middlemost he placed Domitius\r\nCalvinus; Antony commanded the left wing, and he himself the right, being\r\nresolved to fight at the head of the tenth legion. But when he saw the enemies’\r\ncavalry taking position against him, being struck with their fine appearance\r\nand their number, he gave private orders that six cohorts from the rear of the\r\narmy should come round and join him, whom he posted behind the right wing, and\r\ninstructed them what they should do, when the enemy’s horse came to charge. On\r\nthe other side, Pompey commanded the right wing, Domitius the left, and Scipio,\r\nPompey’s father-in-law, the center. The whole weight of the cavalry was\r\ncollected on the left wing, with the intent that they should outflank the right\r\nwing of the enemy, and rout that part where the general himself commanded. For\r\nthey thought no phalanx of infantry could be solid enough to sustain such a\r\nshock, but that they must necessarily be broken and shattered all to pieces\r\nupon the onset of so immense a force of cavalry. When they were ready on both\r\nsides to give the signal for battle, Pompey commended his foot who were in the\r\nfront to stand their ground, and without breaking their order, receive quietly\r\nthe enemy’s first attack, till they came within javelin’s cast. Caesar, in this\r\nrespect, also, blames Pompey’s generalship, as if he had not been aware how the\r\nfirst encounter, when made with an impetus and upon the run, gives weight and\r\nforce to the strokes, and fires the men’s spirits into a flame, which the\r\ngeneral concurrence fans to full heat. He himself was just putting the troops\r\ninto motion and advancing to the action, when he found one of his captains, a\r\ntrusty and experienced soldier, encouraging his men to exert their utmost.\r\nCaesar called him by his name, and said, “What hopes, Caius Crassinius, and\r\nwhat grounds for encouragement?” Crassinius stretched out his hand, and cried\r\nin a loud voice, “We shall conquer nobly, Caesar; and I this day will deserve\r\nyour praises, either alive or dead.” So he said, and was the first man to run\r\nin upon the enemy, followed by the hundred and twenty soldiers about him, and\r\nbreaking through the first rank, still pressed on forwards with much slaughter\r\nof the enemy, till at last he was struck back by the wound of a sword, which\r\nwent in at his mouth with such force that it came out at his neck behind.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst the foot was thus sharply engaged in the main battle, on the flank\r\nPompey’s horse rode up confidently, and opened their ranks very wide, that they\r\nmight surround the Fight wing of Caesar. But before they engaged, Caesar’s\r\ncohorts rushed out and attacked them, and did not dart their javelins at a\r\ndistance, nor strike at the thighs and legs, as they usually did in close\r\nbattle, but aimed at their faces. For thus Caesar had instructed them, in hopes\r\nthat young gentlemen, who had not known much of battles and wounds, but came\r\nwearing their hair long, in the flower of their age and height of their beauty,\r\nwould be more apprehensive of such blows, and not care for hazarding both a\r\ndanger at present and a blemish for the future. And so it proved, for they were\r\nso far from bearing the stroke of the javelins, that they could not stand the\r\nsight of them, but turned about, and covered their faces to secure them. Once\r\nin disorder, presently they turned about to fly; and so most shamefully ruined\r\nall. For those who had beat them back, at once outflanked the infantry, and\r\nfalling on their rear, cut them to pieces. Pompey, who commanded the other wing\r\nof the army, when he saw his cavalry thus broken and flying, was no longer\r\nhimself, nor did he now remember that he was Pompey the Great, but like one\r\nwhom some god had deprived of his senses, retired to his tent without speaking;\r\na word, and there sat to expect the event, till the whole army was routed, and\r\nthe enemy appeared upon the works which were thrown up before the camp, where\r\nthey closely engaged with his men, who were posted there to defend it. Then\r\nfirst he seemed to have recovered his senses, and uttering, it is said, only\r\nthese words, “What, into the camp too?” he laid aside his general’s habit, and\r\nputting on such clothes as might best favor his flight, stole off. What fortune\r\nhe met with afterwards, how he took shelter in Egypt, and was murdered there,\r\nwe tell you in his Life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, when he came to view Pompey’s camp, and saw some of his opponents dead\r\nupon the ground, others dying, said, with a groan, “This they would have; they\r\nbrought me to this necessity. I, Caius Caesar, after succeeding in so many\r\nwars, had been condemned, had I dismissed my army.” These words, Pollio says,\r\nCaesar spoke in Latin at that time, and that he himself wrote them in Greek;\r\nadding, that those who were killed at the taking of the camp, were most of them\r\nservants; and that not above six thousand soldiers fell. Caesar incorporated\r\nmost of the foot whom he took prisoners, with his own legions, and gave a free\r\npardon to many of the distinguished persons, and amongst the rest, to Brutus,\r\nwho afterwards killed him. He did not immediately appear after the battle was\r\nover, which put Caesar, it is said, into great anxiety for him; nor was his\r\npleasure less when he saw him present himself alive.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were many prodigies that foreshowed this victory, but the most remarkable\r\nthat we are told of, was that at Tralles. In the temple of Victory stood\r\nCaesar’s statue. The ground on which it stood was naturally hard and solid, and\r\nthe stone with which it was paved still harder; yet it is said that a palm-tree\r\nshot itself up near the pedestal of this statue. In the city of Padua, one\r\nCaius Cornelius, who had the character of a good augur, the fellow-citizen and\r\nacquaintance of Livy, the historian, happened to be making some augural\r\nobservations that very day when the battle was fought. And first, as Livy tells\r\nus, he pointed out the time of the fight, and said to those who were by him,\r\nthat just then the battle was begun, and the men engaged. When he looked a\r\nsecond time, and observed the omens, he leaped up as if he had been inspired,\r\nand cried out, “Caesar, you are victorious.” This much surprised the standers\r\nby, but he took the garland which he had on from his head, and swore he would\r\nnever wear it again till the event should give authority to his art. This Livy\r\npositively states for a truth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, as a memorial of his victory, gave the Thessalians their freedom, and\r\nthen went in pursuit of Pompey. When he was come into Asia, to gratify\r\nTheopompus, the author of the collection of fables, he enfranchised the\r\nCnidians, and remitted one third of their tribute to all the people of the\r\nprovince of Asia. When he came to Alexandria, where Pompey was already\r\nmurdered, he would not look upon Theodotus, who presented him with his head,\r\nbut taking only his signet, shed tears. Those of Pompey’s friends who had been\r\narrested by the king of Egypt, as they were wandering in those parts, he\r\nrelieved, and offered them his own friendship. In his letter to his friends at\r\nRome, he told them that the greatest and most signal pleasure his victory had\r\ngiven him, was to be able continually to save the lives of fellow-citizens who\r\nhad fought against him. As to the war in Egypt, some say it was at once\r\ndangerous and dishonorable, and noways necessary, but occasioned only by his\r\npassion for Cleopatra. Others blame the ministers of the king, and especially\r\nthe eunuch Pothinus, who was the chief favorite, and had lately killed Pompey,\r\nwho had banished Cleopatra, and was now secretly plotting Caesar’s destruction,\r\n(to prevent which, Caesar from that time began to sit up whole nights, under\r\npretense of drinking, for the security of his person,) while openly he was\r\nintolerable in his affronts to Caesar, both by his words and actions. For when\r\nCaesar’s soldiers had musty and unwholesome corn measured out to them, Pothinus\r\ntold them they must be content with it, since they were fed at another’s cost.\r\nHe ordered that his table should be served with wooden and earthen dishes, and\r\nsaid Caesar had carried off all the gold and silver plate, under pretense of\r\narrears of debt. For the present king’s father owed Caesar one thousand seven\r\nhundred and fifty myriads of money; Caesar had formerly remitted to his\r\nchildren the rest, but thought fit to demand the thousand myriads at that time,\r\nto maintain his army. Pothinus told him that he had better go now and attend to\r\nhis other affairs of greater consequence, and that he should receive his money\r\nat another time with thanks. Caesar replied that he did not want Egyptians to\r\nbe his counselors, and soon after, privately sent for Cleopatra from her\r\nretirement.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nShe took a small boat, and one only of her confidents, Apollodorus, the\r\nSicilian, along with her, and in the dusk of the evening landed near the\r\npalace. She was at a loss how to get in undiscovered, till she thought of\r\nputting herself into the coverlet of a bed and lying at length, whilst\r\nApollodorus tied up the bedding and carried it on his back through the gates to\r\nCaesar’s apartment. Caesar was first captivated by this proof of Cleopatra’s\r\nbold wit, and was afterwards so overcome by the charm of her society, that he\r\nmade a reconciliation between her and her brother, on condition that she should\r\nrule as his colleague in the kingdom. A festival was kept to celebrate this\r\nreconciliation, where Caesar’s barber, a busy, listening fellow, whose\r\nexcessive timidity made him inquisitive into everything, discovered that there\r\nwas a plot carrying on against Caesar by Achillas, general of the king’s\r\nforces, and Pothinus, the eunuch. Caesar, upon the first intelligence of it,\r\nset a guard upon the hall where the feast was kept, and killed Pothinus.\r\nAchillas escaped to the army, and raised a troublesome and embarrassing war\r\nagainst Caesar, which it was not easy for him to manage with his few soldiers\r\nagainst so powerful a city and so large an army. The first difficulty he met\r\nwith was want of water, for the enemies had turned the canals. Another was,\r\nwhen the enemy endeavored to cut off his communication by sea, he was forced to\r\ndivert that danger by setting fire to his own ships, which, after burning the\r\ndocks, thence spread on and destroyed the great library. A third was, when in\r\nan engagement near Pharos, he leaped from the mole into a small boat, to assist\r\nhis soldiers who were in danger, and when the Egyptians pressed him on every\r\nside, he threw himself into the sea, and with much difficulty swam off. This\r\nwas the time when, according to the story, he had a number of manuscripts in\r\nhis hand, which, though he was continually darted at, and forced to keep his\r\nhead often under water, yet he did not let go, but held them up safe from\r\nwetting in one hand, whilst he swam with the other. His boat, in the meantime,\r\nwas quickly sunk. At last, the king having gone off to Achillas and his party,\r\nCaesar engaged and conquered them. Many fell in that battle, and the king\r\nhimself was never seen after. Upon this, he left Cleopatra queen of Egypt, who\r\nsoon after had a son by him, whom the Alexandrians called Caesarion, and then\r\ndeparted for Syria.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThence he passed to Asia, where he heard that Domitius was beaten by Pharnaces,\r\nson of Mithridates, and had fled out of Pontus with a handful of men; and that\r\nPharnaces pursued the victory so eagerly, that though he was already master of\r\nBithynia and Cappadocia, he had a further design of attempting the Lesser\r\nArmenia, and was inviting all the kings and tetrarchs there to rise. Caesar\r\nimmediately marched against him with three legions, fought him near Zela, drove\r\nhim out of Pontus, and totally defeated his army. When he gave Amantius, a\r\nfriend of his at Rome, an account of this action, to express the promptness and\r\nrapidity of it, he used three words, I came, saw, and conquered, which in Latin\r\nhaving all the same cadence, carry with them a very suitable air of brevity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHence he crossed into Italy, and came to Rome at the end of that year, for\r\nwhich he had been a second time chosen dictator, though that office had never\r\nbefore lasted a whole year, and was elected consul for the next. He was ill\r\nspoken of, because upon a mutiny of some soldiers, who killed Cosconius and\r\nGalba, who had been praetors, he gave them only the slight reprimand of calling\r\nthem Citizens, instead of Fellow-Soldiers, and afterwards assigned to each man\r\na thousand drachmas, besides a share of lands in Italy. He was also reflected\r\non for Dolabella’s extravagance, Amantius’s covetousness, Antony’s debauchery,\r\nand Corfinius’s profuseness, who pulled down Pompey’s house, and rebuilt it, as\r\nnot magnificent enough; for the Romans were much displeased with all these. But\r\nCaesar, for the prosecution of his own scheme of government, though he knew\r\ntheir characters and disapproved them, was forced to make use of those who\r\nwould serve him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the battle of Pharsalia, Cato and Scipio fled into Africa, and there,\r\nwith the assistance of king Juba, got together a considerable force, which\r\nCaesar resolved to engage. He, accordingly, passed into Sicily about the\r\nwinter-solstice, and to remove from his officers’ minds all hopes of delay\r\nthere, encamped by the sea-shore, and as soon as ever he had a fair wind, put\r\nto sea with three thousand foot and a few horse. When he had landed them, he\r\nwent back secretly, under some apprehensions for the larger part of his army,\r\nbut met them upon the sea, and brought them all to the same camp. There he was\r\ninformed that the enemies relied much upon an ancient oracle, that the family\r\nof the Scipios should be always victorious in Africa. There was in his army a\r\nman, otherwise mean and contemptible, but of the house of the Africani, and his\r\nname Scipio Sallutio. This man Caesar, (whether in raillery, to ridicule\r\nScipio, who commended the enemy, or seriously to bring over the omen to his\r\nside, it were hard to say,) put at the head of his troops, as if he were\r\ngeneral, in all the frequent battles which he was compelled to fight. For he\r\nwas in such want both of victualing for his men, and forage for his horses,\r\nthat he was forced to feed the horses with sea-weed, which he washed thoroughly\r\nto take off its saltiness, and mixed with a little grass, to give it a more\r\nagreeable taste. The Numidians, in great numbers, and well horsed, whenever he\r\nwent, came up and commanded the country. Caesar’s cavalry being one day\r\nunemployed, diverted themselves with seeing an African, who entertained them\r\nwith dancing and at the same time playing upon the pipe to admiration. They\r\nwere so taken with this, that they alighted, and gave their horses to some\r\nboys, when on a sudden the enemy surrounded them, killed some, pursued the\r\nrest, and fell in with them into their camp; and had not Caesar himself and\r\nAsinius Pollio come to their assistance, and put a stop to their flight, the\r\nwar had been then at an end. In another engagement, also, the enemy had again\r\nthe better, when Caesar, it is said, seized a standard-bearer, who was running\r\naway, by the neck, and forcing him to face about, said, “Look, that is the way\r\nto the enemy.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nScipio, flushed with this success at first, had a mind to come to one decisive\r\naction. He therefore left Afranius and Juba in two distinct bodies not far\r\ndistant, and marched himself towards Thapsus, where he proceeded to build a\r\nfortified camp above a lake, to serve as a center-point for their operations,\r\nand also as a place of refuge. Whilst Scipio was thus employed, Caesar with\r\nincredible dispatch made his way through thick woods, and a country supposed to\r\nbe impassable, cut off one party of the enemy, and attacked another in the\r\nfront. Having routed these, he followed up his opportunity and the current of\r\nhis good fortune, and on the first onset carried Afranius’s camp, and ravaged\r\nthat of the Numidians, Juba, their king, being glad to save himself by flight;\r\nso that in a small part of a single day he made himself master of three camps,\r\nand killed fifty thousand of the enemy, with the loss only of fifty of his own\r\nmen. This is the account some give of that fight. Others say, he was not in the\r\naction, but that he was taken with his usual distemper just as he was setting\r\nhis army in order. He perceived the approaches of it, and before it had too far\r\ndisordered his senses, when he was already beginning to shake under its\r\ninfluence, withdrew into a neighboring fort, where he reposed himself. Of the\r\nmen of consular and praetorian dignity that were taken after the fight, several\r\nCaesar put to death, others anticipated him by killing themselves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato had undertaken to defend Utica, and for that reason was not in the battle.\r\nThe desire which Caesar had to take him alive, made him hasten thither; and\r\nupon the intelligence that he had dispatched himself, he was much discomposed,\r\nfor what reason is not so well agreed. He certainly said, “Cato, I must grudge\r\nyou your death, as you grudged me the honor of saving your life.” Yet the\r\ndiscourse he wrote against Cato after his death, is no great sign of his\r\nkindness, or that he was inclined to be reconciled to him. For how is it\r\nprobable that he would have been tender of his life, when he was so bitter\r\nagainst his memory? But from his clemency to Cicero, Brutus, and many others\r\nwho fought against him, it may be divined that Caesar’s book was not written so\r\nmuch out of animosity to Cato, as in his own vindication. Cicero had written an\r\nencomium upon Cato, and called it by his name. A composition by so great a\r\nmaster upon so excellent a subject, was sure to be in everyone’s hands. This\r\ntouched Caesar, who looked upon a panegyric on his enemy, as no better than an\r\ninvective against himself; and therefore he made in his Anti-Cato, a collection\r\nof whatever could be said in his derogation. The two compositions, like Cato\r\nand Caesar themselves, have each of them their several admirers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, upon his return to Rome, did not omit to pronounce before the people a\r\nmagnificent account of his victory, telling them that he had subdued a country\r\nwhich would supply the public every year with two hundred thousand attic\r\nbushels of corn, and three million pounds weight of oil. He then led three\r\ntriumphs for Egypt, Pontus, and Africa, the last for the victory over, not\r\nScipio, but king Juba, as it was professed, whose little son was then carried\r\nin the triumph, the happiest captive that ever was, who of a barbarian\r\nNumidian, came by this means to obtain a place among the most learned\r\nhistorians of Greece. After the triumphs, he distributed rewards to his\r\nsoldiers, and treated the people with feasting and shows. He entertained the\r\nwhole people together at one feast, where twenty-two thousand dining couches\r\nwere laid out; and he made a display of gladiators, and of battles by sea, in\r\nhonor, as he said, of his daughter Julia, though she had been long since dead.\r\nWhen these shows were over, an account was taken of the people, who from three\r\nhundred and twenty thousand, were now reduced to one hundred and fifty\r\nthousand. So great a waste had the civil war made in Rome alone, not to mention\r\nwhat the other parts of Italy and the provinces suffered.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was now chosen a fourth time consul, and went into Spain against Pompey’s\r\nsons. They were but young, yet had gathered together a very numerous army, and\r\nshowed they had courage and conduct to command it, so that Caesar was in\r\nextreme danger. The great battle was near the town of Munda, in which Caesar\r\nseeing his men hard pressed, and making but a weak resistance, ran through the\r\nranks among the soldiers, and crying out, asked them whether they were not\r\nashamed to deliver him into the hands of boys? At last, with great difficulty,\r\nand the best efforts he could make, he forced back the enemy, killing thirty\r\nthousand of them, though with the loss of one thousand of his best men. When he\r\ncame back from the fight, he told his friends that he had often fought for\r\nvictory, but this was the first time that he had ever fought for life. This\r\nbattle was won on the feast of Bacchus, the very day in which Pompey, four\r\nyears before. had set out for the war. The younger of Pompey’s sons escaped;\r\nbut Didius, some days after the fight, brought the head of the elder to Caesar.\r\nThis was the last war he was engaged in. The triumph which he celebrated for\r\nthis victory, displeased the Romans beyond any thing. For he had not defeated\r\nforeign generals, or barbarian kings, but had destroyed the children and family\r\nof one of the greatest men of Rome, though unfortunate; and it did not look\r\nwell to lead a procession in celebration of the calamities of his country, and\r\nto rejoice in those things for which no other apology could be made either to\r\ngods or men, than their being absolutely necessary. Besides that, hitherto he\r\nhad never sent letters or messengers to announce any victory over his\r\nfellow-citizens, but had seemed rather to be ashamed of the action, than to\r\nexpect honor from it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNevertheless his countrymen, conceding all to his fortune, and accepting the\r\nbit, in the hope that the government of a single person would give them time to\r\nbreathe after so many civil wars and calamities, made him dictator for life.\r\nThis was indeed a tyranny avowed, since his power now was not only absolute,\r\nbut perpetual too. Cicero made the first proposals to the senate for conferring\r\nhonors upon him, which might in some sort be said not to exceed the limits of\r\nordinary human moderation. But others, striving which should deserve most,\r\ncarried them so excessively high, that they made Caesar odious to the most\r\nindifferent and moderate sort of men, by the pretension and the extravagance of\r\nthe titles which they decreed him. His enemies, too, are thought to have had\r\nsome share in this, as well as his flatterers. It gave them advantage against\r\nhim, and would be their justification for any attempt they should make upon\r\nhim; for since the civil wars were ended, he had nothing else that he could be\r\ncharged with. And they had good reason to decree a temple to Clemency, in token\r\nof their thanks for the mild use he made of his victory. For he not only\r\npardoned many of those who fought against him, but, further, to some gave\r\nhonors and offices; as particularly to Brutus and Cassius, who both of them\r\nwere praetors. Pompey’s images that were thrown down, he set up again, upon\r\nwhich Cicero also said that by raising Pompey’s statues he had fixed his own.\r\nWhen his friends advised him to have a guard, and several offered their\r\nservice, he would not hear of it; but said it was better to suffer death once,\r\nthan always to live in fear of it. He looked upon the affections of the people\r\nto be the best and surest guard, and entertained them again with public\r\nfeasting, and general distributions of corn; and to gratify his army, he sent\r\nout colonies to several places, of which the most remarkable were Carthage and\r\nCorinth; which as before they had been ruined at the same time, so now were\r\nrestored and repeopled together.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for the men of high rank, he promised to some of them future consulships and\r\npraetorships, some he consoled with other offices and honors, and to all held\r\nout hopes of favor by the solicitude he showed to rule with the general\r\ngood-will; insomuch that upon the death of Maximus one day before his\r\nconsulship was ended, he made Caninius Revilius consul for that day. And when\r\nmany went to pay the usual compliments and attentions to the new consul, “Let\r\nus make haste,” said Cicero, “lest the man be gone out of his office before we\r\ncome.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar was born to do great things, and had a passion after honor, and the many\r\nnoble exploits he had done did not now serve as an inducement to him to sit\r\nstill and reap the fruit of his past labors, but were incentives and\r\nencouragments to go on, and raised in him ideas of still greater actions, and a\r\ndesire of new glory, as if the present were all spent. It was in fact a sort of\r\nemulous struggle with himself, as it had been with another, how he might outdo\r\nhis past actions by his future. In pursuit of these thoughts, he resolved to\r\nmake war upon the Parthians, and when he had subdued them, to pass through\r\nHyrcania; thence to march along by the Caspian Sea to Mount Caucasus, and so on\r\nabout Pontus, till he came into Scythia; then to overrun all the countries\r\nbordering upon Germany, and Germany itself; and so to return through Gaul into\r\nItaly, after completing the whole circle of his intended empire, and bounding\r\nit on every side by the ocean. While preparations were making for this\r\nexpedition, he proposed to dig through the isthmus on which Corinth stands; and\r\nappointed Anienus to superintend the work. He had also a design of diverting\r\nthe Tiber, and carrying it by a deep channel directly from Rome to Circeii, and\r\nso into the sea near Tarracina, that there might be a safe and easy passage for\r\nall merchants who traded to Rome. Besides this, he intended to drain all the\r\nmarshes by Pomentium and Setia, and gain ground enough from the water to employ\r\nmany thousands of men in tillage. He proposed further to make great mounds on\r\nthe shore nearest Rome, to hinder the sea from breaking in upon the land, to\r\nclear the coast at Ostia of all the hidden rocks and shoals that made it unsafe\r\nfor shipping, and to form ports and harbors fit to receive the large number of\r\nvessels that would frequent them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese things were designed without being carried into effect; but his\r\nreformation of the calendar, in order to rectify the irregularity of time, was\r\nnot only projected with great scientific ingenuity, but was brought to its\r\ncompletion, and proved of very great use. For it was not only in ancient times\r\nthat the Romans had wanted a certain rule to make the revolutions of their\r\nmonths fall in with the course of the year, so that their festivals and solemn\r\ndays for sacrifice were removed by little and little, till at last they came to\r\nbe kept at seasons quite the contrary to what was at first intended, but even\r\nat this time the people had no way of computing the solar year; only the\r\npriests could say the time, and they, at their pleasure, without giving any\r\nnotice, slipped in the intercalary month, which they called Mercedonius. Numa\r\nwas the first who put in this month, but his expedient was but a poor one and\r\nquite inadequate to correct all the errors that arose in the returns of the\r\nannual cycles, as we have shown in his life. Caesar called in the best\r\nphilosophers and mathematicians of his time to settle the point, and out of the\r\nsystems he had before him, formed a new and more exact method of correcting the\r\ncalendar, which the Romans use to this day, and seem to succeed better than any\r\nnation in avoiding the errors occasioned by the inequality of the cycles. Yet\r\neven this gave offense to those who looked with an evil eye on his position,\r\nand felt oppressed by his power. Cicero, the orator, when someone in his\r\ncompany chanced to say, the next morning Lyra would rise, replied, “Yes, in\r\naccordance with the edict,” as if even this were a matter of compulsion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut that which brought upon him the most apparent and mortal hatred, was his\r\ndesire of being king; which gave the common people the first occasion to\r\nquarrel with him, and proved the most specious pretense to those who had been\r\nhis secret enemies all along. Those, who would have procured him that title,\r\ngave it out, that it was foretold in the Sybils’ books that the Romans should\r\nconquer the Parthians when they fought against them under the conduct of a\r\nking, but not before. And one day, as Caesar was coming down from Alba to Rome,\r\nsome were so bold as to salute him by the name of king; but he finding the\r\npeople disrelish it, seemed to resent it himself, and said his name was Caesar,\r\nnot king. Upon this, there was a general silence, and he passed on looking not\r\nvery well pleased or contented. Another time, when the senate had conferred on\r\nhim some extravagant honors, he chanced to receive the message as he was\r\nsitting on the rostra, where, though the consuls and praetors themselves waited\r\non him, attended by the whole body of the senate, he did not rise, but behaved\r\nhimself to them as if they had been private men, and told them his honors\r\nwanted rather to be retrenched than increased. This treatment offended not only\r\nthe senate, but the commonalty too, as if they thought the affront upon the\r\nsenate equally reflected upon the whole republic; so that all who could\r\ndecently leave him went off, looking much discomposed. Caesar, perceiving the\r\nfalse step he had made, immediately retired home; and laying his throat bare,\r\ntold his friends that he was ready to offer this to anyone who would give the\r\nstroke. But afterwards he made the malady from which he suffered, the excuse\r\nfor his sitting, saying that those who are attacked by it, lose their presence\r\nof mind, if they talk much standing; that they presently grow giddy, fall into\r\nconvulsions, and quite lose their reason. But this was not the reality, for he\r\nwould willingly have stood up to the senate, had not Cornelius Balbus, one of\r\nhis friends, or rather flatterers, hindered him. “Will you not remember,” said\r\nhe, “you are Caesar, and claim the honor which is due to your merit?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe gave a fresh occasion of resentment by his affront to the tribunes. The\r\nLupercalia were then celebrated, a feast at the first institution belonging, as\r\nsome writers say, to the shepherds, and having some connection with the\r\nArcadian Lycaea. Many young noblemen and magistrates run up and down the city\r\nwith their upper garments off, striking all they meet with thongs of hide, by\r\nway of sport; and many women, even of the highest rank, place themselves in the\r\nway, and hold out their hands to the lash, as boys in a school do to the\r\nmaster, out of a belief that it procures an easy labor to those who are with\r\nchild, and makes those conceive who are barren. Caesar, dressed in a triumphal\r\nrobe, seated himself in a golden chair at the rostra, to view this ceremony.\r\nAntony, as consul, was one of those who ran this course, and when he came into\r\nthe forum, and the people made way for him, he went up and reached to Caesar a\r\ndiadem wreathed with laurel. Upon this, there was a shout, but only a slight\r\none, made by the few who were planted there for that purpose; but when Caesar\r\nrefused it, there was universal applause. Upon the second offer, very few, and\r\nupon the second refusal, all again applauded. Caesar finding it would not take,\r\nrose up, and ordered the crown to be carried into the capitol. Caesar’s statues\r\nwere afterwards found with royal diadems on their heads. Flavius and Marullus,\r\ntwo tribunes of the people, went presently and pulled them off, and having\r\napprehended those who first saluted Caesar as king, committed them to prison.\r\nThe people followed them with acclamations, and called them by the name of\r\nBrutus, because Brutus was the first who ended the succession of kings, and\r\ntransferred the power which before was lodged in one man into the hands of the\r\nsenate and people. Caesar so far resented this, that he displaced Marullus and\r\nFlavius; and in urging his charges against them, at the same time ridiculed the\r\npeople, by himself giving the men more than once the names of Bruti, and\r\nCumaei.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis made the multitude turn their thoughts to Marcus Brutus, who, by his\r\nfather’s side, was thought to be descended from that first Brutus, and by his\r\nmother’s side from the Servilii, another noble family, being besides nephew and\r\nson-in-law to Cato. But the honors and favors he had received from Caesar, took\r\noff the edge from the desires he might himself have felt for overthrowing the\r\nnew monarchy. For he had not only been pardoned himself after Pompey’s defeat\r\nat Pharsalia, and had procured the same grace for many of his friends, but was\r\none in whom Caesar had a particular confidence. He had at that time the most\r\nhonorable praetorship of the year, and was named for the consulship four years\r\nafter, being preferred before Cassius, his competitor. Upon the question as to\r\nthe choice, Caesar, it is related, said that Cassius had the fairer\r\npretensions, but that he could not pass by Brutus. Nor would he afterwards\r\nlisten to some who spoke against Brutus, when the conspiracy against him was\r\nalready afoot, but laying his hand on his body, said to the informers, “Brutus\r\nwill wait for this skin of mine,” intimating that he was worthy to bear rule on\r\naccount of his virtue, but would not be base and ungrateful to gain it. Those\r\nwho desired a change, and looked on him as the only, or at least the most\r\nproper, person to effect it, did not venture to speak with him; but in the\r\nnight time laid papers about his chair of state, where he used to sit and\r\ndetermine causes, with such sentences in them as, “You are asleep, Brutus,”\r\n“You are no longer Brutus.” Cassius, when he perceived his ambition a little\r\nraised upon this, was more instant than before to work him yet further, having\r\nhimself a private grudge against Caesar, for some reasons that we have\r\nmentioned in the Life of Brutus. Nor was Caesar without suspicions of him, and\r\nsaid once to his friends, “What do you think Cassius is aiming at? I don’t like\r\nhim, he looks so pale.” And when it was told him that Antony and Dolabella were\r\nin a plot against him, he said he did not fear such fat, luxurious men, but\r\nrather the pale, lean fellows, meaning Cassius and Brutus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFate, however, is to all appearance more unavoidable than unexpected. For many\r\nstrange prodigies and apparitions are said to have been observed shortly before\r\nthe event. As to the lights in the heavens, the noises heard in the night, and\r\nthe wild birds which perched in the forum, these are not perhaps worth taking\r\nnotice of in so great a case as this. Strabo, the philosopher, tells us that a\r\nnumber of men were seen, looking as if they were heated through with fire,\r\ncontending with each other; that a quantity of flame issued from the hand of a\r\nsoldier’s servant, so that they who saw it thought he must be burnt, but that\r\nafter all he had no hurt. As Caesar was sacrificing, the victim’s heart was\r\nmissing, a very bad omen, because no living creature can subsist without a\r\nheart. One finds it also related by many, that a soothsayer bade him prepare\r\nfor some great danger on the ides of March. When the day was come, Caesar, as\r\nhe went to the senate, met this soothsayer, and said to him by way of raillery,\r\n“The ides of March are come;” who answered him calmly, “Yes, they are come, but\r\nthey are not past.” The day before this assassination, he supped with Marcus\r\nLepidus; and as he was signing some letters, according to his custom, as he\r\nreclined at table, there arose a question what sort of death was the best. At\r\nwhich he immediately, before anyone could speak, said, “A sudden one.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, as he was in bed with his wife, all the doors and windows of the\r\nhouse flew open together; he was startled at the noise, and the light which\r\nbroke into the room, and sat up in his bed, where by the moonshine he perceived\r\nCalpurnia fast asleep, but heard her utter in her dream some indistinct words\r\nand inarticulate groans. She fancied at that time she was weeping over Caesar,\r\nand holding him butchered in her arms. Others say this was not her dream, but\r\nthat she dreamed that a pinnacle which the senate, as Livy relates, had ordered\r\nto be raised on Caesar’s house by way of ornament and grandeur, was tumbling\r\ndown, which was the occasion of her tears and ejaculations. When it was day,\r\nshe begged of Caesar, if it were possible, not to stir out, but to adjourn the\r\nsenate to another time; and if he slighted her dreams, that he would be pleased\r\nto consult his fate by sacrifices, and other kinds of divination. Nor was he\r\nhimself without some suspicion and fears; for he never before discovered any\r\nwomanish superstition in Calpurnia, whom he now saw in such great alarm. Upon\r\nthe report which the priests made to him, that they had killed several\r\nsacrifices, and still found them inauspicious, he resolved to send Antony to\r\ndismiss the senate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this juncture, Decimus Brutus, surnamed Albinus, one whom Caesar had such\r\nconfidence in that he made him his second heir, who nevertheless was engaged in\r\nthe conspiracy with the other Brutus and Cassius, fearing lest if Caesar should\r\nput off the senate to another day, the business might get wind, spoke\r\nscoffingly and in mockery of the diviners, and blamed Caesar for giving the\r\nsenate so fair an occasion of saying he had put a slight upon them, for that\r\nthey were met upon his summons, and were ready to vote unanimously, that he\r\nshould be declared king of all the provinces out of Italy, and might wear a\r\ndiadem in any other place but Italy, by sea or land. If anyone should be sent\r\nto tell them they might break up for the present, and meet again when Calpurnia\r\nshould chance to have better dreams, what would his enemies say? Or who would\r\nwith any patience hear his friends, if they should presume to defend his\r\ngovernment as not arbitrary and tyrannical? But if he was possessed so far as\r\nto think this day unfortunate, yet it were more decent to go himself to the\r\nsenate, and to adjourn it in his own person. Brutus, as he spoke these words,\r\ntook Caesar by the hand, and conducted him forth. He was not gone far from the\r\ndoor, when a servant of some other person’s made towards him, but not being\r\nable to come up to him, on account of the crowd of those who pressed about him,\r\nhe made his way into the house, and committed himself to Calpurnia, begging of\r\nher to secure him till Caesar returned, because he had matters of great\r\nimportance to communicate to him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nArtemidorus, a Cnidian, a teacher of Greek logic, and by that means so far\r\nacquainted with Brutus and his friends as to have got into the secret, brought\r\nCaesar in a small written memorial, the heads of what he had to depose. He had\r\nobserved that Caesar, as he received any papers, presently gave them to the\r\nservants who attended on him; and therefore came as near to him as he could,\r\nand said, “Read this, Caesar, alone, and quickly, for it contains matter of\r\ngreat importance which nearly concerns you.” Caesar received it, and tried\r\nseveral times to read it, but was still hindered by the crowd of those who came\r\nto speak to him. However, he kept it in his hand by itself till he came into\r\nthe senate. Some say it was another who gave Caesar this note, and that\r\nArtemidorus could not get to him, being all along kept off by the crowd.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll these things might happen by chance. But the place which was destined for\r\nthe scene of this murder, in which the senate met that day, was the same in\r\nwhich Pompey’s statue stood, and was one of the edifices which Pompey had\r\nraised and dedicated with his theater to the use of the public, plainly showing\r\nthat there was something of a supernatural influence which guided the action,\r\nand ordered it to that particular place. Cassius, just before the act, is said\r\nto have looked towards Pompey’s statue, and silently implored his assistance,\r\nthough he had been inclined to the doctrines of Epicurus. But this occasion,\r\nand the instant danger, carried him away out of all his reasonings, and filled\r\nhim for the time with a sort of inspiration. As for Antony, who was firm to\r\nCaesar, and a strong man, Brutus Albinus kept him outside the house, and\r\ndelayed him with a long conversation contrived on purpose. When Caesar entered,\r\nthe senate stood up to show their respect to him, and of Brutus’s confederates,\r\nsome came about his chair and stood behind it, others met him, pretending to\r\nadd their petitions to those of Tillius Cimber, in behalf of his brother, who\r\nwas in exile; and they followed him with their joint supplications till he came\r\nto his seat. When he was sat down, he refused to comply with their requests,\r\nand upon their urging him further, began to reproach them severally for their\r\nimportunities, when Tillius, laying hold of his robe with both his hands,\r\npulled it down from his neck, which was the signal for the assault. Casca gave\r\nhim the first cut, in the neck, which was not mortal nor dangerous, as coming\r\nfrom one who at the beginning of such a bold action was probably very much\r\ndisturbed. Caesar immediately turned about, and laid his hand upon the dagger\r\nand kept hold of it. And both of them at the same time cried out, he that\r\nreceived the blow, in Latin, “Vile Casca, what does this mean?” and he that\r\ngave it, in Greek, to his brother, “Brother, help!” Upon this first onset,\r\nthose who were not privy to the design were astonished and their horror and\r\namazement at what they saw were so great, that they durst not fly nor assist\r\nCaesar, nor so much as speak a word. But those who came prepared for the\r\nbusiness enclosed him on every side, with their naked daggers in their hands.\r\nWhich way soever he turned, he met with blows, and saw their swords leveled at\r\nhis face and eyes, and was encompassed, like a wild beast in the toils, on\r\nevery side. For it had been agreed they should each of them make a thrust at\r\nhim, and flesh themselves with his blood; for which reason Brutus also gave him\r\none stab in the groin. Some say that he fought and resisted all the rest,\r\nshifting his body to avoid the blows, and calling out for help, but that when\r\nhe saw Brutus’s sword drawn, he covered his face with his robe and submitted,\r\nletting himself fall, whether it were by chance, or that he was pushed in that\r\ndirection by his murderers, at the foot of the pedestal on which Pompey’s\r\nstatue stood, and which was thus wetted with his blood. So that Pompey himself\r\nseemed to have presided, as it were, over the revenge done upon his adversary,\r\nwho lay here at his feet, and breathed out his soul through his multitude of\r\nwounds, for they say he received three and twenty. And the conspirators\r\nthemselves were many of them wounded by each other, whilst they all leveled\r\ntheir blows at the same person.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Caesar was dispatched, Brutus stood forth to give a reason for what they\r\nhad done, but the senate would not hear him, but flew out of doors in all\r\nhaste, and filled the people with so much alarm and distraction, that some shut\r\nup their houses, others left their counters and shops. All ran one way or the\r\nother, some to the place to see the sad spectacle, others back again after they\r\nhad seen it. Antony and Lepidus, Caesar’s most faithful friends, got off\r\nprivately, and hid themselves in some friends’ houses. Brutus and his\r\nfollowers, being yet hot from the deed, marched in a body from the senate-house\r\nto the capitol with their drawn swords, not like persons who thought of\r\nescaping, but with an air of confidence and assurance, and as they went along,\r\ncalled to the people to resume their liberty, and invited the company of any\r\nmore distinguished people whom they met. And some of these joined the\r\nprocession and went up along with them, as if they also had been of the\r\nconspiracy, and could claim a share in the honor of what had been done. As, for\r\nexample, Caius Octavius and Lentulus Spinther, who suffered afterwards for\r\ntheir vanity, being taken off by Antony and the young Caesar, and lost the\r\nhonor they desired, as well as their lives, which it cost them, since no one\r\nbelieved they had any share in the action. For neither did those who punished\r\nthem profess to revenge the fact, but the ill-will. The day after, Brutus with\r\nthe rest came down from the capitol, and made a speech to the people, who\r\nlistened without expressing either any pleasure or resentment, but showed by\r\ntheir silence that they pitied Caesar, and respected Brutus. The senate passed\r\nacts of oblivion for what was past, and took measures to reconcile all parties.\r\nThey ordered that Caesar should be worshipped as a divinity, and nothing, even\r\nof the slightest consequence, should be revoked, which he had enacted during\r\nhis government. At the same time they gave Brutus and his followers the command\r\nof provinces, and other considerable posts. So that all people now thought\r\nthings were well settled, and brought to the happiest adjustment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when Caesar’s will was opened, and it was found that he had left a\r\nconsiderable legacy to each one of the Roman citizens, and when his body was\r\nseen carried through the market-place all mangled with wounds, the multitude\r\ncould no longer contain themselves within the bounds of tranquillity and order,\r\nbut heaped together a pile of benches, bars, and tables, which they placed the\r\ncorpse on, and setting fire to it, burnt it on them. Then they took brands from\r\nthe pile, and ran some to fire the houses of the conspirators, others up and\r\ndown the city, to find out the men and tear them to pieces, but met, however,\r\nwith none of them, they having taken effectual care to secure themselves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOne Cinna, a friend of Caesar’s, chanced the night before to have an odd dream.\r\nHe fancied that Caesar invited him to supper, and that upon his refusal to go\r\nwith him, Caesar took him by the hand and forced him, though he hung back. Upon\r\nhearing the report that Caesar’s body was burning in the market-place, he got\r\nup and went thither, out of respect to his memory, though his dream gave him\r\nsome ill apprehensions, and though he was suffering from a fever. One of the\r\ncrowd who saw him there, asked another who that was, and having learned his\r\nname, told it to his next neighbor. It presently passed for a certainty that he\r\nwas one of Caesar’s murderers, as, indeed, there was another Cinna, a\r\nconspirator, and they, taking this to be the man, immediately seized him, and\r\ntore him limb from limb upon the spot.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus and Cassius, frightened at this, within a few days retired out of the\r\ncity. What they afterwards did and suffered, and how they died, is written in\r\nthe Life of Brutus. Caesar died in his fifty-sixth year, not having survived\r\nPompey above four years. That empire and power which he had pursued through the\r\nwhole course of his life with so much hazard, he did at last with much\r\ndifficulty compass, but reaped no other fruits from it than the empty name and\r\ninvidious glory. But the great genius which attended him through his lifetime,\r\neven after his death remained as the avenger of his murder, pursuing through\r\nevery sea and land all those who were concerned in it, and suffering none to\r\nescape, but reaching all who in any sort or kind were either actually engaged\r\nin the fact, or by their counsels any way promoted it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe most remarkable of mere human coincidences was that which befell Cassius,\r\nwho, when he was defeated at Philippi, killed himself with the same dagger\r\nwhich he had made use of against Caesar. The most signal preternatural\r\nappearances were the great comet, which shone very bright for seven nights\r\nafter Caesar’s death, and then disappeared, and the dimness of the sun, whose\r\norb continued pale and dull for the whole of that year, never showing its\r\nordinary radiance at its rising, and giving but a weak and feeble heat. The air\r\nconsequently was damp and gross, for want of stronger rays to open and rarify\r\nit. The fruits, for that reason, never properly ripened, and began to wither\r\nand fall off for want of heat, before they were fully formed. But above all,\r\nthe phantom which appeared to Brutus showed the murder was not pleasing to the\r\ngods. The story of it is this.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus being to pass his army from Abydos to the continent on the other side,\r\nlaid himself down one night, as he used to do, in his tent, and was not asleep,\r\nbut thinking of his affairs, and what events he might expect. For he is related\r\nto have been the least inclined to sleep of all men who have commanded armies,\r\nand to have had the greatest natural capacity for continuing awake, and\r\nemploying himself without need of rest. He thought he heard a noise at the door\r\nof his tent, and looking that way, by the light of his lamp, which was almost\r\nout, saw a terrible figure, like that of a man, but of unusual stature and\r\nsevere countenance. He was somewhat frightened at first, but seeing it neither\r\ndid nor spoke anything to him, only stood silently by his bed-side, he asked\r\nwho it was. The specter answered him, “Thy evil genius, Brutus, thou shalt see\r\nme at Philippi.” Brutus answered courageously, “Well, I shall see you,” and\r\nimmediately the appearance vanished. When the time was come, he drew up his\r\narmy near Philippi against Antony and Caesar, and in the first battle won the\r\nday, routed the enemy, and plundered Caesar’s camp. The night before the second\r\nbattle, the same phantom appeared to him again, but spoke not a word. He\r\npresently understood his destiny was at hand, and exposed himself to all the\r\ndanger of the battle. Yet he did not die in the fight, but seeing his men\r\ndefeated, got up to the top of a rock, and there presenting his sword to his\r\nnaked breast, and assisted, as they say, by a friend, who helped him to give\r\nthe thrust, met his death.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap49\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003ePHOCION\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemades, the orator, when in the height of the power which he obtained at\r\nAthens by advising the state in the interest of Antipater and the Macedonians,\r\nbeing necessitated to write and speak many things below the dignity, and\r\ncontrary to the character, of the city, was wont to excuse himself by saying he\r\nsteered only the shipwrecks of the commonwealth. This hardy saying of his might\r\nhave some appearance of truth, if applied to Phocion’s government. For Demades\r\nindeed was himself the mere wreck of his country, living and ruling so\r\ndissolutely, that Antipater took occasion to say of him, when he was now grown\r\nold, that he was like a sacrificed beast, all consumed except the tongue and\r\nthe belly. But Phocion’s was a real virtue, only overmatched in the unequal\r\ncontest with an adverse time, and rendered by the ill fortunes of Greece\r\ninglorious and obscure. We must not, indeed, allow ourselves to concur with\r\nSophocles in so far diminishing the force of virtue as to say that,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWhen fortune fails, the sense we had before\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDeserts us also, and is ours no more.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nYet thus much, indeed, must be allowed to happen in the conflicts between good\r\nmen and ill fortune, that instead of due returns of honor and gratitude,\r\nobloquy and unjust surmises may often prevail, to weaken, in a considerable\r\ndegree, the credit of their virtue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is commonly said that public bodies are most insulting and contumelious to a\r\ngood man, when they are puffed up with prosperity and success. But the contrary\r\noften happens; afflictions and public calamities naturally embittering and\r\nsouring the minds and tempers of men, and disposing them to such peevishness\r\nand irritability, that hardly any word or sentiment of common vigor can be\r\naddressed to them, but they will be apt to take offense. He that remonstrates\r\nwith them on their errors, is presumed to be insulting over their misfortunes,\r\nand any free spoken expostulation is construed into contempt. Honey itself is\r\nsearching in sore and ulcerated parts; and the wisest and most judicious\r\ncounsels prove provoking to distempered minds, unless offered with those\r\nsoothing and compliant approaches which made the poet, for instance,\r\ncharacterize agreeable things in general, by a word expressive of a grateful\r\nand easy touch, exciting nothing of offense or resistance. Inflamed eyes\r\nrequire a retreat into dusky places, amongst colors of the deepest shades, and\r\nare unable to endure the brilliancy of light. So fares it in the body politic,\r\nin times of distress and humiliation; a certain sensitiveness and soreness of\r\nhumor prevail, with a weak incapacity of enduring any free and open advice,\r\neven when the necessity of affairs most requires such plain-dealing, and when\r\nthe consequences of any single error may be beyond retrieving. At such times\r\nthe conduct of public affairs is on all hands most hazardous. Those who humor\r\nthe people are swallowed up in the common ruin; those who endeavor to lead them\r\naright, perish the first in their attempt.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAstronomers tell us, the sun’s motion is neither exactly parallel with that of\r\nthe heavens in general, nor yet directly and diametrically opposite, but\r\ndescribing an oblique line, with insensible declination he steers his course in\r\nsuch a gentle, easy curve, as to dispense his light and influence, in his\r\nannual revolution, at several seasons, in just proportions to the whole\r\ncreation. So it happens in political affairs; if the motions of rulers be\r\nconstantly opposite and cross to the tempers and inclination of the people,\r\nthey will be resented as arbitrary and harsh; as, on the other side, too much\r\ndeference, or encouragement, as too often it has been, to popular faults and\r\nerrors, is full of danger and ruinous consequences. But where concession is the\r\nresponse to willing obedience, and a statesman gratifies his people, that he\r\nmay the more imperatively recall them to a sense of the common interest, then,\r\nindeed, human beings, who are ready enough to serve well and submit to much, if\r\nthey are not always ordered about and roughly handled, like slaves, may be said\r\nto be guided and governed upon the method that leads to safety. Though it must\r\nbe confessed, it is a nice point and extremely difficult, so to temper this\r\nlenity as to preserve the authority of the government. But if such a blessed\r\nmixture and temperament may be obtained, it seems to be of all concords and\r\nharmonies the most concordant and most harmonious. For thus we are taught even\r\nGod governs the world, not by irresistible force, but persuasive argument and\r\nreason, controlling it into compliance with his eternal purposes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato the younger is a similar instance. His manners were little agreeable or\r\nacceptable to the people, and he received very slender marks of their favor;\r\nwitness his repulse when he sued for the consulship, which he lost, as Cicero\r\nsays, for acting rather like a citizen in Plato’s commonwealth, than among the\r\ndregs of Romulus’s posterity, the same thing happening to him, in my opinion,\r\nas we observe in fruits ripe before their season, which we rather take pleasure\r\nin looking at and admiring, than actually use; so much was his old-fashioned\r\nvirtue out of the present mode, among the depraved customs which time and\r\nluxury had introduced, that it appeared indeed remarkable and wonderful, but\r\nwas too great and too good to suit the present exigencies, being so out of all\r\nproportion to the times. Yet his circumstances were not altogether like\r\nPhocion’s, who came to the helm when the ship of the state was just upon\r\nsinking. Cato’s time was, indeed, stormy and tempestuous, yet so as he was able\r\nto assist in managing the sails, and lend his helping hand to those who, which\r\nhe was not allowed to do, commanded at the helm. Others were to blame for the\r\nresult; yet his courage and virtue made it in spite of all a hard task for\r\nfortune to ruin the commonwealth, and it was only with long time and effort and\r\nby slow degrees, when he himself had all but succeeded in averting it, that the\r\ncatastrophe was at last effected.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPhocion and he may be well compared together, not for any mere general\r\nresemblances, as though we should say, both were good men and great statesmen.\r\nFor assuredly there is difference enough among virtues of the same\r\ndenomination, as between the bravery of Alcibiades and that of Epaminondas, the\r\nprudence of Themistocles and that of Aristides, the justice of Numa and that of\r\nAgesilaus. But these men’s virtues, even looking to the most minute points of\r\ndifference, bear the same color, stamp, and character impressed upon them, so\r\nas not to be distinguishable. The mixture is still made in the same exact\r\nproportions, whether we look at the combination to be found in them both of\r\nlenity on the one hand, with austerity on the other; their boldness upon some\r\noccasions, and caution on others; their extreme solicitude for the public, and\r\nperfect neglect of themselves; their fixed and immovable bent to all virtuous\r\nand honest actions, accompanied with an extreme tenderness and scrupulosity as\r\nto doing anything which might appear mean or unworthy; so that we should need a\r\nvery nice and subtle logic of discrimination to detect and establish the\r\ndistinctions between them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs to Cato’s extraction, it is confessed by all to have been illustrious, as\r\nwill be said hereafter, nor was Phocion’s, I feel assured, obscure or ignoble.\r\nFor had he been the son of a turner, as Idomeneus reports, it had certainly not\r\nbeen forgotten to his disparagement by Glaucippus, the son of Hyperides, when\r\nheaping up a thousand spiteful things to say against him. Nor, indeed, had it\r\nbeen possible for him, in such circumstances, to have had such a liberal\r\nbreeding and education in his youth, as to be first Plato’s, and afterwards\r\nXenocrates’s scholar in the Academy, and to have devoted himself from the first\r\nto the pursuit of the noblest studies and practices. His countenance was so\r\ncomposed, that scarcely was he ever seen by any Athenian either laughing, or in\r\ntears. He was rarely known, so Duris has recorded, to appear in the public\r\nbaths, or was observed with his hand exposed outside his cloak, when he wore\r\none. Abroad, and in the camp, he was so hardy in going always thin clad and\r\nbarefoot, except in a time of excessive and intolerable cold, that the soldiers\r\nused to say in merriment, that it was like to be a hard winter when Phocion\r\nwore his coat.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlthough he was most gentle and humane in his disposition, his aspect was stern\r\nand forbidding, so that he was seldom accosted alone by any who were not\r\nintimate with him. When Chares once made some remark on his frowning looks, and\r\nthe Athenians laughed at the jest. “My sullenness,” said Phocion, “never yet\r\nmade any of you sad, but these men’s jollities have given you sorrow enough.”\r\nIn like manner Phocion’s language, also, was full of instruction, abounding in\r\nhappy maxims and wise thoughts, but admitted no embellishment to its austere\r\nand commanding brevity. Zeno said a philosopher should never speak till his\r\nwords had been steeped in meaning; and such, it may be said, were Phocion’s,\r\ncrowding the greatest amount of significance into the smallest allowance of\r\nspace. And to this, probably, Polyeuctus, the Sphettian, referred, when he said\r\nthat Demosthenes was, indeed, the best orator of his time, but Phocion the most\r\npowerful speaker. His oratory, like small coin of great value, was to be\r\nestimated, not by its bulk, but its intrinsic worth. He was once observed, it\r\nis said, when the theater was filling with the audience, to walk musing alone\r\nbehind the scenes, which one of his friends taking notice of, said, “Phocion,\r\nyou seem to be thoughtful.” “Yes,” replied he, “I am considering how I may\r\nshorten what I am going to say to the Athenians.” Even Demosthenes himself, who\r\nused to despise the rest of the haranguers, when Phocion stood up, was wont to\r\nsay quietly to those about him, “Here is the pruning-knife of my periods.” This\r\nhowever, might refer, perhaps, not so much to his eloquence, as to the\r\ninfluence of his character, since not only a word, but even a nod from a person\r\nwho is esteemed, is of more force than a thousand arguments or studied\r\nsentences from others.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn his youth he followed Chabrias, the general, from whom he gained many\r\nlessons in military knowledge, and in return did something to correct his\r\nunequal and capricious humor. For whereas at other times Chabrias was heavy and\r\nphlegmatic, in the heat of battle he used to be so fired and transported, that\r\nhe threw himself headlong into danger beyond the forwardest, which, indeed, in\r\nthe end, cost him his life in the island of Chios, he having pressed his own\r\nship foremost to force a landing. But Phocion, being a man of temper as well as\r\ncourage, had the dexterity at some times to rouse the general, when in his\r\nprocrastinating mood, to action, and at others to moderate and cool the\r\nimpetuousness of his unseasonable fury. Upon which account Chabrias, who was a\r\ngood-natured, kindly-tempered man, loved him much, and procured him commands\r\nand opportunities for action, giving him means to make himself known in Greece,\r\nand using his assistance in all his affairs of moment. Particularly the\r\nsea-fight at Naxos added not a little to Phocion’s reputation, when he had the\r\nleft squadron committed to him by Chabrias, as in this quarter the battle was\r\nsharply contested, and was decided by a speedy victory. And this being the\r\nfirst prosperous sea-battle the city had engaged in with its own force since\r\nits captivity, Chabrias won great popularity by it, and Phocion, also, got the\r\nreputation of a good commander. The victory was gained at the time of the Great\r\nMysteries, and Chabrias used to keep the commemoration of it, by distributing\r\nwine among the Athenians, yearly, on the sixteenth day of Boedromion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Chabrias sent Phocion to demand their quota of the charges of the\r\nwar from the islanders, and offered him a guard of twenty ships. Phocion told\r\nhim, if he intended him to go against them as enemies, that force was\r\ninsignificant; if as to friends and allies, one vessel was sufficient. So he\r\ntook his own single galley, and having visited the cities, and treated with the\r\nmagistrates in an equitable and open manner, he brought back a number of ships,\r\nsent by the confederates to Athens, to convey the supplies. Neither did his\r\nfriendship and attention close with Chabrias’s life, but after his decease he\r\ncarefully maintained it to all that were related to him, and chiefly to his son\r\nCtesippus, whom he labored to bring to some good, and although he was a stupid\r\nand intractable young fellow, always endeavored, so far as in him lay, to\r\ncorrect and cover his faults and follies. Once, however, when the youngster was\r\nvery impertinent and troublesome to him in the camp, interrupting him with idle\r\nquestions, and putting forward his opinions and suggestions of how the war\r\nshould be conducted, he could not forbear exclaiming, “O Chabrias, Chabrias,\r\nhow grateful I show myself for your friendship, in submitting to endure your\r\nson.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon looking into public matters, and the way in which they were now conducted,\r\nhe observed that the administration of affairs was cut and parceled out, like\r\nso much land by allotment, between the military men and the public speakers, so\r\nthat neither these nor those should interfere with the claims of the others. As\r\nthe one were to address the assemblies, to draw up votes and prepare motions,\r\nmen, for example, like Eubulus, Aristophon, Demosthenes, Lycurgus, and\r\nHyperides, and were to push their interests here; so, in the meantime,\r\nDiopithes, Menestheus, Leosthenes, and Chares, were to make their profit by war\r\nand in military commands. Phocion, on the other hand, was desirous to restore\r\nand carry out the old system, more complete in itself, and more harmonious and\r\nuniform, which prevailed in the times of Pericles, Aristides, and Solon; when\r\nstatesmen showed themselves, to use Archilochus’s words, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nMars’ and the Muses’ friends alike designed,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo arts and arms indifferently inclined,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand the presiding goddess of his country was, he did not fail to see, the\r\npatroness and protectress of both civil and military wisdom. With these views,\r\nwhile his advice at home was always for peace and quietness, he nevertheless\r\nheld the office of general more frequently than any of the statesmen, not only\r\nof his own times, but of those preceding, never, indeed, promoting or\r\nencouraging military expeditions, yet never, on the other hand, shunning or\r\ndeclining, when he was called upon by the public voice. Thus much is well\r\nknown, that he was no less than forty-five several times chosen general, he\r\nbeing never on any one of those occasions present at the election, but having\r\nthe command, in his absence, by common suffrage, conferred on him, and he sent\r\nfor on purpose to undertake it. Insomuch that it amazed those who did not well\r\nconsider, to see the people always prefer Phocion, who was so far from humoring\r\nthem or courting their favor, that he always thwarted and opposed them. But so\r\nit was, as great men and princes are said to call in their flatterers when\r\ndinner has been served, so the Athenians, upon slight occasions, entertained\r\nand diverted themselves with their spruce speakers and trim orators, but when\r\nit came to action, they were sober and considerate enough to single out the\r\nausterest and wisest for public employment, however much he might be opposed to\r\ntheir wishes and sentiments. This, indeed, he made no scruple to admit, when\r\nthe oracle from Delphi was read, which informed them that the Athenians were\r\nall of one mind, a single dissentient only excepted, frankly coming forward and\r\ndeclaring that they need look no further; he was the man, there was no one but\r\nhe who was dissatisfied with everything they did. And when once he gave his\r\nopinion to the people, and was met with the general approbation and applause of\r\nthe assembly, turning to some of his friends, he asked them, “Have I\r\ninadvertently said something foolish?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon occasion of a public festivity, being solicited for his contribution by\r\nthe example of others, and the people pressing him much, he bade them apply\r\nthemselves to the wealthy; for his part he should blush to make a present here,\r\nrather than a repayment there, turning and, pointing to Callicles, the\r\nmoney-lender. Being still clamored upon and importuned, he told them this tale.\r\nA certain cowardly fellow setting out for the wars, hearing the ravens croak in\r\nhis passage, threw down his arms, resolving to wait. Presently he took them and\r\nventured out again, but hearing the same music, once more made a stop. “For,”\r\nsaid he, “you may croak till you are tired, but you shall make no dinner upon\r\nme.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Athenians urging him at an unseasonable time to lead them out against the\r\nenemy, he peremptorily refused, and being upbraided by them with cowardice and\r\npusillanimity, he told them, “Just now, do what you will, I shall not be brave;\r\nand do what I will, you will not be cowards. Nevertheless, we know well enough\r\nwhat we are.” And when again, in a time of great danger, the people were very\r\nharsh upon him, demanding a strict account how the public money had been\r\nemployed, and the like, he bade them, “First, good friends, make sure you are\r\nsafe.” After a war, during which they had been very tractable and timorous,\r\nwhen, upon peace being made, they began again to be confident and overbearing,\r\nand to cry out upon Phocion, as having lost them the honor of victory, to all\r\ntheir clamor he made only this answer, “My friends, you are fortunate in having\r\na leader who knows you; otherwise, you had long since been undone.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving a controversy with the Boeotians about boundaries, which he counseled\r\nthem to decide by negotiation, they inclined to blows. “You had better,” said\r\nhe, “carry on the contest with the weapons in which you excel, (your tongues,)\r\nand not by war, in which you are inferior.” Once, when he was addressing them,\r\nand they would not hear him or let him go on, said he, “You may compel me to\r\nact against my wishes, but you shall never force me to speak against my\r\njudgment.” Among the many public speakers who opposed him, Demosthenes, for\r\nexample, once told him, “The Athenians, Phocion, will kill you some day when\r\nthey once are in a rage.” “And you,” said he, “if they once are in their\r\nsenses.” Polyeuctus, the Sphettian, once on a hot day was urging war with\r\nPhilip, and being a corpulent man, and out of breath and in a great heat with\r\nspeaking, took numerous draughts of water as he went on. “Here, indeed,” said\r\nPhocion, “is a fit man to lead us into a war! What think you he will do when he\r\nis carrying his corslet and his shield to meet the enemy, if even here,\r\ndelivering a prepared speech to you has almost killed him with exhaustion?”\r\nWhen Lycurgus in the assembly made many reflections on his past conduct,\r\nupbraiding him above all for having advised them to deliver up the ten citizens\r\nwhom Alexander had demanded, he replied that he had been the author of much\r\nsafe and wholesome counsel, which had not been followed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was a man called Archibiades, nicknamed the Lacedaemonian, who used to go\r\nabout with a huge overgrown beard, wearing an old threadbare cloak, and\r\naffecting a very stern countenance. Phocion once, when attacked in council by\r\nthe rest, appealed to this man for his support and testimony. And when he got\r\nup and began to speak on the popular side, putting his hand to his beard, “O\r\nArchibiades,” said he, “it is time you should shave.” Aristogiton, a common\r\naccuser, was a terrible man of war within the assembly, always inflaming the\r\npeople to battle, but when the muster-roll came to be produced, he appeared\r\nlimping on a crutch, with a bandage on his leg; Phocion descried him afar off,\r\ncoming in, and cried out to the clerk, “Put down Aristogiton, too, as lame and\r\nworthless.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo that it is a little wonderful, how a man so severe and harsh upon all\r\noccasions should, notwithstanding, obtain the name of the Good. Yet, though\r\ndifficult, it is not, I suppose, impossible for men’s tempers, any more than\r\nfor wines, to be at the same time harsh and agreeable to the taste; just as on\r\nthe other hand many that are sweet at the first taste, are found, on further\r\nuse, extremely disagreeable and very unwholesome. Hyperides, we are told, once\r\nsaid to the people, “Do not ask yourselves, men of Athens, whether or not I am\r\nbitter, but whether or not I am paid for being so,” as though a covetous\r\npurpose were the only thing that should make a harsh temper insupportable, and\r\nas if men might not even more justly render themselves obnoxious to popular\r\ndislike and censure, by using their power and influence in the indulgence of\r\ntheir own private passions of pride and jealousy, anger and animosity. Phocion\r\nnever allowed himself from any feeling of personal hostility to do hurt to any\r\nfellow-citizen, nor, indeed, reputed any man his enemy, except so far as he\r\ncould not but contend sharply with such as opposed the measures he urged for\r\nthe public good; in which argument he was, indeed, a rude, obstinate, and\r\nuncompromising adversary. For his general conversation, it was easy, courteous,\r\nand obliging to all, to that point that he would befriend his very opponents in\r\ntheir distress, and espouse the cause of those who differed most from him, when\r\nthey needed his patronage. His friends reproaching him for pleading in behalf\r\nof a man of indifferent character, he told them the innocent had no need of an\r\nadvocate. Aristogiton, the sycophant, whom we mentioned before, having after\r\nsentence passed upon him, sent earnestly to Phocion to speak with him in the\r\nprison, his friends dissuaded him from going; “Nay, by your favor,” said he,\r\n“where should I rather choose to pay Aristogiton a visit?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for the allies of the Athenians, and the islanders, whenever any admiral\r\nbesides Phocion was sent, they treated him as an enemy suspect, barricaded\r\ntheir gates, blocked up their havens, brought in from the country their cattle,\r\nslaves, wives, and children, and put them in garrison; but upon Phocion’s\r\narrival, they went out to welcome him in their private boats and barges, with\r\nstreamers and garlands, and received him at landing with every demonstration of\r\njoy and pleasure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen king Philip was effecting his entry into Euboea, and was bringing over\r\ntroops from Macedonia, and making himself master of the cities, by means of the\r\ntyrants who ruled in them, Plutarch of Eretria sent to request aid of the\r\nAthenians for the relief of the island, which was in imminent danger of falling\r\nwholly into the hands of the Macedonians. Phocion was sent thither with a\r\nhandful of men in comparison, in expectation that the Euboeans themselves would\r\nflock in and join him. But when he came, he found all things in confusion, the\r\ncountry all betrayed, the whole ground, as it were, undermined under his feet,\r\nby the secret pensioners of king Philip, so that he was in the greatest risk\r\nimaginable. To secure himself as far as he could, he seized a small rising\r\nground, which was divided from the level plains about Tamynae by a deep\r\nwatercourse, and here he enclosed and fortified the choicest of his army. As\r\nfor the idle talkers and disorderly bad citizens who ran off from his camp and\r\nmade their way back, he bade his officers not regard them, since here they\r\nwould have been not only useless and ungovernable themselves, but an actual\r\nhindrance to the rest; and further, being conscious to themselves of the\r\nneglect of their duty, they would be less ready to misrepresent the action, or\r\nraise a cry against them at their return home. When the enemy drew nigh, he\r\nbade his men stand to their arms, until he had finished the sacrifice, in which\r\nhe spent a considerable time, either by some difficulty of the thing itself, or\r\non purpose to invite the enemy nearer. Plutarch, interpreting this tardiness as\r\na failure in his courage, fell on alone with the mercenaries, which the cavalry\r\nperceiving, could not be contained, but issuing also out of the camp,\r\nconfusedly and in disorder, spurred up to the enemy. The first who came up were\r\ndefeated, the rest were put to the rout, Plutarch himself took to flight, and a\r\nbody of the enemy advanced in the hope of carrying the camp, supposing\r\nthemselves to have secured the victory. But by this time, the sacrifice being\r\nover, the Athenians within the camp came forward, and falling upon them put\r\nthem to flight, and killed the greater number as they fled among the\r\nentrenchments, while Phocion ordering his infantry to keep on the watch and\r\nrally those who came in from the previous flight, himself, with a body of his\r\nbest men, engaged the enemy in a sharp and bloody fight, in which all of them\r\nbehaved with signal courage and gallantry. Thallus, the son of Cineas, and\r\nGlaucus, of Polymedes, who fought near the general, gained the honors of the\r\nday. Cleophanes, also, did good service in the battle. Recovering the cavalry\r\nfrom its defeat, and with his shouts and encouragement bringing them up to\r\nsuccor the general, who was in danger, he confirmed the victory obtained by the\r\ninfantry. Phocion now expelled Plutarch from Eretria, and possessed himself of\r\nthe very important fort of Zaretra, situated where the island is pinched in, as\r\nit were, by the seas on each side, and its breadth most reduced to a narrow\r\ngirth. He released all the Greeks whom he took out of fear of the public\r\nspeakers at Athens, thinking they might very likely persuade the people in\r\ntheir anger into committing some act of cruelty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis affair thus dispatched and settled, Phocion set sail homewards, and the\r\nallies had soon as good reason to regret the loss of his just and humane\r\ndealing, as the Athenians that of his experience and courage. Molossus, the\r\ncommander who took his place, had no better success than to fall alive into the\r\nenemy’s hands. Philip, full of great thoughts and designs, now advanced with\r\nall his forces into the Hellespont, to seize the Chersonesus and Perinthus, and\r\nafter them, Byzantium. The Athenians raised a force to relieve them, but the\r\npopular leaders made it their business to prefer Chares to be general, who,\r\nsailing thither, effected nothing worthy of the means placed in his hands. The\r\ncities were afraid, and would not receive his ships into their harbors, so that\r\nhe did nothing but wander about, raising money from their friends, and despised\r\nby their enemies. And when the people, chafed by the orators, were extremely\r\nindignant, and repented having ever sent any help to the Byzantines, Phocion\r\nrose and told them they ought not to be angry with the allies for distrusting,\r\nbut with their generals for being distrusted. “They make you suspected,” he\r\nsaid, “even by those who cannot possibly subsist without your succor.” The\r\nassembly being moved with this speech of his, changed their minds on the\r\nsudden, and commanded him immediately to raise another force, and go himself to\r\nassist their confederates in the Hellespont; an appointment which, in effect,\r\ncontributed more than anything to the relief of Byzantium.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor Phocion’s name was already honorably known; and an old acquaintance of his,\r\nwho had been his fellow-student in the Academy, Leon, a man of high renown for\r\nvirtue among the Byzantines, having vouched for Phocion to the city, they\r\nopened their gates to receive him, not permitting him, though he desired it, to\r\nencamp without the walls, but entertained him and all the Athenians with\r\nperfect reliance, while they, to requite their confidence, behaved among their\r\nnew hosts soberly and inoffensively, and exerted themselves on all occasions\r\nwith the greatest zeal and resolution for their defense. Thus king Philip was\r\ndriven out of the Hellespont, and was despised to boot, whom till now, it had\r\nbeen thought impossible to match, or even to oppose. Phocion also took some of\r\nhis ships, and recaptured some of the places he had garrisoned, making besides\r\nseveral inroads into the country, which he plundered and overran, until he\r\nreceived a wound from some of the enemy who came to the defense, and,\r\nthereupon, sailed away home.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Megarians at this time privately praying aid of the Athenians, Phocion,\r\nfearing lest the Boeotians should hear of it, and anticipate them, called an\r\nassembly at sunrise, and brought forward the petition of the Megarians, and\r\nimmediately after the vote had been put, and carried in their favor, he sounded\r\nthe trumpet, and led the Athenians straight from the assembly, to arm and put\r\nthemselves in posture. The Megarians received them joyfully, and he proceeded\r\nto fortify Nisea, and built two new long walls from the city to the arsenal,\r\nand so joined it to the sea, so that having now little reason to regard the\r\nenemies on the land side, it placed its dependence entirely on the Athenians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen final hostilities with Philip were now certain, and in Phocion’s absence\r\nother generals had been nominated, he on his arrival from the islands, dealt\r\nearnestly with the Athenians, that since Philip showed peaceable inclinations\r\ntowards them, and greatly apprehended the danger, they would consent to a\r\ntreaty. Being contradicted in this by one of the ordinary frequenters of the\r\ncourts of justice, a common accuser, who asked him if he durst presume to\r\npersuade the Athenians to peace, now their arms were in their hands, “Yes,”\r\nsaid he, “though I know that if there be war, I shall be in office over you,\r\nand if peace, you over me.” But when he could not prevail, and Demosthenes’s\r\nopinion carried it, advising them to make war as far off from home as possible,\r\nand fight the battle out of Attica, “Good friend,” said Phocion, “let us not\r\nask where we shall fight, but how we may conquer in the war. That will be the\r\nway to keep it at a distance. If we are beaten, it will be quickly at our\r\ndoors.” After the defeat, when the clamorers and incendiaries in the town would\r\nhave brought up Charidemus to the hustings, to be nominated to the command, the\r\nbest of the citizens were in a panic, and supporting themselves with the aid of\r\nthe council of the Areopagus, with entreaties and tears hardly prevailed upon\r\nthe people to have Phocion entrusted with the care of the city. He was of\r\nopinion, in general, that the fair terms to be expected from Philip should be\r\naccepted, yet after Demades had made a motion that the city should receive the\r\ncommon conditions of peace in concurrence with the rest of the states of\r\nGreece, he opposed it, till it were known what the particulars were which\r\nPhilip demanded. He was overborne in this advice, under the pressure of the\r\ntime, but almost immediately after, the Athenians repented it, when they\r\nunderstood that by these articles, they were obliged to furnish Philip both\r\nwith horse and shipping. “It was the fear of this,” said Phocion, “that\r\noccasioned my opposition. But since the thing is done, let us make the best of\r\nit, and not be discouraged. Our forefathers were sometimes in command, and\r\nsometimes under it; and by doing their duty, whether as rulers or as subjects,\r\nsaved their own country and the rest of Greece.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon the news of Philip’s death, he opposed himself to any public\r\ndemonstrations of joy and jubilee, saying it would be ignoble to show malice\r\nupon such an occasion, and that the army that had fought them at Chaeronea, was\r\nonly diminished by a single man.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Demosthenes made his invectives against Alexander, now on his way to\r\nattack Thebes, he repeated those verses of Homer, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“Unwise one, wherefore to a second stroke\u003cbr\u003e\r\nHis anger be foolhardy to provoke?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand asked, “Why stimulate his already eager passion for glory? Why take pains\r\nto expose the city to the terrible conflagration now so near? We, who accepted\r\noffice to save our fellow-citizens, will not, however they desire it, be\r\nconsenting to their destruction.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter Thebes was lost, and Alexander had demanded Demosthenes, Lycurgus,\r\nHyperides, and Charidemus to be delivered up, the whole assembly turning their\r\neyes to him, and calling on him by name to deliver his opinion, at last he rose\r\nup, and showing them one of his most intimate friends, whom he loved and\r\nconfided in above all others, told them, “You have brought things amongst you\r\nto that pass, that for my part, should he demand this my friend Nicocles, I\r\nwould not refuse to give him up. For as for myself, to have it in my power to\r\nsacrifice my own life and fortune for the common safety, I should think the\r\ngreatest of good fortune. Truly,” he added, “it pierces my heart to see those\r\nwho are fled hither for succor from the desolation of Thebes. Yet it is enough\r\nfor Greece to have Thebes to deplore. It will be more for the interest of all\r\nthat we should deprecate the conqueror’s anger, and intercede for both, than\r\nrun the hazard of another battle.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen this was decreed by the people, Alexander is said to have rejected their\r\nfirst address when it was presented, throwing it from him scornfully, and\r\nturning his back upon the deputation, who left him in affright. But the second,\r\nwhich was presented by Phocion, he received, understanding from the older\r\nMacedonians how much Philip had admired and esteemed him. And he not only gave\r\nhim audience and listened to his memorial and petition, but also permitted him\r\nto advise him, which he did to this effect, that if his designs were for\r\nquietness, he should make peace at once; if glory were his aim, he should make\r\nwar, not upon Greece, but on the barbarians. And with various counsels and\r\nsuggestions, happily designed to meet the genius and feelings of Alexander, he\r\nso won upon him, and softened his temper, that he bade the Athenians not forget\r\ntheir position, as if anything went wrong with him, the supremacy belonged to\r\nthem. And to Phocion himself, whom he adopted as his friend and guest, he\r\nshowed a respect, and admitted him to distinctions, which few of those who were\r\ncontinually near his person ever received. Duris, at any rate, tells us, that\r\nwhen he became great, and had conquered Darius, in the heading of all his\r\nletters he left off the word Greeting, except in those he wrote to Phocion. To\r\nhim, and to Antipater alone, he condescended to use it. This, also, is stated\r\nby Chares.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for his munificence to him, it is well known he sent him a present at one\r\ntime of one hundred talents; and this being brought to Athens, Phocion asked of\r\nthe bearers, how it came to pass, that among all the Athenians, he alone should\r\nbe the object of this bounty. And being told that Alexander esteemed him alone\r\na person of honor and worth, “Let him, then,” said he, “permit me to continue\r\nso, and be still so reputed.” Following him to his house, and observing his\r\nsimple and plain way of living, his wife employed in kneading bread with her\r\nown hands, himself drawing water to wash his feet, they pressed him to accept\r\nit, with some indignation, being ashamed, as they said, that Alexander’s friend\r\nshould live so poorly and pitifully. So Phocion pointing out to them a poor old\r\nfellow, in a dirty worn-out coat, passing by, asked them if they thought him in\r\nworse condition than this man. They bade him not mention such a comparison.\r\n“Yet,” said Phocion, “he with less to live upon than I, finds it sufficient,\r\nand in brief,” he continued, “if I do not use this money, what good is there in\r\nmy having it; and if I do use it, I shall procure an ill name, both for myself\r\nand for Alexander, among my countrymen.” So the treasure went back again from\r\nAthens, to prove to Greece, by a signal example, that he who could afford to\r\ngive so magnificent a present, was yet not so rich as he who could afford to\r\nrefuse it. And when Alexander was displeased, and wrote back to him to say that\r\nhe could not esteem those his friends, who would not be obliged by him, not\r\neven would this induce Phocion to accept the money, but he begged leave to\r\nintercede with him in behalf of Echecratides, the sophist, and Athenodorus, the\r\nImbrian, as also for Demaratus and Sparton, two Rhodians, who had been arrested\r\nupon some charges, and were in custody at Sardis. This was instantly granted by\r\nAlexander, and they were set at liberty. Afterwards, when sending Craterus into\r\nMacedonia, he commanded him to make him an offer of four cities in Asia, Cius,\r\nGergithus, Mylasa, and Elaea, any one of which, at his choice, should be\r\ndelivered to him; insisting yet more positively with him, and declaring he\r\nshould resent it, should he continue obstinate in his refusal. But Phocion was\r\nnot to be prevailed with at all, and, shortly after, Alexander died.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPhocion’s house is shown to this day in Melita, ornamented with small plates of\r\ncopper, but otherwise plain and homely. Concerning his wives, of the first of\r\nthem there is little said, except that she was sister of Cephisodotus, the\r\nstatuary. The other was a matron of no less reputation for her virtues and\r\nsimple living among the Athenians, than Phocion was for his probity. It\r\nhappened once when the people were entertained with a new tragedy, that the\r\nactor, just as he was to enter the stage to perform the part of a queen,\r\ndemanded to have a number of attendants sumptuously dressed, to follow in his\r\ntrain, and on their not being provided, was sullen and refused to act, keeping\r\nthe audience waiting, till at last Melanthius, who had to furnish the chorus,\r\npushed him on the stage, crying out, “What, don’t you know that Phocion’s wife\r\nis never attended by more than a single waiting woman, but you must needs be\r\ngrand, and fill our women’s heads with vanity?” This speech of his, spoken loud\r\nenough to be heard, was received with great applause, and clapped all round the\r\ntheater. She herself, when once entertaining a visitor out of Ionia, who showed\r\nher all her rich ornaments, made of gold and set with jewels, her wreaths,\r\nnecklaces, and the like, “For my part,” said she, “all my ornament is my\r\nhusband Phocion, now for the twentieth year in office as general at Athens.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe had a son named Phocus, who wished to take part in the games at the great\r\nfeast of Minerva. He permitted him so to do, in the contest of leaping, not\r\nwith any view to the victory, but in the hope that the training and discipline\r\nfor it would make him a better man, the youth being in a general way a lover of\r\ndrinking, and ill-regulated in his habits. On his having succeeded in the\r\nsports, many were eager for the honor of his company at banquets in celebration\r\nof the victory. Phocion declined all these invitations but one, and when he\r\ncame to this entertainment and saw the costly preparations, even the water\r\nbrought to wash the guests’ feet being mingled with wine and spices, he\r\nreprimanded his son, asking him why he would so far permit his friend to sully\r\nthe honor of his victory. And in the hope of wholly weaning the young man from\r\nsuch habits and company, he sent him to Lacedaemon, and placed him among the\r\nyouths then under the course of the Spartan discipline. This the Athenians took\r\noffense at, as though he slighted and contemned the education at home; and\r\nDemades twitted him with it publicly, “Suppose, Phocion, you and I advise the\r\nAthenians to adopt the Spartan constitution. If you like, I am ready to\r\nintroduce a bill to that effect, and to speak in its favor.” “Indeed,” said\r\nPhocion, “you with that strong scent of perfumes about you, and with that\r\nmantle on your shoulders, are just the very man to speak in honor of Lycurgus,\r\nand recommend the Spartan table.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Alexander wrote to demand a supply of galleys, and the public speakers\r\nobjected to sending them, Phocion, on the council requesting his opinion, told\r\nthem freely, “Sirs, I would either have you victorious yourselves, or friends\r\nof those who are so.” He took up Pytheas, who about this time first began to\r\naddress the assembly, and already showed himself a confident, talking fellow,\r\nby saying that a young slave whom the people had but bought yesterday, ought to\r\nhave the manners to hold his tongue. And when Harpalus, who had fled from\r\nAlexander out of Asia, carrying off a large sum of money, came to Attica, and\r\nthere was a perfect race among the ordinary public men of the assembly who\r\nshould be the first to take his pay, he distributed amongst these some trifling\r\nsums by way of a bait and provocative, but to Phocion he made an offer of no\r\nless than seven hundred talents and all manner of other advantages he pleased\r\nto demand; with the compliment that he would entirely commit himself and all\r\nhis affairs to his disposal. Phocion answered sharply, Harpalus should repent\r\nof it, if he did not quickly leave off corrupting and debauching the city,\r\nwhich for the time silenced him, and checked his proceedings. But afterwards,\r\nwhen the Athenians were deliberating in council about him, he found those that\r\nhad received money from him to be his greatest enemies, urging and aggravating\r\nmatters against him, to prevent themselves being discovered, whereas Phocion,\r\nwho had never touched his pay, now, so far as the public interest would admit\r\nof it, showed some regard to his particular security. This encouraged him once\r\nmore to try his inclinations, and upon further survey, finding that he himself\r\nwas a fortress, inaccessible on every quarter to the approaches of corruption,\r\nhe professed a particular friendship to Phocion’s son-in-law, Charicles. And\r\nadmitting him into his confidence in all his affairs, and continually\r\nrequesting his assistance, he brought him into some suspicion. Upon the\r\noccasion, for example, of the death of Pythonice, who was Harpalus’s mistress,\r\nfor whom he had a great fondness, and had a child by her, he resolved to build\r\nher a sumptuous monument, and committed the care of it to his friend Charicles.\r\nThis commission, disreputable enough in itself, was yet further disparaged by\r\nthe figure the piece of workmanship made after it was finished. It is yet to be\r\nseen in the Hermeum. as you go from Athens to Eleusis, with nothing in its\r\nappearance answerable to the sum of thirty talents, with which Charicles is\r\nsaid to have charged Harpalus for its erection. After Harpalus’s own decease,\r\nhis daughter was educated by Phocion and Charicles with great care. But when\r\nCharicles was called to account for his dealings with Harpalus, and entreated\r\nhis father-in-law’s protection, begging that he would appear for him in the\r\ncourt, Phocion refused, telling him, “I did not choose you for my son-in-law\r\nfor any but honorable purposes.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAsclepiades, the son of Hipparchus, brought the first tidings of Alexander’s\r\ndeath to Athens, which Demades told them was not to be credited; for, were it\r\ntrue, the whole world would ere this have stunk with the dead body. But Phocion\r\nseeing the people eager for an instant revolution, did his best to quiet and\r\nrepress them. And when numbers of them rushed up to the hustings to speak, and\r\ncried out that the news was true, and Alexander was dead, “If he is dead\r\ntoday,” said he, “he will be so tomorrow and the day after tomorrow equally. So\r\nthat there is no need to take counsel hastily or before it is safe.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Leosthenes now had embarked the city in the Lamian war, greatly against\r\nPhocion’s wishes, to raise a laugh against Phocion, he asked him scoffingly,\r\nwhat the State had been benefited by his having now so many years been general.\r\n“It is not a little,” said Phocion, “that the citizens have been buried in\r\ntheir own sepulchers.” And when Leosthenes continued to speak boldly and\r\nboastfully in the assembly, “Young man,” he said, “your speeches are like\r\ncypress trees, stately and tall, and no fruit to come of them.” And when he was\r\nthen attacked by Hyperides, who asked him when the time would come, that he\r\nwould advise the Athenians to make war, “As soon,” said he, “as I find the\r\nyoung men keep their ranks, the rich men contribute their money, and the\r\nOrators leave off robbing the treasury.” Afterwards, when many admired the\r\nforces raised, and the preparations for war that were made by Leosthenes, they\r\nasked Phocion how he approved of the new levies. “Very well,” said he, “for the\r\nshort course; but what I fear, is the long race. Since however late the war may\r\nlast, the city has neither money, ships, nor soldiers, but these.” And the\r\nevent justified his prognostics. At first all things appeared fair and\r\npromising. Leosthenes gained great reputation by worsting the Boeotians in\r\nbattle, and driving Antipater within the walls of Lamia, and the citizens were\r\nso transported with the first successes, that they kept solemn festivities for\r\nthem, and offered public sacrifices to the gods. So that some, thinking Phocion\r\nmust now be convinced of his error, asked him whether he would not willingly\r\nhave been author of these successful actions. “Yes,” said he, “most gladly, but\r\nalso of the former counsel.” And when one express after another came from the\r\ncamp, confirming and magnifying the victories, “When,” said he, “will the end\r\nof them come?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLeosthenes, soon after, was killed, and now those who feared lest if Phocion\r\nobtained the command, he would put an end to the war, arranged with an obscure\r\nperson in the assembly, who should stand up and profess himself to be a friend\r\nand old confidant of Phocion’s, and persuade the people to spare him at this\r\ntime, and reserve him (with whom none could compare) for a more pressing\r\noccasion, and now to give Antiphilus the command of the army. This pleased the\r\ngenerality, but Phocion made it appear he was so far from having any friendship\r\nwith him of old standing, that he had not so much as the least familiarity with\r\nhim; “Yet now, sir,” says he, “give me leave to put you down among the number\r\nof my friends and well-wishers, as you have given a piece of advice so much to\r\nmy advantage.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd when the people were eager to make an expedition against the Boeotians, he\r\nat first opposed it; and on his friends telling him the people would kill him,\r\nfor always running counter to them, “That will be unjust of them,” he said, “if\r\nI give them honest advice, if not, it will be just of them.” But when he found\r\nthem persisting and shouting to him to lead them out, he commanded the crier to\r\nmake proclamation, that all the Athenians under sixty should instantly provide\r\nthemselves with five days’ provision, and follow him from the assembly. This\r\ncaused a great tumult. Those in years were startled, and clamored against the\r\norder; he demanded wherein he injured them, “For I,” says he, “am now\r\nfourscore, and am ready to lead you.” This succeeded in pacifying them for the\r\npresent.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when Micion, with a large force of Macedonians and mercenaries, began to\r\npillage the sea-coast, having made a descent upon Rhamnus, and overrun the\r\nneighboring country, Phocion led out the Athenians to attack him. And when\r\nsundry private persons came, intermeddling with his dispositions, and telling\r\nhim that he ought to occupy such or such a hill, detach the cavalry in this or\r\nthat direction, engage the enemy on this point or that, “O Hercules,” said he,\r\n“how many generals have we here, and how few soldiers!” Afterwards, having\r\nformed the battle, one who wished to show his bravery, advanced out of his post\r\nbefore the rest, but on the enemy’s approaching, lost heart, and retired back\r\ninto his rank. “Young man,” said Phocion, “are you not ashamed twice in one day\r\nto desert your station, first that on which I had placed you, and secondly,\r\nthat on which you had placed yourself?” However, he entirely routed the enemy,\r\nkilling Micion and many more on the spot. The Grecian army, also, in Thessaly,\r\nafter Leonnatus and the Macedonians who came with him out of Asia, had arrived\r\nand joined Antipater, fought and beat them in a battle. Leonnatus was killed in\r\nthe fight, Antiphilus commanding the foot, and Menon, the Thessalian, the\r\nhorse.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut not long after, Craterus crossed from Asia with numerous forces; a pitched\r\nbattle was fought at Cranon; the Greeks were beaten; though not, indeed, in a\r\nsignal defeat, nor with any great loss of men. But what with their want of\r\nobedience to their commanders, who were young and over-indulgent with them, and\r\nwhat with Antipater’s tampering and treating with their separate cities, one by\r\none, the end of it was that the army was dissolved, and the Greeks shamefully\r\nsurrendered the liberty of their country.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon the news of Antipater’s now advancing at once against Athens with all his\r\nforce, Demosthenes and Hyperides deserted the city, and Demades, who was\r\naltogether insolvent for any part of the fines that had been laid upon him by\r\nthe city, for he had been condemned no less than seven times for introducing\r\nbills contrary to the laws, and who had been disfranchised, and was no longer\r\ncompetent to vote in the assembly, laid hold of this season of impunity, to\r\nbring in a bill for sending ambassadors with plenipotentiary power to\r\nAntipater, to treat about a peace. But the people distrusted him, and called\r\nupon Phocion to give his opinion, as the person they only and entirely confided\r\nin. He told them, “If my former counsels had been prevalent with you, we had\r\nnot been reduced to deliberate on the question at all.” However, the vote\r\npassed; and a decree was made, and he with others deputed to go to Antipater,\r\nwho lay now encamped in the Theban territories, but intended to dislodge\r\nimmediately, and pass into Attica. Phocion’s first request was, that he would\r\nmake the treaty without moving his camp. And when Craterus declared that it was\r\nnot fair to ask them to be burdensome to the country of their friends and\r\nallies by their stay, when they might rather use that of their enemies for\r\nprovisions and the support of their army, Antipater taking him by the hand,\r\nsaid, “We must grant this favor to Phocion.” For the rest, he bade them return\r\nto their principals, and acquaint them that he could only offer them the same\r\nterms, namely, to surrender at discretion, which Leosthenes had offered to him\r\nwhen he was shut up in Lamia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Phocion had returned to the city, and acquainted them with this answer,\r\nthey made a virtue of necessity, and complied, since it would be no better. So\r\nPhocion returned to Thebes with the other ambassadors, and among the rest,\r\nXenocrates, the philosopher, the reputation of whose virtue and wisdom was so\r\ngreat and famous everywhere, that they conceived there could not be any pride,\r\ncruelty, or anger arising in the heart of man, which would not at the mere\r\nsight of him be subdued into something of reverence and admiration. But the\r\nresult, as it happened, was the very opposite, Antipater showed such a want of\r\nfeeling, and such a dislike of goodness. He saluted everyone else, but would\r\nnot so much as notice Xenocrates. Xenocrates, they tell us, observed upon it,\r\nthat Antipater when meditating such cruelty to Athens, did well to be ashamed\r\nof seeing him. When he began to speak, he would not hear him, but broke in and\r\nrudely interrupted him, until at last he was obliged to he silent. But when\r\nPhocion had declared the purport of their embassy, he replied shortly, that he\r\nwould make peace with the Athenians on these conditions, and no others; that\r\nDemosthenes and Hyperides should be delivered up to him; that they should\r\nretain their ancient form of government, the franchise being determined by a\r\nproperty qualification; that they should receive a garrison into Munychia, and\r\npay a certain sum for the cost of the war. As things stood, these terms were\r\njudged tolerable by the rest of the ambassadors; Xenocrates only said, that if\r\nAntipater considered the Athenians slaves, he was treating them fairly, but if\r\nfree, severely. Phocion pressed him only to spare them the garrison, and used\r\nmany arguments and entreaties. Antipater replied, “Phocion, we are ready to do\r\nyou any favor, which will not bring ruin both on ourselves and on you.” Others\r\nreport it differently; that Antipater asked Phocion, supposing he remitted the\r\ngarrison to the Athenians, would he, Phocion, stand surety for the city’s\r\nobserving the terms and attempting no revolution? And when he hesitated, and\r\ndid not at once reply, Callimedon, the Carabus, a hot partisan and professed\r\nenemy of free states, cried out, “And if he should talk so idly, Antipater,\r\nwill you be so much abused as to believe him and not carry out your own\r\npurpose?” So the Athenians received the garrison, and Menyllus for the\r\ngovernor, a fair-dealing man, and one of Phocion’s acquaintance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the proceeding seemed sufficiently imperious and arbitrary, indeed rather a\r\nspiteful and insulting ostentation of power, than that the possession of the\r\nfortress would be of any great importance. The resentment felt upon it was\r\nheightened by the time it happened in, for the garrison was brought in on the\r\ntwentieth of the month of Boedromion, just at the time of the great festival,\r\nwhen they carry forth Iacchus with solemn pomp from the city to Eleusis; so\r\nthat the solemnity being disturbed, many began to call to mind instances, both\r\nancient and modern, of divine interventions and intimations. For in old time,\r\nupon the occasions of their happiest successes, the presence of the shapes and\r\nvoices of the mystic ceremonies had been vouchsafed to them, striking terror\r\nand amazement into their enemies; but now, at the very season of their\r\ncelebration, the gods themselves stood witnesses of the saddest oppressions of\r\nGreece, the most holy time being profaned, and their greatest jubilee made the\r\nunlucky date of their most extreme calamity. Not many years before, they had a\r\nwarning from the oracle at Dodona, that they should carefully guard the summits\r\nof Diana, lest haply strangers should seize them. And about this very time,\r\nwhen they dyed the ribbons and garlands with which they adorn the couches and\r\ncars of the procession, instead of a purple they received only a faint yellow\r\ncolor; and to make the omen yet greater, all the things that were dyed for\r\ncommon use, took the natural color. While a candidate for initiation was\r\nwashing a young pig in the haven of Cantharus, a shark seized him, bit off all\r\nhis lower parts up to the belly, and devoured them, by which the god gave them\r\nmanifestly to understand, that having lost the lower town and the sea-coast,\r\nthey should keep only the upper city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMenyllus was sufficient security that the garrison should behave itself\r\ninoffensively. But those who were now excluded from the franchise by poverty,\r\namounted to more than twelve thousand; so that both those that remained in the\r\ncity thought themselves oppressed and shamefully used, and those who on this\r\naccount left their homes and went away into Thrace, where Antipater offered\r\nthem a town and some territory to inhabit, regarded themselves only as a colony\r\nof slaves and exiles. And when to this was added the deaths of Demosthenes at\r\nCalauria, and of Hyperides at Cleonae, as we have elsewhere related, the\r\ncitizens began to think with regret of Philip and Alexander, and almost to wish\r\nthe return of those times. And as, after Antigonus was slain, when those that\r\nhad taken him off were afflicting and oppressing the people, a countryman in\r\nPhrygia, digging in the fields, was asked what he was doing, “I am,” said he,\r\nfetching a deep sigh, “searching for Antigonus;” so said many that remembered\r\nthose days, and the contests they had with those kings, whose anger, however\r\ngreat, was yet generous and placable; whereas Antipater, with the counterfeit\r\nhumility of appearing like a private man, in the meanness of his dress and his\r\nhomely fare, merely belied his real love of that arbitrary power, which he\r\nexercised, as a cruel master and despot, to distress those under his command.\r\nYet Phocion had interest with him to recall many from banishment by his\r\nintercession, and prevailed also for those who were driven out, that they might\r\nnot, like others, be hurried beyond Taenarus, and the mountains of Ceraunia,\r\nbut remain in Greece, and plant themselves in Peloponnesus, of which number was\r\nAgnonides, the sycophant. He was no less studious to manage the affairs within\r\nthe city with equity and moderation, preferring constantly those that were men\r\nof worth and good education to the magistracies, and recommending the busy and\r\nturbulent talkers, to whom it was a mortal blow to be excluded from office and\r\npublic debating, to learn to stay at home, and be content to till their land.\r\nAnd observing that Xenocrates paid his alien-tax as a foreigner, he offered him\r\nthe freedom of the city, which he refused, saying he could not accept a\r\nfranchise which he had been sent, as an ambassador, to deprecate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMenyllus wished to give Phocion a considerable present of money, who, thanking\r\nhim, said, neither was Menyllus greater than Alexander, nor his own occasions\r\nmore urgent to receive it now, than when he refused it from him.. And on his\r\npressing him to permit his son Phocus to receive it, he replied, “If my son\r\nreturns to a right mind, his patrimony is sufficient; if not, all supplies will\r\nbe insufficient.” But to Antipater he answered more sharply, who would have him\r\nengaged in something dishonorable. “Antipater,” said he, “cannot have me both\r\nas his friend and his flatterer.” And, indeed, Antipater was wont to say, he\r\nhad two friends at Athens, Phocion and Demades; the one would never suffer him\r\nto gratify him at all, the other would never be satisfied. Phocion might well\r\nthink that poverty a virtue, in which, after having so often been general of\r\nthe Athenians, and admitted to the friendship of potentates and princes, he had\r\nnow grown old. Demades, meantime, delighted in lavishing his wealth even in\r\npositive transgressions of the law. For there having been an order that no\r\nforeigner should be hired to dance in any chorus on the penalty of a fine of\r\none thousand drachmas on the exhibitor, he had the vanity to exhibit an entire\r\nchorus of a hundred foreigners, and paid down the penalty of a thousand\r\ndrachmas a head upon the stage itself. Marrying his son Demeas, he told him\r\nwith the like vanity, “My son, when I married your mother, it was done so\r\nprivately it was not known to the next neighbors, but kings and princes give\r\npresents at your nuptials.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe garrison in Munychia continued to be felt as a great grievance, and the\r\nAthenians did not cease to be importunate upon Phocion, to prevail with\r\nAntipater for its removal; but whether he despaired of effecting it, or perhaps\r\nobserved the people to be more orderly, and public matters more reasonably\r\nconducted by the awe that was thus created, he constantly declined the office,\r\nand contented himself with obtaining from Antipater the postponement for the\r\npresent of the payment of the sum of money in which the city was fined. So the\r\npeople, leaving him off, applied themselves to Demades, who readily undertook\r\nthe employment, and took along with him his son also into Macedonia; and some\r\nsuperior power, as it seems, so ordering it, he came just at that nick of time,\r\nwhen Antipater was already seized with his sickness, and Cassander, taking upon\r\nhimself the command, had found a letter of Demades’s, formerly written by him\r\nto Antigonus in Asia, recommending him to come and possess himself of the\r\nempire of Greece and Macedon, now hanging, he said, (a scoff at Antipater,) “by\r\nan old and rotten thread.” So when Cassander saw him come, he seized him; and\r\nfirst brought out the son and killed him so close before his face, that the\r\nblood ran all over his clothes and person, and then, after bitterly taunting\r\nand upbraiding him with his ingratitude and treachery, dispatched him himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntipater being dead, after nominating Polysperchon general-in-chief, and\r\nCassander commander of the cavalry, Cassander at once set up for himself and\r\nimmediately dispatched Nicanor to Menyllus, to succeed him in the command of\r\nthe garrison, commanding him to possess himself of Munychia before the news of\r\nAntipater’s death should be heard; which being done, and some days after the\r\nAthenians hearing the report of it, Phocion was taxed as privy to it before,\r\nand censured heavily for dissembling it, out of friendship for Nicanor. But he\r\nslighted their talk, and making it his duty to visit and confer continually\r\nwith Nicanor, he succeeded in procuring his good-will and kindness for the\r\nAthenians, and induced him even to put himself to trouble and expense to seek\r\npopularity with them, by undertaking the office of presiding at the games.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime Polysperchon, who was entrusted with the charge of the king, to\r\ncountermine Cassander, sent a letter to the city, declaring in the name of the\r\nking, that he restored them their democracy, and that the whole Athenian people\r\nwere at liberty to conduct their commonwealth according to their ancient\r\ncustoms and constitutions. The object of these pretenses was merely the\r\noverthrow of Phocion’s influence, as the event manifested. For Polysperchon’s\r\ndesign being to possess himself of the city, he despaired altogether of\r\nbringing it to pass, whilst Phocion retained his credit; and the most certain\r\nway to ruin him, would be again to fill the city with a crowd of disfranchised\r\ncitizens, and let loose the tongues of the demagogues and common accusers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWith this prospect, the Athenians were all in excitement, and Nicanor, wishing\r\nto confer with them on the subject, at a meeting of the Council in Piraeus,\r\ncame himself, trusting for the safety of his person to Phocion. And when\r\nDercyllus, who commanded the guard there, made an attempt to seize him, upon\r\nnotice of it beforehand, he made his escape, and there was little doubt he\r\nwould now lose no time in righting himself upon the city for the affront; and\r\nwhen Phocion was found fault with for letting him get off and not securing him,\r\nhe defended himself by saying that he had no mistrust of Nicanor, nor the least\r\nreason to expect any mischief from him, but should it prove otherwise, for his\r\npart he would have them all know, he would rather receive than do the wrong.\r\nAnd so far as he spoke for himself alone, the answer was honorable and\r\nhigh-minded enough, but he who hazards his country’s safety, and that, too,\r\nwhen he is her magistrate and chief commander, can scarcely he acquitted, I\r\nfear, of transgressing a higher and more sacred obligation of justice, which he\r\nowed to his fellow citizens. For it will not even do to say, that he dreaded\r\nthe involving the city in war, by seizing Nicanor, and hoped by professions of\r\nconfidence and just-dealing, to retain him in the observance of the like; but\r\nit was, indeed, his credulity and confidence in him, and an overweening opinion\r\nof his sincerity, that imposed upon him. So that notwithstanding the sundry\r\nintimations he had of his making preparations to attack Piraeus, sending\r\nsoldiers over into Salamis, and tampering with, and endeavoring to corrupt\r\nvarious residents in Piraeus, he would, notwithstanding all this evidence,\r\nnever be persuaded to believe it. And even when Philomedes of Lampra had got a\r\ndecree passed, that all the Athenians should stand to their arms, and be ready\r\nto follow Phocion their general, he yet sat still and did nothing, until\r\nNicanor actually led his troops out from Munychia, and drew trenches about\r\nPiraeus; upon which, when Phocion at last would have led out the Athenians,\r\nthey cried out against him, and slighted his orders.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlexander, the son of Polysperchon, was at hand with a considerable force, and\r\nprofessed to come to give them succor against Nicanor, but intended nothing\r\nless, if possible, than to surprise the city, whilst they were in tumult and\r\ndivided among themselves. For all that had previously been expelled from the\r\ncity, now coming back with him, made their way into it, and were joined by a\r\nmixed multitude of foreigners and disfranchised persons, and of these a motley\r\nand irregular public assembly came together, in which they presently divested\r\nPhocion of all power, and chose other generals; and if, by chance Alexander had\r\nnot been spied from the walls, alone in close conference with Nicanor, and had\r\nnot this, which was often repeated, given the Athenians cause of suspicion, the\r\ncity had not escaped the snare. The orator Agnonides, however, at once fell\r\nfoul upon Phocion, and impeached him of treason; Callimedon and Charicles,\r\nfearing the worst, consulted their own security by flying from the city;\r\nPhocion, with a few of his friends that stayed with him, went over to\r\nPolysperchon, and out of respect for him, Solon of Plataea, and Dinarchus of\r\nCorinth, who were reputed friends and confidants of Polysperchon, accompanied\r\nhim. But on account of Dinarchus falling ill, they remained several days in\r\nElatea, during which time, upon the persuasion of Agnonides and on the motion\r\nof Archestratus a decree passed that the people should send delegates thither\r\nto accuse Phocion. So both parties reached Polysperchon at the same time, who\r\nwas going through the country with the king, and was then at a small village of\r\nPhocis, Pharygae, under the mountain now called Galate, but then Acrurium.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere Polysperchon, having set up the golden canopy, and seated the king and\r\nhis company under it, ordered Dinarchus at once to be taken, and tortured, and\r\nput to death; and that done, gave audience to the Athenians, who filled the\r\nplace with noise and tumult, accusing and recriminating on one another, till at\r\nlast Agnonides came forward, and requested they might all be shut up together\r\nin one cage, and conveyed to Athens, there to decide the controversy. At that\r\nthe king could not forbear smiling, but the company that attended, for their\r\nown amusement, Macedonians and strangers, were eager to hear the altercation,\r\nand made signs to the delegates to go on with their case at once. But it was no\r\nsort of fair hearing. Polysperchon frequently interrupted Phocion, till at last\r\nPhocion struck his staff on the ground, and declined to speak further. And when\r\nHegemon said, Polysperchon himself could bear witness to his affection for the\r\npeople, Polysperchon called out fiercely, “Give over slandering me to the\r\nking,” and the king starting up was about to have run him through with his\r\njavelin, but Polysperchon interposed and hindered him; so that the assembly\r\ndissolved.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPhocion, then, and those about him, were seized; those of his friends that were\r\nnot immediately by him, on seeing this, hid their faces, and saved themselves\r\nby flight. The rest Clitus took and brought to Athens, to be submitted to\r\ntrial; but, in truth, as men already sentenced to die. The manner of conveying\r\nthem was indeed extremely moving; they were carried in chariots through the\r\nCeramicus, straight to the place of judicature, where Clitus secured them till\r\nthey had convoked an assembly of the people, which was open to all comers,\r\nneither foreigners, nor slaves, nor those who had been punished with\r\ndisfranchisement, being refused admittance, but all alike, both men and women,\r\nbeing allowed to come into the court, and even upon the place of speaking. So\r\nhaving read the king’s letters, in which he declared he was satisfied himself\r\nthat these men were traitors, however, they being a free city, he willingly\r\naccorded them the grace of trying and judging them according to their own laws,\r\nClitus brought in his prisoners. Every respectable citizen, at the sight of\r\nPhocion, covered up his face, and stooped down to conceal his tears. And one of\r\nthem had the courage to say, that since the king had committed so important a\r\ncause to the judgment of the people, it would be well that the strangers, and\r\nthose of servile condition, should withdraw. But the populace would not endure\r\nit, crying out they were oligarchs, and enemies to the liberty of the people,\r\nand deserved to be stoned; after which no man durst offer anything further in\r\nPhocion’s behalf. He was himself with difficulty heard at all, when he put the\r\nquestion, “Do you wish to put us to death lawfully, or unlawfully?” Some\r\nanswered, “According to law.” He replied, “How can you, except we have a fair\r\nhearing?” But when they were deaf to all he said, approaching nearer, “As to\r\nmyself,” said he, “I admit my guilt, and pronounce my public conduct to have\r\ndeserved sentence of death. But why, O men of Athens, kill others who have\r\noffended in nothing?” The rabble cried out, they were his friends, that was\r\nenough. Phocion therefore drew back, and said no more.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen Agnonides read the bill, in accordance with which the people should decide\r\nby show of hands whether they judged them guilty, and if so it should be found,\r\nthe penalty should be death. When this had been read out, some desired it might\r\nbe added to the sentence, that Phocion should be tortured also, and that the\r\nrack should be produced with the executioners. But Agnonides perceiving even\r\nClitus to dislike this, and himself thinking it horrid and barbarous, said,\r\n“When we catch that slave, Callimedon, men of Athens, we will put him to the\r\nrack, but I shall make no motion of the kind in Phocion’s case.” Upon which one\r\nof the better citizens remarked, he was quite right; “If we should torture\r\nPhocion, what could we do to you?” So the form of the bill was approved of, and\r\nthe show of hands called for; upon which, not one man retaining his seat, but\r\nall rising up, and some with garlands on their heads, they condemned them all\r\nto death.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were present with Phocion, Nicocles, Thudippus, Hegemon, and Pythocles.\r\nDemetrius the Phalerian, Callimedon, Charicles, and some others, were included\r\nin the condemnation, being absent.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the assembly was dismissed, they were carried to the prison; the rest\r\nwith cries and lamentations, their friends and relatives following; and\r\nclinging about them, but Phocion looking (as men observed with astonishment at\r\nhis calmness and magnanimity) just the same as when he had been used to return\r\nto his home attended, as general, from the assembly. His enemies ran along by\r\nhis side, reviling and abusing him. And one of them coming up to him, spat in\r\nhis face; at which Phocion, turning to the officers, only said, “You should\r\nstop this indecency.” Thudippus, on their reaching the prison, when he observed\r\nthe executioner tempering the poison and preparing it for them, gave way to his\r\npassion, and began to bemoan his condition and the hard measure he received,\r\nthus unjustly to suffer with Phocion. “You cannot be contented,” said he, “to\r\ndie with Phocion?” One of his friends that stood by, asked him if he wished to\r\nhave anything said to his son. “Yes, by all means,” said he, “bid him bear no\r\ngrudge against the Athenians.” Then Nicocles, the dearest and most faithful of\r\nhis friends, begged to be allowed to drink the poison first. “My friend,” said\r\nhe, “you ask what I am loath and sorrowful to give, but as I never yet in all\r\nmy life was so thankless as to refuse you, I must gratify you in this also.”\r\nAfter they had all drunk of it, the poison ran short; and the executioner\r\nrefused to prepare more, except they would pay him twelve drachmas, to defray\r\nthe cost of the quantity required. Some delay was made, and time spent, when\r\nPhocion called one of his friends, and observing that a man could not even die\r\nat Athens without paying for it, requested him to give the sum.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was the nineteenth day of the month Munychion, on which it was the usage to\r\nhave a solemn procession in the city, in honor of Jupiter. The horsemen, as\r\nthey passed by, some of them threw away their garlands, others stopped,\r\nweeping, and casting sorrowful looks towards the prison doors, and all the\r\ncitizens whose minds were not absolutely debauched by spite and passion, or who\r\nhad any humanity left, acknowledged it to have been most impiously done, not,\r\nat least, to let that day pass, and the city so be kept pure from death and a\r\npublic execution at the solemn festival. But as if this triumph had been\r\ninsufficient, the malice of Phocion’s enemies went yet further; his dead body\r\nwas excluded from burial within the boundaries of the country, and none of the\r\nAthenians could light a funeral pile to burn the corpse; neither durst any of\r\nhis friends venture to concern themselves about it. A certain Conopion, a man\r\nwho used to do these offices for hire, took the body and carried it beyond\r\nEleusis, and procuring fire from over the frontier of Megara, burned it.\r\nPhocion’s wife, with her servant-maids, being present and assisting at the\r\nsolemnity, raised there an empty tomb, and performed the customary libations,\r\nand gathering up the bones in her lap, and bringing them home by night, dug a\r\nplace for them by the fireside in her house, saying, “Blessed hearth, to your\r\ncustody I commit the remains of a good and brave man; and, I beseech you,\r\nprotect and restore them to the sepulcher of his fathers, when the Athenians\r\nreturn to their right minds.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, indeed, a very little time and their own sad experience soon informed them\r\nwhat an excellent governor, and how great an example and guardian of justice\r\nand of temperance they had bereft themselves of. And now they decreed him a\r\nstatue of brass, and his bones to be buried honorably at the public charge; and\r\nfor his accusers, Agnonides they took themselves, and caused him to be put to\r\ndeath. Epicurus and Demophilus, who fled from the city for fear, his son met\r\nwith, and took his revenge upon them. This son of his, we are told, was in\r\ngeneral of an indifferent character, and once, when enamored of a slave girl\r\nkept by a common harlot merchant, happened to hear Theodorus, the atheist,\r\narguing in the Lyceum, that if it were a good and honorable thing to buy the\r\nfreedom of a friend in the masculine, why not also of a friend in the feminine,\r\nif, for example, a master, why not also a mistress? So putting the good\r\nargument and his passion together, he went off and purchased the girl’s\r\nfreedom. The death which was thus suffered by Phocion, revived among the Greeks\r\nthe memory of that of Socrates, the two cases being so similar, and both\r\nequally the sad fault and misfortune of the city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap50\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCATO THE YOUNGER\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe family of Cato derived its first luster from his great-grandfather Cato,\r\nwhose virtue gained him such great reputation and authority among the Romans,\r\nas we have written in his life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis Cato was, by the loss of both his parents, left an orphan, together with\r\nhis brother Caepio, and his sister Porcia. He had also a half-sister, Servilia,\r\nby the mother’s side. All these lived together, and were bred up in the house\r\nof Livius Drusus, their uncle by the mother who, at that time, had a great\r\nshare in the government, being a very eloquent speaker, a man of the greatest\r\ntemperance, and yielding in dignity to none of the Romans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is said of Cato, that even from his infancy, in his speech, his countenance,\r\nand all his childish pastimes, he discovered an inflexible temper, unmoved by\r\nany passion, and firm in everything. He was resolute in his purposes, much\r\nbeyond the strength of his age, to go through with whatever he undertook. He\r\nwas rough and ungentle toward those that flattered him, and still more\r\nunyielding to those who threatened him. It was difficult to excite him to\r\nlaughter; his countenance seldom relaxed even into a smile; he was not quickly\r\nor easily provoked to anger, but if once incensed, he was no less difficult to\r\npacify.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he began to learn, he proved dull, and slow to apprehend, but of what he\r\nonce received, his memory was remarkably tenacious. And such, in fact, we find\r\ngenerally to be the course of nature; men of fine genius are readily reminded\r\nof things, but those who receive with most pains and difficulty, remember best;\r\nevery new thing they learn, being, as it were, burnt and branded in on their\r\nminds. Cato’s natural stubbornness and slowness to be persuaded, may also have\r\nmade it more difficult for him to be taught. For to learn, is to submit to have\r\nsomething done to one; and persuasion comes soonest to those who have least\r\nstrength to resist it. Hence young men are sooner persuaded than those that are\r\nmore in years, and sick men, than those that are well in health In fine, where\r\nthere is least previous doubt and difficulty the new impression is most easily\r\naccepted. Yet Cato, they say, was very obedient to his preceptor, and would do\r\nwhatever he was commanded; but he would also ask the reason, and inquire the\r\ncause of everything. And, indeed, his teacher was a very well-bred man, more\r\nready to instruct, than to beat his scholars. His name was Sarpedon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Cato was a child, the allies of the Romans sued to be made free citizens\r\nof Rome. Pompaedius Silo, one of their deputies, a brave soldier, and a man of\r\ngreat repute, who had contracted a friendship with Drusus, lodged at his house\r\nfor several days, in which time being grown familiar with the children, “Well,”\r\nsaid he to them, “will you entreat your uncle to befriend us in our business?”\r\nCaepio, smiling, assented, but Cato made no answer, only he looked steadfastly\r\nand fiercely on the strangers. Then said Pompaedius, “And you, young sir, what\r\nsay you to us? will not you, as well as your brother, intercede with your uncle\r\nin our behalf?” And when Cato continued to give no answer, by his silence and\r\nhis countenance seeming to deny their petition, Pompaedius snatched him up to\r\nthe window as if he would throw him out, and told him to consent, or he would\r\nfling him down, and, speaking in a harsher tone, held his body out of the\r\nwindow, and shook him several times. When Cato had suffered this a good while,\r\nunmoved and unalarmed, Pompaedius setting him down, said in an under-voice to\r\nhis friend, “What a blessing for Italy, that he is but a child! If he were a\r\nman, I believe we should not gain one voice among the people.” Another time,\r\none of his relations, on his birthday, invited Cato and some other children to\r\nsupper, and some of the company diverted themselves in a separate part of the\r\nhouse, and were at play, the elder and the younger together, their sport being\r\nto act the pleadings before the judges, accusing one another, and carrying away\r\nthe condemned to prison. Among these a very beautiful young child, being bound\r\nand carried by a bigger into prison, cried out to Cato, who seeing what was\r\ngoing on, presently ran to the door, and thrusting away those who stood there\r\nas guard, took out the child, and went home in anger, followed by some of his\r\ncompanions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato at length grew so famous among them, that when Sylla designed to exhibit\r\nthe sacred game of young men riding courses on horseback, which they called\r\nTroy, having gotten together the youth of good birth, he appointed two for\r\ntheir leaders. One of them they accepted for his mother’s sake, being the son\r\nof Metella, the wife of Sylla; but as for the other, Sextus, the nephew of\r\nPompey, they would not be led by him, nor exercise under him. Then Sylla\r\nasking, whom they would have, they all cried out, Cato; and Sextus willingly\r\nyielded the honor to him, as the more worthy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSylla, who was a friend of their family, sent at times for Cato and his brother\r\nto see them and talk with them; a favor which he showed to very few, after\r\ngaining his great power and authority. Sarpedon, full of the advantage it would\r\nbe, as well for the honor as the safety of his scholars, would often bring Cato\r\nto wait upon Sylla at his house, which, for the multitude of those that were\r\nbeing carried off in custody, and tormented there, looked like a place of\r\nexecution. Cato was then in his fourteenth year, and seeing the heads of men\r\nsaid to be of great distinction brought thither, and observing the secret sighs\r\nof those that were present, he asked his preceptor, “Why does nobody kill this\r\nman?” “Because,” said he, “they fear him, child, more than they hate him.”\r\n“Why, then,” replied Cato, “did you not give me a sword, that I might stab him,\r\nand free my country from this slavery?” Sarpedon hearing this, and at the same\r\ntime seeing his countenance swelling with anger and determination, took care\r\nthenceforward to watch him strictly, lest he should hazard any desperate\r\nattempt.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile he was yet very young, to some that asked him, whom he loved best, he\r\nanswered, his brother. And being asked, whom next, he replied, his brother,\r\nagain. So likewise the third time, and still the same, till they left off to\r\nask any further. As he grew in age, this love to his brother grew yet the\r\nstronger. When he was about twenty years old, he never supped, never went out\r\nof town, nor into the forum, without Caepio. But when his brother made use of\r\nprecious ointments and perfumes, Cato declined them; and he was, in all his\r\nhabits, very strict and austere, so that when Caepio was admired for his\r\nmoderation and temperance, he would acknowledge that indeed he might be\r\naccounted such, in comparison with some other men, “but,” said he, “when I\r\ncompare myself with Cato, I find myself scarcely different from Sippius,” one\r\nat that time notorious for his luxurious and effeminate living.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato being made priest of Apollo, went to another house, took his portion of\r\ntheir paternal inheritance, amounting to a hundred and twenty talents, and\r\nbegan to live yet more strictly than before. Having gained the intimate\r\nacquaintance of Antipater the Tyrian, the Stoic philosopher, he devoted himself\r\nto the study, above everything, of moral and political doctrine. And though\r\npossessed, as it were, by a kind of inspiration for the pursuit of every\r\nvirtue, yet what most of all virtue and excellence fixed his affection, was\r\nthat steady and inflexible Justice, which is not to be wrought upon by favor or\r\ncompassion. He learned also the art of speaking and debating in public,\r\nthinking that political philosophy, like a great city, should maintain for its\r\nsecurity the military and warlike element. But he would never recite his\r\nexercises before company, nor was he ever heard to declaim. And to one that\r\ntold him, men blamed his silence, “But I hope not my life,” he replied, “I will\r\nbegin to speak, when I have that to say which had not better be unsaid.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe great Porcian Hall, as it was called, had been built and dedicated to the\r\npublic use by the old Cato, when aedile. Here the tribunes of the people used\r\nto transact their business, and because one of the pillars was thought to\r\ninterfere with the convenience of their seats, they deliberated whether it were\r\nbest to remove it to another place, or to take it away. This occasion first\r\ndrew Cato, much against his will, into the forum; for he opposed the demand of\r\nthe tribunes, and in so doing, gave a specimen both of his courage and his\r\npowers of speaking, which gained him great admiration. His speech had nothing\r\nyouthful or refined in it, but was straightforward, full of matter, and rough,\r\nat the same time that there was a certain grace about his rough statements\r\nwhich won the attention; and the speaker’s character showing itself in all he\r\nsaid, added to his severe language something that excited feelings of natural\r\npleasure and interest. His voice was full and sounding, and sufficient to be\r\nheard by so great a multitude, and its vigor and capacity of endurance quite\r\nindefatigable; for he often would speak a whole day, and never stop.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he had carried this cause, he betook himself again to study and\r\nretirement. He employed himself in inuring his body to labor and violent\r\nexercise; and habituated himself to go bareheaded in the hottest and the\r\ncoldest weather, and to walk on foot at all seasons. When he went on a journey\r\nwith any of his friends, though they were on horseback and he on foot, yet he\r\nwould often join now one, then another, and converse with them on the way. In\r\nsickness, the patience he showed in supporting, and the abstinence he used for\r\ncuring his distempers, were admirable. When he had an ague, he would remain\r\nalone, and suffer nobody to see him, till he began to recover, and found the\r\nfit was over. At supper, when he threw dice for the choice of dishes, and lost,\r\nand the company offered him nevertheless his choice, he declined to dispute, as\r\nhe said, the decision of Venus. At first, he was wont to drink only once after\r\nsupper, and then go away; but in process of time he grew to drink more,\r\ninsomuch that oftentimes he would continue till morning. This his friends\r\nexplained by saying that state affairs and public business took him up all day,\r\nand being desirous of knowledge, he liked to pass the night at wine in the\r\nconversation of philosophers. Hence, upon one Memmius saying in public, that\r\nCato spent whole nights in drinking, “You should add,” replied Cicero, “that he\r\nspends whole days in gambling.” And in general Cato esteemed the customs and\r\nmanners of men at that time so corrupt, and a reformation in them so necessary,\r\nthat he thought it requisite, in many things, to go contrary to the ordinary\r\nway of the world. Seeing the lightest and gayest purple was then most in\r\nfashion, he would always wear that which was nearest black; and he would often\r\ngo out of doors, after his morning meal, without either shoes or tunic; not\r\nthat he sought vainglory from such novelties, but he would accustom himself to\r\nbe ashamed only of what deserves shame, and to despise all other sorts of\r\ndisgrace.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe estate of one Cato, his cousin, which was worth one hundred talents,\r\nfalling to him, he turned it all into ready money, which he kept by him for any\r\nof his friends that should happen to want, to whom he would lend it without\r\ninterest. And for some of them, he suffered his own land and his slaves to be\r\nmortgaged to the public treasury.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he thought himself of an age fit to marry, having never before known any\r\nwoman, he was contracted to Lepida, who had before been contracted to Metellus\r\nScipio, but on Scipio’s own withdrawal from it, the contract had been\r\ndissolved, and she left at liberty. Yet Scipio afterward repenting himself, did\r\nall he could to regain her, before the marriage with Cato was completed, and\r\nsucceeded in so doing. At which Cato was violently incensed, and resolved at\r\nfirst to go to law about it; but his friends persuaded him to the contrary.\r\nHowever, he was so moved by the heat of youth and passion, that he wrote a\r\nquantity of iambic verses against Scipio, in the bitter, sarcastic style of\r\nArchilochus, without, however, his license and scurrility. After this, he\r\nmarried Atilia, the daughter of Soranus, the first, but not the only woman he\r\never knew, less happy thus far than Laelius, the friend of Scipio, who in the\r\nwhole course of so long a life never knew but the one woman to whom he was\r\nunited in his first and only marriage.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the war of the slaves, which took its name from Spartacus, their ringleader,\r\nGellius was general, and Cato went a volunteer, for the sake of his brother\r\nCaepio, who was a tribune in the army. Cato could find here no opportunity to\r\nshow his zeal or exercise his valor, on account of the ill conduct of the\r\ngeneral. However, amidst the corruption and disorders of that army, he showed\r\nsuch a love of discipline, so much bravery upon occasion, and so much courage\r\nand wisdom in everything, that it appeared he was no way inferior to the old\r\nCato. Gellius offered him great rewards, and would have decreed him the first\r\nhonors; which, however, he refused, saying, he had done nothing that deserved\r\nthem. This made him be thought a man of a strange and eccentric temper.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was a law passed, moreover, that the candidates who stood for any office\r\nshould not have prompters in their canvass, to tell them the names of the\r\ncitizens; and Cato, when he sued to be elected tribune, was the only man that\r\nobeyed this law. He took great pains to learn by his own knowledge to salute\r\nthose he had to speak with, and to call them by their names; yet even those who\r\npraised him for this, did not do so without some envy and jealousy, for the\r\nmore they considered the excellence of what he did, the more they were grieved\r\nat the difficulty they found to do the like.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBeing chosen tribune, he was sent into Macedon to join Rubrius, who was general\r\nthere. It is said that his wife showing much concern, and weeping at his\r\ndeparture, Munatius, one of Cato’s friends, said to her, “Do not trouble\r\nyourself, Atilia, I will engage to watch over him for you.” “By all means,”\r\nreplied Cato; and when they had gone one day’s journey together, “Now,” said he\r\nto Munatius, after they had supped, “that you may be sure to keep your promise\r\nto Atilia, you must not leave me day nor night,” and from that time, he ordered\r\ntwo beds to be made in his own chamber, that Munatius might lie there. And so\r\nhe continued to do, Cato making it his jest to see that he was always there.\r\nThere went with him fifteen slaves, two freedmen, and four of his friends;\r\nthese rode on horseback, but Cato always went on foot, yet would he keep by\r\nthem, and talk with each of them in turn, as they went.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he came to the army, which consisted of several legions, the general gave\r\nhim the command of one; and as he looked upon it as a small matter, and not\r\nworthy a commander, to give evidence of his own single valor, he resolved to\r\nmake his soldiers, as far as he could, like himself, not, however, in this,\r\nrelaxing the terrors of his office, but associating reason with his authority.\r\nHe persuaded and instructed every one in particular, and bestowed rewards or\r\npunishments according to desert; and at length his men were so well\r\ndisciplined, that it was hard to say, whether they were more peaceable, or more\r\nwarlike, more valiant, or more just; they were alike formidable to their\r\nenemies and courteous to their allies, fearful to do wrong, and forward to gain\r\nhonor. And Cato himself acquired in the fullest measure, what it had been his\r\nleast desire to seek, glory and good repute; he was highly esteemed by all men,\r\nand entirely beloved by the soldiers. Whatever he commanded to be done, he\r\nhimself took part in the performing; in his apparel, his diet and mode of\r\ntraveling, he was more like a common soldier than an officer; but in character,\r\nhigh purpose, and wisdom, he far exceeded all that had the names and titles of\r\ncommanders, and he made himself, without knowing it, the object of general\r\naffection. For the true love of virtue is in all men produced by the love and\r\nrespect they bear to him that teaches it; and those who praise good men, yet do\r\nnot love them, may respect their reputation, but do not really admire, and will\r\nnever imitate their virtue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere dwelt at that time in Pergamus, Athenodorus, surnamed Cordylio, a man of\r\nhigh repute for his knowledge of the stoic philosophy, who was now grown old,\r\nand had always steadily refused the friendship and acquaintance of princes and\r\ngreat men. Cato understood this; so that imagining he should not be able to\r\nprevail with him by sending or writing, and being by the laws allowed two\r\nmonths’ absence from the army, he resolved to go into Asia to see him in\r\nperson, trusting to his own good qualities not to lose his labor. And when he\r\nhad conversed with him, and succeeded in persuading him out of his former\r\nresolutions, he returned and brought him to the camp, as joyful and as proud of\r\nthis victory as if he had done some heroic exploit, greater than any of those\r\nof Pompey or Lucullus, who, with their armies, at that time were subduing so\r\nmany nations and kingdoms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile Cato was yet in the service, his brother, on a journey towards Asia, fell\r\nsick at Aenus in Thrace, letters with intelligence of which were immediately\r\ndispatched to him. The sea was very rough, and no convenient ship of any size\r\nto be had; so Cato, getting into a small trading-vessel, with only two of his\r\nfriends and three servants, set sail from Thessalonica, and having very\r\nnarrowly escaped drowning, he arrived at Aenus just as Caepio expired. Upon\r\nthis occasion, he was thought to have showed himself more a fond brother than a\r\nphilosopher, not only in the excess of his grief, bewailing, and embracing the\r\ndead body, but also in the extravagant expenses of the funeral, the vast\r\nquantity of rich perfumes and costly garments which were burnt with the corpse,\r\nand the monument of Thasian marble, which he erected, at the cost of eight\r\ntalents, in the public place of the town of Aenus. For there were some who took\r\nupon them to cavil at all this, as not consistent with his usual calmness and\r\nmoderation, not discerning that though he were steadfast, firm, and inflexible\r\nto pleasure, fear, or foolish entreaties, yet he was full of natural tenderness\r\nand brotherly affection. Divers of the cities and princes of the country, sent\r\nhim many presents, to honor the funeral of his brother; but he took none of\r\ntheir money, only the perfumes and ornaments he received, and paid for them\r\nalso. And afterwards, when the inheritance was divided between him and Caepio’s\r\ndaughter, he did not require any portion of the funeral expenses to be\r\ndischarged out of it. Notwithstanding this, it has been affirmed that he made\r\nhis brother’s ashes be passed through a sieve, to find the gold that was melted\r\ndown when burnt with the body. But he who made this statement appears to have\r\nanticipated an exemption for his pen, as much as for his sword, from all\r\nquestion and criticism.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe time of Cato’s service in the army being expired, he received, at his\r\ndeparture, not only the prayers and praises, but the tears, and embraces of the\r\nsoldiers, who spread their clothes at his feet, and kissed his hand as he\r\npassed, an honor which the Romans at that time scarcely paid even to a very few\r\nof their generals and commander-in-chief. Having left the army, he resolved,\r\nbefore he would return home and apply himself to state affairs, to travel in\r\nAsia, and observe the manners, the customs, and the strength of every province.\r\nHe was also unwilling to refuse the kindness of Deiotarus, king of Galatia, who\r\nhaving had great familiarity and friendship with his father, was very desirous\r\nto receive a visit from him. Cato’s arrangements in his journey were as\r\nfollows. Early in the morning he sent out his baker and his cook towards the\r\nplace where he designed to stay the next night; these went soberly and quietly\r\ninto the town, in which, if there happened to be no friend or acquaintance of\r\nCato or his family, they provided for him in an inn, and gave no disturbance to\r\nanybody; but if there were no inn, then and in this case only, they went to the\r\nmagistrates, and desiring them to help them to lodgings, took without complaint\r\nwhatever was allotted to them. His servants thus behaving themselves towards\r\nthe magistrates, without noise and threatening, were often discredited, or\r\nneglected by them, so that Cato many times arrived and found nothing provided\r\nfor him. And it was all the worse when he appeared himself; still less account\r\nwas taken of him. When they saw him sitting, without saying anything, on his\r\nbaggage, they set him down at once as a person of no consequence, who did not\r\nventure to make any demand. Sometimes, on such occasions, he would call them to\r\nhim and tell them, “Foolish people, lay aside this inhospitality. All your\r\nvisitors will not be Catos. Use your courtesy, to take off the sharp edge of\r\npower. There are men enough who desire but a pretense, to take from you by\r\nforce, what you give with such reluctance.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile he traveled in this manner, a diverting accident befell him in Syria. As\r\nhe was going into Antioch, he saw a great multitude of people outside the\r\ngates, ranged in order on either side the way; here the young men with long\r\ncloaks, there the children decently dressed; others wore garlands and white\r\ngarments, who were the priests and magistrates. Cato, imagining all this could\r\nmean nothing but a display in honor of his reception, began to be angry with\r\nhis servants who had been sent before, for suffering it to be done; then making\r\nhis friends alight, he walked along with them on foot. As soon as he came near\r\nthe gate, an elderly man, who seemed to be master of these ceremonies, with a\r\nwand and a garland in his hand, came up to Cato, and without saluting him,\r\nasked him, where he had left Demetrius, and how soon he thought he would be\r\nthere. This Demetrius was Pompey’s servant, and as at this time the whole\r\nworld, so to say, had its eyes fixed upon Pompey, this man also was highly\r\nhonored, on account of his influence with his master. Upon this, Cato’s friends\r\nfell into such violent laughter, that they could not restrain themselves while\r\nthey passed through the crowd; and he himself, ashamed and distressed, uttered\r\nthe words, “Unfortunate city!” and said no more. Afterwards, however, it always\r\nmade him laugh, when he either told the story or was otherwise reminded of it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey himself shortly after made the people ashamed of their ignorance and\r\nfolly in thus neglecting him, for Cato, coming in his journey to Ephesus, went\r\nto pay his respects to him, who was the elder man, had gained much honor, and\r\nwas then general of a great army. Yet Pompey would not receive him sitting, but\r\nas soon as he saw him, rose up, and going to meet him, as the more honorable\r\nperson, gave him his hand, and embraced him with great show of kindness. He\r\nsaid much in commendation of his virtue, both at that time when receiving him,\r\nand also yet more, after he had withdrawn. So that now all men began at once to\r\ndisplay their respect for Cato, and discovered in the very same things for\r\nwhich they despised him before, an admirable mildness of temper, and greatness\r\nof spirit. And indeed the civility that Pompey himself showed him, appeared to\r\ncome from one that rather respected than loved him; and the general opinion\r\nwas, that while Cato was there, he paid him admiration, but was not sorry when\r\nhe was gone. For when other young men came to see him, he usually urged and\r\nentreated them to continue with him. Now he did not at all invite Cato to stay,\r\nbut as if his own power were lessened by the other’s presence, he very\r\nwillingly allowed him to take his leave. Yet to Cato alone, of all those who\r\nwent for Rome, he recommended his children and his wife, who was indeed\r\nconnected by relationship with Cato.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, all the cities through which he passed, strove and emulated each\r\nother in showing him respect and honor. Feasts and entertainments were made for\r\nhis reception, so that he bade his friends keep strict watch and take care of\r\nhim, lest he should end by making good what was said by Curio, who though he\r\nwere his familial friend, yet disliking the austerity of his temper, asked him\r\none day, if when he left the army, he designed to see Asia, and Cato answering,\r\n“Yes, by all means,” “You do well,” replied Curio, “you will bring back with\r\nyou a better temper and pleasanter manners;” pretty nearly the very words he\r\nused.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDeiotarus being now an old man, had sent for Cato, to recommend his children\r\nand family to his protection; and as soon as he came, brought him presents of\r\nall sorts of things, which he begged and entreated him to accept. And his\r\nimportunities displeased Cato so much, that though he came but in the evening,\r\nhe stayed only that night, and went away early the next morning. After he was\r\ngone one day’s journey, he found at Pessinus a yet greater quantity of presents\r\nprovided for him there, and also letters from Deiotarus, entreating him to\r\nreceive them, or at least to permit his friends to take them, who for his sake\r\ndeserved some gratification, and could not have much done for them out of\r\nCato’s own means. Yet he would not suffer it, though he saw some of them very\r\nwilling to receive such gifts, and ready to complain of his severity; but he\r\nanswered, that corruption would never want pretense, and his friends should\r\nshare with him in whatever he should justly and honestly obtain, and so\r\nreturned the presents to Deiotarus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he took ship for Brundusium, his friends would have persuaded him to put\r\nhis brother’s ashes into another vessel; but he said, he would sooner part with\r\nhis life than leave them, and so set sail. And as it chanced, he, we are told,\r\nhad a very dangerous passage, though others at the same time went over safely\r\nenough.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter he was returned to Rome, he spent his time for the most part either at\r\nhome, in conversation with Athenodorus, or at the forum, in the service of his\r\nfriends. Though it was now the time that he should become quaestor, he would\r\nnot stand for the place till he had studied the laws relating to it, and by\r\ninquiry from persons of experience, had attained a distinct understanding of\r\nthe duty and authority belonging to it. With this knowledge, as soon as he came\r\ninto the office, he made a great reformation among the clerks and\r\nunder-officers of the treasury, people who had long practice and familiarity in\r\nall the public records and the laws, and, when new magistrates came in year by\r\nyear, so ignorant and unskillful as to be in absolute need of others to teach\r\nthem what to do, did not submit and give way, but kept the power in their own\r\nhands, and were in effect the treasurers themselves. Till Cato, applying\r\nhimself roundly to the work, showed that he possessed not only the title and\r\nhonor of a quaestor, but the knowledge and understanding and full authority of\r\nhis office. So that he used the clerks and under-officers like servants, as\r\nthey were, exposing their corrupt practices, and instructing their ignorance.\r\nBeing bold impudent fellows, they flattered the other quaestors, his\r\ncolleagues, and by their means endeavored to maintain an opposition against\r\nhim. But he convicted the chiefest of them of a breach of trust in the charge\r\nof an inheritance, and turned him out of his place. A second he brought to\r\ntrial for dishonesty, who was defended by Lutatius Catulus, at that time\r\ncensor, a man very considerable for his office, but yet more for his character,\r\nas he was eminent above all the Romans of that age for his reputed wisdom and\r\nintegrity. He was also intimate with Cato, and much commended his way of\r\nliving. So perceiving he could not bring off his client, if he stood a fair\r\ntrial, he openly began to beg him off. Cato objected to his doing this. And\r\nwhen he continued still to be importunate, “It would be shameful, Catulus,” he\r\nsaid, “that the censor, the judge of all our lives, should incur the dishonor\r\nof removal by our officers.” At this expression, Catalus looked as if he would\r\nhave made some answer; but he said nothing, and either through anger or shame\r\nwent away silent, and out of countenance. Nevertheless, the man was not found\r\nguilty, for the voices that acquitted him were but one in number less than\r\nthose that condemned him, and Marcus Lollius, one of Cato’s colleagues, who was\r\nabsent by reason of sickness, was sent for by Catalus, and entreated to come\r\nand save the man. So Lollius was brought into court in a chair, and gave his\r\nvoice also for acquitting him. Yet Cato never after made use of that clerk, and\r\nnever paid him his salary, nor would he make any account of the vote given by\r\nLollius. Having thus humbled the clerks, and brought them to be at command, he\r\nmade use of the books and registers as he thought fit, and in a little while\r\ngained the treasury a higher name than the Senate-house itself; and all men\r\nsaid, Cato had made the office of a quaestor equal to the dignity of a consul.\r\nWhen he found many indebted to the state upon old accounts, and the state also\r\nin debt to many private persons, he took care that the public might no longer\r\neither do or suffer wrong; he strictly and punctually exacted what was due to\r\nthe treasury, and as freely and speedily paid all those to whom it was\r\nindebted. So that the people were filled with sentiments of awe and respect, on\r\nseeing those made to pay, who thought to have escaped with their plunder, and\r\nothers receiving all their due, who despaired of getting anything. And whereas\r\nusually those who brought false bills and pretended orders of the senate, could\r\nthrough favor get them accepted, Cato would never be so imposed upon, and in\r\nthe case of one particular order, question arising, whether it had passed the\r\nsenate, he would not believe a great many witnesses that attested it, nor would\r\nadmit of it, till the consuls came and affirmed it upon oath.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were at that time a great many whom Sylla had made use of as his agents\r\nin the proscription, and to whom he had for their service in putting men to\r\ndeath, given twelve thousand drachmas apiece. These men everybody hated as\r\nwicked and polluted wretches, but nobody durst be revenged upon them. Cato\r\ncalled everyone to account, as wrongfully possessed of the public money, and\r\nexacted it of them, and at the same time sharply reproved them for their\r\nunlawful and impious actions. After these proceedings, they were presently\r\naccused of murder, and being already in a manner prejudged as guilty, they were\r\neasily found so, and accordingly suffered; at which the whole people rejoiced,\r\nand thought themselves now to see the old tyranny finally abolished, and Sylla\r\nhimself, so to say, brought to punishment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato’s assiduity also, and indefatigable diligence, won very much upon the\r\npeople. He always came first of any of his colleagues to the treasury, and went\r\naway the last. He never missed any assembly of the people, or sitting of the\r\nsenate; being always anxious and on the watch for those who lightly, or as a\r\nmatter of interest, passed votes in favor of this or that person, for remitting\r\ndebts or granting away customs that were owing to the state. And at length,\r\nhaving kept the exchequer pure and clear from base informers, and yet having\r\nfilled it with treasure, he made it appear the state might be rich, without\r\noppressing the people. At first he excited feelings of dislike and irritation\r\nin some of his colleagues, but after a while they were well contented with him,\r\nsince he was perfectly willing that they should cast all the odium on him, when\r\nthey declined to gratify their friends with the public money, or to give\r\ndishonest judgments in passing their accounts; and when hard pressed by\r\nsuitors, they could readily answer it was impossible to do anything, unless\r\nCato would consent. On the last day of his office, he was honorably attended to\r\nhis house by almost all the people; but on the way he was informed that several\r\npowerful friends were in the treasury with Marcellus, using all their interest\r\nwith him to pass a certain debt to the public revenue, as if it had been a\r\ngift. Marcellus had been one of Cato’s friends from his childhood, and so long\r\nas Cato was with him, was one of the best of his colleagues in this office, but\r\nwhen alone, was unable to resist the importunity of suitors, and prone to do\r\nanybody a kindness. So Cato immediately turned back, and finding that Marcellus\r\nhad yielded to pass the thing, he took the book, and while Marcellus silently\r\nstood by and looked on, struck it out. This done, he brought Marcellus out of\r\nthe treasury, and took him home with him; who for all this, neither then, nor\r\never after, complained of him, but always continued his friendship and\r\nfamiliarity with him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato after he had laid down his office, yet did not cease to keep a watch upon\r\nthe treasury. He had his servants who continually wrote out the details of the\r\nexpenditure, and he himself kept always by him certain books, which contained\r\nthe accounts of the revenue from Sylla’s time to his own quaestorship, which he\r\nhad bought for five talents.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was always first at the senate, and went out last; and often, while the\r\nothers were slowly collecting, he would sit and read by himself, holding his\r\ngown before his book. He was never once out of town when the senate was to\r\nmeet. And when afterwards Pompey and his party, finding that he could never be\r\neither persuaded or compelled to favor their unjust designs, endeavored to keep\r\nhim from the senate, by engaging him in business for his friends, to plead\r\ntheir causes, or arbitrate in their differences, or the like, he quickly\r\ndiscovered the trick, and to defeat it, fairly told all his acquaintance that\r\nhe would never meddle in any private business when the senate was assembled.\r\nSince it was not in the hope of gaining honor or riches, nor out of mere\r\nimpulse, or by chance that he engaged himself in politics, but he undertook the\r\nservice of the state, as the proper business of an honest man, and therefore he\r\nthought himself obliged to be as constant to his public duty, as the bee to the\r\nhoneycomb. To this end, he took care to have his friends and correspondents\r\neverywhere, to send him reports of the edicts, decrees, judgments, and all the\r\nimportant proceedings that passed in any of the provinces. Once when Clodius,\r\nthe seditious orator, to promote his violent and revolutionary projects,\r\ntraduced to the people some of the priests and priestesses, (among whom Fabia,\r\nsister to Cicero’s wife, Terentia, ran great danger,) Cato, having boldly\r\ninterfered, and having made Clodius appear so infamous that he was forced to\r\nleave the town, was addressed, when it was over, by Cicero, who came to thank\r\nhim for what he had done. “You must thank the commonwealth,” said he, for whose\r\nsake alone he professed to do everything. Thus he gained a great and wonderful\r\nreputation; so that an advocate in a cause, where there was only one witness\r\nagainst him, told the judges they ought not to rely upon a single witness,\r\nthough it were Cato himself. And it was a sort of proverb with many people, if\r\nany very unlikely and incredible thing were asserted, to say, they would not\r\nbelieve it, though Cato himself should affirm it. One day a debauched and\r\nsumptuous liver talking in the senate about frugality and temperance, Amnaeus\r\nstanding up, cried, “Who can endure this, Sir, to have you feast like Crassus,\r\nbuild like Lucullus and talk like Cato.” So likewise those who were vicious and\r\ndissolute in their manners, yet affected to be grave and severe in their\r\nlanguage, were in derision called Catos.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt first, when his friends would have persuaded him to stand to be tribune of\r\nthe people, he thought it undesirable; for that the power of so great an office\r\nought to be reserved, as the strongest medicines, for occasions of the last\r\nnecessity. But afterwards in a vacation time, as he was going, accompanied with\r\nhis books and philosophers, to Lucania, where he had lands with a pleasant\r\nresidence, they met by the way a great many horses, carriages, and attendants,\r\nof whom they understood, that Metellus Nepos was going to Rome, to stand to be\r\ntribune of the people. Hereupon Cato stopped, and after a little pause, gave\r\norders to return back immediately; at which the company seeming to wonder,\r\n“Don’t you know,” said he, “how dangerous of itself the madness of Metellus is?\r\nand now that he comes armed with the support of Pompey, he will fall like\r\nlightning on the state, and bring it to utter disorder; therefore this is no\r\ntime for idleness and diversion, but we must go and prevent this man in his\r\ndesigns, or bravely die in defense of our liberty.” Nevertheless, by the\r\npersuasion of his friends, he went first to his country-house, where he stayed\r\nbut a very little time, and then returned to town.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe arrived in the evening, and went straight the next morning to the forum,\r\nwhere he began to solicit for the tribuneship, in opposition to Metellus. The\r\npower of this office consists rather in controlling, than performing any\r\nbusiness; for though all the rest except any one tribune should be agreed, yet\r\nhis denial or intercession could put a stop to the whole matter. Cato, at\r\nfirst, had not many that appeared for him; but as soon as his design was known,\r\nall the good and distinguished persons of the city quickly came forward to\r\nencourage and support him, looking upon him, not as one that desired a favor of\r\nthem, but one that proposed to do a great favor to his country and all honest\r\nmen; who had many times refused the same office, when he might have had it\r\nwithout trouble, but now sought it with danger, that he might defend their\r\nliberty and their government. It is reported that so great a number flocked\r\nabout him, that he was like to be stifled amidst the press, and could scarce\r\nget through the crowd. He was declared tribune, with several others, among whom\r\nwas Metellus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Cato was chosen into this office, observing that the election of consuls\r\nwas become a matter of purchase, he sharply rebuked the people for this\r\ncorruption, and in the conclusion of his speech protested, he would bring to\r\ntrial whomever he should find giving money, making an exception only in the\r\ncase of Silanus, on account of their near connection, he having married\r\nServilia, Cato’s sister. He therefore did not prosecute him, but accused Lucius\r\nMurena, who had been chosen consul by corrupt means with Silanus. There was a\r\nlaw that the party accused might appoint a person to keep watch upon his\r\naccuser, that he might know fairly what means he took in preparing the\r\naccusation. He that was set upon Cato by Murena, at first followed and observed\r\nhim strictly, yet never found him dealing any way unfairly or insidiously, but\r\nalways generously and candidly going on in the just and open methods of\r\nproceeding. And he so admired Cato’s great spirit, and so entirely trusted to\r\nhis integrity, that meeting him in the forum, or going to his house, he would\r\nask him, if he designed to do anything that day in order to the accusation, and\r\nif Cato said no, he went away, relying on his word. When the cause was pleaded,\r\nCicero, who was then consul and defended Murena, took occasion to be extremely\r\nwitty and jocose, in reference to Cato, upon the stoic philosophers, and their\r\nparadoxes, as they call them, and so excited great laughter among the judges;\r\nupon which Cato, smiling, said to the standers by, “What a pleasant consul we\r\nhave, my friends.” Murena was acquitted, and afterwards showed himself a man of\r\nno ill feeling or want of sense; for when he was consul, he always took Cato’s\r\nadvice in the most weighty affairs, and during all the time of his office, paid\r\nhim much honor and respect. Of which not only Murena’s prudence, but also\r\nCato’s own behavior, was the cause; for though he were terrible and severe as\r\nto matters of justice, in the senate, and at the bar, yet after the thing was\r\nover, his manner to all men was perfectly friendly and humane.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBefore he entered on the office of tribune, he assisted Cicero, at that time\r\nconsul, in many contests that concerned his office, but most especially in his\r\ngreat and noble acts at the time of Catiline’s conspiracy, which owed their\r\nlast successful issue to Cato. Catiline had plotted a dreadful and entire\r\nsubversion of the Roman state by sedition and open war, but being convicted by\r\nCicero, was forced to fly the city. Yet Lentulus and Cethegus remained with\r\nseveral others, to carry on the same plot; and blaming Catiline, as one that\r\nwanted courage, and had been timid and petty in his designs, they themselves\r\nresolved to set the whole town on fire, and utterly to overthrow the empire,\r\nrousing whole nations to revolt and exciting foreign wars. But the design was\r\ndiscovered by Cicero, (as we have written in his life,) and the matter brought\r\nbefore the senate. Silanus, who spoke first, delivered his opinion, that the\r\nconspirators ought to suffer the last of punishments, and was therein followed\r\nby all who spoke after him; till it came to Caesar, who being an excellent\r\nspeaker, and looking upon all changes and commotions in the state as materials\r\nuseful for his own purposes, desired rather to increase than extinguish them;\r\nand standing up, he made a very merciful and persuasive speech, that they ought\r\nnot to suffer death without fair trial according to law, and moved that they\r\nmight be kept in prison. Thus was the house almost wholly turned by Caesar,\r\napprehending also the anger of the people; insomuch that even Silanus\r\nretracted, and said he did not mean to propose death, but imprisonment, for\r\nthat was the utmost a Roman could suffer. Upon this they were all inclined to\r\nthe milder and more merciful opinion, when Cato standing up, began at once with\r\ngreat passion and vehemence to reproach Silanus for his change of opinion, and\r\nto attack Caesar, who would, he said, ruin the commonwealth by soft words and\r\npopular speeches, and was endeavoring to frighten the senate, when he himself\r\nought to fear, and be thankful, if he escaped unpunished or unsuspected, who\r\nthus openly and boldly dared to protect the enemies of the state, and while\r\nfinding no compassion for his own native country, brought, with all its\r\nglories, so near to utter ruin, could yet be full of pity for those men, who\r\nhad better never have been born, and whose death must deliver the commonwealth\r\nfrom bloodshed and destruction. This only of all Cato’s speeches, it is said,\r\nwas preserved; for Cicero, the consul, had disposed, in various parts of the\r\nsenate-house, several of the most expert and rapid writers, whom he had taught\r\nto make figures comprising numerous words in a few short strokes; as up to that\r\ntime they had not used those we call short-hand writers, who then, as it is\r\nsaid, established the first example of the art. Thus Cato carried it, and so\r\nturned the house again, that it was decreed the conspirators should be put to\r\ndeath.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot to omit any small matters that may serve to show Cato’s temper, and add\r\nsomething to the portraiture of his mind, it is reported, that while Caesar and\r\nhe were in the very heat, and the whole senate regarding them two, a little\r\nnote was brought in to Caesar, which Cato declared to be suspicious, and urging\r\nthat some seditious act was going on, bade the letter be read. Upon which\r\nCaesar handed the paper to Cato; who discovering it to be a love-letter from\r\nhis sister Servilia to Caesar, by whom she had been corrupted, threw it to him\r\nagain, saying, “Take it, drunkard,” and so went on with his discourse. And,\r\nindeed, it seems Cato had but ill-fortune in women; for this lady was ill\r\nspoken of, for her familiarity with Caesar, and the other Servilia, Cato’s\r\nsister also, was yet more ill-conducted; for being married to Lucullus, one of\r\nthe greatest men in Rome, and having brought him a son, she was afterwards\r\ndivorced for incontinency. But what was worst of all, Cato’s own wife Atilia\r\nwas not free from the same fault; and after she had borne him two children, he\r\nwas forced to put her away for her misconduct. After that he married Marcia,\r\nthe daughter of Philippus, a woman of good reputation, who yet has occasioned\r\nmuch discourse; and the life of Cato, like a dramatic piece, has this one scene\r\nor passage full of perplexity and doubtful meaning.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is thus related by Thrasea, who refers to the authority of Munatius, Cato’s\r\nfriend and constant companion. Among many that loved and admired Cato, some\r\nwere more remarkable and conspicuous than others. Of these was Quintus\r\nHortensius, a man of high repute and approved virtue, who desired not only to\r\nlive in friendship and familiarity with Cato, but also to unite his whole house\r\nand family with him by some sort or other of alliance in marriage. Therefore he\r\nset himself to persuade Cato, that his daughter Porcia, who was already married\r\nto Bibulus, and had borne him two children, might nevertheless be given to him,\r\nas a fair plot of land, to bear fruit also for him. “For,” said he, “though\r\nthis in the opinion of men may seem strange, yet in nature it is honest, and\r\nprofitable for the public, that a woman in the prime of her youth should not\r\nlie useless, and lose the fruit of her womb, nor, on the other side, should\r\nburden and impoverish one man, by bringing him too many children. Also by this\r\ncommunication of families among worthy men, virtue would increase, and be\r\ndiffused through their posterity; and the commonwealth would be united and\r\ncemented by their alliances.” Yet if Bibulus would not part with his wife\r\naltogether, he would restore her as soon as she had brought him a child,\r\nwhereby he might be united to both their families. Cato answered, that he loved\r\nHortensius very well, and much approved of uniting their houses, but he thought\r\nit strange to speak of marrying his daughter, when she was already given to\r\nanother. Then Hortensius, turning the discourse, did not hesitate to speak\r\nopenly and ask for Cato’s own wife, for she was young and fruitful, and he had\r\nalready children enough. Neither can it be thought that Hortensius did this, as\r\nimagining Cato did not care for Marcia; for, it is said, she was then with\r\nchild. Cato, perceiving his earnest desire, did not deny his request, but said\r\nthat Philippus, the father of Marcia, ought also to be consulted. Philippus,\r\ntherefore, being sent for, came; and finding they were well agreed, gave his\r\ndaughter Marcia to Hortensius in the presence of Cato, who himself also\r\nassisted at the marriage. This was done at a later time, but since I was\r\nspeaking of women, I thought it well to mention it now.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLentulus and the rest of the conspirators were put to death, but Caesar,\r\nfinding so much insinuated and charged against him in the senate, betook\r\nhimself to the people, and proceeded to stir up the most corrupt and dissolute\r\nelements of the state to form a party in his support. Cato, apprehensive of\r\nwhat might ensue, persuaded the senate to win over the poor and unprovided-for\r\nmultitude, by a distribution of corn, the annual charge of which amounted to\r\ntwelve hundred and fifty talents. This act of humanity and kindness\r\nunquestionably dissipated the present danger. But Metellus, coming into his\r\noffice of tribune, began to hold tumultuous assemblies, and had prepared a\r\ndecree, that Pompey the Great should presently be called into Italy, with all\r\nhis forces, to preserve the city from the danger of Catiline’s conspiracy. This\r\nwas the fair pretense; but the true design was, to deliver all into the hands\r\nof Pompey, and give him an absolute power. Upon this the senate was assembled,\r\nand Cato did not fall sharply upon Metellus, as he often did, but urged his\r\nadvice in the most reasonable and moderate tone. At last he descended even to\r\nentreaty, and extolled the house of Metellus, as having always taken part with\r\nthe nobility. At this Metellus grew the more insolent, and despising Cato, as\r\nif he yielded and were afraid, let himself proceed to the most audacious\r\nmenaces, openly threatening to do whatever he pleased in spite of the senate.\r\nUpon this Cato changed his countenance, his voice, and his language; and after\r\nmany sharp expressions, boldly concluded, that while he lived, Pompey should\r\nnever come armed into the city. The senate thought them both extravagant, and\r\nnot well in their safe senses; for the design of Metellus seemed to be mere\r\nrage and frenzy, out of excess of mischief bringing all things to ruin and\r\nconfusion, and Cato’s virtue looked like a kind of ecstasy of contention in the\r\ncause of what was good and just.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when the day came for the people to give their voices for the passing this\r\ndecree, and Metellus beforehand occupied the forum with armed men, strangers,\r\ngladiators, and slaves, those that in hopes of change followed Pompey, were\r\nknown to be no small part of the people, and besides, they had great assistance\r\nfrom Caesar, who was then praetor; and though the best and chiefest men of the\r\ncity were no less offended at these proceedings than Cato, they seemed rather\r\nlikely to suffer with him, than able to assist him. In the meantime Cato’s\r\nwhole family were in extreme fear and apprehension for him; some of his friends\r\nneither ate nor slept all the night, passing the whole time in debating and\r\nperplexity; his wife and sisters also bewailed and lamented him. But he\r\nhimself, void of all fear, and full of assurance, comforted and encouraged them\r\nby his own words and conversation with them. After supper he went to rest at\r\nhis usual hour, and was the next day waked out of a profound sleep by Minucius\r\nThermus, one of his colleagues. So soon as he was up, they two went together\r\ninto the forum, accompanied by very few, but met by a great many, who bade them\r\nhave a care of themselves. Cato, therefore, when he saw the temple of Castor\r\nand Pollux encompassed with armed men, and the steps guarded by gladiators, and\r\nat the top Metellus and Caesar seated together, turning to his friends,\r\n“Behold,” said he, “this audacious coward, who has levied a regiment of\r\nsoldiers against one unarmed naked man;” and so he went on with Thermus. Those\r\nwho kept the passages, gave way to these two only, and would not let anybody\r\nelse pass. Yet Cato taking Munatius by the hand, with much difficulty pulled\r\nhim through along with him. Then going directly to Metellus and Caesar, he sat\r\nhimself down between them, to prevent their talking to one another, at which\r\nthey were both amazed and confounded. And those of the honest party, observing\r\nthe countenance, and admiring the high spirit and boldness of Cato, went\r\nnearer, and cried out to him to have courage, exhorting also one another to\r\nstand together, and not betray their liberty, nor the defender of it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen the clerk took out the bill, but Cato forbade him to read it, whereupon\r\nMetellus took it, and would have read it himself, but Cato snatched away the\r\nbook. Yet Metellus having the decree by heart, began to recite it without book;\r\nbut Thermus put his hand to his mouth, and stopped his speech. Metellus seeing\r\nthem fully bent to withstand him, and the people cowed, and inclining to the\r\nbetter side, sent to his house for armed men. And on their rushing in with\r\ngreat noise and terror, all the rest dispersed and ran away, except Cato, who\r\nalone stood still, while the other party threw sticks and stones at him from\r\nabove, until Murena, whom he had formerly accused, came up to protect him, and\r\nholding his gown before him, cried out to them to leave off throwing; and, in\r\nfine, persuading and pulling him along, he forced him into the temple of Castor\r\nand Pollux. Metellus now seeing the place clear, and all the adverse party fled\r\nout of the forum, thought he might easily carry his point; so he commanded the\r\nsoldiers to retire, and recommencing in an orderly manner, began to proceed to\r\npassing the decree. But the other side having recovered themselves, returned\r\nvery boldly, and with loud shouting, insomuch that Metellus’s adherents were\r\nseized with a panic, supposing them to be coming with a reinforcement of armed\r\nmen, and fled every one out of the place. They being thus dispersed, Cato came\r\nin again, and confirmed the courage, and commended the resolution of the\r\npeople; so that now the majority were, by all means, for deposing Metellus from\r\nhis office. The senate also being assembled, gave orders once more for\r\nsupporting Cato, and resisting the motion, as of a nature to excite sedition\r\nand perhaps civil war in the city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Metellus continued still very bold and resolute; and seeing his party stood\r\ngreatly in fear of Cato, whom they looked upon as invincible, he hurried out of\r\nthe senate into the forum, and assembled the people, to whom he made a bitter\r\nand invidious speech against Cato, crying out, he was forced to fly from his\r\ntyranny, and this conspiracy against Pompey; that the city would soon repent\r\ntheir having dishonored so great a man. And from hence he started to go to\r\nAsia, with the intention, as would be supposed, of laying before Pompey all the\r\ninjuries that were done him. Cato was highly extolled for having delivered the\r\nstate from this dangerous tribuneship, and having in some measure defeated, in\r\nthe person of Metellus, the power of Pompey; but he was yet more commended\r\nwhen, upon the senate proceeding to disgrace Metellus and depose him from his\r\noffice, he altogether opposed and at length diverted the design. The common\r\npeople admired his moderation and humanity, in not trampling wantonly on an\r\nenemy whom he had overthrown, and wiser men acknowledged his prudence and\r\npolicy, in not exasperating Pompey.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucullus soon after returned from the war in Asia, the finishing of which, and\r\nthereby the glory of the whole, was thus, in all appearance, taken out of his\r\nhands by Pompey. And he was also not far from losing his triumph, for Caius\r\nMemmius traduced him to the people, and threatened to accuse him; rather,\r\nhowever, out of love to Pompey, than for any particular enmity to him. But\r\nCato, being allied to Lucullus, who had married his sister Servilia, and also\r\nthinking it a great injustice, opposed Memmius, thereby exposing himself to\r\nmuch slander and misrepresentation, insomuch that they would have turned him\r\nout of his office, pretending that he used his power tyrannically. Yet at\r\nlength Cato so far prevailed against Memmius, that he was forced to let fall\r\nthe accusations, and abandon the contest. And Lucullus having thus obtained his\r\ntriumph, yet more sedulously cultivated Cato’s friendship, which he looked upon\r\nas a great guard and defense for him against Pompey’s power.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now Pompey also returning with glory from the war, and confiding in the\r\ngood-will of the people, shown in their splendid reception of him, thought he\r\nshould be denied nothing, and sent therefore to the senate to put off the\r\nassembly for the election of consuls, till he could be present to assist Piso,\r\nwho stood for that office. To this most of the senators were disposed to yield;\r\nCato, only, not so much thinking that this delay would be of great importance,\r\nbut, desiring to cut down at once Pompey’s high expectations and designs,\r\nwithstood his request, and so overruled the senate, that it was carried against\r\nhim. And this not a little disturbed Pompey, who found he should very often\r\nfail in his projects, unless he could bring over Cato to his interest. He sent,\r\ntherefore, for Munatius, his friend; and Cato having two nieces that were\r\nmarriageable, he offered to marry the eldest himself, and take the youngest for\r\nhis son. Some say they were not his nieces, but his daughters. Munatius\r\nproposed the matter to Cato, in presence of his wife and sisters; the women\r\nwere full of joy at the prospect of an alliance with so great and important a\r\nperson. But Cato, without delay or balancing, forming his decision at once,\r\nanswered, “Go, Munatius, go and tell Pompey, that Cato is not assailable on the\r\nside of the women’s chamber; I am grateful indeed for the intended kindness,\r\nand so long as his actions are upright, I promise him a friendship more sure\r\nthan any marriage alliance, but I will not give hostages to Pompey’s glory,\r\nagainst my country’s safety.” This answer was very much against the wishes of\r\nthe women, and to all his friends it seemed somewhat harsh and haughty. But\r\nafterwards, when Pompey, endeavoring to get the consulship for one of his\r\nfriends, gave pay to the people for their votes, and the bribery was notorious,\r\nthe money being counted out in Pompey’s own gardens, Cato then said to the\r\nwomen, they must necessarily have been concerned in the contamination of these\r\nmisdeeds of Pompey, if they had been allied to his family; and they\r\nacknowledged that he did best in refusing it. Yet if we may judge by the event,\r\nCato was much to blame in rejecting that alliance, which thereby fell to\r\nCaesar. And then that match was made, which, uniting his and Pompey’s power,\r\nhad well-nigh ruined the Roman empire, and did destroy the commonwealth.\r\nNothing of which perhaps had come to pass, but that Cato was too apprehensive\r\nof Pompey’s least faults, and did not consider how he forced him into\r\nconferring on another man the opportunity of committing the greatest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese things, however, were yet to come. Lucullus, meantime, and Pompey, had a\r\ngreat dispute concerning their orders and arrangements in Pontus, each\r\nendeavoring that his own ordinances might stand. Cato took part with Lucullus,\r\nwho was manifestly suffering wrong; and Pompey, finding himself the weaker in\r\nthe senate, had recourse to the people, and to gain votes, he proposed a law\r\nfor dividing the lands among the soldiers. Cato opposing him in this also, made\r\nthe bill be rejected. Upon this he joined himself with Clodius, at that time\r\nthe most violent of all the demagogues; and entered also into friendship with\r\nCaesar, upon an occasion of which also Cato was the cause. For Caesar returning\r\nfrom his government in Spain, at the same time sued to be chosen consul, and\r\nyet desired not to lose his triumph. Now the law requiring that those who stood\r\nfor any office should be present, and yet that whoever expected a triumph\r\nshould continue without the walls, Caesar requested the senate, that his\r\nfriends might be permitted to canvass for him in his absence. Many of the\r\nsenators were willing to consent to it, but Cato opposed it, and perceiving\r\nthem inclined to favor Caesar, spent the whole day in speaking, and so\r\nprevented the senate from coming to any conclusion. Caesar, therefore,\r\nresolving to let fall his pretensions to the triumph, came into the town, and\r\nimmediately made a friendship with Pompey, and stood for the consulship. And so\r\nsoon as he was declared consul elect, he married his daughter Julia to Pompey.\r\nAnd having thus combined themselves together against the commonwealth, the one\r\nproposed laws for dividing the lands among the poor people, and the other was\r\npresent to support the proposals Lucullus, Cicero, and their friends, joined\r\nwith Bibulus, the other consul, to hinder their passing, and, foremost of them\r\nall, Cato, who already looked upon the friendship and alliance of Pompey and\r\nCaesar as very dangerous, and declared he did not so much dislike the advantage\r\nthe people should get by this division of the lands, as he feared the reward\r\nthese men would gain, by thus courting and cozening the people. And in this he\r\ngained over the senate to his opinion, as likewise many who were not senators,\r\nwho were offended at Caesar’s ill conduct, that he, in the office of consul,\r\nshould thus basely and dishonorably flatter the people; practicing, to win\r\ntheir favor, the same means that were wont to be used only by the most rash and\r\nrebellious tribunes. Caesar, therefore, and his party, fearing they should not\r\ncarry it by fair dealing, fell to open force. First a basket of dung was thrown\r\nupon Bibulus as he was going to the forum; then they set upon his lictors and\r\nbroke their rods; at length several darts were thrown, and many men wounded; so\r\nthat all that were against those laws, fled out of the forum, the rest with\r\nwhat haste they could, and Cato, last of all, walking out slowly, often turning\r\nback and calling down vengeance upon them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus the other party not only carried their point of dividing the lands, but\r\nalso ordained, that all the senate should swear to confirm this law, and to\r\ndefend it against whoever should attempt to alter it, indicting great penalties\r\non those that should refuse the oath. All the senators seeing the necessity\r\nthey were in, took the oath, remembering the example of Metellus in old time,\r\nwho refusing to swear upon the like occasion, was forced to leave Italy. As for\r\nCato, his wife and children with tears besought him, his friends and familiars\r\npersuaded and entreated him, to yield and take the oath; but he that\r\nprincipally prevailed with him was Cicero, the orator, who urged upon him that\r\nit was perhaps not even right in itself, that a private man should oppose what\r\nthe public had decreed; that the thing being already past altering, it were\r\nfolly and madness to throw himself into danger, without the chance of doing his\r\ncountry any good; it would be the greatest of all evils, to embrace, as it\r\nwere, the opportunity to abandon the commonwealth, for whose sake he did\r\neverything, and to let it fall into the hands of those who designed nothing but\r\nits ruin, as if he were glad to be saved from the trouble of defending it.\r\n“For,” said he, “though Cato have no need of Rome, yet Rome has need of Cato,\r\nand so likewise have all his friends.” Of whom Cicero professed he himself was\r\nthe chief, being; at that time aimed at by Clodius, who openly threatened to\r\nfall upon him, as soon as ever he should get to be tribune. Thus Cato, they\r\nsay, moved by the entreaties and the arguments of his friends, went unwillingly\r\nto take the oath, which he did the last of all, except only Favonius, one of\r\nhis intimate acquaintance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, exalted with this success, proposed another law, for dividing almost\r\nall the country of Campania among the poor and needy citizens. Nobody durst\r\nspeak against it but Cato, whom Caesar therefore pulled from the rostra, and\r\ndragged to prison: yet Cato did not even thus remit his freedom of speech, but\r\nas he went along, continued to speak against the law, and advised the people to\r\nput down all legislators who proposed the like. The senate and the best of the\r\ncitizens followed him with sad and dejected looks, showing their grief and\r\nindignation by their silence, so that Caesar could not be ignorant how much\r\nthey were offended; but for contention’s sake, he still persisted, expecting\r\nCato should either supplicate him, or make an appeal. But when he saw that he\r\ndid not so much as think of doing either, ashamed of what he was doing and of\r\nwhat people thought of it, he himself privately bade one of the tribunes\r\ninterpose and procure his release. However, having won the multitude by these\r\nlaws and gratifications, they decreed that Caesar should have the government of\r\nIllyricum, and all Gaul, with an army of four legions, for the space of five\r\nyears, though Cato still cried out they were, by their own vote, placing a\r\ntyrant in their citadel. Publius Clodius, who illegally of a patrician became a\r\nplebeian, was declared tribune of the people, as he had promised to do all\r\nthings according to their pleasure, on condition he might banish Cicero. And\r\nfor consuls, they set up Calpurnius Piso, the father of Caesar’s wife, and\r\nAulus Gabinius, one of Pompey’s creatures, as they tell us, who best knew his\r\nlife and manners.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet when they had thus firmly established all things, having mastered one part\r\nof the city by favor, and the other by fear, they themselves were still afraid\r\nof Cato, and remembered with vexation what pains and trouble their success over\r\nhim had cost them, and indeed what shame and disgrace, when at last they were\r\ndriven to use violence to him. This made Clodius despair of driving Cicero out\r\nof Italy while Cato stayed at home. Therefore, having first laid his design, as\r\nsoon as he came into his office, he sent for Cato, and told him, that he looked\r\nupon him as the most incorrupt of all the Romans, and was ready to show he did\r\nso. “For whereas,” said he, “many have applied to be sent to Cyprus on the\r\ncommission in the case of Ptolemy, and have solicited to have the appointment,\r\nI think you alone are deserving of it, and I desire to give you the favor of\r\nthe appointment.” Cato at once cried out, it was a mere design upon him, and no\r\nfavor, but an injury. Then Clodius proudly and fiercely answered, “If you will\r\nnot take it as a kindness, you shall go, though never so unwillingly;” and\r\nimmediately going into the assembly of the people, he made them pass a decree,\r\nthat Cato should be sent to Cyprus. But they ordered him neither ship, nor\r\nsoldier, nor any attendant, except two secretaries; one of whom was a thief and\r\na rascal, and the other a retainer to Clodius. Besides, as if Cyprus and\r\nPtolemy were not work sufficient, he was ordered also to restore the refugees\r\nof Byzantium. For Clodius was resolved to keep him far enough off, whilst\r\nhimself continued tribune.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato being in this necessity of going away, advised Cicero, who was next to be\r\nset upon, to make no resistance, lest he should throw the state into civil war\r\nand confusion, but to give way to the times, and thus become once more the\r\npreserver of his country. He himself sent forward Canidius, one of his friends,\r\nto Cyprus, to persuade Ptolemy to yield, without being forced; which if he did,\r\nhe should want neither riches nor honor, for the Romans would give him the\r\npriesthood of the goddess at Paphos. He himself stayed at Rhodes, making some\r\npreparations, and expecting an answer from Cyprus. In the meantime, Ptolemy,\r\nking of Egypt, who had left Alexandria, upon some quarrel between him and his\r\nsubjects, and was sailing for Rome, in hopes that Pompey and Caesar would send\r\ntroops to restore him, in his way thither desired to see Cato, to whom he sent,\r\nsupposing he would come to him. Cato had taken purging medicine at the time\r\nwhen the messenger came, and made answer, that Ptolemy had better come to him,\r\nif he thought fit. And when he came, he neither went forward to meet him, nor\r\nso much as rose up to him, but saluting him as an ordinary person, bade him sit\r\ndown. This at once threw Ptolemy into some confusion, who was surprised to see\r\nsuch stern and haughty manners in one who made so plain and unpretending an\r\nappearance; but afterwards, when he began to talk about his affairs, he was no\r\nless astonished at the wisdom and freedom of his discourse. For Cato blamed his\r\nconduct, and pointed out to him what honor and happiness he was abandoning, and\r\nwhat humiliations and troubles he would run himself into; what bribery he must\r\nresort to and what cupidity he would have to satisfy, when he came to the\r\nleading men at Rome, whom all Egypt turned into silver would scarcely content.\r\nHe therefore advised him to return home, and be reconciled to his subjects,\r\noffering to go along with him, and assist him in composing the differences. And\r\nby this language Ptolemy being brought to himself, as it might be out of a fit\r\nof madness or delirium and discerning the truth and wisdom of what Cato said,\r\nresolved to follow his advice; but he was again over-persuaded by his friends\r\nto the contrary, and so, according to his first design, went to Rome. When he\r\ncame there, and was forced to wait at the gate of one of the magistrates, he\r\nbegan to lament his folly, in having rejected, rather, as it seemed to him, the\r\noracle of a god, than the advice merely of a good and wise man.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime, the other Ptolemy, in Cyprus, very luckily for Cato, poisoned\r\nhimself. It was reported he had left great riches; therefore Cato designing to\r\ngo first to Byzantium, sent his nephew Brutus to Cyprus, as he would not wholly\r\ntrust Canidius. Then, having reconciled the refugees and the people of\r\nByzantium, he left the city in peace and quietness; and so sailed to Cyprus,\r\nwhere he found a royal treasure of plate, tables, precious stones and purple,\r\nall which was to be turned into ready money. And being determined to do\r\neverything with the greatest exactness, and to raise the price of everything to\r\nthe utmost, to this end he was always present at selling the things, and went\r\ncarefully into all the accounts. Nor would he trust to the usual customs of the\r\nmarket, but looked doubtfully upon all alike, the officers, criers, purchasers,\r\nand even his own friends; and so in fine he himself talked with the buyers, and\r\nurged them to bid high, and conducted in this manner the greatest part of the\r\nsales.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis mistrustfulness offended others of his friends, and, in particular,\r\nMunatius, the most intimate of them all, became almost irreconcilable. And this\r\nafforded Caesar the subject of his severest censures in the book he wrote\r\nagainst Cato. Yet Munatius himself relates, that the quarrel was not so much\r\noccasioned by Cato’s mistrust, as by his neglect of him, and by his own\r\njealousy of Canidius. For Munatius also wrote a book concerning Cato, which is\r\nthe chief authority followed by Thrasea. Munatius says, that coming to Cyprus\r\nafter the other, and having a very poor lodging provided for him, he went to\r\nCato’s house, but was not admitted, because he was engaged in private with\r\nCanidius; of which he afterwards complained in very gentle terms to Cato, but\r\nreceived a very harsh answer, that too much love, according to Theophrastus,\r\noften causes hatred; “and you,” he said, “because you bear me much love, think\r\nyou receive too little honor, and presently grow angry. I employ Canidius on\r\naccount of his industry and his fidelity; he has been with me from the first,\r\nand I have found him to be trusted.” These things were said in private between\r\nthem two; but Cato afterwards told Canidius what had passed; on being informed\r\nof which, Munatius would no more go to sup with him, and when he was invited to\r\ngive his counsel, refused to come. Then Cato threatened to seize his goods, as\r\nwas the custom in the case of those who were disobedient; but Munatius not\r\nregarding his threats, returned to Rome, and continued a long time thus\r\ndiscontented. But afterwards, when Cato was come back also, Marcia, who as yet\r\nlived with him, contrived to have them both invited to sup together at the\r\nhouse of one Barca; Cato came in last of all, when the rest were laid down, and\r\nasked, where he should be. Barca answered him, where he pleased; then looking\r\nabout, he said, he would be near Munatius, and went and placed himself next to\r\nhim; yet he showed him no other mark of kindness, all the time they were at\r\ntable together. But another time, at the entreaty of Marcia, Cato wrote to\r\nMunatius, that he desired to speak with him. Munatius went to his house in the\r\nmorning, and was kept by Marcia till all the company was gone; then Cato came,\r\nthrew both his arms about him, and embraced him very kindly, and they were\r\nreconciled. I have the more fully related this passage, for that I think the\r\nmanners and tempers of men are more clearly discovered by things of this\r\nnature, than by great and conspicuous actions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato got together little less than seven thousand talents of silver; but\r\napprehensive of what might happen in so long a voyage by sea, he provided a\r\ngreat many coffers, that held two talents and five hundred drachmas apiece; to\r\neach of these he fastened a long rope, and to the other end of the rope a piece\r\nof cork, so that if the ship should miscarry, it might be discovered thereabout\r\nthe chests lay under water. Thus all the money, except a very little, was\r\nsafely transported. But he had made two books, in which all the accounts of his\r\ncommission were carefully written out, and neither of these was preserved. For\r\nhis freedman Philargyrus, who had the charge of one of them, setting sail from\r\nCenchreae was lost, together with the ship and all her freight. And the other\r\nCato himself kept safe, till he came to Corcyra, but there he set up his tent\r\nin the market-place, and the sailors being very cold in the night, made a great\r\nmany fires, some of which caught the tents, so that they were burnt, and the\r\nbook lost. And though he had brought with him several of Ptolemy’s stewards,\r\nwho could testify to his integrity, and stop the mouths of enemies and false\r\naccusers, yet the loss annoyed him, and he was vexed with himself about the\r\nmatter, as he had designed them not so much for a proof of his own fidelity, as\r\nfor a pattern of exactness to others.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe news did not fail to reach Rome, that he was coming up the river. All the\r\nmagistrates, the priests, and the whole senate, with great part of the people,\r\nwent out to meet him; both the banks of the Tiber were covered with people; so\r\nthat his entrance was in solemnity and honor not inferior to a triumph. But it\r\nwas thought somewhat strange, and looked like willfulness and pride, that when\r\nthe consuls and praetors appeared, he did not disembark, nor stay to salute\r\nthem, but rowed up the stream in a royal galley of six banks of oars, and\r\nstopped not till he brought his vessels to the dock. However, when the money\r\nwas carried through the streets, the people much wondered at the vast quantity\r\nof it, and the senate being assembled, decreed him in honorable terms an\r\nextraordinary praetorship, and also the privilege of appearing at the public\r\nspectacles in a robe faced with purple. Cato declined all these honors, but\r\ndeclaring what diligence and fidelity he had found in Nicias, the steward of\r\nPtolemy, he requested the senate to give him his freedom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPhilippus, the father of Marcia, was that year consul, and the authority and\r\npower of the office rested in a manner in Cato; for the other consul paid him\r\nno less regard for his virtue’s sake, than Philippus did on account of the\r\nconnection between them. And Cicero now being returned from his banishment,\r\ninto which he was driven by Clodius, and having again obtained great credit\r\namong the people, went, in the absence of Clodius, and by force took away the\r\nrecords of his tribuneship, which had been laid up in the capitol. Hereupon the\r\nsenate was assembled, and Clodius complained of Cicero, who answered, that\r\nClodius was never legally tribune, and therefore whatever he had done, was\r\nvoid, and of no authority. But Cato interrupted him while he spoke, and at last\r\nstanding up said, that indeed he in no way justified or approved of Clodius’s\r\nproceedings; but if they questioned the validity of what had been done in his\r\ntribuneship, they might also question what himself had done at Cyprus, for the\r\nexpedition was unlawful, if he that sent him had no lawful authority: for\r\nhimself, he thought Clodius wee legally made tribune, who, by permission of the\r\nlaw, was from a patrician adopted into a plebeian family; if he had done ill in\r\nhis office, he ought to be called to account for it; but the authority of the\r\nmagistracy ought not to suffer for the faults of the magistrate. Cicero took\r\nthis ill, and for a long time discontinued his friendship with Cato; but they\r\nwere afterwards reconciled.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey and Crassus, by agreement with Caesar, who crossed the Alps to see them,\r\nhad formed a design, that they two should stand to be chosen consuls a second\r\ntime, and when they should be in their office, they would continue to Caesar\r\nhis government for five years more, and take to themselves the greatest\r\nprovinces, with armies and money to maintain them. This seemed a plain\r\nconspiracy to subvert the constitution and parcel out the empire. Several men\r\nof high character had intended to stand to be consuls that year, but upon the\r\nappearance of these great competitors, they all desisted, except only Lucius\r\nDomitius, who had married Porcia, the sister of Cato, and was by him persuaded\r\nto stand it out, and not abandon such an undertaking, which, he said, was not\r\nmerely to gain the consulship, but to save the liberty of Rome. In the\r\nmeantime, it was the common topic among the more prudent part of the citizens,\r\nthat they ought not to suffer the power of Pompey and Crassus to be united,\r\nwhich would then be carried beyond all bounds, and become dangerous to the\r\nstate; that therefore one of them must be denied. For these reasons they took\r\npart with Domitius, whom they exhorted and encouraged to go on, assuring him,\r\nthat many who feared openly to appear for him, would privately assist him.\r\nPompey’s party fearing this, laid wait for Domitius, and set upon him as he was\r\ngoing before daylight, with torches, into the Field. First he that bore the\r\nlight next before Domitius, was knocked down and killed; then several others\r\nbeing wounded, all the rest fled, except Cato and Domitius, whom Cato held,\r\nthough himself were wounded in the arm, and crying out, conjured the others to\r\nstay, and not while they had any breath, forsake the defense of their liberty\r\nagainst those tyrants, who plainly showed with what moderation they were likely\r\nto use the power, which they endeavored to gain by such violence. But at length\r\nDomitius also, no longer willing to face the danger, fled to his own house, and\r\nso Pompey and Crassus were declared consuls.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNevertheless, Cato would not give over, but resolved to stand himself to be\r\npraetor that year, which he thought would be some help to him in his design of\r\nopposing them; that he might not act as a private man, when he was to contend\r\nwith public magistrates. Pompey and Crassus apprehended this; and fearing that\r\nthe office of praetor in the person of Cato might be equal in authority to that\r\nof consul, they assembled the senate unexpectedly, without giving any notice to\r\na great many of the senators, and made an order, that those who were chosen\r\npraetors, should immediately enter upon their office, without attending the\r\nusual time, in which, according to law, they might be accused, if they had\r\ncorrupted the people with gifts. When by this order they had got leave to bribe\r\nfreely, without being called to account, they set up their own friends and\r\ndependents to stand for the praetorship, giving money, and watching the people\r\nas they voted. Yet the virtue and reputation of Cato was like to triumph over\r\nall these stratagems; for the people generally felt it to be shameful that a\r\nprice should be paid for the rejection of Cato, who ought rather to be paid\r\nhimself to take upon him the office. So he carried it by the voices of the\r\nfirst tribe. Hereupon Pompey immediately framed a lie, crying out, it\r\nthundered; and straight broke up the assembly; for the Romans religiously\r\nobserved this as a bad omen, and never concluded any matter after it had\r\nthundered. Before the next time, they had distributed larger bribes, and\r\ndriving also the best men out of the Field, by these foul means they procured\r\nVatinius to be chosen praetor, instead of Cato. It is said, that those who had\r\nthus corruptly and dishonestly given their voices, at once, when it was done,\r\nhurried, as if it were in flight, out of the Field. The others staying\r\ntogether, and exclaiming at the event, one of the tribunes continued the\r\nassembly, and Cato standing up, as it were by inspiration, foretold all the\r\nmiseries that afterward befell the state, exhorted them to beware of Pompey and\r\nCrassus, who were guilty of such things, and had laid such designs, that they\r\nmight well fear to have Cato praetor. When he had ended this speech, he was\r\nfollowed to his house by a greater number of people than were all the new\r\npraetors elect put together.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaius Trebonius now proposed the law for allotting provinces to the consuls,\r\none of whom was to have Spain and Africa, the other Egypt and Syria, with full\r\npower of making war, and carrying it on both by sea and land, as they should\r\nthink fit. When this was proposed, all others despaired of putting any stop to\r\nit, and neither did nor said anything against it. But Cato, before the voting\r\nbegan, went up into the place of speaking, and desiring to be heard, was with\r\nmuch difficulty allowed two hours to speak. Having spent that time in informing\r\nthem and reasoning with them, and in foretelling to them much that was to come,\r\nhe was not suffered to speak any longer; but as he was going on, a sergeant\r\ncame and pulled him down; yet when he was down, he still continued speaking in\r\na loud voice, and finding many to listen to him, and join in his indignation.\r\nThen the sergeant took him, and forced him out of the forum; but as soon as he\r\ngot loose, he returned again to the place of speaking, crying out to the people\r\nto stand by him. When he had done thus several times, Trebonius grew very\r\nangry, and commanded him to be carried to prison; but the multitude followed\r\nhim, and listened to the speech which he made to them, as he went along, so\r\nthat Trebonius began to be afraid again, and ordered him to be released. Thus\r\nthat day was expended, and the business staved off by Cato. But in the days\r\nsucceeding, many of the citizens being overawed by fears and threats, and\r\nothers won by gifts and favors, Aquillius, one of the tribunes, they kept by an\r\narmed force within the senate-house; Cato, who cried, it thundered, they drove\r\nout of the forum; many were wounded, and some slain; and at length by open\r\nforce they passed the law. At this many were so incensed, that they got\r\ntogether, and were going to throw down the statues of Pompey; but Cato went,\r\nand diverted them from that design.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgain, another law was proposed, concerning the provinces and legions for\r\nCaesar. Upon this occasion Cato did not apply himself to the people, but\r\nappealed to Pompey himself; and told him, he did not consider now, that he was\r\nsetting Caesar upon his own shoulders, who would shortly grow too weighty for\r\nhim, and at length, not able to lay down the burden, nor yet to bear it any\r\nlonger, he would precipitate both it and himself with it upon the commonwealth;\r\nand then he would remember Cato’s advice, which was no less advantageous to\r\nhim, than just and honest in itself. Thus was Pompey often warned, but still\r\ndisregarded and slighted it, never mistrusting Caesar’s change, and always\r\nconfiding in his own power and good fortune.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato was made praetor the following year; but, it seems, he did not do more\r\nhonor and credit to the office by his signal integrity, than he disgraced and\r\ndiminished it by his strange behavior. For he would often come to the court\r\nwithout his shoes, and sit upon the bench without any under garment, and in\r\nthis attire would give judgment in capital causes, and upon persons of the\r\nhighest rank. It is said, also, he used to drink wine after his morning meal,\r\nand then transact the business of his office; but this was wrongfully reported\r\nof him. The people were at that time extremely corrupted by the gifts of those\r\nwho sought offices, and most made a constant trade of selling their voices.\r\nCato was eager utterly to root this corruption out of the commonwealth; he\r\ntherefore persuaded the senate to make an order, that those who were chosen\r\ninto any office, though nobody should accuse them, should be obliged to come\r\ninto the court, and give account upon oath of their proceedings in their\r\nelection. This was extremely obnoxious to those who stood for the offices, and\r\nyet more to those vast numbers who took the bribes. Insomuch that one morning,\r\nas Cato was going to the tribunal, a great multitude of people flocked\r\ntogether, and with loud cries and maledictions reviled him, and threw stones at\r\nhim. Those that were about the tribunal presently fled, and Cato himself being\r\nforced thence, and jostled about in the throng, very narrowly escaped the\r\nstones that were thrown at him, and with much difficulty got hold of the\r\nRostra, where, standing up with a bold and undaunted countenance, he at once\r\nmastered the tumult, and silenced the clamor; and addressing them in fit terms\r\nfor the occasion, was heard with great attention, and perfectly quelled the\r\nsedition. Afterwards, on the senate commending him for this, “But I,” said he,\r\n“do not commend you for abandoning your praetor in danger, and bringing him no\r\nassistance.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime, the candidates were in great perplexity; for every one dreaded\r\nto give money himself, and yet feared lest his competitors should. At length\r\nthey agreed to lay down one hundred and twenty-five thousand drachmas apiece,\r\nand then all of them to canvass fairly and honestly, on condition, that if any\r\none was found to make use of bribery, he should forfeit the money. Being thus\r\nagreed, they chose Cato to keep the stakes, and arbitrate the matter; to him\r\nthey brought the sum concluded on, and before him subscribed the agreement. The\r\nmoney he did not choose to have paid for them, but took their securities who\r\nstood bound for them. Upon the day of election, he placed himself by the\r\ntribune who took the votes, and very watchfully observing all that passed, he\r\ndiscovered one who had broken the agreement, and immediately ordered him to pay\r\nhis money to the rest. They, however, commending his justice highly, remitted\r\nthe penalty, as thinking the discovery a sufficient punishment. It raised,\r\nhowever, as much envy against Cato as it gained him reputation, and many were\r\noffended at his thus taking upon himself the whole authority of the senate, the\r\ncourts of judicature, and the magistracies. For there is no virtue, the honor\r\nand credit for which procures a man more odium than that of justice; and this,\r\nbecause more than any other, it acquires a man power and authority among the\r\ncommon people. For they only honor the valiant and admire the wise, while in\r\naddition they also love just men, and put entire trust and confidence in them.\r\nThey fear the bold man, and mistrust the clever man, and moreover think them\r\nrather beholding; to their natural complexion, than to any goodness of their\r\nwill, for these excellences; they look upon valor as a certain natural strength\r\nof the mind, and wisdom as a constitutional acuteness; whereas a man has it in\r\nhis power to be just, if he have but the will to be so, and therefore injustice\r\nis thought the most dishonorable, because it is least excusable.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato upon this account was opposed by all the great men, who thought themselves\r\nreproved by his virtue. Pompey especially looked upon the increase of Cato’s\r\ncredit, as the ruin of his own power, and therefore continually set up men to\r\nrail against him. Among these was the seditious Clodius, now again united to\r\nPompey; who declared openly, that Cato had conveyed away a great deal of the\r\ntreasure that was found in Cyprus; and that he hated Pompey, only because he\r\nrefused to marry his daughter. Cato answered, that although they had allowed\r\nhim neither horse nor man, he had brought more treasure from Cyprus alone, than\r\nPompey had, after so many wars and triumphs, from the ransacked world; that he\r\nnever sought the alliance of Pompey; not that he thought him unworthy of being\r\nrelated to him, but because he differed so much from him, in things that\r\nconcerned the commonwealth. “For,” said he, “I laid down the province that was\r\ngiven me, when I went out of my praetorship; Pompey, on the contrary, retains\r\nmany provinces for himself; and he bestows many on others; and but now he sent\r\nCaesar a force of six thousand men into Gaul, which Caesar never asked the\r\npeople for, nor had Pompey obtained their consent to give. Men, and horse, and\r\narms in any number, are become the mutual gifts of private men to one another;\r\nand Pompey keeping the titles of commander and general, hands over the armies\r\nand provinces to others to govern, while he himself stays at home to preside at\r\nthe contests of the canvass, and to stir up tumults at elections; out of the\r\nanarchy he thus creates amongst us, seeking, we see well enough, a monarchy for\r\nhimself.” Thus he retorted on Pompey.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe had an intimate friend and admirer of the name of Marcus Favonius, much the\r\nsame to Cato as we are told Apollodorus, the Phalerian, was in old time to\r\nSocrates, whose words used to throw him into perfect transports and ecstasies,\r\ngetting into his head, like strong wine, and intoxicating him to a sort of\r\nfrenzy. This Favonius stood to be chosen aedile, and was like to lose it; but\r\nCato, who was there to assist him, observed that all the votes were written in\r\none hand, and discovering the cheat, appealed to the tribunes, who stopped the\r\nelection. Favonius was afterward chosen aedile, and Cato, who assisted him in\r\nall things that belonged to his office, also undertook the care of the\r\nspectacles that were exhibited in the theater; giving the actors crowns, not of\r\ngold, but of wild olive, such as used to be given at the Olympic games; and\r\ninstead of the magnificent presents that were usually made, he offered to the\r\nGreeks beet root, lettuces, radishes, and pears; and to the Romans, earthen\r\npots of wine, pork, figs, cucumbers, and little fagots of wood. Some ridiculed\r\nCato for his economy, others looked with respect on this gentle relaxation of\r\nhis usual rigor and austerity. In fine, Favonius himself mingled with the\r\ncrowd, and sitting among the spectators, clapped and applauded Cato, bade him\r\nbestow rewards on those who did well, and called on the people to pay their\r\nhonors to him, as for himself he had placed his whole authority in Cato’s\r\nhands. At the same time, Curio, the colleague of Favonius, gave very\r\nmagnificent entertainments in another theater; but the people left his, and\r\nwent to those of Favonius, which they much applauded, and joined heartily in\r\nthe diversion, seeing him act the private man, and Cato the master of the\r\nshows, who, in fact, did all this in derision of the great expenses that others\r\nincurred, and to teach them that in amusements men ought to seek amusement\r\nonly, and the display of a decent cheerfulness, not great preparations and\r\ncostly magnificence, demanding the expenditure of endless care and trouble\r\nabout things of little concern.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this Scipio, Hypsaeus, and Milo, stood to be consuls, and that not only\r\nwith the usual and now recognized disorders of bribery and corruption, but with\r\narms and slaughter, and every appearance of carrying their audacity and\r\ndesperation to the length of actual civil war. Whereupon it was proposed, that\r\nPompey might be empowered to preside over that election. This Cato at first\r\nopposed, saying that the laws ought not to seek protection from Pompey, but\r\nPompey from the laws. Yet the confusion lasting a long time, the forum\r\ncontinually, as it were, besieged with three armies, and no possibility\r\nappearing of a stop being put to these disorders, Cato at length agreed, that\r\nrather than fall into the last extremity, the senate should freely confer all\r\non Pompey, since it was necessary to make use of a lesser illegality as a\r\nremedy against the greatest of all, and better to set up a monarchy themselves,\r\nthan to suffer a sedition to continue, that must certainly end in one. Bibulus,\r\ntherefore, a friend of Cato’s, moved the senate to create Pompey sole consul;\r\nfor that either he would reestablish the lawful government, or they should\r\nserve under the best master. Cato stood up, and, contrary to all expectation,\r\nseconded this motion, concluding, that any government was better than mere\r\nconfusion, and that he did not question but Pompey would deal honorably, and\r\ntake care of the commonwealth, thus committed to his charge. Pompey being\r\nhereupon declared consul, invited Cato to see him in the suburbs. When he came,\r\nhe saluted and embraced him very kindly, acknowledged the favor he had done\r\nhim, and desired his counsel and assistance, in the management of this office.\r\nCato made answer, that what he had spoken on any former occasion was not out of\r\nhate to Pompey, nor what he had now done, out of love to him, but all for the\r\ngood of the commonwealth; that in private, if he asked him, he would freely\r\ngive his advice; and in public, though he asked him not, he would always speak\r\nhis opinion. And he did accordingly. For first, when Pompey made severe laws\r\nfor punishing and laying great fines on those who had corrupted the people with\r\ngifts, Cato advised him to let alone what was already passed, and to provide\r\nfor the future; for if he should look up past misdemeanors, it would be\r\ndifficult to know where to stop; and if he would ordain new penalties, it would\r\nbe unreasonable to punish men by a law, which at that time they had not the\r\nopportunity of breaking. Afterwards, when many considerable men, and some of\r\nPompey’s own relations were accused, and he grew remiss, and disinclined to the\r\nprosecution, Cato sharply reproved him, and urged him to proceed. Pompey had\r\nmade a law, also, to forbid the custom of making commendatory orations in\r\nbehalf of those that were accused; yet he himself wrote one for Munatius\r\nPlancus, and sent it while the cause was pleading; upon which Cato, who was\r\nsitting as one of the judges, stopped his ears with his hands, and would not\r\nhear it read. Whereupon Plancus, before sentence was given, excepted against\r\nhim, but was condemned notwithstanding. And indeed Cato was a great trouble and\r\nperplexity to almost all that were accused of anything, as they feared to have\r\nhim one of their judges, yet did not dare to demand his exclusion. And many had\r\nbeen condemned, because by refusing him, they seemed to show that they could\r\nnot trust their own innocence; and it was a reproach thrown in the teeth of\r\nsome by their enemies, that they had not accepted Cato for their judge.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meanwhile, Caesar kept close with his forces in Gaul, and continued in\r\narms; and at the same time employed his gifts, his riches, and his friends\r\nabove all things, to increase his power in the city. And now Cato’s old\r\nadmonitions began to rouse Pompey out of the negligent security in which he\r\nlay, into a sort of imagination of danger at hand; but seeing him slow and\r\nunwilling, and timorous to undertake any measures of prevention against Caesar,\r\nCato resolved himself to stand for the consulship, and presently force Caesar\r\neither to lay down his arms or discover his intentions. Both Cato’s competitors\r\nwere persons of good position; Sulpicius, who was one, owed much to Cato’s\r\ncredit and authority in the city, and it was thought unhandsome and\r\nungratefully done, to stand against him; not that Cato himself took it ill,\r\n“For it is no wonder,” said he, “if a man will not yield to another, in that\r\nwhich he esteems the greatest good.” He had persuaded the senate to make an\r\norder, that those who stood for offices, should themselves ask the people for\r\ntheir votes, and not solicit by others, nor take others about with them, to\r\nspeak for them, in their canvass. And this made the common people very hostile\r\nto him, if they were to lose not only the means of receiving money, but also\r\nthe opportunity of obliging several persons, and so to become by his means both\r\npoor and less regarded. Besides this, Cato himself was by nature altogether\r\nunfit for the business of canvassing, as he was more anxious to sustain the\r\ndignity of his life and character, than to obtain the office. Thus by following\r\nhis own way of soliciting, and not suffering his friends to do those things\r\nwhich take with the multitude, he was rejected, and lost the consulship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut whereas, upon such occasions, not only those who missed the office, but\r\neven their friends and relations, used to feel themselves disgraced and\r\nhumiliated, and observed a sort of mourning for several days after, Cato took\r\nit so unconcernedly, that he anointed himself, and played at ball in the Field,\r\nand after breakfasting, went into the forum, as he used to do, without his\r\nshoes or his tunic, and there walked about with his acquaintance. Cicero blames\r\nhim, for that when affairs required such a consul, he would not take more\r\npains, nor condescend to pay some court to the people, as also because that he\r\nafterwards neglected to try again; whereas he had stood a second time to be\r\nchosen praetor. Cato answered, that he lost the praetorship the first time, not\r\nby the voice of the people, but by the violence and corrupt dealing of his\r\nadversaries; whereas in the election of consuls, there had been no foul play.\r\nSo that he plainly saw the people did not like his manners, which an honest man\r\nought not to alter for their sake; nor yet would a wise man attempt the same\r\nthing again, while liable to the same prejudices.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar was at this time engaged with many warlike nations, and was subduing\r\nthem at great hazards. Among the rest, it was believed he had set upon the\r\nGermans, in a time of truce, and had thus slain three hundred thousand of them.\r\nUpon which, some of his friends moved the senate for a public thanksgiving; but\r\nCato declared, they ought to deliver Caesar into the hands of those who had\r\nbeen thus unjustly treated, and so expiate the offense and not bring a curse\r\nupon the city; “Yet we have reason,” said he, “to thank the gods, for that they\r\nspared the commonwealth, and did not take vengeance upon the army, for the\r\nmadness and folly of the general.” Hereupon Caesar wrote a letter to the\r\nsenate, which was read openly, and was full of reproachful language and\r\naccusations against Cato; who, standing up, seemed not at all concerned, and\r\nwithout any heat or passion, but in a calm and, as it were, premeditated\r\ndiscourse, made all Caesar’s charges against him show like mere common scolding\r\nand abuse, and in fact a sort of pleasantry and play on Caesar’s part; and\r\nproceeding then to go into all Caesar’s political courses, and to explain and\r\nreveal (as though he had been not his constant opponent, but his\r\nfellow-conspirator,) his whole conduct and purpose from its commencement, he\r\nconcluded by telling the senate, it was not the sons of the Britons or the\r\nGauls they need fear, but Caesar himself, if they were wise. And this discourse\r\nso moved and awakened the senate, that Caesar’s friends repented they had had a\r\nletter read, which had given Cato an opportunity of saying so many reasonable\r\nthings, and such severe truths against him. However, nothing was then decided\r\nupon; it was merely said, that it would be well to send him a successor. Upon\r\nthat Caesar’s friends required, that Pompey also should lay down his arms, and\r\nresign his provinces, or else that Caesar might not be obliged to either. Then\r\nCato cried out, what he had foretold was come to pass; now it was manifest he\r\nwas using his forces to compel their judgment, and was turning against the\r\nstate those armies he had got from it by imposture and trickery. But out of the\r\nSenate-house Cato could do but little, as the people were ever ready to magnify\r\nCaesar and the senate, though convinced by Cato, were afraid of the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when the news was brought that Caesar had seized Ariminum, and was marching\r\nwith his army toward Rome, then all men, even Pompey, and the common people\r\ntoo, cast their eyes on Cato, who had alone foreseen and first clearly declared\r\nCaesar’s intentions. He, therefore, told them, “If you had believed me, or\r\nregarded my advice, you would not now have been reduced to stand in fear of one\r\nman, or to put all your hopes in one alone.” Pompey acknowledged, that Cato\r\nindeed had spoken most like a prophet, while he himself had acted too much like\r\na friend. And Cato advised the senate to put all into the hands of Pompey; “For\r\nthose who can raise up great evils,” said he, “can best allay them.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey, finding he had not sufficient forces, and that those he could raise,\r\nwere not very resolute, forsook the city. Cato, resolving to follow Pompey into\r\nexile, sent his younger son to Munatius, who was then in the country of\r\nBruttium, and took his eldest with him; but wanting somebody to keep his house\r\nand take care of his daughters, he took Marcia again, who was now a rich widow,\r\nHortensius being dead, and having left her all his estate. Caesar afterward\r\nmade use of this action also, to reproach him with covetousness, and a\r\nmercenary design in his marriage. “For,” said he, “if he had need of wife, why\r\ndid he part with her? And if he had not, why did he take her again? Unless he\r\ngave her only as a bait to Hortensius; and lent her when she was young, to have\r\nher again when she was rich.” But in answer to this, we might fairly apply the\r\nsaying of Euripides.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTo speak of mysteries—the chief of these\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSurely were cowardice in Hercules.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor it is much the same thing to reproach Hercules for cowardice, and to accuse\r\nCato of covetousness; though otherwise, whether he did altogether right in this\r\nmarriage, might be disputed. As soon, however, as he had again taken Marcia, he\r\ncommitted his house and his daughters to her, and himself followed Pompey. And\r\nit is said, that from that day he never cut his hair, nor shaved his beard, nor\r\nwore a garland, but was always full of sadness, grief, and dejectedness for the\r\ncalamities of his country, and continually showed the same feeling to the last,\r\nwhatever party had misfortune or success.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe government of Sicily being allotted to him, he passed over to Syracuse;\r\nwhere understanding that Asinius Pollio was arrived at Messena, with forces\r\nfrom the enemy, Cato sent to him, to know the reason of his coming thither:\r\nPollio, on the other side, called upon him to show reason for the present\r\nconvulsions. And being at the same time informed how Pompey had quite abandoned\r\nItaly, and lay encamped at Dyrrhachium, he spoke of the strangeness and\r\nincomprehensibility of the divine government of things; “Pompey, when he did\r\nnothing wisely nor honestly, was always successful; and now that he would\r\npreserve his country, and defend her liberty, he is altogether unfortunate.” As\r\nfor Asinius, he said, he could drive him out of Sicily, but as there were\r\nlarger forces coming to his assistance, he would not engage the island in a\r\nwar. He therefore advised the Syracusans to join the conquering party and\r\nprovide for their own safety; and so set sail from thence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he came to Pompey, he uniformly gave advice to protract the war; as he\r\nalways hoped to compose matters, and was by no means desirous that they should\r\ncome to action; for the commonwealth would suffer extremely, and be the certain\r\ncause of its own ruin, whoever were conqueror by the sword. In like manner, he\r\npersuaded Pompey and the council to ordain, that no city should be sacked that\r\nwas subject to the people of Rome; and that no Roman should be killed, but in\r\nthe heat of battle; and hereby he got himself great honor, and brought over\r\nmany to Pompey’s party, whom his moderation and humanity attracted. Afterwards\r\nbeing sent into Asia, to assist those who were raising men, and preparing ships\r\nin those parts, he took with him his sister Servilia, and a little boy whom she\r\nhad by Lucullus. For since her widowhood, she had lived with her brother, and\r\nmuch recovered her reputation, having put herself under his care, followed him\r\nin his voyages, and complied with his severe way of living. Yet Caesar did not\r\nfail to asperse him upon her account also.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPompey’s officers in Asia, it seems, had no great need of Cato; but he brought\r\nover the people of Rhodes by his persuasions, and leaving his sister Servilia\r\nand her child there, he returned to Pompey, who had now collected very great\r\nforces both by sea and land. And here Pompey, more than in any other act,\r\nbetrayed his intentions. For at first he designed to give Cato the command of\r\nthe navy, which consisted of no less than five hundred ships of war, besides a\r\nvast number of light galleys, scouts, and open boats. But presently bethinking\r\nhimself, or put in mind by his friends, that Cato’s principal and only aim\r\nbeing to free his country from all usurpation, if he were master of such great\r\nforces, as soon as ever Caesar should be conquered, he would certainly call\r\nupon Pompey, also, to lay down his arms, and be subject to the laws, he changed\r\nhis mind, and though he had already mentioned it to Cato, nevertheless made\r\nBibulus admiral. Notwithstanding this, he had no reason to suppose that Cato’s\r\nzeal in the cause was in any way diminished. For before one of the battles at\r\nDyrrhachium, when Pompey himself, we are told, made an address to the soldiers\r\nand bade the officers do the like, the men listened to them but coldly, and\r\nwith silence, until Cato, last of all, came forward, and in the language of\r\nphilosophy, spoke to them, as the occasion required, concerning liberty, manly\r\nvirtue, death, and a good name; upon all which he delivered himself with strong\r\nnatural passion, and concluded with calling in the aid of the gods, to whom he\r\ndirected his speech, as if they were present to behold them fight for their\r\ncountry. And at this the army gave such a shout and showed such excitement,\r\nthat their officers led them on full of hope and confidence to the danger.\r\nCaesar’s party were routed, and put to flight; but his presiding fortune used\r\nthe advantage of Pompey’s cautiousness and diffidence, to render the victory\r\nincomplete. But of this we have spoken in the life of Pompey. While, however,\r\nall the rest rejoiced, and magnified their success, Cato alone bewailed his\r\ncountry, and cursed that fatal ambition, which made so many brave Romans murder\r\none another.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Pompey following Caesar into Thessaly, left at Dyrrhachium a\r\nquantity of munitions, money, and stores, and many of his domestics and\r\nrelations; the charge of all which he gave to Cato, with the command only of\r\nfifteen cohorts. For though he trusted him much, yet he was afraid of him too,\r\nknowing full well, that if he had bad success, Cato would be the last to\r\nforsake him, but if he conquered, would never let him use his victory at his\r\npleasure. There were, likewise, many persons of high rank that stayed with Cato\r\nat Dyrrhachium. When they heard of the overthrow at Pharsalia, Cato resolved\r\nwith himself, that if Pompey were slain, he would conduct those that were with\r\nhim into Italy, and then retire as far from the tyranny of Caesar as he could,\r\nand live in exile; but if Pompey were safe, he would keep the army together for\r\nhim. With this resolution he passed over to Corcyra, where the navy lay, there\r\nhe would have resigned his command to Cicero, because he had been consul, and\r\nhimself only a praetor: but Cicero refused it, and was going for Italy. At\r\nwhich Pompey’s son being incensed, would rashly and in heat have punished all\r\nthose who were going away, and in the first place have laid hands on Cicero;\r\nbut Cato spoke with him in private, and diverted him from that design. And thus\r\nhe clearly saved the life of Cicero, and rescued several others also from\r\nill-treatment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nConjecturing that Pompey the Great was fled toward Egypt or Africa, Cato\r\nresolved to hasten after him; and having taken all his men aboard, he set sail;\r\nbut first to those who were not zealous to continue the contest, he gave free\r\nliberty to depart. When they came to the coast of Africa, they met with Sextus,\r\nPompey’s younger son, who told them of the death of his father in Egypt; at\r\nwhich they were all exceedingly grieved, and declared that after Pompey they\r\nwould follow no other leader but Cato. Out of compassion therefore to so many\r\nworthy persons, who had given such testimonies of their fidelity, and whom he\r\ncould not for shame leave in a desert country, amidst so many difficulties, he\r\ntook upon him the command, and marched toward the city of Cyrene, which\r\npresently received him, though not long before they had shut their gates\r\nagainst Labienus. Here he was informed that Scipio, Pompey’s father-in-law, was\r\nreceived by king Juba, and that Attius Varus, whom Pompey had made governor of\r\nAfrica, had joined them with his forces. Cato therefore resolved to march\r\ntoward them by land, it being now winter; and got together a number of asses to\r\ncarry water, and furnished himself likewise with plenty of all other provision,\r\nand a number of carriages. He took also with him some of those they call\r\nPsylli, who cure the biting of serpents, by sucking out the poison with their\r\nmouths, and have likewise certain charms, by which they stupefy and lay asleep\r\nthe serpents.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus they marched seven days together, Cato all the time going on foot at the\r\nhead of his men, and never making use of any horse or chariot. Ever since the\r\nbattle of Pharsalia, he used to sit at table, and added this to his other ways\r\nof mourning, that he never lay down but to sleep.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving passed the winter in Africa, Cato drew out his army, which amounted to\r\nlittle less than ten thousand. The affairs of Scipio and Varus went very ill,\r\nby reason of their dissensions and quarrels among themselves, and their\r\nsubmissions and flatteries to king Juba, who was insupportable for his vanity,\r\nand the pride he took in his strength and riches. The first time he came to a\r\nconference with Cato, he had ordered his own seat to be placed in the middle,\r\nbetween Scipio and Cato; which Cato observing, took up his chair, and set\r\nhimself on the other side of Scipio, to whom he thus gave the honor of sitting\r\nin the middle, though he were his enemy, and had formerly published some\r\nscandalous writing against him. There are people who speak as if this were\r\nquite an insignificant matter, and who nevertheless find fault with Cato,\r\nbecause in Sicily, walking one day with Philostratus, he gave him the middle\r\nplace, to show his respect for philosophy. However, he now succeeded both in\r\nhumbling the pride of Juba, who was treating Scipio and Varus much like a pair\r\nof satraps under his orders, and also in reconciling them to each other. All\r\nthe troops desired him to be their leader; Scipio, likewise, and Varus gave way\r\nto it, and offered him the command; but he said, he would not break those laws,\r\nwhich he sought to defend, and he, being, but propraetor, ought not to command\r\nin the presence of a proconsul, (for Scipio had been created proconsul,)\r\nbesides that people took it as a good omen; to see a Scipio command in Africa,\r\nand the very name inspired the soldiers with hopes of success.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nScipio, having taken upon him the command, presently resolved, at the\r\ninstigation of Juba, to put all the inhabitants of Utica to the sword, and to\r\nraze the city, for having, as they professed, taken part with Caesar. Cato\r\nwould by no means suffer this; but invoking the gods, exclaiming and protesting\r\nagainst it in the council of war, he with much difficulty delivered the poor\r\npeople from this cruelty. And afterwards, upon the entreaty of the inhabitants,\r\nand at the instance of Scipio, Cato took upon himself the government of Utica,\r\nlest, one way or other, it should fall into Caesar’s hands; for it was a strong\r\nplace, and very advantageous for either party. And it was yet better provided\r\nand more strongly fortified by Cato, who brought in great store of corn,\r\nrepaired the walls, erected towers, and made deep trenches and palisades around\r\nthe town. The young men of Utica he lodged among these works, having first\r\ntaken their arms from them; the rest of the inhabitants he kept within the\r\ntown, and took the greatest care, that no injury should be done nor affront\r\noffered them by the Romans. From hence he sent great quantity of arms, money,\r\nand provision to the camp, and made this city their chief magazine.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe advised Scipio, as he had before done Pompey, by no means to hazard a battle\r\nagainst a man experienced in war, and formidable in the field, but to use\r\ndelay; for time would gradually abate the violence of the crisis, which is the\r\nstrength of usurpation. But Scipio out of pride rejected this counsel, and\r\nwrote a letter to Cato, in which he reproached him with cowardice; and that he\r\ncould not be content to lie secure himself within walls and trenches, but he\r\nmust hinder others from boldly using their own good-sense to seize the right\r\nopportunity. In answer to this, Cato wrote word again, that he would take the\r\nhorse and foot which he had brought into Africa, and go over into Italy, to\r\nmake a diversion there, and draw Caesar off from them. But Scipio derided this\r\nproposition also. Then Cato openly let it be seen that he was sorry he had\r\nyielded the command to Scipio, who he saw would not carry on the war with any\r\nwisdom, and if, contrary to all appearance, he should succeed, he would use his\r\nsuccess as unjustly at home. For Cato had then made up his mind, and so he told\r\nhis friends, that he could have but slender hopes in those generals that had so\r\nmuch boldness, and so little conduct; yet if anything should happen beyond\r\nexpectation, and Caesar should be overthrown, for his part he would not stay at\r\nRome, but would retire from the cruelty and inhumanity of Scipio, who had\r\nalready uttered fierce and proud threats against many.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut what Cato had looked for, fell out sooner than he expected. Late in the\r\nevening came one from the army, whence he had been three days coming, who\r\nbrought word there had been a great battle near Thapsus; that all was utterly\r\nlost; Caesar had taken the camps, Scipio and Juba were fled with a few only,\r\nand all the rest of the army was lost. This news arriving in time of war, and\r\nin the night, so alarmed the people, that they were almost out of their wits,\r\nand could scarce keep themselves within the walls of the city. But Cato came\r\nforward, and meeting the people in this hurry and clamor, did all he could to\r\ncomfort and encourage them, and somewhat appeased the fear and amazement they\r\nwere in, telling them that very likely things were not so bad in truth, but\r\nmuch exaggerated in the report. And so he pacified the tumult for the present.\r\nThe next morning, he sent for the three hundred, whom he used as his council;\r\nthese were Romans, who were in Africa upon business, in commerce and\r\nmoney-lending; there were also several senators and their sons. They were\r\nsummoned to meet in the temple of Jupiter. While they were coming together,\r\nCato walked about very quietly and unconcerned, as if nothing new had happened.\r\nHe had a book in his hand, which he was reading; in this book was an account of\r\nwhat provision he had for war, armor, corn, ammunition and soldiers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen they were assembled, he began his discourse; first, as regarded the three\r\nhundred themselves, and very much commended the courage and fidelity they had\r\nshown, and their having very well served their country with their persons,\r\nmoney, and counsel. Then he entreated them by no means to separate, as if each\r\nsingle man could hope for any safety in forsaking his companions; on the\r\ncontrary, while they kept together, Caesar would have less reason to despise\r\nthem, if they fought against him, and be more forward to pardon them, if they\r\nsubmitted to him. Therefore, he advised them to consult among themselves, nor\r\nshould he find fault, whichever course they adopted. If they thought fit to\r\nsubmit to fortune, he would impute their change to necessity; but if they\r\nresolved to stand firm, and undertake the danger for the sake of liberty, he\r\nshould not only commend, but admire their courage, and would himself be their\r\nleader and companion too, till they had put to the proof the utmost fortune of\r\ntheir country; which was not Utica or Adrumetum, but Rome, and she had often,\r\nby her own greatness, raised herself after worse disasters. Besides, as there\r\nwere many things that would conduce to their safety, so chiefly this, that they\r\nwere to fight against one whose affairs urgently claimed his presence in\r\nvarious quarters. Spain was already revolted to the younger Pompey; Rome was\r\nunaccustomed to the bridle, and impatient of it, and would therefore be ready\r\nto rise in insurrection upon any turn of affairs. As for themselves, they ought\r\nnot to shrink from the danger; and in this might take example from their enemy,\r\nwho so freely exposes his life to effect the most unrighteous designs, yet\r\nnever can hope for so happy a conclusion, as they may promise themselves; for\r\nnotwithstanding the uncertainty of war, they will be sure of a most happy life,\r\nif they succeed, or a most glorious death, if they miscarry. However, he said,\r\nthey ought to deliberate among themselves, and he joined with them in praying\r\nthe gods that in recompense of their former courage and goodwill, they would\r\nprosper their present determinations. When Cato had thus spoken, many were\r\nmoved and encouraged by his arguments, but the greatest part were so animated\r\nby the sense of his intrepidity, generosity, and goodness, that they forgot the\r\npresent danger, and as if he were the only invincible leader, and above all\r\nfortune, they entreated him to employ their persons, arms, and estates, as he\r\nthought fit; for they esteemed it far better to meet death in following his\r\ncounsel, than to find their safety in betraying one of so great virtue. One of\r\nthe assembly proposed the making a decree, to set the slaves at liberty; and\r\nmost of the rest approved the motion. Cato said, that it ought not to be done,\r\nfor it was neither just nor lawful; but if any of their masters would willingly\r\nset them free, those that were fit for service should be received. Many\r\npromised so to do; whose names he ordered to be enrolled, and then withdrew.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPresently after this, he received letters from Juba and Scipio. Juba, with some\r\nfew of his men, was retired to a mountain, where he waited to hear what Cato\r\nwould resolve upon; and intended to stay there for him, if he thought fit to\r\nleave Utica, or to come to his aid with his troops, if he were besieged. Scipio\r\nwas on shipboard, near a certain promontory, not far from Utica, expecting an\r\nanswer upon the same account. But Cato thought fit to retain the messengers,\r\ntill the three hundred should come to some resolution,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for the senators that were there, they showed great forwardness, and at once\r\nset free their slaves, and furnished them with arms. But the three hundred\r\nbeing men occupied in merchandise and money-lending, much of their substance\r\nalso consisting in slaves, the enthusiasm that Cato’s speech had raised in\r\nthem, did not long continue. As there are substances that easily admit heat,\r\nand as suddenly lose it, when the fire is removed, so these men were heated and\r\ninflamed, while Cato was present; but when they began to reason among\r\nthemselves, the fear they had of Caesar, soon overcame their reverence for Cato\r\nand for virtue. “For who are we,” said they, “and who is it we refuse to obey?\r\nIs it not that Caesar, who is now invested with all the power of Rome? and\r\nwhich of us is a Scipio, a Pompey, or a Cato? But now that all men make their\r\nhonor give way to their fear, shall we alone engage for the liberty of Rome,\r\nand in Utica declare war against him, before whom Cato and Pompey the Great\r\nfled out of Italy? Shall we set free our slaves against Caesar, who have\r\nourselves no more liberty than he is pleased to allow? No, let us, poor\r\ncreatures, know ourselves, submit to the victor, and send deputies to implore\r\nhis mercy.” Thus said the most moderate of them; but the greatest part were for\r\nseizing the senators, that by securing them, they might appease Caesar’s anger.\r\nCato, though he perceived the change, took no notice of it; but wrote to Juba\r\nand Scipio to keep away from Utica, because he mistrusted the three hundred.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA considerable body of horse, which had escaped from the late fight, riding up\r\ntowards Utica, sent three men before to Cato, who yet did not all bring the\r\nsame message; for one party was for going to Juba, another for joining with\r\nCato, and some again were afraid to go into Utica. When Cato heard this, he\r\nordered Marcus Rubrius to attend upon the three hundred, and quietly take the\r\nnames of those who of their own accord set their slaves at liberty, but by no\r\nmeans to force anybody. Then, taking with him the senators, he went out of the\r\ntown, and met the principal officers of these horsemen, whom he entreated not\r\nto abandon so many Roman senators, nor to prefer Juba for their commander\r\nbefore Cato, but consult the common safety, and to come into the city, which\r\nwas impregnable, and well furnished with corn and other provision, sufficient\r\nfor many years. The senators, likewise, with tears besought them to stay.\r\nHereupon the officers went to consult their soldiers, and Cato with the\r\nsenators sat down upon an embankment, expecting their resolution. In the\r\nmeantime comes Rubrius in great disorder, crying out, the three hundred were\r\nall in commotion, and exciting revolt and tumult in the city. At this all the\r\nrest fell into despair, lamenting and bewailing their condition. Cato\r\nendeavored to comfort them, and sent to the three hundred, desiring them to\r\nhave patience. Then the officers of the horse returned with no very reasonable\r\ndemands. They said, they did not desire to serve Juba, for his pay, nor should\r\nthey fear Caesar, while they followed Cato, but they dreaded to be shut up with\r\nthe Uticans, men of traitorous temper, and Carthaginian blood; for though they\r\nwere quiet at present, yet as soon as Caesar should appear, without doubt they\r\nwould conspire together, and betray the Romans. Therefore, if he expected they\r\nshould join with him, he must drive out of the town or destroy all the Uticans,\r\nthat he might receive them into a place clear both of enemies and barbarians.\r\nThis Cato thought utterly cruel and barbarous; but he mildly answered, he would\r\nconsult the three hundred.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen he returned to the city, where he found the men, not framing excuses, or\r\ndissembling out of reverence to him, but openly declaring that no one should\r\ncompel them to make war against Caesar; which, they said, they were neither\r\nable nor willing to do. And some there were who muttered words about retaining\r\nthe senators till Caesar’s coming; but Cato seemed not to hear this, as indeed\r\nhe had the excuse of being a little deaf. At the same time came one to him, and\r\ntold him the horse were going away. And now, fearing lest the three hundred\r\nshould take some desperate resolution concerning the senators, he presently\r\nwent out with some of his friends, and seeing they were gone some way, he took\r\nhorse, and rode after them. They, when they saw him coming, were very glad, and\r\nreceived him very kindly, entreating him to save himself with them. At this\r\ntime, it is said, Cato shed tears, while entreating them on behalf of the\r\nsenators, and stretching out his hands in supplication. He turned some of their\r\nhorses’ heads, and laid hold of the men by their armor, till in fine he\r\nprevailed with them, out of compassion, to stay only that one day, to procure a\r\nsafe retreat for the senators. Having thus persuaded them to go along with him,\r\nsome he placed at the gates of the town, and to others gave the charge of the\r\ncitadel. The three hundred began to fear they should suffer for their\r\ninconstancy, and sent to Cato, entreating him by all means to come to them; but\r\nthe senators flocking about him, would not suffer him to go, and said they\r\nwould not trust their guardian and savior to the hands of perfidious traitors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor there had never, perhaps, been a time when Cato’s virtue appeared more\r\nmanifestly; and every class of men in Utica could clearly see, with sorrow and\r\nadmiration, how entirely free was everything that he was doing from any secret\r\nmotives or any mixture of self-regard; he, namely, who had long before resolved\r\non his own death, was taking such extreme pains, toil, and care, only for the\r\nsake of others, that when he had secured their lives, he might put an end to\r\nhis own. For it was easily perceived, that he had determined to die, though he\r\ndid not let it appear.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTherefore, having pacified the senators, he complied with the request of the\r\nthree hundred, and went to them alone without any attendance. They gave him\r\nmany thanks, and entreated him to employ and trust them for the future; and if\r\nthey were not Catos, and could not aspire to his greatness of mind, they begged\r\nhe would pity their weakness; and told him, they had determined to send to\r\nCaesar and entreat him, chiefly and in the first place, for Cato, and if they\r\ncould not prevail for him, they would not accept of pardon for themselves, but\r\nas long as they had breath, would fight in his defense. Cato commended their\r\ngood intentions, and advised them to send speedily, for their own safety, but\r\nby no means to ask anything in his behalf; for those who are conquered,\r\nentreat, and those who have done wrong, beg pardon; for himself, he did not\r\nconfess to any defeat in all his life, but rather, so far as he had thought\r\nfit, he had got the victory, and had conquered Caesar in all points of justice\r\nand honesty. It was Caesar that ought to be looked upon as one surprised and\r\nvanquished; for he was now convicted and found guilty of those designs against\r\nhis country, which he had so long practiced and so constantly denied. When he\r\nhad thus spoken, he went out of the assembly, and being informed that Caesar\r\nwas coming with his whole army, “Ah,” said he, “he expects to find us brave\r\nmen.” Then he went to the senators, and urged them to make no delay, but hasten\r\nto be gone, while the horsemen were yet in the city. So ordering all the gates\r\nto be shut, except one towards the sea, he assigned their several ships to\r\nthose that were to depart, and gave money and provision to those that wanted;\r\nall which he did with great order and exactness, taking care to suppress all\r\ntumults, and that no wrong should be done to the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcus Octavius, coming with two legions, now encamped near Utica, and sent to\r\nCato, to arrange about the chief command. Cato returned him no answer; but said\r\nto his friends, “Can we wonder all has gone ill with us, when our love of\r\noffice survives even in our very ruin?” In the meantime, word was brought him,\r\nthat the horse were going away, and were beginning to spoil and plunder the\r\ncitizens. Cato ran to them, and from the first he met, snatched what they had\r\ntaken; the rest threw down all they had gotten, and went away silent, and\r\nashamed of what they had done. Then he called together all the people of Utica,\r\nand requested them upon the behalf of the three hundred, not to exasperate\r\nCaesar against them, but all to seek their common safety together with them.\r\nAfter that, he went again to the port, to see those who were about to embark;\r\nand there he embraced and dismissed those of his friends and acquaintance whom\r\nhe had persuaded to go. As for his son, he did not counsel him to be gone, nor\r\ndid he think fit to persuade him to forsake his father. But there was one\r\nStatyllius, a young man, in the flower of his age, of a brave spirit, and very\r\ndesirous to imitate the constancy of Cato. Cato entreated him to go away, as he\r\nwas a noted enemy to Caesar, but without success. Then Cato looked at\r\nApollonides, the stoic philosopher, and Demetrius, the peripatetic; “It belongs\r\nto you,” said he, “to cool the fever of this young man’s spirit, and to make\r\nhim know what is good for him.” And thus, in setting his friends upon their\r\nway, and in dispatching the business of any that applied to him, he spent that\r\nnight, and the greatest part of the next day.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLucius Caesar, a kinsman of Caesar’s, being appointed to go deputy for the\r\nthree hundred, came to Cato, and desired he would assist him to prepare a\r\npersuasive speech for them; “And as to you yourself,” said he, “it will be an\r\nhonor for me to kiss the hands and fall at the knees of Caesar, in your\r\nbehalf.” But Cato would by no means permit him to do any such thing; “For as to\r\nmyself,” said he, “if I would be preserved by Caesar’s favor, I should myself\r\ngo to him; but I would not be beholden to a tyrant, for his acts of tyranny.\r\nFor it is but usurpation in him to save, as their rightful lord, the lives of\r\nmen over whom he has no title to reign. But if you please, let us consider what\r\nyou had best say for the three hundred.” And when they had continued some time\r\ntogether, as Lucius was going away, Cato recommended to him his son, and the\r\nrest of his friends; and taking him by the hand, bade him farewell.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen he retired to his house again, and called together his son and his\r\nfriends, to whom he conversed on various subjects; among the rest, he forbade\r\nhis son to engage himself in the affairs of state. For to act therein as became\r\nhim, was now impossible; and to do otherwise, would be dishonorable. Toward\r\nevening he went into his bath. As he was bathing, he remembered Statyllius, and\r\ncalled out aloud, “Apollonides, have you tamed the high spirit of Statyllius,\r\nand is he gone without bidding us farewell?” “No,” said Apollonides, “I have\r\nsaid much to him, but to little purpose; he is still resolute and unalterable,\r\nand declares he is determined to follow your example.” At this, it is said,\r\nCato smiled, and answered, “That will soon be tried.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter he had bathed, he went to supper, with a great deal of company; at which\r\nhe sat up, as he had always used to do ever since the battle of Pharsalia; for\r\nsince that time he never lay down, but when he went to sleep. There supped with\r\nhim all his own friends and the magistrates of Utica.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter supper, the wine produced a great deal of lively and agreeable discourse,\r\nand a whole series of philosophical questions was discussed. At length they\r\ncame to the strange dogmas of the stoics, called their Paradoxes; and to this\r\nin particular, That the good man only is free, and that all wicked men are\r\nslaves. The peripatetic, as was to be expected, opposing this, Cato fell upon\r\nhim very warmly; and somewhat raising his voice, he argued the matter at great\r\nlength, and urged the point with such vehemence, that it was apparent to\r\neverybody, he was resolved to put an end to his life, and set himself at\r\nliberty. And so, when he had done speaking, there was a great silence, and\r\nevident dejection. Cato, therefore, to divert them from any suspicion of his\r\ndesign, turned the conversation, and began again to talk of matters of present\r\ninterest and expectation, showing great concern for those that were at sea, as\r\nalso for the others, who, traveling by land, were to pass through a dry and\r\nbarbarous desert.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the company was broke up, he walked with his friends, as he used to do\r\nafter supper, gave the necessary orders to the officers of the watch, and going\r\ninto his chamber, he embraced his son and every one of his friends with more\r\nthan usual warmth, which again renewed their suspicion of his design. Then\r\nlaying himself down, he took into his hand Plato’s dialogue concerning the\r\nsoul. Having read more than half the book, he looked up, and missing his sword,\r\nwhich his son had taken away while he was at supper, he called his servant, and\r\nasked, who had taken away his sword. The servant making no answer, he fell to\r\nreading again; and a little after, not seeming importunate, or hasty for it,\r\nbut as if he would only know what was become of it, he bade it be brought. But\r\nhaving waited some time, when he had read through the book, and still nobody\r\nbrought the sword, he called up all his servants, and in a louder tone demanded\r\nhis sword. To one of them he gave such a blow in the mouth, that he hurt his\r\nown hand; and now grew more angry, exclaiming that he was betrayed and\r\ndelivered naked to the enemy by his son and his servants. Then his son, with\r\nthe rest of his friends, came running, into the room, and falling at his feet,\r\nbegan to lament and beseech him. But Cato raising up himself, and looking\r\nfiercely, “When,” said he, “and how did I become deranged, and out of my\r\nsenses, that thus no one tries to persuade me by reason, or show me what is\r\nbetter, if I am supposed to be ill-advised? Must I be disarmed, and hindered\r\nfrom using my own reason? And you, young man, why do not you bind your father’s\r\nhands behind him, that when Caesar comes, he may find me unable to defend\r\nmyself? To dispatch myself I want no sword; I need but hold my breath awhile,\r\nor strike my head against the wall.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he had thus spoken, his son went weeping out of the chamber, and with him\r\nall the rest, except Demetrius and Apollollides, to whom, being left alone with\r\nhim, he began to speak more calmly. “And you,” said he, “do you also think to\r\nkeep a man of my age alive by force, and to sit here and silently watch me? Or\r\ndo you bring me some reasons to prove, that it will not be base and unworthy\r\nfor Cato, when he can find his safety no other way, to seek it from his enemy?\r\nIf so, adduce your arguments, and show cause why we should now unlearn what we\r\nformerly were taught, in order that rejecting all the convictions in which we\r\nlived, we may now by Caesar’s help grow wiser, and be yet more obliged to him,\r\nthan for life only. Not that I have determined aught concerning myself, but I\r\nwould have it in my power to perform what I shall think fit to resolve; and I\r\nshall not fail to take you as my advisers, in holding counsel, as I shall do,\r\nwith the doctrines which your philosophy teaches; in the meantime, do not\r\ntrouble yourselves; but go tell my son, that he should not compel his father to\r\nwhat he cannot persuade him to.” They made him no answer, but went weeping out\r\nof the chamber. Then the sword being brought in by a little boy, Cato took it,\r\ndrew it out, and looked at it; and when he saw the point was good, “Now,” said\r\nhe, “I am master of myself;” and laying down the sword, he took his book again,\r\nwhich, it is related, he read twice over. After this he slept so soundly, that\r\nhe was heard to snore by those that were without.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout midnight, he called up two of his freedmen, Cleanthes, his physician, and\r\nButas, whom he chiefly employed in public business. Him he sent to the port, to\r\nsee if all his friends had sailed; to the physician he gave his hand to be\r\ndressed, as it was swollen with the blow he had struck one of his servants. At\r\nthis they all rejoiced, hoping that now he designed to live.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nButas, after a while, returned, and brought word they were all gone except\r\nCrassus, who had stayed about some business, but was just ready to depart; he\r\nsaid, also, that the wind was high, and the sea very rough. Cato, on hearing\r\nthis, sighed, out of compassion to those who were at sea, and sent Butas again,\r\nto see if any of them should happen to return for anything they wanted, and to\r\nacquaint him therewith.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow the birds began to sing, and he again fell into a little slumber. At length\r\nButas came back, and told him, all was quiet in the port. Then Cato, laying\r\nhimself down, as if he would sleep out the rest of the night, bade him shut the\r\ndoor after him. But as soon as Butas was gone out, he took his sword, and\r\nstabbed it into his breast; yet not being able to use his hand so well, on\r\naccount of the swelling, he did not immediately die of the wound; but\r\nstruggling, fell off the bed, and throwing down a little mathematical table\r\nthat stood by, made such a noise, that the servants, hearing it, cried out. And\r\nimmediately his son and all his friends came into the chamber, where seeing him\r\nlie weltering in his blood, great part of his bowels out of his body, but\r\nhimself still alive and able to look at them, they all stood in horror. The\r\nphysician went to him, and would have put in his bowels, which were not\r\npierced, and sewed up the wound; but Cato, recovering himself, and\r\nunderstanding the intention, thrust away the physician, plucked out his own\r\nbowels, and tearing open the wound, immediately expired.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn less time than one would think his own family could have known this\r\naccident, all the three hundred were at the door. And a little after, the\r\npeople of Utica flocked thither, crying out with one voice, he was their\r\nbenefactor and their savior, the only free and only undefeated man. At the very\r\nsame time, they had news that Caesar was coming; yet neither fear of the\r\npresent danger, nor desire to flatter the conqueror, nor the commotions and\r\ndiscord among themselves, could divert them from doing honor to Cato. For they\r\nsumptuously set out his body, made him a magnificent funeral, and buried him by\r\nthe seaside, where now stands his statue, holding a sword. And only when this\r\nhad been done, they returned to consider of preserving themselves and their\r\ncity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar had been informed that Cato stayed at Utica, and did not seek to fly;\r\nthat he had sent away the rest of the Romans, but himself, with his son and a\r\nfew of his friends, continued there very unconcernedly, so that he could not\r\nimagine what might be his design. But having a great consideration for the man,\r\nhe hastened thither with his army. When he heard of his death, it is related he\r\nsaid these words, “Cato, I grudge you your death, as you have grudged me the\r\npreservation of your life.” And, indeed, if Cato would have suffered himself to\r\nowe his life to Caesar, he would not so much have impaired his own honor, as\r\naugmented the other’s glory. What would have been done, of course we cannot\r\nknow, but from Caesar’s usual clemency, we may guess what was most likely.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato was forty-eight years old when he died. His son suffered no injury from\r\nCaesar; but, it is said, he grew idle, and was thought to be dissipated among\r\nwomen. In Cappadocia, he stayed at the house of Marphadates, one of the royal\r\nfamily there, who had a very handsome wife; and continuing his visit longer\r\nthan was suitable, he made himself the subject of various epigrams; such as,\r\nfor example,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTomorrow, (being the thirtieth day),\u003cbr\u003e\r\nCato, ’t is thought, will go away;\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\r\nPorcius and Marphadates, friends so true,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOne Soul, they say, suffices for the two,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nthat being the name of the woman, and so again,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTo Cato’s greatness every one confesses,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nA royal Soul he certainly possesses.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut all these stains were entirely wiped off by the bravery of his death. For\r\nin the battle of Philippi, where he fought for his country’s liberty against\r\nCaesar and Antony, when the ranks were breaking, he, scorning to fly, or to\r\nescape unknown, called out to the enemy, showed himself to them in the front,\r\nand encouraged those of his party who stayed; and at length fell, and left his\r\nenemies full of admiration of his valor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNor was the daughter of Cato inferior to the rest of her family, for\r\nsober-living and greatness of spirit. She was married to Brutus, who killed\r\nCaesar; was acquainted with the conspiracy, and ended her life as became one of\r\nher birth and virtue. All which is related in the life of Brutus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nStatyllius, who said he would imitate Cato, was at that time hindered by the\r\nphilosophers, when he would have put an end to his life. He afterward followed\r\nBrutus, to whom he was very faithful and very serviceable, and died in the\r\nfield of Philippi.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap51\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eAGIS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe fable of Ixion, who, embracing a cloud instead of Juno, begot the Centaurs,\r\nhas been ingeniously enough supposed to have been invented to represent to us\r\nambitious men, whose minds, doting on glory, which is a mere image of virtue,\r\nproduce nothing that is genuine or uniform, but only, as might be expected of\r\nsuch a conjunction, misshapen and unnatural actions. Running after their\r\nemulations and passions, and carried away by the impulses of the moment, they\r\nmay say with the herdsmen, in the tragedy of Sophocles,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWe follow these, though born their rightful lords,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd they command us, though they speak no words.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor this is indeed the true condition of men in public life, who, to gain the\r\nvain title of being the people’s leaders and governors, are content to make\r\nthemselves the slaves and followers of all the people’s humors and caprices.\r\nFor as the look-out men at the ship’s prow, though they see what is ahead\r\nbefore the men at the helm, yet constantly look back to the pilots there, and\r\nobey the orders they give; so these men steered, as I may say, by popular\r\napplause, though they bear the name of governors, are in reality the mere\r\nunderlings of the multitude. The man who is completely wise and virtuous, has\r\nno need at all of glory, except so far as it disposes and eases his way to\r\naction by the greater trust that it procures him. A young man, I grant, may be\r\npermitted, while yet eager for distinction, to pride himself a little in his\r\ngood deeds; for (as Theophrastus says) his virtues, which are yet tender and,\r\nas it were, in the blade, cherished and supported by praises, grow stronger,\r\nand take the deeper root. But when this passion is exorbitant, it is dangerous\r\nin all men, and in those who govern a commonwealth, utterly destructive. For in\r\nthe possession of large power and authority, it transports men to a degree of\r\nmadness; so that now they no more think what is good, glorious, but will have\r\nthose actions only esteemed good that are glorious. As Phocion, therefore,\r\nanswered king Antipater, who sought his approbation of some unworthy action, “I\r\ncannot be your flatterer, and your friend,” so these men should answer the\r\npeople, “I cannot govern, and obey you.” For it may happen to the commonwealth,\r\nas to the serpent in the fable, whose tail, rising in rebellion against the\r\nhead, complained, as of a great grievance, that it was always forced to follow,\r\nand required that it should be permitted by turns to lead the way. And taking\r\nthe command accordingly, it soon indicted by its senseless courses mischiefs in\r\nabundance upon itself, while the head was torn and lacerated with following,\r\ncontrary to nature, a guide that was deaf and blind. And such we see to have\r\nbeen the lot of many, who, submitting to be guided by the inclinations of an\r\nuninformed and unreasoning multitude, could neither stop, nor recover\r\nthemselves out of the confusion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis is what has occurred to us to say, of that glory which depends on the\r\nvoice of large numbers, considering the sad effects of it in the misfortunes of\r\nCaius and Tiberius Gracchus, men of noble nature, and whose generous natural\r\ndispositions were improved by the best of educations, and who came to the\r\nadministration of affairs with the most laudable intentions; yet they were\r\nruined, I cannot say by an immoderate desire of glory, but by a more excusable\r\nfear of disgrace. For being excessively beloved and favored by the people, they\r\nthought it a discredit to them not to make full repayment, endeavoring by new\r\npublic acts to outdo the honors they had received, and again, because of these\r\nnew kindnesses, incurring yet further distinctions; till the people and they,\r\nmutually inflamed, and vieing thus with each other in honors and benefits,\r\nbrought things at last to such a pass, that they might say that to engage so\r\nfar was indeed a folly, but to retreat would now be a shame.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis the reader will easily gather from the story. I will now compare with them\r\ntwo Lacedaemonian popular leaders, the kings Agis and Cleomenes. For they,\r\nbeing desirous also to raise the people, and to restore the noble and just form\r\nof government, now long fallen into disuse, incurred the hatred of the rich and\r\npowerful, who could not endure to be deprived of the selfish enjoyments to\r\nwhich they were accustomed. These were not indeed brothers by nature, as the\r\ntwo Romans, but they had a kind of brotherly resemblance in their actions and\r\ndesigns, which took a rise from such beginnings and occasions as I am now about\r\nto relate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the love of gold and silver had once gained admittance into the\r\nLacedaemonian commonwealth, it was quickly followed by avarice and baseness of\r\nspirit in the pursuit of it, and by luxury, effeminacy, and prodigality in the\r\nuse. Then Sparta fell from almost all her former virtue and repute, and so\r\ncontinued till the days of Agis and Leonidas, who both together were kings of\r\nthe Lacedaemonians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgis was of the royal family of Eurypon, son of Eudamidas, and the sixth in\r\ndescent from Agesilaus, who made the expedition into Asia, and was the greatest\r\nman of his time in Greece. Agesilaus left behind him a son called Archidamus,\r\nthe same who was slain at Mandonium, in Italy, by the Messapians, and who was\r\nthen succeeded by his eldest son Agis. He being killed by Antipater near\r\nMegalopolis, and leaving no issue, was succeeded by his brother Eudamidas; he,\r\nby a son called Archidamus; and Archidamus, by another Eudamidas, the father of\r\nthis Agis of whom we now treat.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLeonidas, son of Cleonymus, was of the other royal house of the Agiadae, and\r\nthe eighth in descent from Pausanias, who defeated Mardonius in the battle of\r\nPlataea. Pausanias was succeeded by a son called Plistoanax; and he, by another\r\nPausanias, who was banished, and lived as a private man at Tegea; while his\r\neldest son Agesipolis reigned in his place. He, dying without issue, was\r\nsucceeded by a younger brother, called Cleombrotus, who left two sons; the\r\nelder was Agesipolis, who reigned but a short time, and died without issue; the\r\nyounger, who then became king, was called Cleomenes, and had also two sons,\r\nAcrotatus and Cleonymus. The first died before his father, but left a son\r\ncalled Areus, who succeeded, and being slain at Corinth, left the kingdom to\r\nhis son Acrotatus. This Acrotatus was defeated, and slain near Megalopolis, in\r\na battle against the tyrant Aristodemus; he left his wife big with child, and\r\non her being delivered of a son, Leonidas, son of the above-named Cleonymus,\r\nwas made his guardian, and as the young king died before becoming a man, he\r\nsucceeded in the kingdom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLeonidas was a king not particularly suitable to his people. For though there\r\nwere at that time at Sparta a general decline in manners, yet a greater revolt\r\nfrom the old habits appeared in him than in others. For having lived a long\r\ntime among the great lords of Persia, and been a follower of king Seleucus, he\r\nunadvisedly thought to imitate, among Greek institutions and in a lawful\r\ngovernment, the pride and assumption usual in those courts. Agis, on the\r\ncontrary, in fineness of nature and elevation of mind, not only far excelled\r\nLeonidas, but in a manner all the kings that had reigned since the great\r\nAgesilaus. For though he had been bred very tenderly, in abundance and even in\r\nluxury, by his mother Agesistrata and his grandmother Archidamia, who were the\r\nwealthiest of the Lacedaemonians, yet before the age of twenty, he renounced\r\nall indulgence in pleasures. Withdrawing himself as far as possible from the\r\ngaiety and ornament which seemed becoming to the grace of his person, he made\r\nit his pride to appear in the coarse Spartan coat. In his meals, his bathings,\r\nand in all his exercises, he followed the old Laconian usage, and was often\r\nheard to say, he had no desire for the place of king, if he did not hope by\r\nmeans of that authority to restore their ancient laws and discipline.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Lacedaemonians might date the beginning of their corruption from their\r\nconquest of Athens, and the influx of gold and silver among them that thence\r\nensued. Yet, nevertheless, the number of houses which Lycurgus appointed being\r\nstill maintained, and the law remaining in force by which everyone was obliged\r\nto leave his lot or portion of land entirely to his son, a kind of order and\r\nequality was thereby preserved, which still in some degree sustained the state\r\namidst its errors in other respects. But one Epitadeus happening to be ephor, a\r\nman of great influence, and of a willful, violent spirit, on some occasion of a\r\nquarrel with his son, proposed a decree, that all men should have liberty to\r\ndispose of their land by gift in their lifetime, or by their last will and\r\ntestament. This being promoted by him to satisfy a passion of revenge, and\r\nthrough covetousness consented to by others, and thus enacted for a law, was\r\nthe ruin of the best state of the commonwealth. For the rich men without\r\nscruple drew the estates into their own hands, excluding the rightful heirs\r\nfrom their succession; and all the wealth being centered upon a few, the\r\ngenerality were poor and miserable. Honorable pursuits, for which there was no\r\nlonger leisure, were neglected; and the state was filled with sordid business,\r\nand with hatred and envy of the rich. There did not remain above seven hundred\r\nof the old Spartan families, of which perhaps one hundred might have estates in\r\nland, the rest were destitute alike of wealth and of honor, were tardy and\r\nunperforming in the defense of their country against its enemies abroad, and\r\neagerly watched the opportunity for change and revolution at home.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgis, therefore, believing it a glorious action, as in truth it was, to\r\nequalize and repeople the state, began to sound the inclinations of the\r\ncitizens. He found the young men disposed beyond his expectation; they were\r\neager to enter with him upon the contest in the cause of virtue, and to fling\r\naside, for freedom’s sake, their old manner of life, as readily as the wrestler\r\ndoes his garment. But the old men, habituated and more confirmed in their\r\nvices, were most of them as alarmed at the very name of Lycurgus, as a fugitive\r\nslave to be brought back before his offended master. These men could not endure\r\nto hear Agis continually deploring the present state of Sparta, and wishing she\r\nmight be restored to her ancient glory. But on the other side, Lysander, the\r\nson of Libys, Mandroclidas, the son of Ecphanes, together with Agesilaus, not\r\nonly approved his design, but assisted and confirmed him in it. Lysander had a\r\ngreat authority and credit with the people; Mandroclidas was esteemed the\r\nablest Greek of his time to manage an affair and put it in train, and, joined\r\nwith skill and cunning, had a great degree of boldness. Agesilaus was the\r\nking’s uncle, by the mother’s side; an eloquent man, but covetous and\r\nvoluptuous, who was not moved by considerations of public good, but rather\r\nseemed to be persuaded to it by his son Hippomedon, whose courage and signal\r\nactions in war had gained him a high esteem and great influence among the young\r\nmen of Sparta, though indeed the true motive was, that he had many debts, and\r\nhoped by this means to be freed from them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as Agis had prevailed with his uncle, he endeavored by his mediation to\r\ngain his mother also, who had many friends and followers, and a number of\r\npersons in her debt in the city, and took a considerable part in public\r\naffairs. At the first proposal, she was very averse, and strongly advised her\r\nson not to engage in so difficult and so unprofitable an enterprise. But\r\nAgesilaus endeavored to possess her, that the thing was not so difficult as she\r\nimagined, and that it might, in all likelihood, redound to the advantage of her\r\nfamily; while the king, her son, besought her not for money’s sake to decline\r\nassisting his hopes of glory. He told her, he could not pretend to equal other\r\nkings in riches, the very followers and menials of the satraps and stewards of\r\nSeleucus or Ptolemy abounding more in wealth than all the Spartan kings put\r\ntogether; but if by contempt of wealth and pleasure, by simplicity and\r\nmagnanimity, he could surpass their luxury and abundance, if he could restore\r\ntheir former equality to the Spartans, then he should be a great king indeed.\r\nIn conclusion, the mother and the grandmother also were so taken, so carried\r\naway with the inspiration, as it were, of the young man’s noble and generous\r\nambition, that they not only consented, but were ready on an occasions to spur\r\nhim on to a perseverance, and not only sent to speak on his behalf with the men\r\nwith whom they had an interest, but addressed the other women also, knowing\r\nwell that the Lacedaemonian wives had always a great power with their husbands,\r\nwho used to impart to them their state affairs with greater freedom than the\r\nwomen would communicate with the men in the private business of their families.\r\nWhich was indeed one of the greatest obstacles to this design; for the money of\r\nSparta being most of it in the women’s hands, it was their interest to oppose\r\nit, not only as depriving them of those superfluous trifles, in which through\r\nwant of better knowledge and experience, they placed their chief felicity, but\r\nalso because they knew their riches were the main support of their power and\r\ncredit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThose, therefore, who were of this faction, had recourse to Leonidas,\r\nrepresenting to him, how it was his part, as the elder and more experienced, to\r\nput a stop to the ill-advised projects of a rash young man. Leonidas, though of\r\nhimself sufficiently inclined to oppose Agis, durst not openly, for fear of the\r\npeople, who were manifestly desirous of this change; but underhand he did all\r\nhe could to discredit and thwart the project, and to prejudice the chief\r\nmagistrates against him, and on all occasions craftily insinuated, that it was\r\nas the price of letting him usurp arbitrary power, that Agis thus proposed to\r\ndivide the property of the rich among the poor, and that the object of these\r\nmeasures for canceling debts, and dividing the lands, was, not to furnish\r\nSparta with citizens, but purchase him a tyrant’s body-guard.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgis, nevertheless, little regarding these rumors, procured Lysander’s election\r\nas ephor; and then took the first occasion of proposing through him his Rhetra\r\nto the council, the chief articles of which were these: That every one should\r\nbe free from their debts; all the lands to be divided into equal portions,\r\nthose that lay betwixt the watercourse near Pellene and Mount Taygetus, and as\r\nfar as the cities of Malea and Sellasia, into four thousand five hundred lots,\r\nthe remainder into fifteen thousand; these last to be shared out among those of\r\nthe country people who were fit for service as heavy-armed soldiers, the first\r\namong the natural born Spartans; and their number also should be supplied from\r\nany among the country people or strangers who had received the proper breeding\r\nof freemen, and were of vigorous, body and of age for military service. All\r\nthese were to be divided into fifteen companies, some of four hundred, and some\r\nof two, with a diet and discipline agreeable to the laws of Lycurgus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis decree being proposed in the council of Elders, met there with opposition;\r\nso that Lysander immediately convoked the great assembly of the people, to whom\r\nhe, Mandroclidas, and Agesilaus made orations, exhorting them that they would\r\nnot suffer the majesty of Sparta to remain abandoned to contempt, to gratify a\r\nfew rich men, who lorded it over them; but that they should call to mind the\r\noracles in old time which had forewarned them to beware of the love of money,\r\nas the great danger and probable ruin of Sparta, and, moreover, those recently\r\nbrought from the temple of Pasiphae. This was a famous temple and oracle at\r\nThalamae; and this Pasiphae, some say, was one of the daughters of Atlas, who\r\nhad by Jupiter a son called Ammon; others are of opinion it was Cassandra, the\r\ndaughter of king Priam, who, dying in this place, was called Pasiphae, as the\r\nrevealer of oracles to all men. Phylarchus says, that this was Daphne, the\r\ndaughter of Amyclas, who, flying from Apollo, was transformed into a laurel,\r\nand honored by that god with the gift of prophecy. But be it as it will, it is\r\ncertain the people were made to apprehend, that this oracle had commanded them\r\nto return to their former state of equality settled by Lycurgus. As soon as\r\nthese had done speaking, Agis stood up, and after a few words, told them he\r\nwould make the best contribution in his power to the new legislation, which was\r\nproposed for their advantage. In the first place, he would divide among them\r\nall his patrimony, which was of large extent in tillage and pasture; he would\r\nalso give six hundred talents in ready money, and his mother, grandmother, and\r\nhis other friends and relations, who were the richest of the Lacedaemonians,\r\nwere ready to follow his example.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe people were transported with admiration of the young man’s generosity, and\r\nwith joy, that after three hundred years’ interval, at last there had appeared\r\na king worthy of Sparta. But, on the other side, Leonidas was now more than\r\never averse, being sensible that he and his friends would be obliged to\r\ncontribute with their riches, and yet all the honor and obligation would\r\nredound to Agis. He asked him then before them all, whether Lycurgus were not\r\nin his opinion a wise man, and a lover of his country. Agis answering he was,\r\n“And when did Lycurgus,” replied Leonidas, “cancel debts, or admit strangers to\r\ncitizenship, — he who thought the commonwealth not secure unless from time to\r\ntime the city was cleared of all strangers?” To this Agis replied, “It is no\r\nwonder that Leonidas, who was brought up and married abroad, and has children\r\nby a wife taken out of a Persian court, should know little of Lycurgus or his\r\nlaws. Lycurgus took away both debts and loans, by taking away money; and\r\nobjected indeed to the presence of men who were foreign to the manners and\r\ncustoms of the country, not in any case from an ill-will to their persons, but\r\nlest the example of their lives and conduct should infect the city with the\r\nlove of riches, and of delicate and luxurious habits. For it is well known that\r\nhe himself gladly kept Terpander, Thales, and Pherecycles, though they were\r\nstrangers, because he perceived they were in their poems and in their\r\nphilosophy of the same mind with him. And you that are wont to praise Ecprepes,\r\nwho, being ephor, cut with his hatchet two of the nine strings from the\r\ninstrument of Phrynis, the musician, and to commend those who afterwards\r\nimitated him, in cutting the strings of Timotheus’s harp, with what face can\r\nyou blame us, for designing to cut off superfluity and luxury and display from\r\nthe commonwealth? Do you think those men were so concerned only about a\r\nlute-string, or intended anything else than to check in music that same excess\r\nand extravagance which rule in our present lives and manners, and have\r\ndisturbed and destroyed all the harmony and order of our city?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom this time forward, as the common people followed Agis, so the rich men\r\nadhered to Leonidas. They be sought him not to forsake their cause; and with\r\npersuasions and entreaties so far prevailed with the council of Elders, whose\r\npower consisted in preparing all laws before they were proposed to the people,\r\nthat the designed Rhetra was rejected, though but by only one vote. Whereupon\r\nLysander, who was still ephor, resolving to be revenged on Leonidas, drew up an\r\ninformation against him, grounded on two old laws: the one forbids any of the\r\nblood of Hercules to raise up children by a foreign woman, and the other makes\r\nit capital for a Lacedaemonian to leave his country to settle among foreigners.\r\nWhilst he set others on to manage this accusation, he with his colleagues went\r\nto observe the sign, which was a custom they had, and performed in this manner.\r\nEvery ninth year, the ephors, choosing a starlight night, when there is neither\r\ncloud nor moon, sit down together in quiet and silence, and watch the sky. And\r\nif they chance to see the shooting of a star, they presently pronounce their\r\nking guilty of some offense against the gods, and thereupon he is immediately\r\nsuspended from all exercise of regal power, till he is relieved by an oracle\r\nfrom Delphi or Olympia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLysander, therefore, assured the people, he had seen a star shoot, and at the\r\nsame time Leonidas was cited to answer for himself. Witnesses were produced to\r\ntestify he had married an Asian woman, bestowed on him by one of king\r\nSeleucus’s lieutenants; that he had two children by her, but she so disliked\r\nand hated him, that, against his wishes, flying from her, he was in a manner\r\nforced to return to Sparta, where, his predecessor dying without issue, he took\r\nupon him the government. Lysander, not content with this, persuaded also\r\nCleombrotus to lay claim to the kingdom. He was of the royal family, and\r\nson-in-law to Leonidas; who, fearing now the event of this process, fled as a\r\nsuppliant to the temple of Minerva of the Brazen House, together with his\r\ndaughter, the wife of Cleombrotus; for she in this occasion resolved to leave\r\nher husband, and to follow her father. Leonidas being again cited, and not\r\nappearing, they pronounced a sentence of deposition against him, and made\r\nCleombrotus king in his place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSoon after this revolution, Lysander, his year expiring, went out of his\r\noffice, and new ephors were chosen, who gave Leonidas assurance of safety, and\r\ncited Lysander and Mandroclidas to answer for having, contrary to law, canceled\r\ndebts, and designed a new division of lands. They, seeing themselves in danger,\r\nhad recourse to the two kings, and represented to them, how necessary it was\r\nfor their interest and safety to act with united authority and bid defiance to\r\nthe ephors. For, indeed, the power of the ephors, they said, was only grounded\r\non the dissensions of the kings, it being their privilege, when the kings\r\ndiffered in opinion, to add their suffrage to whichever they judged to have\r\ngiven the best advice; but when the two kings were unanimous, none ought or\r\ndurst resist their authority, the magistrate, whose office it was to stand as\r\numpire when they were at variance, had no call to interfere when they were of\r\none mind. Agis and Cleombrotus, thus persuaded, went together with their\r\nfriends into the market-place, where, removing the ephors from their seats,\r\nthey placed others in their room of whom Agesilaus was one; proceeding then to\r\narm a company of young men, and releasing many out of prison; so that those of\r\nthe contrary faction began to be in great fear of their lives; but there was no\r\nblood spilt. On the contrary, Agis, having notice that Agesilaus had ordered a\r\ncompany of soldiers to lie in wait for Leonidas, to kill him as he fled to\r\nTegea, immediately sent some of his followers to defend him, and to convey him\r\nsafely into that city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus far all things proceeded prosperously, none daring to oppose; but through\r\nthe sordid weakness of one man these promising beginnings were blasted, and a\r\nmost noble and truly Spartan purpose overthrown and ruined, by the love of\r\nmoney. Agesilaus, as we said, was much in debt, though in possession of one of\r\nthe largest and best estates in land; and while he gladly joined in this design\r\nto be quit of his debts, he was not at all willing to part with his land.\r\nTherefore he persuaded Agis, that if both these things should be put in\r\nexecution at the same time, so great and so sudden an alteration might cause\r\nsome dangerous commotion; but if debts were in the first place canceled, the\r\nrich men would afterwards more easily be prevailed with to part with their\r\nland. Lysander, also, was of the same opinion, being deceived in like manner by\r\nthe craft of Agesilaus; so that all men were presently commanded to bring in\r\ntheir bonds, or deeds of obligation, by the Lacedaemonians called Claria, into\r\nthe market-place, where being laid together in a heap, they set fire to them.\r\nThe wealthy, money-lending people, one may easily imagine, beheld it with a\r\nheavy heart; but Agesilaus told them scoffingly, his eyes had never seen so\r\nbright and so pure a flame.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now the people pressed earnestly for an immediate division of lands; the\r\nkings also had ordered it should be done; but Agesilaus, sometimes pretending\r\none difficulty, and sometimes another, delayed the execution, till an occasion\r\nhappened to call Agis to the wars. The Achaeans, in virtue of a defensive\r\ntreaty of alliance, sent to demand succors, as they expected every day that the\r\nAetolians would attempt to enter Peloponnesus, from the territory of Megara.\r\nThey had sent Aratus, their general, to collect forces to hinder this\r\nincursion. Aratus wrote to the ephors, who immediately gave order that Agis\r\nshould hasten to their assistance with the Lacedaemonian auxiliaries. Agis was\r\nextremely pleased to see the zeal and bravery of those who went with him upon\r\nthis expedition. They were for the most part young men, and poor; and being\r\njust released from their debts and set at liberty, and hoping on their return\r\nto receive each man his lot of land, they followed their king with wonderful\r\nalacrity. The cities through which they passed, were in admiration to see how\r\nthey marched from one end of Peloponnesus to the other, without the least\r\ndisorder, and, in a manner, without being heard. It gave the Greeks occasion to\r\ndiscourse with one another, how great might be the temperance and modesty of a\r\nLaconian army in old time, under their famous captains Agesilaus, Lysander, or\r\nLeonidas, since they saw such discipline and exact obedience under a leader who\r\nperhaps was the youngest man all the army. They saw also how he was himself\r\ncontent to fare hardly, ready to undergo any labors, and not to be\r\ndistinguished by pomp or richness of habit or arms from the meanest of his\r\nsoldiers; and to people in general it was an object of regard and admiration.\r\nBut rich men viewed the innovation with dislike and alarm, lest haply the\r\nexample might spread, and work changes to their prejudice in their own\r\ncountries as well.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgis joined Aratus near the city of Corinth, where it was still a matter of\r\ndebate whether or no it were expedient to give the enemy battle. Agis, on this\r\noccasion, showed great forwardness and resolution, yet without temerity or\r\npresumption. He declared it was his opinion they ought to fight, thereby to\r\nhinder the enemy from passing the gates of Peloponnesus, but, nevertheless, he\r\nwould submit to the judgment of Aratus, not only as the elder and more\r\nexperienced captain, but as he was general of the Achaeans, whose forces he\r\nwould not pretend to command, but was only come thither to assist them. I am\r\nnot ignorant that Baton of Sinope, relates it in another manner; he says,\r\nAratus would have fought, and that Agis was against it; but it is certain he\r\nwas mistaken, not having read what Aratus himself wrote in his own\r\njustification, that knowing the people had wellnigh got in their harvest, he\r\nthought it much better to let the enemy pass, than put all to the hazard of a\r\nbattle. And therefore, giving thanks to the confederates for their readiness,\r\nhe dismissed them. And Agis, not without having gained a great deal of honor,\r\nreturned to Sparta, where he found the people in disorder, and a new revolution\r\nimminent, owing to the ill government of Agesilaus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor he, being now one of the ephors, and freed from the fear which formerly\r\nkept him in some restraint, forbore no kind of oppression which might bring in\r\ngain. Among other things, he exacted a thirteenth month’s tax, whereas the\r\nusual cycle required at this time no such addition to the year. For these and\r\nother reasons fearing those whom he injured, and knowing how he was hated by\r\nthe people, he thought it necessary to maintain a guard, which always\r\naccompanied him to the magistrate’s office. And presuming now on his power, he\r\nwas grown so insolent, that of the two kings, the one he openly contemned, and\r\nif he showed any respect towards Agis, would have it thought rather an effect\r\nof his near relationship, than any duty or submission to the royal authority.\r\nHe gave it out also, that he was to continue ephor the ensuing year.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis enemies, therefore, alarmed by this report, lost no time in risking an\r\nattempt against him; and openly bringing hack Leonidas from Tegea,\r\nreestablished him in the kingdom, to which even the people, highly incensed for\r\nhaving been defrauded in the promised division of lands, willingly consented.\r\nAgesilaus himself would hardly have escaped their fury, if his son, Hippomedon,\r\nwhose manly virtues made him dear to all, had not saved him out of their hands,\r\nand then privately conveyed him from the city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDuring this commotion, the two kings fled, Agis to the temple of the Brazen\r\nHouse, and Cleombrotus to that of Neptune. For Leonidas was more incensed\r\nagainst his son-in-law; and leaving Agis alone, went with his soldiers to\r\nCleombrotus’s sanctuary, and there with great passion reproached him for\r\nhaving, though he was his son-in-law, conspired with his enemies, usurped his\r\nthrone, and forced him from his country. Cleombrotus, having little to say for\r\nhimself, sat silent. His wife, Chilonis, the daughter of Leonidas, had chosen\r\nto follow her father in his sufferings; for when Cleombrotus usurped the\r\nkingdom, she forsook him, and wholly devoted herself to comfort her father in\r\nhis affliction; whilst he still remained in Sparta, she remained also, as a\r\nsuppliant, with him, and when he fled, she fled with him, bewailing his\r\nmisfortune, and extremely displeased with Cleombrotus. But now, upon this turn\r\nof fortune, she changed in like manner, and was seen sitting now, as a\r\nsuppliant, with her husband, embracing him with her arms, and having her two\r\nlittle children beside her. All men were full of wonder at the piety and tender\r\naffection of the young woman, who, pointing to her robes and her hair, both\r\nalike neglected and unattended to, said to Leonidas, “I am not brought, my\r\nfather, to this condition you see me in, on account of the present misfortunes\r\nof Cleombrotus; my mourning habit is long since familiar to me. It was put on\r\nto condole with you in your banishment; and now you are restored to your\r\ncountry, and to your kingdom, must I still remain in grief and misery? Or would\r\nyou have me attired in my royal ornaments, that I may rejoice with you, when\r\nyou have killed, within my arms, the man to whom you gave me for a wife? Either\r\nCleombrotus must appease you by mine and my children’s tears, or he must suffer\r\na punishment greater than you propose for his faults, and shall see me, whom he\r\nloves so well, die before him. To what end should I live, or how shall I appear\r\namong the Spartan women, when it shall so manifestly be seen, that I have not\r\nbeen able to move to compassion either a husband or a father? I was born, it\r\nseems, to participate in the ill fortune and in the disgrace, both as a wife\r\nand a daughter, of those nearest and dearest to me. As for Cleombrotus, I\r\nsufficiently surrendered any honorable plea on his behalf, when I forsook him\r\nto follow you; but you yourself offer the fairest excuse for his proceedings,\r\nby showing to the world that for the sake of a kingdom, it is just to kill a\r\nson-in-law, and be regardless of a daughter.” Chilonis, having ended this\r\nlamentation, rested her face on her husband’s head, and looked round with her\r\nweeping and woebegone eyes upon those who stood be fore her.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLeonidas, touched with compassion, withdrew a while to advise with his friends;\r\nthen returning, bade Cleombrotus leave the sanctuary and go into banishment;\r\nChilonis, he said, ought to stay with him, it not being just she should forsake\r\na father whose affection had granted to her intercession the life of her\r\nhusband. But all he could say would not prevail. She rose up immediately, and\r\ntaking one of her children in her arms, gave the other to her husband; and\r\nmaking her reverence to the altar of the goddess, went out and followed him. So\r\nthat, in a word, if Cleombrotus were not utterly blinded by ambition, he must\r\nsurely choose to be banished with so excellent a woman rather than without her\r\nto possess a kingdom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCleombrotus thus removed, Leonidas proceeded also to displace the ephors, and\r\nto choose others in their room; then he began to consider how he might entrap\r\nAgis. At first, he endeavored by fair means to persuade him to leave the\r\nsanctuary, and partake with him in the kingdom. The people, he said, would\r\neasily pardon the errors of a young man, ambitious of glory, and deceived by\r\nthe craft of Agesilaus. But finding Agis was suspicious, and not to be\r\nprevailed with to quit his sanctuary, he gave up that design; yet what could\r\nnot then be effected by the dissimulation of an enemy, was soon after brought\r\nto pass by the treachery of friends.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmphares, Damochares, and Arcesilaus often visited Agis, and he was so\r\nconfident of their fidelity that after a while he was prevailed with to\r\naccompany them to the baths, which were not far distant, they constantly\r\nreturning to see him safe again in the temple. They were all three his\r\nfamiliars; and Amphares had borrowed a great deal of plate and rich household\r\nstuff from Agesistrata, and hoped if he could destroy her and the whole family,\r\nhe might peaceably enjoy those goods. And he, it is said, was the readiest of\r\nall to serve the purposes of Leonidas, and being one of the ephors, did all he\r\ncould to incense the rest of his colleagues against Agis. These men, therefore,\r\nfinding that Agis would not quit his sanctuary, but on occasion would venture\r\nfrom it to go to the bath, resolved to seize him on the opportunity thus given\r\nthem. And one day as he was returning, they met and saluted him as formerly,\r\nconversing pleasantly by the way, and jesting, as youthful friends might, till\r\ncoming to the turning of a street which led to the prison, Amphares, by virtue\r\nof his office, laid his hand on Agis, and told him, “You must go with me, Agis,\r\nbefore the other ephors, to answer for your misdemeanors.” At the same time,\r\nDamochares, who was a tall, strong man, drew his cloak tight round his neck,\r\nand dragged him after by it, whilst the others went behind to thrust him on. So\r\nthat none of Agis’s friends being near to assist him, nor anyone by, they\r\neasily got him into the prison, where Leonidas was already arrived, with a\r\ncompany of soldiers, who strongly guarded all the avenues; the ephors also came\r\nin, with as many of the Elders as they knew to be true to their party, being\r\ndesirous to proceed with some resemblance of justice. And thus they bade him\r\ngive an account of his actions. To which Agis, smiling at their dissimulation,\r\nanswered not a word. Amphares told him, it was more seasonable to weep, for now\r\nthe time was come in which he should be punished for his presumption. Another\r\nof the ephors, as though he would be more favorable, and offering as it were an\r\nexcuse, asked him whether he was not forced to what he did by Agesilaus and\r\nLysander. But Agis answered, he had not been constrained by any man, nor had\r\nany other intent in what he did, but only to follow the example of Lycurgus,\r\nand to govern conformably to his laws. The same ephor asked him, whether now at\r\nleast he did not repent his rashness. To which the young man answered, that\r\nthough he were to suffer the extremest penalty for it, yet he could never\r\nrepent of so just and so glorious a design. Upon this they passed sentence of\r\ndeath on him, and bade the officers carry him to the Dechas, as it is called, a\r\nplace in the prison where they strangle malefactors. And when the officers\r\nwould not venture to lay hands on him, and the very mercenary soldiers declined\r\nit, believing it an illegal and a wicked act to lay violent hands on a king,\r\nDamochares, threatening and reviling them for it, himself thrust him into the\r\nroom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor by this time the news of his being seized had reached many parts of the\r\ncity, and there was a concourse of people with lights and torches about the\r\nprison gates, and in the midst of them the mother and the grandmother of Agis,\r\ncrying out with a loud voice, that their king ought to appear, and to be heard\r\nand judged by the people. But this clamor, instead of preventing, hastened his\r\ndeath; his enemies fearing, if the tumult should increase, he might be rescued\r\nduring the night out of their hands.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgis, being now at the point to die, perceived one of the officers bitterly\r\nbewailing his misfortune; “Weep not, friend,” said he, “for me, who die\r\ninnocent, by the lawless act of wicked men. My condition is much better than\r\ntheirs.” As soon as he had spoken these words, not showing the least sign of\r\nfear, he offered his neck to the noose.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nImmediately after he was dead, Amphares went out of the prison gate, where he\r\nfound Agesistrata, who, believing him still the same friend as before, threw\r\nherself at his feet. He gently raised her up, and assured her, she need not\r\nfear any further violence or danger of death for her son, and that if she\r\npleased, she might go in and see him. She begged her mother might also have the\r\nfavor to be admitted, and he replied, nobody should hinder it. When they were\r\nentered, he commanded the gate should again be locked, and Archidamia, the\r\ngrandmother, to be first introduced; she was now grown very old, and had lived\r\nall her days in the highest repute among her fellows. As soon as Amphares\r\nthought she was dispatched, he told Agesistrata she might now go in if she\r\npleased. She entered, and beholding her son’s body stretched on the ground, and\r\nher mother hanging by the neck, the first thing she did was, with her own\r\nhands, to assist the officers in taking down the body; then covering it\r\ndecently, she laid it out by her son’s, whom then embracing, and kissing his\r\ncheeks, “O my son,” said she, “it was thy too great mercy and goodness which\r\nbrought thee and us to ruin.” Amphares, who stood watching behind the door, on\r\nhearing this, broke in, and said angrily to her, “ Since you approve so well of\r\nyour son’s actions, it is fit you should partake in his reward.” She, rising up\r\nto offer herself to the noose, said only, “I pray that it may redound to the\r\ngood of Sparta.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now the three bodies being exposed to view, and the fact divulged, no fear\r\nwas strong enough to hinder the people from expressing their abhorrence of what\r\nwas done, and their detestation of Leonidas and Amphares, the contrivers of it.\r\nSo wicked and barbarous an act had never been committed in Sparta, since first\r\nthe Dorians inhabited Peloponnesus; the very enemies in war, they said, were\r\nalways cautious of spilling the blood of a Lacedaemonian king, insomuch that in\r\nany combat they would decline, and endeavor to avoid them, from feelings of\r\nrespect and reverence for their station. And certainly we see that in the many\r\nbattles fought betwixt the Lacedaemonians and the other Greeks, up to the time\r\nof Philip of Macedon, not one of their kings was ever killed, except\r\nCleombrotus, by a javelin-wound, at the battle of Leuctra. I am not ignorant\r\nthat the Messenians affirm, Theopompus was also slain by their Aristomenes; but\r\nthe Lacedaemonians deny it, and say he was only wounded.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBe it as it will, it is certain at least that Agis was the first king put to\r\ndeath in Lacedaemon by the ephors, for having undertaken a design noble in\r\nitself and worthy of his country, at a time of life when men’s errors usually\r\nmeet with an easy pardon. And if errors he did commit, his enemies certainly\r\nhad less reason to blame him, than had his friends for that gentle and\r\ncompassionate temper which made him save the life of Leonidas, and believe in\r\nother men’s professions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap52\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCLEOMENES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus fell Agis. His brother Archidamus was too quick for Leonidas, and saved\r\nhimself by a timely retreat. But his wife, then mother of a young child, he\r\nforced from her own house, and compelled Agiatis, for that was her name, to\r\nmarry his son Cleomenes, though at that time too young for a wife, because he\r\nwas unwilling that anyone else should have her, being heiress to her father\r\nGlylippus’s great estate; in person the most youthful and beautiful woman in\r\nall Greece, and well-conducted in her habits of life. And therefore, they say,\r\nshe did all she could that she might not be compelled to this new marriage. But\r\nbeing thus united to Cleomenes, she indeed hated Leonidas, but to the youth\r\nshowed herself a kind and obliging wife. He, as soon as they came together,\r\nbegan to love her very much, and the constant kindness that she still retained\r\nfor the memory of Agis, wrought somewhat of the like feeling in the young man\r\nfor him, so that he would often inquire of her concerning what had passed, and\r\nattentively listen to the story of Agis’s purpose and design. Now Cleomenes had\r\na generous and great soul; he was as temperate and moderate in his pleasures as\r\nAgis, but not so scrupulous, circumspect, and gentle. There was something of\r\nheat and passion always goading him on, and an impetuosity and violence in his\r\neagerness to pursue anything which he thought good and just. To have men obey\r\nhim of their own freewill, he conceived to be the best discipline; but,\r\nlikewise, to subdue resistance, and force them to the better course, was, in\r\nhis opinion, commendable and brave.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis disposition made him dislike the management of the city. The citizens lay\r\ndissolved in supine idleness and pleasures; the king let everything take its\r\nown way, thankful if nobody gave him any disturbance, nor called him away from\r\nthe enjoyment of his wealth and luxury. The public interest was neglected, and\r\neach man intent upon his private gain. It was dangerous, now Agis was killed,\r\nso much as to name such a thing as the exercising and training of their youth;\r\nand to speak of the ancient temperance, endurance, and equality, was a sort of\r\ntreason against the state. It is said also that Cleomenes, whilst a boy,\r\nstudied philosophy under Sphaerus, the Borysthenite, who crossed over to\r\nSparta, and spent some time and trouble in instructing the youth. Sphaerus was\r\none of the first of Zeno the Citiean’s scholars, and it is likely enough that\r\nhe admired the manly temper of Cleomenes and inflamed his generous ambition.\r\nThe ancient Leonidas, as story tells, being asked what manner of poet he\r\nthought Tyrtaeus, replied, “Good to whet young men’s courage;” for being filled\r\nwith a divine fury by his poems, they rushed into any danger. And so the stoic\r\nphilosophy is a dangerous incentive to strong and fiery dispositions, but where\r\nit combines with a grave and gentle temper, is most successful in leading it to\r\nits proper good.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon the death of his father Leonidas, he succeeded, and observing the citizens\r\nof all sorts to be debauched, the rich neglecting the public good, and intent\r\non their private gain and pleasure, and the poor distressed in their own homes,\r\nand therefore without either spirit for war or ambition to be trained up as\r\nSpartans, that he had only the name of king, and the ephors all the power, he\r\nwas resolved to change the present posture of affairs. He had a friend whose\r\nname was Xenares, his lover, (such an affection the Spartans express by the\r\nterm, being inspired, or imbreathed with); him he sounded, and of him he would\r\ncommonly inquire what manner of king Agis was, by what means and by what\r\nassistance he began and pursued his designs. Xenares, at first, willingly\r\ncompiled with his request, and told him the whole story, with all the\r\nparticular circumstances of the actions. But when he observed Cleomenes to be\r\nextremely affected at the relation, and more than ordinarily taken with Agis’s\r\nnew model of the government, and begging a repetition of the story, he at first\r\nseverely chid him, told him he was frantic, and at last left off all sort of\r\nfamiliarity and intercourse with him, yet he never told any man the cause of\r\ntheir disagreement, but would only say, Cleomenes knew very well. Cleomenes,\r\nfinding Xenares averse to his designs, and thinking all others to be of the\r\nsame disposition, consulted with none, but contrived the whole business by\r\nhimself. And considering that it would be easier to bring about an alteration\r\nwhen the city was at war, than when in peace, he engaged the commonwealth in a\r\nquarrel with the Achaeans, who had given them fair occasions to complain. For\r\nAratus, a man of the greatest power amongst all the Achaeans, designed from the\r\nvery beginning to bring all the Peloponnesians into one common body. And to\r\neffect this was the one object of all his many commanderships and his long\r\npolitical course; as he thought this the only means to make them a match for\r\ntheir foreign enemies. Pretty nearly all the rest agreed to his proposals, only\r\nthe Lacedaemonians, the Eleans, and as many of the Arcadians as inclined to the\r\nSpartan interest, remained unpersuaded. And so as soon as Leonidas was dead, he\r\nbegan to attack the Arcadians, and wasted those especially that bordered on\r\nAchaea, by this means designing to try the inclinations of the Spartans, and\r\ndespising Cleomenes as a youth, and of no experience in affairs of state or\r\nwar. Upon this, the ephors sent Cleomenes to surprise the Athenaeum, near\r\nBelbina, which is a pass commanding an entrance into Laconia and was then the\r\nsubject of litigation with the Megalopolitans. Cleomenes possessed himself of\r\nthe place, and fortified it, at which action Aratus showed no public\r\nresentment, but marched by night to surprise Tegea and Orchormenus. The design\r\nfailed, for those that were to betray the cities into his hands, turned afraid;\r\nso Aratus retreated, imagining that his design had been undiscovered. But\r\nCleomenes wrote a sarcastic letter to him, and desired to know, as from a\r\nfriend, whither he intended to march at night; and Aratus answering, that\r\nhaving heard of his design to fortify Belbina, he meant to march thither to\r\noppose him, Cleomenes rejoined, that he did not dispute it, but begged to be\r\ninformed, if he might be allowed to ask the question, why he carried those\r\ntorches and ladders with him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAratus laughing at the jest, and asking what manner of youth this was,\r\nDamocrates, a Spartan exile, replied, “If you have any designs upon the\r\nLacedaemonians, begin before this young eagle’s talons are grown.” Presently\r\nafter this, Cleomenes, encamping in Arcadia with a few horse and three hundred\r\nfoot, received orders from the ephors, who feared to engage in the war,\r\ncommanding him home; but when upon his retreat Aratus took Caphyae, they\r\ncommissioned him again. In this expedition he took Methydrium, and overran the\r\ncountry of the Argives; and the Achaeans, to oppose him, came out with an army\r\nof twenty thousand foot and one thousand horse, under the command of\r\nAristomachus. Cleomenes faced them at Pallantium, and offered battle, but\r\nAratus, being cowed by his bravery, would not suffer the general to engage, but\r\nretreated, amidst the reproaches of the Achaeans, and the derision and scorn of\r\nthe Spartans, who were not above five thousand. Cleomenes, encouraged by this\r\nsuccess, began to speak boldly among the citizens, and reminding them of a\r\nsentence of one of their ancient kings, said, it was in vain now that the\r\nSpartans asked, not how many their enemies were, but where they were. After\r\nthis, marching to the assistance of the Eleans, whom the Achaeans were\r\nattacking, falling upon the enemy in their retreat near the Lycaeum, he put\r\ntheir whole army to flight, taking a great number of captives, and leaving many\r\ndead upon the place; so that it was commonly reported amongst the Greeks that\r\nAratus was slain. But Aratus, making the best advantage of the opportunity,\r\nimmediately after the defeat marched to Mantinea, and before anybody suspected\r\nit, took the city, and put a garrison into it. Upon this, the Lacedaemonians\r\nbeing quite discouraged, and opposing Cleomenes’s designs of carrying on the\r\nwar, he now exerted himself to have Archidamus, the brother of Agis, sent for\r\nfrom Messene, as he, of the other family, had a right to the kingdom ; and\r\nbesides, Cleomenes thought that the power of the ephors would be reduced, when\r\nthe kingly state was thus filled up, and raised to its proper position. But\r\nthose that were concerned in the murder of Agis, perceiving the design, and\r\nfearing that upon Archidamus’s return they should be called to an account,\r\nreceived him on his coming privately into town, and joined in bringing him\r\nhome, and presently after murdered him. Whether Cleomenes was against it, as\r\nPhylarchus thinks, or whether he was persuaded by his friends, or let him fall\r\ninto their hands, is uncertain; however, they were most blamed, as having\r\nforced his consent.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe, still resolving to new model the state, bribed the ephors to send him out\r\nto war; and won the affections of many others by means of his mother\r\nCratesiclea, who spared no cost and was very zealous to promote her son’s\r\nambition; and though of herself she had no inclination to marry, yet for his\r\nsake, she accepted, as her husband, one of the chiefest citizens for wealth and\r\npower. Cleomenes, marching forth with the army now under his commend, took\r\nLeuctra, a place belonging to Megalopolis; and the Achaeans quickly coming up\r\nto resist him with a good body of men commanded by Aratus, in a battle under\r\nthe very walls of the city some part of his army was routed. But whereas Aratus\r\nhad commanded the Achaeans not to pass a deep watercourse, and thus put a stop\r\nto the pursuit, Lydiadas, the Megalopolitan, fretting at the orders, and\r\nencouraging the horse which he led, and following the routed enemy, got into a\r\nplace full of vines, hedges, and ditches; and being forced to break his ranks,\r\nbegan to retire in disorder. Cleomenes, observing the advantage, commanded the\r\nTarentines and Cretans to engage him, by whom, after a brave defense, he was\r\nrouted and slain. The Lacedaemonians, thus encouraged, fell with a great shout\r\nupon the Achaeans, and routed their whole army. Of the slain, who were very\r\nmany, the rest Cleomenes delivered up, when the enemy petitioned for them; but\r\nthe body of Lydiadas he commanded to be brought to him; and then putting on it\r\na purple robe, and a crown upon its head, sent a convoy with it to the gates of\r\nMegalopolis. This is that Lydiadas who resigned his power as tyrant, restored\r\nliberty to the citizens, and joined the city to the Achaean interest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCleomenes, being very much elated by this success, and persuaded that if\r\nmatters were wholly at his disposal, he should soon be too hard for the\r\nAchaeans, persuaded Megistonus, his mother’s husband, that it was expedient for\r\nthe state to shake off the power of the ephors, and to put all their wealth\r\ninto one common stock for the whole body; thus Sparta, being restored to its\r\nold equality, might aspire again to the command of all Greece. Megistonus liked\r\nthe design, and engaged two or three more of his friends. About that time, one\r\nof the ephors, sleeping in Pasiphae’s temple, dreamed a very surprising dream;\r\nfor he thought he saw the four chairs removed out of the place where the ephors\r\nused to sit and do the business of their office, and one only set there; and\r\nwhilst he wondered, he heard a voice out of the temple, saying, “This is best\r\nfor Sparta.” The person telling Cleomenes this dream, he was a little troubled\r\nat first, fearing that he used this as a trick to sift him, upon some suspicion\r\nof his design, but when he was satisfied that the relater spoke truth, he took\r\nheart again. And carrying with him those whom he thought would be most against\r\nhis project, he took Heraea and Alsaea, two towns in league with the Achaeans,\r\nfurnished Orchomenus with provisions, encamped before Mantinea, and with long\r\nmarches up and down so harassed the Lacedaemonians, that many of them at their\r\nown request were left behind in Arcadia, while he with the mercenaries went on\r\ntoward Sparta, and by the way communicated his design to those whom he thought\r\nfittest for his purpose, and marched slowly, that he might catch the ephors at\r\nsupper.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he was come near the city, he sent Euryclidas to the public table, where\r\nthe ephors supped, under pretense of carrying some message from him from the\r\narmy; Therycion, Phoebis, and two of those who had been bred up with Cleomenes,\r\nwhom they call mothaces, followed with a few soldiers; and whilst Euryclidas\r\nwas delivering his message to the ephors, they ran upon them with their drawn\r\nswords, and slew them. The first of them, Agylaeus, on receiving the blow, fell\r\nand lay as dead; but in a little time quietly raising himself, and drawing\r\nhimself out of the room, he crept, without being discovered, into a little\r\nbuilding which was dedicated to Fear, and which always used to be shut, but\r\nthen by chance was open; and being got in, he shut the door, and lay close. The\r\nother four were killed, and above ten more that came to their assistance; to\r\nthose that were quiet they did no harm, stopped none that fled from the city,\r\nand spared Agylaeus, when he came out of the temple the next day.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Lacedaemonians have not only sacred places dedicated to Fear, but also to\r\nDeath, Laughter, and the like Passions. Now they worship Fear, not as they do\r\nsupernatural powers which they dread, esteeming it hurtful, but thinking their\r\npolity is chiefly kept up by fear. And therefore, the ephors, Aristotle is my\r\nauthor, when they entered upon their government, made proclamation to the\r\npeople, that they should shave their mustaches, and be obedient to the laws,\r\nthat the laws might not be hard upon them, making, I suppose, this trivial\r\ninjunction, to accustom their youth to obedience even in the smallest matters.\r\nAnd the ancients, I think, did not imagine bravery to be plain fearlessness,\r\nbut a cautious fear of blame and disgrace. For those that show most timidity\r\ntowards the laws, are most bold against their enemies; and those are least\r\nafraid of any danger who are most afraid of a just reproach. Therefore it was\r\nwell said that\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nA reverence still attends on fear;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand by Homer,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFeared you shall be, dear father, and revered;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nand again,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIn silence fearing those that bore the sway;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nfor the generality of men are most ready to reverence those whom they fear.\r\nAnd, therefore, the Lacedaemonians placed the temple of Fear by the Syssitium\r\nof the ephors, having raised that magistracy to almost royal authority.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe next day, Cleomenes proscribed eighty of the citizens, whom he thought\r\nnecessary to banish, and removed all the seats of the ephors, except one, in\r\nwhich he himself designed to sit and give audience; and calling the citizens\r\ntogether, he made an apology for his proceedings, saying, that by Lycurgus the\r\ncouncil of Elders was joined to the kings, and that that model of government\r\nhad continued a long time, and no other sort of magistrates had been wanted.\r\nBut afterwards, in the long war with the Messenians, when the kings, having to\r\ncommand the army, found no time to administer justice, they chose some of their\r\nfriends, and left them to determine the suits of the citizens in their stead.\r\nThese were called ephors, and at first behaved themselves as servants to the\r\nkings; but afterwards, by degrees, they appropriated the power to themselves\r\nand erected a distinct magistracy. An evidence of the truth of this was the\r\ncustom still observed by the kings, who, when the ephors send for them, refuse,\r\nupon the first and the second summons, to go, but upon the third, rise up and\r\nattend them. And Asteropus, the first that raised the ephors to that height of\r\npower, lived a great many years after their institution. So long, therefore, he\r\ncontinued, as they contained themselves within their own proper sphere, it had\r\nbeen better to bear with them than to make a disturbance. But that an upstart,\r\nintroduced power should so far subvert the ancient form of government as to\r\nbanish some kings, murder others, without hearing their defense, and threaten\r\nthose who desired to see the best and most divine constitution restored in\r\nSparta, was not to be borne. Therefore, if it had been possible for him,\r\nwithout bloodshed, to free Lacedaemon from those foreign plagues, luxury,\r\nsumptuosity, debts, and usury, and from those yet more ancient evils, poverty\r\nand riches, he should have thought himself the happiest king in the world, to\r\nhave succeeded, like an expert physician, in curing the diseases of his country\r\nwithout pain. But now, in this necessity, Lycurgus’s example favored his\r\nproceedings, who being neither king nor magistrate, but a private man, and\r\naiming at the kingdom, came armed into the market-place, so that king Charillus\r\nfled in alarm to the altar. He, being a good man, and a lover of his country,\r\nreadily concurred in Lycurgus’s designs, and admitted the revolution in the\r\nstate. But, by his own actions, Lycurgus had nevertheless borne witness that it\r\nwas difficult to change the government without force and fear, in the use of\r\nwhich he himself, he said, had been so moderate as to do no more than put out\r\nof the way those who opposed themselves to Sparta’s happiness and safety. For\r\nthe rest of the nation, he told them, the whole land was now their common\r\nproperty; debtors should be cleared of their debts, and examination made of\r\nthose who were not citizens, that the bravest men might thus be made free\r\nSpartans, and give aid in arms to save the city, and “We” he said, “may no\r\nlonger see Laconia, for want of men to defend it, wasted by the Aetolians and\r\nIllyrians.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen he himself first, with his step-father, Megistonus, and his friends, gave\r\nup all their wealth into one public stock, and all the other citizens followed\r\nthe example. The land was divided, and everyone that he had banished, had a\r\nshare assigned him; for he promised to restore all, as soon as things were\r\nsettled and in quiet. And completing the number of citizens out of the best and\r\nmost promising of the country people, he raised a body of four thousand men;\r\nand instead of a spear, taught them to use a surissu, with both hands, and to\r\ncarry their shields by a band, and not by a handle, as before. After this, he\r\nbegan to consult about the education of the youth, and the Discipline, as they\r\ncall it; most of the particulars of which, Sphaerus, being then at Sparta,\r\nassisted in arranging; and, in a short time, the schools of exercise and the\r\ncommon tables recovered their ancient decency and order, a few out of\r\nnecessity, but the most voluntarily, returning to that generous and Laconic way\r\nof living. And, that the name of monarch might give them no jealousy, he made\r\nEuclidas, his brother, partner in the throne; and that was the only time that\r\nSparta had two kings of the same family.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen, understanding that the Achaeans and Aratus imagined that this change had\r\ndisturbed and shaken his affairs, and that he would not venture out of Sparta\r\nand leave the city now unsettled in the midst of so great an alteration, he\r\nthought it great and serviceable to his designs, to show his enemies the zeal\r\nand forwardness of his troops. And, therefore, making an incursion into the\r\nterritories of Megalopolis, he wasted the country far and wide, and collected a\r\nconsiderable booty. And, at last, taking a company of actors, as they were\r\ntraveling from Messene, and building a theater in the enemy’s country, and\r\noffering a prize of forty minae in value, he sat spectator a whole day; not\r\nthat he either desired or needed such amusement, but wishing to show his\r\ndisregard for his enemies, and by a display of his contempt, to prove the\r\nextent of his superiority to them. For his alone, of all the Greek or royal\r\narmies, had no stage-players, no jugglers, no dancing or singing women\r\nattending it, but was free from all sorts of looseness, wantonness, and\r\nfestivity; the young men being for the most part at their exercises, and the\r\nold men giving them lessons, or, at leisure times, diverting themselves with\r\ntheir native jests, and quick Laconian answers; the good results of which we\r\nhave noticed in the life of Lycurgus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe himself instructed all by his example; he was a living pattern of temperance\r\nbefore every man’s eyes; and his course of living was neither more stately, nor\r\nmore expensive, nor in any way more pretentious, than that of any of his\r\npeople. And this was a considerable advantage to him in his designs on Greece.\r\nFor men when they waited upon other kings, did not so much admire their wealth,\r\ncostly furniture, and numerous attendance, as they hated their pride and state,\r\ntheir difficulty of access, and imperious answers to their addresses. But when\r\nthey came to Cleomenes, who was both really a king, and bore that title, and\r\nsaw no purple, no robes of state upon him, no couches and litters about him for\r\nhis ease, and that he did not receive requests and return answers after a long\r\ndelay and difficulty, through a number of messengers and doorkeepers, or by\r\nmemorials, but that he rose and came forward in any dress he might happen to be\r\nwearing, to meet those that came to wait upon him, stayed, talked freely and\r\naffably with all that had business, they were extremely taken, and won to his\r\nservice, and professed that he alone was the true son of Hercules. His common\r\nevery day’s meal was in an ordinary room, very sparing, and after the Laconic\r\nmanner; and when he entertained ambassadors or strangers, two more couches were\r\nadded, and a little better dinner provided by his servants, but no savoring\r\nsauces or sweetmeats; only the dishes were larger, and the wine more plentiful.\r\nFor he reproved one of his friends for entertaining some strangers with nothing\r\nbut barley bread and black broth, such diet as they usually had in their\r\nphiditia; saying, that upon such occasions, and when they entertained\r\nstrangers, it was not well to be too exact Laconians. After the table was\r\nremoved, a stand was brought in, with a brass vessel full of wine, two silver\r\nbowls which held about a pint apiece, a few silver cups, of which he that\r\npleased might drink, but wine was not urged on any of the guests. There was no\r\nmusic, nor was any required; for he entertained the company himself, sometimes\r\nasking questions, sometimes telling stories; and his conversation was neither\r\ntoo grave or disagreeably serious, nor yet in any way rude or ungraceful in its\r\npleasantry. For he thought those ways of entrapping men by gifts and presents,\r\nwhich other kings use, dishonest and inartificial; and it seemed to him to be\r\nthe most noble method, and most suitable to a king, to win the affections of\r\nthose that came near him, by personal intercourse and agreeable conversation,\r\nsince between a friend and a mercenary the only distinction is, that we gain\r\nthe one by one’s character and conversation, the other by one’s money.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Mantineans were the first that requested his aid; and when he entered their\r\ncity by night, they aided him to expel the Achaean garrison, and put themselves\r\nunder his protection. He restored them their polity and laws, and the same day\r\nmarched to Tegea; and a little while after, fetching a compass through Arcadia,\r\nhe made a descent upon Pherae, in Achaea, intending to force Aratus to a\r\nbattle, or bring him into disrepute, for refusing to engage, and suffering him\r\nto waste the country. Hyperbatas at that time was general, but Aratus had all\r\nthe power amongst the Achaeans. The Achaeans, marching forth with their whole\r\nstrength, and encamping in Dymae, near the Hecatombaeum, Cleomenes came up, and\r\nthinking it not advisable to pitch between Dymae, a city of the enemies, and\r\nthe camp of the Achaeans, he boldly dared the Achaeans, and forced them to a\r\nbattle, and routing their phalanx, slew a great many in the fight, and took\r\nmany prisoners, and thence marching to Langon, and driving out the Achaean\r\ngarrison, he restored the city to the Eleans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe affairs of the Achaeans being in this unfortunate condition, Aratus, who\r\nwas wont to take office every other year, refused the command, though they\r\nentreated and urged him to accept it. And this was ill done, when the storm was\r\nhigh, to put the power out of his own hands, and set another to the helm.\r\nCleomenes at first proposed fair and easy conditions by his ambassadors to the\r\nAchaeans, but afterward he sent others, and required the chief command to be\r\nsettled upon him; in other matters offering to agree to reasonable terms, and\r\nto restore their captives and their country. The Achaeans were willing to come\r\nto an agreement upon those terms, and invited Cleomenes to Lerna, where an\r\nassembly was to be held; but it happened that Cleomenes, hastily marching on,\r\nand drinking water at a wrong time, brought up a quantity of blood, and lost\r\nhis voice; therefore being unable to continue his journey, he sent the chiefest\r\nof the captives to the Achaeans, and, putting off the meeting for some time,\r\nretired to Lacedaemon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis ruined the affairs of Greece, which was just beginning in some sort to\r\nrecover from its disasters, and to show some capability of delivering itself\r\nfrom the insolence and rapacity of the Macedonians. For Aratus, (whether\r\nfearing or distrusting Cleomenes, or envying his unlooked-for success, or\r\nthinking it a disgrace for him who had commanded thirty-three years, to have a\r\nyoung man succeed to all his glory and his power, and be head of that\r\ngovernment which he had been raising and settling so many years,) first\r\nendeavored to keep the Achaeans from closing with Cleomenes; but when they\r\nwould not hearken to him, fearing Cleomenes’s daring spirit, and thinking the\r\nLacedaemonians’ proposals to be very reasonable, who designed only to reduce\r\nPeloponnesus to its old model, upon this he took his last refuge in an action\r\nwhich was unbecoming any of the Greeks, most dishonorable to him, and most\r\nunworthy his former bravery and exploits. For he called Antigonus into Greece,\r\nand filled Peloponnesus with Macedonians, whom he himself, when a youth, having\r\nbeaten their garrison out of the castle of Corinth, had driven from the same\r\ncountry. And there had been constant suspicion and variance between him and all\r\nthe kings, and of Antigonus, in particular, he has said a thousand dishonorable\r\nthings in the commentaries he has left behind him. And though he declares\r\nhimself how he suffered considerable losses, and underwent great dangers, that\r\nhe might free Athens from the garrison of the Macedonians, yet, afterwards, he\r\nbrought the very same men armed into his own country, and his own house, even\r\nto the women’s apartment. He would not endure that one of the family of\r\nHercules, and king of Sparta, and one that had reformed the polity of his\r\ncountry, as it were, from a disordered harmony, and retuned it to the plain\r\nDoric measure and rule of life of Lycurgus, should be styled head of the\r\nTritaeans and Sicyonians; and whilst he fled the barley-cake and coarse coat,\r\nand which were his chief accusations against Cleomenes, the extirpation of\r\nwealth and reformation of poverty, he basely subjected himself, together with\r\nAchaea, to the diadem and purple, to the imperious commands of the Macedonians\r\nand their satraps. That he might not seem to be under Cleomenes, he offered\r\nsacrificers, called Antigonea, in honor of Antigonus, and sang paeans himself,\r\nwith a garland on his head, to the praise of a wasted, consumptive Macedonian.\r\nI write this not out of any design to disgrace Aratus, for in many things he\r\nshowed himself a true lover of Greece, and a great man, but out of pity to the\r\nweakness of human nature, which in characters like this, so worthy and in so\r\nmany ways disposed to virtue, cannot maintain its honors unblemished by some\r\nenvious fault.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Achaeans meeting again in assembly at Argos, and Cleomenes having come from\r\nTegea, there were great hopes that all differences would be composed. But\r\nAratus, Antigonus and he having already agreed upon the chief articles of their\r\nleague, fearing that Cleomenes would carry all before him, and either win or\r\nforce the multitude to comply with his demands, proposed, that having three\r\nhundred hostages put into his hands, he should come alone into the town, or\r\nbring his army to the place of exercise, called the Cyllarabium, outside the\r\ncity, and treat there.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCleomenes, hearing this, said, that he was unjustly dealt with; for they ought\r\nto have told him so plainly at first, and not now he was come even to their\r\ndoors, show their jealousy, and deny him admission. And writing a letter to the\r\nAchaeans about the same subject, the greatest part of which was an accusation\r\nof Aratus, while Aratus, on the other side, spoke violently against him to the\r\nassembly, he hastily dislodged, and sent a trumpeter to denounce war against\r\nthe Achaeans, not to Argos, but to Aegium, as Aratus writes, that he might not\r\ngive them notice enough to make provision for their defense. There had also\r\nbeen a movement among the Achaeans themselves, and the cities were eager for\r\nrevolt; the common people expecting a division of the land, and a release from\r\ntheir debts, and the chief men being in many places ill-disposed to Aratus, and\r\nsome of them angry and indignant with him, for having brought the Macedonians\r\ninto Peloponnesus. Encouraged by these misunderstandings, Cleomenes invaded\r\nAchaea, and first took Pellene by surprise, and beat out the Achaean garrison,\r\nand afterwards brought over Pheneus and Penteleum to his side. Now the\r\nAchaeans, suspecting some treacherous designs at Corinth and Sicyon, sent their\r\nhorse and mercenaries out of Argos, to have an eye upon those cities, and they\r\nthemselves went to Argos, to celebrate the Nemean games. Cleomenes, advertised\r\nof this march, and hoping, as it afterward fell out, that upon an unexpected\r\nadvance to the city, now busied in the solemnity of the games, and thronged\r\nwith numerous spectators, he should raise a considerable terror and confusion\r\namongst them, by night marched with his army to the walls, and taking the\r\nquarter of the town called Aspis, which lies above the theater, well fortified,\r\nand hard to be approached, he so terrified them that none offered to resist,\r\nbut they agreed to accept a garrison, to give twenty citizens for hostages, and\r\nto assist the Lacedaemonians, and that he should have the chief command.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis action considerably increased his reputation and his power; for the\r\nancient Spartan kings, though they many ways endeavored to effect it, could\r\nnever bring Argos to be permanently theirs. And Pyrrhus, the most experienced\r\ncaptain, though he entered the city by force, could not keep possession, but\r\nwas slain himself, with a considerable part of his army. Therefore they admired\r\nthe dispatch and contrivance of Cleomenes; and those that before derided him,\r\nfor imitating, as they said, Solon and Lycurgus, in releasing the people from\r\ntheir debts, and in equalizing the property of the citizens, were now fain to\r\nadmit that this was the cause of the change in the Spartans. For before they\r\nwere very low in the world, and so unable to secure their own, that the\r\nAetolians, invading Laconia, brought away fifty thousand slaves; so that one of\r\nthe elder Spartans is reported to have said, that they had done Laconia a\r\nkindness by unburdening it; and yet a little while after, by merely recurring\r\nonce again to their native customs, and reentering the track of the ancient\r\ndiscipline, they were able to give, as though it had been under the eyes and\r\nconduct of Lycurgus himself, the most signal instances of courage and\r\nobedience, raising Sparta to her ancient place as the commanding state of\r\nGreece, and recovering all Peloponnesus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Argos was captured, and Cleonae and Phlius came over, as they did at once,\r\nto Cleomenes, Aratus was at Corinth, searching after some who were reported to\r\nfavor the Spartan interest. The news, being brought to him, disturbed him very\r\nmuch; for he perceived the city inclining to Cleomenes, and willing to be rid\r\nof the Achaeans. Therefore he summoned the citizens to meet in the Council\r\nHall, and slipping away without being observed to the gate, he mounted his\r\nhorse that had been brought for him thither, and fled to Sicyon. And the\r\nCorinthians made such haste to Cleomenes at Argos, that, as Aratus says,\r\nstriving who should be first there, they spoiled all their horses; he adds that\r\nCleomenes was very angry with the Corinthians for letting him escape; and that\r\nMegistonus came from Cleomenes to him, desiring him to deliver up the castle at\r\nCorinth, which was then garrisoned by the Achaeans, and offered him a\r\nconsiderable sum of money, and that he answered, that matters were not now in\r\nhis power, but he in theirs. Thus Aratus himself writes. But Cleomenes,\r\nmarching from Argos, and taking in the Troezenians, Epidaurians, and\r\nHermioneans, came to Corinth, and blocked up the castle, which the Achaeans\r\nwould not surrender; and sending for Aratus’s friends and stewards, committed\r\nhis house and estate to their care and management; and sent Tritymallus, the\r\nMessenian, to him a second time, desiring that the castle might be equally\r\ngarrisoned by the Spartans and Achaeans, and promising to Aratus himself double\r\nthe pension that he received from king Ptolemy. But Aratus, refusing the\r\nconditions, and sending his own son with the other hostages to Antigonus, and\r\npersuading the Achaeans to make a decree for delivering the castle into\r\nAntigonus’s hands, upon this Cleomenes invaded the territory of the Sicyonians,\r\nand by a decree of the Corinthians, accepted Aratus’s estate as a gift.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime, Antigonus, with a great army, was passing Geranea; and\r\nCleomenes, thinking it more advisable to fortify and garrison, not the isthmus,\r\nbut the mountains called Onea, and by a war of posts and positions to weary the\r\nMacedonians, rather than to venture a set battle with the highly disciplined\r\nphalanx, put his design in execution, and very much distressed Antigonus. For\r\nhe had not brought victuals sufficient for his army; nor was it easy to force a\r\nway through, whilst Cleomenes guarded the pass. He attempted by night to pass\r\nthrough Lechaeum, but failed, and lost some men; so that Cleomenes and his army\r\nwere mightily encouraged, and so flushed with the victory, that they went\r\nmerrily to supper; and Antigonus was very much dejected, being driven, by the\r\nnecessity he was in, to most unpromising attempts. He was proposing to march to\r\nthe promontory of Heraeum, and thence transport his army in boats to Sicyon,\r\nwhich would take up a great deal of time, and require much preparation and\r\nmeans. But when it was now evening, some of Aratus’s friends came from Argos by\r\nsea, and invited him to return, for the Argives would revolt from Cleomenes.\r\nAristoteles was the man that wrought the revolt, and he had no hard task to\r\npersuade the common people; for they were all angry with Cleomenes for not\r\nreleasing them from their debts as they expected. Accordingly, obtaining\r\nfifteen hundred of Antigonus’s soldiers, Aratus sailed to Epidaurus; but\r\nAristoteles, not staying for his coming, drew out the citizens, and fought\r\nagainst the garrison of the castle; and Timoxenus, with the Achaeans from\r\nSicyon, came to his assistance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCleomenes heard the news about the second watch of the night, and sending for\r\nMegistonus, angrily commanded him to go and set things right at Argos.\r\nMegistonus had passed his word for the Argives’ loyalty, and had persuaded him\r\nnot to banish the suspected. Therefore, dispatching him with two thousand\r\nsoldiers, he himself kept watch upon Antigonus, and encouraged the Corinthians,\r\npretending that there was no great matter in the commotions at Argos, but only\r\na little disturbance raised by a few inconsiderable persons. But when\r\nMegistonus, entering Argos, was slain, and the garrison could scarce hold out,\r\nand frequent messengers came to Cleomenes for succors, he, fearing least the\r\nenemy, having taken Argos, should shut up the passes, and securely waste\r\nLaconia, and besiege Sparta itself, which he had left without forces, dislodged\r\nfrom Corinth, and immediately lost that city; for Antigonus entered it, and\r\ngarrisoned the town. He turned aside from his direct march, and assaulting the\r\nwalls of Argos, endeavored to carry it by a sudden attack and then, having\r\ncollected his forces from their march, breaking into the Aspis, he joined the\r\ngarrison, which still held out against the Achaeans; some parts of the city he\r\nscaled and took, and his Cretan archers cleared the streets. But when he saw\r\nAntigonus with his phalanx descending from the mountains into the plain, and\r\nthe horse on all sides entering the city, he thought it impossible to maintain\r\nhis post, and, gathering together all his men, came safely down, and made his\r\nretreat under the walls, having in so short a time possessed himself of great\r\npower, and in one journey, so to say, having made himself master of almost all\r\nPeloponnesus, and now lost all again in as short a time. For some of his allies\r\nat once withdrew and forsook him, and others not long after put their cities\r\nunder Antigonus’s protection. His hopes thus defeated, as he was leading back\r\nthe relics of his forces, messengers from Lacedaemon met him in the evening at\r\nTegea, and brought him, news of as great a misfortune as that which he had\r\nlately suffered, and this was the death of his wife, to whom he was so\r\nattached, and thought so much of her, that even in his most successful\r\nexpeditions, when he was most prosperous, he could not refrain, but would ever\r\nnow and then come home to Sparta, to visit Agiatis.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis news afflicted him extremely, and he grieved, as a young man would do, for\r\nthe loss of a very beautiful and excellent wife; yet he did not let his passion\r\ndisgrace him, or impair the greatness of his mind, but keeping his usual voice,\r\nhis countenance, and his habit, he gave necessary orders to his captains, and\r\ntook the precautions required for the safety of Tegea. Next morning he came to\r\nSparta, and having at home with his mother and children bewailed the loss, and\r\nfinished his mourning, he at once devoted himself to the public affairs of the\r\nstate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, promised him assistance, but demanded his\r\nmother and children for hostages. This, for some considerable time, he was\r\nashamed to discover to his mother; and though he often went to her on purpose,\r\nand was just upon the discourse, yet he still refrained, and kept it to\r\nhimself; so that she began to suspect, and asked his friends, whether Cleomenes\r\nhad something to say to her, which he was afraid to speak. At last, Cleomenes\r\nventuring to tell her, she laughed aloud, and said, “Was this the thing that\r\nyou had so often a mind to tell me, and were afraid? Make haste and put me on\r\nshipboard, and send this carcass where it may be most serviceable to Sparta,\r\nbefore age destroys it unprofitably here.” Therefore, all things being provided\r\nfor the voyage, they went by land to Taenarus, and the army waited on them.\r\nCratesiclea, when she was ready to go on board, took Cleomenes aside into\r\nNeptune’s temple, and embracing him, who was much dejected, and extremely\r\ndiscomposed, she said, “Go to, king of Sparta; when we come forth at the door,\r\nlet none see us weep, or show any passion that is unworthy of Sparta, for that\r\nalone is in our own power; as for success or disappointment, those wait on us\r\nas the deity decrees.” Having thus said, and composed her countenance, she went\r\nto the ship with her little grandson, and bade the pilot put at once out to\r\nsea. When she came to Egypt, and understood that Ptolemy entertained proposals\r\nand overtures of peace from Antigonus, and that Cleomenes, though the Achaeans\r\ninvited and urged him to an agreement, was afraid, for her sake, to come to\r\nany, without Ptolemy’s consent, she wrote to him, advising him to do that which\r\nwas most becoming and most profitable for Sparta, and not, for the sake of an\r\nold woman and a little child, stand always in fear of Ptolemy. This character\r\nshe maintained in her misfortunes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntigonus, having taken Tegea, and plundered Orchomenus and Mantinea, Cleomenes\r\nwas shut up within the narrow bounds of Laconia; and making such of the helots\r\nas could pay five Attic pounds, free of Sparta, and, by that means, getting\r\ntogether five hundred talents, and arming two thousand after the Macedonian\r\nfashion, that he might make a body fit to oppose Antigonus’s Leucaspides he\r\nundertook a great and unexpected enterprise. Megalopolis was at that time a\r\ncity of itself as great and as powerful as Sparta, and had the forces of the\r\nAchaeans and of Antigonus encamping beside it; and it was chiefly the\r\nMegalopolitans’ doing, that Antigonus had been called in to assist the\r\nAchaeans. Cleomenes, resolving to snatch the city (no other word so well suits\r\nso rapid and so surprising an action), ordered his men to take five days’\r\nprovision, and marched to Sellasia, as if he intended to ravage the country of\r\nthe Argives; but from thence making a descent into the territories of\r\nMegalopolis, and refreshing his army about Rhoeteum, he suddenly took the road\r\nby Helicus, and advanced directly upon the city. When he was not far off the\r\ntown, he sent Panteus, with two regiments, to surprise a portion of the wall\r\nbetween two towers, which he learnt to be the most unguarded quarter of the\r\nMegalopolitans’ fortifications, and with the rest of his forces he followed\r\nleisurely. Panteus not only succeeded at that point, but finding a great part\r\nof the wall without guards, he at once proceeded to pull it down in some\r\nplaces, and make openings through it in others, and killed all the defenders\r\nthat he found. Whilst he was thus busied, Cleomenes came up to him, and was got\r\nwith his army within the city, before the Megalopolitans knew of the surprise.\r\nWhen, after some time, they learned their misfortune, some left the town\r\nimmediately, taking with them what property they could; others armed, and\r\nengaged the enemy; and through they were not able to beat them out, yet they\r\ngave their citizens time and opportunity safely to retire, so that there were\r\nnot above one thousand persons taken in the town, all the rest flying, with\r\ntheir wives and children, and escaping to Messene. The greater number, also, of\r\nthose that armed and fought the enemy, were saved, and very few taken, amongst\r\nwhom were Lysandridas and Thearidas, two men of great power and reputation\r\namongst the Megalopolitans; and therefore the soldiers, as soon as they were\r\ntaken, brought them to Cleomenes. And Lysandridas, as soon as he saw Cleomenes\r\nafar off, cried out, “Now, king of Sparta, it is in your power, by doing a most\r\nkingly and a nobler action than you have already performed, to purchase the\r\ngreatest glory.” And Cleomenes, guessing at his meaning, replied, “What,\r\nLysandridas, you will not surely advise me to restore your city to you again?”\r\n“It is that which I mean,” Lysandridas replied, “and I advise you not to ruin\r\nso brave a city, but to fill it with faithful and steadfast friends and allies,\r\nby restoring their country to the Megalopolitans, and being the savior of so\r\nconsiderable a people.” Cleomenes paused a while, and then said, “It is very\r\nhard to trust so far in these matters; but with us let profit always yield to\r\nglory.” Having said this, he sent the two men to Messene with a herald from\r\nhimself, offering the Megalopolitans their city again, if they would forsake\r\nthe Achaean interest, and be on his side. But though Cleomenes made these\r\ngenerous and humane proposals, Philopoemen would not suffer them to break their\r\nleague with the Achaeans; and accusing Cleomenes to the people, as if his\r\ndesign was not to restore the city, but to take the citizens too, he forced\r\nThearidas and Lysandridas to leave Messene.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was that Philopoemen who was afterward chief of the Achaeans and a man of\r\nthe greatest reputation amongst the Greeks, as I have refuted in his own life.\r\nThis news coming to Cleomenes, though he had before taken strict care that the\r\ncity should not be plundered, yet then, being in anger, and out of all\r\npatience, he despoiled the place of all the valuables, and sent the statues and\r\npictures to Sparta; and demolishing a great part of the city, he marched away\r\nfor fear of Antigonus and the Achaeans; but they never stirred, for they were\r\nat Aegium, at a council of war. There Aratus mounted the speaker’s place, and\r\nwept a long while, holding his mantle before his face; and at last, the company\r\nbeing amazed, and commanding him to speak, he said, “Megalopolis is destroyed\r\nby Cleomenes.” The assembly instantly dissolved, the Achaeans being astounded\r\nat the suddenness and greatness of the loss; and Antigonus, intending to send\r\nspeedy succors, when he found his forces gather very slowly out of their\r\nwinter-quarters, sent them orders to continue there still; and he himself\r\nmarched to Argos with a small body of men. And now the second enterprise of\r\nCleomenes, though it had the look of a desperate and frantic adventure, yet in\r\nPolybius’s opinion, was done with mature deliberation and great foresight. For\r\nknowing very well that the Macedonians were dispersed into their\r\nwinter-quarters, and that Antigonus with his friends and a few mercenaries\r\nabout him wintered in Argos, upon these considerations he invaded the country\r\nof the Argives, hoping to shame Antigonus to a battle upon unequal terms, or\r\nelse, if he did not dare to fight, to bring him into disrepute with the\r\nAchaeans. And this accordingly happened. For Cleomenes wasting, plundering, and\r\nspoiling the whole country, the Argives, in grief and anger at the loss,\r\ngathered in crowds at the king’s gates, crying out that he should either fight,\r\nor surrender his command to better and braver men. But Antigonus, as became an\r\nexperienced captain, accounting it rather dishonorable foolishly to hazard his\r\narmy and quit his security, than merely to be railed at by other people, would\r\nnot march out against Cleomenes, but stood firm to his convictions. Cleomenes,\r\nin the meantime, brought his army up to the very walls, and having without\r\nopposition spoiled the country, and insulted over his enemies, drew off again.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA little while after, being informed that Antigonus designed a new advance to\r\nTegea, and thence to invade Laconia, he rapidly took his soldiers, and marching\r\nby a side road, appeared early in the morning before Argos, and wasted the\r\nfields about it. The corn he did not cut down, as is usual, with reaping hooks\r\nand knives, but beat it down with great wooden staves made like broadswords, as\r\nif, in mere contempt and wanton scorn, while traveling on his way, without any\r\neffort or trouble, he spoiled and destroyed their harvest. Yet when his\r\nsoldiers would have set Cyllabaris, the exercise ground, on fire, he stopped\r\nthe attempt, as if he felt, that the mischief he had done at Megalopolis had\r\nbeen the effects of his passion rather than his wisdom. And when Antigonus,\r\nfirst of all, came hastily back to Argos, and then occupied the mountains and\r\npasses with his posts, he professed to disregard and despise it all; and sent\r\nheralds to ask for the keys of the temple of Juno, as though he proposed to\r\noffer sacrifice there and then return. And with this scornful pleasantry upon\r\nAntigonus, having sacrificed to the goddess under the walls of the temple,\r\nwhich was shut, he went to Phlius; and from thence driving out those that\r\ngarrisoned Oligyrtus, he marched down to Orchomenus. And these enterprises not\r\nonly encouraged the citizens, but made him appear to the very enemies to be a\r\nman worthy of high command, and capable of great things. For with the strength\r\nof one city, not only to fight the power of the Macedonians and all the\r\nPeloponnesians, supported by all the royal treasures, not only to preserve\r\nLaconia from being spoiled, but to waste the enemy’s country, and to take so\r\nmany and such considerable cities, was an argument of no common skill and\r\ngenius for command.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut he that first said that money was the sinews of affairs, seems especially\r\nin that saying to refer to war. Demades, when the Athenians had voted that\r\ntheir galleys should be launched and equipped for action, but could produce no\r\nmoney, told them, “The baker was wanted first, and the pilot after.” And the\r\nold Archidamus, in the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, when the allies\r\ndesired that the amount of their contributions should be determined, is\r\nreported to have answered, that war cannot be fed upon so much a day. For as\r\nwrestlers, who have thoroughly trained and disciplined their bodies, in time\r\ntire down and exhaust the most agile and most skillful combatant, so Antigonus,\r\ncoming to the war with great resources to spend from, wore out Cleomenes, whose\r\npoverty made it difficult for him to provide the merest sufficiency of pay for\r\nthe mercenaries, or of provisions for the citizens. For, in all other respects,\r\ntime favored Cleomenes; for Antigonus’s affairs at home began to be disturbed.\r\nFor the barbarians wasted and overran Macedonia whilst he was absent, and at\r\nthat particular time a vast army of Illyrians had entered the country; to be\r\nfreed from whose devastations, the Macedonians sent for Antigonus, and the\r\nletters had almost been brought to him before the battle was fought; upon the\r\nreceipt of which he would at once have marched away home, and left the Achaeans\r\nto look to themselves. But Fortune, that loves to determine the greatest\r\naffairs by a minute, in this conjuncture showed such an exact niceness of time,\r\nthat immediately after the battle in Sellasia was over, and Cleomenes had lost\r\nhis army and his city, the messengers came up and called for Antigonus. And\r\nthis above everything made Cleomenes’s misfortune to be pitied; for if he had\r\ngone on retreating and had forborne fighting two days longer, there had been no\r\nneed of hazarding a battle; since upon the departure of the Macedonians, he\r\nmight have had what conditions he pleased from the Achaeans. But now, as was\r\nsaid before, for want of money, being necessitated to trust everything to arms,\r\nhe was forced with twenty thousand (such is Polybius’s account) to engage\r\nthirty thousand. And approving himself an admirable commander in this\r\ndifficulty, his citizens showing an extraordinary courage, and his mercenaries\r\nbravery enough, he was overborne by the different way of fighting, and the\r\nweight of the heavy-armed phalanx. Phylarchus also affirms, that the treachery\r\nof some about him was the chief cause of Cleomenes’s ruin.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor Antigonus gave orders, that the Illyrians and Acarnanians should march\r\nround by a secret way, and encompass the other wing, which Euclidas,\r\nCleomenes’s brother, commanded; and then drew out the rest of his forces to the\r\nbattle. And Cleomenes, from a convenient rising, viewing his order, and not\r\nseeing any of the Illyrians and Acarnanians, began to suspect that Antigonus\r\nhad sent them upon some such design, and calling for Damoteles, who was at the\r\nhead of those specially appointed to such ambush duty, he bade him carefully to\r\nlook after and discover the enemy’s designs upon his rear. But Damoteles, for\r\nsome say Antigonus had bribed him, telling him that he should not be solicitous\r\nabout that matter, for all was well enough, but mind and fight those that met\r\nhim in the front, he was satisfied, and advanced against Antigonus; and by the\r\nvigorous charge of his Spartans, made the Macedonian phalanx give ground, and\r\npressed upon them with great advantage about half a mile; but then making a\r\nstand, and seeing the danger which the surrounded wing, commanded by his\r\nbrother Euclidas, was in, he cried out, “Thou art lost, dear brother, thou art\r\nlost, thou brave example to our Spartan youth, and theme of our matrons’\r\nsongs.” And Euclidas’s wing being cut in pieces, and the conquerors from that\r\npart falling upon him, he perceived his soldiers to be disordered, and unable\r\nto maintain the fight, and therefore provided for his own safety. There fell,\r\nwe are told, in the battle, besides many of the mercenary soldiers, all the\r\nSpartans, six thousand in number, except two hundred.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Cleomenes came into the city, he advised those citizens that he met to\r\nreceive Antigonus; and as for himself, he said, which should appear most\r\nadvantageous to Sparta, whether his life or death, that he would choose. Seeing\r\nthe women running out to those that had fled with him, taking their arms, and\r\nbringing drink to them, he entered into his own house, and his servant, who was\r\na freeborn woman, taken from Megalopolis after his wife’s death, offering, as\r\nusual, to do the service he needed on returning from war, though he was very\r\nthirsty, he refused to drink, and though very weary, to sit down; but in his\r\ncorselet as he was, he laid his arm sideways against a pillar, and leaning his\r\nforehead upon his elbow, he rested his body a little while, and ran over in his\r\nthoughts all the courses he could take; and then with his friends set on at\r\nonce for Gythium; where finding ships which had been got ready for this very\r\npurpose, they embarked. Antigonus, taking the city, treated the Lacedaemonians\r\ncourteously, and in no way offering any insult or offense to the dignity of\r\nSparta, but permitting them to enjoy their own laws and polity, and sacrificing\r\nto the gods, dislodged the third day. For he heard that there was a great war\r\nin Macedonia, and that the country was devastated by the barbarians. Besides,\r\nhis malady had now thoroughly settled into a consumption and continual catarrh.\r\nYet he still kept up, and managed to return and deliver his country, and meet\r\nthere a more glorious death in a great defeat and vast slaughter of the\r\nbarbarians. As Phylarchus says, and as is probable in itself, he broke a blood\r\nvessel by shouting in the battle itself. In the schools we used to be told,\r\nthat after the victory was won, he cried out for joy, “O glorious day!” and\r\npresently bringing up a quantity of blood, fell into a fever, which never left\r\nhim till his death. And thus much concerning Antigonus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCleomenes, sailing from Cythera, touched at another island called Aegialia,\r\nwhence as he was about to depart for Cyrene, one of his friends, Therycion by\r\nname, a man of a noble spirit in all enterprises, and bold and lofty in his\r\ntalk, came privately to him, and said thus: “Sir, death in battle, which is the\r\nmost glorious, we have let go; though all heard us say that Antigonus should\r\nnever tread over the king of Sparta, unless dead. And now that course which is\r\nnext in honor and virtue, is presented to us. Whither do we madly sail, flying\r\nthe evil which is near, to seek that which is at a distance? For if it is not\r\ndishonorable for the race of Hercules to serve the successors of Philip and\r\nAlexander, we shall save a long voyage by delivering ourselves up to Antigonus,\r\nwho, probably, is as much better than Ptolemy, as the Macedonians are better\r\nthan the Egyptians; but if we think it mean to submit to those whose arms have\r\nconquered us, why should we choose him for our master, by whom we have not yet\r\nbeen beaten? Is it to acknowledge two superiors instead of one, whilst we run\r\naway from Antigonus, and flatter Ptolemy? Or, is it for your mother’s sake that\r\nyou retreat to Egypt? It will indeed be a very fine and very desirable sight\r\nfor her, to show her son to Ptolemy’s women, now changed from a prince into an\r\nexile and a slave. Are we not still masters of our own swords? And whilst we\r\nhave Laconia in view, shall we not here free ourselves from this disgraceful\r\nmisery, and clear ourselves to those who at Sellasia died for the honor and\r\ndefense of Sparta? Or, shall we sit lazily in Egypt, inquiring what news from\r\nSparta, and whom Antigonus hath been pleased to make governor of Lacedaemon?”\r\nThus spoke Therycion; and this was Cleomenes’s reply: “By seeking death, you\r\ncoward, the most easy and most ready refuge, you fancy that you shall appear\r\ncourageous and brave, though this flight is baser than the former. Better men\r\nthan we have given way to their enemies, having been betrayed by fortune, or\r\noppressed by multitude; but he that gives way under labor or distresses, under\r\nthe ill opinions or reports of men, yields the victory to his own effeminacy.\r\nFor a voluntary death ought not to be chosen as a relief from action, but as an\r\nexemplary action itself; and it is base either to live or to die only to\r\nourselves. That death to which you now invite us, is proposed only as a release\r\nfrom our present miseries, but carries nothing of nobleness or profit in it.\r\nAnd I think it becomes both me and you not to despair of our country; but when\r\nthere are no hopes of that left, those that have an inclination may quickly\r\ndie.” To this Therycion returned no answer but as soon as he had an opportunity\r\nof leaving Cleomenes’s company, went aside on the sea-shore, and ran himself\r\nthrough.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Cleomenes sailed from Aegialia, landed in Libya, and being honorably\r\nconducted through the king’s country, came to Alexandria. When he was first\r\nbrought to Ptolemy, no more than common civilities and usual attentions were\r\npaid him; but when, upon trial, he found him a man of deep sense and great\r\nreason, and that his plain Laconic way of conversation carried with it a noble\r\nand becoming grace, that he did nothing unbecoming his birth, nor bent under\r\nfortune, and was evidently a more faithful counselor than those who made it\r\ntheir business to please and flatter, he was ashamed, and repented that he had\r\nneglected so great a man, and suffered Antigonus to get so much power and\r\nreputation by ruining him. He now offered him many marks of respect and\r\nkindness, and gave him hopes that he would furnish him with ships and money to\r\nreturn to Greece, and would reinstate him in his kingdom. He granted him a\r\nyearly pension of four and twenty talents; a little part of which sum supplied\r\nhis and his friends’ thrifty temperance; and the rest was employed in doing\r\ngood offices to, and in relieving the necessities of the refugees that had fled\r\nfrom Greece, and retired into Egypt.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the elder Ptolemy dying before Cleomenes’s affairs had received a full\r\ndispatch, and the successor being a loose, voluptuous, and effeminate prince,\r\nunder the power of his pleasures and his women, his business was neglected. For\r\nthe king was so besotted with his women and his wine, that the employments of\r\nhis most busy and serious hours consisted at the utmost in celebrating\r\nreligious feasts in his palace, carrying a timbrel, and taking part in the\r\nshow; while the greatest affairs of state were managed by Agathoclea, the\r\nking’s mistress, her mother, and the pimp Oenanthes. At the first, indeed, they\r\nseemed to stand in need of Cleomenes; for Ptolemy, being afraid of his brother\r\nMagas, who by his mother’s means had a great interest amongst the soldiers,\r\ngave Cleomenes a place in his secret councils, and acquainted him with the\r\ndesign of taking off his brother. He, though all were for it, declared his\r\nopinion to the contrary, saying, “The king, if it were possible, should have\r\nmore brothers for the better security and stability of his affairs.” And\r\nSosibius, the greatest favorite, replying, that they were not secure of the\r\nmercenaries whilst Magas was alive, Cleomenes returned, that he need not\r\ntrouble himself about that matter; for amongst the mercenaries there were above\r\nthree thousand Peloponnesians, who were his fast friends, and whom he could\r\ncommand at any time with a nod. This discourse made Cleomenes for the present\r\nto be looked upon as a man of great influence and assured fidelity; but\r\nafterwards, Ptolemy’s weakness increasing his fear, and he, as it usually\r\nhappens, where there is no judgment and wisdom, placing his security in general\r\ndistrust and suspicion, it rendered Cleomenes suspected to the courtiers, as\r\nhaving too much interest with the mercenaries; and many had this saying in\r\ntheir mouths, that he was a lion amidst a flock of sheep. For, in fact, such he\r\nseemed to be in the court, quietly watching, and keeping his eye upon all that\r\nwent on.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe, therefore, gave up all thought of asking for ships and soldiers from the\r\nking. But receiving news that Antigonus was dead, that the Achaeans were\r\nengaged in a war with the Aetolians, and that the affairs of Peloponnesus,\r\nbeing now in very great distraction and disorder, required and invited his\r\nassistance, he desired leave to depart only with his friends, but could not\r\nobtain that, the king not so much as hearing his petition, being shut up\r\namongst his women, and wasting his hours in bacchanalian rites and drinking\r\nparties. But Sosibius, the chief minister and counselor of state, thought that\r\nCleomenes, being detained against his will, would grow ungovernable and\r\ndangerous, and yet that it was not safe to let him go, being an aspiring,\r\ndaring man, and well acquainted with the diseases and weakness of the kingdom.\r\nFor neither could presents and gifts conciliate or content him; but even as\r\nApis, while living in all possible plenty and apparent delight, yet desires to\r\nlive as nature would provide for him, to range at liberty, and bound about the\r\nfields, and can scarce endure to be under the priests’ keeping, so he could not\r\nbrook their courtship and soft entertainment, but sat like Achilles,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nand languished far,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDesiring battle and the shout of war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis affairs standing in this condition, Nicagoras, the Messenian, came to\r\nAlexandria, a man that deeply hated Cleomenes, yet pretended to be his friend;\r\nfor he had formerly sold Cleomenes a fair estate, but never received the money,\r\nbecause Cleomenes was either unable, as it may be, or else, by reason of his\r\nengagement in the wars and other distractions, had no opportunity to pay him.\r\nCleomenes, seeing him landing, for he was then walking upon the quay, kindly\r\nsaluted him, and asked what business brought him to Egypt. Nicagoras returned\r\nhis compliment, and told him, that he came to bring some excellent war-horses\r\nto the king. And Cleomenes, with a smile, subjoined, “I could wish you had\r\nrather brought young boys and music-girls; for those now are the king’s chief\r\noccupation.” Nicagoras at the moment smiled at the conceit; but a few days\r\nafter, he put Cleomenes in mind of the estate that he had bought of him, and\r\ndesired his money, protesting, that he would not have troubled him, if his\r\nmerchandise had turned out as profitable as he had thought it would. Cleomenes\r\nreplied, that he had nothing left of all that had been given him. At which\r\nanswer, Nicagoras, being nettled, told Sosibius Cleomenes’s scoff upon the\r\nking. He was delighted to receive the information; but desiring to have some\r\ngreater reason to excite the king against Cleomenes, persuaded Nicagoras to\r\nleave a letter written against Cleomenes, importing that he had a design, if he\r\ncould have gotten ships and soldiers, to surprise Cyrene. Nicagoras wrote such\r\na letter and left Egypt. Four days after, Sosibius brought the letter to\r\nPtolemy, pretending it was just then delivered him, and excited the young man’s\r\nfear and anger; upon which it was agreed, that Cleomenes should be invited into\r\na large house, and treated as formerly, but not suffered to go out again.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis usage was grievous to Cleomenes, and another incident that occurred, made\r\nhim feel his hopes to be yet more entirely overcast. Ptolemy, the son of\r\nChrysermas, a favorite of the king’s, had always shown civility to Cleomenes;\r\nthere was a considerable intimacy between them, and they had been used to talk\r\nfreely together about the state. He, upon Cleomenes’s desire, came to him, and\r\nspoke to him in fair terms, softening down his suspicions and excusing the\r\nking’s conduct. But as he went out again, not knowing that Cleomenes followed\r\nhim to the door, he severely reprimanded the keepers for their carelessness in\r\nlooking after “so great and so furious a wild beast.” This Cleomenes himself\r\nheard, and retiring before Ptolemy perceived it, told his friends what had been\r\nsaid. Upon this they cast off all their former hopes, and determined for\r\nviolent proceedings, resolving to be revenged on Ptolemy for his base and\r\nunjust dealing, to have satisfaction for the affronts, to die as it became\r\nSpartans, and not stay till, like fatted sacrifices, they were butchered. For\r\nit was both grievous and dishonorable for Cleomenes, who had scorned to come to\r\nterms with Antigonus, a brave warrior, and a man of action, to wait an\r\neffeminate king’s leisure, till he should lay aside his timbrel and end his\r\ndance, and then kill him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese courses being resolved on, and Ptolemy happening at the same time to make\r\na progress to Canopus, they first spread abroad a report, that his freedom was\r\nordered by the king, and, it being the custom for the king to send presents and\r\nan entertainment to those whom he would free, Cleomenes’s friends made that\r\nprovision, and sent it into the prison, thus imposing upon the keepers, who\r\nthought it had been sent by the king. For he sacrificed, and gave them large\r\nportions, and with a garland upon his head, feasted and made merry with his\r\nfriends. It is said that he began the action sooner than he designed, having\r\nunderstood that a servant who was privy to the plot, had gone out to visit a\r\nmistress that he loved. This made him afraid of a discovery; and therefore, as\r\nsoon as it was full noon, and all the keepers sleeping off their wine, he put\r\non his coat, and opening the seam to bare his right shoulder, with his drawn\r\nsword in his hand, he issued forth, together with his friends, provided in the\r\nsame manner, making thirteen in all. One of them, by name Hippitas, was lame,\r\nand followed the first onset very well, but when he presently perceived that\r\nthey were more slow in their advances for his sake, he desired them to run him\r\nthrough, and not ruin their enterprise by staying for an useless, unprofitable\r\nman. By chance an Alexandrian was then riding by the door; him they threw off,\r\nand setting Hippitas on horseback, ran through the streets, and proclaimed\r\nliberty to the people. But they, it seems, had courage enough to praise and\r\nadmire Cleomenes’s daring, but not one had the heart to follow and assist him.\r\nThree of them fell on Ptolemy, the son of Chrysermas, as he was coming out of\r\nthe palace, and killed him. Another Ptolemy, the officer in charge of the city,\r\nadvancing against them in a chariot, they set upon, dispersed his guards and\r\nattendants, and pulling him out of the chariot, killed him upon the place. Then\r\nthey made toward the castle, designing to break open the prison, release those\r\nwho were confined, and avail themselves of their numbers; but the keepers were\r\ntoo quick for them, and secured the passages. Being baffled in this attempt,\r\nCleomenes with his company roamed about the city, none joining with him, but\r\nall retreating from and flying his approach. Therefore, despairing of success,\r\nand saying to his friends, that it was no wonder that women ruled over men that\r\nwere afraid of liberty, he bade them all die as bravely as became his followers\r\nand their own past actions. This said, Hippitas was first, as he desired, run\r\nthrough by one of the younger men, and then each of them readily and resolutely\r\nfell upon his own sword, except Panteus, the same who first surprised\r\nMegalopolis. This man, being; of a very handsome person, and a great lover of\r\nthe Spartan discipline, the king had made his dearest friend; and he now bade\r\nhim, when he had seen him and the rest fallen, die by their example. Panteus\r\nwalked over them as they lay, and pricked everyone with his dagger, to try\r\nwhether any was alive, when he pricked Cleomenes in the ankle, and saw him turn\r\nupon his back, he kissed him, sat down by him, and when he was quite dead,\r\ncovered up the body, and then killed himself over it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus fell Cleomenes, after the life which we have narrated, having been king of\r\nSparta sixteen years. The news of their fall being noised through the city,\r\nCratesiclea, though a woman of a great spirit, could not bear up against the\r\nweight of this affliction; but embracing Cleomenes’s children, broke out into\r\nlamentations. But the eldest boy, none suspecting such a spirit in a child,\r\nthrew himself headlong from the top of the house. He was bruised very much, but\r\nnot killed by the fall, and was taken up crying, and expressing his resentment\r\nfor not being permitted to destroy himself. Ptolemy, as soon as an account of\r\nthe action was brought him, gave order that Cleomenes’s body should be flayed\r\nand hung up, and that his children, mother, and the women that were with her,\r\nshould be killed. Amongst these was Panteus’s wife, a beautiful and\r\nnoble-looking woman, who had been but lately married, and suffered these\r\ndisasters in the height of her love. Her parents would not have her embark with\r\nPanteus, so shortly after they were married, though she eagerly desired it, but\r\nshut her up, and kept her forcibly at home. But a few days after, she procured\r\na horse and a little money, and escaping by night, made speed to Taenarus,\r\nwhere she embarked for Egypt, came to her husband, and with him cheerfully\r\nendured to live in a foreign country. She gave her hand to Cratesiclea, as she\r\nwas going with the soldiers to execution, held up her robe, and begged her to\r\nbe courageous; who of herself was not in the least afraid of death, and desired\r\nnothing else but only to be killed before the children. When they were come to\r\nthe place of execution, the children were first killed before Cratesiclea’s\r\neyes, and afterward she herself, with only these words in her mouth, “O\r\nchildren, whither are you gone?” But Panteus’s wife, fastening her dress close\r\nabout her, and being a strong woman, in silence and perfect composure, looked\r\nafter every one that was slain, and laid them decently out as far as\r\ncircumstances would permit; and after all were killed, rearraying her dress,\r\nand drawing her clothes close about her, and suffering none to come near or be\r\nan eyewitness of her fall, besides the executioner, she courageously submitted\r\nto the stroke, and wanted nobody to look after her or wind her up after she was\r\ndead. Thus in her death the modesty of her mind appeared, and set that guard\r\nupon her body which she always kept when alive. And she, in the declining age\r\nof the Spartans, showed that women were no unequal rivals of the men, and was\r\nan instance of a courage superior to the affronts of fortune.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA few days after, those that watched the hanging body of Cleomenes, saw a large\r\nsnake winding about his head, and covering his face, so that no bird of prey\r\nwould fly at it. This made the king superstitiously afraid, and set the women\r\nupon several expiations, as if he had been some extraordinary being, and one\r\nbeloved by the gods, that had been slain. And the Alexandrians made processions\r\nto the place, and gave Cleomenes the title of hero, and son of the gods, till\r\nthe philosophers satisfied them by saying, that as oxen breed bees, putrefying\r\nhorses breed wasps, and beetles rise from the carcasses of dead asses, so the\r\nhumors and juices of the marrow of a man’s body, coagulating, produce serpents.\r\nAnd this the ancients observing, appropriated a serpent, rather than any other\r\ncreature to heroes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap53\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eTIBERIUS GRACCHUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving completed the first two narratives, we now may proceed to take a view of\r\nmisfortunes, not less remarkable, in the Roman couple, and with the lives of\r\nAgis and Cleomenes, compare these of Tiberius and Caius. They were the sons of\r\nTiberius Gracchus, who, though he had been once censor, twice consul, and twice\r\nhad triumphed, yet was more renowned and esteemed for his virtue than his\r\nhonors. Upon this account, after the death of Scipio who overthrew Hannibal, he\r\nwas thought worthy to match with his daughter Cornelia, though there had been\r\nno friendship or familiarity between Scipio and him, but rather the contrary.\r\nThere is a story told, that he once found in his bedchamber a couple of snakes,\r\nand that the soothsayers, being consulted concerning the prodigy, advised, that\r\nhe should neither kill them both nor let them both escape; adding, that if the\r\nmale serpent was killed, Tiberius should die, and if the female, Cornelia. And\r\nthat, therefore, Tiberius, who extremely loved his wife, and thought, besides,\r\nthat it was much more his part, who was an old man, to die, than it was hers,\r\nwho as yet was but a young woman, killed the male serpent, and let the female\r\nescape; and soon after himself died, leaving behind him twelve children borne\r\nto him by Cornelia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCornelia, taking upon herself all the care of the household and the education\r\nof her children, approved herself so discreet a matron, so affectionate a\r\nmother, and so constant and noble-spirited a widow, that Tiberius seemed to all\r\nmen to have done nothing unreasonable, in choosing to die for such a woman;\r\nwho, when king Ptolemy himself proffered her his crown, and would have married\r\nher, refused it, and chose rather to live a widow. In this state she continued,\r\nand lost all her children, except one daughter, who was married to Scipio the\r\nyounger, and two sons, Tiberius and Caius, whose lives we are now writing.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese she brought up with such care, that though they were without dispute in\r\nnatural endowments and dispositions the first among the Romans of their time,\r\nyet they seemed to owe their virtues even more to their education than to their\r\nbirth. And as, in the statues and pictures made of Castor and Pollux, though\r\nthe brothers resemble one another, yet there is a difference to be perceived in\r\ntheir countenances, between the one, who delighted in the cestus, and the\r\nother, that was famous in the course, so between these two noble youths, though\r\nthere was a strong general likeness in their common love of fortitude and\r\ntemperance, in their liberality, their eloquence, and their greatness of mind,\r\nyet in their actions and administrations of public affairs, a considerable\r\nvariation showed itself. It will not be amiss, before we proceed, to mark the\r\ndifference between them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTiberius, in the form and expression of his countenance, and in his gesture and\r\nmotion, was gentle and composed; but Caius, earnest and vehement. And so, in\r\ntheir public speeches to the people, the one spoke in a quiet orderly manner,\r\nstanding throughout on the same spot; the other would walk about on the\r\nhustings, and in the heat of his orations, pull his gown off his shoulders, and\r\nwas the first of all the Romans that used such gestures; as Cleon is said to\r\nhave been the first orator among the Athenians that pulled off his cloak and\r\nsmote his thigh, when addressing the people. Caius’s oratory was impetuous and\r\npassionate, making everything tell to the utmost, whereas Tiberius was gentle,\r\nrather, and persuasive, awakening emotions of pity. His diction was pure, and\r\ncarefully correct, while that of Caius was vehement and rich. So likewise in\r\ntheir way of living, and at their tables, Tiberius was frugal and plain, Caius,\r\ncompared with other men temperate and even austere, but contrasting with his\r\nbrother in a fondness for new fashions and rarities, as appears in Drusus’s\r\ncharge against him, that he had bought some silver dolphins, to the value of\r\ntwelve hundred and fifty drachmas for every pound weight.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe same difference that appeared in their diction, was observable also in\r\ntheir tempers. The one was mild and reasonable, the other rough and passionate,\r\nand to that degree, that often, in the midst of speaking, he was so hurried\r\naway by his passion, against his judgment, that his voice lost its tone, and he\r\nbegan to pass into mere abusive talking, spoiling his whole speech. As a remedy\r\nto this excess, he made use of an ingenious servant of his, one Licinius, who\r\nstood constantly behind him with a sort of pitch-pipe, or instrument to\r\nregulate the voice by, and whenever he perceived his master’s tone alter, and\r\nbreak with anger, he struck a soft note with his pipe, on hearing which, Caius\r\nimmediately checked the vehemence of his passion and his voice, grew quieter,\r\nand allowed himself to be recalled to temper. Such are the differences between\r\nthe two brothers; but their valor in war against their country’s enemies, their\r\njustice in the government of its subjects, their care and industry in office,\r\nand their self-command in all that regarded their pleasures were equally\r\nremarkable in both.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTiberius was the elder by nine years; owing to which their actions as public\r\nmen were divided by the difference of the times in which those of the one and\r\nthose of the other were performed. And one of the principal causes of the\r\nfailure of their enterprises was this interval between their careers, and the\r\nwant of combination of their efforts. The power they would have exercised, had\r\nthey flourished both together, could scarcely have failed to overcome all\r\nresistance. We must therefore give an account of each of them singly, and first\r\nof the eldest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTiberius, immediately on his attaining manhood, had such a reputation, that he\r\nwas admitted into the college of the augurs, and that in consideration more of\r\nhis early virtue than of his noble birth. This appeared by what Appius Claudius\r\ndid, who, though he had been consul and censor, and was now the head of the\r\nRoman senate, and had the highest sense of his own place and merit, at a public\r\nfeast of the augurs, addressed himself openly to Tiberius, and with great\r\nexpressions of kindness, offered him his daughter in marriage. And when\r\nTiberius gladly accepted, and the agreement had thus been completed, Appius,\r\nreturning home, no sooner had reached his door, but he called to his wife and\r\ncried out in a loud voice, “O Antistia, I have contracted our daughter Claudia\r\nto a husband.” She, being amazed, answered, “But why so suddenly, or what means\r\nthis haste? Unless you have provided Tiberius Gracchus for her husband.” I am\r\nnot ignorant that some apply this story to Tiberius, the father of the Gracchi,\r\nand Scipio Africanus; but most relate it as we have done. And Polybius writes,\r\nthat after the death of Scipio Africanus, the nearest relations of Cornelia,\r\npreferring Tiberius to all other competitors, gave her to him in marriage, not\r\nhaving been engaged or promised to anyone by her father.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis young Tiberius, accordingly, serving in Africa under the younger Scipio,\r\nwho had married his sister, and living there under the same tent with him, soon\r\nlearned to estimate the noble spirit of his commander, which was so fit to\r\ninspire strong feelings of emulation in virtue and desire to prove merit in\r\naction, and in a short time he excelled all the young men of the army in\r\nobedience and courage; and he was the first that mounted the enemy’s wall, as\r\nFannius says, who writes, that he himself climbed up with him, and was partaker\r\nin the achievement. He was regarded, while he continued with the army, with\r\ngreat affection; and left behind him on his departure a strong desire for his\r\nreturn.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter that expedition, being chosen paymaster, it was his fortune to serve in\r\nthe war against the Numantines, under the command of Caius Mancinus, the\r\nconsul, a person of no bad character, but the most unfortunate of all the Roman\r\ngenerals. Notwithstanding, amidst the greatest misfortunes, and in the most\r\nunsuccessful enterprises, not only the discretion and valor of Tiberius, but\r\nalso, which was still more to be admired, the great respect and honor which he\r\nshowed for his general, were most eminently remarkable; though the general\r\nhimself, when reduced to straits, forgot his own dignity and office. For being\r\nbeaten in various great battles, he endeavored to dislodge by night, and leave\r\nhis camp; which the Numantines perceiving, immediately possessed themselves of\r\nhis camp, and pursuing that part of the forces which was in flight, slew those\r\nthat were in the rear, hedged the whole army in on every side, and forced them\r\ninto difficult ground, whence there could be no possibility of an escape.\r\nMancinus, despairing to make his way through by force, sent a messenger to\r\ndesire a truce, and conditions of peace. But they refused to give their\r\nconfidence to any one except Tiberius, and required that he should be sent to\r\ntreat with them. This was not only in regard to the young man’s own character,\r\nfor he had a great reputation amongst the soldiers, but also in remembrance of\r\nhis father Tiberius, who, in his command against the Spaniards, had reduced\r\ngreat numbers of them to subjection, but granted a peace to the Numantines, and\r\nprevailed upon the Romans to keep it punctually and inviolably.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTiberius was accordingly dispatched to the enemy, whom he persuaded to accept\r\nof several conditions, and he himself complied with others; and by this means\r\nit is beyond a question, that he saved twenty thousand of the Roman citizens,\r\nbesides attendants and camp followers. However, the Numantines retained\r\npossession of all the property they had found and plundered in the encampment;\r\nand amongst other things were Tiberius’s books of accounts, containing the\r\nwhole transactions of his quaestorship, which he was extremely anxious to\r\nrecover. And therefore, when the army were already upon their march, he\r\nreturned to Numantia, accompanied with only three or four of his friends; and\r\nmaking his application to the officers of the Numantines, he entreated that\r\nthey would return him his books, lest his enemies should have it in their power\r\nto reproach him with not being able to give an account of the monies entrusted\r\nto him. The Numantines joyfully embraced this opportunity of obliging him, and\r\ninvited him into the city; as he stood hesitating, they came up and took him by\r\nthe hands, and begged that he would no longer look upon them as enemies, but\r\nbelieve them to be his friends, and treat them as such. Tiberius thought it\r\nwell to consent, desirous as he was to have his books returned, and was afraid\r\nlest he should disoblige them by showing any distrust. As soon as he entered\r\ninto the city, they first offered him food, and made every kind of entreaty\r\nthat he would sit down and eat something in their company. Afterwards they\r\nreturned his books, and gave him the liberty to take whatever he wished for in\r\nthe remaining spoils. He, on the other hand, would accept of nothing but some\r\nfrankincense, which he used in his public sacrifices, and, bidding them\r\nfarewell with every expression of kindness, departed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he returned to Rome, he found the whole transaction censured and\r\nreproached, as a proceeding that was base, and scandalous to the Romans. But\r\nthe relations and friends of the soldiers, forming a large body among the\r\npeople, came flocking to Tiberius, whom they acknowledged as the preserver of\r\nso many citizens, imputing to the general all the miscarriages which had\r\nhappened. Those who cried out against what had been done, urged for imitation\r\nthe example of their ancestors, who stripped and handed over to the Samnites\r\nnot only the generals who had consented to the terms of release, but also all\r\nthe quaestors, for example, and tribunes, who had in any way implicated\r\nthemselves in the agreement, laying the guilt of perjury and breach of\r\nconditions on their heads. But, in this affair, the populace, showing an\r\nextraordinary kindness and affection for Tiberius, indeed voted that the consul\r\nshould be stripped and put in irons, and so delivered to the Numantines; but\r\nfor the sake of Tiberius, spared all the other officers. It may be probable,\r\nalso, that Scipio, who at that time was the greatest and most powerful man\r\namong the Romans, contributed to save him, though indeed he was also censured\r\nfor not protecting Mancinus too, and that he did not exert himself to maintain\r\nthe observance of the articles of peace which had been agreed upon by his\r\nkinsman and friend Tiberius. But it may be presumed that the difference between\r\nthem was for the most part due to ambitious feelings, and to the friends and\r\nreasoners who urged on Tiberius, and, as it was, it never amounted to any thing\r\nthat might not have been remedied, or that was really bad. Nor can I think that\r\nTiberius would ever have met with his misfortunes, if Scipio had been concerned\r\nin dealing with his measures; but he was away fighting at Numantia, when\r\nTiberius, upon the following occasion, first came forward as a legislator.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf the land which the Romans gained by conquest from their neighbors, part they\r\nsold publicly, and turned the remainder into common; this common land they\r\nassigned to such of the citizens as were poor and indigent, for which they were\r\nto pay only a small acknowledgment into the public treasury. But when the\r\nwealthy men began to offer larger rents, and drive the poorer people out, it\r\nwas enacted by law, that no person whatever should enjoy more than five hundred\r\nacres of ground. This act for some time checked the avarice of the richer, and\r\nwas of great assistance to the poorer people, who retained under it their\r\nrespective proportions of ground, as they had been formerly rented by them.\r\nAfterwards the rich men of the neighborhood contrived to get these lands again\r\ninto their possession, under other people’s names, and at last would not stick\r\nto claim most of them publicly in their own. The poor, who were thus deprived\r\nof their farms, were no longer either ready, as they had formerly been, to\r\nserve in war, or careful in the education of their children; insomuch that in a\r\nshort time there were comparatively few freemen remaining in all Italy, which\r\nswarmed with workhouses full of foreign-born slaves. These the rich men\r\nemployed in cultivating their ground, of which they dispossessed the citizens.\r\nCaius Laelius, the intimate friend of Scipio, undertook to reform this abuse;\r\nbut meeting with opposition from men of authority, and fearing a disturbance,\r\nhe soon desisted, and received the name of the Wise or the Prudent, both which\r\nmeanings belong to the Latin word Sapiens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Tiberius, being elected tribune of the people, entered upon that design\r\nwithout delay, at the instigation, as is most commonly stated, of Diophanes,\r\nthe rhetorician, and Blossius, the philosopher. Diophanes was a refugee from\r\nMitylene, the other was an Italian, of the city of Cuma, and was educated there\r\nunder Antipater of Tarsus, who afterwards did him the honor to dedicate some of\r\nhis philosophical lectures to him. Some have also charged Cornelia, the mother\r\nof Tiberius, with contributing towards it, because she frequently upbraided her\r\nsons, that the Romans as yet rather called her the daughter of Scipio, than the\r\nmother of the Gracchi. Others again say Spurius Postumius was the chief\r\noccasion. He was a man of the same age with Tiberius, and his rival for\r\nreputation as a public speaker; and when Tiberius, at his return from the\r\ncampaign, found him to have got far beyond him in fame and influence, and to be\r\nmuch looked up to, he thought to outdo him, by attempting a popular enterprise\r\nof this difficulty, and of such great consequence. But his brother Caius has\r\nleft it us in writing, that when Tiberius went through Tuscany to Numantia, and\r\nfound the country almost depopulated, there being hardly any free husbandmen or\r\nshepherds, but for the most part only barbarian, imported slaves, he then first\r\nconceived the course of policy which in the sequel proved so fatal to his\r\nfamily. Though it is also most certain that the people themselves chiefly\r\nexcited his zeal and determination in the prosecution of it, by setting up\r\nwritings upon the porches, walls, and monuments, calling upon him to reinstate\r\nthe poor citizens in their former possessions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, he did not draw up his law without the advice and assistance of those\r\ncitizens that were then most eminent for their virtue and authority; amongst\r\nwhom were Crassus, the high-priest, Mucius Scaevola, the lawyer, who at that\r\ntime was consul, and Claudius Appius, his father-in-law. Never did any law\r\nappear more moderate and gentle, especially being enacted against such great\r\noppression and avarice. For they who ought to have been severely punished for\r\ntransgressing the former laws, and should at least have lost all their titles\r\nto such lands which they had unjustly usurped, were notwithstanding to receive\r\na price for quitting their unlawful claims, and giving up their lands to those\r\nfit owners who stood in need of help. But though this reformation was managed\r\nwith so much tenderness, that, all the former transactions being passed over,\r\nthe people were only thankful to prevent abuses of the like nature for the\r\nfuture, yet, on the other hand, the moneyed men, and those of great estates\r\nwere exasperated, through their covetous feelings against the law itself, and\r\nagainst the law giver, through anger and party spirit. They therefore\r\nendeavored to seduce the people, declaring that Tiberius was designing a\r\ngeneral redivision of lands, to overthrow the government, and put all things\r\ninto confusion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut they had no success. For Tiberius, maintaining an honorable and just cause,\r\nand possessed of eloquence sufficient to have made a less creditable action\r\nappear plausible, was no safe or easy antagonist, when, with the people\r\ncrowding around the hustings, he took his place, and spoke in behalf of the\r\npoor. “The savage beasts,” said he, “in Italy, have their particular dens, they\r\nhave their places of repose and refuge; but the men who bear arms, and expose\r\ntheir lives for the safety of their country, enjoy in the meantime nothing more\r\nin it but the air and light; and having no houses or settlements of their own,\r\nare constrained to wander from place to place with their wives and children.”\r\nHe told them that the commanders were guilty of a ridiculous error, when, at\r\nthe head of their armies, they exhorted the common soldiers to fight for their\r\nsepulchres and altars; when not any amongst so many Romans is possessed of\r\neither altar or monument, neither have they any houses of their own, or hearths\r\nof their ancestors to defend. They fought indeed, and were slain, but it was to\r\nmaintain the luxury and the wealth of other men. They were styled the masters\r\nof the world, but in the meantime had not one foot of ground which they could\r\ncall their own. A harangue of this nature, spoken to an enthusiastic and\r\nsympathizing audience, by a person of commanding spirit and genuine feeling, no\r\nadversaries at that time were competent to oppose. Forbearing, therefore, all\r\ndiscussion and debate, they addressed themselves to Marcus Octavius, his\r\nfellow-tribune, who, being a young man of a steady, orderly character, and an\r\nintimate friend of Tiberius, upon this account declined at first the task of\r\nopposing him; but at length, over-persuaded with the repeated importunities of\r\nnumerous considerable persons, he was prevailed upon to do so, and hindered the\r\npassing of the law; it being the rule that any tribune has a power to hinder an\r\nact, and that all the rest can effect nothing, if only one of them dissents.\r\nTiberius, irritated at these proceedings, presently laid aside this milder\r\nbill, but at the same time preferred another; which, as it was more grateful to\r\nthe common people, so it was much more severe against the wrongdoers,\r\ncommanding them to make an immediate surrender of all lands which, contrary to\r\nformer laws, had come into their possession. Hence there arose daily\r\ncontentions between him and Octavius in their orations. However, though they\r\nexpressed themselves with the utmost heat and determination, they yet were\r\nnever known to descend to any personal reproaches, or in their passion to let\r\nslip any indecent expressions, so as to derogate from one another.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor not alone\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nIn revellings and Bacchic play,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nbut also in contentions and political animosities, a noble nature and a\r\ntemperate education stay and compose the mind. Observing, however, that\r\nOctavius himself was an offender against this law, and detained a great\r\nquantity of ground from the commonalty, Tiberius desired him to forbear\r\nopposing him any further, and proffered, for the public good, though he himself\r\nhad but an indifferent estate, to pay a price for Octavius’s share at his own\r\ncost and charges. But upon the refusal of this proffer by Octavius, he then\r\ninterposed an edict, prohibiting all magistrates to exercise their respective\r\nfunctions, till such time as the law was either ratified or rejected by public\r\nvotes. He further sealed up the gates of Saturn’s temple, so that the\r\ntreasurers could neither take any money out from thence, or put any in. He\r\nthreatened to impose a severe fine upon those of the praetors who presumed to\r\ndisobey his commands, insomuch that all the officers, for fear of this penalty,\r\nintermitted the exercise of their several jurisdictions. Upon this, the rich\r\nproprietors put themselves into mourning, went up and down melancholy and\r\ndejected; they entered also into a conspiracy against Tiberius, and procured\r\nmen to murder him; so that he also, with all men’s knowledge, whenever he went\r\nabroad, took with him a sword-staff, such as robbers use, called in Latin a\r\ndolo.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the day appointed was come, and the people summoned to give their votes,\r\nthe rich men seized upon the voting urns, and carried them away by force; thus\r\nall things were in confusion. But when Tiberius’s party appeared strong enough\r\nto oppose the contrary faction, and drew together in a body, with the\r\nresolution to do so, Manlius and Fulvius, two of the consular quality, threw\r\nthemselves before Tiberius, took him by the hand, and with tears in their eyes,\r\nbegged of him to desist. Tiberius, considering the mischiefs that were all but\r\nnow occurring, and having a great respect for two such eminent persons,\r\ndemanded of them what they would advise him to do. They acknowledged themselves\r\nunfit to advise in a matter of so great importance, but earnestly entreated him\r\nto leave it to the determination of the senate. But when the senate assembled,\r\nand could not bring the business to any result, through the prevalence of the\r\nrich faction, he then was driven to a course neither legal nor fair, and\r\nproposed to deprive Octavius of his tribuneship, it being impossible for him in\r\nany other way to get the law brought to the vote. At first he addressed him\r\npublicly, with entreaties couched in the kindest terms, and taking him by his\r\nhands, besought him, that now, in the presence of all the people, he would take\r\nthis opportunity to oblige them, in granting only that request which was in\r\nitself so just and reasonable, being but a small recompense in regard of those\r\nmany dangers and hardships which they had undergone for the public safety.\r\nOctavius, however, would by no means be persuaded to compliance; upon which\r\nTiberius declared openly, that seeing they two were united in the same office,\r\nand of equal authority, it would be a difficult matter to compose their\r\ndifference on so weighty a matter without a civil war; and that the only remedy\r\nwhich he knew, must be the deposing one of them from their office. He desired,\r\ntherefore, that Octavius would summon the people to pass their verdict upon him\r\nfirst, averring that he would willingly relinquish his authority if the\r\ncitizens desired it. Octavius refused; and Tiberius then said he would himself\r\nput to the people the question of Octavius’s deposition, if upon mature\r\ndeliberation he did not alter his mind; and after this declaration, he\r\nadjourned the assembly till the next day.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the people were met together again, Tiberius placed himself in the rostra,\r\nand endeavored a second time to persuade Octavius. But all being to no purpose,\r\nhe referred the whole matter to the people, calling on them to vote at once,\r\nwhether Octavius should be deposed or not; and when seventeen of the\r\nthirty-five tribes had already voted against him, and there wanted only the\r\nvotes of one tribe more for his final deprivation, Tiberius put a short stop to\r\nthe proceedings, and once more renewed his importunities; he embraced and\r\nkissed him before all the assembly, begging, with all the earnestness\r\nimaginable, that he would neither suffer himself to incur the dishonor, nor him\r\nto be reputed the author and promoter of so odious a measure. Octavius, we are\r\ntold, did seem a little softened and moved with these entreaties; his eyes\r\nfilled with tears, and he continued silent for a considerable time. But\r\npresently looking towards the rich men and proprietors of estates, who stood\r\ngathered in a body together, partly for shame, and partly for fear of\r\ndisgracing himself with them, he boldly bade Tiberius use any severity he\r\npleased. The law for his deprivation being thus voted, Tiberius ordered one of\r\nhis servants, whom he had made a freeman, to remove Octavius from the rostra,\r\nemploying his own domestic freed servants in the stead of the public officers.\r\nAnd it made the action seem all the sadder, that Octavius was dragged out in\r\nsuch an ignominious manner. The people immediately assaulted him, whilst the\r\nrich men ran in to his assistance. Octavius, with some difficulty, was snatched\r\naway, and safely conveyed out of the crowd; though a trusty servant of his, who\r\nhad placed himself in front of his master that he might assist his escape, in\r\nkeeping off the multitude, had his eyes struck out, much to the displeasure of\r\nTiberius, who ran with all haste, when he perceived the disturbance, to appease\r\nthe rioters.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis being done, the law concerning the lands was ratified and confirmed, and\r\nthree commissioners were appointed, to make a survey of the grounds and see the\r\nsame equally divided. These were Tiberius himself, Claudius Appius, his\r\nfather-in-law, and his brother, Caius Gracchus, who at this time was not at\r\nRome, but in the army under the command of Scipio Africanus before Numantia.\r\nThese things were transacted by Tiberius without any disturbance, none daring\r\nto offer any resistance to him, besides which, he gave the appointment as\r\ntribune in Octavius’s place, not to any person of distinction, but to a certain\r\nMucius, one of his own clients. The great men of the city were therefore\r\nutterly offended, and, fearing lest he should grow yet more popular, they took\r\nall opportunities of affronting him publicly in the senate house. For when he\r\nrequested, as was usual, to have a tent provided at the public charge for his\r\nuse, while dividing the lands, though it was a favor commonly granted to\r\npersons employed in business of much less importance, it was peremptorily\r\nrefused to him; and the allowance made him for his daily expenses was fixed to\r\nnine obols only. The chief promoter of these affronts was Publius Nasica, who\r\nopenly abandoned himself to his feelings of hatred against Tiberius, being a\r\nlarge holder of the public lands, and not a little resenting now to be turned\r\nout of them by force. The people, on the other hand, were still more and more\r\nexcited, insomuch that a little after this, it happening that one of Tiberius’s\r\nfriends died suddenly, and his body being marked with malignant-looking spots,\r\nthey ran, in tumultuous manner, to his funeral, crying aloud that the man was\r\npoisoned. They took the bier upon their shoulders, and stood over it, while it\r\nwas placed on the pile, and really seemed to have fair grounds for their\r\nsuspicion of foul play. For the body burst open, and such a quantity of corrupt\r\nhumors issued out, that the funeral fire was extinguished, and when it was\r\nagain kindled, the wood still would not burn; insomuch that they were\r\nconstrained to carry the corpse to another place, where with much difficulty it\r\ntook fire. Besides this, Tiberius, that he might incense the people yet more,\r\nput himself into mourning, brought his children amongst the crowd, and\r\nentreated the people to provide for them and their mother, as if he now\r\ndespaired of his own security.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout this time, king Attalus, surnamed Philometor, died, and Eudemus, a\r\nPergamenian, brought his last will to Rome, by which he had made the Roman\r\npeople his heirs. Tiberius, to please the people, immediately proposed making a\r\nlaw, that all the money which Attalus left, should be distributed amongst such\r\npoor citizens as were to be sharers of the public lands, for the better\r\nenabling them to proceed in stocking and cultivating their ground; and as for\r\nthe cities that were in the territories of Attalus, he declared that the\r\ndisposal of them did not at all belong to the senate, but to the people, and\r\nthat he himself would ask their pleasure herein. By this he offended the senate\r\nmore than ever he had done before, and Pompeius stood up, and acquainted them\r\nthat he was the next neighbor to Tiberius, and so had the opportunity of\r\nknowing that Eudemus, the Pergamenian, had presented Tiberius with a royal\r\ndiadem and a purple robe, as before long he was to be king of Rome. Quintus\r\nMetellus also upbraided him, saying, that when his father was censor, the\r\nRomans, whenever he happened to be going home from a supper, used to put out\r\nall their lights, lest they should be seen to have indulged themselves in\r\nfeastings and drinking at unseasonable hours, whereas, now, the most indigent\r\nand audacious of the people were found with their torches at night, following\r\nTiberius home. Titus Annius, a man of no great repute for either justice or\r\ntemperance, but famous for his skill in putting and answering questions,\r\nchallenged Tiberius to the proof by wager, declaring him to have deposed a\r\nmagistrate who by law was sacred and inviolable. Loud clamor ensued, and\r\nTiberius, quitting the senate hastily, called together the people, and\r\nsummoning Annius to appear, was proceeding to accuse him. But Annius, being no\r\ngreat speaker, nor of any repute compared to him, sheltered himself in his own\r\nparticular art, and desired that he might propose one or two questions to\r\nTiberius, before he entered upon the chief argument. This liberty being\r\ngranted, and silence proclaimed, Annius proposed his question. “If you,” said\r\nhe, “had a design to disgrace and defame me, and I should apply myself to one\r\nof your colleagues for redress, and he should come forward to my assistance,\r\nwould you for that reason fall into a passion, and depose him?” Tiberius, they\r\nsay, was so much disconcerted at this question, that, though at other times his\r\nassurance as well as his readiness of speech was always remarkable, yet now he\r\nwas silent and made no reply.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor the present he dismissed the assembly. But beginning to understand that the\r\ncourse he had taken with Octavius had created offense even among the populace\r\nas well as the nobility, because the dignity of the tribunes seemed to be\r\nviolated, which had always continued till that day sacred and honorable, he\r\nmade a speech to the people in justification of himself; out of which it may\r\nnot be improper to collect some particulars, to give an impression of his force\r\nand persuasiveness in speaking. “A tribune,” he said, “of the people, is sacred\r\nindeed, and ought to be inviolable, because in a manner consecrated to be the\r\nguardian and protector of them; but if he degenerate so far as to oppress the\r\npeople, abridge their powers, and take away their liberty of voting, he stands\r\ndeprived by his own act of his honors and immunities, by the neglect of the\r\nduty, for which the honor was bestowed upon him. Otherwise we should be under\r\nthe obligation to let a tribune do his pleasure, though he should proceed to\r\ndestroy the capitol or set fire to the arsenal. He who should make these\r\nattempts, would be a bad tribune. He who assails the power of the people, is no\r\nlonger a tribune at all. Is it not inconceivable, that a tribune should have\r\npower to imprison a consul, and the people have no authority to degrade him\r\nwhen he uses that honor which he received from them, to their detriment? For\r\nthe tribunes, as well as the consuls, hold office by the people’s votes. The\r\nkingly government, which comprehends all sorts of authority in itself alone, is\r\nmorever elevated by the greatest and most religious solemnity imaginable into a\r\ncondition of sanctity. But the citizens, notwithstanding this, deposed Tarquin,\r\nwhen he acted wrongfully; and for the crime of one single man, the ancient\r\ngovernment under which Rome was built, was abolished forever. What is there in\r\nall Rome so sacred and venerable as the vestal virgins, to whose care alone the\r\npreservation of the eternal fire is committed? yet if one of these transgress,\r\nshe is buried alive; the sanctity which for the gods’ sakes is allowed them, is\r\nforfeited when they offend against the gods. So likewise a tribune retains not\r\nhis inviolability, which for the people’s sake was accorded to him, when he\r\noffends against the people, and attacks the foundations of that authority from\r\nwhence he derived his own. We esteem him to be legally chosen tribune who is\r\nelected only by the majority of votes; and is not therefore the same person\r\nmuch more lawfully degraded, when by a general consent of them all, they agree\r\nto depose him? Nothing is so sacred as religious offerings; yet the people were\r\nnever prohibited to make use of them, but suffered to remove and carry them\r\nwherever they pleased; so likewise, as it were some sacred present, they have\r\nlawful power to transfer the tribuneship from one man’s hands to another’s. Nor\r\ncan that authority be thought inviolable and irremovable which many of those\r\nwho have held it, have of their own act surrendered, and desired to be\r\ndischarged from.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese were the principal heads of Tiberius’s apology. But his friends,\r\napprehending the dangers which seemed to threaten him, and the conspiracy that\r\nwas gathering head against him, were of opinion, that the safest way would be\r\nfor him to petition that he might be continued tribune for the year ensuing.\r\nUpon this consideration, he again endeavored to secure the people’s good-will\r\nwith fresh laws, making the years of serving in the war fewer than formerly,\r\ngranting liberty of appeal from the judges to the people, and joining to the\r\nsenators, who were judges at that time, an equal number of citizens of the\r\nhorsemen’s degree, endeavoring as much as in him lay to lessen the power of the\r\nsenate, rather from passion and partisanship than from any rational regard to\r\nequity and the public good. And when it came to the question, whether these\r\nlaws should be passed, and they perceived that the opposite party were\r\nstrongest, the people as yet being not got together in a full body, they began\r\nfirst of all to gain time by speeches in accusation of some of their\r\nfellow-magistrates, and at length adjourned the assembly till the day\r\nfollowing.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTiberius then went down into the marketplace amongst the people, and made his\r\naddresses to them humbly and with tears in his eyes; and told them, he had just\r\nreason to suspect, that his adversaries would attempt in the night time to\r\nbreak open his house, and murder him. This worked so strongly with the\r\nmultitude, that several of them pitched tents round about his house, and kept\r\nguard all night for the security of his person. By break of day came one of the\r\nsoothsayers, who prognosticate good or bad success by the pecking of fowls, and\r\nthrew them something to eat. The soothsayer used his utmost endeavors to fright\r\nthe fowls out of their coop; but none of them except one would venture out,\r\nwhich fluttered with its left wing, and stretched out its leg, and ran back\r\nagain into the coop, without eating anything. This put Tiberius in mind of\r\nanother ill omen which had formerly happened to him. He had a very costly\r\nheadpiece, which he made use of when he engaged in any battle, and into this\r\npiece of armor two serpents crawled, laid eggs, and brought forth young ones.\r\nThe remembrance of which made Tiberius more concerned now, than otherwise he\r\nwould have been. However, he went towards the capitol, as soon as he understood\r\nthat the people were assembled there; but before he got out of the house, he\r\nstumbled upon the threshold with such violence, that he broke the nail of his\r\ngreat toe, insomuch that blood gushed out of his shoe. He was not gone very far\r\nbefore he saw two ravens fighting on the top of a house which stood on his left\r\nhand as he passed along; and though he was surrounded with a number of people,\r\na stone, struck from its place by one of the ravens, fell just at his foot.\r\nThis even the boldest men about him felt as a check. But Blossius of Cuma, who\r\nwas present, told him, that it would be a shame, and an ignominious thing, for\r\nTiberius, who was the son of Gracchus, the grandson of Scipio Africanus, and\r\nthe protector of the Roman people, to refuse, for fear of a silly bird, to\r\nanswer, when his countrymen called to him; and that his adversaries would\r\nrepresent it not as a mere matter for their ridicule, but would declaim about\r\nit to the people as the mark of a tyrannical temper, which felt a pride in\r\ntaking liberties with the people. At the same time several messengers came also\r\nfrom his friends, to desire his presence at the capitol, saying that all things\r\nwent there according to expectation. And indeed Tiberius’s first entrance there\r\nwas in every way successful; as soon as ever he appeared, the people welcomed\r\nhim with loud acclamations, and as he went up to his place, they repeated their\r\nexpressions of joy, and gathered in a body around him, so that no one who was\r\nnot well known to be his friend, might approach. Mucius then began to put the\r\nbusiness again to the vote; but nothing could be performed in the usual course\r\nand order, because of the disturbance caused by those who were on the outside\r\nof the crowd, where there was a struggle going on with those of the opposite\r\nparty, who were pushing on and trying to force their way in and establish\r\nthemselves among them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst things were in this confusion, Flavius Flaccus, a senator, standing in a\r\nplace where he could be seen, but at such a distance from Tiberius that he\r\ncould not make him hear, signified to him by motions of his hand, that he\r\nwished to impart something of consequence to him in private. Tiberius ordered\r\nthe multitude to make way for him, by which means, though not without some\r\ndifficulty, Flavius got to him, and informed him, that the rich men, in a\r\nsitting of the senate, seeing they could not prevail upon the consul to espouse\r\ntheir quarrel, had come to a final determination amongst themselves, that he\r\nshould be assassinated, and to that purpose had a great number of their friends\r\nand servants ready armed to accomplish it. Tiberius no sooner communicated this\r\nconfederacy to those about him, but they immediately tucked up their gowns,\r\nbroke the halberts which the officers used to keep the crowd off into pieces,\r\nand distributed them among themselves, resolving to resist the attack with\r\nthese. Those who stood at a distance wondered, and asked what was the occasion;\r\nTiberius, knowing that they could not hear him at that distance, lifted his\r\nhand to his head, wishing to intimate the great danger which he apprehended\r\nhimself to be in. His adversaries, taking notice of that action, ran off at\r\nonce to the senate house, and declared, that Tiberius desired the people to\r\nbestow a crown upon him, as if this were the meaning of his touching his head.\r\nThis news created general confusion in the senators, and Nasica at once called\r\nupon the consul to punish this tyrant, and defend the government. The consul\r\nmildly replied, that he would not be the first to do any violence; and as he\r\nwould not suffer any freeman to be put to death, before sentence had lawfully\r\npassed upon him, so neither would he allow any measure to be carried into\r\neffect, if by persuasion or compulsion on the part of Tiberius the people had\r\nbeen induced to pass any unlawful vote. But Nasica, rising from his seat,\r\n“Since the consul,” said he, “regards not the safety of the commonwealth, let\r\neveryone who will defend the laws, follow me.” He, then, casting the skirt of\r\nhis gown over his head, hastened to the capitol; those who bore him company,\r\nwrapped their gowns also about their arms. and forced their way after him. And\r\nas they were persons of the greatest authority in the city, the common people\r\ndid not venture to obstruct their passing, but were rather so eager to clear\r\nthe way for them, that they tumbled over one another in haste. The attendants\r\nthey brought with them, had furnished themselves with clubs and staves from\r\ntheir houses, and they themselves picked up the feet and other fragments of\r\nstools and chairs, which were broken by the hasty flight of the common people.\r\nThus armed, they made towards Tiberius, knocking down those whom they found in\r\nfront of him, and those were soon wholly dispersed, and many of them slain.\r\nTiberius tried to save himself by flight. As he was running, he was stopped by\r\none who caught hold of him by the gown; but he threw it off, and fled in his\r\nunder-garments only. And stumbling over those who before had been knocked down,\r\nas he was endeavoring to get up again, Publius Satureius, a tribune, one of his\r\ncolleagues, was observed to give him the first fatal stroke, by hitting him\r\nupon the head with the foot of a stool. The second blow was claimed, as though\r\nit had been a deed to be proud of, by Lucius Rufus. And of the rest there fell\r\nabove three hundred, killed by clubs and staves only, none by an iron weapon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis, we are told, was the first sedition amongst the Romans, since the\r\nabrogation of kingly government, that ended in the effusion of blood. All\r\nformer quarrels which were neither small nor about trivial matters, were always\r\namicably composed, by mutual concessions on either side, the senate yielding\r\nfor fear of the commons, and the commons out of respect to the senate. And it\r\nis probable indeed that Tiberius himself might then have been easily induced,\r\nby mere persuasion, to give way, and certainly, if attacked at all, must have\r\nyielded without any recourse to violence and bloodshed, as he had not at that\r\ntime above three thousand men to support him. But it is evident, that this\r\nconspiracy was fomented against him, more out of the hatred and malice which\r\nthe rich men had to his person, than for the reasons which they commonly\r\npretended against him. In testimony of which, we may adduce the cruelty and\r\nunnatural insults which they used to his dead body. For they would not suffer\r\nhis own brother, though he earnestly begged the favor, to bury him in the\r\nnight, but threw him, together with the other corpses, into the river. Neither\r\ndid their animosity stop here; for they banished some of his friends without\r\nlegal process, and slew as many of the others us they could lay their hands on;\r\namongst whom Diophanes, the orator, was slain, and one Caius Villius cruelly\r\nmurdered by being shut up in a large tun with vipers and serpents. Blossius of\r\nCuma, indeed, was carried before the consuls, and examined touching what had\r\nhappened, and freely confessed, that he had done, without scruple, whatever\r\nTiberius bade him. “What,” replied Nasica, “then if Tiberius had bidden you\r\nburn the capitol, would you have burnt it?” His first answer was, that Tiberius\r\nnever would have ordered any such thing; but being pressed with the same\r\nquestion by several others, he declared, “If Tiberius had commanded it, it\r\nwould have been right for me to do it; for he never would have commanded it, if\r\nit had not been for the people’s good.” Blossius at this time was pardoned, and\r\nafterwards went away to Aristonicus in Asia, and when Aristonicus was\r\noverthrown and ruined, killed himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe senate, to soothe the people after these transactions, did not oppose the\r\ndivision of the public lands, and permitted them to choose another commissioner\r\nin the room of Tiberius. So they elected Publius Crassus, who was Gracchus’s\r\nnear connection, as his daughter Licinia was married to Caius Gracchus;\r\nalthough Cornelius Nepos says, that it was not Crassus’s daughter whom Caius\r\nmarried, but Brutus’s, who triumphed for his victories over the Lusitanians;\r\nbut most writers state it as we have done. The people, however, showed evident\r\nmarks of their anger at Tiberius’s death; and were clearly waiting only for the\r\nopportunity to be revenged, and Nasica was already threatened with an\r\nimpeachment. The senate, therefore, fearing lest some mischief should befall\r\nhim, sent him ambassador into Asia, though there was no occasion for his going\r\nthither. For the people did not conceal their indignation, even in the open\r\nstreets, but railed at him, whenever they met him abroad, calling him a\r\nmurderer and a tyrant, one who had polluted the most holy and religious spot in\r\nRome with the blood of a sacred and inviolable magistrate. And so Nasica left\r\nItaly, although be was bound, being the chief priest, to officiate in all\r\nprincipal sacrifices. Thus wandering wretchedly and ignominiously from one\r\nplace to another, he died in a short time after, not far from Pergamus. It is\r\nno wonder that the people had such an aversion to Nasica, when even Scipio\r\nAfricanus, though so much and so deservedly beloved by the Romans, was in\r\ndanger of quite losing the good opinion which the people had of him, only for\r\nrepeating, when the news of Tiberius’s death was first brought to Numantia, the\r\nverse out of Homer\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nEven so perish all who do the same.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd afterwards, being asked by Caius and Fulvius, in a great assembly, what he\r\nthought of Tiberius’s death, he gave an answer adverse to Tiberius’s public\r\nactions. Upon which account, the people thenceforth used to interrupt him when\r\nhe spoke, which, until that time, they had never done, and he, on the other\r\nhand, was induced to speak ill of the people. But of this the particulars are\r\ngiven in the life of Scipio.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap54\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCAIUS GRACCHUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaius Gracchus, at first, either for fear of his brother’s enemies, or\r\ndesigning to render them more odious to the people, absented himself from the\r\npublic assemblies, and lived quietly in his own house, as if he were not only\r\nreduced for the present to live unambitiously, but was disposed in general to\r\npass his life in inaction. And some, indeed, went so far as to say that he\r\ndisliked his brother’s measures, and had wholly abandoned the defense of them.\r\nHowever, he was now but very young, being not so old as Tiberius by nine years;\r\nand he was not yet thirty when he was slain.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn some little time, however, he quietly let his temper appear, which was one\r\nof an utter antipathy to a lazy retirement and effeminacy, and not the least\r\nlikely to be contented with a life of eating, drinking, and money getting. He\r\ngave great pains to the study of eloquence, as wings upon which he might aspire\r\nto public business; and it was very apparent that he did not intend to pass his\r\ndays in obscurity. When Vettius, a friend of his, was on his trial, he defended\r\nhis cause, and the people were in an ecstasy, and transported with joy, finding\r\nhim master of such eloquence that the other orators seemed like children in\r\ncomparison, and jealousies and fears on the other hand began to be felt by the\r\npowerful citizens; and it was generally spoken of amongst them that they must\r\nhinder Caius from being made tribune.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut soon after, it happened that he was elected quaestor, and obliged to attend\r\nOrestes, the consul, into Sardinia. This, as it pleased his enemies, so it was\r\nnot ungrateful to him, being naturally of a warlike character, and as well\r\ntrained in the art of war as in that of pleading. And, besides, as yet he very\r\nmuch dreaded meddling with state affairs, and appearing publicly in the rostra,\r\nwhich, because of the importunity of the people and his friends, he could no\r\notherwise avoid, than by taking this journey. He was therefore most thankful\r\nfor the opportunity of absenting himself. Notwithstanding which, it is the\r\nprevailing opinion that Caius was a far more thorough demagogue, and more\r\nambitious than ever Tiberius had been, of popular applause; yet it is certain\r\nthat he was borne rather by a sort of necessity than by any purpose of his own\r\ninto public business. And Cicero, the orator, relates, that when he declined\r\nall such concerns, and would have lived privately, his brother appeared to him\r\nin a dream, and calling him by his name, said, “why do you tarry, Caius? There\r\nis no escape; one life and one death is appointed for us both, to spend the one\r\nand to meet the other, in the service of the people.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaius was no sooner arrived in Sardinia, but he gave exemplary proofs of his\r\nhigh merit; he not only excelled all the young men of his age in his actions\r\nagainst his enemies, in doing justice to his inferiors, and in showing all\r\nobedience and respect to his superior officer; but likewise in temperance,\r\nfrugality, and industry, he surpassed even those who were much older than\r\nhimself. It happened to be a sharp and sickly winter in Sardinia, insomuch that\r\nthe general was forced to lay an imposition upon several towns to supply the\r\nsoldiers with necessary clothes. The cities sent to Rome, petitioning to be\r\nexcused from that burden; the senate found their request reasonable, and\r\nordered the general to find some other way of new clothing the army. While he\r\nwas at a loss what course to take in this affair, the soldiers were reduced to\r\ngreat distress; but Caius went from one city to another, and by his mere\r\nrepresentations, he prevailed with them, that of their own accord they clothed\r\nthe Roman army. This again being reported to Rome, and seeming to be only an\r\nintimation of what was to be expected of him as a popular leader hereafter,\r\nraised new jealousies amongst the senators. And, besides, there came\r\nambassadors out of Africa from king Micipsa, to acquaint the senate, that their\r\nmaster, out of respect to Caius Gracchus, had sent a considerable quantity of\r\ncorn to the general in Sardinia; at which the senators were so much offended,\r\nthat they turned the ambassadors out of the senate house, and made an order\r\nthat the soldiers should be relieved by sending others in their room; but that\r\nOrestes should continue at his post, with whom Caius, also, as they presumed,\r\nbeing his quaestor, would remain. But he, finding how things were carried,\r\nimmediately in anger took ship for Rome, where his unexpected appearance\r\nobtained him the censure not only of his enemies, but also of the people; who\r\nthought it strange that a quaestor should leave before his commander.\r\nNevertheless, when some accusation upon this ground was made against him to the\r\ncensors, he desired leave to defend himself, and did it so effectually, that,\r\nwhen he ended, he was regarded as one who had been very much injured. He made\r\nit then appear, that he had served twelve years in the army, whereas others are\r\nobliged to serve only ten; that he had continued quaestor to the general three\r\nyears, whereas he might by law have returned at the end of one year; and alone\r\nof all who went on the expedition, he had carried out a full, and had brought\r\nhome an empty purse, while others, after drinking up the wine they had carried\r\nout with them, brought back the wine-jars filled again with gold and silver\r\nfrom the war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, they brought other accusations and writs against him, for exciting\r\ninsurrection amongst the allies, and being engaged in the conspiracy that was\r\ndiscovered about Fregellae. But having cleared himself of every suspicion, and\r\nproved his entire innocence, he now at once came forward to ask for the\r\ntribuneship; in which, though he was universally opposed by all persons of\r\ndistinction, yet there came such infinite numbers of people from all parts of\r\nItaly to vote for Caius, that lodgings for them could not be supplied in the\r\ncity; and the Field being not large enough to contain the assembly, there were\r\nnumbers who climbed upon the roofs and the tilings of the houses to use their\r\nvoices in his favor. However, the nobility so far forced the people to their\r\npleasure and disappointed Caius’s hope, that he was not returned the first, as\r\nwas expected, but the fourth tribune. But when he came to the execution of his\r\noffice, it was seen presently who was really first tribune, as he was a better\r\norator than any of his contemporaries, and the passion with which he still\r\nlamented his brother’s death, made him the bolder in speaking. He used on all\r\noccasions to remind the people of what had happened in that tumult, and laid\r\nbefore them the examples of their ancestors, how they declared war against the\r\nFaliscans, only for giving scurrilous language to one Genucius, a tribune of\r\nthe people; and sentenced Caius Veturius to death, for refusing to give way in\r\nthe forum to a tribune; “Whereas,” said he, “these men did, in the presence of\r\nyou all, murder Tiberius with clubs, and dragged the slaughtered body through\r\nthe middle of the city, to be cast into the river. Even his friends, as many as\r\ncould be taken, were put to death immediately, without any trial,\r\nnotwithstanding that just and ancient custom, which has always been observed in\r\nour city, that whenever anyone is accused of a capital crime, and does not make\r\nhis personal appearance in court, a trumpeter is sent in the morning to his\r\nlodging, to summon him by sound of trumpet to appear; and before this ceremony\r\nis performed, the judges do not proceed to the vote; so cautious and reserved\r\nwere our ancestors about business of life and death.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving moved the people’s passion with such addresses (and his voice was of the\r\nloudest and strongest), he proposed two laws. The first was, that whoever was\r\nturned out of any public office by the people, should be thereby rendered\r\nincapable of bearing any office afterwards; the second, that if any magistrate\r\ncondemn a Roman to be banished, without a legal trial, the people be authorized\r\nto take cognizance thereof.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOne of these laws was manifestly leveled at Marcus Octavius, who, at the\r\ninstigation of Tiberius, had been deprived of his tribuneship. The other\r\ntouched Popilius, who, in his praetorship, had banished all Tiberius’s friends;\r\nwhereupon Popilius, being unwilling to stand the hazard of a trial, fled out of\r\nItaly. As for the former law, it was withdrawn by Caius himself, who said he\r\nyielded in the case of Octavius, at the request of his mother Cornelia. This\r\nwas very acceptable and pleasing to the people, who had a great veneration for\r\nCornelia, not more for the sake of her father than for that of her children;\r\nand they afterwards erected a statue of brass in honor of her, with this\r\ninscription, Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi. There are several expressions\r\nrecorded, in which he used her name perhaps with too much rhetoric, and too\r\nlittle self-respect, in his attacks upon his adversaries. “How,” said he, “dare\r\nyou presume to reflect upon Cornelia, the mother of Tiberius?” And because the\r\nperson who made the redactions had been suspected of effeminate courses, “With\r\nwhat face,” said he, “can you compare Cornelia with yourself? Have you brought\r\nforth children as she has done? And yet all Rome knows, that she has refrained\r\nfrom the conversation of men longer than you yourself have done.” Such was the\r\nbitterness he used in his language; and numerous similar expressions might be\r\nadduced from his written remains.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf the laws which he now proposed, with the object of gratifying the people and\r\nabridging the power of the senate, the first was concerning the public lands,\r\nwhich were to be divided amongst the poor citizens; another was concerning the\r\ncommon soldiers, that they should be clothed at the public charge, without any\r\ndiminution of their pay, and that none should be obliged to serve in the army\r\nwho was not full seventeen years old; another gave the same right to all the\r\nItalians in general, of voting at elections, as was enjoyed by the citizens of\r\nRome; a fourth related to the price of corn, which was to be sold at a lower\r\nrate than formerly to the poor; and a fifth regulated the courts of justice,\r\ngreatly reducing the power of the senators. For hitherto, in all causes\r\nsenators only sat as judges, and were therefore much dreaded by the Roman\r\nknights and the people. But Caius joined three hundred ordinary citizens of\r\nequestrian rank with the senators, who were three hundred likewise in number,\r\nand ordained that the judicial authority should be equally invested in the six\r\nhundred. While he was arguing for the ratification of this law, his behavior\r\nwas observed to show in many respects unusual earnestness, and whereas other\r\npopular leaders had always hitherto, when speaking, turned their faces towards\r\nthe senate house, and the place called the comitium, he, on the contrary, was\r\nthe first man that in his harangue to the people turned himself the other way,\r\ntowards them, and continued after that time to do so. An insignificant movement\r\nand change of posture, yet it marked no small revolution in state affairs, the\r\nconversion, in a manner, of the whole government from an aristocracy to a\r\ndemocracy; his action intimating that public speakers should address themselves\r\nto the people, not the senate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the commonalty ratified this law, and gave him power to select those of\r\nthe knights whom he approved of, to be judges, he was invested with a sort of\r\nkingly power, and the senate itself submitted to receive his advice in matters\r\nof difficulty; nor did he advise anything that might derogate from the honor of\r\nthat body. As, for example, his resolution about the corn which Fabius the\r\npropraetor sent from Spain, was very just and honorable; for he persuaded the\r\nsenate to sell the corn, and return the money to the same provinces which had\r\nfurnished them with it; and also that Fabius should be censured for rendering\r\nthe Roman government odious and insupportable. This got him extraordinary\r\nrespect and favor among the provinces. Besides all this, he proposed measures\r\nfor the colonization of several cities, for making roads, and for building\r\npublic granaries; of all which works he himself undertook the management and\r\nsuperintendence, and was never wanting to give necessary orders for the\r\ndispatch of all these different and great undertakings; and that with such\r\nwonderful expedition and diligence, as if he had been but engaged upon one of\r\nthem; insomuch that all persons, even those who hated or feared him, stood\r\namazed to see what a capacity he had for effecting and completing all he\r\nundertook. As for the people themselves, they were transported at the very\r\nsight, when they saw him surrounded with a crowd of contractors, artificers,\r\npublic deputies, military officers, soldiers, and scholars. All these he\r\ntreated with an easy familiarity, yet without abandoning his dignity in his\r\ngentleness; and so accommodated his nature to the wants and occasions of\r\neveryone who addressed him, that those were looked upon as no better than\r\nenvious detractors, who had represented him as a terrible, assuming, and\r\nviolent character. He was even a greater master of the popular leader’s art in\r\nhis common talk and his actions, than he was in his public addresses.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis most especial exertions were given to constructing the roads, which he was\r\ncareful to make beautiful and pleasant, as well as convenient. They were drawn\r\nby his directions through the fields, exactly in a straight line, partly paved\r\nwith hewn stone, and partly laid with solid masses of gravel. When he met with\r\nany valleys or deep watercourses crossing the line, he either caused them to be\r\nfilled up with rubbish, or bridges to be built over them, so well leveled, that\r\nall being of an equal height on both sides, the work presented one uniform and\r\nbeautiful prospect. Besides this, he caused the roads to be all divided into\r\nmiles (each mile containing little less than eight furlongs, and erected\r\npillars of stone to signify the distance from one place to another. He likewise\r\nplaced other stones at small distances from one another, on both sides of the\r\nway, by the help of which travelers might get easily on horseback without\r\nwanting a groom.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor these reasons, the people highly extolled him, and were ready upon all\r\noccasions to express their affection towards him. One day, in an oration to\r\nthem, he declared that he had only one favor to request, which if they granted,\r\nhe should think the greatest obligation in the world; yet if it were denied, he\r\nwould never blame them for the refusal. This expression made the world believe\r\nthat his ambition was to be consul; and it was generally expected that he\r\nwished to be both consul and tribune at the same time. When the day for\r\nelection of consuls was at hand, and all in great expectation, he appeared in\r\nthe Field with Caius Fannius, canvassing together with his friends for his\r\nelection. This was of great effect in Fannius’s favor. He was chosen consul,\r\nand Caius elected tribune the second time, without his own seeking or\r\npetitioning for it, but at the voluntary motion of the people. But when he\r\nunderstood that the senators were his declared enemies, and that Fannius\r\nhimself was none of the most zealous of friends, he began again to rouse the\r\npeople with other new laws. He proposed that a colony of Roman citizens might\r\nbe sent to re-people Tarentum and Capua, and that the Latins should enjoy the\r\nsame privileges with the citizens of Rome. But the senate, apprehending that he\r\nwould at last grow too powerful and dangerous, took a new and unusual course to\r\nalienate the people’s affections from him, by playing the demagogue in\r\nopposition to him, and offering favors contrary to all good policy. Livius\r\nDrusus was fellow-tribune with Caius, a person of as good a family and as well\r\neducated as any amongst the Romans, and noways inferior to those who for their\r\neloquence and riches were the most honored and most powerful men of that time.\r\nTo him, therefore, the chief senators made their application, exhorting him to\r\nattack Caius, and join in their confederacy against him; which they designed to\r\ncarry on, not by using any force, or opposing the common people, but by\r\ngratifying and obliging them with such unreasonable things as otherwise they\r\nwould have felt it honorable for them to incur the greatest unpopularity in\r\nresisting.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLivius offered to serve the senate with his authority in this business; and\r\nproceeded accordingly to bring forward such laws as were in reality neither\r\nhonorable nor advantageous for the public; his whole design being to outdo\r\nCaius in pleasing and cajoling the populace (as if it had been in some comedy),\r\nwith obsequious flattery and every kind of gratifications; the senate thus\r\nletting it be seen plainly, that they were not angry with Caius’s public\r\nmeasures, but only desirous to ruin him utterly, or at least to lessen his\r\nreputation. For when Caius proposed the settlement of only two colonies, and\r\nmentioned the better class of citizens for that purpose, they accused him of\r\nabusing the people; and yet, on the contrary, were pleased with Drusus, when he\r\nproposed the sending out of twelve colonies, each to consist of three thousand\r\npersons, and those, too, the most needy that he could find. When Caius divided\r\nthe public land amongst the poor citizens, and charged them with a small rent,\r\nannually, to be paid into the exchequer, they were angry at him, as one who\r\nsought to gratify the people only for his own interest; yet afterwards they\r\ncommended Livius, though he exempted them from paying even that little\r\nacknowledgment. They were displeased with Caius, for offering the Latins an\r\nequal right with the Romans of voting at the election of magistrates; but when\r\nLivius proposed that it might not be lawful for a Roman captain to scourge a\r\nLatin soldier, they promoted the passing of that law. And Livius, in all his\r\nspeeches to the people, always told them, that he proposed no laws but such as\r\nwere agreeable to the senate, who had a particular regard to the people’s\r\nadvantage. And this truly was the only point in all his proceedings which was\r\nof any real service, as it created more kindly feelings towards the senate in\r\nthe people; and whereas they formerly suspected and hated the principal\r\nsenators, Livius appeased and mitigated this perverseness and animosity, by his\r\nprofession that he had done nothing in favor and for the benefit of the\r\ncommons, without their advice and approbation.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the greatest credit which Drusus got for kindness and justice towards the\r\npeople was, that he never seemed to propose any law for his own sake, or his\r\nown advantage; he committed the charge of seeing the colonies rightly settled\r\nto other commissioners; neither did he ever concern himself with the\r\ndistribution of the moneys; whereas Caius always took the principal part in any\r\nimportant transactions of this kind. Rubrius, another tribune of the people,\r\nhad proposed to have Carthage again inhabited, which had been demolished by\r\nScipio, and it fell to Caius’s lot to see this performed, and for that purpose\r\nhe sailed to Africa. Drusus took this opportunity of his absence to insinuate\r\nhimself still more into the peoples’ affections, which he did chiefly by\r\naccusing Fulvius, who was a particular friend to Caius, and was appointed a\r\ncommissioner with him for the division of the lands. Fulvius was a man of a\r\nturbulent spirit, and notoriously hated by the senate; and besides, he was\r\nsuspected by others to have fomented the differences between the citizens and\r\ntheir confederates, and underhand to be inciting the Italians to rebel; though\r\nthere was little other evidence of the truth of these accusations, than his\r\nbeing an unsettled character, and of a well-known seditious temper. This was\r\none principal cause of Caius’s ruin; for part of the envy which fell upon\r\nFulvius, was extended to him. And when Scipio Africanus died suddenly, and no\r\ncause of such an unexpected death could be assigned, only some marks of blows\r\nupon his body seemed to intimate that he had suffered violence, as is related\r\nin the history of his life, the greatest part of the odium attached to Fulvius,\r\nbecause he was his enemy, and that very day had reflected upon Scipio in a\r\npublic address to the people. Nor was Caius himself clear from suspicion.\r\nHowever, this great outrage, committed too upon the person of the greatest and\r\nmost considerable man in Rome, was never either punished or inquired into\r\nthoroughly, for the populace opposed and hindered any judicial investigation,\r\nfor fear that Caius should be implicated in the charge if proceedings were\r\ncarried on. This, however, had happened some time before.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut in Africa, where at present Caius was engaged in the repeopling of\r\nCarthage, which he named Junonia, many ominous appearances, which presaged\r\nmischief, are reported to have been sent from the gods. For a sudden gust of\r\nwind falling upon the first standard, and the standard-bearer holding it fast,\r\nthe staff broke; another sudden storm blew away the sacrifices, which were laid\r\nupon the altars, and carried them beyond the bounds laid out for the city; and\r\nthe wolves came and carried away the very marks that were set up to show the\r\nboundary. Caius, notwithstanding all this, ordered and dispatched the whole\r\nbusiness in the space of seventy days, and then returned to Rome, understanding\r\nhow Fulvius was prosecuted by Drusus, and that the present juncture of affairs\r\nwould not suffer him to be absent. For Lucius Opimius, one who sided with the\r\nnobility, and was of no small authority in the senate, who had formerly sued to\r\nbe consul, but was repulsed by Caius’s interest, at the time when Fannius was\r\nelected, was in a fair way now of being chosen consul, having a numerous\r\ncompany of supporters. And it was generally believed, if he did obtain it, that\r\nhe would wholly ruin Caius, whose power was already in a declining condition;\r\nand the people were not so apt to admire his actions as formerly, because there\r\nwere so many others who every day contrived new ways to please them, with which\r\nthe senate readily complied.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter his return to Rome, he quitted his house on the Palatine Mount, and went\r\nto live near the market-place, endeavoring to make himself more popular in\r\nthose parts, where most of the humbler and poorer citizens lived. He then\r\nbrought forward the remainder of his proposed laws, as intending to have them\r\nratified by the popular vote; to support which a vast number of people\r\ncollected from all quarters. But the senate persuaded Fannius, the consul, to\r\ncommand all persons who were not born Romans, to depart the city. A new and\r\nunusual proclamation was thereupon made, prohibiting any of the Allies or\r\nConfederates to appear at Rome during that time. Caius, on the contrary,\r\npublished an edict, accusing the consul for what he had done, and setting forth\r\nto the Confederates, that if they would continue upon the place, they might be\r\nassured of his assistance and protection. However, he was not so good as his\r\nword; for though he saw one of his own familiar friends and companions dragged\r\nto prison by Fannius’s officers, he notwithstanding passed by, without\r\nassisting him; either because he was afraid to stand the test of his power,\r\nwhich was already decreased, or because, as he himself reported, he was\r\nunwilling to give his enemies an opportunity, which they very much desired, of\r\ncoming to actual violence and fighting. About that time there happened likewise\r\na difference between him and his fellow-officers upon this occasion. A show of\r\ngladiators was to be exhibited before the people in the marketplace, and most\r\nof the magistrates erected scaffolds round about, with an intention of letting\r\nthem for advantage. Caius commanded them to take down their scaffolds, that the\r\npoor people might see the sport without paying anything. But nobody obeying\r\nthese orders of his, he gathered together a body of laborers, who worked for\r\nhim, and overthrew all the scaffolds, the very night before the contest was to\r\ntake place. So that by the next morning the market-place was cleared, and the\r\ncommon people had an opportunity of seeing the pastime. In this, the populace\r\nthought he had acted the part of a man; but he much disobliged the tribunes,\r\nhis colleagues, who regarded it as a piece of violent and presumptuous\r\ninterference.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was thought to be the chief reason that he failed of being a third time\r\nelected tribune; not but that he had the most votes, but because his colleagues\r\nout of revenge caused false returns to be made. But as to this matter there was\r\na controversy. Certain it is, he very much resented this repulse, and behaved\r\nwith unusual arrogance towards some of his adversaries who were joyful at his\r\ndefeat, telling them, that all this was but a false, sardonic mirth, as they\r\nlittle knew how much his actions threw them into obscurity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as Opimius also was chosen consul, they presently canceled several of\r\nCaius’s laws, and especially called in question his proceedings at Carthage,\r\nomitting nothing that was likely to irritate him, that from some effect of his\r\npassion they might find out a colorable pretense to put him to death. Caius at\r\nfirst bore these things very patiently; but afterwards, at the instigation of\r\nhis friends, especially Fulvius, he resolved to put himself at the head of a\r\nbody of supporters, to oppose the consul by force. They say also that on this\r\noccasion his mother, Cornelia, joined in the sedition, and assisted him by\r\nsending privately several strangers into Rome, under pretense as if they came\r\nto be hired there for harvestmen; for that intimations of this are given in her\r\nletters to him. However, it is confidently affirmed by others, that Cornelia\r\ndid not in the least approve of these actions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the day came in which Opimius designed to abrogate the laws of Caius, both\r\nparties met very early at the capitol; and the consul having performed all the\r\nrites usual in their sacrifices, one Quintus Antyllius, an attendant on the\r\nconsul, carrying out the entrails of the victim, spoke to Fulvius, and his\r\nfriends who stood about him, “Ye factious citizens, make way for honest men.”\r\nSome report, that besides this provoking language, he extended his naked arm\r\ntowards them, as a piece of scorn and contempt. Upon this he was presently\r\nkilled with the strong stiles which are commonly used in writing, though some\r\nsay that on this occasion they had been manufactured for this purpose only.\r\nThis murder caused a sudden consternation in the whole assembly, and the heads\r\nof each faction had their different sentiments about it. As for Caius he was\r\nmuch grieved, and severely reprimanded his own party, because they had given\r\ntheir adversaries a reasonable pretense to proceed against them, which they had\r\nso long hoped for. Opimius, immediately seizing the occasion thus offered, was\r\nin great delight, and urged the people to revenge; but there happening a great\r\nshower of rain on a sudden, it put an end to the business of that day.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nEarly the next morning, the consul summoned the senate, and whilst he advised\r\nwith the senators in the senate-house, the corpse of Antyllius was laid upon a\r\nbier, and brought through the market-place, being there exposed to open view,\r\njust before the senate-house, with a great deal of crying and lamentation.\r\nOpimius was not at all ignorant that this was designed to be done; however, he\r\nseemed to be surprised, and wondered what the meaning of it should be; the\r\nsenators, therefore, presently went out to know the occasion of it and,\r\nstanding about the corpse, uttered exclamations against the inhuman and\r\nbarbarous act. The people meantime could not but feel resentment and hatred for\r\nthe senators, remembering how they themselves had not only assassinated\r\nTiberius Gracchus, as he was executing his office in the very capitol, but had\r\nalso thrown his mangled body into the river; yet now they could honor with\r\ntheir presence and their public lamentations in the forum the corpse of an\r\nordinary hired attendant, (who, though he might perhaps die wrongfully, was,\r\nhowever, in a great measure the occasion of it himself,) by these means hoping\r\nto undermine him who was the only remaining defender and safeguard of the\r\npeople.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe senators, after some time, withdrew, and presently ordered that Opimius,\r\nthe consul, should be invested with extraordinary power to protect the\r\ncommonwealth and suppress all tyrants. This being decreed, he presently\r\ncommanded the senators to arm themselves, and the Roman knights to be in\r\nreadiness very early the next morning, and every one of them to be attended\r\nwith two servants well armed. Fulvius, on the other side, made his preparations\r\nand collected the populace. Caius at that time returning from the market-place,\r\nmade a stop just before his father’s statue, and fixing his eyes for some time\r\nupon it, remained in a deep contemplation; at length he sighed, shed tears, and\r\ndeparted. This made no small impression upon those who saw it, and they began\r\nto upbraid themselves, that they should desert and betray so worthy a man as\r\nCaius. They therefore went directly to his house, remaining there as a guard\r\nabout it all night, though in a different manner from those who were a guard to\r\nFulvius; for they passed away the night with shouting and drinking, and Fulvius\r\nhimself, being the first to get drunk, spoke and acted many things very\r\nunbecoming a man of his age and character. On the other side, the party which\r\nguarded Caius, were quiet and diligent, relieving one another by turns, and\r\nforecasting, as in a public calamity, what the issue of things might be. As\r\nsoon as daylight appeared, they roused Fulvius, who had not yet slept off the\r\neffects of his drinking; and having armed themselves with the weapons hung up\r\nin his house, that were formerly taken from the Gauls, whom he conquered in the\r\ntime of his consulship, they presently, with threats and loud acclamations,\r\nmade their way towards the Aventine Mount.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaius could not be persuaded to arm himself, but put on his gown, as if he had\r\nbeen going to the assembly of the people, only with this difference, that under\r\nit he had then a short dagger by his side. As he was going out, his wife came\r\nrunning to him at the gate, holding him with one hand, and with her other a\r\nyoung child of his. She thus bespoke him: “Alas, Caius, I do not now part with\r\nyou to let you address the people, either as a tribune or a lawgiver, nor as if\r\nyou were going to some honorable war, when though you might perhaps have\r\nencountered that fate which all must sometime or other submit to, yet you had\r\nleft me this mitigation of my sorrow, that my mourning was respected and\r\nhonored. You go now to expose your person to the murderers of Tiberius,\r\nunarmed, indeed, and rightly so, choosing rather to suffer the worst of\r\ninjuries, than do the least yourself. But even your very death at this time\r\nwill not be serviceable to the public good. Faction prevails; power and arms\r\nare now the only measures of justice. Had your brother fallen before Numantia,\r\nthe enemy would have given back what then had remained of Tiberius; but such is\r\nmy hard fate, that I probably must be an humble suppliant to the floods or the\r\nwaves, that they would somewhere restore to me your relics; for since Tiberius\r\nwas not spared, what trust can we place either on the laws, or in the gods?”\r\nLicinia, thus bewailing, Caius, by degrees getting loose from her embraces,\r\nsilently withdrew himself, being accompanied by his friends; she, endeavoring\r\nto catch him by the gown, fell prostrate upon the earth, lying there for some\r\ntime speechless. Her servants took her up for dead, and conveyed her to her\r\nbrother Crassus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFulvius, when the people were gathered together in a full body, by the advice\r\nof Caius, sent his youngest son into the market-place, with a herald’s rod in\r\nhis hand. He, being a very handsome youth, and modestly addressing himself,\r\nwith tears in his eyes and a becoming bashfulness, offered proposals of\r\nagreement to the consul and the whole senate. The greatest part of the assembly\r\nwere inclinable to accept of the proposals; but Opimius said, that it did not\r\nbecome them to send messengers and capitulate with the senate, but to surrender\r\nat discretion to the laws, like loyal citizens, and endeavor to merit their\r\npardon by submission. He commanded the youth not to return, unless they would\r\ncomply with these conditions. Caius, as it is reported, was very forward to go\r\nand clear himself before the senate; but none of his friends consenting to it,\r\nFulvius sent his son a second time to intercede for them, as before. But\r\nOpimius, who was resolved that a battle should ensue, caused the youth to be\r\napprehended, and committed into custody; and then, with a company of his\r\nfoot-soldiers and some Cretan archers, set upon the party under Fulvius. These\r\narchers did such execution, and inflicted so many wounds, that a rout and\r\nflight quickly ensued. Fulvius fled into an obscure bathing-house; but shortly\r\nafter being discovered, he and his eldest son were slain together. Caius was\r\nnot observed to use any violence against anyone; but, extremely disliking all\r\nthese outrages, retired to Diana’s temple. There he attempted to kill himself,\r\nbut was hindered by his faithful friends, Pomponius and Licinius, they took his\r\nsword away from him, and were very urgent that he would endeavor to make his\r\nescape. It is reported, that falling upon his knee and lifting up his hands, he\r\nprayed the goddess that the Roman people, as a punishment for their ingratitude\r\nand treachery, might always remain in slavery. For as soon as a proclamation\r\nwas made of a pardon, the greater part openly deserted him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaius, therefore, endeavored now to make his escape, but was pursued so close\r\nby his enemies, as far as the wooden bridge, that from thence he narrowly\r\nescaped. There his two trusty friends begged of him to preserve his own person\r\nby flight, whilst they in the meantime would keep their post, and maintain the\r\npassage; neither could their enemies, until they were both slain, pass the\r\nbridge. Caius had no other companion in his flight but one Philocrates, a\r\nservant of his. As he ran along, everybody encouraged him, and wished him\r\nsuccess, as standers-by may do to those who are engaged in a race, but nobody\r\neither lent him any assistance, or would furnish him with a horse, though he\r\nasked for one; for his enemies had gained ground, and got very near him.\r\nHowever, he had still time enough to hide himself in a little grove,\r\nconsecrated to the Furies. In that place, his servant Philocrates having first\r\nslain him, presently afterwards killed himself also, and fell dead upon his\r\nmaster. Though some affirm it for a truth, that they were both taken alive by\r\ntheir enemies, and that Philocrates embraced his master so close, that they\r\ncould not wound Caius until his servant was slain.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey say that when Caius’s head was cut off, and carried away by one of his\r\nmurderers, Septimuleius, Opimius’s friend met him, and forced it from him;\r\nbecause, before the battle began, they had made proclamation, that whoever\r\nshould bring the head either of Caius or Fulvius, should, as a reward, receive\r\nits weight in gold. Septimuleius, therefore, having fixed Caius’s head upon the\r\ntop of his spear, came and presented it to Opimius. They presently brought the\r\nscales, and it was found to weigh above seventeen pounds. But in this affair,\r\nSeptimuleius gave as great signs of his knavery, as he had done before of his\r\ncruelty; for having taken out the brains, he had filled the skull with lead.\r\nThere were others who brought the head of Fulvius too, but, being mean,\r\ninconsiderable persons, were turned away without the promised reward. The\r\nbodies of these two persons, as well as of the rest who were slain, to the\r\nnumber of three thousand men, were all thrown into the river; their goods were\r\nconfiscated, and their widows forbidden to put themselves into mourning. They\r\ndealt even more severely with Licinia, Caius’s wife, and deprived her even of\r\nher jointure; and as an addition still to all their inhumanity, they\r\nbarbarously murdered Fulvius’s youngest son; his only crime being, not that he\r\ntook up arms against them, or that he was present in the battle, but merely\r\nthat he had come with articles of agreement; for this he was first imprisoned,\r\nthen slain.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut that which angered the common people beyond all these things was, because\r\nat this time, in memory of his success, Opimius built the temple of Concord, as\r\nif he gloried and triumphed in the slaughter of so many citizens. Somebody in\r\nthe night time, under the inscription of the temple, added this verse:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFolly and Discord Concord’s temple built.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet this Opimius, the first who, being consul, presumed to usurp the power of a\r\ndictator, condemning, without any trial, with three thousand other citizens,\r\nCaius Gracchus and Fulvius Flaccus, one of whom had triumphed, and been consul,\r\nthe other far excelled all his contemporaries in virtue and honor, afterwards\r\nwas found incapable of keeping his hands from thieving; and when he was sent\r\nambassador to Jugurtha, king of Numidia, he was there corrupted by presents,\r\nand at his return being shamefully convicted of it, lost all his honors, and\r\ngrew old amidst the hatred and the insults of the people, who, though humbled,\r\nand affrighted at the time, did not fail before long to let everybody see what\r\nrespect and veneration they had for the memory of the Gracchi. They ordered\r\ntheir statues to be made and set up in public view; they consecrated the places\r\nwhere they were slain, and thither brought the first-fruits of everything,\r\naccording to the season of the year, to make their offerings. Many came\r\nlikewise thither to their devotions, and daily worshipped there, as at the\r\ntemples of the gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is reported, that as Cornelia, their mother, bore the loss of her two sons\r\nwith a noble and undaunted spirit, so, in reference to the holy places in which\r\nthey were slain, she said, their dead bodies were well worthy of such\r\nsepulchres. She removed afterwards, and dwelt near the place called Misenum,\r\nnot at all altering her former way of living. She had many friends, and\r\nhospitably received many strangers at her house; many Greeks and learned men\r\nwere continually about her; nor was there any foreign prince but received gifts\r\nfrom her and presented her again. Those who were conversant with her, were much\r\ninterested, when she pleased to entertain them with her recollections of her\r\nfather Scipio Africanus, and of his habits and way of living. But it was most\r\nadmirable to hear her make mention of her sons, without any tears or sign of\r\ngrief, and give the full account of all their deeds and misfortunes, as if she\r\nhad been relating the history of some ancient heroes. This made some imagine,\r\nthat age, or the greatness of her afflictions, had made her senseless and\r\ndevoid of natural feelings. But they who so thought, were themselves more truly\r\ninsensible, not to see how much a noble nature and education avail to conquer\r\nany affliction; and though fortune may often be more successful, and may defeat\r\nthe efforts of virtue to avert misfortunes, it cannot, when we incur them,\r\nprevent our bearing them reasonably.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap55\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF TIBERIUS AND CAIUS GRACCHUS WITH AGIS\r\nAND CLEOMENES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving given an account severally of these persons, it remains only that we\r\nshould take a view of them in comparison with one another.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for the Gracchi, the greatest detractors and their worst enemies could not\r\nbut allow, that they had a genius to virtue beyond all other Romans, which was\r\nimproved also by a generous education. Agis and Cleomenes may be supposed to\r\nhave had stronger natural gifts, since, though they wanted all the advantages\r\nof good education, and were bred up in those very customs, manners, and habits\r\nof living, which had for a long time corrupted others, yet they were public\r\nexamples of temperance and frugality. Besides, the Gracchi, happening to live\r\nwhen Rome had her greatest repute for honor and virtuous actions, might justly\r\nhave been ashamed, if they had not also left to the next generation the noble\r\ninheritance of the virtues of their ancestors. Whereas the other two had\r\nparents of different morals; and though they found their country in a sinking\r\ncondition, and debauched, yet that did not quench their forward zeal to what\r\nwas just and honorable.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe integrity of the two Romans, and their superiority to money, was chiefly\r\nremarkable in this; that in office and the administration of public affairs,\r\nthey kept themselves from the imputation of unjust gain; whereas Agis might\r\njustly be offended, if he had only that mean commendation given him, that he\r\ntook nothing wrongfully from any man, seeing he distributed his own fortunes,\r\nwhich, in ready money only, amounted to the value of six hundred talents,\r\namongst his fellow-citizens. Extortion would have appeared a crime of a strange\r\nnature to him, who esteemed it a piece of covetousness to possess, though never\r\nso justly gotten, greater riches than his neighbors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTheir political actions, also, and the state revolutions they attempted, were\r\nvery different in magnitude. The chief things in general that the two Romans\r\ncommonly aimed at, were the settlement of cities and mending of highways; and,\r\nin particular, the boldest design which Tiberius is famed for, was the recovery\r\nof the public lands; and Caius gained his greatest reputation by the addition,\r\nfor the exercise of judicial powers, of three hundred of the order of knights\r\nto the same number of senators. Whereas the alteration which Agis and Cleomenes\r\nmade, was in a quite different kind. They did not set about removing partial\r\nevils and curing petty incidents of disease, which would have been (as Plato\r\nsays), like cutting off one of the Hydra’s heads, the very means to increase\r\nthe number; but they instituted a thorough reformation, such as would free the\r\ncountry at once from all its grievances, or rather, to speak more truly, they\r\nreversed that former change which had been the cause of all their calamities,\r\nand so restored their city to its ancient state.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, this must be confessed in the behalf of the Gracchi, that their\r\nundertakings were always opposed by men of the greatest influence. On the other\r\nside, those things which were first attempted by Agis, and afterwards\r\nconsummated by Cleomenes, were supported by the great and glorious precedent of\r\nthose ancient laws concerning frugality and leveling which they had themselves\r\nreceived upon the authority of Lycurgus, and he had instituted on that of\r\nApollo. It is also further observable, that from the actions of the Gracchi,\r\nRome received no additions to her former greatness; whereas, under the conduct\r\nof Cleomenes, Greece presently saw Sparta exert her sovereign power over all\r\nPeloponnesus, and contest the supreme command with the most powerful princes of\r\nthe time; success in which would have freed Greece from Illyrian and Gaulish\r\nviolence, and placed her once again under the orderly rule of the sons of\r\nHercules.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom the circumstances of their deaths, also, we may infer some difference in\r\nthe quality of their courage. The Gracchi, fighting with their fellow-citizens,\r\nwere both slain, as they endeavored to make their escape; Agis willingly\r\nsubmitted to his fate, rather than any citizen should be in danger of his life.\r\nCleomenes, being shamefully and unjustly treated, made an effort toward\r\nrevenge, but failing of that, generously fell by his own hand.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the other side it must be said, that Agis never did a great action worthy a\r\ncommander, being prevented by an untimely death. And as for those heroic\r\nactions of Cleomenes, we may justly compare with them that of Tiberius, when he\r\nwas the first who attempted to scale the walls of Carthage, which was no mean\r\nexploit. We may add the peace which he concluded with the Numantines, by which\r\nhe saved the lives of twenty thousand Romans, who otherwise had certainly been\r\ncut off. And Caius, not only at home, but in war in Sardinia, displayed\r\ndistinguished courage. So that their early actions were no small argument, that\r\nafterwards they might have rivaled the best of the Roman commanders, if they\r\nhad not died so young.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn civil life, Agis showed a lack of determination; he let himself be baffled\r\nby the craft of Agesilaus; disappointed the expectations of the citizens as to\r\nthe division of the lands, and generally left all the designs which he had\r\ndeliberately formed and publicly announced, unperformed and unfulfilled,\r\nthrough a young man’s want of resolution. Cleomenes, on the other hand,\r\nproceeded to effect the revolution with only too much boldness and violence,\r\nand unjustly slew the Ephors, whom he might, by superiority in arms, have\r\ngained over to his party, or else might easily have banished, as he did several\r\nothers of the city. For to use the knife, unless in the extremest necessity, is\r\nneither good surgery nor wise policy, but in both cases mere unskillfulness;\r\nand in the latter, unjust as well as unfeeling. Of the Gracchi, neither the one\r\nnor the other was the first to shed the blood of his fellow-citizens; and Caius\r\nis reported to have avoided all manner of resistance, even when his life was\r\naimed at, showing himself always valiant against a foreign enemy, but wholly\r\ninactive in a sedition. This was the reason that he went from his own house\r\nunarmed, and withdrew when the battle began, and in all respects showed himself\r\nanxious rather not to do any harm to others, than not to suffer any himself.\r\nEven the very flight of the Gracchi must not be looked upon as an argument of\r\ntheir mean spirit, but an honorable retreat from endangering of others. For if\r\nthey had stayed, they must either have yielded to those who assailed them, or\r\nelse have fought them in their own defense.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe greatest crime that can be laid to Tiberius’s charge, was the deposing of\r\nhis fellow tribune, and seeking afterwards a second tribuneship for himself. As\r\nfor the death of Antyllius, it is falsely and unjustly attributed to Caius, for\r\nhe was slain unknown to him, and much to his grief. On the contrary, Cleomenes\r\n(not to mention the murder of the Ephors) set all the slaves at liberty, and\r\ngoverned by himself alone in reality, having a partner only for show; having\r\nmade choice of his brother Euclidas, who was one of the same family. He\r\nprevailed upon Archidamus, who was the right heir to the kingdom of the other\r\nline, to venture to return home from Messene; but after his being slain, by not\r\ndoing anything to revenge his death, confirmed the suspicion that he was privy\r\nto it himself. Lycurgus, whose example he professed to imitate, after he had\r\nvoluntarily settled his kingdom upon Charillus, his brother’s son, fearing\r\nlest, if the youth should chance to die by accident, he might be suspected for\r\nit, traveled a long time, and would not return again to Sparta until Charillus\r\nhad a son, and an heir to his kingdom. But we have indeed no other Grecian who\r\nis worthy to be compared with Lycurgus, and it is clear enough that in the\r\npublic measures of Cleomenes various acts of considerable audacity and\r\nlawlessness may be found.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThose, therefore, who incline to blame their characters, may observe, that the\r\ntwo Grecians were disturbers even from their youth, lovers of contest, and\r\naspirants to despotic power; that Tiberius and Caius by nature had an excessive\r\ndesire after glory and honors. Beyond this, their enemies could find nothing to\r\nbring against them; but as soon as the contention began with their adversaries,\r\ntheir heat and passions would so far prevail beyond their natural temper, that\r\nby them, as by ill winds, they were driven afterwards to all their rash\r\nundertakings. What could be more just and honorable than their first design,\r\nhad not the power and the faction of the rich, by endeavoring to abrogate that\r\nlaw, engaged them both in those fatal quarrels, the one, for his own\r\npreservation, the other, to revenge his brother’s death, who was murdered\r\nwithout any law or justice?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom the account, therefore, which has been given, you yourself may perceive\r\nthe difference; which if it were to be pronounced of every one singly, I should\r\naffirm Tiberius to have excelled them all in virtue; that young Agis had been\r\nguilty of the fewest misdeeds; and that in action and boldness Caius came far\r\nshort of Cleomenes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap56\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eDEMOSTHENES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhoever it was, Sosius, that wrote the poem in honor of Alcibiades, upon his\r\nwinning the chariot race at the Olympian Games, whether it were Euripides, as\r\nis most commonly thought, or some other person, he tells us, that to a man’s\r\nbeing happy it is in the first place requisite he should be born in “some\r\nfamous city.” But for him that would attain to true happiness, which for the\r\nmost part is placed in the qualities and disposition of the mind, it is, in my\r\nopinion, of no other disadvantage to be of a mean, obscure country, than to be\r\nborn of a small or plain-looking woman. For it were ridiculous to think that\r\nIulis, a little part of Ceos, which itself is no great island, and Aegina,\r\nwhich an Athenian once said ought to be removed, like a small eye-sore, from\r\nthe port of Piraeus, should breed good actors and poets, and yet should never\r\nbe able to produce a just, temperate, wise, and high-minded man. Other arts,\r\nwhose end it is to acquire riches or honor, are likely enough to wither and\r\ndecay in poor and undistinguished towns; but virtue, like a strong and durable\r\nplant, may take root and thrive in any place where it can lay hold of an\r\ningenuous nature, and a mind that is industrious. I, for my part, shall desire\r\nthat for any deficiency of mine in right judgment or action, I myself may be,\r\nas in fairness, held accountable, and shall not attribute it to the obscurity\r\nof my birthplace.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut if any man undertake to write a history, that has to be collected from\r\nmaterials gathered by observation and the reading of works not easy to be got\r\nin all places, nor written always in his own language, but many of them foreign\r\nand dispersed in other hands, for him, undoubtedly, it is in the first place\r\nand above all things most necessary, to reside in some city of good note,\r\naddicted to liberal arts, and populous; where he may have plenty of all sorts\r\nof books, and upon inquiry may hear and inform himself of such particulars as,\r\nhaving escaped the pens of writers, are more faithfully preserved in the\r\nmemories of men, lest his work be deficient in many things, even those which it\r\ncan least dispense with.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut for me, I live in a little town, where I am willing to continue, lest it\r\nshould grow less; and having had no leisure, while I was in Rome and other\r\nparts of Italy, to exercise myself in the Roman language, on account of public\r\nbusiness and of those who came to be instructed by me in philosophy, it was\r\nvery late, and in the decline of my age, before I applied myself to the reading\r\nof Latin authors. Upon which that which happened to me, may seem strange,\r\nthough it be true; for it was not so much by the knowledge of words, that I\r\ncame to the understanding of things, as by my experience of things I was\r\nenabled to follow the meaning of words. But to appreciate the graceful and\r\nready pronunciation of the Roman tongue, to understand the various figures and\r\nconnection of words, and such other ornaments, in which the beauty of speaking\r\nconsists, is, I doubt not, an admirable and delightful accomplishment; but it\r\nrequires a degree of practice and study, which is not easy, and will better\r\nsuit those who have more leisure, and time enough yet before them for the\r\noccupation.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd so in this fifth book of my Parallel Lives, in giving an account of\r\nDemosthenes and Cicero, my comparison of their natural dispositions and their\r\ncharacters will be formed upon their actions and their lives as statesmen, and\r\nI shall not pretend to criticize their orations one against the other, to show\r\nwhich of the two was the more charming or the more powerful speaker. For there,\r\nas Ion says,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWe are but like a fish upon dry land;\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\na proverb which Caecilius perhaps forgot, when he employed his always\r\nadventurous talents in so ambitious an attempt as a comparison of Demosthenes\r\nand Cicero: and, possibly, if it were a thing obvious and easy for every man to\r\nknow himself, the precept had not passed for an oracle.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe divine power seems originally to have designed Demosthenes and Cicero upon\r\nthe same plan, giving them many similarities in their natural characters, as\r\ntheir passion for distinction and their love of liberty in civil life, and\r\ntheir want of courage in dangers and war, and at the same time also to have\r\nadded many accidental resemblances. I think there can hardly be found two other\r\norators, who, from small and obscure beginnings, became so great and mighty;\r\nwho both contested with kings and tyrants; both lost their daughters, were\r\ndriven out of their country, and returned with honor; who, flying from thence\r\nagain, were both seized upon by their enemies, and at last ended their lives\r\nwith the liberty of their countrymen. So that if we were to suppose there had\r\nbeen a trial of skill between nature and fortune, as there is sometimes between\r\nartists, it would be hard to judge, whether that succeeded best in making them\r\nalike in their dispositions and manners, or this, in the coincidences of their\r\nlives. We will speak of the eldest first.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemosthenes, the father of Demosthenes, was a citizen of good rank and quality,\r\nas Theopompus informs us, surnamed the Sword-maker, because he had a large\r\nworkhouse, and kept servants skillful in that art at work. But of that which\r\nAeschines, the orator, said of his mother, that she was descended of one Gylon,\r\nwho fled his country upon an accusation of treason, and of a barbarian woman, I\r\ncan affirm nothing, whether he spoke true, or slandered and maligned her. This\r\nis certain, that Demosthenes, being as yet but seven years old, was left by his\r\nfather in affluent circumstances, the whole value of his estate being little\r\nshort of fifteen talents, and that he was wronged by his guardians, part of his\r\nfortune being embezzled by them, and the rest neglected; insomuch that even his\r\nteachers were defrauded of their salaries. This was the reason that he did not\r\nobtain the liberal education that he should have had; besides that on account\r\nof weakness and delicate health, his mother would not let him exert himself,\r\nand his teachers forbore to urge him. He was meager and sickly from the first,\r\nand hence had his nickname of Batalus, given him, it is said, by the boys, in\r\nderision of his appearance; Batalus being, as some tell us, a certain enervated\r\nflute-player, in ridicule of whom Antiphanes wrote a play. Others speak of\r\nBatalus as a writer of wanton verses and drinking songs. And it would seem that\r\nsome part of the body, not decent to be named, was at that time called batalus\r\nby the Athenians. But the name of Argas, which also they say was a nickname of\r\nDemosthenes, was given him for his behavior, as being savage and spiteful,\r\nargas being one of the poetical words for a snake; or for his disagreeable way\r\nof speaking, Argas being the name of a poet, who composed very harshly and\r\ndisagreeably. So much, as Plato says, for such matters.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe first occasion of his eager inclination to oratory they say, was this.\r\nCallistratus, the orator, being to plead in open court for Oropus, the\r\nexpectation of the issue of that cause was very great, as well for the ability\r\nof the orator, who was then at the height of his reputation, as also for the\r\nfame of the action itself. Therefore, Demosthenes, having heard the tutors and\r\nschoolmasters agreeing among themselves to be present at this trial, with much\r\nimportunity persuades his tutor to take him along with him to the hearing; who,\r\nhaving some acquaintance with the doorkeepers, procured a place where the boy\r\nmight sit unseen, and hear what was said. Callistratus having got the day, and\r\nbeing much admired, the boy began to look upon his glory with a kind of\r\nemulation, observing how he was courted on all hands, and attended on his way\r\nby the multitude; but his wonder was more than all excited by the power of his\r\neloquence, which seemed able to subdue and win over anything. From this time,\r\ntherefore, bidding farewell to other sorts of learning and study, he now began\r\nto exercise himself, and to take pains in declaiming, as one that meant to be\r\nhimself also an orator. He made use of Isaeus as his guide to the art of\r\nspeaking, though Isocrates at that time was giving lessons; whether, as some\r\nsay, because he was an orphan, and was not able to pay Isocrates his appointed\r\nfee of ten minae, or because he preferred Isaeus’s speaking, as being more\r\nbusiness-like and effective in actual use. Hermippus says, that he met with\r\ncertain memoirs without any author’s name, in which it was written that\r\nDemosthenes was a scholar to Plato, and learnt much of his eloquence from him;\r\nand he also mentions Ctesibius, as reporting from Callias of Syracuse and some\r\nothers, that Demosthenes secretly obtained a knowledge of the systems of\r\nIsocrates and Alcidamas, and mastered them thoroughly.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon, therefore, as he was grown up to man’s estate, he began to go to law\r\nwith his guardians, and to write orations against them; who, in the meantime,\r\nhad recourse to various subterfuges and pleas for new trials, and Demosthenes,\r\nthough he was thus, as Thucydides says, taught his business in dangers, and by\r\nhis own exertions was successful in his suit, was yet unable for all this to\r\nrecover so much as a small fraction of his patrimony. He only attained some\r\ndegree of confidence in speaking, and some competent experience in it. And\r\nhaving got a taste of the honor and power which are acquired by pleadings, he\r\nnow ventured to come forth, and to undertake public business. And, as it is\r\nsaid of Laomedon, the Orchomenian, that by advice of his physician, he used to\r\nrun long distances to keep off some disease of his spleen, and by that means\r\nhaving, through labor and exercise, framed the habit of his body, he betook\r\nhimself to the great garland games, and became one of the best runners at the\r\nlong race; so it happened to Demosthenes, who, first venturing upon oratory for\r\nthe recovery of his own private property, by this acquired ability in speaking,\r\nand at length, in public business, as it were in the great games, came to have\r\nthe preeminence of all competitors in the assembly. But when he first addressed\r\nhimself to the people, he met with great discouragements, and was derided for\r\nhis strange and uncouth style, which was cumbered with long sentences and\r\ntortured with formal arguments to a most harsh and disagreeable excess.\r\nBesides, he had, it seems, a weakness in his voice, a perplexed and indistinct\r\nutterance and a shortness of breath, which, by breaking and disjointing his\r\nsentences much obscured the sense and meaning of what he spoke. So that in the\r\nend, being quite disheartened, he forsook the assembly; and as he was walking\r\ncarelessly and sauntering about the Piraeus, Eunomus, the Thriasian, then a\r\nvery old man, seeing him, upbraided him, saying that his diction was very much\r\nlike that of Pericles, and that he was wanting to himself through cowardice and\r\nmeanness of spirit, neither bearing up with courage against popular outcry, nor\r\nfitting his body for action, but suffering it to languish through mere sloth\r\nand negligence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnother time, when the assembly had refused to hear him, and he was going home\r\nwith his head muffled up, taking it very heavily, they relate that Satyrus, the\r\nactor, followed him, and being his familiar acquaintance, entered into\r\nconversation with him. To whom, when Demosthenes bemoaned himself, that having\r\nbeen the most industrious of all the pleaders, and having almost spent the\r\nwhole strength and vigor of his body in that employment, he could not yet find\r\nany acceptance with the people, that drunken sots, mariners, and illiterate\r\nfellows were heard, and had the hustings for their own, while he himself was\r\ndespised, “You say true, Demosthenes,” replied Satyrus, “but I will quickly\r\nremedy the cause of all this, if you will repeat to me some passage out of\r\nEuripides or Sophocles.” Which when Demosthenes had pronounced, Satyrus\r\npresently taking it up after him gave the same passage, in his rendering of it,\r\nsuch a new form, by accompanying it with the proper mien and gesture, that to\r\nDemosthenes it seemed quite another thing. By this being convinced how much\r\ngrace and ornament language acquires from action, he began to esteem it a small\r\nmatter, and as good as nothing for a man to exercise himself in declaiming, if\r\nhe neglected enunciation and delivery. Hereupon he built himself a place to\r\nstudy in underground, (which was still remaining in our time,) and hither he\r\nwould come constantly every day to form his action, and to exercise his voice;\r\nand here he would continue, oftentimes without intermission, two or three\r\nmonths together, shaving one half of his head, that so for shame he might not\r\ngo abroad, though he desired it ever so much.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNor was this all, but he also made his conversation with people abroad, his\r\ncommon speech, and his business, subservient to his studies, taking from hence\r\noccasions and arguments as matter to work upon. For as soon as he was parted\r\nfrom his company, down he would go at once into his study, and run over\r\neverything in order that had passed, and the reasons that might be alleged for\r\nand against it. Any speeches, also, that he was present at, he would go over\r\nagain with himself, and reduce into periods; and whatever others spoke to him,\r\nor he to them, he would correct, transform, and vary several ways. Hence it\r\nwas, that he was looked upon as a person of no great natural genius, but one\r\nwho owed all the power and ability he had in speaking to labor and industry. Of\r\nthe truth of which it was thought to be no small sign, that he was very rarely\r\nheard to speak upon the occasion, but though he were by name frequently called\r\nupon by the people, as he sat in the assembly, yet he would not rise unless he\r\nhad previously considered the subject, and came prepared for it. So that many\r\nof the popular pleaders used to make it a jest against him; and Pytheas once,\r\nscoffing at him, said that his arguments smelt of the lamp. To which\r\nDemosthenes gave the sharp answer, “It is true, indeed, Pytheas, that your lamp\r\nand mine are not conscious of the same things.” To others, however, he would\r\nnot much deny it, but would admit frankly enough, that he neither entirely\r\nwrote his speeches beforehand, nor yet spoke wholly extempore. And he would\r\naffirm, that it was the more truly popular act to use premeditation, such\r\npreparation being a kind of respect to the people; whereas, to slight and take\r\nno care how what is said is likely to be received by the audience, shows\r\nsomething of an oligarchical temper, and is the course of one that intends\r\nforce rather than persuasion. Of his want of courage and assurance to speak\r\noff-hand, they make it also another argument, that when he was at a loss, and\r\ndiscomposed, Demades would often rise up on the sudden to support him, but he\r\nwas never observed to do the same for Demades.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhence then, may some say, was it, that Aeschines speaks of him as a person so\r\nmuch to be wondered at for his boldness in speaking? Or, how could it be, when\r\nPython, the Byzantine, “with so much confidence and such a torrent of words\r\ninveighed against” the Athenians, that Demosthenes alone stood up to oppose\r\nhim? Or, when Lamachus, the Myrinaean, had written a panegyric upon king Philip\r\nand Alexander, in which he uttered many things in reproach of the Thebans and\r\nOlynthians, and at the Olympic Games recited it publicly, how was it, that he,\r\nrising up, and recounting historically and demonstratively what benefits and\r\nadvantages all Greece had received from the Thebans and Chalcidians, and on the\r\ncontrary, what mischiefs the flatterers of the Macedonians had brought upon it,\r\nso turned the minds of all that were present that the sophist, in alarm at the\r\noutcry against him, secretly made his way out of the assembly? But Demosthenes,\r\nit should seem, regarded other points in the character of Pericles to be\r\nunsuited to him; but his reserve and his sustained manner, and his forbearing\r\nto speak on the sudden, or upon every occasion, as being the things to which\r\nprincipally he owed his greatness, these he followed, and endeavored to\r\nimitate, neither wholly neglecting the glory which present occasion offered,\r\nnor yet willing too often to expose his faculty to the mercy of chance. For, in\r\nfact, the orations which were spoken by him had much more of boldness and\r\nconfidence in them than those that he wrote, if we may believe Eratosthenes,\r\nDemetrius the Phalerian, and the Comedians. Eratosthenes says that often in his\r\nspeaking he would be transported into a kind of ecstasy, and Demetrius, that he\r\nuttered the famous metrical adjuration to the people,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBy the earth, the springs, the rivers, and the streams,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nas a man inspired, and beside himself. One of the comedians calls him a\r\n\u003ci\u003erhopoperperethras\u003c/i\u003e, and another scoffs at him for his use of antithesis:\r\n—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nAnd what he took, took back; a phrase to please\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe very fancy of Demosthenes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nUnless, indeed, this also is meant by Antiphanes for a jest upon the speech on\r\nHalonesus, which Demosthenes advised the Athenians not to take at Philip’s\r\nhands, but to take back.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll, however, used to consider Demades, in the mere use of his natural gifts,\r\nan orator impossible to surpass, and that in what he spoke on the sudden, he\r\nexcelled all the study and preparation of Demosthenes. And Ariston the Chian,\r\nhas recorded a judgment which Theophrastus passed upon the orators; for being\r\nasked what kind of orator he accounted Demosthenes, he answered, “Worthy of the\r\ncity of Athens;” and then, what he thought of Demades, he answered, “Above it.”\r\nAnd the same philosopher reports, that Polyeuctus, the Sphettian, one of the\r\nAthenian politicians about that time, was wont to say that Demosthenes was the\r\ngreatest orator, but Phocion the ablest, as he expressed the most sense in the\r\nfewest words. And, indeed, it is related, that Demosthenes himself, as often as\r\nPhocion stood up to plead against him, would say to his acquaintance, “Here\r\ncomes the knife to my speech.” Yet it does not appear whether he had this\r\nfeeling for his powers of speaking, or for his life and character, and meant to\r\nsay that one word or nod from a man who was really trusted, would go further\r\nthan a thousand lengthy periods from others.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemetrius, the Phalerian, tells us, that he was informed by Demosthenes\r\nhimself, now grown old, that the ways he made use of to remedy his natural\r\nbodily infirmities and defects were such as these; his inarticulate and\r\nstammering pronunciation he overcame and rendered more distinct by speaking\r\nwith pebbles in his mouth; his voice he disciplined by declaiming and reciting\r\nspeeches or verses when he was out of breath, while running or going up steep\r\nplaces; and that in his house he had a large looking-glass, before which he\r\nwould stand and go through his exercises. It is told that someone once came to\r\nrequest his assistance as a pleader, and related how he had been assaulted and\r\nbeaten. “Certainly,” said Demosthenes, “nothing of the kind can have happened\r\nto you.” Upon which the other, raising his voice, exclaimed loudly, “What,\r\nDemosthenes, nothing has been done to me?” “Ah,” replied Demosthenes, “now I\r\nhear the voice of one that has been injured and beaten.” Of so great\r\nconsequence towards the gaining of belief did he esteem the tone and action of\r\nthe speaker. The action which he used himself was wonderfully pleasing to the\r\ncommon people; but by well-educated people, as, for example, by Demetrius, the\r\nPhalerian, it was looked upon as mean, humiliating, and unmanly. And Hermippus\r\nsays of Aesion, that, being asked his opinion concerning the ancient orators\r\nand those of his own time, he answered that it was admirable to see with what\r\ncomposure and in what high style they addressed themselves to the people; but\r\nthat the orations of Demosthenes, when they are read, certainly appear to be\r\nsuperior in point of construction, and more effective. His written speeches,\r\nbeyond all question, are characterized by austere tone and by their severity.\r\nIn his extempore retorts and rejoinders, he allowed himself the use of jest and\r\nmockery. When Demades said, “Demosthenes teach me! So might the sow teach\r\nMinerva!” he replied, “Was it this Minerva, that was lately found playing the\r\nharlot in Collytus?” When a thief, who had the nickname of the Brazen, was\r\nattempting to upbraid him for sitting up late, and writing by candlelight, “I\r\nknow very well,” said he, “that you had rather have all lights out; and wonder\r\nnot, O ye men of Athens, at the many robberies which are committed, since we\r\nhave thieves of brass and walls of clay.” But on these points, though we have\r\nmuch more to mention, we will add nothing at present. We will proceed to take\r\nan estimate of his character from his actions and his life as a statesman.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis first entering into public business was much about the time of the Phocian\r\nwar, as himself affirms, and may be collected from his Philippic orations. For\r\nof these, some were made after that action was over, and the earliest of them\r\nrefer to its concluding events. It is certain that he engaged in the accusation\r\nof Midias when he was but two and thirty years old, having as yet no interest\r\nor reputation as a politician. And this it was, I consider, that induced him to\r\nwithdraw the action, and accept a sum of money as a compromise. For of himself\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHe was no easy or good-natured man,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nbut of a determined disposition, and resolute to see himself righted; however,\r\nfinding it a hard matter and above his strength to deal with Midias, a man so\r\nwell secured on all sides with money, eloquence, and friends, he yielded to the\r\nentreaties of those who interceded for him. But had he seen any hopes or\r\npossibility of prevailing, I cannot believe that three thousand drachmas could\r\nhave taken off the edge of his revenge. The object which he chose for himself\r\nin the commonwealth was noble and just, the defense of the Grecians against\r\nPhilip; and in this he behaved himself so worthily that he soon grew famous,\r\nand excited attention everywhere for his eloquence and courage in speaking. He\r\nwas admired through all Greece, the king of Persia courted him, and by Philip\r\nhimself he was more esteemed than all the other orators. His very enemies were\r\nforced to confess that they had to do with a man of mark; for such a character\r\neven Aeschines and Hyperides give him, where they accuse and speak against him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo that I cannot imagine what ground Theopompus had to say, that Demosthenes\r\nwas of a fickle, unsettled disposition, and could not long continue firm either\r\nto the same men or the same affairs; whereas the contrary is most apparent, for\r\nthe same party and post in politics which he held from the beginning, to these\r\nhe kept constant to the end; and was so far from leaving them while he lived,\r\nthat he chose rather to forsake his life than his purpose. He was never heard\r\nto apologize for shifting sides like Demades, who would say, he often spoke\r\nagainst himself, but never against the city; nor as Melanopus, who, being\r\ngenerally against Callistratus, but being often bribed off with money, was wont\r\nto tell the people, “The man indeed is my enemy, but we must submit for the\r\ngood of our country;” nor again as Nicodemus, the Messenian, who having first\r\nappeared on Cassander’s side, and afterwards taken part with Demetrius, said\r\nthe two things were not in themselves contrary, it being always most advisable\r\nto obey the conqueror. We have nothing of this kind to say against Demosthenes,\r\nas one who would turn aside or prevaricate, either in word or deed. There could\r\nnot have been less variation in his public acts if they had all been played, so\r\nto say, from first to last, from the same score. Panaetius, the philosopher,\r\nsaid, that most of his orations are so written, as if they were to prove this\r\none conclusion, that what is honest and virtuous is for itself only to be\r\nchosen; as that of the Crown, that against Aristocrates, that for the\r\nImmunities, and the Philippics; in all which he persuades his fellow-citizens\r\nto pursue not that which seems most pleasant, easy, or profitable; but declares\r\nover and over again, that they ought in the first place to prefer that which is\r\njust and honorable, before their own safety and preservation. So that if he had\r\nkept his hands clean, if his courage for the wars had been answerable to the\r\ngenerosity of his principles, and the dignity of his orations, he might\r\ndeservedly have his name placed, not in the number of such orators as\r\nMoerocles, Polyeuctus, and Hyperides, but in the highest rank with Cimon,\r\nThucydides, and Pericles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCertainly amongst those who were contemporary with him, Phocion, though he\r\nappeared on the less commendable side in the commonwealth, and was counted as\r\none of the Macedonian party, nevertheless, by his courage and his honesty,\r\nprocured himself a name not inferior to those of Ephialtes, Aristides, and\r\nCimon. But Demosthenes, being neither fit to be relied on for courage in arms,\r\nas Demetrius says, nor on all sides inaccessible to bribery (for how invincible\r\nsoever he was against the gifts of Philip and the Macedonians, yet elsewhere he\r\nlay open to assault, and was overpowered by the gold which came down from Susa\r\nand Ecbatana), was therefore esteemed better able to recommend than to imitate\r\nthe virtues of past times. And yet (excepting only Phocion), even in his life\r\nand manners, he far surpassed the other orators of his time. None of them\r\naddressed the people so boldly; he attacked the faults, and opposed himself to\r\nthe unreasonable desires of the multitude, as may be seen in his orations.\r\nTheopompus writes, that the Athenians having by name selected Demosthenes, and\r\ncalled upon him to accuse a certain person, he refused to do it; upon which the\r\nassembly being all in an uproar, he rose up and said, “Your counselor, whether\r\nyou will or no, O ye men of Athens, you shall always have me; but a sycophant\r\nor false accuser, though you would have me, I shall never be.” And his conduct\r\nin the case of Antiphon was perfectly aristocratical; whom, after he had been\r\nacquitted in the assembly, he took and brought before the court of Areopagus,\r\nand, setting at naught the displeasure of the people, convicted him there of\r\nhaving promised Philip to burn the arsenal; whereupon the man was condemned by\r\nthat court, and suffered for it. He accused, also, Theoris, the priestess,\r\namongst other misdemeanors, of having instructed and taught the slaves to\r\ndeceive and cheat their masters, for which the sentence of death passed upon\r\nher, and she was executed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe oration which Apollodorus made use of, and by it carried the cause against\r\nTimotheus, the general, in an action of debt, it is said was written for him by\r\nDemosthenes; as also those against Phormion and Stephanus, in which latter case\r\nhe was thought to have acted dishonorably, for the speech which Phormion used\r\nagainst Apollodorus was also of his making; he, as it were, having simply\r\nfurnished two adversaries out of the same shop with weapons to wound one\r\nanother. Of his orations addressed to the public assemblies, that against\r\nAndrotion, and those against Timocrates and Aristocrates, were written for\r\nothers, before he had come forward himself as a politician. They were composed,\r\nit seems, when he was but seven or eight and twenty years old. That against\r\nAristogiton, and that for the Immunities, he spoke himself, at the request, as\r\nhe says, of Ctesippus, the son of Chabrias, but, as some say, out of courtship\r\nto the young man’s mother. Though, in fact, he did not marry her, for his wife\r\nwas a woman of Samos, as Demetrius, the Magnesian, writes, in his book on\r\nPersons of the same Name. It is not certain whether his oration against\r\nAeschines, for Misconduct as Ambassador, was ever spoken; although Idomeneus\r\nsays that Aeschines wanted only thirty voices to condemn him. But this seems\r\nnot to be correct, at least so far as may be conjectured from both their\r\norations concerning the Crown; for in these, neither of them speaks clearly or\r\ndirectly of it, as a cause that ever came to trial. But let others decide this\r\ncontroversy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was evident, even in time of peace, what course Demosthenes would steer in\r\nthe commonwealth; for whatever was done by the Macedonian, he criticized and\r\nfound fault with, and upon all occasions was stirring up the people of Athens,\r\nand inflaming them against him. Therefore, in the court of Philip, no man was\r\nso much talked of, or of so great account as he; and when he came thither, one\r\nof the ten ambassadors who were sent into Macedonia, though all had audience\r\ngiven them, yet his speech was answered with most care and exactness. But in\r\nother respects, Philip entertained him not so honorably as the rest, neither\r\ndid he show him the same kindness and civility with which he applied himself to\r\nthe party of Aeschines and Philocrates. So that, when the others commended\r\nPhilip for his able speaking, his beautiful person, nay, and also for his good\r\ncompanionship in drinking, Demosthenes could not refrain from caviling at these\r\npraises; the first, he said, was a quality which might well enough become a\r\nrhetorician, the second a woman, and the last was only the property of a\r\nsponge; no one of them was the proper commendation of a prince.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when things came at last to war, Philip on the one side being not able to\r\nlive in peace, and the Athenians, on the other side, being stirred up by\r\nDemosthenes, the first action he put them upon was the reducing of Euboea,\r\nwhich, by the treachery of the tyrants, was brought under subjection to Philip.\r\nAnd on his proposition, the decree was voted, and they crossed over thither and\r\nchased the Macedonians out of the island. The next, was the relief of the\r\nByzantines and Perinthians, whom the Macedonians at that time were attacking.\r\nHe persuaded the people to lay aside their enmity against these cities, to\r\nforget the offenses committed by them in the Confederate War, and to send them\r\nsuch succors as eventually saved and secured them. Not long after, he undertook\r\nan embassy through the States of Greece, which he solicited and so far incensed\r\nagainst Philip, that, a few only excepted, he brought them all into a general\r\nleague. So that, besides the forces composed of the citizens themselves, there\r\nwas an army consisting of fifteen thousand foot and two thousand horse, and the\r\nmoney to pay these strangers was levied and brought in with great cheerfulness.\r\nOn which occasion it was, says Theophrastus, on the allies requesting that\r\ntheir contributions for the war might be ascertained and stated, Crobylus, the\r\norator, made use of the saying, “War can’t be fed at so much a day.” Now was\r\nall Greece up in arms, and in great expectation what would be the event. The\r\nEuboeans, the Achaeans, the Corinthians, the Megarians, the Leucadians, and\r\nCorcyraeans, their people and their cities, were all joined together in a\r\nleague. But the hardest task was yet behind, left for Demosthenes, to draw the\r\nThebans into this confederacy with the rest. Their country bordered next upon\r\nAttica, they had great forces for the war, and at that time they were accounted\r\nthe best soldiers of all Greece, but it was no easy matter to make them break\r\nwith Philip, who, by many good offices, had so lately obliged them in the\r\nPhocian war; especially considering how the subjects of dispute and variance\r\nbetween the two cities were continually renewed and exasperated by petty\r\nquarrels, arising out of the proximity of their frontiers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut after Philip, being now grown high and puffed up with his good success at\r\nAmphissa, on a sudden surprised Elatea and possessed himself of Phocis, and the\r\nAthenians were in a great consternation, none durst venture to rise up to\r\nspeak, no one knew what to say, all were at a loss, and the whole assembly in\r\nsilence and perplexity, in this extremity of affairs, Demosthenes was the only\r\nman who appeared, his counsel to them being alliance with the Thebans. And\r\nhaving in other ways encouraged the people, and, as his manner was, raised\r\ntheir spirits up with hopes, he, with some others, was sent ambassador to\r\nThebes. To oppose him, as Marsyas says, Philip also sent thither his envoys,\r\nAmyntas and Clearellus, two Macedonians, besides Daochus, a Thessalian, and\r\nThrasydaeus. Now the Thebans, in their consultations, were well enough aware\r\nwhat suited best with their own interest, but everyone had before his eyes the\r\nterrors of war, and their losses in the Phocian troubles were still recent: but\r\nsuch was the force and power of the orator, fanning up, as Theopompus says,\r\ntheir courage, and firing their emulation, that casting away every thought of\r\nprudence, fear, or obligation, in a sort of divine possession, they chose the\r\npath of honor, to which his words invited them. And this success, thus\r\naccomplished by an orator, was thought to be so glorious and of such\r\nconsequence, that Philip immediately sent heralds to treat and petition for a\r\npeace: all Greece was aroused, and up in arms to help. And the\r\ncommanders-in-chief, not only of Attica, but of Boeotia, applied themselves to\r\nDemosthenes, and observed his directions. He managed all the assemblies of the\r\nThebans, no less than those of the Athenians; he was beloved both by the one\r\nand by the other, and exercised the same supreme authority with both; and that\r\nnot by unfair means, or without just cause, as Theopompus professes, but indeed\r\nit was no more than was due to his merit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut there was, it should seem, some divinely-ordered fortune, commissioned, in\r\nthe revolution of things, to put a period at this time to the liberty of\r\nGreece, which opposed and thwarted all their actions, and by many signs\r\nforetold what should happen. Such were the sad predictions uttered by the\r\nPythian priestess, and this old oracle cited out of the Sibyl’s verses, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe battle on Thermodon that shall be\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSafe at a distance I desire to see,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFar, like an eagle, watching in the air.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nConquered shall weep, and conqueror perish there.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis Thermodon, they say, is a little rivulet here in our country in Chaeronea,\r\nrunning into the Cephisus. But we know of none that is so called at the present\r\ntime; and can only conjecture that the streamlet which is now called Haemon,\r\nand runs by the Temple of Hercules, where the Grecians were encamped, might\r\nperhaps in those days be called Thermodon, and after the fight, being filled\r\nwith blood and dead bodies, upon this occasion, as we guess, might change its\r\nold name for that which it now bears. Yet Duris says that this Thermodon was no\r\nriver, but that some of the soldiers, as they were pitching their tents and\r\ndigging trenches about them, found a small stone statue, which, by the\r\ninscription, appeared to be the figure of Thermodon, carrying a wounded Amazon\r\nin his arms; and that there was another oracle current about it, as follows: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe battle on Thermodon that shall be,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFail not, black raven, to attend and see;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe flesh of men shall there abound for thee.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn fine, it is not easy to determine what is the truth. But of Demosthenes it\r\nis said, that he had such great confidence in the Grecian forces, and was so\r\nexcited by the sight of the courage and resolution of so many brave men ready\r\nto engage the enemy, that he would by no means endure they should give any heed\r\nto oracles, or hearken to prophecies, but gave out that he suspected even the\r\nprophetess herself, as if she had been tampered with to speak in favor of\r\nPhilip. The Thebans he put in mind of Epaminondas, the Athenians, of Pericles,\r\nwho always took their own measures and governed their actions by reason,\r\nlooking upon things of this kind as mere pretexts for cowardice. Thus far,\r\ntherefore, Demosthenes acquitted himself like a brave man. But in the fight he\r\ndid nothing honorable, nor was his performance answerable to his speeches. For\r\nhe fled, deserting his place disgracefully, and throwing away his arms, not\r\nashamed, as Pytheas observed, to belie the inscription written on his shield,\r\nin letters of gold, “With good fortune.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime Philip, in the first moment of victory, was so transported with\r\njoy, that he grew extravagant, and going out, after he had drunk largely, to\r\nvisit the dead bodies, he chanted the first words of the decree that had been\r\npassed on the motion of Demosthenes,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe motion of Demosthenes, Demosthenes’s son,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\ndividing it metrically into feet, and marking the beats.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when he came to himself, and had well considered the danger he was lately\r\nunder, he could not forbear from shuddering at the wonderful ability and power\r\nof an orator who had made him hazard his life and empire on the issue of a few\r\nbrief hours. The fame of it also reached even to the court of Persia, and the\r\nking sent letters to his lieutenants, commanding them to supply Demosthenes\r\nwith money, and to pay every attention to him, as the only man of all the\r\nGrecians who was able to give Philip occupation and find employment for his\r\nforces near home, in the troubles of Greece. This afterwards came to the\r\nknowledge of Alexander, by certain letters of Demosthenes which he found at\r\nSardis, and by other papers of the Persian officers, stating the large sums\r\nwhich had been given him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt this time, however, upon the ill success which now happened to the Grecians,\r\nthose of the contrary faction in the commonwealth fell foul upon Demosthenes,\r\nand took the opportunity to frame several informations and indictments against\r\nhim. But the people not only acquitted him of these accusations, but continued\r\ntowards him their former respect, and still invited him, as a man that meant\r\nwell, to take a part in public affairs. Insomuch that when the bones of those\r\nwho had been slain at Chaeronea were brought home to be solemnly interred,\r\nDemosthenes was the man they chose to make the funeral oration. They did not\r\nshow, under the misfortunes which befell them, a base or ignoble mind, as\r\nTheopompus writes in his exaggerated style, but, on the contrary, by the honor\r\nand respect paid to their counselor, they made it appear that they were noway\r\ndissatisfied with the counsels he had given them. The speech, therefore, was\r\nspoken by Demosthenes. But the subsequent decrees he would not allow to be\r\npassed in his own name, but made use of those of his friends, one after\r\nanother, looking upon his own as unfortunate and inauspicious; till at length\r\nhe took courage again after the death of Philip, who did not long outlive his\r\nvictory at Chaeronea. And this, it seems, was that which was foretold in the\r\nlast verse of the oracle,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nConquered shall weep, and conqueror perish there.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nDemosthenes had secret intelligence of the death of Philip, and laying hold of\r\nthis opportunity to prepossess the people with courage and better hopes for the\r\nfuture, he came into the assembly with a cheerful countenance, pretending to\r\nhave had a dream that presaged some great good fortune for Athens; and, not\r\nlong after, arrived the messengers who brought the news of Philip’s death. No\r\nsooner had the people received it but immediately they offered sacrifice to the\r\ngods, and decreed that Pausanias should be presented with a crown. Demosthenes\r\nappeared publicly in a rich dress, with a chaplet on his head, though it were\r\nbut the seventh day since the death of his daughter, as is said by Aeschines,\r\nwho upbraids him upon this account, and rails at him as one void of natural\r\naffection towards his children. Whereas, indeed, he rather betrays himself to\r\nbe of a poor, low spirit, and effeminate mind, if he really means to make\r\nwailings and lamentation the only signs of a gentle and affectionate nature,\r\nand to condemn those who bear such accidents with more temper and less passion.\r\nFor my own part, I cannot say that the behavior of the Athenians on this\r\noccasion was wise or honorable, to crown themselves with garlands and to\r\nsacrifice to the Gods for the death of a Prince who, in the midst of his\r\nsuccess and victories, when they were a conquered people, had used them with so\r\nmuch clemency and humanity. For besides provoking fortune, it was a base thing,\r\nand unworthy in itself, to make him a citizen of Athens, and pay him honors\r\nwhile he lived, and yet as soon as he fell by another’s hand, to set no bounds\r\nto their jollity, to insult over him dead, and to sing triumphant songs of\r\nvictory, as if by their own valor they had vanquished him. I must at the same\r\ntime commend the behavior of Demosthenes, who, leaving tears and lamentations\r\nand domestic sorrows to the women, made it his business to attend to the\r\ninterests of the commonwealth. And I think it the duty of him who would be\r\naccounted to have a soul truly valiant, and fit for government, that, standing\r\nalways firm to the common good, and letting private griefs and troubles find\r\ntheir compensation in public blessings, he should maintain the dignity of his\r\ncharacter and station, much more than actors who represent the persons of kings\r\nand tyrants, who, we see, when they either laugh or weep on the stage, follow,\r\nnot their own private inclinations, but the course consistent with the subject\r\nand with their position. And if, moreover, when our neighbor is in misfortune,\r\nit is not our duty to forbear offering any consolation, but rather to say\r\nwhatever may tend to cheer him, and to invite his attention to any agreeable\r\nobjects, just as we tell people who are troubled with sore eyes, to withdraw\r\ntheir sight from bright and offensive colors to green, and those of a softer\r\nmixture, from whence can a man seek, in his own case, better arguments of\r\nconsolation for afflictions in his family, than from the prosperity of his\r\ncountry, by making public and domestic chances count, so to say, together, and\r\nthe better fortune of the state obscure and conceal the less happy\r\ncircumstances of the individual. I have been induced to say so much, because I\r\nhave known many readers melted by Aeschines’s language into a soft and unmanly\r\ntenderness.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut now to return to my narrative. The cities of Greece were inspirited once\r\nmore by the efforts of Demosthenes to form a league together. The Thebans, whom\r\nhe had provided with arms, set upon their garrison, and slew many of them; the\r\nAthenians made preparations to join their forces with them; Demosthenes ruled\r\nsupreme in the popular assembly, and wrote letters to the Persian officers who\r\ncommanded under the king in Asia, inciting them to make war upon the\r\nMacedonian, calling him child and simpleton. But as soon as Alexander had\r\nsettled matters in his own country, and came in person with his army into\r\nBoeotia, down fell the courage of the Athenians, and Demosthenes was hushed;\r\nthe Thebans, deserted by them, fought by themselves, and lost their city. After\r\nwhich, the people of Athens, all in distress and great perplexity, resolved to\r\nsend ambassadors to Alexander, and amongst others, made choice of Demosthenes\r\nfor one; but his heart failing him for fear of the king’s anger, he returned\r\nback from Cithaeron, and left the embassy. In the meantime, Alexander sent to\r\nAthens, requiring ten of their orators to be delivered up to him, as Idomeneus\r\nand Duris have reported, but as the most and best historians say, he demanded\r\nthese eight only: Demosthenes, Polyeuctus, Ephialtes, Lycurgus, Moerocles,\r\nDemon, Callisthenes, and Charidemus. It was upon this occasion that Demosthenes\r\nrelated to them the fable in which the sheep are said to deliver up their dogs\r\nto the wolves; himself and those who with him contended for the people’s\r\nsafety, being, in his comparison, the dogs that defended the flock, and\r\nAlexander “the Macedonian arch wolf.” He further told them, “As we see\r\ncorn-masters sell their whole stock by a few grains of wheat which they carry\r\nabout with them in a dish, as a sample of the rest, so you, by delivering up\r\nus, who are but a few, do at the same time unawares surrender up yourselves all\r\ntogether with us;” so we find it related in the history of Aristobulus, the\r\nCassandrian. The Athenians were deliberating, and at a loss what to do, when\r\nDemades, having agreed with the persons whom Alexander had demanded, for five\r\ntalents, undertook to go ambassador, and to intercede with the king for them;\r\nand, whether it was that he relied on his friendship and kindness, or that he\r\nhoped to find him satiated, as a lion glutted with slaughter, he certainly\r\nwent, and prevailed with him both to pardon the men, and to be reconciled to\r\nthe city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo he and his friends, when Alexander went away, were great men, and\r\nDemosthenes was quite put aside. Yet when Agis, the Spartan, made his\r\ninsurrection, he also for a short time attempted a movement in his favor; but\r\nhe soon shrunk back again, as the Athenians would not take any part in it, and,\r\nAgis being slain, the Lacedaemonians were vanquished. During this time it was\r\nthat the indictment against Ctesiphon, concerning the Crown, was brought to\r\ntrial. The action was commenced a little before the battle in Chaeronea, when\r\nChaerondas was archon, but it was not proceeded with till about ten years\r\nafter, Aristophon being then archon. Never was any public cause more celebrated\r\nthan this, alike for the fame of the orators, and for the generous courage of\r\nthe judges, who, though at that time the accusers of Demosthenes were in the\r\nheight of power, and supported by all the favor of the Macedonians, yet would\r\nnot give judgment against him, but acquitted him so honorably, that Aeschines\r\ndid not obtain the fifth part of their suffrages on his side, so that,\r\nimmediately after, he left the city, and spent the rest of his life in teaching\r\nrhetoric about the island of Rhodes, and upon the continent in Ionia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was not long after that Harpalus fled from Alexander, and came to Athens out\r\nof Asia; knowing himself guilty of many misdeeds into which his love of luxury\r\nhad led him, and fearing the king, who was now grown terrible even to his best\r\nfriends. Yet this man had no sooner addressed himself to the people, and\r\ndelivered up his goods, his ships, and himself to their disposal, but the other\r\norators of the town had their eyes quickly fixed upon his money, and came in to\r\nhis assistance, persuading the Athenians to receive and protect their\r\nsuppliant. Demosthenes at first gave advice to chase him out of the country,\r\nand to beware lest they involved their city in a war upon an unnecessary and\r\nunjust occasion. But some few days after, as they were taking an account of the\r\ntreasure, Harpalus, perceiving how much he was pleased with a cup of Persian\r\nmanufacture, and how curiously he surveyed the sculpture and fashion of it,\r\ndesired him to poise it in his hand, and consider the weight of the gold.\r\nDemosthenes, being amazed to feel how heavy it was, asked him what weight it\r\ncame to. “To you,” said Harpalus, smiling, “it shall come with twenty talents.”\r\nAnd presently after, when night drew on, he sent him the cup with so many\r\ntalents. Harpalus, it seems, was a person of singular skill to discern a man’s\r\ncovetousness by the air of his countenance, and the look and movements of his\r\neyes. For Demosthenes could not resist the temptation, but admitting the\r\npresent, like an armed garrison, into the citadel of his house, he surrendered\r\nhimself up to the interest of Harpalus. The next day, he came into the assembly\r\nwith his neck swathed about with wool and rollers, and when they called on him\r\nto rise up and speak, he made signs as if he had lost his voice. But the wits,\r\nturning the matter to ridicule, said that certainly the orator had been seized\r\nthat night with no other than a silver quinsy. And soon after, the people,\r\nbecoming aware of the bribery, grew angry, and would not suffer him to speak,\r\nor make any apology for himself, but ran him down with noise; and one man stood\r\nup, and cried out, “What, ye men of Athens, will you not hear the cup-bearer?”\r\nSo at length they banished Harpalus out of the city; and fearing lest they\r\nshould be called to account for the treasure which the orators had purloined,\r\nthey made a strict inquiry, going from house to house; only Callicles, the son\r\nof Arrhenidas, who was newly married, they would not suffer to be searched, out\r\nof respect, as Theopompus writes, to the bride, who was within.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemosthenes resisted the inquisition, and proposed a decree to refer the\r\nbusiness to the court of Areopagus, and to punish those whom that court should\r\nfind guilty. But being himself one of the first whom the court condemned, when\r\nhe came to the bar, he was fined fifty talents, and committed to prison; where,\r\nout of shame of the crime for which he was condemned, and through the weakness\r\nof his body, growing incapable of supporting the confinement, he made his\r\nescape, by the carelessness of some and by the connivance of others of the\r\ncitizens. We are told, at least, that he had not fled far from the city, when,\r\nfinding that he was pursued by some of those who had been his adversaries, he\r\nendeavored to hide himself. But when they called him by his name, and coming up\r\nnearer to him, desired he would accept from them some money which they had\r\nbrought from home as a provision for his journey, and to that purpose only had\r\nfollowed him, when they entreated him to take courage, and to bear up against\r\nhis misfortune, he burst out into much greater lamentation, saying, “But how is\r\nit possible to support myself under so heavy an affliction, since I leave a\r\ncity in which I have such enemies, as in any other it is not easy to find\r\nfriends.” He did not show much fortitude in his banishment, spending his time\r\nfor the most part in Aegina and Troezen, and, with tears in his eyes, looking\r\ntowards the country of Attica. And there remain upon record some sayings of\r\nhis, little resembling those sentiments of generosity and bravery which he used\r\nto express when he had the management of the commonwealth. For, as he was\r\ndeparting out of the city, it is reported, he lifted up his hands towards the\r\nAcropolis, and said, “O Lady Minerva, how is it that thou takest delight in\r\nthree such fierce untractable beast, the owl, the snake, and the people?” The\r\nyoung men that came to visit and converse with him, he deterred from meddling\r\nwith state affairs, telling them, that if at first two ways had been proposed\r\nto him, the one leading to the speaker’s stand and the assembly, the other\r\ngoing direct to destruction, and he could have foreseen the many evils which\r\nattend those who deal in public business, such as fears, envies, calumnies, and\r\ncontentions, he would certainly have taken that which led straight on to his\r\ndeath.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut now happened the death of Alexander, while Demosthenes was in this\r\nbanishment which we have been speaking of. And the Grecians were once again up\r\nin arms, encouraged by the brave attempts of Leosthenes, who was then drawing a\r\ncircumvallation about Antipater, whom he held close besieged in Lamia. Pytheas,\r\ntherefore, the orator, and Callimedon, called the Crab, fled from Athens, and\r\ntaking sides with Antipater, went about with his friends and ambassadors to\r\nkeep the Grecians from revolting and taking part with the Athenians. But, on\r\nthe other side, Demosthenes, associating himself with the ambassadors that came\r\nfrom Athens, used his utmost endeavors and gave them his best assistance in\r\npersuading the cities to fall unanimously upon the Macedonians, and to drive\r\nthem out of Greece. Phylarchus says that in Arcadia there happened a rencounter\r\nbetween Pytheas and Demosthenes, which came at last to downright railing, while\r\nthe one pleaded for the Macedonians, and the other for the Grecians. Pytheas\r\nsaid, that as we always suppose there is some disease in the family to which\r\nthey bring asses’ milk, so wherever there comes an embassy from Athens, that\r\ncity must needs be indisposed. And Demosthenes answered him, retorting the\r\ncomparison: “Asses’ milk is brought to restore health, and the Athenians come\r\nfor the safety and recovery of the sick.” With this conduct the people of\r\nAthens were so well pleased, that they decreed the recall of Demosthenes from\r\nbanishment. The decree was brought in by Demon the Paeanian, cousin to\r\nDemosthenes. So they sent him a ship to Aegina, and he landed at the port of\r\nPiraeus, where he was met and joyfully received by all the citizens, not so\r\nmuch as an Archon or a priest staying behind. And Demetrius, the Magnesian,\r\nsays, that he lifted up his hands towards heaven, and blessed this day of his\r\nhappy return, as far more honorable than that of Alcibiades; since he was\r\nrecalled by his countrymen, not through any force or constraint put upon them,\r\nbut by their own good-will and free inclinations. There remained only his\r\npecuniary fine, which, according to law, could not be remitted by the people.\r\nBut they found out a way to elude the law. It was a custom with them to allow a\r\ncertain quantity of silver to those who were to furnish and adorn the altar for\r\nthe sacrifice of Jupiter Soter. This office, for that turn, they bestowed on\r\nDemosthenes, and for the performance of it ordered him fifty talents, the very\r\nsum in which he was condemned.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet it was no long time that he enjoyed his country after his return, the\r\nattempts of the Greeks being soon all utterly defeated. For the battle at\r\nCranon happened in Metagitnion, in Boedromion the garrison entered into\r\nMunychia, and in the Pyanepsion following died Demosthenes after this manner.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon the report that Antipater and Craterus were coming to Athens, Demosthenes\r\nwith his party took their opportunity to escape privily out of the city; but\r\nsentence of death was, upon the motion of Demades, passed upon them by the\r\npeople. They dispersed themselves, flying some to one place, some to another;\r\nand Antipater sent about his soldiers into all quarters to apprehend them.\r\nArchias was their captain, and was thence called the exile-hunter. He was a\r\nThurian born, and is reported to have been an actor of tragedies, and they say\r\nthat Polus, of Aegina, the best actor of his time, was his scholar; but\r\nHermippus reckons Archias among the disciples of Lacritus, the orator, and\r\nDemetrius says, he spent some time with Anaximenes. This Archias finding\r\nHyperides the orator, Aristonicus of Marathon, and Himeraeus, the brother of\r\nDemetrius the Phalerian, in Aegina, took them by force out of the temple of\r\nAeacus, whither they were fled for safety, and sent them to Antipater, then at\r\nCleonae, where they were all put to death; and Hyperides, they say, had his\r\ntongue cut out.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemosthenes, he heard, had taken sanctuary at the temple of Neptune in\r\nCalauria, and, crossing over thither in some light vessels, as soon as he had\r\nlanded himself, and the Thracian spear-men that came with him, he endeavored to\r\npersuade Demosthenes to accompany him to Antipater, as if he should meet with\r\nno hard usage from him. But Demosthenes, in his sleep the night before, had a\r\nstrange dream. It seemed to him that he was acting a tragedy, and contended\r\nwith Archias for the victory; and though he acquitted himself well, and gave\r\ngood satisfaction to the spectators, yet for want of better furniture and\r\nprovision for the stage, he lost the day. And so, while Archias was discoursing\r\nto him with many expressions of kindness, he sat still in the same posture, and\r\nlooking up steadfastly upon him, “O Archias,” said he, “I am as little affected\r\nby your promises now as I used formerly to be by your acting.” Archias at this\r\nbeginning to grow angry and to threaten him, “Now,” said Demosthenes, “you\r\nspeak like the genuine Macedonian oracle; before you were but acting a part.\r\nTherefore forbear only a little, while I write a word or two home to my\r\nfamily.” Having thus spoken, he withdrew into the temple, and taking a scroll,\r\nas if he meant to write, he put the reed into his mouth, and biting it, as he\r\nwas wont to do when he was thoughtful or writing, he held it there for some\r\ntime. Then he bowed down his head and covered it. The soldiers that stood at\r\nthe door, supposing all this to proceed from want of courage and fear of death,\r\nin derision called him effeminate, and faint-hearted, and coward. And Archias,\r\ndrawing near, desired him to rise up, and repeating the same kind things he had\r\nspoken before, he once more promised him to make his peace with Antipater. But\r\nDemosthenes, perceiving that now the poison had pierced and seized his vitals,\r\nuncovered his head, and fixing his eyes upon Archias, “Now,” said he, “as soon\r\nas you please you may commence the part of Creon in the tragedy, and cast out\r\nthis body of mine unburied. But, O gracious Neptune, I, for my part, while I am\r\nyet alive, arise up and depart out of this sacred place; though Antipater and\r\nthe Macedonians have not left so much as thy temple unpolluted.” After he had\r\nthus spoken and desired to be held up, because already he began to tremble and\r\nstagger, as he was going forward, and passing by the altar, he fell down, and\r\nwith a groan gave up the ghost.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAriston says that he took the poison out of a reed, as we have shown before.\r\nBut Pappus, a certain historian whose history was recovered by Hermippus, says,\r\nthat as he fell near the altar, there was found in his scroll this beginning\r\nonly of a letter, and nothing more, “Demosthenes to Antipater.” And that when\r\nhis sudden death was much wondered at, the Thracians who guarded the doors\r\nreported that he took the poison into his hand out of a rag, and put it in his\r\nmouth, and that they imagined it had been gold which he swallowed; but the maid\r\nthat served him, being examined by the followers of Archias, affirmed that he\r\nhad worn it in a bracelet for a long time, as an amulet. And Eratosthenes also\r\nsays that he kept the poison in a hollow ring, and that that ring was the\r\nbracelet which he wore about his arm. There are various other statements made\r\nby the many authors who have related the story, but there is no need to enter\r\ninto their discrepancies; yet I must not omit what is said by Demochares, the\r\nrelation of Demosthenes, who is of opinion, it was not by the help of poison\r\nthat he met with so sudden and so easy a death, but that by the singular favor\r\nand providence of the gods he was thus rescued from the cruelty of the\r\nMacedonians. He died on the sixteenth of Pyanepsion, the most sad and solemn\r\nday of the Thesmophoria, which the women observe by fasting in the temple of\r\nthe goddess.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSoon after his death, the people of Athens bestowed on him such honors as he\r\nhad deserved. They erected his statue of brass; they decreed that the eldest of\r\nhis family should be maintained in the Prytaneum; and on the base of his statue\r\nwas engraven the famous inscription, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHad you for Greece been strong, as wise you were,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe Macedonian had not conquered her.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor it is simply ridiculous to say, as some have related, that Demosthenes made\r\nthese verses himself in Calauria, as he was about to take the poison.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA little before we went to Athens, the following incident was said to have\r\nhappened. A soldier, being summoned to appear before his superior officer, and\r\nanswer to an accusation brought against him, put that little gold which he had\r\ninto the hands of Demosthenes’s statue. The fingers of this statue were folded\r\none within another, and near it grew a small plane-tree, from which many\r\nleaves, either accidentally blown thither by the wind, or placed so on purpose\r\nby the man himself falling together, and lying round about the gold, concealed\r\nit for a long time. In the end, the soldier returned, and found his treasure\r\nentire, and the fame of this incident was spread abroad. And many ingenious\r\npersons of the city competed with each other, on this occasion, to vindicate\r\nthe integrity of Demosthenes, in several epigrams which they made on the\r\nsubject.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for Demades, he did not long enjoy the new honors he now came in for, divine\r\nvengeance for the death of Demosthenes pursuing him into Macedonia, where he\r\nwas justly put to death by those whom he had basely flattered. They were weary\r\nof him before, but at this time the guilt he lay under was manifest and\r\nundeniable. For some of his letters were intercepted, in which he had\r\nencouraged Perdiccas to fall upon Macedonia, and to save the Grecians, who, he\r\nsaid, hung only by an old rotten thread, meaning Antipater. Of this he was\r\naccused by Dinarchus, the Corinthian, and Cassander was so enraged, that he\r\nfirst slew his son in his bosom, and then gave orders to execute him; who\r\nmight-now at last, by his own extreme misfortunes, learn the lesson, that\r\ntraitors, who make sale of their country, sell themselves first; a truth which\r\nDemosthenes had often foretold him, and he would never believe. Thus, Sosius,\r\nyou have the life of Demosthenes, from such accounts as we have either read or\r\nheard concerning him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap57\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCICERO\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is generally said, that Helvia, the mother of Cicero, was both well born and\r\nlived a fair life; but of his father nothing is reported but in extremes. For\r\nwhilst some would have him the son of a fuller, and educated in that trade,\r\nothers carry back the origin of his family to Tullus Attius, an illustrious\r\nking of the Volscians, who waged war not without honor against the Romans.\r\nHowever, he who first of that house was surnamed Cicero seems to have been a\r\nperson worthy to be remembered; since those who succeeded him not only did not\r\nreject, but were fond of that name, though vulgarly made a matter of reproach.\r\nFor the Latins call a vetch Cicer, and a nick or dent at the tip of his nose,\r\nwhich resembled the opening in a vetch, gave him the surname of Cicero.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCicero, whose story I am writing, is said to have replied with spirit to some\r\nof his friends, who recommended him to lay aside or change the name when he\r\nfirst stood for office and engaged in politics, that he would make it his\r\nendeavor to render the name of Cicero more glorious than that of the Scauri and\r\nCatuli. And when he was quaestor in Sicily, and was making an offering of\r\nsilver plate to the gods, and had inscribed his two names, Marcus and Tullius,\r\ninstead of the third he jestingly told the artificer to engrave the figure of a\r\nvetch by them. Thus much is told us about his name.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf his birth it is reported, that his mother was delivered without pain or\r\nlabor, on the third of the new Calends, the same day on which now the\r\nmagistrates of Rome pray and sacrifice for the emperor. It is said, also, that\r\na vision appeared to his nurse, and foretold the child she then suckled should\r\nafterwards become a great benefit to the Roman States. To such presages, which\r\nmight in general be thought mere fancies and idle talk, he himself erelong gave\r\nthe credit of true prophecies. For as soon as he was of an age to begin to have\r\nlessons, he became so distinguished for his talent, and got such a name and\r\nreputation amongst the boys, that their fathers would often visit the school,\r\nthat they might see young Cicero, and might be able to say that they themselves\r\nhad witnessed the quickness and readiness in learning for which he was\r\nrenowned. And the more rude among them used to be angry with their children, to\r\nsee them, as they walked together, receiving Cicero with respect into the\r\nmiddle place. And being, as Plato would have, the scholar-like and\r\nphilosophical temper, eager for every kind of learning, and indisposed to no\r\ndescription of knowledge or instruction, he showed, however, a more peculiar\r\npropensity to poetry; and there is a poem now extant, made by him when a boy,\r\nin tetrameter verse, called Pontius Glaucus. And afterwards, when he applied\r\nhimself more curiously to these accomplishments, he had the name of being not\r\nonly the best orator, but also the best poet of Rome. And the glory of his\r\nrhetoric still remains, notwithstanding the many new modes in speaking since\r\nhis time; but his verses are forgotten and out of all repute, so many ingenious\r\npoets having followed him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLeaving his juvenile studies, he became an auditor of Philo the Academic, whom\r\nthe Romans, above all the other scholars of Clitomachus, admired for his\r\neloquence and loved for his character. He also sought the company of the Mucii,\r\nwho were eminent statesmen and leaders in the senate, and acquired from them a\r\nknowledge of the laws. For some short time he served in arms under Sylla, in\r\nthe Marsian war. But perceiving the commonwealth running into factions, and\r\nfrom faction all things tending to an absolute monarchy, he betook himself to a\r\nretired and contemplative life, and conversing with the learned Greeks, devoted\r\nhimself to study, till Sylla had obtained the government, and the commonwealth\r\nwas in some kind of settlement.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt this time, Chrysogonus, Sylla’s emancipated slave, having laid an\r\ninformation about an estate belonging to one who was said to have been put to\r\ndeath by proscription, had bought it himself for two thousand drachmas. And\r\nwhen Roscius, the son and heir of the dead, complained, and demonstrated the\r\nestate to be worth two hundred and fifty talents, Sylla took it angrily to have\r\nhis actions questioned, and preferred a process against Roscius for the murder\r\nof his father, Chrysogonus managing the evidence. None of the advocates durst\r\nassist him, but fearing the cruelty of Sylla, avoided the cause. The young man,\r\nbeing thus deserted, came for refuge to Cicero. Cicero’s friends encouraged\r\nhim, saying he was not likely ever to have a fairer and more honorable\r\nintroduction to public life; he therefore undertook the defense, carried the\r\ncause, and got much renown for it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut fearing Sylla, he traveled into Greece, and gave it out that he did so for\r\nthe benefit of his health. And indeed he was lean and meager, and had such a\r\nweakness in his stomach, that he could take nothing but a spare and thin diet,\r\nand that not till late in the evening. His voice was loud and good, but so\r\nharsh and unmanaged that in vehemence and heat of speaking he always raised it\r\nto so high a tone, that there seemed to be reason to fear about his health.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he came to Athens, he was a hearer of Antiochus of Ascalon, with whose\r\nfluency and elegance of diction he was much taken, although he did not approve\r\nof his innovations in doctrine. For Antiochus had now fallen off from the New\r\nAcademy, as they call it, and forsaken the sect of Carneades, whether that he\r\nwas moved by the argument of manifestness and the senses, or, as some say, had\r\nbeen led by feelings of rivalry and opposition to the followers of Clitomachus\r\nand Philo to change his opinions, and in most things to embrace the doctrine of\r\nthe Stoics. But Cicero rather affected and adhered to the doctrines of the New\r\nAcademy; and purposed with himself, if he should be disappointed of any\r\nemployment in the commonwealth, to retire hither from pleading and political\r\naffairs, and to pass his life with quiet in the study of philosophy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut after he had received the news of Sylla’s death, and his body, strengthened\r\nagain by exercise, was come to a vigorous habit, his voice managed and rendered\r\nsweet and full to the ear and pretty well brought into keeping with his general\r\nconstitution, his friends at Rome earnestly soliciting him by letters, and\r\nAntiochus also urging him to return to public affairs, he again prepared for\r\nuse his orator’s instrument of rhetoric, and summoned into action his political\r\nfaculties, diligently exercising himself in declamations, and attending the\r\nmost celebrated rhetoricians of the time. He sailed from Athens for Asia and\r\nRhodes. Amongst the Asian masters, he conversed with Xenocles of Adramyttium,\r\nDionysius of Magnesia, and Menippus of Caria; at Rhodes, he studied oratory\r\nwith Apollonius, the son of Molon, and philosophy with Posidonius. Apollonius,\r\nwe are told, not understanding Latin, requested Cicero to declaim in Greek. He\r\ncomplied willingly, thinking that his faults would thus be better pointed out\r\nto him. And after he finished, all his other hearers were astonished, and\r\ncontended who should praise him most, but Apollonius, who had shown no signs of\r\nexcitement whilst he was hearing him, so also now, when it was over, sat musing\r\nfor some considerable time, without any remark. And when Cicero was discomposed\r\nat this, he said, “You have my praise and admiration, Cicero, and Greece my\r\npity and commiseration, since those arts and that eloquence which are the only\r\nglories that remain to her, will now be transferred by you to Rome.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now when Cicero, full of expectation, was again bent upon political\r\naffairs, a certain oracle blunted the edge of his inclination; for consulting\r\nthe god of Delphi how he should attain most glory, the Pythoness answered, by\r\nmaking his own genius and not the opinion of the people the guide of his life;\r\nand therefore at first he passed his time in Rome cautiously, and was very\r\nbackward in pretending to public offices, so that he was at that time in little\r\nesteem, and had got the names, so readily given by low and ignorant people in\r\nRome, of Greek and Scholar. But when his own desire of fame and the eagerness\r\nof his father and relations had made him take in earnest to pleading, he made\r\nno slow or gentle advance to the first place, but shone out in full luster at\r\nonce, and far surpassed all the advocates of the bar. At first, it is said, he,\r\nas well as Demosthenes, was defective in his delivery, and on that account paid\r\nmuch attention to the instructions, sometimes of Roscius the comedian, and\r\nsometimes of Aesop the tragedian. They tell of this Aesop, that whilst he was\r\nrepresenting on the theater Atreus deliberating the revenge of Thyestes, he was\r\nso transported beyond himself in the heat of action, that he struck with his\r\nscepter one of the servants, who was running across the stage, so violently,\r\nthat he laid him dead upon the place. And such afterwards was Cicero’s\r\ndelivery, that it did not a little contribute to render his eloquence\r\npersuasive. He used to ridicule loud speakers, saying that they shouted because\r\nthey could not speak, like lame men who get on horseback because they cannot\r\nwalk. And his readiness and address in sarcasm, and generally in witty sayings,\r\nwas thought to suit a pleader very well, and to be highly attractive, but his\r\nusing it to excess offended many, and gave him the repute of ill nature.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was appointed quaestor in a great scarcity of corn, and had Sicily for his\r\nprovince, where, though at first he displeased many, by compelling them to send\r\nin their provisions to Rome, yet after they had had experience of his care,\r\njustice, and clemency, they honored him more than ever they did any of their\r\ngovernors before. It happened, also, that some young Romans of good and noble\r\nfamilies, charged with neglect of discipline and misconduct in military\r\nservice, were brought before the praetor in Sicily. Cicero undertook their\r\ndefense, which he conducted admirably, and got them acquitted. So returning to\r\nRome with a great opinion of himself for these things, a ludicrous incident\r\nbefell him, as he tells us himself. Meeting an eminent citizen in Campania,\r\nwhom he accounted his friend, he asked him what the Romans said and thought of\r\nhis actions, as if the whole city had been filled with the glory of what he had\r\ndone. His friend asked him in reply, “Where is it you have been, Cicero?” This\r\nfor the time utterly mortified and cast him down, to perceive that the report\r\nof his actions had sunk into the city of Rome as into an immense ocean, without\r\nany visible effect or result in reputation. And afterwards considering with\r\nhimself that the glory he contended for was an infinite thing, and that there\r\nwas no fixed end nor measure in its pursuit, he abated much of his ambitious\r\nthoughts. Nevertheless, he was always excessively pleased with his own praise,\r\nand continued to the very last to be passionately fond of glory; which often\r\ninterfered with the prosecution of his wisest resolutions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn beginning to apply himself more resolutely to public business, he remarked\r\nit as an unreasonable and absurd thing that artificers, using vessels and\r\ninstruments inanimate, should know the name, place, and use of every one of\r\nthem, and yet the statesman, whose instruments for carrying out public measures\r\nare men, should be negligent and careless in the knowledge of persons. And so\r\nhe not only acquainted himself with the names, but also knew the particular\r\nplace where every one of the more eminent citizens dwelt, what lands he\r\npossessed, the friends he made use of, and those that were of his neighborhood,\r\nand when he traveled on any road in Italy, he could readily name and show the\r\nestates and seats of his friends and acquaintance. Having so small an estate,\r\nthough a sufficient competency for his own expenses, it was much wondered at\r\nthat he took neither fees nor gifts from his clients, and more especially, that\r\nhe did not do so when he undertook the prosecution of Verres. This Verres, who\r\nhad been praetor of Sicily, and stood charged by the Sicilians of many evil\r\npractices during his government there, Cicero succeeded in getting condemned,\r\nnot by speaking, but in a manner by holding his tongue. For the praetors,\r\nfavoring Verres, had deferred the trial by several adjournments to the last\r\nday, in which it was evident there could not be sufficient time for the\r\nadvocates to be heard, and the cause brought to an issue. Cicero, therefore,\r\ncame forward, and said there was no need of speeches; and after producing and\r\nexamining witnesses, he required the judges to proceed to sentence. However,\r\nmany witty sayings are on record, as having been used by Cicero on the\r\noccasion. When a man named Caecilius, one of the freed slaves, who was said to\r\nbe given to Jewish practices, would have put by the Sicilians, and undertaken\r\nthe prosecution of Verres himself, Cicero asked, “What has a Jew to do with\r\nswine?” verres being the Roman word for a boar. And when Verres began to\r\nreproach Cicero with effeminate living, “You ought,” replied he, “to use this\r\nlanguage at home, to your sons;” Verres having a son who had fallen into\r\ndisgraceful courses. Hortensius the orator, not daring directly to undertake\r\nthe defense of Verres, was yet persuaded to appear for him at the laying on of\r\nthe fine, and received an ivory sphinx for his reward; and when Cicero, in some\r\npassage of his speech, obliquely reflected on him, and Hortensius told him he\r\nwas not skillful in solving riddles, “No,” said Cicero, “and yet you have the\r\nSphinx in your house!”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nVerres was thus convicted; though Cicero, who set the fine at seventy-five\r\nmyriads, lay under the suspicion of being corrupted by bribery to lessen the\r\nsum. But the Sicilians, in testimony of their gratitude, came and brought him\r\nall sorts of presents from the island, when he was aedile; of which he made no\r\nprivate profit himself, but used their generosity only to reduce the public\r\nprice of provisions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe had a very pleasant seat at Arpi, he had also a farm near Naples, and\r\nanother about Pompeii, but neither of any great value. The portion of his wife,\r\nTerentia, amounted to ten myriads, and he had a bequest valued at nine myriads\r\nof denarii; upon these he lived in a liberal but temperate style, with the\r\nlearned Greeks and Romans that were his familiars. He rarely, if at any time,\r\nsat down to meat till sunset, and that not so much on account of business, as\r\nfor his health and the weakness of his stomach. He was otherwise in the care of\r\nhis body nice and delicate, appointing himself, for example, a set number of\r\nwalks and rubbings. And after this manner managing the habit of his body, he\r\nbrought it in time to be healthful, and capable of supporting many great\r\nfatigues and trials. His father’s house he made over to his brother, living\r\nhimself near the Palatine hill, that he might not give the trouble of long\r\njourneys to those that made suit to him. And, indeed, there were not fewer\r\ndaily appearing at his door, to do their court to him, than there were that\r\ncame to Crassus for his riches, or to Pompey for his power amongst the\r\nsoldiers, these being at that time the two men of the greatest repute and\r\ninfluence in Rome. Nay, even Pompey himself used to pay court to Cicero, and\r\nCicero’s public actions did much to establish Pompey’s authority and reputation\r\nin the state.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNumerous distinguished competitors stood with him for the praetor’s office; but\r\nhe was chosen before them all, and managed the decision of causes with justice\r\nand integrity. It is related that Licinius Macer, a man himself of great power\r\nin the city, and supported also by the assistance of Crassus, was accused\r\nbefore him of extortion, and that, in confidence on his own interest and the\r\ndiligence of his friends, whilst the judges were debating about the sentence,\r\nhe went to his house, where hastily trimming his hair and putting on a clean\r\ngown, as already acquitted, he was setting off again to go to the Forum; but at\r\nhis hall door meeting Crassus, who told him that he was condemned by all the\r\nvotes, he went in again, threw himself upon his bed, and died immediately. This\r\nverdict was considered very creditable to Cicero, as showing his careful\r\nmanagement of the courts of justice. On another occasion, Vatinius, a man of\r\nrude manners and often insolent in court to the magistrates, who had large\r\nswellings on his neck, came before his tribunal and made some request, and on\r\nCicero’s desiring further time to consider it, told him that he himself would\r\nhave made no question about it, had he been praetor. Cicero, turning quickly\r\nupon him, answered, “But I, you see, have not the neck that you have.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen there were but two or three days remaining in his office, Manilius was\r\nbrought before him, and charged with peculation. Manilius had the good opinion\r\nand favor of the common people, and was thought to be prosecuted only for\r\nPompey’s sake, whose particular friend he was. And therefore, when he asked a\r\nspace of time before his trial, and Cicero allowed him but one day, and that\r\nthe next only, the common people grew highly offended, because it had been the\r\ncustom of the praetors to allow ten days at least to the accused: and the\r\ntribunes of the people having called him before the people, and accused him,\r\nhe, desiring to be heard, said, that as he had always treated the accused with\r\nequity and humanity, as far as the law allowed, so he thought it hard to deny\r\nthe same to Manilius, and that he had studiously appointed that day of which\r\nalone, as praetor, he was master, and that it was not the part of those that\r\nwere desirous to help him, to cast the judgment of his cause upon another\r\npraetor. These things being said made a wonderful change in the people, and,\r\ncommending him much for it, they desired that he himself would undertake the\r\ndefense of Manilius; which he willingly consented to, and that principally for\r\nthe sake of Pompey, who was absent. And, accordingly, taking his place before\r\nthe people again, he delivered a bold invective upon the oligarchical party and\r\non those who were jealous of Pompey.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet he was preferred to the consulship no less by the nobles than the common\r\npeople, for the good of the city; and both parties jointly assisted his\r\npromotion, upon the following reasons. The change of government made by Sylla,\r\nwhich at first seemed a senseless one, by time and usage had now come to be\r\nconsidered by the people no unsatisfactory settlement. But there were some that\r\nendeavored to alter and subvert the whole present state of affairs not from any\r\ngood motives, but for their own private gain; and Pompey being at this time\r\nemployed in the wars with the kings of Pontus and Armenia, there was no\r\nsufficient force at Rome to suppress any attempts at a revolution. These people\r\nhad for their head a man of bold, daring, and restless character, Lucius\r\nCatiline, who was accused, besides other great offenses, of deflowering his\r\nvirgin daughter, and killing his own brother; for which latter crime, fearing\r\nto be prosecuted at law, he persuaded Sylla to set him down, as though he were\r\nyet alive, amongst those that were to be put to death by proscription. This man\r\nthe profligate citizens choosing for their captain, gave faith to one another,\r\namongst other pledges, by sacrificing a man and eating of his flesh; and a\r\ngreat part of the young men of the city were corrupted by him, he providing for\r\neveryone pleasures, drink, and women, and profusely supplying the expense of\r\nthese debauches. Etruria, moreover, had all been excited to revolt, as well as\r\na great part of Gaul within the Alps. But Rome itself was in the most dangerous\r\ninclination to change, on account of the unequal distribution of wealth and\r\nproperty, those of highest rank and greatest spirit having impoverished\r\nthemselves by shows, entertainments, ambition of offices, and sumptuous\r\nbuildings, and the riches of the city having thus fallen into the hands of mean\r\nand low-born persons. So that there wanted but a slight impetus to set all in\r\nmotion, it being in the power of every daring man to overturn a sickly\r\ncommonwealth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCatiline, however, being desirous of procuring a strong position to carry out\r\nhis designs, stood for the consulship, and had great hopes of success, thinking\r\nhe should be appointed, with Caius Antonius as his colleague, who was a man fit\r\nto lead neither in a good cause nor in a bad one, but might be a valuable\r\naccession to another’s power. These things the greatest part of the good and\r\nhonest citizens apprehending, put Cicero upon standing for the consulship; whom\r\nthe people readily receiving, Catiline was put by, so that he and Caius\r\nAntonius were chosen, although amongst the competitors he was the only man\r\ndescended from a father of the equestrian, and not of the senatorial order.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThough the designs of Catiline were not yet publicly known, yet considerable\r\npreliminary troubles immediately followed upon Cicero’s entrance upon the\r\nconsulship. For, on the one side, those who were disqualified by the laws of\r\nSylla from holding any public offices, being neither inconsiderable in power\r\nnor in number, came forward as candidates and caressed the people for them;\r\nspeaking many things truly and justly against the tyranny of Sylla, only that\r\nthey disturbed the government at an improper and unseasonable time; on the\r\nother hand, the tribunes of the people proposed laws to the same purpose,\r\nconstituting a commission of ten persons, with unlimited powers, in whom as\r\nsupreme governors should be vested the right of selling the public lands of all\r\nItaly and Syria and Pompey’s new conquests, of judging and banishing whom they\r\npleased, of planting colonies, of taking moneys out of the treasury, and of\r\nlevying and paying what soldiers should be thought needful. And several of the\r\nnobility favored this law, but especially Caius Antonius, Cicero’s colleague,\r\nin hopes of being one of the ten. But what gave the greatest fear to the nobles\r\nwas, that he was thought privy to the conspiracy of Catiline, and not to\r\ndislike it, because of his great debts.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCicero, endeavoring in the first place to provide a remedy against this danger,\r\nprocured a decree assigning to him the province of Macedonia, he himself\r\ndeclining that of Gaul, which was offered to him. And this piece of favor so\r\ncompletely won over Antonius, that he was ready to second and respond to, like\r\na hired player, whatever Cicero said for the good of the country. And now,\r\nhaving made his colleague thus tame and tractable, he could with greater\r\ncourage attack the conspirators. And, therefore, in the senate, making an\r\noration against the law of the ten commissioners, he so confounded those who\r\nproposed it, that they had nothing to reply. And when they again endeavored,\r\nand, having prepared things beforehand, had called the consuls before the\r\nassembly of the people, Cicero, fearing nothing, went first out, and commanded\r\nthe senate to follow him, and not only succeeded in throwing out the law, but\r\nso entirely overpowered the tribunes by his oratory, that they abandoned all\r\nthought of their other projects.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor Cicero, it may be said, was the one man, above all others, who made the\r\nRomans feel how great a charm eloquence lends to what is good, and how\r\ninvincible justice is, if it be well spoken; and that it is necessary for him\r\nwho would dexterously govern a commonwealth, in action, always to prefer that\r\nwhich is honest before that which is popular, and in speaking, to free the\r\nright and useful measure from everything that may occasion offense. An incident\r\noccurred in the theater, during his consulship, which showed what his speaking\r\ncould do. For whereas formerly the knights of Rome were mingled in the theater\r\nwith the common people, and took their places amongst them as it happened,\r\nMarcus Otho, when he was praetor, was the first who distinguished them from the\r\nother citizens, and appointed them a proper seat, which they still enjoy as\r\ntheir special place in the theater. This the common people took as an indignity\r\ndone to them, and, therefore, when Otho appeared in the theater, they hissed\r\nhim; the knights, on the contrary, received him with loud clapping. The people\r\nrepeated and increased their hissing; the knights continued their clapping.\r\nUpon this, turning upon one another, they broke out into insulting words, so\r\nthat the theater was in great disorder. Cicero, being informed of it, came\r\nhimself to the theater, and summoning the people into the temple of Bellona, he\r\nso effectually chid and chastised them for it, that, again returning into the\r\ntheater, they received Otho with loud applause, contending with the knights who\r\nshould give him the greatest demonstrations of honor and respect.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe conspirators with Catiline, at first cowed and disheartened, began\r\npresently to take courage again. And assembling themselves together, they\r\nexhorted one another boldly to undertake the design before Pompey’s return,\r\nwho, as it was said, was now on his march with his forces for Rome. But the old\r\nsoldiers of Sylla were Catiline’s chief stimulus to action. They had been\r\ndisbanded all about Italy, but the greatest number and the fiercest of them lay\r\nscattered among the cities of Etruria, entertaining themselves with dreams of\r\nnew plunder and rapine amongst the hoarded riches of Italy. These, having for\r\ntheir leader Manlius, who had served with distinction in the wars under Sylla,\r\njoined themselves to Catiline, and came to Rome to assist him with their\r\nsuffrages at the election. For he again pretended to the consulship, having\r\nresolved to kill Cicero in a tumult at the elections. Also, the divine powers\r\nseemed to give intimation of the coming troubles, by earthquakes, thunderbolts,\r\nand strange appearances. Nor was human evidence wanting, certain enough in\r\nitself, though not sufficient for the conviction of the noble and powerful\r\nCatiline. Therefore Cicero, deferring the day of election, summoned Catiline\r\ninto the senate, and questioned him as to the charges made against him.\r\nCatiline, believing there were many in the senate desirous of change, and to\r\ngive a specimen of himself to the conspirators present, returned an audacious\r\nanswer, “What harm,” said he, “when I see two bodies, the one lean and\r\nconsumptive with a head, the other great and strong without one, if I put a\r\nhead to that body which wants one?” This covert representation of the senate\r\nand the people excited yet greater apprehensions in Cicero. He put on armor,\r\nand was attended from his house by the noble citizens in a body; and a number\r\nof the young men went with him into the Plain. Here, designedly letting his\r\ntunic slip partly off from his shoulders, he showed his armor underneath, and\r\ndiscovered his danger to the spectators; who, being much moved at it, gathered\r\nround about him for his defense. At length, Catiline was by a general suffrage\r\nagain put by, and Silanus and Murena chosen consuls.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after this, Catiline’s soldiers got together in a body in Etruria, and\r\nbegan to form themselves into companies, the day appointed for the design being\r\nnear at hand. About midnight, some of the principal and most powerful citizens\r\nof Rome, Marcus Crassus, Marcus Marcellus, and Scipio Metellus went to Cicero’s\r\nhouse, where, knocking at the gate, and calling up the porter, they commended\r\nhim to awake Cicero, and tell him they were there. The business was this:\r\nCrassus’s porter after supper had delivered to him letters brought by an\r\nunknown person. Some of them were directed to others, but one to Crassus,\r\nwithout a name; this only Crassus read, which informed him that there was a\r\ngreat slaughter intended by Catiline, and advised him to leave the city. The\r\nothers he did not open, but went with them immediately to Cicero, being\r\naffrighted at the danger, and to free himself of the suspicion he lay under for\r\nhis familiarity with Catiline. Cicero, considering the matter, summoned the\r\nsenate at break of day. The letters he brought with him, and delivered them to\r\nthose to whom they were directed, commanding them to read them publicly; they\r\nall alike contained an account of the conspiracy. And when Quintus Arrius, a\r\nman of praetorian dignity, recounted to them, how soldiers were collecting in\r\ncompanies in Etruria, and Manlius stated to be in motion with a large force,\r\nhovering about those cities, in expectation of intelligence from Rome, the\r\nsenate made a decree, to place all in the hands of the consuls, who should\r\nundertake the conduct of everything, and do their best to save the state. This\r\nwas not a common thing, but only done by the senate in case of imminent danger.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter Cicero had received this power, he committed all affairs outside to\r\nQuintus Metellus, but the management of the city he kept in his own hands. Such\r\na numerous attendance guarded him every day when he went abroad, that the\r\ngreatest part of the market-place was filled with his train when he entered it.\r\nCatiline, impatient of further delay, resolved himself to break forth and go to\r\nManlius, but he commanded Marcius and Cethegus to take their swords, and go\r\nearly in the morning to Cicero’s gates, as if only intending to salute him, and\r\nthen to fall upon him and slay him. This a noble lady, Fulvia, coming by night,\r\ndiscovered to Cicero, bidding him beware of Cethegus and Marcius. They came by\r\nbreak of day, and being denied entrance, made an outcry and disturbance at the\r\ngates, which excited all the more suspicion. But Cicero, going forth, summoned\r\nthe senate into the temple of Jupiter Stator, which stands at the end of the\r\nSacred Street, going up to the Palatine. And when Catiline with others of his\r\nparty also came, as intending to make his defense, none of the senators would\r\nsit by him, but all of them left the bench where he had placed himself. And\r\nwhen he began to speak, they interrupted him with outcries. At length Cicero,\r\nstanding up, commanded him to leave the city, for since one governed the\r\ncommonwealth with words, the other with arms, it was necessary there should be\r\na wall betwixt them. Catiline, therefore, immediately left the town, with three\r\nhundred armed men; and assuming, as if he had been a magistrate, the rods,\r\naxes, and military ensigns, he went to Manlius, and having got together a body\r\nof near twenty thousand men, with these he marched to the several cities,\r\nendeavoring to persuade or force them to revolt. So it being now come to open\r\nwar, Antonius was sent forth to fight him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe remainder of those in the city whom he had corrupted, Cornelius Lentulus\r\nkept together and encouraged. He had the surname Sura, and was a man of a noble\r\nfamily, but a dissolute liver, who for his debauchery was formerly turned out\r\nof the senate, and was now holding the office of praetor for the second time,\r\nas the custom is with those who desire to regain the dignity of senator. It is\r\nsaid that he got the surname Sura upon this occasion; being quaestor in the\r\ntime of Sylla, he had lavished away and consumed a great quantity of the public\r\nmoneys, at which Sylla being provoked, called him to give an account in the\r\nsenate; he appeared with great coolness and contempt, and said he had no\r\naccount to give, but they might take this, holding up the calf of his leg, as\r\nboys do at ball, when they have missed. Upon which he was surnamed Sura, sura\r\nbeing the Roman word for the calf of the leg. Being at another time prosecuted\r\nat law, and having bribed some of the judges, he escaped only by two votes, and\r\ncomplained of the needless expense he had gone to in paying for a second, as\r\none would have sufficed to acquit him. This man, such in his own nature, and\r\nnow inflamed by Catiline, false prophets and fortune-tellers had also corrupted\r\nwith vain hopes, quoting to him fictitious verses and oracles, and proving from\r\nthe Sibylline prophecies that there were three of the name Cornelius designed\r\nby fate to be monarchs of Rome; two of whom, Cinna and Sylla, had already\r\nfulfilled the decree, and that divine fortune was now advancing with the gift\r\nof monarchy for the remaining third Cornelius; and that therefore he ought by\r\nall means to accept it, and not lose opportunity by delay, as Catiline had\r\ndone.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLentulus, therefore, designed no mean or trivial matter, for he had resolved to\r\nkill the whole senate, and as many other citizens as he could, to fire the\r\ncity, and spare nobody, except only Pompey’s children, intending to seize and\r\nkeep them as pledges of his reconciliation with Pompey. For there was then a\r\ncommon and strong report that Pompey was on his way homeward from his great\r\nexpedition. The night appointed for the design was one of the Saturnalia;\r\nswords, flax, and sulfur they carried and hid in the house of Cethegus; and\r\nproviding one hundred men, and dividing the city into as many parts, they had\r\nallotted to every one singly his proper place, so that in a moment many\r\nkindling the fire, the city might be in a flame all together. Others were\r\nappointed to stop up the aqueducts, and to kill those who should endeavor to\r\ncarry water to put it out. Whilst these plans were preparing, it happened there\r\nwere two ambassadors from the Allobroges staying in Rome; a nation at that time\r\nin a distressed condition, and very uneasy under the Roman government. These\r\nLentulus and his party judging useful instruments to move and seduce Gaul to\r\nrevolt, admitted into the conspiracy, and they gave them letters to their own\r\nmagistrates, and letters to Catiline; in those they promised liberty, in these\r\nthey exhorted Catiline to set all slaves free, and to bring them along with him\r\nto Rome. They sent also to accompany them to Catiline, one Titus, a native of\r\nCroton, who was to carry those letters to him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese counsels of inconsidering men, who conversed together over wine and with\r\nwomen, Cicero watched with sober industry and forethought, and with most\r\nadmirable sagacity, having several emissaries abroad, who observed and traced\r\nwith him all that was done, and keeping also a secret correspondence with many\r\nwho pretended to join in the conspiracy. He thus knew all the discourse which\r\npassed betwixt them and the strangers; and lying in wait for them by night, he\r\ntook the Crotonian with his letters, the ambassadors of the Allobroges acting\r\nsecretly in concert with him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBy break of day, he summoned the senate into the temple of Concord, where he\r\nread the letters and examined the informers. Junius Silanus further stated,\r\nthat several persons had heard Cethegus say, that three consuls and four\r\npraetors were to be slain; Piso, also, a person of consular dignity, testified\r\nother matters of the like nature; and Caius Sulpicius, one of the praetors,\r\nbeing sent to Cethegus’s house, found there a quantity of darts and of armor,\r\nand a still greater number of swords and daggers, all recently whetted. At\r\nlength, the senate decreeing indemnity to the Crotonian upon his confession of\r\nthe whole matter, Lentulus was convicted, abjured his office (for he was then\r\npraetor), and put off his robe edged with purple in the senate, changing it for\r\nanother garment more agreeable to his present circumstances. He, thereupon,\r\nwith the rest of his confederates present, was committed to the charge of the\r\npraetors in free custody.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt being evening, and the common people in crowds expecting without, Cicero\r\nwent forth to them, and told them what was done, and then, attended by them,\r\nwent to the house of a friend and near neighbor; for his own was taken up by\r\nthe women, who were celebrating with secret rites the feast of the goddess whom\r\nthe Romans call the Good, and the Greeks, the Women’s goddess. For a sacrifice\r\nis annually performed to her in the consul’s house, either by his wife or\r\nmother, in the presence of the vestal virgins. And having got into his friend’s\r\nhouse privately, a few only being present, he began to deliberate how he should\r\ntreat these men. The severest, and the only punishment fit for such heinous\r\ncrimes, he was somewhat shy and fearful of inflicting, as well from the\r\nclemency of his nature, as also lest he should be thought to exercise his\r\nauthority too insolently, and to treat too harshly men of the noblest birth and\r\nmost powerful friendships in the city; and yet, if he should use them more\r\nmildly, he had a dreadful prospect of danger from them. For there was no\r\nlikelihood, if they suffered less than death, they would be reconciled, but\r\nrather, adding new rage to their former wickedness, they would rush into every\r\nkind of audacity, while he himself, whose character for courage already did not\r\nstand very high with the multitude, would be thought guilty of the greatest\r\ncowardice and want of manliness.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst Cicero was doubting what course to take, a portent happened to the women\r\nin their sacrificing. For on the altar, where the fire seemed wholly\r\nextinguished, a great and bright flame issued forth from the ashes of the burnt\r\nwood; at which others were affrighted, but the holy virgins called to Terentia,\r\nCicero’s wife, and bade her haste to her husband, and command him to execute\r\nwhat he had resolved for the good of his country, for the goddess had sent a\r\ngreat light to the increase of his safety and glory. Terentia, therefore, as\r\nshe was otherwise in her own nature neither tender-hearted nor timorous, but a\r\nwoman eager for distinction (who, as Cicero himself says, would rather thrust\r\nherself into his public affairs, than communicate her domestic matters to him),\r\ntold him these things, and excited him against the conspirators. So also did\r\nQuintus his brother, and Publius Nigidius, one of his philosophical friends,\r\nwhom he often made use of in his greatest and most weighty affairs of state.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe next day, a debate arising in the senate about the punishment of the men,\r\nSilanus, being the first who was asked his opinion, said, it was fit they\r\nshould be all sent to the prison, and there suffer the utmost penalty. To him\r\nall consented in order till it came to Caius Caesar, who was afterwards\r\ndictator. He was then but a young man, and only at the outset of his career,\r\nbut had already directed his hopes and policy to that course by which he\r\nafterwards changed the Roman state into a monarchy. Of this others foresaw\r\nnothing; but Cicero had seen reason for strong suspicion, though without\r\nobtaining any sufficient means of proof. And there were some indeed that said\r\nthat he was very near being discovered, and only just escaped him; others are\r\nof opinion that Cicero voluntarily overlooked and neglected the evidence\r\nagainst him, for fear of his friends and power; for it was very evident to\r\neverybody, that if Caesar was to be accused with the conspirators, they were\r\nmore likely to be saved with him, than he to be punished with them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen, therefore, it came to Caesar’s turn to give his opinion, he stood up and\r\nproposed that the conspirators should not be put to death, but their estates\r\nconfiscated, and their persons confined in such cities in Italy as Cicero\r\nshould approve, there to be kept in custody till Catiline was conquered. To\r\nthis sentence, as it was the most moderate, and he that delivered it a most\r\npowerful speaker, Cicero himself gave no small weight, for he stood up and,\r\nturning the scale on either side, spoke in favor partly of the former, partly\r\nof Caesar’s sentence. And all Cicero’s friends, judging Caesar’s sentence most\r\nexpedient for Cicero, because he would incur the less blame if the conspirators\r\nwere not put to death, chose rather the latter; so that Silanus, also, changing\r\nhis mind, retracted his opinion, and said he had not declared for capital, but\r\nonly the utmost punishment, which to a Roman senator is imprisonment. The first\r\nman who spoke against Caesar’s motion was Catulus Lutatius. Cato followed, and\r\nso vehemently urged in his speech the strong suspicion about Caesar himself,\r\nand so filled the senate with anger and resolution, that a decree was passed\r\nfor the execution of the conspirators. But Caesar opposed the confiscation of\r\ntheir goods, not thinking it fair that those who had rejected the mildest part\r\nof his sentence should avail themselves of the severest. And when many insisted\r\nupon it, he appealed to the tribunes, but they would do nothing; till Cicero\r\nhimself yielding, remitted that part of the sentence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Cicero went out with the senate to the conspirators; they were not\r\nall together in one place, but the several praetors had them, some one, some\r\nanother, in custody. And first he took Lentulus from the Palatine, and brought\r\nhim by the Sacred Street, through the middle of the marketplace, a circle of\r\nthe most eminent citizens encompassing and protecting him. The people,\r\naffrighted at what was doing, passed along in silence, especially the young\r\nmen; as if, with fear and trembling; they were undergoing a rite of initiation\r\ninto some ancient, sacred mysteries of aristocratic power. Thus passing from\r\nthe market-place, and coming to the gaol, he delivered Lentulus to the officer,\r\nand commanded him to execute him; and after him Cethegus, and so all the rest\r\nin order, he brought and delivered up to execution. And when he saw many of the\r\nconspirators in the market-place, still standing together in companies,\r\nignorant of what was done, and waiting for the night, supposing the men were\r\nstill alive and in a possibility of being rescued, he called out in a loud\r\nvoice, and said, “They did live;” for so the Romans, to avoid inauspicious\r\nlanguage, name those that are dead.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was now evening, when he returned from the market-place to his own house,\r\nthe citizens no longer attending him with silence, nor in order, but receiving\r\nhim, as he passed, with acclamations and applauses, and saluting him as the\r\nsavior and founder of his country. A bright light shone through the streets\r\nfrom the lamps and torches set up at the doors, and the women showed lights\r\nfrom the tops of the houses, to honor Cicero, and to behold him returning home\r\nwith a splendid train of the most principal citizens; amongst whom were many\r\nwho had conducted great wars, celebrated triumphs, and added to the possessions\r\nof the Roman empire, both by sea and land. These, as they passed along with\r\nhim, acknowledged to one another, that though the Roman people were indebted to\r\nseveral officers and commanders of that age for riches, spoils, and power, yet\r\nto Cicero alone they owed the safety and security of all these, for delivering\r\nthem from so great and imminent a danger. For though it might seem no wonderful\r\nthing to prevent the design, and punish the conspirators, yet to defeat the\r\ngreatest of all conspiracies with so little disturbance, trouble, and\r\ncommotion, was very extraordinary. For the greater part of those who had\r\nflocked in to Catiline, as soon as they heard the fate of Lentulus and\r\nCethegus, left and forsook him, and he himself, with his remaining forces,\r\njoining battle with Antonius, was destroyed with his army.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd yet there were some who were very ready both to speak ill of Cicero, and to\r\ndo him hurt for these actions; and they had for their leaders some of the\r\nmagistrates of the ensuing year, as Caesar, who was one of the praetors, and\r\nMetellus and Bestia, the tribunes. These, entering upon their office some few\r\ndays before Cicero’s consulate expired, would not permit him to make any\r\naddress to the people, but, throwing the benches before the Rostra, hindered\r\nhis speaking, telling him he might, if he pleased, make the oath of withdrawal\r\nfrom office, and then come down again. Cicero, accordingly, accepting the\r\nconditions, came forward to make his withdrawal; and silence being made, he\r\nrecited his oath, not in the usual, but in a new and peculiar form, namely,\r\nthat he had saved his country, and preserved the empire; the truth of which\r\noath all the people confirmed with theirs. Caesar and the tribunes, all the\r\nmore exasperated by this, endeavored to create him further trouble, and for\r\nthis purpose proposed a law for calling Pompey home with his army, to put an\r\nend to Cicero’s usurpation. But it was a very great advantage for Cicero and\r\nthe whole commonwealth that Cato was at that time one of the tribunes. For he,\r\nbeing of equal power with the rest, and of greater reputation, could oppose\r\ntheir designs. He easily defeated their other projects, and, in an oration to\r\nthe people, so highly extolled Cicero’s consulate, that the greatest honors\r\nwere decreed him, and he was publicly declared the Father of his Country, which\r\ntitle he seems to have obtained, the first man who did so, when Cato gave it\r\nhim in this address to the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt this time, therefore, his authority was very great in the city; but he\r\ncreated himself much envy, and offended very many, not by any evil action, but\r\nbecause he was always lauding and magnifying himself. For neither senate, nor\r\nassembly of the people, nor court of judicature could meet, in which he was not\r\nheard to talk of Catiline and Lentulus. Indeed, he also filled his books and\r\nwritings with his own praises, to such an excess as to render a style, in\r\nitself most pleasant and delightful, nauseous and irksome to his hearers; this\r\nungrateful humor, like a disease, always cleaving to him. Nevertheless, though\r\nhe was intemperately fond of his own glory, he was very free from envying\r\nothers, and was, on the contrary, most liberally profuse in commending both the\r\nancients and his contemporaries, as anyone may see in his writings. And many\r\nsuch sayings of his are also remembered; as that he called Aristotle a river of\r\nflowing gold, and said of Plato’s Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it\r\nwould be in language like theirs. He used to call Theophrastus his special\r\nluxury. And being asked which of Demosthenes’s orations he liked best, he\r\nanswered, the longest. And yet some affected imitators of Demosthenes have\r\ncomplained of some words that occur in one of his letters, to the effect that\r\nDemosthenes sometimes falls asleep in his speeches; forgetting the many high\r\nencomiums he continually passes upon him, and the compliment he paid him when\r\nhe named the most elaborate of all his orations, those he wrote against Antony,\r\nPhilippics. And as for the eminent men of his own time, either in eloquence or\r\nphilosophy, there was not one of them whom he did not, by writing or speaking\r\nfavorably of him, render more illustrious. He obtained of Caesar, when in\r\npower, the Roman citizenship for Cratippus, the Peripatetic, and got the court\r\nof Areopagus, by public decree, to request his stay at Athens, for the\r\ninstruction of their youth, and the honor of their city. There are letters\r\nextant from Cicero to Herodes, and others to his son, in which he recommends\r\nthe study of philosophy under Cratippus. There is one in which he blames\r\nGorgias, the rhetorician, for enticing his son into luxury and drinking, and,\r\ntherefore, forbids him his company. And this, and one other to Pelops, the\r\nByzantine, are the only two of his Greek epistles which seem to be written in\r\nanger. In the first, he justly reflects on Gorgias, if he were what he was\r\nthought to be, a dissolute and profligate character; but in the other, he\r\nrather meanly expostulates and complains with Pelops, for neglecting to procure\r\nhim a decree of certain honors from the Byzantines.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnother illustration of his love of praise is the way in which sometimes, to\r\nmake his orations more striking, he neglected decorum and dignity. When\r\nMunatius, who had escaped conviction by his advocacy, immediately prosecuted\r\nhis friend Sabinus, he said in the warmth of his resentment, “Do you suppose\r\nyou were acquitted for your own meets, Munatius, and was it not that I so\r\ndarkened the case, that the court could not see your guilt?” When from the\r\nRostra he had made an eulogy on Marcus Crassus, with much applause, and within\r\na few days after again as publicly reproached him, Crassus called to him, and\r\nsaid, “Did not you yourself two days ago, in this same place, commend me?”\r\n“Yes,” said Cicero, “I exercised my eloquence in declaiming upon a bad\r\nsubject.” At another time, Crassus had said that no one of his family had ever\r\nlived beyond sixty years of age, and afterwards denied it, and asked, “What\r\nshould put it into my head to say so?” “It was to gain the people’s favor,”\r\nanswered Cicero; “you knew how glad they would be to hear it.” When Crassus\r\nexpressed admiration of the Stoic doctrine, that the good man is always rich,\r\n“Do you not mean,” said Cicero, “their doctrine that all things belong to the\r\nwise?” Crassus being generally accused of covetousness. One of Crassus’s sons,\r\nwho was thought so exceedingly like a man of the name of Axius as to throw some\r\nsuspicion on his mother’s honor, made a successful speech in the senate. Cicero\r\non being asked how he liked it, replied with the Greek words, Axios Crassou.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Crassus was about to go into Syria, he desired to leave Cicero rather his\r\nfriend than his enemy, and, therefore, one day saluting him, told him he would\r\ncome and sup with him, which the other as courteously received. Within a few\r\ndays after, on some of Cicero’s acquaintances interceding for Vatinius, as\r\ndesirous of reconciliation and friendship, for he was then his enemy, “What,”\r\nhe replied, “does Vatinius also wish to come and sup with me?” Such was his way\r\nwith Crassus. When Vatinius, who had swellings in his neck, was pleading a\r\ncause, he called him the tumid orator; and having been told by someone that\r\nVatinius was dead, on hearing presently after that he was alive, “May the\r\nrascal perish,” said he, “for his news not being true.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon Caesar’s bringing forward a law for the division of the lands in Campania\r\namongst the soldiers, many in the senate opposed it; amongst the rest, Lucius\r\nGellius, one of the oldest men in the house, said it should never pass whilst\r\nhe lived. “Let us postpone it,” said Cicero, “Gellius does not ask us to wait\r\nlong.” There was a man of the name of Octavius, suspected to be of African\r\ndescent. He once said, when Cicero was pleading, that he could not hear him;\r\n“Yet there are holes,” said Cicero, “in your ears.” When Metellus Nepos told\r\nhim, that he had ruined more as a witness, than he had saved as an advocate, “I\r\nadmit,” said Cicero, “that I have more truth than eloquence.” To a young man\r\nwho was suspected of having given a poisoned cake to his father, and who talked\r\nlargely of the invectives he meant to deliver against Cicero, “Better these,”\r\nreplied he, “than your cakes.” Publius Sextius, having amongst others retained\r\nCicero as his advocate in a certain cause, was yet desirous to say all for\r\nhimself, and would not allow anybody to speak for him; when he was about to\r\nreceive his acquittal from the judges, and the ballots were passing, Cicero\r\ncalled to him, “Make haste, Sextius, and use your time; tomorrow you will be\r\nnobody.” He cited Publius Cotta to bear testimony in a certain cause, one who\r\naffected to be thought a lawyer, though ignorant and unlearned; to whom, when\r\nhe had said, “I know nothing of the matter,” he answered, “You think, perhaps,\r\nwe ask you about a point of law.” To Metellus Nepos, who, in a dispute between\r\nthem, repeated several times, “Who was your father, Cicero?” he replied, “Your\r\nmother has made the answer to such a question in your case more difficult;”\r\nNepos’s mother having been of ill repute. The son, also, was of a giddy,\r\nuncertain temper. At one time, he suddenly threw up his office of tribune, and\r\nsailed off into Syria to Pompey; and immediately after, with as little reason,\r\ncame back again. He gave his tutor, Philagrus, a funeral with more than\r\nnecessary attention, and then set up the stone figure of a crow over his tomb.\r\n“This,” said Cicero, “is really appropriate; as he did not teach you to speak,\r\nbut to fly about.” When Marcus Appius, in the opening of some speech in a court\r\nof justice, said that his friend had desired him to employ industry, eloquence,\r\nand fidelity in that cause, Cicero answered, “And how have you had the heart\r\nnot to accede to any one of his requests?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo use this sharp raillery against opponents and antagonists in judicial\r\npleading seems allowable rhetoric. But he excited much ill feeling by his\r\nreadiness to attack anyone for the sake of a jest. A few anecdotes of this kind\r\nmay be added. Marcus Aquinius, who had two sons-in-law in exile, received from\r\nhim the name of king Adrastus. Lucius Cotta, an intemperate lover of wine, was\r\ncensor when Cicero stood for the consulship. Cicero, being thirsty at the\r\nelection, his friends stood round about him while he was drinking. “You have\r\nreason to be afraid,” he said, “lest the censor should be angry with me for\r\ndrinking water.” Meeting one day Voconius with his three very ugly daughters,\r\nhe quoted the verse,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHe reared a race without Apollo’s leave.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nWhen Marcus Gellius, who was reputed the son of a slave, had read several\r\nletters in the senate with a very shrill, and loud voice, “Wonder not,” said\r\nCicero, “he comes of the criers.” When Faustus Sylla, the son of Sylla the\r\ndictator, who had, during his dictatorship, by public bills proscribed and\r\ncondemned so many citizens, had so far wasted his estate, and got into debt,\r\nthat he was forced to publish his bills of sale, Cicero told him that he liked\r\nthese bills much better than those of his father. By this habit he made himself\r\nodious with many people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Clodius’s faction conspired against him upon the following occasion.\r\nClodius was a member of a noble family, in the flower of his youth, and of a\r\nbold and resolute temper. He, being in love with Pompeia, Caesar’s wife, got\r\nprivately into his house in the dress and attire of a music-girl; the women\r\nbeing at that time offering there the sacrifice which must not be seen by men,\r\nand there was no man present. Clodius, being a youth and beardless, hoped to\r\nget to Pompeia among the women without being taken notice of. But coming into a\r\ngreat house by night, he missed his way in the passages, and a servant\r\nbelonging to Aurelia, Caesar’s mother, spying him wandering up and down,\r\ninquired his name. Thus being necessitated to speak, he told her he was seeking\r\nfor one of Pompeia’s maids, Abra by name; and she, perceiving it not to be a\r\nwoman’s voice, shrieked out, and called in the women; who, shutting the gates,\r\nand searching every place, at length found Clodius hidden in the chamber of the\r\nmaid with whom he had come in. This matter being much talked about, Caesar put\r\naway his wife, Pompeia, and Clodius was prosecuted for profaning the holy\r\nrites.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCicero was at this time his friend, for he had been useful to him in the\r\nconspiracy of Catiline, as one of his forwardest assistants and protectors. But\r\nwhen Clodius rested his defense upon this point, that he was not then at Rome,\r\nbut at a distance in the country, Cicero testified that he had come to his\r\nhouse that day, and conversed with him on several matters; which thing was\r\nindeed true, although Cicero was thought to testify it not so much for the\r\ntruth’s sake as to preserve his quiet with Terentia his wife. For she bore a\r\ngrudge against Clodius on account of his sister Clodia’s wishing, as it was\r\nalleged, to marry Cicero, and having employed for this purpose the intervention\r\nof Tullus, a very intimate friend of Cicero’s; and his frequent visits to\r\nClodia, who lived in their neighborhood, and the attentions he paid to her had\r\nexcited Terentia’s suspicions, and, being a woman of a violent temper, and\r\nhaving the ascendant over Cicero, she urged him on to taking a part against\r\nClodius, and delivering his testimony. Many other good and honest citizens also\r\ngave evidence against him, for perjuries, disorders, bribing the people, and\r\ndebauching women. Lucullus proved, by his women-servants, that he had debauched\r\nhis youngest sister when she was Lucullus’s wife; and there was a general\r\nbelief that he had done the same with his two other sisters, Tertia, whom\r\nMarcius Rex, and Clodia, whom Metellus Celer had married; the latter of whom\r\nwas called Quadrantia, because one of her lovers had deceived her with a purse\r\nof small copper money instead of silver, the smallest copper coin being called\r\na quadrant. Upon this sister’s account, in particular, Clodius’s character was\r\nattacked. Notwithstanding all this, when the common people united against the\r\naccusers and witnesses and the whole party, the judges were affrighted, and a\r\nguard was placed about them for their defense; and most of them wrote their\r\nsentences on the tablets in such a way, that they could not well be read. It\r\nwas decided, however, that there was a majority for his acquittal, and bribery\r\nwas reported to have been employed; in reference to which Catulus remarked,\r\nwhen he next met the judges, “You were very right to ask for a guard, to\r\nprevent your money being taken from you.” And when Clodius upbraided Cicero\r\nthat the judges had not believed his testimony, “Yes,” said he, “five and\r\ntwenty of them trusted me, and condemned you, and the other thirty did not\r\ntrust you, for they did not acquit you till they had got your money.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, though cited, did not give his testimony against Clodius, and declared\r\nhimself not convinced of his wife’s adultery, but that he had put her away\r\nbecause it was fit that Caesar’s house should not be only free of the evil\r\nfact, but of the fame too.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nClodius, having escaped this danger, and having got himself chosen one of the\r\ntribunes, immediately attacked Cicero, heaping up all matters and inciting all\r\npersons against him. The common people he gained over with popular laws; to\r\neach of the consuls he decreed large provinces, to Piso, Macedonia, and to\r\nGabinius, Syria; he made a strong party among the indigent citizens, to support\r\nhim in his proceedings, and had always a body of armed slaves about him. Of the\r\nthree men then in greatest power, Crassus was Cicero’s open enemy, Pompey\r\nindifferently made advances to both, and Caesar was going with an army into\r\nGaul. To him, though not his friend (what had occurred in the time of the\r\nconspiracy having created suspicions between them), Cicero applied, requesting\r\nan appointment as one of his lieutenants in the province. Caesar accepted him,\r\nand Clodius, perceiving that Cicero would thus escape his tribunician\r\nauthority, professed to be inclinable to a reconciliation, laid the greatest\r\nfault upon Terentia, made always a favorable mention of him, and addressed him\r\nwith kind expressions, as one who felt no hatred or ill-will, but who merely\r\nwished to urge his complaints in a moderate and friendly way. By these\r\nartifices, he so freed Cicero of all his fears, that he resigned his\r\nappointment to Caesar, and betook himself again to political affairs. At which\r\nCaesar being exasperated, joined the party of Clodius against him, and wholly\r\nalienated Pompey from him; he also himself declared in a public assembly of the\r\npeople, that he did not think Lentulus and Cethegus, with their accomplices,\r\nwere fairly and legally put to death without being brought to trial. And this,\r\nindeed, was the crime charged upon Cicero, and this impeachment he was summoned\r\nto answer. And so, as an accused man, and in danger for the result, he changes\r\nhis dress, and went round with his hair untrimmed, in the attire of a\r\nsuppliant, to beg the people’s grace. But Clodius met him in every corner,\r\nhaving a band of abusive and daring fellows about him, who derided Cicero for\r\nhis change of dress and his humiliation, and often, by throwing dirt and stones\r\nat him, interrupted his supplication to the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, first of all, almost the whole equestrian order changed their dress\r\nwith him, and no less than twenty thousand young gentlemen followed him with\r\ntheir hair untrimmed, and supplicating with him to the people. And then the\r\nsenate met, to pass a decree that the people should change their dress as in\r\ntime of public sorrow. But the consuls opposing it, and Clodius with armed men\r\nbesetting the senate-house, many of the senators ran out, crying out and\r\ntearing their clothes. But this sight moved neither shame nor pity; Cicero must\r\neither fly or determine it by the sword with Clodius. He entreated Pompey to\r\naid him, who was on purpose gone out of the way, and was staying at his\r\ncountry-house in the Alban hills; and first he sent his son-in-law Piso to\r\nintercede with him, and afterwards set out to go himself. Of which Pompey being\r\ninformed, would not stay to see him, being ashamed at the remembrance of the\r\nmany conflicts in the commonwealth which Cicero had undergone in his behalf,\r\nand how much of his policy he had directed for his advantage. But being now\r\nCaesar’s son-in-law, at his instance he had set aside all former kindness, and,\r\nslipping out at another door, avoided the interview. Thus being forsaken by\r\nPompey, and left alone to himself, he fled to the consuls. Gabinius was rough\r\nwith him, as usual, but Piso spoke more courteously, desiring him to yield and\r\ngive place for a while to the fury of Clodius, and to await a change of times,\r\nand to be now, as before, his country’s savior from the peril of these troubles\r\nand commotions which Clodius was exciting.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCicero, receiving this answer, consulted with his friends. Lucullus advised him\r\nto stay, as being sure to prevail at last; others to fly, because the people\r\nwould soon desire him again, when they should have enough of the rage and\r\nmadness of Clodius. This last Cicero approved. But first he took a statue of\r\nMinerva, which had been long set up and greatly honored in his house, and\r\ncarrying it to the capitol, there dedicated it, with the inscription, “To\r\nMinerva, Patroness of Rome.” And receiving an escort from his friends, about\r\nthe middle of the night he left the city, and went by land through Lucania,\r\nintending to reach Sicily.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut as soon as it was publicly known that he was fled, Clodius proposed to the\r\npeople a decree of exile, and by his own order interdicted him fire and water,\r\nprohibiting any within five hundred miles in Italy to receive him into their\r\nhouses. Most people, out of respect for Cicero, paid no regard to this edict,\r\noffering him every attention and escorting him on his way. But at Hipponium, a\r\ncity of Lucania, now called Vibo, one Vibius, a Sicilian by birth, who, amongst\r\nmany other instances of Cicero’s friendship, had been made head of the state\r\nengineers when he was consul, would not receive him into his house, sending him\r\nword he would appoint a place in the country for his reception. Caius\r\nVergilius, the praetor of Sicily, who had been on the most intimate terms with\r\nhim, wrote to him to forbear coming into Sicily. At these things Cicero being\r\ndisheartened, went to Brundusium, whence putting forth with a prosperous wind,\r\na contrary gale blowing from the sea carried him back to Italy- the next day.\r\nHe put again to sea, and having reached Dyrrachium, on his coming to shore\r\nthere, it is reported that an earthquake and a convulsion in the sea happened\r\nat the same time, signs which the diviners said intimated that his exile would\r\nnot be long, for these were prognostics of change. Although many visited him\r\nwith respect, and the cities of Greece contended which should honor him most,\r\nhe yet continued disheartened and disconsolate, like an unfortunate lover,\r\noften casting his looks back upon Italy; and, indeed, he was become so\r\npoor-spirited, so humiliated and dejected by his misfortunes, as none could\r\nhave expected in a man who had devoted so much of his life to study and\r\nlearning. And yet he often desired his friends not to call him orator, but\r\nphilosopher, because he had made philosophy his business, and had only used\r\nrhetoric as an instrument for attaining his objects in public life. But the\r\ndesire of glory has great power in washing the tinctures of philosophy out of\r\nthe souls of men, and in imprinting the passions of the common people, by\r\ncustom and conversation, in the minds of those that take a part in governing\r\nthem, unless the politician be very careful so to engage in public affairs as\r\nto interest himself only in the affairs themselves, but not participate in the\r\npassions that are consequent to them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nClodius, having thus driven away Cicero, fell to burning his farms and villas,\r\nand afterwards his city house, and built on the site of it a temple to Liberty.\r\nThe rest of his property he exposed to sale by daily proclamation, but nobody\r\ncame to buy. By these courses he became formidable to the noble citizens, and,\r\nbeing followed by the commonalty, whom he had filled with insolence and\r\nlicentiousness, he began at last to try his strength against Pompey, some of\r\nwhose arrangements in the countries he conquered, he attacked. The disgrace of\r\nthis made Pompey begin to reproach himself for his cowardice in deserting\r\nCicero, and, changing his mind, he now wholly set himself with his friends to\r\ncontrive his return. And when Clodius opposed it, the senate made a vote that\r\nno public measure should be ratified or passed by them till Cicero was\r\nrecalled. But when Lentulus was consul, the commotions grew so high upon this\r\nmatter, that the tribunes were wounded in the Forum, and Quintus, Cicero’s\r\nbrother, was left as dead, lying unobserved amongst the slain. The people began\r\nto change in their feelings; and Annius Milo, one of their tribunes, was the\r\nfirst who took confidence to summon Clodius to trial for acts of violence. Many\r\nof the common people and out of the neighboring cities formed a party with\r\nPompey, and he went with them, and drove Clodius out of the Forum, and summoned\r\nthe people to pass their vote. And, it is said, the people never passed any\r\nsuffrage more unanimously than this. The senate, also, striving to outdo the\r\npeople, sent letters of thanks to those cities which had received Cicero with\r\nrespect in his exile, and decreed that his house and his country-places, which\r\nClodius had destroyed, should be rebuilt at the public charge.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus Cicero returned sixteen months after his exile, and the cities were so\r\nglad, and people so zealous to meet him, that what he boasted of afterwards,\r\nthat Italy had brought him on her shoulders home to Rome, was rather less than\r\nthe truth. And Crassus himself, who had been his enemy before his exile, went\r\nthen voluntarily to meet him, and was reconciled, to please his son Publius, as\r\nhe said, who was Cicero’s affectionate admirer.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCicero had not been long at Rome, when, taking the opportunity of Clodius’s\r\nabsence, he went, with a great company, to the capitol, and there tore and\r\ndefaced the tribunician tables, in which were recorded the acts done in the\r\ntime of Clodius. And on Clodius calling him in question for this, he answered,\r\nthat he, being of the patrician order, had obtained the office of tribune\r\nagainst law, and, therefore, nothing done by him was valid. Cato was displeased\r\nat this, and opposed Cicero, not that he commended Clodius, but rather\r\ndisapproved of his whole administration; yet, he contended, it was an irregular\r\nand violent course for the senate to vote the illegality of so many decrees and\r\nacts, including those of Cato’s own government in Cyprus and at Byzantium. This\r\noccasioned a breach between Cato and Cicero, which, though it came not to open\r\nenmity, yet made a more reserved friendship between them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Milo killed Clodius, and, being arraigned for the murder, he\r\nprocured Cicero as his advocate. The senate, fearing lest the questioning of so\r\neminent and high-spirited a citizen as Milo might disturb the peace of the\r\ncity, committed the superintendence of this and of the other trials to Pompey,\r\nwho should undertake to maintain the security alike of the city and of the\r\ncourts of justice. Pompey, therefore, went in the night, and occupying the high\r\ngrounds about it, surrounded the Forum with soldiers. Milo, fearing lest\r\nCicero, being disturbed by such an unusual sight, should conduct his cause the\r\nless successfully, persuaded him to come in a litter into the Forum, and there\r\nrepose himself till the judges were set, and the court filled. For Cicero, it\r\nseems, not only wanted courage in arms, but, in his speaking also, began with\r\ntimidity, and in many cases scarcely left off trembling and shaking when he had\r\ngot thoroughly into the current and the substance of his speech. Being to\r\ndefend Licinius Murena against the prosecution of Cato, and being eager to\r\noutdo Hortensius, who had made his plea with great applause, he took so little\r\nrest that night, and was so disordered with thought and over-watching, that he\r\nspoke much worse than usual. And so now, on quitting his litter to commence the\r\ncause of Milo, at the sight of Pompey, posted, as it were, and encamped with\r\nhis troops above, and seeing arms shining round about the Forum, he was so\r\nconfounded, that he could hardly begin his speech, for the trembling of his\r\nbody, and hesitance of his tongue; whereas Milo, meantime, was bold and\r\nintrepid in his demeanor, disdaining either to let his hair grow, or to put on\r\nthe mourning habit. And this, indeed, seems to have been one principal cause of\r\nhis condemnation. Cicero, however, was thought not so much to have shown\r\ntimidity for himself, as anxiety about his friend.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was made one of the priests, whom the Romans call Augurs, in the room of\r\nCrassus the younger, dead in Parthia. Then he was appointed, by lot, to the\r\nprovince of Cilicia, and set sail thither with twelve thousand foot and two\r\nthousand six hundred horse. He had orders to bring back Cappadocia to its\r\nallegiance to Ariobarzanes, its king; which settlement he effected very\r\ncompletely without recourse to arms. And perceiving the Cilicians, by the great\r\nloss the Romans had suffered in Parthia, and the commotions in Syria, to have\r\nbecome disposed to attempt a revolt, by a gentle course of government he\r\nsoothed them back into fidelity. He would accept none of the presents that were\r\noffered him by the kings; he remitted the charge of public entertainments, but\r\ndaily, at his own house, received the ingenious and accomplished persons of the\r\nprovince, not sumptuously, but liberally. His house had no porter, nor was he\r\never found in bed by any man, but early in the morning, standing or walking\r\nbefore his door, he received those who came to offer their salutations. He is\r\nsaid never once to have ordered any of those under his command to be beaten\r\nwith rods, or to have their garments rent. He never gave contumelious language\r\nin his anger, nor inflicted punishment with reproach. He detected an\r\nembezzlement, to a large amount, in the public money, and thus relieved the\r\ncities from their burdens, at the same time that he allowed those who made\r\nrestitution, to retain without further punishment their rights as citizens. He\r\nengaged too, in war, so far as to give a defeat to the banditti who infested\r\nMount Amanus, for which he was saluted by his army Imperator. To Caecilius, the\r\norator, who asked him to send him some panthers from Cilicia, to be exhibited\r\non the theater at Rome, he wrote, in commendation of his own actions, that\r\nthere were no panthers in Cilicia, for they were all fled to Caria, in anger\r\nthat in so general a peace they had become the sole objects of attack. On\r\nleaving his province, he touched at Rhodes, and tarried for some length of time\r\nat Athens, longing much to renew his old studies. He visited the eminent men of\r\nlearning, and saw his former friends and companions; and after receiving in\r\nGreece the honors that were due to him, returned to the city, where everything\r\nwas now just as it were in a flame, breaking out into a civil war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the senate would have decreed him a triumph, he told them he had rather,\r\nso differences were accommodated, follow the triumphal chariot of Caesar. In\r\nprivate, he gave advice to both, writing many letters to Caesar, and personally\r\nentreating Pompey; doing his best to soothe and bring to reason both the one\r\nand the other. But when matters became incurable, and Caesar was approaching\r\nRome, and Pompey durst not abide it, but, with many honest citizens, left the\r\ncity, Cicero, as yet, did not join in the flight, and was reputed to adhere to\r\nCaesar. And it is very evident he was in his thoughts much divided, and wavered\r\npainfully between both, for he writes in his epistles, “To which side should I\r\nturn? Pompey has the fair and honorable plea for war; and Caesar, on the other\r\nhand, has managed his affairs better, and is more able to secure himself and\r\nhis friends. So that I know whom I should fly, not whom I should fly to.” But\r\nwhen Trebatius, one of Caesar’s friends, by letter signified to him that Caesar\r\nthought it was his most desirable course to join his party, and partake his\r\nhopes, but if he considered himself too old a man for this, then he should\r\nretire into Greece, and stay quietly there, out of the way of either party,\r\nCicero, wondering that Caesar had not written himself, gave an angry reply,\r\nthat he should not do anything unbecoming his past life. Such is the account to\r\nbe collected from his letters.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut as soon as Caesar was marched into Spain, he immediately sailed away to\r\njoin Pompey. And he was welcomed by all but Cato; who, taking him privately,\r\nchid him for coming to Pompey. As for himself, he said, it had been indecent to\r\nforsake that part in the commonwealth which he had chosen from the beginning;\r\nbut Cicero might have been more useful to his country and friends, if,\r\nremaining neuter, he had attended and used his influence to moderate the\r\nresult, instead of coming hither to make himself, without reason or necessity,\r\nan enemy to Caesar, and a partner in such great dangers. By this language,\r\npartly, Cicero’s feelings were altered, and partly, also, because Pompey made\r\nno great use of him. Although, indeed, he was himself the cause of it, by his\r\nnot denying that he was sorry he had come, by his depreciating Pompey’s\r\nresources, finding fault underhand with his counsels, and continually indulging\r\nin jests and sarcastic remarks on his fellow-soldiers. Though he went about in\r\nthe camp with a gloomy and melancholy face himself, he was always trying to\r\nraise a laugh in others, whether they wished it or not. It may not be amiss to\r\nmention a few instances. To Domitius, on his preferring to a command one who\r\nwas no soldier, and saying, in his defense, that he was a modest and prudent\r\nperson, he replied, “Why did not you keep him for a tutor for your children?”\r\nOn hearing Theophanes, the Lesbian, who was master of the engineers in the\r\narmy, praised for the admirable way in which he had consoled the Rhodians for\r\nthe loss of their fleet, “What a thing it is,” he said, “to have a Greek in\r\ncommand!” When Caesar had been acting successfully, and in a manner blockading\r\nPompey, Lentulus was saying it was reported that Caesar’s friends were out of\r\nheart; “Because,” said Cicero, “they do not wish Caesar well.” To one Marcius,\r\nwho had just come from Italy, and told them that there was a strong report at\r\nRome that Pompey was blocked up, he said, “And you sailed hither to see it with\r\nyour own eyes.” To Nonius, encouraging them after a defeat to be of good hope,\r\nbecause there were seven eagles still left in Pompey’s camp, “Good reason for\r\nencouragement,” said Cicero, “if we were going to fight with jack-daws.”\r\nLabienus insisted on some prophecies to the effect that Pompey would gain the\r\nvictory; “Yes,” said Cicero, “and the first step in the campaign has been\r\nlosing our camp.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the battle of Pharsalia was over, at which he was not present for want of\r\nhealth, and Pompey was fled, Cato, having considerable forces and a great fleet\r\nat Dyrrachium, would have had Cicero commander-in-chief, according to law, and\r\nthe precedence of his consular dignity. And on his refusing the command, and\r\nwholly declining to take part in their plans for continuing the war, he was in\r\nthe greatest danger of being killed, young Pompey and his friends calling him\r\ntraitor, and drawing their swords upon him; only that Cato interposed, and\r\nhardly rescued and brought him out of the camp.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfterwards, arriving at Brundusium, he tarried there sometime in expectation of\r\nCaesar, who was delayed by his affairs in Asia and Egypt. And when it was told\r\nhim that he was arrived at Tarentum, and was coming thence by land to\r\nBrundusium, he hastened towards him, not altogether without hope, and yet in\r\nsome fear of making experiment of the temper of an enemy and conqueror in the\r\npresence of many witnesses. But there was no necessity for him either to speak\r\nor do anything unworthy of himself; for Caesar, as soon as he saw him coming a\r\ngood way before the rest of the company, came down to meet him, saluted him,\r\nand, leading the way, conversed with him alone for some furlongs. And from that\r\ntime forward he continued to treat him with honor and respect; so that, when\r\nCicero wrote an oration in praise of Cato, Caesar, in writing an answer to it,\r\ntook occasion to commend Cicero’s own life and eloquence, comparing him to\r\nPericles and Theramenes. Cicero’s oration was called Cato; Caesar’s, anti-Cato.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo also, it is related that when Quintus Ligarius was prosecuted for having\r\nbeen in arms against Caesar, and Cicero had undertaken his defense, Caesar said\r\nto his friends, “Why might we not as well once more hear a speech from Cicero?\r\nLigarius, there is no question, is a wicked man and an enemy.” But when Cicero\r\nbegan to speak, he wonderfully moved him, and proceeded in his speech with such\r\nvaried pathos, and such a charm of language, that the color of Caesar’s\r\ncountenance often changed, and it was evident that all the passions of his soul\r\nwere in commotion. At length, the orator touching upon the Pharsalian battle,\r\nhe was so affected that his body trembled, and some of the papers he held\r\ndropped out of his hands. And thus he was overpowered, and acquitted Ligarius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHenceforth, the commonwealth being changed into a monarchy, Cicero withdrew\r\nhimself from public affairs, and employed his leisure in instructing those\r\nyoung men that would, in philosophy; and by the near intercourse he thus had\r\nwith some of the noblest and highest in rank, he again began to possess great\r\ninfluence in the city. The work and object which he set himself was to compose\r\nand translate philosophical dialogues and to render logical and physical terms\r\ninto the Roman idiom. For he it was, as it is said, who first or principally\r\ngave Latin names to phantasia, syncatathesis, epokhe, catalepsis, atomon,\r\nameres, kenon, and other such technical terms, which, either by metaphors or\r\nother means of accommodation, he succeeded in making intelligible and\r\nexpressible to the Romans. For his recreation, he exercised his dexterity in\r\npoetry, and when he was set to it, would make five hundred verses in a night.\r\nHe spent the greatest part of his time at his country-house near Tusculum. He\r\nwrote to his friends that he led the life of Laertes, either jestingly, as his\r\ncustom was, or rather from a feeling of ambition for public employment, which\r\nmade him impatient under the present state of affairs. He rarely went to the\r\ncity, unless to pay his court to Caesar. He was commonly the first amongst\r\nthose who voted him honors, and sought out new terms of praise for himself and\r\nfor his actions. As, for example, what he said of the statues of Pompey, which\r\nhad been thrown down, and were afterwards by Caesar’s orders set up again: that\r\nCaesar, by this act of humanity, had indeed set up Pompey’s statues, but he had\r\nfixed and established his own.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe had a design, it is said, of writing the history of his country, combining\r\nwith it much of that of Greece, and incorporating in it all the stories and\r\nlegends of the past that he had collected. But his purposes were interfered\r\nwith by various public and various private unhappy occurrences and misfortunes;\r\nfor most of which he was himself in fault. For first of all, he put away his\r\nwife Terentia, by whom he had been neglected in the time of the war, and sent\r\naway destitute of necessaries for his journey; neither did he find her kind\r\nwhen he returned into Italy, for she did not join him at Brundusium, where he\r\nstayed a long time, nor would allow her young daughter, who undertook so long a\r\njourney, decent attendance, or the requisite expenses; besides, she left him a\r\nnaked and empty house, and yet had involved him in many and great debts. These\r\nwere alleged as the fairest reasons for the divorce. But Terentia, who denied\r\nthem all, had the most unmistakable defense furnished her by her husband\r\nhimself, who not long after married a young maiden for the love of her beauty,\r\nas Terentia upbraided him; or as Tiro, his emancipated slave, has written, for\r\nher riches, to discharge his debts. For the young woman was very rich, and\r\nCicero had the custody of her estate, being left guardian in trust; and being\r\nindebted many myriads of money, he was persuaded by his friends and relations\r\nto marry her, notwithstanding his disparity of age, and to use her money to\r\nsatisfy his creditors. Antony, who mentions this marriage in his answer to the\r\nPhilippics, reproaches him for putting away a wife with whom he had lived to\r\nold age; adding some happy strokes of sarcasm on Cicero’s domestic, inactive,\r\nunsoldier-like habits. Not long after this marriage, his daughter died in\r\nchild-bed at Lentulus’s house, to whom she had been married after the death of\r\nPiso, her former husband. The philosophers from all parts came to comfort\r\nCicero; for his grief was so excessive, that he put away his new-married wife,\r\nbecause she seemed to be pleased at the death of Tullia. And thus stood\r\nCicero’s domestic affairs at this time.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe had no concern in the design that was now forming against Caesar, although,\r\nin general, he was Brutus’s most principal confidant, and one who was as\r\naggrieved at the present, and as desirous of the former state of public\r\naffairs, as any other whatsoever. But they feared his temper, as wanting\r\ncourage, and his old age, in which the most daring dispositions are apt to be\r\ntimorous.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon, therefore, as the act was committed by Brutus and Cassius, and the\r\nfriends of Caesar were got together, so that there was fear the city would\r\nagain be involved in a civil war, Antony, being consul, convened the senate,\r\nand made a short address recommending concord. And Cicero, following with\r\nvarious remarks such as the occasion called for, persuaded the senate to\r\nimitate the Athenians, and decree an amnesty for what had been done in Caesar’s\r\ncase, and to bestow provinces on Brutus and Cassius. But neither of these\r\nthings took effect. For as soon as the common people, of themselves inclined to\r\npity, saw the dead body of Caesar borne through the marketplace, and Antony\r\nshowing his clothes filled with blood, and pierced through in every part with\r\nswords, enraged to a degree of frenzy, they made a search for the murderers,\r\nand with firebrands in their hands ran to their houses to burn them. They,\r\nhowever, being forewarned, avoided this danger; and expecting many more and\r\ngreater to come, they left the city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntony on this was at once in exultation, and everyone was in alarm with the\r\nprospect that he would make himself sole ruler, and Cicero in more alarm than\r\nanyone. For Antony, seeing his influence reviving in the commonwealth, and\r\nknowing how closely he was connected with Brutus, was ill-pleased to have him\r\nin the city. Besides, there had been some former jealousy between them,\r\noccasioned by the difference of their manners. Cicero, fearing the event, was\r\ninclined to go as lieutenant with Dolabella into Syria. But Hirtius and Pansa,\r\nconsuls elect as successors of Antony, good men and lovers of Cicero, entreated\r\nhim not to leave them, undertaking to put down Antony if he would stay in Rome.\r\nAnd he, neither distrusting wholly, nor trusting them, let Dolabella go without\r\nhim, promising Hirtius that he would go and spend his summer at Athens, and\r\nreturn again when he entered upon his office. So he set out on his journey; but\r\nsome delay occurring in his passage, new intelligence, as often happens, came\r\nsuddenly from Rome, that Antony had made an astonishing change, and was doing\r\nall things and managing all public affairs at the will of the senate, and that\r\nthere wanted nothing but his presence to bring things to a happy settlement.\r\nAnd therefore, blaming himself for his cowardice, he returned again to Rome,\r\nand was not deceived in his hopes at the beginning. For such multitudes flocked\r\nout to meet him, that the compliments and civilities which were paid him at the\r\ngates, and at his entrance into the city, took up almost one whole day’s time.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the morrow, Antony convened the senate, and summoned Cicero thither. He came\r\nnot, but kept is bed, pretending to be ill with his journey; but the true\r\nreason seemed the fear of some design against him, upon a suspicion and\r\nintimation given him on his way to Rome. Antony, however, showed great offense\r\nat the affront, and sent soldiers, commanding them to bring him or burn his\r\nhouse; but many interceding and supplicating for him, he was contented to\r\naccept sureties. Ever after, when they met, they passed one another with\r\nsilence, and continued on their guard, till Caesar, the younger, coming from\r\nApollonia, entered on the first Caesar’s inheritance, and was engaged in a\r\ndispute with Antony about two thousand five hundred myriads of money, which\r\nAntony detained from the estate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this, Philippus, who married the mother, and Marcellus, who married the\r\nsister of young Caesar, came with the young man to Cicero, and agreed with him\r\nthat Cicero should give them the aid of his eloquence and political influence\r\nwith the senate and people, and Caesar give Cicero the defense of his riches\r\nand arms. For the young man had already a great party of the soldiers of Caesar\r\nabout him. And Cicero’s readiness to join him was founded, it is said, on some\r\nyet stronger motives; for it seems, while Pompey and Caesar were yet alive,\r\nCicero, in his sleep, had fancied himself engaged in calling some of the sons\r\nof the senators into the capitol, Jupiter being about, according to the dream,\r\nto declare one of them the chief ruler of Rome. The citizens, running up with\r\ncuriosity, stood about the temple, and the youths, sitting in their\r\npurple-bordered robes, kept silence. On a sudden the doors opened, and the\r\nyouths, arising one by one in order, passed round the god, who reviewed them\r\nall, and, to their sorrow, dismissed them; but when this one was passing by,\r\nthe god stretched forth his right hand and said, “O ye Romans, this young man,\r\nwhen he shall be lord of Rome, shall put an end to all your civil wars.” It is\r\nsaid that Cicero formed from his dream a distinct image of the youth, and\r\nretained it afterwards perfectly, but did not know who it was. The next day,\r\ngoing down into the Campus Martius, he met the boys resuming from their\r\ngymnastic exercises, and the first was he, just as he had appeared to him in\r\nhis dream. Being astonished at it, he asked him who were his parents. And it\r\nproved to be this young Caesar, whose father was a man of no great eminence,\r\nOctavius, and his mother, Attia, Caesar’s sister’s daughter; for which reason,\r\nCaesar, who had no children, made him by will the heir of his house and\r\nproperty. From that time, it is said that Cicero studiously noticed the youth\r\nwhenever he met him, and he as kindly received the civility; and by fortune he\r\nhappened to be born when Cicero was consul.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese were the reasons spoken of; but it was principally Cicero’s hatred of\r\nAntony, and a temper unable to resist honor, which fastened him to Caesar, with\r\nthe purpose of getting the support of Caesar’s power for his own public\r\ndesigns. For the young man went so far in his court to him, that he called him\r\nFather; at which Brutus was so highly displeased, that, in his epistles to\r\nAtticus he reflected on Cicero saying, it was manifest, by his courting Caesar\r\nfor fear of Antony, he did not intend liberty to his country, but an indulgent\r\nmaster to himself. Notwithstanding, Brutus took Cicero’s son, then studying\r\nphilosophy at Athens, gave him a command, and employed him in various ways,\r\nwith a good result. Cicero’s own power at this time was at the greatest height\r\nin the city, and he did whatsoever he pleased; he completely overpowered and\r\ndrove out Antony, and sent the two consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, with an army, to\r\nreduce him; and, on the other hand, persuaded the senate to allow Caesar the\r\nlictors and ensigns of a praetor, as though he were his country’s defender. But\r\nafter Antony was defeated in battle, and the two consuls slain, the armies\r\nunited, and ranged themselves with Caesar. And the senate, fearing the young\r\nman, and his extraordinary fortune, endeavored, by honors and gifts, to call\r\noff the soldiers from him, and to lessen his power; professing there was no\r\nfurther need of arms, now Antony was put to flight.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis giving Caesar an affright, he privately sends some friends to entreat and\r\npersuade Cicero to procure the consular dignity for them both together; saying\r\nhe should manage the affairs as he pleased, should have the supreme power, and\r\ngovern the young man who was only desirous of name and glory. And Caesar\r\nhimself confessed, that in fear of ruin, and in danger of being deserted, he\r\nhad seasonably made use of Cicero’s ambition, persuading him to stand with him,\r\nand to accept the offer of his aid and interest for the consulship.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now, more than at any other time, Cicero let himself be carried away and\r\ndeceived, though an old man, by the persuasions of a boy. He joined him in\r\nsoliciting votes, and procured the good-will of the senate, not without blame\r\nat the time on the part of his friends; and he, too, soon enough after, saw\r\nthat he had ruined himself, and betrayed the liberty of his country. For the\r\nyoung man, once established, and possessed of the office of consul, bade Cicero\r\nfarewell; and, reconciling himself to Antony and Lepidus, joined his power with\r\ntheirs, and divided the government, like a piece of property, with them. Thus\r\nunited, they made a schedule of above two hundred persons who were to be put to\r\ndeath. But the greatest contention in all their debates was on the question of\r\nCicero’s case. Antony would come to no conditions, unless he should be the\r\nfirst man to be killed. Lepidus held with Antony, and Caesar opposed them both.\r\nThey met secretly and by themselves, for three days together, near the town of\r\nBononia. The spot was not far from the camp, with a river surrounding it.\r\nCaesar, it is said, contended earnestly for Cicero the first two days; but on\r\nthe third day he yielded, and gave him up.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe terms of their mutual concessions were these; that Caesar should desert\r\nCicero, Lepidus his brother Paulus, and Antony, Lucius Caesar, his uncle by his\r\nmother’s side. Thus they let their anger and fury take from them the sense of\r\nhumanity, and demonstrated that no beast is more savage than man, when\r\npossessed with power answerable to his rage.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst these things were contriving, Cicero was with his brother at his\r\ncountry-house near Tusculum; whence, hearing of the proscriptions, they\r\ndetermined to pass to Astura, a villa of Cicero’s near the sea, and to take\r\nshipping from thence for Macedonia to Brutus, of whose strength in that\r\nprovince news had already been heard. They traveled together in their separate\r\nlitters, overwhelmed with sorrow; and often stopping on the way till their\r\nlitters came together, condoled with one another. But Quintus was the more\r\ndisheartened, when he reflected on his want of means for his journey; for, as\r\nhe said, he had brought nothing with him from home. And even Cicero himself had\r\nbut a slender provision. It was judged, therefore, most expedient that Cicero\r\nshould make what haste he could to fly, and Quintus return home to provide\r\nnecessaries, and thus resolved, they mutually embraced, and parted with many\r\ntears.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nQuintus, within a few days after, betrayed by his servants to those who came to\r\nsearch for him, was slain, together with his young son. But Cicero was carried\r\nto Astura, where, finding a vessel, he immediately went on board her, and\r\nsailed as far as Circaeum with a prosperous gale; but when the pilots resolved\r\nimmediately to set sail from thence, whether fearing the sea, or not wholly\r\ndistrusting the faith of Caesar, he went on shore, and passed by land a hundred\r\nfurlongs, as if he was going for Rome. But losing resolution and changing his\r\nmind, he again returned to the sea, and there spent the night in fearful and\r\nperplexed thoughts. Sometimes he resolved to go into Caesar’s house privately,\r\nand there kill himself upon the altar of his household gods, to bring divine\r\nvengeance upon him; but the fear of torture put him off this course. And after\r\npassing through a variety of confused and uncertain counsels, at last he let\r\nhis servants carry him by sea to Capitae, where he had a house, an agreeable\r\nplace to retire to in the heat of summer, when the Etesian winds are so\r\npleasant.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was at that place a chapel of Apollo, not far from the sea-side, from\r\nwhich a flight of crows rose with a great noise, and made towards Cicero’s\r\nvessel as it rowed to land, and lighting on both sides of the yard, some\r\ncroaked, others pecked the ends of the ropes. This was looked upon by all as an\r\nill omen; and, therefore, Cicero went again ashore, and entering his house, lay\r\ndown upon his bed to compose himself to rest. Many of the crows settled about\r\nthe window, making a dismal cawing; but one of them alighted upon the bed where\r\nCicero lay covered up, and with its bill by little and little pecked off the\r\nclothes from his face. His servants, seeing this, blamed themselves that they\r\nshould stay to be spectators of their master’s murder, and do nothing in his\r\ndefense, whilst the brute creatures came to assist and take care of him in his\r\nundeserved affliction; and, therefore, partly by entreaty, partly by force,\r\nthey took him up, and carried him in his litter towards the sea-side.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut in the meantime the assassins were come with a band of soldiers, Herennius,\r\na centurion, and Popillius, a tribune, whom Cicero had formerly defended when\r\nprosecuted for the murder of his father. Finding the doors shut, they broke\r\nthem open, and Cicero not appearing and those within saying they knew not where\r\nhe was, it is stated that a youth, who had been educated by Cicero in the\r\nliberal arts and sciences, an emancipated slave of his brother Quintus,\r\nPhilologus by name, informed the tribune that the litter was on its way to the\r\nsea through the close and shady walks. The tribune, taking a few with him, ran\r\nto the place where he was to come out. And Cicero, perceiving Herennius running\r\nin the walks, commanded his servants to set down the litter; and stroking his\r\nchin, as he used to do, with his left hand, he looked steadfastly upon his\r\nmurderers, his person covered with dust, his beard and hair untrimmed, and his\r\nface worn with his troubles. So that the greatest part of those that stood by\r\ncovered their faces whilst Herennius slew him. And thus was he murdered,\r\nstretching forth his neck out of the litter, being now in his sixty-fourth\r\nyear. Herennius cut off his head, and, by Antony’s command, his hands also, by\r\nwhich his Philippics were written; for so Cicero styled those orations he wrote\r\nagainst Antony, and so they are called to this day.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen these members of Cicero were brought to Rome, Antony was holding an\r\nassembly for the choice of public officers; and when he heard it, and saw them,\r\nhe cried out, “Now let there be an end of our proscriptions.” He commanded his\r\nhead and hands to be fastened up over the Rostra, where the orators spoke; a\r\nsight which the Roman people shuddered to behold, and they believed they saw\r\nthere not the face of Cicero, but the image of Antony’s own soul. And yet\r\namidst these actions he did justice in one thing, by delivering up Philologus\r\nto Pomponia, the wife of Quintus; who, having got his body into her power,\r\nbesides other grievous punishments, made him cut off his own flesh by pieces,\r\nand roast and eat it; for so some writers have related. But Tiro, Cicero’s\r\nemancipated slave, has not so much as mentioned the treachery of Philologus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome long time after, Caesar, I have been told, visiting one of his daughter’s\r\nsons, found him with a book of Cicero’s in his hand. The boy for fear\r\nendeavored to hide it under his gown; which Caesar perceiving, took it from\r\nhim, and turning over a great part of the book standing, gave it him again, and\r\nsaid, “My child, this was a learned man, and a lover of his country.” And\r\nimmediately after he had vanquished Antony, being then consul, he made Cicero’s\r\nson his colleague in the office; and under that consulship, the senate took\r\ndown all the statues of Antony, and abolished all the other honors that had\r\nbeen given him, and decreed that none of that family should thereafter bear the\r\nname of Marcus; and thus the final acts of the punishment of Antony were, by\r\nthe divine powers, devolved upon the family of Cicero.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap58\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF DEMOSTHENES AND CICERO\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese are the most memorable circumstances recorded in history of Demosthenes\r\nand Cicero which have come to our knowledge. But omitting an exact comparison\r\nof their respective faculties in speaking, yet thus much seems fit to be said;\r\nthat Demosthenes, to make himself a master in rhetoric, applied all the\r\nfaculties he had, natural or acquired, wholly that way; that he far surpassed\r\nin force and strength of eloquence all his contemporaries in political and\r\njudicial speaking, in grandeur and majesty all the panegyrical orators, and in\r\naccuracy and science all the logicians and rhetoricians of his day; that Cicero\r\nwas highly educated, and by his diligent study became a most accomplished\r\ngeneral scholar in all these branches, having left behind him numerous\r\nphilosophical treatises of his own on Academic principles; as, indeed, even in\r\nhis written speeches, both political and judicial, we see him continually\r\ntrying to show his learning by the way. And one may discover the different\r\ntemper of each of them in their speeches. For Demosthenes’s oratory was without\r\nall embellishment and jesting, wholly composed for real effect and seriousness;\r\nnot smelling of the lamp, as Pytheas scoffingly said, but of the temperance,\r\nthoughtfulness, austerity, and grave earnestness of his temper. Whereas\r\nCicero’s love of mockery often ran him into scurrility; and in his love of\r\nlaughing away serious arguments in judicial cases by jests and facetious\r\nremarks, with a view to the advantage of his clients, he paid too little regard\r\nto what was decent: saying, for example, in his defense of Caelius, that he had\r\ndone no absurd thing in such plenty and affluence to indulge himself in\r\npleasures, it being a kind of madness not to enjoy the things we possess,\r\nespecially since the most eminent philosophers have asserted pleasure to be the\r\nchiefest good. So also we are told, that when Cicero, being consul, undertook\r\nthe defense of Murena against Cato’s prosecution, by way of bantering Cato, he\r\nmade a long series of jokes upon the absurd paradoxes, as they are called, of\r\nthe Stoic sect; so that a loud laughter passing from the crowd to the judges,\r\nCato, with a quiet smile, said to those that sat next him, “My friends, what an\r\namusing consul we have.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, indeed, Cicero was by natural temper very much disposed to mirth and\r\npleasantry, and always appeared with a smiling and serene countenance. But\r\nDemosthenes had constant care and thoughtfulness in his look, and a serious\r\nanxiety, which he seldom, if ever, laid aside; and, therefore, was accounted by\r\nhis enemies, as he himself confessed, morose and ill-mannered.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAlso, it is very evident, out of their several writings, that Demosthenes never\r\ntouched upon his own praises but decently and without offense when there was\r\nneed of it, and for some weightier end; but, upon other occasions modestly and\r\nsparingly. But Cicero’s immeasurable boasting of himself in his orations argues\r\nhim guilty of an uncontrollable appetite for distinction, his cry being\r\nevermore that arms should give place to the gown, and the soldier’s laurel to\r\nthe tongue. And at last we find him extolling not only his deeds and actions,\r\nbut his orations also, as well those that were only spoken, as those that were\r\npublished; as if he were engaged in a boyish trial of skill, who should speak\r\nbest, with the rhetoricians, Isocrates and Anaximenes, not as one who could\r\nclaim the task to guide and instruct the Roman nation, the\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSoldier full-armed, terrific to the foe.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is necessary, indeed, for a political leader to be an able speaker; but it\r\nis an ignoble thing for any man to admire and relish the glory of his own\r\neloquence. And, in this matter, Demosthenes had a more than ordinary gravity\r\nand magnificence of mind, accounting his talent in speaking nothing more than a\r\nmere accomplishment and matter of practice, the success of which must depend\r\ngreatly on the good-will and candor of his hearers, and regarding those who\r\npride themselves on such accounts to be men of a low and petty disposition.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe power of persuading and governing the people did, indeed, equally belong to\r\nboth, so that those who had armies and camps at command stood in need of their\r\nassistance; as Chares, Diopithes, and Leosthenes of Demosthenes’s, Pompey and\r\nyoung Caesar of Cicero’s, as the latter himself admits in his Memoirs addressed\r\nto Agrippa and Maecenas. But what are thought and commonly said most to\r\ndemonstrate and try the tempers of men, namely, authority and place, by moving\r\nevery passion, and discovering every frailty, these are things which\r\nDemosthenes never received; nor was he ever in a position to give such proof of\r\nhimself, having never obtained any eminent office, nor led any of those armies\r\ninto the field against Philip which he raised by his eloquence. Cicero, on the\r\nother hand, was sent quaestor into Sicily, and proconsul into Cilicia and\r\nCappadocia, at a time when avarice was at the height, and the commanders and\r\ngovernors who were employed abroad, as though they thought it a mean thing to\r\nsteal, set themselves to seize by open force; so that it seemed no heinous\r\nmatter to take bribes, but he that did it most moderately was in good esteem.\r\nAnd yet he, at this time, gave the most abundant proofs alike of his contempt\r\nof riches and of his humanity and good-nature. And at Rome, when he was created\r\nconsul in name, but indeed received sovereign and dictatorial authority against\r\nCatiline and his conspirators, he attested the truth of Plato’s prediction,\r\nthat then the miseries of states would be at an end, when by a happy fortune\r\nsupreme power, wisdom, and justice should be united in one.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is said, to the reproach of Demosthenes, that his eloquence was mercenary;\r\nthat he privately made orations for Phormion and Apollodorus, though\r\nadversaries in the same cause; that he was charged with moneys received from\r\nthe king of Persia, and condemned for bribes from Harpalus. And should we grant\r\nthat all those (and they are not few) who have made these statements against\r\nhim have spoken what is untrue, yet that Demosthenes was not the character to\r\nlook without desire on the presents offered him out of respect and gratitude by\r\nroyal persons, and that one who lent money on maritime usury was likely to be\r\nthus indifferent, is what we cannot assert. But that Cicero refused, from the\r\nSicilians when he was quaestor, from the king of Cappadocia when he was\r\nproconsul, and from his friends at Rome when he was in exile, many presents,\r\nthough urged to receive them, has been said already.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMoreover, Demosthenes’s banishment was infamous, upon conviction for bribery;\r\nCicero’s very honorable, for ridding his country of a set of villains.\r\nTherefore, when Demosthenes fled his country, no man regarded it; for Cicero’s\r\nsake the senate changed their habit, and put on mourning, and would not be\r\npersuaded to make any act before Cicero’s return was decreed. Cicero, however,\r\npassed his exile idly in Macedonia. But the very exile of Demosthenes made up a\r\ngreat part of the services he did for his country; for he went through the\r\ncities of Greece, and everywhere, as we have said, joined in the conflict on\r\nbehalf of the Grecians, driving out the Macedonian ambassadors, and approving\r\nhimself a much better citizen than Themistocles and Alcibiades did in the like\r\nfortune. And, after his return, he again devoted himself to the same public\r\nservice, and continued firm to his opposition to Antipater and the Macedonians.\r\nWhereas Laelius reproached Cicero in the senate for sitting silent when Caesar,\r\na beardless youth, asked leave to come forward, contrary to the law, as a\r\ncandidate for the consulship; and Brutus, in his epistles, charges him with\r\nnursing and rearing a greater and more heavy tyranny than that they had\r\nremoved.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFinally, Cicero’s death excites our pity; for an old man to be miserably\r\ncarried up and down by his servants, flying and hiding himself from that death\r\nwhich was, in the course of nature, so near at hand; and yet at last to be\r\nmurdered. Demosthenes, though he seemed at first a little to supplicate, yet,\r\nby his preparing and keeping the poison by him, demands our admiration; and\r\nstill more admirable was his using it. When the temple of the god no longer\r\nafforded him a sanctuary, he took refuge, as it were, at a mightier altar,\r\nfreeing himself from arms and soldiers, and laughing to scorn the cruelty of\r\nAntipater.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap59\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eDEMETRIUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIngenious men have long observed a resemblance between the arts and the bodily\r\nsenses. And they were first led to do so, I think, by noticing the way in\r\nwhich, both in the arts and with our senses, we examine opposites. Judgment\r\nonce obtained, the use to which we put it differs in the two cases. Our senses\r\nare not meant to pick out black rather than white, to prefer sweet to bitter,\r\nor soft and yielding to hard and resisting objects; all they have to do is to\r\nreceive impressions as they occur, and report to the understanding the\r\nimpressions as received. The arts, on the other hand, which reason institutes\r\nexpressly to choose and obtain some suitable, and to refuse and get rid of some\r\nunsuitable object, have their proper concern in the consideration of the\r\nformer; though, in a casual and contingent way, they must also, for the very\r\nrejection of them, pay attention to the latter. Medicine, to produce health,\r\nhas to examine disease, and music, to create harmony, must investigate discord;\r\nand the supreme arts, of temperance, of justice, and of wisdom, as they are\r\nacts of judgment and selection, exercised not on good and just and expedient\r\nonly, but also on wicked, unjust, and inexpedient objects, do not give their\r\ncommendations to the mere innocence whose boast is its inexperience of evil,\r\nand whose truer name is, by their award, suppleness and ignorance of what all\r\nmen who live aright should know. The ancient Spartans, at their festivals, used\r\nto force their Helots to swallow large quantities of raw wine, and then to\r\nexpose them at the public tables, to let the young men see what it is to be\r\ndrunk. And, though I do not think it consistent with humanity or with civil\r\njustice to correct one man’s morals by corrupting those of another, yet we may,\r\nI think, avail ourselves of the cases of those who have fallen into\r\nindiscretions, and have, in high stations, made themselves conspicuous for\r\nmisconduct; and I shall not do ill to introduce a pair or two of such examples\r\namong these biographies, not, assuredly, to amuse and divert my readers, or\r\ngive variety to my theme, but, as Ismenias, the Theban, used to show his\r\nscholars good and bad performers on the flute, and to tell them, “You should\r\nplay like this man,” and “You should not play like that,” and as Antigenidas\r\nused to say, Young people would take greater pleasure in hearing good playing,\r\nif first they were set to hear bad, so, and in the same manner, it seems to me\r\nlikely enough that we shall be all the more zealous and more emulous to read,\r\nobserve, and imitate the better lives, if we are not left in ignorance of the\r\nblameworthy and the bad.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor this reason, the following book contains the lives of Demetrius\r\nPoliorcetes, and Antonius the Triumvir; two persons who have abundantly\r\njustified the words of Plato, that great natures produce great vices as well as\r\nvirtues. Both alike were amorous and intemperate, warlike and munificent,\r\nsumptuous in their way of living, and overbearing in their manners. And the\r\nlikeness of their fortunes carried out the resemblance in their characters. Not\r\nonly were their lives each a series of great successes and great disasters,\r\nmighty acquisitions and tremendous losses of power, sudden overthrows, followed\r\nby unexpected recoveries, but they died, also, Demetrius in actual captivity to\r\nhis enemies, and Antony on the verge of it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntigonus had by his wife, Stratonice, the daughter of Corrhaeus, two sons; the\r\none of whom, after the name of his uncle, he called Demetrius, the other had\r\nthat of his grandfather Philip, and died young. This is the most general\r\naccount, although some have related, that Demetrius was not the son of\r\nAntigonus, but of his brother; and that his own father dying young, and his\r\nmother being afterwards married to Antigonus, he was accounted to be his son.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemetrius had not the height of his father Antigonus, though he was a tall man.\r\nBut his countenance was one of such singular beauty and expression, that no\r\npainter or sculptor ever produced a good likeness of him. It combined grace and\r\nstrength, dignity with boyish bloom, and, in the midst of youthful heat and\r\npassion, what was hardest of all to represent was a certain heroic look and air\r\nof kingly greatness. Nor did his character belie his looks, as no one was\r\nbetter able to render himself both loved and feared. For as he was the most\r\neasy and agreeable of companions, and the most luxurious and delicate of\r\nprinces in his drinking and banqueting and daily pleasures, so in action there\r\nwas never anyone that showed a more vehement persistence, or a more passionate\r\nenergy. Bacchus, skilled in the conduct of war, and after war in giving peace\r\nits pleasures and joys, seems to have been his pattern among the gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe was wonderfully fond of his father Antigonus; and the tenderness he had for\r\nhis mother led him, for her sake, to redouble attentions, which it was evident\r\nwere not so much owing to fear or duty as to the more powerful motives of\r\ninclination. It is reported, that, returning one day from hunting, he went\r\nimmediately into the apartment of Antigonus, who was conversing with some\r\nambassadors, and after stepping up and kissing his father, he sat down by him,\r\njust as he was, still holding in his hand the javelins which he had brought\r\nwith him. Whereupon Antigonus, who had just dismissed the ambassadors with\r\ntheir answer, called out in a loud voice to them, as they were going, “Mention,\r\nalso, that this is the way in which we two live together;” as if to imply to\r\nthem that it was no slender mark of the power and security of his government\r\nthat there was so perfect a good understanding between himself and his son.\r\nSuch an unsociable, solitary thing is power, and so much of jealousy and\r\ndistrust in it, that the first and greatest of the successors of Alexander\r\ncould make it a thing to glory in that he was not so afraid of his son as to\r\nforbid his standing beside him with a weapon in his hand. And, in fact, among\r\nall the successors of Alexander, that of Antigonus was the only house which,\r\nfor many descents, was exempted from crime of this kind; or, to state it\r\nexactly, Philip was the only one of this family who was guilty of a son’s\r\ndeath. All the other families, we may fairly say, afforded frequent examples of\r\nfathers who brought their children, husbands their wives, children their\r\nmothers, to untimely ends; and that brothers should put brothers to death was\r\nassumed, like the postulates of mathematicians, as the common and recognized\r\nroyal first principle of safety.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nLet us here record an example in the early life of Demetrius, showing his\r\nnatural humane and kindly disposition. It was an adventure which passed betwixt\r\nhim and Mithridates, the son of Ariobarzanes, who was about the same age with\r\nDemetrius, and lived with him, in attendance on Antigonus; and although nothing\r\nwas said or could be said to his reproach, he fell under suspicion, in\r\nconsequence of a dream which Antigonus had. Antigonus thought himself in a fair\r\nand spacious field, where he sowed golden seed, and saw presently a golden crop\r\ncome up; of which, however, looking presently again, he saw nothing remain but\r\nthe stubble, without the ears. And as he stood by in anger and vexation, he\r\nheard some voices saying, Mithridates had cut the golden harvest and carried it\r\noff into Pontus. Antigonus, much discomposed with his dream, first bound his\r\nson by an oath not to speak, and then related it to him, adding, that he had\r\nresolved, in consequence, to lose no time in ridding himself of Mithridates,\r\nand making away with him. Demetrius was extremely distressed; and when the\r\nyoung man came, as usual, to pass his time with him, to keep his oath he\r\nforbore from saying a word, but, drawing him aside little by little from the\r\ncompany, as soon as they were by themselves, without opening his lips, with the\r\npoint of his javelin he traced before him the words, “Fly, Mithridates.”\r\nMithridates took the hint, and fled by night into Cappadocia, where Antigonus’s\r\ndream about him was quickly brought to its due fulfillment; for he got\r\npossession of a large and fertile territory; and from him descended the line of\r\nthe kings of Pontus, which, in the eighth generation, was reduced by the\r\nRomans. This may serve for a specimen of the early goodness and love of justice\r\nthat was part of Demetrius’s natural character.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut as in the elements of the world, Empedocles tells us, out of liking and\r\ndislike, there spring up contention and warfare, and all the more, the closer\r\nthe contact, or the nearer the approach of the objects, even so the perpetual\r\nhostilities among the successors of Alexander were aggravated and inflamed, in\r\nparticular cases, by juxtaposition of interests and of territories; as, for\r\nexample, in the case of Antigonus and Ptolemy. News came to Antigonus that\r\nPtolemy had crossed from Cyprus and invaded Syria, and was ravaging the country\r\nand reducing the cities. Remaining, therefore, himself in Phrygia, he sent\r\nDemetrius, now twenty-two years old, to make his first essay as sole commander\r\nin an important charge. He, whose youthful heat outran his experience,\r\nadvancing against an adversary trained in Alexander’s school, and practiced in\r\nmany encounters, incurred a great defeat near the town of Gaza, in which eight\r\nthousand of his men were taken, and five thousand killed. His own tent, also,\r\nhis money, and all his private effects and furniture, were captured. These,\r\nhowever, Ptolemy sent back, together with his friends, accompanying them with\r\nthe humane and courteous message, that they were not fighting for anything else\r\nbut honor and dominion. Demetrius accepted the gift, praying only to the gods\r\nnot to leave him long in Ptolemy’s debt, but to let him have an early chance of\r\ndoing the like to him. He took his disaster, also, with the temper not of a boy\r\ndefeated in his attempt, but of an old and long-tried general, familiar with\r\nreverse of fortune; he busied himself in collecting his men, replenishing his\r\nmagazines, watching the allegiance of the cities, and drilling his new\r\nrecruits.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntigonus received the news of the battle with the remark, that Ptolemy had\r\nbeaten boys, and would now have to fight with men. But not to humble the spirit\r\nof his son, he acceded to his request, and left him to command on the next\r\noccasion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after, Cilles, Ptolemy’s lieutenant, with a powerful army, took the\r\nfield, and, looking upon Demetrius as already defeated by the previous battle,\r\nhe had in his imagination driven him out of Syria before he saw him. But he\r\nquickly found himself deceived; for Demetrius came so unexpectedly upon him\r\nthat he surprised both the general and his army, making him and seven thousand\r\nof the soldiers prisoners of war, and possessing himself of a large amount of\r\ntreasure. But his joy in the victory was not so much for the prizes he should\r\nkeep, as for those he could restore; and his thankfulness was less for the\r\nwealth and glory than for the means it gave him of requiting his enemy’s former\r\ngenerosity. He did not, however, take it into his own hands, but wrote to his\r\nfather. And on receiving leave to do as he liked, he sent back to Ptolemy\r\nCilles and his friends, loaded with presents. This defeat drove Ptolemy out of\r\nSyria, and brought Antigonus from Celaenae, to enjoy the victory, and the sight\r\nof the son who had gained it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSoon after, Demetrius was sent to bring the Nabathaean Arabs into obedience.\r\nAnd here he got into a district without water, and incurred considerable\r\ndanger, but by his resolute and composed demeanor he overawed the barbarians,\r\nand returned after receiving from them a large amount of booty, and seven\r\nhundred camels. Not long after, Seleucus, whom Antigonus had formerly chased\r\nout of Babylon, but who had afterwards recovered his dominion by his own\r\nefforts and maintained himself in it, went with large forces on an expedition\r\nto reduce the tribes on the confines of India and the provinces near Mount\r\nCaucasus. And Demetrius, conjecturing that he had left Mesopotamia but\r\nslenderly guarded in his absence, suddenly passed the Euphrates with his army,\r\nand made his way into Babylonia unexpectedly; where he succeeded in capturing\r\none of the two citadels, out of which he expelled the garrison of Seleucus, and\r\nplaced in it seven thousand men of his own. And after allowing his soldiers to\r\nenrich themselves with all the spoil they could carry with them out of the\r\ncountry, he retired to the sea, leaving Seleucus more securely master of his\r\ndominions than before, as he seemed by this conduct to abandon every claim to a\r\ncountry which he treated like an enemy’s. However, by a rapid advance, he\r\nrescued Halicarnassus from Ptolemy, who was besieging it. The glory which this\r\nact obtained them inspired both the father and son with a wonderful desire for\r\nfreeing Greece, which Cassander and Ptolemy had everywhere reduced to slavery.\r\nNo nobler or juster war was undertaken by any of the kings; the wealth they had\r\ngained while humbling, with Greek assistance, the barbarians being thus\r\nemployed, for honor’s sake and good repute, in helping the Greeks. When the\r\nresolution was taken to begin their attempt with Athens, one of his friends\r\ntold Antigonus, if they captured Athens, they must keep it safe in their own\r\nhands, as by this gangway they might step out from their ships into Greece when\r\nthey pleased. But Antigonus would not hear of it; he did not want a better or a\r\nsteadier gangway than people’s good-will; and from Athens, the beacon of the\r\nworld, the news of their conduct would soon be handed on to all the world’s\r\ninhabitants. So Demetrius, with a sum of five thousand talents, and a fleet of\r\ntwo hundred and fifty ships, set sail for Athens, where Demetrius the Phalerian\r\nwas governing the city for Cassander, with a garrison lodged in the port of\r\nMunychia. By good fortune and skillful management he appeared before Piraeus,\r\non the twenty-sixth of Thargelion, before anything had been heard of him.\r\nIndeed, when his ships were seen, they were taken for Ptolemy’s, and\r\npreparations were commenced for receiving them; till at last, the generals\r\ndiscovering their mistake, hurried down, and all was alarm and confusion, and\r\nattempts to push forward preparations to oppose the landing of this hostile\r\nforce. For Demetrius, having found the entrances of the port undefended, stood\r\nin directly, and was by this time safely inside, before the eyes of everybody,\r\nand made signals from his ship, requesting a peaceable hearing. And on leave\r\nbeing given, he caused a herald with a loud voice to make proclamation that he\r\nwas come thither by the command of his father, with no other design than what\r\nhe prayed the gods to prosper with success, to give the Athenians their\r\nliberty, to expel the garrison, and to restore the ancient laws and\r\nconstitution of the country.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe people, hearing this, at once threw down their shields, and, clapping their\r\nhands, with loud acclamations entreated Demetrius to land, calling him their\r\ndeliverer and benefactor. And the Phalerian and his party, who saw that there\r\nwas nothing for it but to receive the conqueror, whether he should perform his\r\npromises or not, sent, however, messengers to beg for his protection; to whom\r\nDemetrius gave a kind reception, and sent back with them Aristodemus of\r\nMiletus, one of his father’s friends. The Phalerian, under the change of\r\ngovernment, was more afraid of his fellow-citizens than of the enemy; but\r\nDemetrius took precautions for him, and, out of respect for his reputation and\r\ncharacter, sent him with a safe conduct to Thebes, whither he desired to go.\r\nFor himself, he declared he would not, in spite of all his curiosity, put his\r\nfoot in the city, till he had completed its deliverance by driving out the\r\ngarrison. So, blockading Munychia with a palisade and trench, he sailed off to\r\nattack Megara, where also there was one of Cassander’s garrisons. But, hearing\r\nthat Cratesipolis, the wife of Alexander son of Polysperchon, who was famous\r\nfor her beauty, was well disposed to see him, he left his troops near Megara,\r\nand set out with a few light-armed attendants for Patrae, where she was now\r\nstaying. And, quitting these also, he pitched his tent apart from everybody,\r\nthat the woman might pay her visit without being seen. This some of the enemy\r\nperceived, and suddenly attacked him; and, in his alarm, he was obliged to\r\ndisguise himself in a shabby cloak, and run for it, narrowly escaping the shame\r\nof being made a prisoner, in reward for his foolish passion. And as it was, his\r\ntent and money were taken. Megara, however, surrendered, and would have been\r\npillaged by the soldiers, but for the urgent intercession of the Athenians. The\r\ngarrison was driven out, and the city restored to independence. While he was\r\noccupied in this, he remembered that Stilpo, the philosopher, famous for his\r\nchoice of a life of tranquillity, was residing here. He, therefore, sent for\r\nhim, and begged to know whether anything belonging to him had been taken. “No,”\r\nreplied Stilpo, “I have not met with anyone to take away knowledge.” Pretty\r\nnearly all the servants in the city had been stolen away; and so, when\r\nDemetrius, renewing his courtesies to Stilpo, on taking leave of him, said, “I\r\nleave your city, Stilpo, a city of freemen,” “certainly,” replied Stilpo,\r\n“there is not one serving man left among us all.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nReturning from Megara, he sat down before the citadel of Munychia, which in a\r\nfew days he took by assault, and caused the fortifications to be demolished;\r\nand thus having accomplished his design, upon the request and invitation of the\r\nAthenians he made his entrance into the upper city, where, causing the people\r\nto be summoned, he publicly announced to them that their ancient constitution\r\nwas restored, and that they should receive from his father, Antigonus, a\r\npresent of one hundred and fifty thousand measures of wheat, and such a supply\r\nof timber as would enable them to build a hundred galleys. In this manner did\r\nthe Athenians recover their popular institutions, after the space of fifteen\r\nyears from the time of the war of Lamia and the battle before Cranon, during\r\nwhich interval of time the government had been administered nominally as an\r\noligarchy, but really by a single man, Demetrius the Phalerian being so\r\npowerful. But the excessive honors which the Athenians bestowed, for these\r\nnoble and generous acts, upon Demetrius, created offense and disgust. The\r\nAthenians were the first who gave Antigonus and Demetrius the title of kings,\r\nwhich hitherto they had made it a point of piety to decline, as the one\r\nremaining royal honor still reserved for the lineal descendants of Philip and\r\nAlexander, in which none but they could venture to participate. Another name\r\nwhich they received from no people but the Athenians was that of the Tutelar\r\nDeities and Deliverers. And to enhance this flattery, by a common vote it was\r\ndecreed to change the style of the city, and not to have the years named any\r\nlonger from the annual archon; a priest of the two Tutelary Divinities, who was\r\nto be yearly chosen, was to have this honor, and all public acts and\r\ninstruments were to bear their date by his name. They decreed, also, that the\r\nfigures of Antigonus and Demetrius should be woven, with those of the gods,\r\ninto the pattern of the great robe. They consecrated the spot where Demetrius\r\nfirst alighted from his chariot, and built an altar there, with the name of the\r\nAltar of the Descent of Demetrius. They created two new tribes, calling them\r\nafter the names of these princes, the Antigonid and the Demetriad; and to the\r\nCouncil, which consisted of five hundred persons, fifty being chosen out of\r\nevery tribe, they added one hundred more to represent these new tribes. But the\r\nwildest proposal was one made by Stratocles, the great inventor of all these\r\ningenious and exquisite compliments, enacting that the members of any\r\ndeputation that the city should send to Demetrius or Antigonus should have the\r\nsame title as those sent to Delphi or Olympia for the performance of the\r\nnational sacrifices in behalf of the state, at the great Greek festivals. This\r\nStratocles was, in all respects, an audacious and abandoned character, and\r\nseemed to have made it his object to copy, by his buffoonery and impertinence,\r\nCleon’s old familiarity with the people. His mistress, Phylacion, one day\r\nbringing him a dish of brains and neckbones for his dinner, “Oh,” said he, “I\r\nam to dine upon the things which we statesmen play at ball with.” At another\r\ntime, when the Athenians received their naval defeat near Amorgos, he hastened\r\nhome before the news could reach the city, and, having a chaplet on his head,\r\ncame riding through the Ceramicus, announcing that they had won a victory, and\r\nmoved a vote for thanksgivings to the gods, and a distribution of meat among\r\nthe people in their tribes. Presently after came those who brought home the\r\nwrecks from the battle; and when the people exclaimed at what he had done, he\r\ncame boldly to face the outcry, and asked what harm there had been in giving\r\nthem two days’ pleasure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSuch was Stratocles. And, “adding flame to fire,” as Aristophanes says, there\r\nwas one who, to outdo Stratocles, proposed, that it should be decreed, that\r\nwhensoever Demetrius should honor their city with his presence, they should\r\ntreat him with the same show of hospitable entertainment, with which Ceres and\r\nBacchus are received; and the citizen who exceeded the rest in the splendor and\r\ncostliness of his reception should have a sum of money granted him from the\r\npublic purse to make a sacred offering. Finally, they changed the name of the\r\nmonth of Munychion, and called it Demetrion; they gave the name of the\r\nDemetrian to the odd day between the end of the old and the beginning of the\r\nnew month; and turned the feast of Bacchus, the Dionysia, into the Demetria, or\r\nfeast of Demetrius. Most of these changes were marked by the divine\r\ndispleasure. The sacred robe, in which, according to their decree, the figures\r\nof Demetrius and Antigonus had been woven with those of Jupiter and Minerva,\r\nwas caught by a violent gust of wind, while the procession was conveying it\r\nthrough the Ceramicus, and was torn from the top to the bottom. A crop of\r\nhemlock, a plant which scarcely grew anywhere, even in the country thereabout,\r\nsprang up in abundance round the altars which they had erected to these new\r\ndivinities. They had to omit the solemn procession at the feast of Bacchus, as\r\nupon the very day of its celebration there was such a severe and rigorous\r\nfrost, coming quite out of its time, that not only the vines and fig-trees were\r\nkilled, but almost all the wheat was destroyed in the blade. Accordingly,\r\nPhilippides, an enemy to Stratocles, attacked him in a comedy, in the following\r\nverses: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHe for whom frosts that nipped your vines were sent,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd for whose sins the holy robe was rent,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWho grants to men the gods’ own honors, he,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nNot the poor stage, is now the people’s enemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nPhilippides was a great favorite with king Lysimachus, from whom the Athenians\r\nreceived, for his sake, a variety of kindnesses. Lysimachus went so far as to\r\nthink it a happy omen to meet or see Philippides at the outset of any\r\nenterprise or expedition. And, in general, he was well thought of for his own\r\ncharacter, as a plain, uninterfering person, with none of the officious,\r\nself-important habits of a court. Once, when Lysimachus was solicitous to show\r\nhim kindness, and asked what he had that he could make him a present of,\r\n“Anything,” replied Philippides, “but your state secrets.” The stage-player, we\r\nthought, deserved a place in our narrative quite as well as the public speaker.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut that which exceeded all the former follies and flatteries, was the proposal\r\nof Dromoclides of Sphettus; who, when there was a debate about sending to the\r\nDelphic Oracle to inquire the proper course for the consecration of certain\r\nbucklers, moved in the assembly that they should rather send to receive an\r\noracle from Demetrius. I will transcribe the very words of the order, which was\r\nin these terms: “May it be happy and propitious. The people of Athens have\r\ndecreed, that a fit person shall be chosen among the Athenian citizens, who\r\nshall be deputed to be sent to the Deliverer; and after he hath duly performed\r\nthe sacrifices, shall inquire of the Deliverer, in what most religious and\r\ndecent manner he will please to direct, at the earliest possible time, the\r\nconsecration of the bucklers; and according to the answer the people shall\r\nact.” With this befooling they completed the perversion of a mind which even\r\nbefore was not so strong or sound as it should have been.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDuring his present leisure in Athens, he took to wife Eurydice, a descendant of\r\nthe ancient Miltiades, who had been married to Opheltas, the ruler of Cyrene,\r\nand after his death had come back to Athens. The Athenians took the marriage as\r\na compliment and favor to the city. But Demetrius was very free in these\r\nmatters, and was the husband of several wives at once; the highest place and\r\nhonor among all being retained by Phila, who was Antipater’s daughter, and had\r\nbeen the wife of Craterus, the one of all the successors of Alexander who left\r\nbehind him the strongest feelings of attachment among the Macedonians. And for\r\nthese reasons Antigonus had obliged him to marry her, notwithstanding the\r\ndisparity of their years, Demetrius being quite a youth, and she much older;\r\nand when upon that account he made some difficulty in complying, Antigonus\r\nwhispered in his ear the maxim from Euripides, broadly substituting a new word\r\nfor the original, serve, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nNatural or not,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nA man must wed where profit will be got.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAny respect, however, which he showed either to Phila or to his other wives did\r\nnot go so far as to prevent him from consorting with any number of mistresses,\r\nand bearing, in this respect, the worst character of all the princes of his\r\ntime.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA summons now arrived from his father, ordering him to go and fight with\r\nPtolemy in Cyprus, which he was obliged to obey, sorry as he was to abandon\r\nGreece. And in quitting this nobler and more glorious enterprise, he sent to\r\nCleonides, Ptolemy’s general, who was holding garrisons in Sicyon and Corinth,\r\noffering him money to let the cities be independent. But on his refusal, he set\r\nsail hastily, taking additional forces with him, and made for Cyprus; where,\r\nimmediately upon his arrival, he fell upon Menelaus, the brother of Ptolemy,\r\nand gave him a defeat. But when Ptolemy himself came in person, with large\r\nforces both on land and sea, for some little time nothing took place beyond an\r\ninterchange of menaces and lofty talk. Ptolemy bade Demetrius sail off before\r\nthe whole armament came up, if he did not wish to be trampled under foot; and\r\nDemetrius offered to let him retire, on condition of his withdrawing his\r\ngarrisons from Sicyon and Corinth. And not they alone, but all the other\r\npotentates and princes of the time, were in anxiety for the uncertain impending\r\nissue of the conflict; as it seemed evident, that the conqueror’s prize would\r\nbe, not Cyprus or Syria, but the absolute supremacy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPtolemy had brought a hundred and fifty galleys with him, and gave orders to\r\nMenelaus to sally, in the heat of the battle, out of the harbor of Salamis, and\r\nattack with sixty ships the rear of Demetrius. Demetrius, however, opposing to\r\nthese sixty ten of his galleys, which were a sufficient number to block up the\r\nnarrow entrance of the harbor, and drawing out his land forces along all the\r\nheadlands running out into the sea, went into action with a hundred and eighty\r\ngalleys, and, attacking with the utmost boldness and impetuosity, utterly\r\nrouted Ptolemy, who fled with eight ships, the sole remnant of his fleet,\r\nseventy having been taken with all their men, and the rest destroyed in the\r\nbattle; while the whole multitude of attendants, friends, and women, that had\r\nfollowed in the ships of burden, all the arms, treasure, and military engines\r\nfell, without exception, into the hands of Demetrius, and were by him collected\r\nand brought into the camp. Among the prisoners was the celebrated Lamia, famed\r\nat one time for her skill on the flute, and afterwards renowned as a mistress.\r\nAnd although now upon the wane of her youthful beauty, and though Demetrius was\r\nmuch her junior, she exercised over him so great a charm, that all other women\r\nseemed to be amorous of Demetrius, but Demetrius amorous only of Lamia. After\r\nthis signal victory, Demetrius came before Salamis; and Menelaus, unable to\r\nmake any resistance, surrendered himself and all his fleet, twelve hundred\r\nhorse, and twelve thousand foot, together with the place. But that which added\r\nmore than all to the glory and splendor of the success was the humane and\r\ngenerous conduct of Demetrius to the vanquished. For, after he had given\r\nhonorable funerals to the dead, he bestowed liberty upon the living; and that\r\nhe might not forget the Athenians, he sent them, as a present, complete arms\r\nfor twelve hundred men.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo carry this happy news, Aristodemus of Miletus, the most perfect flatterer\r\nbelonging to the court, was dispatched to Antigonus; and he, to enhance the\r\nwelcome message, was resolved, it would appear, to make his most successful\r\neffort. When he crossed from Cyprus, he bade the galley which conveyed him come\r\nto anchor off the land; and, having ordered all the ship’s crew to remain\r\naboard, he took the boat, and was set ashore alone. Thus he proceeded to\r\nAntigonus, who, one may well imagine, was in suspense enough about the issue,\r\nand suffered all the anxieties natural to men engaged in so perilous a\r\nstruggle. And when he heard that Aristodemus was coming alone, it put him into\r\nyet greater trouble; he could scarcely forbear from going out to meet him\r\nhimself; he sent messenger on messenger, and friend after friend, to inquire\r\nwhat news. But Aristodemus, walking gravely and with a settled countenance,\r\nwithout making any answer, still proceeded quietly onward; until Antigonus,\r\nquite alarmed and no longer able to refrain, got up and met him at the gate,\r\nwhither he came with a crowd of anxious followers now collected and running\r\nafter him. As soon as he saw Antigonus within hearing, stretching out his\r\nhands, he accosted him with the loud exclamation, “Hail, king Antigonus! we\r\nhave defeated Ptolemy by sea, and have taken Cyprus and sixteen thousand eight\r\nhundred prisoners.” “Welcome, Aristodemus,” replied Antigonus, “but, as you\r\nchose to torture us so long for your good news, you may wait awhile for the\r\nreward of it.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this the people around gave Antigonus and Demetrius, for the first time,\r\nthe title of kings. His friends at once set a diadem on the head of Antigonus;\r\nand he sent one presently to his son, with a letter addressed to him as King\r\nDemetrius. And when this news was told in Egypt, that they might not seem to be\r\ndejected with the late defeat, Ptolemy’s followers also took occasion to bestow\r\nthe style of king upon him; and the rest of the successors of Alexander were\r\nquick to follow the example. Lysimachus began to wear the diadem; and Seleucus,\r\nwho had before received the name in all addresses from the barbarians, now also\r\ntook it upon him in all business with the Greeks. Cassander still retained his\r\nusual superscription in his letters, but others, both in writing and speaking,\r\ngave him the royal title. Nor was this the mere accession of a name, or\r\nintroduction of a new fashion. The men’s own sentiments about themselves were\r\ndisturbed, and their feelings elevated; a spirit of pomp and arrogance passed\r\ninto their habits of life and conversation, as a tragic actor on the stage\r\nmodifies, with a change of dress, his step, his voice, his motions in sitting\r\ndown, his manner in addressing another. The punishments they inflicted were\r\nmore violent after they had thus laid aside that modest style under which they\r\nformerly dissembled their power, and the influence of which had often made them\r\ngentler and less exacting to their subjects. A single pattering voice effected\r\na revolution in the world.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntigonus, extremely elevated with the success of his arms in Cyprus under the\r\nconduct of Demetrius, resolved to push on his good fortune, and to lead his\r\nforces in person against Ptolemy by land, whilst Demetrius should coast with a\r\ngreat fleet along the shore, to assist him by sea. The issue of the contest was\r\nintimated in a dream which Medius, a friend to Antigonus, had at this time in\r\nhis sleep. He thought he saw Antigonus and his whole army running, as if it had\r\nbeen a race; that, in the first part of the course, he went off showing great\r\nstrength and speed; gradually, however, his pace slackened; and at the end he\r\nsaw him come lagging up, tired and almost breathless and quite spent. Antigonus\r\nhimself met with many difficulties by land; and Demetrius, encountering a great\r\nstorm at sea, was driven, with the loss of many or his ships, upon a dangerous\r\ncoast without a harbor. So the expedition returned without effecting anything.\r\nAntigonus, now nearly eighty years old, was no longer well able to go through\r\nthe fatigues of a marching campaign, though rather on account of his great size\r\nand corpulence than from loss of strength; and for this reason he left things\r\nto his son, whose fortune and experience appeared sufficient for all\r\nundertakings, and whose luxury and expense and revelry gave him no concern. For\r\nthough in peace he vented himself in his pleasures, and, when there was nothing\r\nto do, ran headlong into any excesses, in war he was as sober and abstemious as\r\nthe most temperate character. The story is told, that once, after Lamia had\r\ngained open supremacy over him, the old man, when Demetrius coming home from\r\nabroad began to kiss him with unusual warmth, asked him if he took him for\r\nLamia. At another time, Demetrius, after spending several days in a debauch,\r\nexcused himself for his absence, by saying he had had a violent flux. “So I\r\nheard,” replied Antigonus; “was it of Thasian wine, or Chian?” Once he was told\r\nhis son was ill, and went to see him. At the door he met some young beauty.\r\nGoing in, he sat down by the bed and took his pulse. “The fever,” said\r\nDemetrius, “has just left me.” “O yes,” replied the father, “I met it going out\r\nat the door.” Demetrius’s great actions made Antigonus treat him thus easily.\r\nThe Scythians in their drinking-bouts twang their bows, to keep their courage\r\nawake amidst the dreams of indulgence; but he would resign his whole being,\r\nnow, to pleasure, and now to action; and though he never let thoughts of the\r\none intrude upon the pursuit of the other, yet, when the time came for\r\npreparing for war, he showed as much capacity as any man.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd indeed his ability displayed itself even more in preparing for, than in\r\nconducting a war. He thought he could never be too well supplied for every\r\npossible occasion, and took a pleasure, not to be satiated, in great\r\nimprovements in ship-building and machines. He did not waste his natural genius\r\nand power of mechanical research on toys and idle fancies, turning, painting,\r\nand playing on the flute, like some kings, Aeropus, for example, king of\r\nMacedon, who spent his days in making small lamps and tables; or Attalus\r\nPhilometor, whose amusement was to cultivate poisons, henbane and hellebore,\r\nand even hemlock, aconite, and dorycnium, which he used to sow himself in the\r\nroyal gardens, and made it his business to gather the fruits and collect the\r\njuices in their season. The Parthian kings took a pride in whetting and\r\nsharpening with their own hands the points of their arrows and javelins. But\r\nwhen Demetrius played the workman, it was like a king, and there was\r\nmagnificence in his handicraft. The articles he produced bore marks upon the\r\nface of them not of ingenuity only, but of a great mind and a lofty purpose.\r\nThey were such as a king might not only design and pay for, but use his own\r\nhands to make; and while friends might be terrified with their greatness,\r\nenemies could be charmed with their beauty; a phrase which is not so pretty to\r\nthe ear as it is true to the fact. The very people against whom they were to be\r\nemployed could not forbear running to gaze with admiration upon his galleys of\r\nfive and six ranges of oars, as they passed along their coasts; and the\r\ninhabitants of besieged cities came on their walls to see the spectacle of his\r\nfamous City-takers. Even Lysimachus, of all the kings of his time the greatest\r\nenemy of Demetrius, coming to raise the siege of Soli in Cilicia, sent first to\r\ndesire permission to see his galleys and engines, and, having had his curiosity\r\ngratified by a view of them, expressed his admiration and quitted the place.\r\nThe Rhodians, also, whom he long besieged, begged him, when they concluded a\r\npeace, to let them have some of his engines, which they might preserve as a\r\nmemorial at once of his power and of their own brave resistance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe quarrel between him and the Rhodians was on account of their being allies\r\nto Ptolemy, and in the siege the greatest of all the engines was planted\r\nagainst their walls. The base of it was exactly square, each side containing\r\ntwenty-four cubits; it rose to a height of thirty-three cubits, growing\r\nnarrower from the base to the top. Within were several apartments or chambers,\r\nwhich were to be filled with armed men, and in every story the front towards\r\nthe enemy had windows for discharging missiles of all sorts, the whole being\r\nfilled with soldiers for every description of fighting. And what was most\r\nwonderful was that, notwithstanding its size, when it was moved it never\r\ntottered or inclined to one side, but went forward on its base in perfect\r\nequilibrium, with a loud noise and great impetus, astounding the minds, and yet\r\nat the same time charming the eyes of all the beholders.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst Demetrius was at this same siege, there were brought to him two iron\r\ncuirasses from Cyprus, weighing each of them no more than forty pounds, and\r\nZoilus, who had forged them, to show the excellence of their temper, desired\r\nthat one of them might be tried with a catapult missile, shot out of one of the\r\nengines at no greater distance than six and twenty paces; and, upon the\r\nexperiment, it was found, that though the dart exactly hit the cuirass, yet it\r\nmade no greater impression than such a slight scratch as might be made with the\r\npoint of a style or graver. Demetrius took this for his own wearing, and gave\r\nthe other to Alcimus the Epirot, the best soldier and strongest man of all his\r\ncaptains, the only one who used to wear armor to the weight of two talents, one\r\ntalent being the weight which others thought sufficient. He fell during this\r\nsiege in a battle near the theater.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Rhodians made a brave defense, insomuch that Demetrius saw he was making\r\nbut little progress, and only persisted out of obstinacy and passion; and the\r\nrather because the Rhodians, having captured a ship in which some clothes and\r\nfurniture, with letters from herself; were coming to him from Phila his wife,\r\nhad sent on everything to Ptolemy, and had not copied the honorable example of\r\nthe Athenians, who, having surprised an express sent from king Philip, their\r\nenemy, opened all the letters he was charged with, excepting only those\r\ndirected to queen Olympias, which they returned with the seal unbroken. Yet,\r\nalthough greatly provoked, Demetrius, into whose power it shortly after came to\r\nrepay the affront, would not suffer himself to retaliate. Protogenes the\r\nCaunian had been making them a painting of the story of Ialysus, which was all\r\nbut completed, when it was taken by Demetrius in one of the suburbs. The\r\nRhodians sent a herald begging him to be pleased to spare the work and not let\r\nit be destroyed; Demetrius’s answer to which was that he would rather burn the\r\npictures of his father than a piece of art which had cost so much labor. It is\r\nsaid to have taken Protogenes seven years to paint, and they tell us that\r\nApelles, when he first saw it, was struck dumb with wonder, and called it, on\r\nrecovering his speech, “a great labor and a wonderful success,” adding,\r\nhowever, that it had not the graces which carried his own paintings as it were\r\nup to the heavens. This picture, which came with the rest in the general mass\r\nto Rome, there perished by fire.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile the Rhodians were thus defending their city to the uttermost, Demetrius,\r\nwho was not sorry for an excuse to retire, found one in the arrival of\r\nambassadors from Athens, by whose mediation terms were made that the Rhodians\r\nshould bind themselves to aid Antigonus and Demetrius against all enemies,\r\nPtolemy excepted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Athenians entreated his help against Cassander, who was besieging the city.\r\nSo he went thither with a fleet of three hundred and thirty ships, and many\r\nsoldiers; and not only drove Cassander out of Attica, but pursued him as far as\r\nThermopylae, routed him, and became master of Heraclea, which came over to him\r\nvoluntarily, and of a body of six thousand Macedonians, which also joined him.\r\nReturning hence, he gave their liberty to all the Greeks on this side\r\nThermopylae, and made alliance with the Boeotians, took Cenchreae, and reducing\r\nthe fortresses of Phyle and Panactum, in which were garrisons of Cassander,\r\nrestored them to the Athenians. They, in requital, though they had before been\r\nso profuse in bestowing honors upon him, that one would have thought they had\r\nexhausted all the capacities of invention, showed they had still new\r\nrefinements of adulation to devise for him. They gave him, as his lodging, the\r\nback temple in the Parthenon, and here he lived, under the immediate roof, as\r\nthey meant it to imply, of his hostess, Minerva; no reputable or well-conducted\r\nguest to be quartered upon a maiden goddess. When his brother Philip was once\r\nput into a house where three young women were living, Antigonus saying nothing\r\nto him, sent for his quartermaster, and told him, in the young man’s presence,\r\nto find some less crowded lodgings for him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemetrius, however, who should, to say the least, have paid the goddess the\r\nrespect due to an elder sister, for that was the purport of the city’s\r\ncompliment, filled the temple with such pollutions that the place seemed least\r\nprofaned when his license confined itself to common women like Chrysis, Lamia,\r\nDemo, and Anticyra.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe fair name of the city forbids any further plain particulars; let us only\r\nrecord the severe virtue of the young Damocles, surnamed, and by that surname\r\npointed out to Demetrius, the beautiful; who, to escape importunities, avoided\r\nevery place of resort, and when at last followed into a private bathing room by\r\nDemetrius, seeing none at hand to help or deliver, seized the lid from the\r\ncauldron, and, plunging into the boiling water, sought a death untimely and\r\nunmerited, but worthy of the country and of the beauty that occasioned it. Not\r\nso Cleaenetus, the son of Cleomedon, who, to obtain from Demetrius a letter of\r\nintercession to the people in behalf of his father, lately condemned in a fine\r\nof fifty talents, disgraced himself, and got the city into trouble. In\r\ndeference to the letter, they remitted the fine, yet they made an edict\r\nprohibiting any citizen for the future to bring letters from Demetrius. But\r\nbeing informed that Demetrius resented this as a great indignity, they not only\r\nrescinded in alarm the former order, but put some of the proposers and advisers\r\nof it to death and banished others, and furthermore enacted and decreed, that\r\nwhatsoever king Demetrius should in time to come ordain, should be accounted\r\nright towards the gods and just towards men; and when one of the better class\r\nof citizens said Stratocles must be mad to use such words, Demochares of\r\nLeuconoe observed, he would be a fool not to be mad. For Stratocles was well\r\nrewarded for his flatteries; and the saying was remembered against Demochares,\r\nwho was soon after sent into banishment. So fared the Athenians, after being\r\nrelieved of the foreign garrison, and recovering what was called their liberty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this Demetrius marched with his forces into Peloponnesus, where he met\r\nwith none to oppose him, his enemies flying before him, and allowing the cities\r\nto join him. He received into friendship all Acte, as it is called, and all\r\nArcadia except Mantinea. He bought the liberty of Argos, Corinth, and Sicyon,\r\nby paying a hundred talents to their garrisons to evacuate them. At Argos,\r\nduring the feast of Juno, which happened at the time, he presided at the games,\r\nand, joining in the festivities with the multitude of the Greeks assembled\r\nthere, he celebrated his marriage with Deidamia, daughter of Aeacides, king of\r\nthe Molossians, and sister of Pyrrhus. At Sicyon he told the people they had\r\nput the city just outside of the city, and, persuading them to remove to where\r\nthey now live, gave their town not only a new site but a new name, Demetrias,\r\nafter himself. A general assembly met on the Isthmus, where he was proclaimed,\r\nby a great concourse of people, the Commander of Greece, like Philip and\r\nAlexander of old; whose superior he, in the present height of his prosperity\r\nand power, was willing enough to consider himself; and, certainly, in one\r\nrespect he outdid Alexander, who never refused their title to other kings, or\r\ntook on himself the style of king of kings, though many kings received both\r\ntheir title and their authority as such from him; whereas Demetrius used to\r\nridicule those who gave the name of king to any except himself and his father;\r\nand in his entertainments was well pleased when his followers, after drinking\r\nto him and his father as kings, went on to drink the health of Seleucus, with\r\nthe title of Master of the Elephants; of Ptolemy, by the name of High Admiral;\r\nof Lysimachus, with the addition of Treasurer; and of Agathocles, with the\r\nstyle of Governor of the Island of Sicily. The other kings merely laughed when\r\nthey were told of this vanity; Lysimachus alone expressed some indignation at\r\nbeing considered a eunuch; such being usually then selected for the office of\r\ntreasurer. And, in general, there was a more bitter enmity between him and\r\nLysimachus than with any of the others. Once, as a scoff at his passion for\r\nLamia, Lysimachus said he had never before seen a courtesan act a queen’s part;\r\nto which Demetrius rejoined that his mistress was quite as honest us\r\nLysimachus’s own Penelope.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut to proceed. Demetrius being about to return to Athens, signified by letter\r\nto the city that he desired immediate admission to the rites of initiation into\r\nthe Mysteries, and wished to go through all the stages of the ceremony, from\r\nfirst to last, without delay. This was absolutely contrary to the rules, and a\r\nthing which had never been allowed before; for the lesser mysteries were\r\ncelebrated in the month of Anthesterion, and the great solemnity in Boedromion,\r\nand none of the novices were finally admitted till they had completed a year\r\nafter this latter. Yet all this notwithstanding, when in the public assembly\r\nthese letters of Demetrius were produced and read, there was not one single\r\nperson who had the courage to oppose them, except Pythodorus, the torch-bearer.\r\nBut it signified nothing, for Stratocles at once proposed that the month of\r\nMunychion, then current, should by edict be reputed to be the month of\r\nAnthesterion; which being voted and done, and Demetrius thereby admitted to the\r\nlesser ceremonies, by another vote they turned the same month of Munychion into\r\nthe other month of Boedromion; the celebration of the greater mysteries ensued,\r\nand Demetrius was fully admitted. These proceedings gave the comedian,\r\nPhilippides, a new occasion to exercise his wit upon Stratocles,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nwhose flattering fear\u003cbr\u003e\r\nInto one month hath crowded all the year.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd on the vote that Demetrius should lodge in the Parthenon,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWho turns the temple to a common inn,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd makes the Virgin’s house a house of sin.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf all the disreputable and flagitious acts of which he was guilty in this\r\nvisit, one that particularly hurt the feelings of the Athenians was that,\r\nhaving given comment that they should forthwith raise for his service two\r\nhundred and fifty talents, and they to comply with his demands being forced to\r\nlevy it upon the people with the utmost rigor and severity, when they presented\r\nhim with the money, which they had with such difficulty raised, as if it were a\r\ntrifling sum, he ordered it to be given to Lamia and the rest of his women, to\r\nbuy soap. The loss, which was bad enough, was less galling than the shame, and\r\nthe words more intolerable than the act which they accompanied. Though, indeed,\r\nthe story is variously reported; and some say it was the Thessalians, and not\r\nthe Athenians, who were thus treated. Lamia, however, exacted contributions\r\nherself to pay for an entertainment she gave to the king, and her banquet was\r\nso renowned for its sumptuosity, that a description of it was drawn up by the\r\nSamian writer, Lynceus. Upon this occasion, one of the comic writers gave Lamia\r\nthe name of the real Helepolis; and Demochares of Soli called Demetrius Mythus,\r\nbecause the fable always has its Lamia, and so had he.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, in truth, his passion for this woman and the prosperity in which she lived\r\nwere such as to draw upon him not only the envy and jealousy of all his wives,\r\nbut the animosity even of his friends. For example, on Lysimachus’s showing to\r\nsome ambassadors from Demetrius the scars of the wounds which he had received\r\nupon his thighs and arms by the paws of the lion with which Alexander had shut\r\nhim up, after hearing his account of the combat, they smiled and answered, that\r\ntheir king, also, was not without his scars, but could show upon his neck the\r\nmarks of a Lamia, a no less dangerous beast. It was also matter of wonder that,\r\nthough he had objected so much to Phila on account of her age, he was yet such\r\na slave to Lamia, who was so long past her prime. One evening at supper, when\r\nshe played the flute, Demetrius asked Demo, whom the men called Madness, what\r\nshe thought of her. Demo answered she thought her an old woman. And when a\r\nquantity of sweetmeats were brought in, and the king said again, “See what\r\npresents I get from Lamia!” “My old mother,” answered Demo, “will send you\r\nmore, if you will make her your mistress.” Another story is told of a criticism\r\npassed by Lamia or the famous judgment of Bocchoris. A young Egyptian had long\r\nmade suit to Thonis, the courtesan, offering a sum of gold for her favor. But\r\nbefore it came to pass, he dreamed one night that he had obtained it, and,\r\nsatisfied with the shadow, felt no more desire for the substance. Thonis upon\r\nthis brought an action for the sum. Bocchoris, the judge, on hearing the case,\r\nordered the defendant to bring into court the full amount in a vessel, which he\r\nwas to move to and fro in his hand, and the shadow of it was to be adjudged to\r\nThonis. The fairness of this sentence Lamia contested, saying the young man’s\r\ndesire might have been satisfied with the dream, but Thonis’s desire for the\r\nmoney could not be relieved by the shadow. Thus much for Lamia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now the story passes from the comic to the tragic stage in pursuit of the\r\nacts and fortunes of its subject. A general league of the kings, who were now\r\ngathering and combining their forces to attack Antigonus, recalled Demetrius\r\nfrom Greece. He was encouraged by finding his father full of a spirit and\r\nresolution for the combat that belied his years. Yet it would seem to be true,\r\nthat if Antigonus could only have borne to make some trifling concessions, and\r\nif he had shown any moderation in his passion for empire, he might have\r\nmaintained for himself till his death, and left to his son behind him, the\r\nfirst place among the kings. But he was of a violent and haughty spirit; and\r\nthe insulting words as well as actions in which he allowed himself could not be\r\nborne by young and powerful princes, and provoked them into combining against\r\nhim. Though now when he was told of the confederacy, he could not forbear from\r\nsaying that this flock of birds would soon be scattered by one stone and a\r\nsingle shout. He took the field at the head of more than seventy thousand foot,\r\nand of ten thousand horse, and seventy-five elephants. His enemies had\r\nsixty-four thousand foot, five hundred more horse than he, elephants to the\r\nnumber of four hundred, and a hundred and twenty chariots. On their near\r\napproach to each other, an alteration began to be observable, not in the\r\npurposes, but in the presentiments of Antigonus. For whereas in all former\r\ncampaigns he had ever shown himself lofty and confident, loud in voice and\r\nscornful in speech, often by some joke or mockery on the eve of battle\r\nexpressing his contempt and displaying his composure, he was now remarked to be\r\nthoughtful, silent, and retired. He presented Demetrius to the army, and\r\ndeclared him his successor; and what everyone thought stranger than all was\r\nthat he now conferred alone in his tent with Demetrius, whereas in former time\r\nhe had never entered into any secret consultations even with him; but had\r\nalways followed his own advice, made his resolutions, and then given out his\r\ncommands. Once when Demetrius was a boy and asked him how soon the army would\r\nmove, he is said to have answered him sharply, “Are you afraid lest you, of all\r\nthe army, should not hear the trumpet?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were now, however, inauspicious signs, which affected his spirits.\r\nDemetrius, in a dream, had seen Alexander, completely armed, appear and demand\r\nof him what word they intended to give in the time of the battle; and Demetrius\r\nanswering that he intended the word should be “Jupiter and Victory.” “Then,”\r\nsaid Alexander, “I will go to your adversaries and find my welcome with them.”\r\nAnd on the morning of the combat, as the armies were drawing up, Antigonus,\r\ngoing out of the door of his tent, by some accident or other, stumbled and fell\r\nflat upon the ground, hurting himself a good deal. And on recovering his feet,\r\nlifting up his hands to heaven, he prayed the gods to grant him “either\r\nvictory, or death without knowledge of defeat.” When the armies engaged,\r\nDemetrius, who commanded the greatest and best part of the cavalry, made a\r\ncharge on Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, and, gloriously routing the enemy,\r\nfollowed the pursuit, in the pride and exultation of success, so eagerly, and\r\nso unwisely far, that it fatally lost him the day, for when, perceiving his\r\nerror, he would have come in to the assistance of his own infantry, he was not\r\nable, the enemy with their elephants having cut off his retreat. And on the\r\nother hand, Seleucus, observing the main battle of Antigonus left naked of\r\ntheir horse, did not charge, but made a show of charging; and keeping them in\r\nalarm and wheeling about and still threatening an attack, he gave opportunity\r\nfor those who wished it to separate and come over to him; which a large body of\r\nthem did, the rest taking to flight. But the old king Antigonus still kept his\r\npost, and when a strong body of the enemies drew up to charge him, and one of\r\nthose about him cried out to him, “Sir, they are coming upon you,” he only\r\nreplied, “What else should they do? but Demetrius will come to my rescue.” And\r\nin this hope he persisted to the last, looking out on every side for his son’s\r\napproach, until he was borne down by a whole multitude of darts, and fell. His\r\nother followers and friends fled, and Thorax of Larissa remained alone by the\r\nbody.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe battle having been thus decided, the kings who had gained the victory,\r\ncarving up the whole vast empire that had belonged to Demetrius and Antigonus,\r\nlike a carcass, into so many portions, added these new gains to their former\r\npossessions. As for Demetrius, with five thousand foot and four thousand horse,\r\nhe fled at his utmost speed to Ephesus, where it was the common opinion he\r\nwould seize the treasures of the temple to relieve his wants; but he, on the\r\ncontrary, fearing such an attempt on the part of his soldiers, hastened away,\r\nand sailed for Greece, his chief remaining hopes being placed in the fidelity\r\nof the Athenians, with whom he had left part of his navy and of his treasure\r\nand his wife Deidamia. And in their attachment he had not the least doubt but\r\nhe should in this his extremity find a safe resource. Accordingly when, upon\r\nreaching the Cyclades, he was met by ambassadors from Athens, requesting him\r\nnot to proceed to the city, as the people had passed a vote to admit no king\r\nwhatever within their walls, and had conveyed Deidamia with honorable\r\nattendance to Megara, his anger and surprise overpowered him, and the constancy\r\nquite failed him which he had hitherto shown in a wonderful degree under his\r\nreverses, nothing humiliating or mean-spirited having as yet been seen in him\r\nunder all his misfortunes. But to be thus disappointed in the Athenians, and to\r\nfind the friendship he had trusted prove, upon trial, thus empty and unreal,\r\nwas a great pang to him. And, in truth, an excessive display of outward honor\r\nwould seem to be the most uncertain attestation of the real affection of a\r\npeople for any king or potentate. Such shows lose their whole credit as tokens\r\nof affection (which has its virtue in the feelings and moral choice), when we\r\nreflect that they may equally proceed from fear. The same decrees are voted\r\nupon the latter motive as upon the former. And therefore judicious men do not\r\nlook so much to statues, paintings, or divine honors that are paid them, as to\r\ntheir own actions and conduct, judging hence whether they shall trust these as\r\na genuine, or discredit them as a forced homage. As in fact nothing is less\r\nunusual than for a people, even while offering compliments, to be disgusted\r\nwith those who accept them greedily, or arrogantly, or without respect to the\r\nfreewill of the givers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemetrius, shamefully used as he thought himself, was in no condition to\r\nrevenge the affront. He returned a message of gentle expostulation, saying,\r\nhowever, that he expected to have his galleys sent to him, among which was that\r\nof thirteen banks of oars. And this being accorded him, he sailed to the\r\nIsthmus, and, finding his affairs in very ill condition, his garrisons\r\nexpelled, and a general secession going on to the enemy, he left Pyrrhus to\r\nattend to Greece, and took his course to the Chersonesus, where he ravaged the\r\nterritories of Lysimachus, and, by the booty which he took, maintained and kept\r\ntogether his troops, which were now once more beginning to recover and to show\r\nsome considerable front. Nor did any of the other princes care to meddle with\r\nhim on that side; for Lysimachus had quite as little claim to be loved, and was\r\nmore to be feared for his power. But, not long after, Seleucus sent to treat\r\nwith Demetrius for a marriage betwixt himself and Stratonice, daughter of\r\nDemetrius by Phila. Seleucus, indeed, had already, by Apama the Persian, a son\r\nnamed Antiochus, but he was possessed of territories that might well satisfy\r\nmore than one successor, and he was the rather induced to this alliance with\r\nDemetrius, because Lysimachus had just married himself to one daughter of king\r\nPtolemy, and his son Agathocles to another. Demetrius, who looked upon the\r\noffer as an unexpected piece of good fortune, presently embarked with his\r\ndaughter, and with his whole fleet sailed for Syria. Having during his voyage\r\nto touch several times on the coast, among other places he landed in part of\r\nCilicia, which, by the apportionment of the kings after the defeat of\r\nAntigonus, was allotted to Plistarchus, the brother of Cassander. Plistarchus,\r\nwho took this descent of Demetrius upon his coasts as an infraction of his\r\nrights, and was not sorry to have something to complain of hastened away to\r\nexpostulate in person with Seleucus for entering separately into relations with\r\nDemetrius, the common enemy, without consulting the other kings.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemetrius, receiving information of this, seized the opportunity, and fell upon\r\nthe city of Quinda, which he surprised, and took in it twelve hundred talents,\r\nstill remaining of the treasure. With this prize, he hastened back to his\r\ngalleys, embarked, and set sail. At Rhosus, where his wife Phila was now with\r\nhim, he was met by Seleucus, and their communications with each other at once\r\nwere put on a frank, unsuspecting, and kingly footing. First, Seleucus gave a\r\nbanquet to Demetrius in his tent in the camp; then Demetrius received him in\r\nthe ship of thirteen banks of oars. Meetings for amusements, conferences, and\r\nlong visits for general intercourse succeeded, all without attendants or arms;\r\nuntil at length Seleucus took his leave, and in great state conducted\r\nStratonice to Antioch. Demetrius meantime possessed himself of Cilicia, and\r\nsent Phila to her brother Cassander, to answer the complaints of Plistarchus.\r\nAnd here his wife Deidamia came by sea out of Greece to meet him, but not long\r\nafter contracted an illness, of which she died. After her death, Demetrius, by\r\nthe mediation of Seleucus, became reconciled to Ptolemy, and an agreement was\r\nmade that he should marry his daughter Ptolemais. Thus far all was handsomely\r\ndone on the part of Seleucus. But, shortly after, desiring to have the province\r\nof Cilicia from Demetrius for a sum of money, and being refused it, he then\r\nangrily demanded of him the cities of Tyre and Sidon, which seemed a mere piece\r\nof arbitrary dealing, and, indeed, an outrageous thing, that he, who was\r\npossessed of all the vast provinces between India and the Syrian sea, should\r\nthink himself so poorly off as for the sake of two cities, which he coveted, to\r\ndisturb the peace of his near connection, already a sufferer under a severe\r\nreverse of fortune. However, he did but justify the saying of Plato, that the\r\nonly certain way to be truly rich is not to have more property, but fewer\r\ndesires. For whoever is always grasping at more avows that he is still in want,\r\nand must be poor in the midst of affluence.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Demetrius, whose courage did not sink, resolutely sent him answer, that,\r\nthough he were to lose ten thousand battles like that of Ipsus, he would pay no\r\nprice for the good-will of such a son-in-law as Seleucus. He reinforced these\r\ncities with sufficient garrisons to enable them to make a defense against\r\nSeleucus; and, receiving information that Lachares, taking the opportunity of\r\ntheir civil dissensions, had set up himself as an usurper over the Athenians,\r\nhe imagined that if he made a sudden attempt upon the city, he might now\r\nwithout difficulty get possession of it. He crossed the sea in safety, with a\r\nlarge fleet; but, passing along the coast of Attica, was met by a violent\r\nstorm, and lost the greater number of his ships, and a very considerable body\r\nof men on board of them. As for him, he escaped, and began to make war in a\r\npetty manner with the Athenians, but finding himself unable to effect his\r\ndesign, he sent back orders for raising another fleet, and, with the troops\r\nwhich he had, marched into Peloponnesus, and laid siege to the city of Messena.\r\nIn attacking which place, he was in danger of death; for a missile from an\r\nengine struck him in the face, and passed through the cheek into his mouth. He\r\nrecovered, however, and, as soon as he was in a condition to take the field,\r\nwon over divers cities which had revolted from him, and made an incursion into\r\nAttica, where he took Eleusis and Rhamnus and wasted the country thereabout.\r\nAnd that he might straighten the Athenians by cutting off all manner of\r\nprovision, a vessel laden with corn bound thither falling into his hands, he\r\nordered the master and the supercargo to be immediately hanged, thereby to\r\nstrike a terror into others, that so they might not venture to supply the city\r\nwith provisions. By which means they were reduced to such extremities, that a\r\nbushel of salt sold for forty drachmas, and a peck of wheat for three hundred.\r\nPtolemy had sent to their relief a hundred and fifty galleys, which came so\r\nnear as to be seen off Aegina; but this brief hope was soon extinguished by the\r\narrival of three hundred ships, which came to reinforce Demetrius from Cyprus,\r\nPeloponnesus, and other places; upon which Ptolemy’s fleet took to flight, and\r\nLachares, the tyrant, ran away, leaving the city to its fate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now the Athenians, who before had made it capital for any person to propose\r\na treaty or accommodation with Demetrius, immediately opened the nearest gates\r\nto send ambassadors to him, not so much out of hopes of obtaining any honorable\r\nconditions from his clemency as out of necessity, to avoid death by famine. For\r\namong many frightful instances of the distress they were reduced to, it is said\r\nthat a father and son were sitting in a room together, having abandoned every\r\nhope, when a dead mouse fell from the ceiling; and for this prize they leaped\r\nup and came to blows. In this famine, it is also related, the philosopher\r\nEpicurus saved his own life, and the lives of his scholars, by a small quantity\r\nof beans, which he distributed to them daily by number.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this condition was the city when Demetrius made his entrance and issued a\r\nproclamation that all the inhabitants should assemble in the theater; which\r\nbeing done, he drew up his soldiers at the back of the stage, occupied the\r\nstage itself with his guards, and, presently coming in himself by the actor’s\r\npassages, when the people’s consternation had risen to its height, with his\r\nfirst words he put an end to it. Without any harshness of tone or bitterness of\r\nwords, he reprehended them in a gentle and friendly way, and declared himself\r\nreconciled, adding a present of a hundred thousand bushels of wheat, and\r\nappointing as magistrates persons acceptable to the people. So Dromoclides the\r\norator, seeing the people at a loss how to express their gratitude by any words\r\nor acclamations, and ready for anything that would outdo the verbal encomiums\r\nof the public speakers, came forward, and moved a decree for delivering Piraeus\r\nand Munychia into the hands of king Demetrius. This was passed accordingly, and\r\nDemetrius, of his own motion, added a third garrison, which he placed in the\r\nMuseum, as a precaution against any new restiveness on the part of the people,\r\nwhich might give him the trouble of quitting his other enterprises.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe had not long been master of Athens before he had formed designs against\r\nLacedaemon; of which Archidamus, the king, being advertised, came out and met\r\nhim, but he was overthrown in a battle near Mantinea; after which Demetrius\r\nentered Laconia, and, in a second battle near Sparta itself, defeated him again\r\nwith the loss of two hundred Lacedaemonians slain, and five hundred taken\r\nprisoners. And now it was almost impossible for the city, which hitherto had\r\nnever been captured, to escape his arms. But certainly there never was any king\r\nupon whom fortune made such short turns, nor any other life or story so filled\r\nwith her swift and surprising changes, over and over again, from small things\r\nto great, from splendor back to humiliation, and from utter weakness once more\r\nto power and might. They say in his sadder vicissitudes he used sometimes to\r\napostrophize fortune in the words of Aeschylus —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThou liftest up, to cast us down again.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd so at this moment, when all things seemed to conspire together to give him\r\nhis heart’s desire of dominion and power, news arrived that Lysimachus had\r\ntaken all his cities in Asia, that Ptolemy had reduced all Cyprus with the\r\nexception of Salamis, and that in Salamis his mother and children were shut up\r\nand close besieged: and yet like the woman in Archilochus,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWater in one deceitful hand she shows,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhile burning fire within her other glows.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThe same fortune that drew him off with these disastrous tidings from Sparta,\r\nin a moment after opened upon him a new and wonderful prospect, of the\r\nfollowing kind. Cassander, king of Macedon, dying, and his eldest son, Philip,\r\nwho succeeded him, not long surviving his father, the two younger brothers fell\r\nat variance concerning the succession. And Antipater having murdered his mother\r\nThessalonica, Alexander, the younger brother, called in to his assistance\r\nPyrrhus out of Epirus, and Demetrius out of the Peloponnese. Pyrrhus arrived\r\nfirst, and, taking in recompense for his succor a large slice of Macedonia, had\r\nmade Alexander begin to be aware that he had brought upon himself a dangerous\r\nneighbor. And, that he might not run a yet worse hazard from Demetrius, whose\r\npower and reputation were so great, the young man hurried away to meet him at\r\nDium, whither he, who on receiving his letter had set out on his march, was now\r\ncome. And, offering his greetings and grateful acknowledgments, he at the same\r\ntime informed him that his affairs no longer required the presence of his ally,\r\nand thereupon he invited him to supper. There were not wanting some feelings of\r\nsuspicion on either side already; and when Demetrius was now on his way to the\r\nbanquet, someone came and told him that in the midst of the drinking he would\r\nbe killed. Demetrius showed little concern, but, making only a little less\r\nhaste, he sent to the principal officers of his army, commanding them to draw\r\nout the soldiers, and make them stand to their arms, and ordered his retinue\r\n(more numerous a good deal than that of Alexander) to attend him into the very\r\nroom of the entertainment, and not to stir from thence till they saw him rise\r\nfrom the table. Thus Alexander’s servants, finding themselves overpowered, had\r\nnot courage to attempt anything. And, indeed, Demetrius gave them no\r\nopportunity, for he made a very short visit, and, pretending to Alexander that\r\nhe was not at present in health for drinking wine, left early. And the next day\r\nhe occupied himself in preparations for departing, telling Alexander he had\r\nreceived intelligence that obliged him to leave, and begging him to excuse so\r\nsudden a parting; he would hope to see him further when his affairs allowed him\r\nleisure. Alexander was only too glad, not only that he was going, but that he\r\nwas doing so of his own motion, without any offense, and proposed to accompany\r\nhim into Thessaly. But when they came to Larissa, new invitations passed\r\nbetween them, new professions of good-will, covering new conspiracies; by which\r\nAlexander put himself into the power of Demetrius. For as he did not like to\r\nuse precautions on his own part, for fear Demetrius should take the hint to use\r\nthem on his, the very thing he meant to do was first done to him. He accepted\r\nan invitation, and came to Demetrius’s quarters; and when Demetrius, while they\r\nwere still supping, rose from the table and went forth, the young man rose\r\nalso, and followed him to the door, where Demetrius, as he passed through, only\r\nsaid to the guards, “Kill him that follows me,” and went on; and Alexander was\r\nat once dispatched by them, together with such of his friends as endeavored to\r\ncome to his rescue, one of whom, before he died, said, “You have been one day\r\ntoo quick for us.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe night following was one, as may be supposed, of disorder and confusion. And\r\nwith the morning, the Macedonians, still in alarm, and fearful of the forces of\r\nDemetrius, on finding no violence offered, but only a message sent from\r\nDemetrius desiring an interview and opportunity for explanation of his actions,\r\nat last began to feel pretty confident again, and prepared to receive him\r\nfavorably. And when he came, there was no need of much being said; their hatred\r\nof Antipater for his murder of his mother, and the absence of anyone better to\r\ngovern them, soon decided them to proclaim Demetrius king of Macedon. And into\r\nMacedonia they at once started and took him. And the Macedonians at home, who\r\nhad not forgotten or forgiven the wicked deeds committed by Cassander on the\r\nfamily of Alexander, were far from sorry at the change. Any kind recollections\r\nthat still might subsist, of the plain and simple rule of the first Antipater,\r\nwent also to the benefit of Demetrius, whose wife was Phila, his daughter, and\r\nhis son by her, a boy already old enough to be serving in the army with his\r\nfather, was the natural successor to the government.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo add to this unexpected good fortune, news arrived that Ptolemy had dismissed\r\nhis mother and children, bestowing upon them presents and honors; and also that\r\nhis daughter Stratonice, whom he had married to Seleucus, was remarried to\r\nAntiochus, the son of Seleucus, and proclaimed queen of Upper Asia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor Antiochus, it appears, had fallen passionately in love with Stratonice, the\r\nyoung queen, who had already made Seleucus the father of a son. He struggled\r\nvery hard with the beginnings of this passion, and at last, resolving with\r\nhimself that his desires were wholly unlawful, his malady past all cure, and\r\nhis powers of reason too feeble to act, he determined on death, and thought to\r\nbring his life slowly to extinction by neglecting his person and refusing\r\nnourishment, under the pretense of being ill. Erasistratus, the physician who\r\nattended him, quickly perceived that love was his distemper, but the difficulty\r\nwas to discover the object. He therefore waited continually in his chamber, and\r\nwhen any of the beauties of the court made their visits to the sick prince, he\r\nobserved the emotions and alterations in the countenance of Antiochus, and\r\nwatched for the changes which he knew to be indicative of the inward passions\r\nand inclinations of the soul. He took notice that the presence of other women\r\nproduced no effect upon him; but when Stratonice came, as she often did, alone,\r\nor in company with Seleucus, to see him, he observed in him all Sappho’s famous\r\nsymptoms, his voice faltered, his face flushed up, his eyes glanced stealthily,\r\na sudden sweat broke out on his skin, the beatings of his heart were irregular\r\nand violent, and, unable to support the excess of his passion, he would sink\r\ninto a state of faintness, prostration, and pallor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nErasistratus, reasoning upon these symptoms, and, upon the probability of\r\nthings, considering that the king’s son would hardly, if the object of his\r\npassion had been any other, have persisted to death rather than reveal it,\r\nfelt, however, the difficulty of making a discovery of this nature to Seleucus.\r\nBut, trusting to the tenderness of Seleucus for the young man, he put on all\r\nthe assurance he could, and at last, on some opportunity, spoke out, and told\r\nhim the malady was love, a love impossible to gratify or relieve. The king was\r\nextremely surprised, and asked, “Why impossible to relieve?” “The fact is,”\r\nreplied Erasistratus, “he is in love with my wife.” “How!” said Seleucus, “and\r\nwill our friend Erasistratus refuse to bestow his wife upon my son and only\r\nsuccessor, when there is no other way to save his life?” “You,” replied\r\nErasistratus, “who are his father, would not do so, if he were in love with\r\nStratonice.” “Ah, my friend,” answered Seleucus, “would to heaven any means,\r\nhuman or divine, could but convert his present passion to that; it would be\r\nwell for me to part not only with Stratonice, but with my empire, to save\r\nAntiochus.” This he said with the greatest passion, shedding tears as he spoke;\r\nupon which Erasistratus, taking him by the hand, replied, “In that case, you\r\nhave no need of Erasistratus; for you, who are the husband, the father, and the\r\nking, are the proper physician for your own family.” Seleucus, accordingly,\r\nsummoning a general assembly of his people, declared to them, that he had\r\nresolved to make Antiochus king, and Stratonice queen, of all the provinces of\r\nUpper Asia, uniting them in marriage; telling them, that he thought he had\r\nsufficient power over the prince’s will, that he should find in him no\r\nrepugnance to obey his commands; and for Stratonice, he hoped all his friends\r\nwould endeavor to make her sensible, if she should manifest any reluctance to\r\nsuch a marriage, that she ought to esteem those things just and honorable which\r\nhad been determined upon by the king as necessary to the general good. In this\r\nmanner, we are told, was brought about the marriage of Antiochus and\r\nStratonice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo return to the affairs of Demetrius. Having obtained the crown of Macedon, he\r\npresently became master of Thessaly also. And, holding the greatest part of\r\nPeloponnesus, and, on this side the Isthmus, the cities of Megara and Athens,\r\nhe now turned his arms against the Boeotians. They at first made overtures for\r\nan accommodation; but Cleonymus of Sparta having ventured with some troops to\r\ntheir assistance, and having made his way into Thebes, and Pisis, the Thespian,\r\nwho was their first man in power and reputation, animating them to make a brave\r\nresistance, they broke off the treaty. No sooner, however, had Demetrius begun\r\nto approach the walls with his engines, but Cleonymus in affright secretly\r\nwithdrew; and the Boeotians, finding themselves abandoned, made their\r\nsubmission. Demetrius placed a garrison in charge of their towns, and, having\r\nraised a large sum of money from them, he placed Hieronymus, the historian, in\r\nthe office of governor and military commander over them, and was thought on the\r\nwhole to have shown great clemency, more particularly to Pisis, to whom he did\r\nno hurt, but spoke with him courteously and kindly, and made him chief\r\nmagistrate of Thespiae. Not long after, Lysimachus was taken prisoner by\r\nDromichaetes, and Demetrius went off instantly in the hopes of possessing\r\nhimself of Thrace, thus left without a king. Upon this, the Boeotians revolted\r\nagain, and news also came that Lysimachus had regained his liberty. So\r\nDemetrius, turning back quickly and in anger, found on coming up that his son\r\nAntigonus had already defeated the Boeotians in battle, and therefore proceeded\r\nto lay siege again to Thebes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut, understanding that Pyrrhus had made an incursion into Thessaly, and that\r\nhe was advanced as far as Thermopylae, leaving Antigonus to continue the siege,\r\nhe marched with the rest of his army to oppose this enemy. Pyrrhus, however,\r\nmade a quick retreat. So, leaving ten thousand foot and a thousand horse for\r\nthe protection of Thessaly, he returned to the siege of Thebes, and there\r\nbrought up his famous City-taker to the attack, which, however, was so\r\nlaboriously and so slowly moved on account of its bulk and heaviness, that in\r\ntwo months it did not advance two furlongs. In the meantime the citizens made a\r\nstout defense, and Demetrius, out of heat and contentiousness very often, more\r\nthan upon any necessity, sent his soldiers into danger; until at last\r\nAntigonus, observing how many men were losing their lives, said to him, “Why,\r\nmy father, do we go on letting the men be wasted in this way, without any need\r\nof it?” But Demetrius, in a great passion, interrupted him: “And you, good sir,\r\nwhy do you afflict yourself for the matter? will dead men come to you for\r\nrations?” But that the soldiers might see he valued his own life at no dearer\r\nrate than theirs, he exposed himself freely, and was wounded with a javelin\r\nthrough his neck, which put him into great hazard of his life. But,\r\nnotwithstanding, he continued the siege, and in conclusion took the town again.\r\nAnd after his entrance, when the citizens were in fear and trembling, and\r\nexpected all the severities which an incensed conqueror could indict, he only\r\nput to death thirteen, and banished some few others, pardoning all the rest.\r\nThus the city of Thebes, which had not yet been ten years restored, in that\r\nshort space was twice besieged and taken.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nShortly after, the festival of the Pythian Apollo was to be celebrated, and the\r\nAetolians having blocked up all the passages to Delphi, Demetrius held the\r\ngames and celebrated the feast at Athens, alleging it was great reason those\r\nhonors should be paid in that place, Apollo being the paternal god of the\r\nAthenian people, and the reputed first founder of their race.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom thence Demetrius returned to Macedon, and as he not only was of a restless\r\ntemper himself, but saw also that the Macedonians were ever the best subjects\r\nwhen employed in military expeditions, but turbulent and desirous of change in\r\nthe idleness of peace, he led them against the Aetolians, and, having wasted\r\ntheir country, he left Pantauchus with a great part of his army to complete the\r\nconquest, and with the rest he marched in person to find out Pyrrhus, who in\r\nlike manner was advancing to encounter him. But so it fell out, that by taking\r\ndifferent ways the two armies did not meet; but whilst Demetrius entered\r\nEpirus, and laid all waste before him, Pyrrhus fell upon Pantauchus, and, in a\r\nbattle in which the two commanders met in person and wounded each other, he\r\ngained the victory, and took five thousand prisoners, besides great numbers\r\nslain on the field. The worst thing, however, for Demetrius was that Pyrrhus\r\nhad excited less animosity as an enemy than admiration as a brave man. His\r\ntaking so large a part with his own hand in the battle had gained him the\r\ngreatest name and glory among the Macedonians. Many among them began to say\r\nthat this was the only king in whom there was any likeness to be seen of the\r\ngreat Alexander’s courage; the other kings, and particularly Demetrius, did\r\nnothing but personate him, like actors on a stage, in his pomp and outward\r\nmajesty. And Demetrius truly was a perfect play and pageant, with his robes and\r\ndiadems, his gold-edged purple and his hats with double streamers, his very\r\nshoes being of the richest purple felt, embroidered over in gold. One robe in\r\nparticular, a most superb piece of work, was long in the loom in preparation\r\nfor him, in which was to be wrought the representation of the universe and the\r\ncelestial bodies. This, left unfinished when his reverses overtook him, not any\r\none of the kings of Macedon, his successors, though divers of them haughty\r\nenough, ever presumed to use.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut it was not this theatric pomp alone which disgusted the Macedonians, but\r\nhis profuse and luxurious way of living; and, above all, the difficulty of\r\nspeaking with him or of obtaining access to his presence. For either he would\r\nnot be seen at all, or, if he did give audience, he was violent and\r\noverbearing. Thus he made the envoys of the Athenians, to whom yet he was more\r\nattentive than to all the other Grecians, wait two whole years before they\r\ncould obtain a hearing. And when the Lacedaemonians sent a single person on an\r\nembassy to him, he held himself insulted, and asked angrily whether it was the\r\nfact that the Lacedaemonians had sent but one ambassador. “Yes,” was the happy\r\nreply he received, “one ambassador to one king.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOnce when in some apparent fit of a more popular and acceptable temper he was\r\nriding abroad, a number of people came up and presented their written\r\npetitions. He courteously received all these, and put them up in the skirt of\r\nhis cloak, while the poor people were overjoyed, and followed him close. But\r\nwhen he came upon the bridge of the river Axius, shaking out his cloak, he\r\nthrew all into the river. This excited very bitter resentment among the\r\nMacedonians, who felt themselves to be not governed, but insulted. They called\r\nto mind what some of them had seen, and others had heard related of King\r\nPhilip’s unambitious and open, accessible manners. One day when an old woman\r\nhad assailed him several times in the road and importuned him to hear her,\r\nafter he had told her he had no time, “If so,” cried she, “you have no time to\r\nbe a king.” And this reprimand so stung the king that after thinking of it a\r\nwhile he went back into the house, and, setting all other matters apart, for\r\nseveral days together he did nothing else but receive, beginning with the old\r\nwoman, the complaints of all that would come. And to do justice, truly enough,\r\nmight well be called a king’s first business. “Mars,” as says Timotheus, “is\r\nthe tyrant;” but Law, in Pindar’s words, the king of all. Homer does not say\r\nthat kings received at the hands of Jove besieging engines or ships of war, but\r\nsentences of justice, to keep and observe; nor is it the most warlike, unjust,\r\nand murderous, but the most righteous of kings, that has from him the name of\r\nJupiter’s “familiar friend” and scholar. Demetrius’s delight was the title most\r\nunlike the choices of the king of gods. The divine names were those of the\r\nDefender and Keeper, his was that of the Besieger of Cities. The place of\r\nvirtue was given by him to that which, had he not been as ignorant as he was\r\npowerful, he would have known to be vice, and honor by his act was associated\r\nwith crime. While he lay dangerously ill at Pella, Pyrrhus pretty nearly\r\noverran all Macedon, and advanced as far as the city of Edessa. On recovering\r\nhis health, he quickly drove him out, and came to terms with him, being\r\ndesirous not to employ his time in a string of petty local conflicts with a\r\nneighbor, when all his thoughts were fixed upon another design. This was no\r\nless than to endeavor the recovery of the whole empire which his father had\r\npossessed; and his preparations were suitable to his hopes, and the greatness\r\nof the enterprise. He had arranged for the levying of ninety-eight thousand\r\nfoot, and nearly twelve thousand horse; and he had a fleet of five hundred\r\ngalleys on the stocks, some building at Athens, others at Corinth and Chalcis,\r\nand in the neighborhood of Pella. And he himself was passing evermore from one\r\nto another of these places, to give his directions and his assistance to the\r\nplans, while all that saw were amazed, not so much at the number, as at the\r\nmagnitude of the works. Hitherto, there had never been seen a galley with\r\nfifteen or sixteen ranges of oars. At a later time, Ptolemy Philopator built\r\none of forty rows, which was two hundred and eighty cubits in length, and the\r\nheight of her to the top of her stern forty eight cubits; she had four hundred\r\nsailors and four thousand rowers, and afforded room besides for very near three\r\nthousand soldiers to fight on her decks. But this, after all, was for show, and\r\nnot for service, scarcely differing from a fixed edifice ashore, and was not to\r\nbe moved without extreme toil and peril; whereas these galleys of Demetrius\r\nwere meant quite as much for fighting as for looking at, were not the less\r\nserviceable for their magnificence, and were as wonderful for their speed and\r\ngeneral performance as for their size.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese mighty preparations against Asia, the like of which had not been made\r\nsince Alexander first invaded it, united Seleucus, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus in a\r\nconfederacy for their defense. They also dispatched ambassadors to Pyrrhus, to\r\npersuade him to make a diversion by attacking Macedonia; he need not think\r\nthere was any validity in a treaty which Demetrius had concluded, not as an\r\nengagement to be at peace with him, but as a means for enabling himself to make\r\nwar first upon the enemy of his choice. So when Pyrrhus accepted their\r\nproposals, Demetrius, still in the midst of his preparations, was encompassed\r\nwith war on all sides. Ptolemy, with a mighty navy, invaded Greece; Lysimachus\r\nentered Macedonia upon the side of Thrace, and Pyrrhus, from the Epirot border,\r\nboth of them spoiling and wasting the country. Demetrius, leaving his son to\r\nlook after Greece, marched to the relief of Macedon, and first of all to oppose\r\nLysimachus. On his way, he received the news that Pyrrhus had taken the city\r\nBeroea; and the report quickly getting out among the soldiers, all discipline\r\nat once was lost, and the camp was filled with lamentations and tears, anger\r\nand execrations on Demetrius; they would stay no longer, they would march off,\r\nas they said, to take care of their country, friends, and families; but in\r\nreality the intention was to revolt to Lysimachus. Demetrius, therefore,\r\nthought it his business to keep them as far away as he could from Lysimachus,\r\nwho was their own countryman, and for Alexander’s sake kindly looked upon by\r\nmany; they would be ready to fight with Pyrrhus, a new-comer and a foreigner,\r\nwhom they could hardly prefer to himself. But he found himself under a great\r\nmistake in these conjectures. For when he advanced and pitched his camp near,\r\nthe old admiration for Pyrrhus’s gallantry in arms revived again; and as they\r\nhad been used from time immemorial to suppose that the best king was he that\r\nwas the bravest soldier, so now they were also told of his generous usage of\r\nhis prisoners, and, in short, they were eager to have anyone in the place of\r\nDemetrius, and well pleased that the man should be Pyrrhus. At first, some\r\nstraggling parties only deserted, but in a little time the whole army broke out\r\ninto an universal mutiny, insomuch that at last some of them went up, and told\r\nhim openly that if he consulted his own safety he were best to make haste to be\r\ngone, for that the Macedonians were resolved no longer to hazard their lives\r\nfor the satisfaction of his luxury and pleasure. And this was thought fair and\r\nmoderate language, compared with the fierceness of the rest. So, withdrawing\r\ninto his tent, and, like an actor rather than a real king, laying aside his\r\nstage-robes of royalty, he put on some common clothes and stole away. He was no\r\nsooner gone but the mutinous army were fighting and quarreling for the plunder\r\nof his tent, but Pyrrhus, coming immediately, took possession of the camp\r\nwithout a blow, after which he, with Lysimachus, parted the realm of Macedon\r\nbetwixt them, after Demetrius had securely held it just seven years.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for Demetrius, being thus suddenly despoiled of everything, he retired to\r\nCassandrea. His wife Phila, in the passion of her grief, could not endure to\r\nsee her hapless husband reduced to the condition of a private and banished man.\r\nShe refused to entertain any further hope, and, resolving to quit a fortune\r\nwhich was never permanent except for calamity, took poison and died. Demetrius,\r\ndetermining still to hold on by the wreck, went off to Greece, and collected\r\nhis friends and officers there. Menelaus, in the play of Sophocles, to give an\r\nimage of his vicissitudes of estate, says, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nFor me, my destiny, alas, is found\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWhirling upon the gods’ swift wheel around,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd changing still, and as the moon’s fair frame\u003cbr\u003e\r\nCannot continue for two nights the same,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut out of shadow first a crescent shows,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThence into beauty and perfection grows,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAnd when the form of plenitude it wears,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nDwindles again, and wholly disappears.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe simile is yet truer of Demetrius and the phases of his fortunes, now on the\r\nincrease, presently on the wane, now filling up and now falling away. And so,\r\nat this time of apparent entire obscuration and extinction, his light again\r\nshone out, and accessions of strength, little by little, came in to fulfill\r\nonce more the measure of his hope. At first he showed himself in the garb of a\r\nprivate man, and went about the cities without any of the badges of a king. One\r\nwho saw him thus at Thebes applied to him not inaptly, the lines of Euripides,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHumbled to man, laid by the godhead’s pride,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nHe comes to Dirce and Ismenus’ side.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut erelong his expectations had reentered the royal track, and he began once\r\nmore to have about him the body and form of empire. The Thebans received back,\r\nas his gift, their ancient constitution. The Athenians had deserted him. They\r\ndisplaced Diphilus, who was that year the priest of the two Tutelar Deities,\r\nand restored the archons, as of old, to mark the year; and on hearing that\r\nDemetrius was not so weak as they had expected, they sent into Macedonia to beg\r\nthe protection of Pyrrhus. Demetrius, in anger, marched to Athens, and laid\r\nclose siege to the city. In this distress, they sent out to him Crates the\r\nphilosopher, a person of authority and reputation, who succeeded so far, that\r\nwhat with his entreaties and the solid reasons which he offered, Demetrius was\r\npersuaded to raise the siege; and, collecting all his ships, he embarked a\r\nforce of eleven thousand men with cavalry, and sailed away to Asia, to Caria\r\nand Lydia, to take those provinces from Lysimachus. Arriving at Miletus, he was\r\nmet there by Eurydice, the sister of Phila, who brought along with her\r\nPtolemais, one of her daughters by king Ptolemy, who had before been affianced\r\nto Demetrius, and with whom he now consummated his marriage. Immediately after,\r\nhe proceeded to carry out his project, and was so fortunate in the beginning,\r\nthat many cities revolted to him; others, as particularly Sardis, he took by\r\nforce; and some generals of Lysimachus, also, came over to him with troops and\r\nmoney. But when Agathocles, the son of Lysimachus, arrived with an army, he\r\nretreated into Phrygia, with an intention to pass into Armenia, believing that,\r\nif he could once plant his foot in Armenia, he might set Media in revolt, and\r\ngain a position in Upper Asia, where a fugitive commander might find a hundred\r\nways of evasion and escape. Agathocles pressed hard upon him, and many\r\nskirmishes and conflicts occurred, in which Demetrius had still the advantage;\r\nbut Agathocles straitened him much in his forage, and his men showed a great\r\ndislike to his purpose, which they suspected, of carrying them far away into\r\nArmenia and Media. Famine also pressed upon them, and some mistake occurred in\r\ntheir passage of the river Lycus, in consequence of which a large number were\r\nswept away and drowned. Still, however, they could pass their jests, and one of\r\nthem fixed upon Demetrius’s tent-door a paper with the first verse, slightly\r\naltered of the Oedipus; —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nChild of the blind old man, Antigonus,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nInto what country are you bringing us?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut at last, pestilence, as is usual, when armies are driven to such\r\nnecessities as to subsist upon any food they can get, began to assail them as\r\nwell as famine. So that, having lost eight thousand of his men, with the rest\r\nhe retreated and came to Tarsus, and because that city was within the dominions\r\nof Seleucus, he was anxious to prevent any plundering, and wished to give no\r\nsort of offense to Seleucus. But when he perceived it was impossible to\r\nrestrain the soldiers in their extreme necessity, Agathocles also having\r\nblocked up all the avenues of Mount Taurus, he wrote a letter to Seleucus,\r\nbewailing first all his own sad fortunes, and proceeding with entreaties and\r\nsupplications for some compassion on his part towards one nearly connected with\r\nhim, who was fallen into such calamities as might extort tenderness and pity\r\nfrom his very enemies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese letters so far moved Seleucus, that he gave orders to the governors of\r\nthose provinces that they should furnish Demetrius with all things suitable to\r\nhis royal rank, and with sufficient provisions for his troops. But Patrocles, a\r\nperson whose judgment was greatly valued, and who was a friend highly trusted\r\nby Seleucus, pointed out to him, that the expense of maintaining such a body of\r\nsoldiers was the least important consideration, but that it was contrary to all\r\npolicy to let Demetrius stay in the country, since he, of all the kings of his\r\ntime, was the most violent, and most addicted to daring enterprises; and he was\r\nnow in a condition which might tempt persons of the greatest temper and\r\nmoderation to unlawful and desperate attempts. Seleucus, excited by this\r\nadvice, moved with a powerful army towards Cilicia; and Demetrius, astonished\r\nat this sudden alteration, betook himself for safety to the most inaccessible\r\nplaces of Mount Taurus; from whence he sent envoys to Seleucus, to request from\r\nhim that he would permit him the liberty to settle with his army somewhere\r\namong the independent barbarian tribes, where he might be able to make himself\r\na petty king, and end his life without further travel and hardship; or, if he\r\nrefused him this, at any rate to give his troops food during the winter, and\r\nnot expose him in this distressed and naked condition to the fury of his\r\nenemies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Seleucus, whose jealousy made him put an ill construction on all he said,\r\nsent him answer, that he would permit him to stay two months and no longer in\r\nCataonia, provided he presently sent him the principal of his friends as\r\nhostages for his departure then; and, in the meantime, he fortified all the\r\npassages into Syria. So that Demetrius, who saw himself thus, like a wild\r\nbeast, in the way to be encompassed on all sides in the toils, was driven in\r\ndesperation to his defense, overran the country, and in several engagements in\r\nwhich Seleucus attacked him, had the advantage of him. Particularly, when he\r\nwas once assailed by the scythed chariots, he successfully avoided the charge\r\nand routed his assailants, and then, expelling the troops that were in guard of\r\nthe passes, made himself master of the roads leading into Syria. And now,\r\nelated himself, and finding his soldiers also animated by these successes, he\r\nwas resolved to push at all, and to have one deciding blow for the empire with\r\nSeleucus; who, indeed, was in considerable anxiety and distress, being averse\r\nto any assistance from Lysimachus, whom he both mistrusted and feared, and\r\nshrinking from a battle with Demetrius, whose desperation he knew, and whose\r\nfortune he had so often seen suddenly pass from the lowest to the highest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Demetrius, in the meanwhile, was taken with a violent sickness, from which\r\nhe suffered extremely himself, and which ruined all his prospects. His men\r\ndeserted to the enemy, or dispersed. At last, after forty days, he began to be\r\nso far recovered as to be able to rally his remaining forces, and marched as if\r\nhe directly designed for Cilicia; but in the night, raising his camp without\r\nsound of trumpet, he took a countermarch, and, passing the mountain Amanus, he\r\nravaged an the lower country as far as Cyrrhestica.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this, Seleucus advancing towards him and encamping at no great distance,\r\nDemetrius set his troops in motion to surprise him by night. And almost to the\r\nlast moment Seleucus knew nothing, and was lying asleep. Some deserter came\r\nwith the tidings just so soon that he had time to leap, in great consternation,\r\nout of bed, and give the alarm to his men. And as he was putting on his boots\r\nto mount his horse, he bade the officers about him look well to it, for they\r\nhad to meet a furious and terrible wild beast. But Demetrius, by the noise he\r\nheard in the camp, finding they had taken the alarm, drew off his troops in\r\nhaste. With the morning’s return he found Seleucus pressing hard upon him; so,\r\nsending one of his officers against the other wing, he defeated those that were\r\nopposed to himself. But Seleucus, lighting from his horse, pulling off his\r\nhelmet, and taking a target, advanced to the foremost ranks of the mercenary\r\nsoldiers, and, showing them who he was, bade them come over and join him,\r\ntelling them that it was for their sakes only that he had so long forborne\r\ncoming to extremities. And thereupon, without a blow more, they saluted\r\nSeleucus as their king, and passed over.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemetrius, who felt that this was his last change of fortune, and that he had\r\nno more vicissitudes to expect, fled to the passes of Amanus, where, with a\r\nvery few friends and followers, he threw himself into a dense forest, and there\r\nwaited for the night, purposing, if possible, to make his escape towards\r\nCaunus, where he hoped to find his shipping ready to transport him. But upon\r\ninquiry, finding that they had not provisions even for that one day, he began\r\nto think of some other project. Whilst he was yet in doubt, his friend\r\nSosigenes arrived, who had four hundred pieces of gold about him, and, with\r\nthis relief, he again entertained hopes of being able to reach the coast, and,\r\nas soon as it began to be dark, set forward towards the passes. But, perceiving\r\nby the fires that the enemies had occupied them, he gave up all thought of that\r\nroad, and retreated to his old station in the wood, but not with all his men;\r\nfor some had deserted, nor were those that remained as willing as they had\r\nbeen. One of them, in fine, ventured to speak out, and say that Demetrius had\r\nbetter give himself up to Seleucus; which Demetrius overhearing, drew out his\r\nsword, and would have passed it through his body, but that some of his friends\r\ninterposed and prevented the attempt, persuading him to do as had been said. So\r\nat last he gave way, and sent to Seleucus, to surrender himself at discretion.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSeleucus, when he was told of it, said it was not Demetrius’s good fortune that\r\nhad found out this means for his safety, but his own, which had added to his\r\nother honors the opportunity of showing his clemency and generosity. And\r\nforthwith he gave order to his domestic officers to prepare a royal pavilion,\r\nand all things suitable to give him a splendid reception and entertainment.\r\nThere was in the attendance of Seleucus one Apollonides, who formerly had been\r\nintimate with Demetrius. He was, therefore, as the fittest person, dispatched\r\nfrom the king to meet Demetrius, that he might feel himself more at his ease,\r\nand might come with the confidence of being received as a friend and relative.\r\nNo sooner was this message known, but the courtiers and officers, some few at\r\nfirst, and afterwards almost the whole of them, thinking, Demetrius would\r\npresently become of great power with the king, hurried off, vying who should be\r\nforemost to pay him their respects. The effect of which was that compassion was\r\nconverted into jealousy, and ill-natured, malicious people could the more\r\neasily insinuate to Seleucus that he was giving way to an unwise humanity, the\r\nvery first sight of Demetrius having been the occasion of a dangerous\r\nexcitement in the army. So, whilst Apollonides, in great delight, and after him\r\nmany others, were relating to Demetrius the kind expressions of Seleucus, and\r\nhe, after so many troubles and calamities, if indeed he had still any sense of\r\nhis surrender of himself being a disgrace, had now, in confidence on the good\r\nhopes held out to him, entirely forgotten all such thoughts, Pausanias, with a\r\nguard of a thousand horse and foot, came and surrounded him; and, dispersing\r\nthe rest that were with him, carried him, not to the presence of Seleucus, but\r\nto the Syrian Chersonese, where he was committed to the safe custody of a\r\nstrong guard. Sufficient attendance and liberal provision were here allowed\r\nhim, space for riding and walking, a park with game for hunting, those of his\r\nfriends and companions in exile who wished it had permission to see him, and\r\nmessages of kindness, also, from time to time, were brought him from Seleucus,\r\nbidding him fear nothing, and intimating, that, so soon as Antiochus and\r\nStratonice should arrive, he would receive his liberty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemetrius, however, finding himself in this condition, sent letters to those\r\nwho were with his son, and to his captains and friends at Athens and Corinth,\r\nthat they should give no manner of credit to any letters written to them in his\r\nname, though they were sealed with his own signet, but that, looking upon him\r\nas if he were already dead, they should maintain the cities and whatever was\r\nleft of his power, for Antigonus, as his successor. Antigonus received the news\r\nof his father’s captivity with great sorrow; he put himself into mourning, and\r\nwrote letters to the rest of the kings, and to Seleucus himself, making\r\nentreaties, and offering not only to surrender whatever they had left, but\r\nhimself to be a hostage for his father. Many cities, also, and princes joined\r\nin interceding for him; only Lysimachus sent and offered a large sum of money\r\nto Seleucus to take away his life. But he, who had always shown his aversion to\r\nLysimachus before, thought him only the greater barbarian and monster for it.\r\nNevertheless, he still protracted the time, reserving the favor, as he\r\nprofessed, for the intercession of Antiochus and Stratonice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemetrius, who had sustained the first stroke of his misfortune, in time grew\r\nso familiar with it, that, by continuance, it became easy. At first he\r\npersevered one way or other in taking exercise, in hunting, so far as he had\r\nmeans, and in riding. Little by little, however, after a while, he let himself\r\ngrow indolent and indisposed for them, and took to dice and drinking, in which\r\nhe passed most of his time, whether it were to escape the thoughts of his\r\npresent condition, with which he was haunted when sober, and to drown\r\nreflection in drunkenness, or that he acknowledged to himself that this was the\r\nreal happy life he had long desired and wished for, and had foolishly let\r\nhimself be seduced away from it by a senseless and vain ambition, which had\r\nonly brought trouble to himself and others; that highest good which he had\r\nthought to obtain by arms and fleets and soldiers, he had now discovered\r\nunexpectedly in idleness, leisure, and repose. As, indeed, what other end or\r\nperiod is there of all the wars and dangers which hapless princes run into,\r\nwhose misery and folly it is, not merely that they make luxury and pleasure,\r\ninstead of virtue and excellence, the object of their lives, but that they do\r\nnot so much as know where this luxury and pleasure are to be found?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving thus continued three years a prisoner in Chersonesus, for want of\r\nexercise, and by indulging himself in eating and drinking, he fell into a\r\ndisease, of which he died at the age of fifty-four. Seleucus was ill-spoken of,\r\nand was himself greatly grieved, that he had yielded so far to his suspicions,\r\nand had let himself be so much outdone by the barbarian Dromichaetes of Thrace,\r\nwho had shown so much humanity and such a kingly temper in his treatment of his\r\nprisoner Lysimachus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was something dramatic and theatrical in the very funeral ceremonies with\r\nwhich Demetrius was honored. For his son Antigonus, understanding that his\r\nremains were coming over from Syria, went with all his fleet to the islands to\r\nmeet them. They were there presented to him in a golden urn, which he placed in\r\nhis largest admiral galley. All the cities where they touched in their passage\r\nsent chaplets to adorn the urn, and deputed certain of their citizens to follow\r\nin mourning, to assist at the funeral solemnity. When the fleet approached the\r\nharbor of Corinth, the urn, covered with purple, and a royal diadem upon it,\r\nwas visible upon the poop, and a troop of young men attended in arms to receive\r\nit at landing Xenophantus, the most famous musician of the day, played on the\r\nflute his most solemn measure, to which the rowers, as the ship came in, made\r\nloud response, their oars, like the funeral beating of the breast, keeping time\r\nwith the cadences of the music. But Antigonus, in tears and mourning attire,\r\nexcited among the spectators gathered on the shore the greatest sorrow and\r\ncompassion. After crowns and other honors had been offered at Corinth, the\r\nremains were conveyed to Demetrias, a city to which Demetrius had given his\r\nname, peopled from the inhabitants of the small villages of Iolcus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDemetrius left no other children by his wife Phila but Antigonus and\r\nStratonice, but he had two other sons, both of his own name, one surnamed the\r\nThin, by an Illyrian mother, and one who ruled in Cyrene, by Ptolemais. He had\r\nalso, by Deidamia, a son, Alexander, who lived and died in Egypt; and there are\r\nsome who say that he had a son by Eurydice, named Corrhabus. His family was\r\ncontinued in a succession of kings down to Perseus, the last, from whom the\r\nRomans took Macedonia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now, the Macedonian drama being ended, let us prepare to see the Roman.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap60\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eANTONY\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe grandfather of Antony was the famous pleader, whom Marius put to death for\r\nhaving taken part with Sylla. His father was Antony, surnamed of Crete, not\r\nvery famous or distinguished in public life, but a worthy, good man, and\r\nparticularly remarkable for his liberality, as may appear from a single\r\nexample. He was not very rich, and was for that reason checked in the exercise\r\nof his good-nature by his wife. A friend that stood in need of money came to\r\nborrow of him. Money he had none, but he bade a servant bring him water in a\r\nsilver basin, with which, when it was brought, he wetted his face, as if he\r\nmeant to shave; and, sending away the servant upon another errand, gave his\r\nfriend the basin, desiring him to turn it to his purpose. And when there was,\r\nafterwards, a great inquiry for it in the house, and his wife was in a very ill\r\nhumor, and was going to put the servants one by one to the search, he\r\nacknowledged what he had done, and begged her pardon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHis wife was Julia, of the family of the Caesars, who, for her discretion and\r\nfair behavior, was not inferior to any of her time. Under her, Antony received\r\nhis education, she being, after the death of his father, remarried to Cornelius\r\nLentulus. who was put to death by Cicero for having been of Catiline’s\r\nconspiracy. This, probably, was the first ground and occasion of that mortal\r\ngrudge that Antony bore Cicero. He says, even, that the body of Lentulus was\r\ndenied burial, till, by application made to Cicero’s wife, it was granted to\r\nJulia. But this seems to be a manifest error, for none of those that suffered\r\nin the consulate of Cicero had the right of burial denied them. Antony grew up\r\na very beautiful youth, but, by the worst of misfortunes, he fell into the\r\nacquaintance and friendship of Curio, a man abandoned to his pleasures; who, to\r\nmake Antony’s dependence upon him a matter of greater necessity, plunged him\r\ninto a life of drinking and dissipation, and led him through a course of such\r\nextravagance, that he ran, at that early age, into debt to the amount of two\r\nhundred and fifty talents. For this sum, Curio became his surety; on hearing\r\nwhich, the elder Curio, his father, drove Antony out of his house. After this,\r\nfor some short time, he took part with Clodius, the most insolent and\r\noutrageous demagogue of the time, in his course of violence and disorder; but,\r\ngetting weary, before long, of his madness, and apprehensive of the powerful\r\nparty forming against him, he left Italy, and traveled into Greece, where he\r\nspent his time in military exercises and in the study of eloquence. He took\r\nmost to what was called the Asiatic taste in speaking, which was then at its\r\nheight, and was, in many ways, suitable to his ostentatious, vaunting temper,\r\nfull of empty flourishes and unsteady efforts for glory.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter some stay in Greece, he was invited by Gabinius, who had been consul, to\r\nmake a campaign with him in Syria, which at first he refused, not being willing\r\nto serve in a private character, but, receiving a commission to command the\r\nhorse, he went along with him. His first service was against Aristobulus, who\r\nhad prevailed with the Jews to rebel. Here he was himself the first man to\r\nscale the largest of the works, and beat Aristobulus out of all of them; after\r\nwhich he routed, in a pitched battle, an army many times over the number of\r\nhis, killed almost all of them, and took Aristobulus and his son prisoners.\r\nThis war ended, Gabinius was solicited by Ptolemy to restore him to his kingdom\r\nof Egypt, and a promise made of ten thousand talents reward. Most of the\r\nofficers were against this enterprise, and Gabinius himself did not much like\r\nit, though sorely tempted by the ten thousand talents. But Antony, desirous of\r\nbrave actions, and willing to please Ptolemy, joined in persuading Gabinius to\r\ngo. And whereas all were of opinion that the most dangerous thing before them\r\nwas the march to Pelusium, in which they would have to pass over a deep sand,\r\nwhere no fresh water was to be hoped for, along the Ecregma and the Serbonian\r\nmarsh (which the Egyptians call Typhon’s breathing-hole, and which is, in\r\nprobability, water left behind by, or making its way through from, the Red Sea,\r\nwhich is here divided from the Mediterranean by a narrow isthmus), Antony,\r\nbeing ordered thither with the horse, not only made himself master of the\r\npasses, but won Pelusium itself, a great city, took the garrison prisoners,\r\nand, by this means, rendered the march secure to the army, and the way to\r\nvictory not difficult for the general to pursue. The enemy, also, reaped some\r\nbenefit of his eagerness for honor. For when Ptolemy, after he had entered\r\nPelusium, in his rage and spite against the Egyptians, designed to put them to\r\nthe sword, Antony withstood him, and hindered the execution. In all the great\r\nand frequent skirmishes and battles, he gave continual proofs of his personal\r\nvalor and military conduct; and once in particular, by wheeling about and\r\nattacking the rear of the enemy, he gave the victory to the assailants in the\r\nfront, and received for this service signal marks of distinction. Nor was his\r\nhumanity towards the deceased Archelaus less taken notice of. He had been\r\nformerly his guest and acquaintance, and, as he was now compelled, he fought\r\nhim bravely while alive, but, on his death, sought out his body and buried it\r\nwith royal honors. The consequence was that he left behind him a great name\r\namong the Alexandrians, and all who were serving in the Roman army looked upon\r\nhim as a most gallant soldier.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe had also a very good and noble appearance; his beard was well grown, his\r\nforehead large, and his nose aquiline, giving him altogether a bold, masculine\r\nlook, that reminded people of the faces of Hercules in paintings and\r\nsculptures. It was, moreover, an ancient tradition, that the Antonys were\r\ndescended from Hercules, by a son of his called Anton; and this opinion he\r\nthought to give credit to, by the similarity of his person just mentioned, and\r\nalso by the fashion of his dress. For, whenever he had to appear before large\r\nnumbers, he wore his tunic girt low about the hips, a broadsword on his side,\r\nand over all a large, coarse mantle. What might seem to some very\r\ninsupportable, his vaunting, his raillery, his drinking in public, sitting down\r\nby the men as they were taking their food, and eating, as he stood, off the\r\ncommon soldiers’ tables, made him the delight and pleasure of the army. In love\r\naffairs, also, he was very agreeable; he gained many friends by the assistance\r\nhe gave them in theirs, and took other people’s raillery upon his own with\r\ngood-humor. And his generous ways, his open and lavish hand in gifts and favors\r\nto his friends and fellow-soldiers, did a great deal for him in his first\r\nadvance to power, and, after he had become great, long maintained his fortunes,\r\nwhen a thousand follies were hastening their overthrow. One instance of his\r\nliberality I must relate. He had ordered payment to one of his friends of\r\ntwenty-five myriads of money, or decies, as the Romans call it, and his\r\nsteward, wondering at the extravagance of the sum, laid all the silver in a\r\nheap, as he should pass by. Antony, seeing the heap, asked what it meant; his\r\nsteward replied, “The money you have ordered to be given to your friend.” So,\r\nperceiving the man’s malice, said he, “I thought the decies had been much more;\r\n’t is too little; let it be doubled.” This, however, was at a later time.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the Roman state finally broke up into two hostile factions, the\r\naristocratical party joining Pompey, who was in the city, and the popular side\r\nseeking help from Caesar, who was at the head of an army in Gaul, Curio, the\r\nfriend of Antony, having changed his party and devoted himself to Caesar,\r\nbrought over Antony also to his service. And the influence which he gained with\r\nthe people by his eloquence and by the money which was supplied by Caesar\r\nenabled him to make Antony, first, tribune of the people, and then, augur. And\r\nAntony’s accession to office was at once of the greatest advantage to Caesar.\r\nIn the first place, he resisted the consul Marcellus, who was putting under\r\nPompey’s orders the troops who were already collected, and was giving him power\r\nto raise new levies; he, on the other hand, making an order that they should be\r\nsent into Syria to reinforce Bibulus, who was making war with the Parthians,\r\nand that no one should give in his name to serve under Pompey. Next, when the\r\nsenators would not suffer Caesar’s letters to be received or read in the\r\nsenate, by virtue of his office he read them publicly, and succeeded so well,\r\nthat many were brought to change their mind; Caesar’s demands, as they appeared\r\nin what he wrote, being but just and reasonable. At length, two questions being\r\nput in the senate, the one, whether Pompey should dismiss his army, the other,\r\nif Caesar his, some were for the former, for the latter all, except some few,\r\nwhen Antony stood up and put the question, if it would be agreeable to them\r\nthat both Pompey and Caesar should dismiss their armies. This proposal met with\r\nthe greatest approval, they gave him loud acclamations, and called for it to be\r\nput to the vote. But when the consuls would not have it so, Caesar’s friends\r\nagain made some new offers, very fair and equitable, but were strongly opposed\r\nby Cato, and Antony himself was commanded to leave the senate by the consul\r\nLentulus. So, leaving them with execrations, and disguising himself in a\r\nservant’s dress, hiring a carriage with Quintus Cassius, he went straight away\r\nto Caesar, declaring at once, when they reached the camp, that affairs at Rome\r\nwere conducted without any order or justice, that the privilege of speaking in\r\nthe senate was denied the tribunes, and that he who spoke for common fair\r\ndealing was driven out and in danger of his life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this, Caesar set his army in motion, and marched into Italy; and for this\r\nreason it is that Cicero writes in his Philippics, that Antony was as much the\r\ncause of the civil war, as Helen was of the Trojan. But this is but a calumny.\r\nFor Caesar was not of so slight or weak a temper as to suffer himself to be\r\ncarried away, by the indignation of the moment, into a civil war with his\r\ncountry, upon the sight of Antony and Cassius seeking refuge in his camp,\r\nmeanly dressed and in a hired carriage, without ever having thought of it or\r\ntaken any such resolution long before. This was to him, who wanted a pretense\r\nof declaring war, a fair and plausible occasion; but the true motive that led\r\nhim was the same that formerly led Alexander and Cyrus against all mankind, the\r\nunquenchable thirst of empire, and the distracted ambition of being the\r\ngreatest man in the world, which was impracticable for him, unless Pompey were\r\nput down. So soon, then, as he had advanced and occupied Rome, and driven\r\nPompey out of Italy, he purposed first to go against the legions that Pompey\r\nhad in Spain, and then cross over and follow him with the fleet that should be\r\nprepared during his absence, in the meantime leaving the government of Rome to\r\nLepidus, as praetor, and the command of the troops and of Italy to Antony, as\r\ntribune of the people. Antony was not long in getting the hearts of the\r\nsoldiers, joining with them in their exercises, and for the most part living\r\namongst them, and making them presents to the utmost of his abilities; but with\r\nall others he was unpopular enough. He was too lazy to pay attention to the\r\ncomplaints of persons who were injured; he listened impatiently to petitions;\r\nand he had an ill name for familiarity with other people’s wives. In short, the\r\ngovernment of Caesar (which, so far as he was concerned himself, had the\r\nappearance of anything rather than a tyranny), got a bad repute through his\r\nfriends. And of these friends, Antony, as he had the largest trust, and\r\ncommitted the greatest errors, was thought the most deeply in fault.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, however, at his return from Spain, overlooked the charges against him,\r\nand had no reason ever to complain, in the employments he gave him in the war,\r\nof any want of courage, energy, or military skill. He himself, going aboard at\r\nBrundusium, sailed over the Ionian Sea with a few troops, and sent back the\r\nvessels with orders to Antony and Gabinius to embark the army, and come over\r\nwith all speed into Macedonia. Gabinius, having no mind to put to sea in the\r\nrough, dangerous weather of the winter season, was for marching the army round\r\nby the long land route; but Antony, being more afraid lest Caesar might suffer\r\nfrom the number of his enemies, who pressed him hard, beat back Libo, who was\r\nwatching with a fleet at the mouth of the haven of Brundusium, by attacking his\r\ngalleys with a number of small boats, and, gaining thus an opportunity, put on\r\nboard twenty thousand foot and eight hundred horse, and so set out to sea. And,\r\nbeing espied by the enemy and pursued, from this danger he was rescued by a\r\nstrong south wind, which sprang up and raised so high a sea, that the enemy’s\r\ngalleys could make little way. But his own ships were driving before it upon a\r\nlee shore of cliffs and rocks running sheer to the water, where there was no\r\nhope of escape, when all of a sudden the wind turned about to south-west, and\r\nblew from land to the main sea, where Antony, now sailing in security, saw the\r\ncoast all covered with the wreck of the enemy’s fleet. For hither the galleys\r\nin pursuit had been carried by the gale, and not a few of them dashed to\r\npieces. Many men and much property fell into Antony’s hands; he took also the\r\ntown of Lissus, and, by the seasonable arrival of so large a reinforcement,\r\ngave Caesar great encouragement.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was not one of the many engagements that now took place one after another\r\nin which he did not signalize himself; twice he stopped the army in its full\r\nflight, led them back to a charge, and gained the victory. So that not without\r\nreason his reputation, next to Caesar’s, was greatest in the army. And what\r\nopinion Caesar himself had of him well appeared when for the final battle in\r\nPharsalia, which was to determine everything, he himself chose to lead the\r\nright wing, committing the charge of the left to Antony, as to the best officer\r\nof all that served under him. After the battle, Caesar, being created dictator,\r\nwent in pursuit of Pompey, and sent Antony to Rome, with the character of\r\nMaster of the Horse, who is in office and power next to the dictator, when\r\npresent, and in his absence is the first, and pretty nearly indeed the sole\r\nmagistrate. For on the appointment of a dictator, with the one exception of the\r\ntribunes, all other magistrates cease to exercise any authority in Rome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDolabella, however, who was tribune, being a young man and eager for change,\r\nwas now for bringing in a general measure for canceling debts, and wanted\r\nAntony, who was his friend, and forward enough to promote any popular project,\r\nto take part with him in this step. Asinius and Trebellius were of the contrary\r\nopinion, and it so happened, at the same time, Antony was crossed by a terrible\r\nsuspicion that Dolabella was too familiar with his wife; and in great trouble\r\nat this, he parted with her (she being his cousin, and daughter to Caius\r\nAntonius, the colleague of Cicero), and, taking part with Asinius, came to open\r\nhostilities with Dolabella, who had seized on the forum, intending to pass his\r\nlaw by force. Antony, backed by a vote of the senate that Dolabella should be\r\nput down by force of arms, went down and attacked him, killing some of his, and\r\nlosing some of his own men; and by this action lost his favor with the\r\ncommonalty, while with the better class and with all well conducted people his\r\ngeneral course of life made him, as Cicero says, absolutely odious, utter\r\ndisgust being excited by his drinking bouts at all hours, his wild expenses,\r\nhis gross amours, the day spent in sleeping or walking off his debauches, and\r\nthe night in banquets and at theaters, and in celebrating the nuptials of some\r\ncomedian or buffoon. It is related that, drinking all night at the wedding of\r\nHippias, the comedian, on the morning, having to harangue the people, he came\r\nforward, overcharged as he was, and vomited before them all, one of his friends\r\nholding his gown for him. Sergius, the player, was one of the friends who could\r\ndo most with him; also Cytheris, a woman of the same trade, whom he made much\r\nof, and who, when he went his progress, accompanied him in a litter, and had\r\nher equipage, not in anything inferior to his mother’s; while every one,\r\nmoreover, was scandalized at the sight of the golden cups that he took with\r\nhim, fitter for the ornaments of a procession than the uses of a journey, at\r\nhis having pavilions set up, and sumptuous morning repasts laid out by\r\nriver-sides and in groves, at his having chariots drawn by lions, and common\r\nwomen and singing girls quartered upon the houses of serious fathers and\r\nmothers of families. And it seemed very unreasonable that Caesar, out of Italy,\r\nshould lodge in the open field, and, with great fatigue and danger, pursue the\r\nremainder of a hazardous war, whilst others, by favor of his authority, should\r\ninsult the citizens with their impudent luxury.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll this appears to have aggravated party quarrels in Rome, and to have\r\nencouraged the soldiers in acts of license and rapacity. And, accordingly, when\r\nCaesar came home, he acquitted Dolabella, and, being created the third time\r\nconsul, took, not Antony, but Lepidus, for his colleague. Pompey’s house being\r\noffered for sale, Antony bought it, and, when the price was demanded of him,\r\nloudly complained. This, he tells us himself, and because he thought his former\r\nservices had not been recompensed as they deserved, made him not follow Caesar\r\nwith the army into Libya. However, Caesar, by dealing gently with his errors,\r\nseems to have succeeded in curing him of a good deal of his folly and\r\nextravagance. He gave up his former courses, and took a wife, Fulvia, the widow\r\nof Clodius the demagogue, a woman not born for spinning or housewifery, nor one\r\nthat could be content with ruling a private husband, but prepared to govern a\r\nfirst magistrate, or give orders to a commander-in-chief. So that Cleopatra had\r\ngreat obligations to her for having taught Antony to be so good a servant, he\r\ncoming to her hands tame and broken into entire obedience to the commands of a\r\nmistress. He used to play all sorts of sportive, boyish tricks, to keep Fulvia\r\nin good-humor. As, for example, when Caesar, after his victory in Spain, was on\r\nhis return, Antony, among the rest, went out to meet him; and, a rumor being\r\nspread that Caesar was killed and the enemy marching into Italy, he resumed to\r\nRome, and, disguising himself, came to her by night muffled up as a servant\r\nthat brought letters from Antony. She, with great impatience, before she\r\nreceived the letter, asks if Antony were well, and instead of an answer he\r\ngives her the letter; and, as she was opening it, took her about the neck and\r\nkissed her. This little story of many of the same nature, I give as a specimen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was nobody of any rank in Rome that did not go some days’ journey to meet\r\nCaesar on his return from Spain; but Antony was the best received of any,\r\nadmitted to ride the whole journey with him in his carriage, while behind came\r\nBrutus Albinus, and Octavian, his niece’s son, who afterwards bore his name and\r\nreigned so long over the Romans. Caesar being created, the fifth time, consul,\r\nwithout delay chose Antony for his colleague, but, designing himself to give up\r\nhis own consulate to Dolabella, he acquainted the senate with his resolution.\r\nBut Antony opposed it with all his might, saying much that was bad against\r\nDolabella, and receiving the like language in return, till Caesar could bear\r\nwith the indecency no longer, and deferred the matter to another time.\r\nAfterwards, when he came before the people to proclaim Dolabella, Antony cried\r\nout that the auspices were unfavorable, so that at last Caesar, much to\r\nDolabella’s vexation, yielded and gave it up. And it is credible that Caesar\r\nwas about as much disgusted with the one as the other. When someone was\r\naccusing them both to him, “It is not,” said he, “these well fed, long-haired\r\nmen that I fear, but the pale and the hungry looking;” meaning Brutus and\r\nCassius, by whose conspiracy he afterwards fell.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd the fairest pretext for that conspiracy was furnished, without his meaning\r\nit, by Antony himself. The Romans were celebrating their festival, called the\r\nLupercalia, when Caesar, in his triumphal habit, and seated above the Rostra in\r\nthe market-place, was a spectator of the sports. The custom is, that many young\r\nnoblemen and of the magistracy, anointed with oil and having straps of hide in\r\ntheir hands, run about and strike, in sport, at everyone they meet. Antony was\r\nrunning with the rest; but, omitting the old ceremony, twining a garland of bay\r\nround a diadem, he ran up to the Rostra, and, being lifted up by his\r\ncompanions, would have put it upon the head of Caesar, as if by that ceremony\r\nhe were declared king. Caesar seemingly refused, and drew aside to avoid it,\r\nand was applauded by the people with great shouts. Again Antony pressed it, and\r\nagain he declined its acceptance. And so the dispute between them went on for\r\nsome time, Antony’s solicitations receiving but little encouragement from the\r\nshouts of a few friends, and Caesar’s refusal being accompanied with the\r\ngeneral applause of the people; a curious thing enough, that they should submit\r\nwith patience to the fact, and yet at the same time dread the name as the\r\ndestruction of their liberty. Caesar, very much discomposed at what had past,\r\ngot up from his seat, and, laying bare his neck, said, he was ready to receive\r\nthe stroke, if any one of them desired to give it. The crown was at last put on\r\none of his statues, but was taken down by some of the tribunes, who were\r\nfollowed home by the people with shouts of applause. Caesar, however, resented\r\nit, and deposed them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese passages gave great encouragement to Brutus and Cassius, who, in making\r\nchoice of trusty friends for such an enterprise, were thinking to engage\r\nAntony. The rest approved, except Trebonius, who told them that Antony and he\r\nhad lodged and traveled together in the last journey they took to meet Caesar,\r\nand that he had let fall several words, in a cautious way, on purpose to sound\r\nhim; that Antony very well understood him, but did not encourage it; however,\r\nhe had said nothing of it to Caesar, but had kept the secret faithfully. The\r\nconspirators then proposed that Antony should die with him, which Brutus would\r\nnot consent to, insisting that an action undertaken in defense of right and the\r\nlaws must be maintained unsullied, and pure of injustice. It was settled that\r\nAntony, whose bodily strength and high office made him formidable, should, at\r\nCaesar’s entrance into the senate, when the deed was to be done, be amused\r\noutside by some of the party in a conversation about some pretended business.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo when all was proceeded with, according to their plan, and Caesar had fallen\r\nin the senate-house, Antony, at the first moment, took a servant’s dress, and\r\nhid himself. But, understanding that the conspirators had assembled in the\r\nCapitol, and had no further design upon anyone, he persuaded them to come down,\r\ngiving them his son as a hostage. That night Cassius supped at Antony’s house,\r\nand Brutus with Lepidus. Antony then convened the senate, and spoke in favor of\r\nan act of oblivion, and the appointment of Brutus and Cassius to provinces.\r\nThese measures the senate passed; and resolved that all Caesar’s acts should\r\nremain in force. Thus Antony went out of the senate with the highest possible\r\nreputation and esteem; for it was apparent that he had prevented a civil war,\r\nand had composed, in the wisest and most statesman-like way, questions of the\r\ngreatest difficulty and embarrassment. But these temperate counsels were soon\r\nswept away by the tide of popular applause, and the prospects, if Brutus were\r\noverthrown, of being without doubt the ruler-in-chief. As Caesar’s body was\r\nconveying to the tomb, Antony, according to the custom, was making his funeral\r\noration in the market; place, and, perceiving the people to be infinitely\r\naffected with what he had said, he began to mingle with his praises language of\r\ncommiseration, and horror at what had happened, and, as he was ending his\r\nspeech, he took the under-clothes of the dead, and held them up, showing them\r\nstains of blood and the holes of the many stabs, calling those that had done\r\nthis act villains and bloody murderers. All which excited the people to such\r\nindignation, that they would not defer the funeral, but, making a pile of\r\ntables and forms in the very market-place, set fire to it; and everyone, taking\r\na brand, ran to the conspirators’ houses, to attack them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nUpon this, Brutus and his whole party left the city, and Caesar’s friends\r\njoined themselves to Antony. Calpurnia, Caesar’s wife, lodged with him the best\r\npart of the property, to the value of four thousand talents; he got also into\r\nhis hands all Caesar’s papers, wherein were contained journals of all he had\r\ndone, and draughts of what he designed to do, which Antony made good use of;\r\nfor by this means he appointed what magistrates he pleased, brought whom he\r\nwould into the senate, recalled some from exile, freed others out of prison,\r\nand all this as ordered so by Caesar. The Romans, in mockery, gave those who\r\nwere thus benefited the name of Charonites, since, if put to prove their\r\npatents, they must have recourse to the papers of the dead. In short, Antony’s\r\nbehavior in Rome was very absolute, he himself being consul, and his two\r\nbrothers in great place; Caius, the one, being praetor, and Lucius, the other,\r\ntribune of the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile matters went thus in Rome, the young Caesar, Caesar’s niece’s son, and by\r\ntestament left his heir, arrived at Rome from Apollonia, where he was when his\r\nuncle was killed. The first thing he did was to visit Antony, as his father’s\r\nfriend. He spoke to him concerning the money that was in his hands, and\r\nreminded him of the legacy Caesar had made of seventy-five drachmas to every\r\nRoman citizen. Antony, at first, laughing at such discourse from so young a\r\nman, told him he wished he were in his health, and that he wanted good counsel\r\nand good friends, to tell him the burden of being executor to Caesar would sit\r\nvery uneasily upon his young shoulders. This was no answer to him; and, when he\r\npersisted in demanding the property, Antony went on treating him injuriously\r\nboth in word and deed, opposed him when he stood for the tribune’s office, and,\r\nwhen he was taking steps for the dedication of his father’s golden chair, as\r\nhad been enacted, he threatened to send him to prison if he did not give over\r\nsoliciting the people. This made the young Caesar apply himself to Cicero, and\r\nall those that hated Antony; by them he was recommended to the senate, while he\r\nhimself courted the people, and drew together the soldiers from their\r\nsettlements, till Antony got alarmed, and gave him a meeting in the Capitol,\r\nwhere, after some words, they came to an accommodation.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThat night Antony had a very unlucky dream, fancying that his right hand was\r\nthunderstruck. And, some few days after, he was informed that Caesar was\r\nplotting to take his life. Caesar explained, but was not believed, so that the\r\nbreach was now made as wide as ever; each of them hurried about all through\r\nItaly to engage, by great offers, the old soldiers that lay scattered in their\r\nsettlements, and to be the first to secure the troops that still remained\r\nundischarged. Cicero was at this time the man of greatest influence in Rome. He\r\nmade use of all his art to exasperate people against Antony, and at length\r\npersuaded the senate to declare him a public enemy, to send Caesar the rods and\r\naxes and other marks of honor usually given to praetors, and to issue orders to\r\nHirtius and Pansa, who were the consuls, to drive Antony out of Italy. The\r\narmies engaged near Modena, and Caesar himself was present and took part in the\r\nbattle. Antony was defeated, but both the consuls were slain. Antony, in his\r\nflight, was overtaken by distresses of every kind, and the worst of all of them\r\nwas famine. But it was his character in calamities to be better than at any\r\nother time. Antony, in misfortune, was most nearly a virtuous man. It is common\r\nenough for people, when they fall into great disasters, to discern what is\r\nright, and what they ought to do; but there are but few who in such extremities\r\nhave the strength to obey their judgment, either in doing what it approves or\r\navoiding what it condemns; and a good many are so weak as to give way to their\r\nhabits all the more, and are incapable of using their minds. Antony, on this\r\noccasion, was a most wonderful example to his soldiers. He, who had just\r\nquitted so much luxury and sumptuous living, made no difficulty now of drinking\r\nfoul water and feeding on wild fruits and roots. Nay, it is related they ate\r\nthe very bark of trees, and, in passing over the Alps, lived upon creatures\r\nthat no one before had ever been willing to touch.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe design was to join the army on the other side the Alps, commanded by\r\nLepidus, who he imagined would stand his friend, he having done him many good\r\noffices with Caesar. On coming up and encamping near at hand, finding he had no\r\nsort of encouragement offered him, he resolved to push his fortune and venture\r\nall. His hair was long and disordered, nor had he shaved his beard since his\r\ndefeat; in this guise, and with a dark colored cloak flung over him, he came\r\ninto the trenches of Lepidus, and began to address the army. Some were moved at\r\nhis habit, others at his words, so that Lepidus, not liking it, ordered the\r\ntrumpets to sound, that he might be heard no longer. This raised in the\r\nsoldiers yet a greater pity, so that they resolved to confer secretly with him,\r\nand dressed Laelius and Clodius in women’s clothes, and sent them to see him.\r\nThey advised him without delay to attack Lepidus’s trenches, assuring him that\r\na strong party would receive him, and, if he wished it, would kill Lepidus.\r\nAntony, however, had no wish for this, but next morning marched his army to\r\npass over the river that parted the two camps. He was himself the first man\r\nthat stepped in, and, as he went through towards the other bank, he saw\r\nLepidus’s soldiers in great numbers reaching out their hands to help him, and\r\nbeating down the works to make him way. Being entered into the camp, and\r\nfinding himself absolute master, he nevertheless treated Lepidus with the\r\ngreatest civility, and gave him the title of Father, when he spoke to him, and,\r\nthough he had everything at his own command, he left him the honor of being\r\ncalled the general. This fair usage brought over to him Munatius Plancus, who\r\nwas not far off with a considerable force. Thus in great strength he repassed\r\nthe Alps, leading with him into Italy seventeen legions and ten thousand horse,\r\nbesides six legions which he left in garrison under the command of Varius, one\r\nof his familiar friends and boon companions, whom they used to call by the\r\nnickname of Cotylon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, perceiving that Cicero’s wishes were for liberty, had ceased to pay any\r\nfurther regard to him, and was now employing the mediation of his friends to\r\ncome to a good understanding with Antony. They both met together with Lepidus\r\nin a small island, where the conference lasted three days. The empire was soon\r\ndetermined of, it being divided amongst them as if it had been their paternal\r\ninheritance. That which gave them all the trouble was to agree who should be\r\nput to death, each of them desiring to destroy his enemies and to save his\r\nfriends. But, in the end, animosity to those they hated carried the day against\r\nrespect for relations and affection for friends; and Caesar sacrificed Cicero\r\nto Antony, Antony gave up his uncle Lucius Caesar, and Lepidus received\r\npermission to murder his brother Paulus, or, as others say, yielded his brother\r\nto them. I do not believe anything ever took place more truly savage or\r\nbarbarous than this composition, for, in this exchange of blood for blood, they\r\nwere equally guilty of the lives they surrendered and of those they took; or,\r\nindeed, more guilty in the case of their friends, for whose deaths they had not\r\neven the justification of hatred. To complete the reconciliation, the soldiery,\r\ncoming about them, demanded that confirmation should be given to it by some\r\nalliance of marriage; Caesar should marry Clodia, the daughter of Fulvia, wife\r\nto Antony. This also being agreed to, three hundred persons were put to death\r\nby proscription. Antony gave orders to those that were to kill Cicero, to cut\r\noff his head and right hand, with which he had written his invectives against\r\nhim; and, when they were brought before him, he regarded them joyfully,\r\nactually bursting out more than once into laughter, and when he had satiated\r\nhimself with the sight of them, ordered them to be hung up above the speaker’s\r\nplace in the forum, thinking thus to insult the dead, while in fact he only\r\nexposed his own wanton arrogance, and his unworthiness to hold the power that\r\nfortune had given him. His uncle Lucius Caesar, being closely pursued, took\r\nrefuge with his sister, who, when the murderers had broken into her house and\r\nwere pressing into her chamber, met them at the door, and, spreading out her\r\nhands, cried out several times, “You shall not kill Lucius Caesar till you\r\nfirst dispatch me, who gave your general his birth;” and in this manner she\r\nsucceeded in getting her brother out of the way, and saving his life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis triumvirate was very hateful to the Romans, and Antony most of all bore\r\nthe blame, because he was older than Caesar, and had greater authority than\r\nLepidus, and withal he was no sooner settled in his affairs, but he returned to\r\nhis luxurious and dissolute way of living. Besides the ill reputation he gained\r\nby his general behavior, it was some considerable disadvantage to him his\r\nliving in the house of Pompey the Great, who had been as much admired for his\r\ntemperance and his sober, citizen-like habits of life, as ever he was for\r\nhaving triumphed three times. They could not without anger see the doors of\r\nthat house shut against magistrates, officers, and envoys, who were shamefully\r\nrefused admittance, while it was filled inside with players, jugglers, and\r\ndrunken flatterers, upon whom were spent the greatest part of the wealth which\r\nviolence and cruelty procured. For they did not limit themselves to the\r\nforfeiture of the estates of such as were proscribed, defrauding the widows and\r\nfamilies, nor were they contented with laying on every possible kind of tax and\r\nimposition; but, hearing that several sums of money were, as well by strangers\r\nas citizens of Rome, deposited in the hands of the vestal virgins, they went\r\nand took the money away by force. When it was manifest that nothing would ever\r\nbe enough for Antony, Caesar at last called for a division of property. The\r\narmy was also divided between them, upon their march into Macedonia to make war\r\nwith Brutus and Cassius, Lepidus being left with the command of the city.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, after they had crossed the sea and engaged in operations of war,\r\nencamping in front of the enemy, Antony opposite Cassius, and Caesar opposite\r\nBrutus, Caesar did nothing worth relating, and all the success and victory were\r\nAntony’s. In the first battle, Caesar was completely routed by Brutus, his camp\r\ntaken, he himself very narrowly escaping by flight. As he himself writes in his\r\nMemoirs, he retired before the battle, on account of a dream which one of his\r\nfriends had. But Antony, on the other hand, defeated Cassius; though some have\r\nwritten that he was not actually present in the engagement, and only joined\r\nafterwards in the pursuit. Cassius was killed, at his own entreaty and order,\r\nby one of his most trusted freedmen, Pindarus, not being aware of Brutus’s\r\nvictory. After a few days’ interval, they fought another battle, in which\r\nBrutus lost the day, and slew himself; and Caesar being sick, Antony had almost\r\nall the honor of the victory. Standing over Brutus’s dead body, he uttered a\r\nfew words of reproach upon him for the death of his brother Caius, who had been\r\nexecuted by Brutus’s order in Macedonia in revenge of Cicero; but, saying\r\npresently that Hortensius was most to blame for it, he gave order for his being\r\nslain upon his brother’s tomb, and, throwing his own scarlet mantle, which was\r\nof great value, upon the body of Brutus, he gave charge to one of his own\r\nfreedmen to take care of his funeral. This man, as Antony came to understand,\r\ndid not leave the mantle with the corpse, but kept both it and a good part of\r\nthe money that should have been spent in the funeral for himself; for which he\r\nhad him put to death.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Caesar was conveyed to Rome, no one expecting that he would long survive.\r\nAntony, proposing to go to the eastern provinces to lay them under\r\ncontribution, entered Greece with a large force. The promise had been made that\r\nevery common soldier should receive for his pay five thousand drachmas; so it\r\nwas likely there would be need of pretty severe taxing and levying to raise\r\nmoney. However, to the Greeks he showed at first reason and moderation enough;\r\nhe gratified his love of amusement by hearing the learned men dispute, by\r\nseeing the games, and undergoing initiation; and in judicial matters he was\r\nequitable, taking pleasure in being styled a lover of Greece, but, above all,\r\nin being called a lover of Athens, to which city he made very considerable\r\npresents. The people of Megara wished to let him know that they also had\r\nsomething to show him, and invited him to come and see their senate-house. So\r\nhe went and examined it, and on their asking him how he liked it, told them it\r\nwas “not very large, but extremely ruinous.” At the same time, he had a survey\r\nmade of the temple of the Pythian Apollo, as if he had designed to repair it,\r\nand indeed he had declared to the senate his intention so to do.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, leaving Lucius Censorinus in Greece, he crossed over into Asia, and\r\nthere laid his hands on the stores of accumulated wealth, while kings waited at\r\nhis door, and queens were rivaling one another, who should make him the\r\ngreatest presents or appear most charming in his eyes. Thus, whilst Caesar in\r\nRome was wearing out his strength amidst seditions and wars, Antony, with\r\nnothing to do amidst the enjoyments of peace, let his passions carry him easily\r\nback to the old course of life that was familiar to him. A set of harpers and\r\npipers, Anaxenor and Xuthus, the dancing-man Metrodorus, and a whole Bacchic\r\nrout of the like Asiatic exhibitors, far outdoing in license and buffoonery the\r\npests that had followed out of Italy, came in and possessed the court; the\r\nthing was past patience, wealth of all kinds being wasted on objects like\r\nthese. The whole of Asia was like the city in Sophocles, loaded, at one time,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nwith incense in the air,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nJubilant songs, and outcries of despair.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he made his entry into Ephesus, the women met him dressed up like\r\nBacchantes, and the men and boys like Satyrs and Fauns, and throughout the town\r\nnothing was to be seen but spears wreathed about with ivy, harps, flutes, and\r\npsaltries, while Antony in their songs was Bacchus the Giver of Joy and the\r\nGentle. And so indeed he was to some, but to far more the Devourer and the\r\nSavage; for he would deprive persons of worth and quality of their fortunes to\r\ngratify villains and flatterers, who would sometimes beg the estates of men yet\r\nliving, pretending they were dead, and, obtaining a grant, take possession. He\r\ngave his cook the house of a Magnesian citizen, as a reward for a single highly\r\nsuccessful supper, and, at last, when he was proceeding to lay a second whole\r\ntribute on Asia, Hybreas, speaking on behalf of the cities, took courage, and\r\ntold him broadly, but aptly enough for Antony’s taste, “If you can take two\r\nyearly tributes, you can doubtless give us a couple of summers, and a double\r\nharvest time;” and put it to him in the plainest and boldest way, that Asia had\r\nraised two hundred thousand talents for his service: “If this has not been paid\r\nto you, ask your collectors for it; if it has, and is all gone, we are ruined\r\nmen.” These words touched Antony to the quick, who was simply ignorant of most\r\nthings that were done in his name; not that he was so indolent, as he was prone\r\nto trust frankly in all about him. For there was much simplicity in his\r\ncharacter; he was slow to see his faults, but, when he did see them, was\r\nextremely repentant, and ready to ask pardon of those he had injured; prodigal\r\nin his acts of reparation, and severe in his punishments, but his generosity\r\nwas much more extravagant than his severity; his raillery was sharp and\r\ninsulting, but the edge of it was taken off by his readiness to submit to any\r\nkind of repartee; for he was as well contented to be rallied, as he was pleased\r\nto rally others. And this freedom of speech was, indeed, the cause of many of\r\nhis disasters. He never imagined that those who used so much liberty in their\r\nmirth would flatter or deceive him in business of consequence, not knowing how\r\ncommon it is with parasites to mix their flattery with boldness, as\r\nconfectioners do their sweetmeats with something biting, to prevent the sense\r\nof satiety. Their freedoms and impertinences at table were designed expressly\r\nto give to their obsequiousness in council the air of being not complaisance,\r\nbut conviction.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSuch being his temper, the last and crowning mischief that could befall him\r\ncame in the love of Cleopatra, to awaken and kindle to fury passions that as\r\nyet lay still and dormant in his nature, and to stifle and finally corrupt any\r\nelements that yet made resistance in him, of goodness and a sound judgment. He\r\nfell into the snare thus. When making preparation for the Parthian war, he sent\r\nto command her to make her personal appearance in Cilicia, to answer an\r\naccusation, that she had given great assistance, in the late wars, to Cassius.\r\nDellius, who was sent on this message, had no sooner seen her face, and\r\nremarked her adroitness and subtlety in speech, but he felt convinced that\r\nAntony would not so much as think of giving any molestation to a woman like\r\nthis; on the contrary, she would be the first in favor with him. So he set\r\nhimself at once to pay his court to the Egyptian, and gave her his advice, “to\r\ngo,” in the Homeric style, to Cilicia, “in her best attire,” and bade her fear\r\nnothing from Antony, the gentlest and kindest of soldiers. She had some faith\r\nin the words of Dellius, but more in her own attractions, which, having\r\nformerly recommended her to Caesar and the young Cnaeus Pompey, she did not\r\ndoubt might prove yet more successful with Antony. Their acquaintance was with\r\nher when a girl, young, and ignorant of the world, but she was to meet Antony\r\nin the time of life when women’s beauty is most splendid, and their intellects\r\nare in full maturity. She made great preparation for her journey, of money,\r\ngifts, and ornaments of value, such as so wealthy a kingdom might afford, but\r\nshe brought with her her surest hopes in her own magic arts and charms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nShe received several letters, both from Antony and from his friends, to summon\r\nher, but she took no account of these orders; and at last, as if in mockery of\r\nthem, she came sailing up the river Cydnus, in a barge with gilded stern and\r\noutspread sails of purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of\r\nflutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay all along, under a canopy of cloth\r\nof gold, dressed as Venus in a picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted\r\nCupids, stood on each side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like Sea Nymphs\r\nand Graces, some steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes. The\r\nperfumes diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered\r\nwith multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either bank, part\r\nrunning out of the city to see the sight. The market-place was quite emptied,\r\nand Antony at last was left alone sitting upon the tribunal; while the word\r\nwent through all the multitude, that Venus was come to feast with Bacchus, for\r\nthe common good of Asia. On her arrival, Antony sent to invite her to supper.\r\nShe thought it fitter he should come to her; so, willing to show his good-humor\r\nand courtesy, he complied, and went. He found the preparations to receive him\r\nmagnificent beyond expression, but nothing so admirable as the great number of\r\nlights; for on a sudden there was let down altogether so great a number of\r\nbranches with lights in them so ingeniously disposed, some in squares, and some\r\nin circles, that the whole thing was a spectacle that has seldom been equaled\r\nfor beauty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe next day, Antony invited her to supper, and was very desirous to outdo her\r\nas well in magnificence as contrivance; but he found he was altogether beaten\r\nin both, and was so well convinced of it, that he was himself the first to jest\r\nand mock at his poverty of wit, and his rustic awkwardness. She, perceiving\r\nthat his raillery was broad and gross, and savored more of the soldier than the\r\ncourtier, rejoined in the same taste, and fell into it at once, without any\r\nsort of reluctance or reserve. For her actual beauty, it is said, was not in\r\nitself so remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could\r\nsee her without being struck by it, but the contact of her presence, if you\r\nlived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person, joining with\r\nthe charm of her conversation, and the character that attended all she said or\r\ndid, was something bewitching. It was a pleasure merely to hear the sound of\r\nher voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, she could pass from\r\none language to another; so that there were few of the barbarian nations that\r\nshe answered by an interpreter; to most of them she spoke herself, as to the\r\nEthiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and many\r\nothers, whose language she had learnt; which was all the more surprising,\r\nbecause most of the kings her predecessors scarcely gave themselves the trouble\r\nto acquire the Egyptian tongue, and several of them quite abandoned the\r\nMacedonian.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntony was so captivated by her, that, while Fulvia his wife maintained his\r\nquarrels in Rome against Caesar by actual force of arms, and the Parthian\r\ntroops, commanded by Labienus (the king’s generals having made him\r\ncommander-in-chief), were assembled in Mesopotamia, and ready to enter Syria,\r\nhe could yet suffer himself to be carried away by her to Alexandria, there to\r\nkeep holiday, like a boy, in play and diversion, squandering and fooling away\r\nin enjoyments that most costly, as Antiphon says, of all valuables, time. They\r\nhad a sort of company, to which they gave a particular name, calling it that of\r\nthe Inimitable Livers. The members entertained one another daily in turn, with\r\nan extravagance of expenditure beyond measure or belief. Philotas, a physician\r\nof Amphissa, who was at that time a student of medicine in Alexandria, used to\r\ntell my grandfather Lamprias, that, having some acquaintance with one of the\r\nroyal cooks, he was invited by him, being a young man, to come and see the\r\nsumptuous preparations for supper. So he was taken into the kitchen, where he\r\nadmired the prodigious variety of all things; but particularly, seeing eight\r\nwild boars roasting whole, says he, “Surely you have a great number of guests.”\r\nThe cook laughed at his simplicity, and told him there were not above twelve to\r\nsup, but that every dish was to be served up just roasted to a turn, and if\r\nanything was but one minute ill-timed, it was spoiled; “And,” said he, “maybe\r\nAntony will sup just now, maybe not this hour, maybe he will call for wine, or\r\nbegin to talk, and will put it off. So that,” he continued, “it is not one, but\r\nmany suppers must be had in readiness, as it is impossible to guess at his\r\nhour.” This was Philotas’s story; who related besides, that he afterwards came\r\nto be one of the medical attendants of Antony’s eldest son by Fulvia, and used\r\nto be invited pretty often, among other companions, to his table, when he was\r\nnot supping with his father. One day another physician had talked loudly, and\r\ngiven great disturbance to the company, whose mouth Philotas stopped with this\r\nsophistical syllogism: “In some states of fever the patient should take cold\r\nwater; everyone who has a fever is in some state of fever; therefore in a fever\r\ncold water should always be taken.” The man was quite struck dumb, and Antony’s\r\nson, very much pleased, laughed aloud, and said, Philotas, “I make you a\r\npresent of all you see there,” pointing to a sideboard covered with plate.\r\nPhilotas thanked him much, but was far enough from ever imagining that a boy of\r\nhis age could dispose of things of that value. Soon after, however, the plate\r\nwas all brought to him, and he was desired to set his mark upon it; and when he\r\nput it away from him, and was afraid to accept the present, “What ails the\r\nman?” said he that brought it; “do you know that he who gives you this is\r\nAntony’s son, who is free to give it, if it were all gold? but if you will be\r\nadvised by me, I would counsel you to accept of the value in money from us; for\r\nthere may be amongst the rest some antique or famous piece of workmanship,\r\nwhich Antony would be sorry to part with.” These anecdotes my grandfather told\r\nus Philotas used frequently to relate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTo return to Cleopatra; Plato admits four sorts of flattery, but she had a\r\nthousand. Were Antony serious or disposed to mirth, she had at any moment some\r\nnew delight or charm to meet his wishes; at every turn she was upon him, and\r\nlet him escape her neither by day nor by night. She played at dice with him,\r\ndrank with him, hunted with him; and when he exercised in arms, she was there\r\nto see. At night she would go rambling with him to disturb and torment people\r\nat their doors and windows, dressed like a servant-woman, for Antony also went\r\nin servant’s disguise, and from these expeditions he often came home very\r\nscurvily answered, and sometimes even beaten severely, though most people\r\nguessed who it was. However, the Alexandrians in general liked it all well\r\nenough, and joined good humoredly and kindly in his frolic and play, saying\r\nthey were much obliged to Antony for acting his tragic parts at Rome, and\r\nkeeping his comedy for them. It would be trifling without end to be particular\r\nin his follies, but his fishing must not be forgotten. He went out one day to\r\nangle with Cleopatra, and, being so unfortunate as to catch nothing in the\r\npresence of his mistress, he gave secret orders to the fishermen to dive under\r\nwater, and put fishes that had been already taken upon his hooks; and these he\r\ndrew so fast that the Egyptian perceived it. But, feigning great admiration,\r\nshe told everybody how dexterous Antony was, and invited them next day to come\r\nand see him again. So, when a number of them had come on board the fishing\r\nboats, as soon as he had let down his hook, one of her servants was beforehand\r\nwith his divers, and fixed upon his hook a salted fish from Pontus. Antony,\r\nfeeling his line give, drew up the prey, and when, as may be imagined, great\r\nlaughter ensued, “Leave,” said Cleopatra, “the fishing-rod, general, to us poor\r\nsovereigns of Pharos and Canopus; your game is cities, provinces, and\r\nkingdoms.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst he was thus diverting himself and engaged in this boys’ play, two\r\ndispatches arrived; one from Rome, that his brother Lucius and his wife Fulvia,\r\nafter many quarrels among themselves, had joined in war against Caesar, and,\r\nhaving lost all, had fled out of Italy; the other bringing little better news,\r\nthat Labienus, at the head of the Parthians, was overrunning Asia, from\r\nEuphrates and Syria as far as Lydia and Ionia. So, scarcely at last rousing\r\nhimself from sleep, and shaking off the fumes of wine, he set out to attack the\r\nParthians, and went as far as Phoenicia; but, upon the receipt of lamentable\r\nletters from Fulvia, turned his course with two hundred ships to Italy. And, in\r\nhis way, receiving, such of his friends as fled from Italy, he was given to\r\nunderstand that Fulvia was the sole cause of the war, a woman of a restless\r\nspirit and very bold, and withal her hopes were that commotions in Italy would\r\nforce Antony from Cleopatra. But it happened that Fulvia, as she was coming to\r\nmeet her husband, fell sick by the way, and died at Sicyon, so that an\r\naccommodation was the more easily made. For when he reached Italy, and Caesar\r\nshowed no intention of laying anything to his charge, and he on his part\r\nshifted the blame of everything on Fulvia, those that were friends to them\r\nwould not suffer that the time should be spent in looking narrowly into the\r\nplea, but made a reconciliation first, and then a partition of the empire\r\nbetween them, taking as their boundary the Ionian Sea, the eastern provinces\r\nfalling to Antony, to Caesar the western, and Africa being left to Lepidus. And\r\nan agreement was made, that everyone in their turn, as he thought fit, should\r\nmake their friends consuls, when they did not choose to take the offices\r\nthemselves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese terms were well approved of, but yet it was thought some closer tie would\r\nbe desirable; and for this, fortune offered occasion. Caesar had an elder\r\nsister, not of the whole blood, for Attia was his mother’s name, hers Ancharia.\r\nThis sister, Octavia, he was extremely attached to, as, indeed, she was, it is\r\nsaid, quite a wonder of a woman. Her husband, Caius Marcellus, had died not\r\nlong before, and Antony was now a widower by the death of Fulvia; for, though\r\nhe did not disavow the passion he had for Cleopatra, yet he disowned anything\r\nof marriage, reason, as yet, upon this point, still maintaining the debate\r\nagainst the charms of the Egyptian. Everybody concurred in promoting this new\r\nalliance, fully expecting that with the beauty, honor, and prudence of Octavia,\r\nwhen her company should, as it was certain it would, have engaged his\r\naffections, all would be kept in the safe and happy course of friendship. So,\r\nboth parties being agreed, they went to Rome to celebrate the nuptials, the\r\nsenate dispensing with the law by which a widow was not permitted to marry till\r\nten months after the death of her husband.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSextus Pompeius was in possession of Sicily, and with his ships, under the\r\ncommand of Menas, the pirate, and Menecrates, so infested the Italian coast,\r\nthat no vessels durst venture into those seas. Sextus had behaved with much\r\nhumanity towards Antony, having received his mother when she fled with Fulvia,\r\nand it was therefore judged fit that he also should be received into the peace.\r\nThey met near the promontory of Misenum, by the mole of the port, Pompey having\r\nhis fleet at anchor close by, and Antony and Caesar their troops drawn up all\r\nalong the shore. There it was concluded that Sextus should quietly enjoy the\r\ngovernment of Sicily and Sardinia, he conditioning to scour the seas of all\r\npirates, and to send so much corn every year to Rome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis agreed on, they invited one another to supper, and by lot it fell to\r\nPompey’s turn to give the first entertainment, and Antony, asking where it was\r\nto be, “There,” said he, pointing to the admiral-galley, a ship of six banks of\r\noars, “that is the only house that Pompey is heir to of his father’s.” And this\r\nhe said, reflecting upon Antony, who was then in possession of his father’s\r\nhouse. Having fixed the ship on her anchors, and formed a bridgeway from the\r\npromontory to conduct on board of her, he gave them a cordial welcome. And when\r\nthey began to grow warm, and jests were passing freely on Antony and\r\nCleopatra’s loves, Menas, the pirate, whispered Pompey in the ear, “Shall I,”\r\nsaid he, “cut the cables, and make you master not of Sicily only and Sardinia,\r\nbut of the whole Roman empire?” Pompey, having considered a little while,\r\nreturned him answer, “Menas, this might have been done without acquainting me;\r\nnow we must rest content; I do not break my word.” And so, having been\r\nentertained by the other two in their turns, he set sail for Sicily.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the treaty was completed, Antony dispatched Ventidius into Asia, to check\r\nthe advance of the Parthians, while he, as a compliment to Caesar, accepted the\r\noffice of priest to the deceased Caesar. And in any state affair and matter of\r\nconsequence, they both behaved themselves with much consideration and\r\nfriendliness for each other. But it annoyed Antony, that in all their\r\namusements, on any trial of skill or fortune, Caesar should be constantly\r\nvictorious. He had with him an Egyptian diviner, one of those who calculate\r\nnativities, who, either to make his court to Cleopatra, or that by the rules of\r\nhis art he found it to be so, openly declared to him, that though the fortune\r\nthat attended him was bright and glorious, yet it was overshadowed by Caesar’s;\r\nand advised him to keep himself as far distant as he could from that young man;\r\n“for your Genius,” said he, “dreads his; when absent from him yours is proud\r\nand brave, but in his presence unmanly and dejected;” and incidents that\r\noccurred appeared to show that the Egyptian spoke truth. For whenever they cast\r\nlots for any playful purpose, or threw dice, Antony was still the loser; and\r\nrepeatedly, when they fought game-cocks or quails, Caesar’s had the victory.\r\nThis gave Antony a secret displeasure, and made him put the more confidence in\r\nthe skill of his Egyptian. So, leaving the management of his home affairs to\r\nCaesar, he left Italy, and took Octavia, who had lately borne him a daughter,\r\nalong with him into Greece.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHere, whilst he wintered in Athens, he received the first news of Ventidius’s\r\nsuccesses over the Parthians, of his having defeated them in a battle, having\r\nslain Labienus and Pharnapates, the best general their king, Hyrodes,\r\npossessed. For the celebrating of which he made a public feast through Greece,\r\nand for the prizes which were contested at Athens he himself acted as steward,\r\nand, leaving at home the ensigns that are carried before the general, he made\r\nhis public appearance in a gown and white shoes, with the steward’s wands\r\nmarching before; and he performed his duty in taking the combatants by the\r\nneck, to part them, when they had fought enough.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the time came for him to set out for the war, he took a garland from the\r\nsacred olive, and, in obedience to some oracle, he filled a vessel with the\r\nwater of the Clepsydra, to carry along with him. In this interval, Pacorus, the\r\nParthian king’s son, who was marching into Syria with a large army, was met by\r\nVentidius, who gave him battle in the country of Cyrrhestica, slew a large\r\nnumber of his men, and Pacorus among the first. This victory was one of the\r\nmost renowned achievements of the Romans, and fully avenged their defeats under\r\nCrassus, the Parthians being obliged, after the loss of three battles\r\nsuccessively, to keep themselves within the bounds of Media and Mesopotamia.\r\nVentidius was not willing to push his good fortune further, for fear of raising\r\nsome jealousy in Antony, but, turning his arms against those that had quitted\r\nthe Roman interest, he reduced them to their former obedience. Among the rest,\r\nhe besieged Antiochus, king of Commagene, in the city of Samosata, who made an\r\noffer of a thousand talents for his pardon, and a promise of submission to\r\nAntony’s commands. But Ventidius told him that he must send to Antony, who was\r\nalready on his march, and had sent word to Ventidius to make no terms with\r\nAntiochus, wishing that at any rate this one exploit might be ascribed to him,\r\nand that people might not think that all his successes were won by his\r\nlieutenants. The siege, however, was long protracted; for when those within\r\nfound their offers refused, they defended themselves stoutly, till, at last,\r\nAntony, finding he was doing nothing, in shame and regret for having refused\r\nthe first offer, was glad to make an accommodation with Antiochus for three\r\nhundred talents. And, having given some orders for the affairs of Syria, he\r\nreturned to Athens; and, paying Ventidius the honors he well deserved,\r\ndismissed him to receive his triumph. He is the only man that has ever yet\r\ntriumphed for victories obtained over the Parthians; he was of obscure birth,\r\nbut, by means of Antony’s friendship, obtained an opportunity of showing his\r\ncapacity, and doing great things; and his making such glorious use of it gave\r\nnew credit to the current observation about Caesar and Antony, that they were\r\nmore fortunate in what they did by their lieutenants than in their own persons.\r\nFor Sossius, also, had great success, and Canidius, whom he left in Armenia,\r\ndefeated the people there, and also the kings of the Albanians and Iberians,\r\nand marched victorious as far as Caucasus, by which means the fame of Antony’s\r\narms had become great among the barbarous nations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe, however, once more, upon some unfavorable stories, taking offense against\r\nCaesar, set sail with three hundred ships for Italy, and, being refused\r\nadmittance to the port of Brundusium, made for Tarentum. There his wife\r\nOctavia, who came from Greece with him, obtained leave to visit her brother,\r\nshe being then great with child, having already borne her husband a second\r\ndaughter; and as she was on her way, she met Caesar, with his two friends\r\nAgrippa and Maecenas, and, taking these two aside, with great entreaties and\r\nlamentations she told them, that of the most fortunate woman upon earth, she\r\nwas in danger of becoming the most unhappy; for as yet everyone’s eyes were\r\nfixed upon her as the wife and sister of the two great commanders, but, if rash\r\ncounsels should prevail, and war ensue, “I shall be miserable,” said she,\r\n“without redress; for on what side soever victory falls, I shall be sure to be\r\na loser.” Caesar was overcome by these entreaties, and advanced in a peaceable\r\ntemper to Tarentum, where those that were present beheld a most stately\r\nspectacle; a vast army drawn up by the shore, and as great a fleet in the\r\nharbor, all without the occurrence of any act of hostility; nothing but the\r\nsalutations of friends, and other expressions of joy and kindness, passing from\r\none armament to the other. Antony first entertained Caesar this also being a\r\nconcession on Caesar’s part to his sister; and when at length an agreement was\r\nmade between them, that Caesar should give Antony two of his legions to serve\r\nhim in the Parthian war, and that Antony should in return leave with him a\r\nhundred armed galleys, Octavia further obtained of her husband, besides this,\r\ntwenty light ships for her brother, and of her brother, a thousand foot for her\r\nhusband. So, having parted good friends, Caesar went immediately to make war\r\nwith Pompey to conquer Sicily. And Antony, leaving in Caesar’s charge his wife\r\nand children, and his children by his former wife Fulvia, set sail for Asia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the mischief that thus long had lain still, the passion for Cleopatra,\r\nwhich better thoughts had seemed to have lulled and charmed into oblivion, upon\r\nhis approach to Syria, gathered strength again, and broke out into a flame.\r\nAnd, in fine, like Plato’s restive and rebellious horse of the human soul,\r\nflinging off all good and wholesome counsel, and breaking fairly loose, he\r\nsends Fonteius Capito to bring Cleopatra into Syria. To whom at her arrival he\r\nmade no small or trifling present, Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyprus, great part\r\nof Cilicia, that side of Judaea which produces balm, that part of Arabia where\r\nthe Nabathaeans extend to the outer sea; profuse gifts, which much displeased\r\nthe Romans. For, although he had invested several private persons in great\r\ngovernments and kingdoms, and bereaved many kings of theirs, as Antigonus of\r\nJudaea, whose head he caused to be struck off (the first example of that\r\npunishment being inflicted on a king), yet nothing stung the Romans like the\r\nshame of these honors paid to Cleopatra. Their dissatisfaction was augmented\r\nalso by his acknowledging as his own the twin children he had by her, giving\r\nthem the name of Alexander and Cleopatra, and adding, as their surnames, the\r\ntitles of Sun and Moon. But he, who knew how to put a good color on the most\r\ndishonest action, would say, that the greatness of the Roman empire consisted\r\nmore in giving than in taking kingdoms, and that the way to carry noble blood\r\nthrough the world was by begetting in every place a new line and series of\r\nkings; his own ancestor had thus been born of Hercules; Hercules had not\r\nlimited his hopes of progeny to a single womb, nor feared any law like Solon’s,\r\nor any audit of procreation, but had freely let nature take her will in the\r\nfoundation and first commencement of many families.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter Phraates had killed his father Hyrodes, and taken possession of his\r\nkingdom, many of the Parthians left their country; among the rest, Monaeses, a\r\nman of great distinction and authority, sought refuge with Antony, who, looking\r\non his case as similar to that of Themistocles, and likening his own opulence\r\nand magnanimity to those of the former Persian kings, gave him three cities,\r\nLarissa, Arethusa, and Hierapolis, which was formerly called Bambyce. But when\r\nthe king of Parthia soon recalled him, giving him his word and honor for his\r\nsafety, Antony was not unwilling to give him leave to return, hoping thereby to\r\nsurprise Phraates, who would believe that peace would continue; for he only\r\nmade the demand of him, that he should send back the Roman ensigns which were\r\ntaken when Crassus was slain, and the prisoners that remained yet alive. This\r\ndone, he sent Cleopatra into Egypt, and marched through Arabia and Armenia;\r\nand, when his forces came together, and were joined by those of his confederate\r\nkings (of whom there were very many, and the most considerable, Artavasdes,\r\nking of Armenia, who came at the head of six thousand horse and seven thousand\r\nfoot), he made a general muster. There appeared sixty thousand Roman foot, ten\r\nthousand horse, Spaniards and Gauls, who counted as Romans; and, of other\r\nnations, horse and foot, thirty thousand. And these great preparations, that\r\nput the Indians beyond Bactria into alarm, and made all Asia shake, were all,\r\nwe are told, rendered useless to him because of Cleopatra. For, in order to\r\npass the winter with her, the war was pushed on before its due time; and all he\r\ndid was done without perfect consideration, as by a man who had no proper\r\ncontrol over his faculties, who, under the effects of some drug or magic, was\r\nstill looking back elsewhere, and whose object was much more to hasten his\r\nreturn than to conquer his enemies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor, first of all, when he should have taken up his winter-quarters in Armenia,\r\nto refresh his men, who were tired with long marches, having come at least\r\neight thousand furlongs, and then have taken the advantage in the beginning of\r\nthe spring to invade Media, before the Parthians were out of winter-quarters,\r\nhe had not patience to expect his time, but marched into the province of\r\nAtropatene, leaving Armenia on the left hand, and laid waste all that country.\r\nSecondly, his haste was so great, that he left behind the engines absolutely\r\nrequired for any siege, which followed the camp in three hundred wagons, and,\r\namong the rest, a ram eighty feet long; none of which was it possible, if lost\r\nor damaged, to repair or to make the like, as the provinces of the upper Asia\r\nproduce no trees long or hard enough for such uses. Nevertheless, he left them\r\nall behind, as a mere impediment to his speed, in the charge of a detachment\r\nunder the command of Statianus, the wagon-officer. He himself laid siege to\r\nPhraata, a principal city of the king of Media, wherein were that king’s wife\r\nand children. And when actual need proved the greatness of his error in leaving\r\nthe siege train behind him, he had nothing for it but to come up and raise a\r\nmound against the walls, with infinite labor and great loss of time. Meantime\r\nPhraates, coming down with a large army, and hearing that the wagons were left\r\nbehind with the battering engines, sent a strong party of horse, by which\r\nStatianus was surprised, he himself and ten thousand of his men slain, the\r\nengines all broken in pieces, many taken prisoners, and, among the rest, king\r\nPolemon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis great miscarriage in the opening of the campaign much discouraged Antony’s\r\narmy, and Artavasdes, king of Armenia, deciding that the Roman prospects were\r\nbad, withdrew with all his forces from the camp, although he had been the chief\r\npromoter of the war. The Parthians, encouraged by their success, came up to the\r\nRomans at the siege, and gave them many affronts; upon which Antony, fearing\r\nthat the despondency and alarm of his soldiers would only grow worse if he let\r\nthem lie idle, taking all the horse, ten legions, and three praetorian cohorts\r\nof heavy infantry, resolved to go out and forage, designing by this means to\r\ndraw the enemy with more advantage to a battle. To effect this, he marched a\r\nday’s journey from his camp, and, finding the Parthians hovering about, in\r\nreadiness to attack him while he was in motion, he gave orders for the signal\r\nof battle to be hung out in the encampment, but, at the same time, pulled down\r\nthe tents, as if he meant not to fight, but to lead his men home again; and so\r\nhe proceeded to lead them past the enemy, who were drawn up in a half-moon, his\r\norders being that the horse should charge as soon as the legions were come up\r\nnear enough to second them. The Parthians, standing still while the Romans\r\nmarched by them, were in great admiration of their army, and of the exact\r\ndiscipline it observed, rank after rank passing on at equal distances in\r\nperfect order and silence, their pikes all ready in their hands. But when the\r\nsignal was given, and the horse turned short upon the Parthians, and with loud\r\ncries charged them, they bravely received them, though they were at once too\r\nnear for bowshot; but the legions, coming up with loud shouts and rattling of\r\ntheir arms, so frightened their horses and indeed the men themselves, that they\r\nkept their ground no longer. Antony pressed them hard, in great hopes that this\r\nvictory should put an end to the war; the foot had them in pursuit for fifty\r\nfurlongs, and the horse for thrice that distance, and yet, the advantage summed\r\nup, they had but thirty prisoners, and there were but fourscore slain. So that\r\nthey were all filled with dejection and discouragement, to consider, that when\r\nthey were victorious, their advantage was so small, and that when they were\r\nbeaten, they lost so great a number of men as they had done when the carriages\r\nwere taken.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe next day, having put the baggage in order, they marched back to the camp\r\nbefore Phraata, in the way meeting with some scattering troops of the enemy,\r\nand, as they marched further, with greater parties, at length with the body of\r\nthe enemy’s army, fresh and in good order, who called them to battle, and\r\ncharged them on every side, and it was not without great difficulty that they\r\nreached the camp. There Antony, finding that his men had in a panic deserted\r\nthe defense of the mound, upon a sally of the Medes, resolved to proceed\r\nagainst them by decimation, as it is called, which is done by dividing the\r\nsoldiers into tens, and, out of every ten, putting one to death, as it happens\r\nby lot. The rest he gave orders should have, instead of wheat, their rations of\r\ncorn in barley.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe war was now become grievous to both parties, and the prospect of its\r\ncontinuance yet more fearful to Antony, in respect that he was threatened with\r\nfamine; for he could no longer forage without wounds and slaughter. And\r\nPhraates, on the other side, was full of apprehension that, if the Romans were\r\nto persist in carrying on the siege, the autumnal equinox being past and the\r\nair already closing in for cold, he should be deserted by his soldiers, who\r\nwould suffer anything rather than wintering in open field. To prevent which, he\r\nhad recourse to the following deceit: he gave order to those of his men who had\r\nmade most acquaintance among the Roman soldiers, not to pursue too close when\r\nthey met them foraging, but to suffer them to carry off some provision;\r\nmoreover, that they should praise their valor, and declare that it was not\r\nwithout just reason that their king looked upon the Romans as the bravest men\r\nin the world. This done, upon further opportunity they rode nearer in, and,\r\ndrawing up their horses by the men, began to revile Antony for his obstinacy;\r\nthat whereas Phraates desired nothing more than peace, and an occasion to show\r\nhow ready he was to save the lives of so many brave soldiers, he, on the\r\ncontrary, gave no opening to any friendly offers, but sat awaiting the arrival\r\nof the two fiercest and worst enemies, winter and famine, from whom it would be\r\nhard for them to make their escape, even with all the good-will of the\r\nParthians to help them. Antony, having these reports from many hands, began to\r\nindulge the hope; nevertheless, he would not send any message to the Parthian\r\ntill he had put the question to these friendly talkers, whether what they said\r\nwas said by order of their king. Receiving answer that it was, together with\r\nnew encouragement to believe them, he sent some of his friends to demand once\r\nmore the standards and prisoners, lest, if he should ask nothing, he might be\r\nsupposed to be too thankful to have leave to retreat in quiet. The Parthian\r\nking made answer, that as for the standards and prisoners, he need not trouble\r\nhimself; but if he thought fit to retreat, he might do it when he pleased, in\r\npeace and safety. Some few days, therefore, being spent in collecting the\r\nbaggage, he set out upon his march. On which occasion, though there was no man\r\nof his time like him for addressing a multitude, or for carrying soldiers with\r\nhim by the force of words, out of shame and sadness he could not find in his\r\nheart to speak himself, but employed Domitius Aenobarbus. And some of the\r\nsoldiers resented it, as an undervaluing of them; but the greater number saw\r\nthe true cause, and pitied it, and thought it rather a reason why they on their\r\nside should treat their general with more respect and obedience than ordinary.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntony had resolved to return by the same way he came, which was through a\r\nlevel country clear of all trees, but a certain Mardian came to him (one that\r\nwas very conversant with the manners of the Parthians, and whose fidelity to\r\nthe Romans had been tried at the battle where the machines were lost), and\r\nadvised him to keep the mountains close on his right hand, and not to expose\r\nhis men, heavily armed, in a broad, open, riding country, to the attacks of a\r\nnumerous army of light-horse and archers; that Phraates with fair promises had\r\npersuaded him from the siege on purpose that he might with more ease cut him\r\noff in his retreat; but, if so he pleased, he would conduct him by a nearer\r\nroute, on which moreover he should find the necessaries for his army in greater\r\nabundance. Antony upon this began to consider what was best to be done; he was\r\nunwilling to seem to have any mistrust of the Parthians after their treaty;\r\nbut, holding it to be really best to march his army the shorter and more\r\ninhabited way, he demanded of the Mardian some assurance of his faith, who\r\noffered himself to be bound until the army came safe into Armenia. Two days he\r\nconducted the army bound, and, on the third, when Antony had given up all\r\nthought of the enemy, and was marching at his ease in no very good order, the\r\nMardian, perceiving the bank of a river broken down, and the water let out and\r\noverflowing the road by which they were to pass, saw at once that this was the\r\nhandiwork of the Parthians, done out of mischief, and to hinder their march; so\r\nhe advised Antony to be upon his guard, for that the enemy was nigh at hand.\r\nAnd no sooner had he begun to put his men in order, disposing the slingers and\r\ndart men in convenient intervals for sallying out, but the Parthians came\r\npouring in on all sides, fully expecting to encompass them, and throw the whole\r\narmy into disorder. They were at once attacked by the light troops, whom they\r\ngalled a good deal with their arrows; but, being themselves as warmly\r\nentertained with the slings and darts, and many wounded, they made their\r\nretreat. Soon after, rallying up afresh, they were beat back by a battalion of\r\nGallic horse, and appeared no more that day.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBy their manner of attack Antony seeing what to do, not only placed the slings\r\nand darts as a rear guard, but also lined both flanks with them, and so marched\r\nin a square battle, giving order to the horse to charge and beat off the enemy,\r\nbut not to follow them far as they retired. So that the Parthians, not doing\r\nmore mischief for the four ensuing days than they received, began to abate in\r\ntheir zeal, and, complaining that the winter season was much advanced, pressed\r\nfor returning home.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut, on the fifth day, Flavius Gallus, a brave and active officer, who had a\r\nconsiderable command in the army, came to Antony, desiring of him some\r\nlight-infantry out of the rear, and some horse out of the front, with which he\r\nwould undertake to do some considerable service. Which when he had obtained, he\r\nbeat the enemy back, not withdrawing, as was usual, at the same time, and\r\nretreating upon the mass of the heavy infantry, but maintaining his own ground,\r\nand engaging boldly. The officers who commanded in the rear, perceiving how far\r\nhe was getting from the body of the army, sent to warn him back, but he took no\r\nnotice of them. It is said that Titius the quaestor snatched the standards and\r\nturned them round, upbraiding Gallus with thus leading so many brave men to\r\ndestruction. But when he on the other side reviled him again, and commanded the\r\nmen that were about him to stand firm, Titius made his retreat, and Gallus,\r\ncharging the enemies in the front, was encompassed by a party that fell upon\r\nhis rear, which at length perceiving, he sent a messenger to demand succor. But\r\nthe commanders of the heavy infantry, Canidius amongst others, a particular\r\nfavorite of Antony’s, seem here to have committed a great oversight. For,\r\ninstead of facing about with the whole body, they sent small parties, and, when\r\nthey were defeated, they still sent out small parties, so that by their bad\r\nmanagement the rout would have spread through the whole army, if Antony himself\r\nhad not marched from the van at the head of the third legion, and, passing this\r\nthrough among the fugitives, faced the enemies, and hindered them from any\r\nfurther pursuit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this engagement were killed three thousand, five thousand were carried back\r\nto the camp wounded, amongst the rest Gallus, shot through the body with four\r\narrows, of which wounds he died. Antony went from tent to tent to visit and\r\ncomfort the rest of them, and was not able to see his men without tears and a\r\npassion of grief. They, however, seized his hand with joyful faces, bidding him\r\ngo and see to himself and not be concerned about them, calling him their\r\nemperor and their general, and saying that if he did well they were safe. For\r\nin short, never in all these times can history make mention of a general at the\r\nhead of a more splendid army; whether you consider strength and youth, or\r\npatience and sufferance in labors and fatigues; but as for the obedience and\r\naffectionate respect they bore their general, and the unanimous feeling amongst\r\nsmall and great alike, officers and common soldiers, to prefer his good opinion\r\nof them to their very lives and being, in this part of military excellence it\r\nwas not possible that they could have been surpassed by the very Romans of old.\r\nFor this devotion, as I have said before, there were many reasons, as the\r\nnobility of his family, his eloquence, his frank and open manners, his liberal\r\nand magnificent habits, his familiarity in talking with everybody, and, at this\r\ntime particularly, his kindness in assisting and pitying the sick, joining in\r\nall their pains, and furnishing them with all things necessary, so that the\r\nsick and wounded were even more eager to serve than those that were whole and\r\nstrong.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNevertheless, this last victory had so encouraged the enemy, that, instead of\r\ntheir former impatience and weariness, they began soon to feel contempt for the\r\nRomans, staying all night near the camp, in expectation of plundering their\r\ntents and baggage, which they concluded they must abandon; and in the morning\r\nnew forces arrived in large masses, so that their number was grown to be not\r\nless, it is said, than forty thousand horse; and the king had sent the very\r\nguards that attended upon his own person, as to a sure and unquestioned\r\nvictory. For he himself was never present in any fight. Antony, designing to\r\nharangue the soldiers, called for a mourning habit, that he might move them the\r\nmore, but was dissuaded by his friends; so he came forward in the general’s\r\nscarlet cloak, and addressed them, praising those that had gained the victory,\r\nand reproaching those that had fled, the former answering him with promises of\r\nsuccess, and the latter excusing themselves, and telling him they were ready to\r\nundergo decimation, or any other punishment he should please to inflict upon\r\nthem, only entreating that he would forget and not discompose himself with\r\ntheir faults. At which he lifted up his hands to heaven, and prayed the gods,\r\nthat if to balance the great favors he had received of them any judgment lay in\r\nstore, they would pour it upon his head alone, and grant his soldiers victory.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe next day they took better order for their march, and the Parthians, who\r\nthought they were marching rather to plunder than to fight, were much taken\r\naback, when they came up and were received with a shower of missiles, to find\r\nthe enemy not disheartened, but fresh and resolute. So that they themselves\r\nbegan to lose courage. But at the descent of a hill where the Romans were\r\nobliged to pass, they got together, and let fly their arrows upon them as they\r\nmoved slowly down. But the full-armed infantry, facing round, received the\r\nlight troops within; and those in the first rank knelt on one knee, holding\r\ntheir shields before them, the next rank holding theirs over the first, and so\r\nagain others over these, much like the tiling of a house, or the rows of seats\r\nin a theater, the whole affording sure defense against arrows, which glance\r\nupon them without doing any harm. The Parthians, seeing the Romans down upon\r\ntheir knees, could not imagine but that it must proceed from weariness; so that\r\nthey laid down their bows, and, taking their spears, made a fierce onset, when\r\nthe Romans, with a great cry, leapt upon their feet, striking hand to hand with\r\ntheir javelins, slew the foremost, and put the rest to flight. After this rate\r\nit was every day, and the trouble they gave made the marches short; in addition\r\nto which famine began to be felt in the camp, for they could get but little\r\ncorn, and that which they got they were forced to fight for; and, besides this,\r\nthey were in want of implements to grind it and make bread. For they had left\r\nalmost all behind, the baggage horses being dead or otherwise employed in\r\ncarrying the sick and wounded. Provision was so scarce in the army that an\r\nAttic quart of wheat sold for fifty drachmas, and barley loaves for their\r\nweight in silver. And when they tried vegetables and roots, they found such as\r\nare commonly eaten very scarce, so that they were constrained to venture upon\r\nany they could get, and, among others, they chanced upon an herb that was\r\nmortal, first taking away all sense and understanding. He that had eaten of it\r\nremembered nothing in the world, and employed himself only in moving great\r\nstones from one place to another, which he did with as much earnestness and\r\nindustry as if it had been a business of the greatest consequence. Through all\r\nthe camp there was nothing to be seen but men grubbing upon the ground at\r\nstones, which they carried from place to place. But in the end they threw up\r\nbile and died, as wine, moreover, which was the one antidote, failed. When\r\nAntony saw them die so fast, and the Parthian still in pursuit, he was heard to\r\nexclaim several times over, “O, the Ten Thousand!” as if in admiration of the\r\nretreat of the Greeks with Xenophon, who, when they had a longer journey to\r\nmake from Babylonia, and a more powerful enemy to deal with, nevertheless came\r\nhome safe.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Parthians, finding that they could not divide the Roman army, nor break the\r\norder of their battle, and that withal they had been so often worsted, once\r\nmore began to treat the foragers with professions of humanity; they came up to\r\nthem with their bows unbended, telling them that they were going home to their\r\nhouses; that this was the end of their retaliation, and that only some Median\r\ntroops would follow for two or three days, not with any design to annoy them,\r\nbut for the defense of some of the villages further on. And, saying this, they\r\nsaluted them and embraced them with a great show of friendship. This made the\r\nRomans full of confidence again, and Antony, on hearing of it, was more\r\ndisposed to take the road through the level country, being told that no water\r\nwas to be hoped for on that through the mountains. But while he was preparing\r\nthus to do, Mithridates came into the camp, a cousin to Monaeses, of whom we\r\nrelated that he sought refuge with the Romans, and received in gift from Antony\r\nthe three cities. Upon his arrival, he desired somebody might be brought to him\r\nthat could speak Syriac or Parthian. One Alexander, of Antioch, a friend of\r\nAntony’s, was brought to him, to whom the stranger, giving his name, and\r\nmentioning Monaeses as the person who desired to do the kindness, put the\r\nquestion, did he see that high range of hills, pointing at some distance. He\r\ntold him, yes. “It is there,” said he, “the whole Parthian army lie in wait for\r\nyour passage; for the great plains come immediately up to them, and they expect\r\nthat, confiding in their promises, you will leave the way of the mountains, and\r\ntake the level route. It is true that in passing over the mountains you will\r\nsuffer the want of water, and the fatigue to which you have become familiar,\r\nbut if you pass through the plains, Antony must expect the fortune of Crassus.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis said, he departed. Antony, in alarm, calling his friends in council, sent\r\nfor the Mardian guide, who was of the same opinion. He told them that, with or\r\nwithout enemies, the want of any certain track in the plain, and the likelihood\r\nof their losing their way, were quite objection enough; the other route was\r\nrough and without water, but then it was but for a day. Antony, therefore,\r\nchanging his mind, marched away upon this road that night, commanding that\r\neveryone should carry water sufficient for his own use; but most of them being\r\nunprovided with vessels, they made shift with their helmets, and some with\r\nskins. As soon as they started, the news of it was carried to the Parthians,\r\nwho followed them, contrary to their custom, through the night, and at sunrise\r\nattacked the rear, which was tired with marching and want of sleep, and not in\r\ncondition to make any considerable defense. For they had got through two\r\nhundred and forty furlongs that night, and at the end of such a march to find\r\nthe enemy at their heels, put them out of heart. Besides, having to fight for\r\nevery step of the way increased their distress from thirst. Those that were in\r\nthe van came up to a river, the water of which was extremely cool and clear,\r\nbut brackish and medicinal, and, on being drunk, produced immediate pains in\r\nthe bowels and a renewed thirst. Of this the Mardian had forewarned them, but\r\nthey could not forbear, and, beating back those that opposed them, they drank\r\nof it. Antony ran from one place to another, begging they would have a little\r\npatience, that not far off there was a river of wholesome water, and that the\r\nrest of the way was so difficult for the horse, that the enemy could pursue\r\nthem no further; and, saying this, he ordered to sound a retreat to call those\r\nback that were engaged, and commanded the tents should be set up, that the\r\nsoldiers might at any rate refresh themselves in the shade.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the tents were scarce well put up, and the Parthians beginning, according\r\nto their custom, to withdraw, when Mithridates came again to them, and informed\r\nAlexander, with whom he had before spoken, that he would do well to advise\r\nAntony to stay where he was no longer than needs he must, that, after having\r\nrefreshed his troops, he should endeavor with all diligence to gain the next\r\nriver, that the Parthians would not cross it, but so far they were resolved to\r\nfollow them. Alexander made his report to Antony, who ordered a quantity of\r\ngold plate to be carried to Mithridates, who, taking as much as be could well\r\nhide under his clothes, went his way. And, upon this advice, Antony, while it\r\nwas yet day, broke up his camp, and the whole army marched forward without\r\nreceiving any molestation from the Parthians, though that night by their own\r\ndoing was in effect the most wretched and terrible that they passed. For some\r\nof the men began to kill and plunder those whom they suspected to have any\r\nmoney, ransacked the baggage, and seized the money there. In the end, they laid\r\nhands on Antony’s own equipage, and broke all his rich tables and cups,\r\ndividing the fragments amongst them. Antony, hearing such a noise and such a\r\nstirring to and fro all through the army, the belief prevailing that the enemy\r\nhad routed and cut off a portion of the troops, called for one of his freedmen,\r\nthen serving as one of his guards, Rhamnus by name, and made him take an oath\r\nthat, whenever he should give him orders, he would run his sword through his\r\nbody and cut off his head, that he might not fall alive into the hands of the\r\nParthians, nor, when dead, be recognized as the general. While he was in this\r\nconsternation, and all his friends about him in tears, the Mardian came up, and\r\ngave them all new life. He convinced them, by the coolness and humidity of the\r\nair, which they could feel in breathing it, that the river which he had spoken\r\nof was now not far off, and the calculation of the time that had been required\r\nto reach it came, he said, to the same result, for the night was almost spent.\r\nAnd, at the same time, others came with information that all the confusion in\r\nthe camp proceeded only from their own violence and robbery among themselves.\r\nTo compose this tumult, and bring them again into some order after their\r\ndistraction, he commanded the signal to be given for a halt.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDay began to break, and quiet and regularity were just reappearing, when the\r\nParthian arrows began to fly among the rear, and the light armed troops were\r\nordered out to battle. And, being seconded by the heavy infantry, who covered\r\none another as before described with their shields, they bravely received the\r\nenemy, who did not think convenient to advance any further, while the van of\r\nthe army, marching forward leisurely in this manner came in sight of the river,\r\nand Antony, drawing up the cavalry on the banks to confront the enemy, first\r\npassed over the sick and wounded. And, by this time, even those who were\r\nengaged with the enemy had opportunity to drink at their ease; for the\r\nParthians, on seeing the river, unbent their bows, and told the Romans they\r\nmight pass over freely, and made them great compliments in praise of their\r\nvalor. Having crossed without molestation, they rested themselves awhile, and\r\npresently went forward, not giving perfect credit to the fair words of their\r\nenemies. Six days after this last battle, they arrived at the river Araxes,\r\nwhich divides Media and Armenia, and seemed, both by its deepness and the\r\nviolence of the current, to be very dangerous to pass. A report, also, had\r\ncrept in amongst them, that the enemy was in ambush, ready to set upon them as\r\nsoon as they should be occupied with their passage. But when they were got over\r\non the other side, and found themselves in Armenia, just as if land was now\r\nsighted after a storm at sea, they kissed the ground for joy, shedding tears\r\nand embracing each other in their delight. But taking their journey through a\r\nland that abounded in all sorts of plenty, they ate, after their long want,\r\nwith that excess of everything they met with, that they suffered from dropsies\r\nand dysenteries.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHere Antony, making a review of his army, found that he had lost twenty\r\nthousand foot and four thousand horse, of which the better half perished, not\r\nby the enemy, but by diseases. Their march was of twenty-seven days from\r\nPhraata, during which they had beaten the Parthians in eighteen battles, though\r\nwith little effect or lasting result, because of their being so unable to\r\npursue. By which it is manifest that it was Artavasdes who lost Antony the\r\nbenefit of the expedition. For had the sixteen thousand horsemen whom he led\r\naway out of Media, armed in the same style as the Parthians and accustomed to\r\ntheir manner of fight, been there to follow the pursuit when the Romans put\r\nthem to flight, it is impossible they could have rallied so often after their\r\ndefeats, and reappeared again as they did to renew their attacks. For this\r\nreason, the whole army was very earnest with Antony to march into Armenia to\r\ntake revenge. But he, with more reflection, forbore to notice the desertion,\r\nand continued all his former courtesies, feeling that the army was wearied out,\r\nand in want of all manner of necessaries. Afterwards, however, entering\r\nArmenia, with invitations and fair promises he prevailed upon Artavasdes to\r\nmeet him, when he seized him, bound him, and carried him to Alexandria, and\r\nthere led him in a triumph; one of the things which most offended the Romans,\r\nwho felt as if all the honors and solemn observances of their country were, for\r\nCleopatra’s sake, handed over to the Egyptians.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis, however, was at an after time. For the present, marching his army in\r\ngreat haste in the depth of winter through continual storms of snow, he lost\r\neight thousand of his men, and came with much diminished numbers to a place\r\ncalled the White Village, between Sidon and Berytus, on the seacoast, where he\r\nwaited for the arrival of Cleopatra. And, being impatient of the delay she\r\nmade, he bethought himself of shortening the time in wine and drunkenness, and\r\nyet could not endure the tediousness of a meal, but would start from table and\r\nrun to see if she were coming. Till at last she came into port, and brought\r\nwith her clothes and money for the soldiers. Though some say that Antony only\r\nreceived the clothes from her, and distributed his own money in her name.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nA quarrel presently happened between the king of Media and Phraates of Parthia,\r\nbeginning, it is said, about the division of the booty that was taken from the\r\nRomans, and creating great apprehension in the Median lest he should lose his\r\nkingdom. He sent, therefore, ambassadors to Antony, with offers of entering\r\ninto a confederate war against Phraates. And Antony, full of hopes at being\r\nthus asked, as a favor, to accept that one thing, horse and archers, the want\r\nof which had hindered his beating the Parthians before, began at once to\r\nprepare for a return to Armenia, there to join the Medes on the Araxes, and\r\nbegin the war afresh. But Octavia, in Rome, being desirous to see Antony, asked\r\nCaesar’s leave to go to him; which he gave her, not so much, say most authors,\r\nto gratify his sister, as to obtain a fair pretense to begin the war upon her\r\ndishonorable reception. She no sooner arrived at Athens, but by letters from\r\nAntony she was informed of his new expedition, and his will that she should\r\nawait him there. And, though she were much displeased, not being ignorant of\r\nthe real reason of this usage, yet she wrote to him to know to what place he\r\nwould be pleased she should send the things she had brought with her for his\r\nuse; for she had brought clothes for his soldiers, baggage, cattle, money, and\r\npresents for his friends and officers, and two thousand chosen soldiers\r\nsumptuously armed, to form praetorian cohorts. This message was brought from\r\nOctavia to Antony by Niger, one of his friends, who added to it the praises she\r\ndeserved so well. Cleopatra, feeling her rival already, as it were, at hand,\r\nwas seized with fear, lest if to her noble life and her high alliance, she once\r\ncould add the charm of daily habit and affectionate intercourse, she should\r\nbecome irresistible, and be his absolute mistress for ever. So she feigned to\r\nbe dying for love of Antony, bringing her body down by slender diet; when he\r\nentered the room, she fixed her eyes upon him in a rapture, and when he left,\r\nseemed to languish and half faint away. She took great pains that he should see\r\nher in tears, and, as soon as he noticed it, hastily dried them up and turned\r\naway, as if it were her wish that he should know nothing of it. All this was\r\nacting while he prepared for Media; and Cleopatra’s creatures were not slow to\r\nforward the design, upbraiding Antony with his unfeeling, hard-hearted temper,\r\nthus letting a woman perish whose soul depended upon him and him alone.\r\nOctavia, it was true, was his wife, and had been married to him because it was\r\nfound convenient for the affairs of her brother that it should be so, and she\r\nhad the honor of the title; but Cleopatra, the sovereign queen of many nations,\r\nhad been contented with the name of his mistress, nor did she shun or despise\r\nthe character whilst she might see him, might live with him, and enjoy him; if\r\nshe were bereaved of this, she would not survive the loss. In fine, they so\r\nmelted and unmanned him, that, fully believing she would die if he forsook her,\r\nhe put off the war and returned to Alexandria, deferring his Median expedition\r\nuntil next summer, though news came of the Parthians being all in confusion\r\nwith intestine disputes. Nevertheless, he did some time after go into that\r\ncountry, and made an alliance with the king of Media, by marriage of a son of\r\nhis by Cleopatra to the king’s daughter, who was yet very young; and so\r\nreturned, with his thoughts taken up about the civil war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Octavia returned from Athens, Caesar, who considered she had been\r\ninjuriously treated, commanded her to live in a separate house; but she refused\r\nto leave the house of her husband, and entreated him, unless he had already\r\nresolved, upon other motives, to make war with Antony, that he would on her\r\naccount let it alone; it would be intolerable to have it said of the two\r\ngreatest commanders in the world, that they had involved the Roman people in a\r\ncivil war, the one out of passion for; the other out of resentment about, a\r\nwoman. And her behavior proved her words to be sincere. She remained in\r\nAntony’s house as if he were at home in it, and took the noblest and most\r\ngenerous care, not only of his children by her, but of those by Fulvia also.\r\nShe received all the friends of Antony that came to Rome to seek office or upon\r\nany business, and did her utmost to prefer their requests to Caesar; yet this\r\nher honorable deportment did but, without her meaning it, damage the reputation\r\nof Antony; the wrong he did to such a woman made him hated. Nor was the\r\ndivision he made among his sons at Alexandria less unpopular; it seemed a\r\ntheatrical piece of insolence and contempt of his country. For, assembling the\r\npeople in the exercise ground, and causing two golden thrones to be placed on a\r\nplatform of silver, the one for him and the other for Cleopatra, and at their\r\nfeet lower thrones for their children, he proclaimed Cleopatra queen of Egypt,\r\nCyprus, Libya, and Coele-Syria, and with her conjointly Caesarion, the reputed\r\nson of the former Caesar, who left Cleopatra with child. His own sons by\r\nCleopatra were to have the style of kings of kings; to Alexander he gave\r\nArmenia and Media, with Parthia, so soon as it should be overcome; to Ptolemy,\r\nPhoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Alexander was brought out before the people in\r\nthe Median costume, the tiara and upright peak, and Ptolemy, in boots and\r\nmantle and Macedonian cap done about with the diadem; for this was the habit of\r\nthe successors of Alexander, as the other was of the Medes and Armenians. And,\r\nas soon as they had saluted their parents, the one was received by a guard of\r\nMacedonians, the other by one of Armenians. Cleopatra was then, as at other\r\ntimes when she appeared in public, dressed in the habit of the goddess Isis,\r\nand gave audience to the people under the name of the New Isis.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, relating these things in the senate, and often complaining to the\r\npeople, excited men’s minds against Antony. And Antony also sent messages of\r\naccusation against Caesar. The principal of his charges were these: first, that\r\nhe had not made any division with him of Sicily, which was lately taken from\r\nPompey; secondly, that he had retained the ships he had lent him for the war;\r\nthirdly, that after deposing Lepidus, their colleague, he had taken for himself\r\nthe army, governments, and revenues formerly appropriated to him; and, lastly,\r\nthat he had parceled out almost all Italy amongst his own soldiers, and left\r\nnothing for his. Caesar’s answer was as follows: that he had put Lepidus out of\r\ngovernment because of his own misconduct; that what he had got in war he would\r\ndivide with Antony, so soon as Antony gave him a share of Armenia; that\r\nAntony’s soldiers had no claims in Italy, being in possession of Media and\r\nParthia, the acquisitions which their brave actions under their general had\r\nadded to the Roman empire.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntony was in Armenia when this answer came to him, and immediately sent\r\nCanidius with sixteen legions towards the sea; but he, in the company of\r\nCleopatra, went to Ephesus, whither ships were coming in from all quarters to\r\nform the navy, consisting, vessels of burden included, of eight hundred\r\nvessels, of which Cleopatra furnished two hundred, together with twenty\r\nthousand talents, and provision for the whole army during the war. Antony, on\r\nthe advice of Domitius and some others, bade Cleopatra return into Egypt, there\r\nto expect the event of the war; but she, dreading some new reconciliation by\r\nOctavia’s means, prevailed with Canidius, by a large sum of money, to speak in\r\nher favor with Antony, pointing out to him that it was not just that one that\r\nbore so great a part in the charge of the war should be robbed of her share of\r\nglory in the carrying it on: nor would it be politic to disoblige the\r\nEgyptians, who were so considerable a part of his naval forces; nor did he see\r\nhow she was inferior in prudence to any one of the kings that were serving with\r\nhim; she had long governed a great kingdom by herself alone, and long lived\r\nwith him, and gained experience in public affairs. These arguments (so the fate\r\nthat destined all to Caesar would have it), prevailed; and when all their\r\nforces had met, they sailed together to Samos, and held high festivities. For,\r\nas it was ordered that all kings, princes, and governors, all nations and\r\ncities within the limits of Syria, the Maeotid Lake, Armenia, and Illyria,\r\nshould bring or cause to be brought all munitions necessary for war, so was it\r\nalso proclaimed that all stage-players should make their appearance at Samos;\r\nso that, while pretty nearly the whole world was filled with groans and\r\nlamentations, this one island for some days resounded with piping and harping,\r\ntheaters filling, and choruses playing. Every city sent an ox as its\r\ncontribution to the sacrifice, and the kings that accompanied Antony competed\r\nwho should make the most magnificent feasts and the greatest presents; and men\r\nbegan to ask themselves, what would be done to celebrate the victory, when they\r\nwent to such an expense of festivity at the opening of the war.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis over, he gave Priene to his players for a habitation, and set sail for\r\nAthens, where fresh sports and play-acting employed him. Cleopatra, jealous of\r\nthe honors Octavia had received at Athens (for Octavia was much beloved by the\r\nAthenians), courted the favor of the people with all sorts of attentions. The\r\nAthenians, in requital, having decreed her public honors, deputed several of\r\nthe citizens to wait upon her at her house; amongst whom went Antony as one, he\r\nbeing an Athenian citizen, and he it was that made the speech. He sent orders\r\nto Rome to have Octavia removed out of his house. She left it, we are told,\r\naccompanied by all his children, except the eldest by Fulvia, who was then with\r\nhis father, weeping and grieving that she must be looked upon as one of the\r\ncauses of the war. But the Romans pitied, not so much her, as Antony himself,\r\nand more particularly those who had seen Cleopatra, whom they could report to\r\nhave no way the advantage of Octavia either in youth or in beauty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe speed and extent of Antony’s preparations alarmed Caesar, who feared he\r\nmight be forced to fight the decisive battle that summer. For he wanted many\r\nnecessaries, and the people grudged very much to pay the taxes; freemen being\r\ncalled upon to pay a fourth part of their incomes, and freed slaves an eighth\r\nof their property, so that there were loud outcries against him, and\r\ndisturbances throughout all Italy. And this is looked upon as one of the\r\ngreatest of Antony’s oversights, that he did not then press the war. For he\r\nallowed time at once for Caesar to make his preparations, and for the\r\ncommotions to pass over. For while people were having their money called for,\r\nthey were mutinous and violent; but, having paid it, they held their peace.\r\nTitius and Plancus, men of consular dignity and friends to Antony, having been\r\nill used by Cleopatra, whom they had most resisted in her design of being\r\npresent in the war, came over to Caesar, and gave information of the contents\r\nof Antony’s will, with which they were acquainted. It was deposited in the\r\nhands of the vestal virgins, who refused to deliver it up, and sent Caesar\r\nword, if he pleased, he should come and seize it himself, which he did. And,\r\nreading it over to himself, he noted those places that were most for his\r\npurpose, and, having summoned the senate, read them publicly. Many were\r\nscandalized at the proceeding, thinking it out of reason and equity to call a\r\nman to account for what was not to be until after his death. Caesar specially\r\npressed what Antony said in his will about his burial; for he had ordered that\r\neven if he died in the city of Rome, his body, after being carried in state\r\nthrough the forum, should be sent to Cleopatra at Alexandria. Calvisius, a\r\ndependent of Caesar’s, urged other charges in connection with Cleopatra against\r\nAntony; that he had given her the library of Pergamus, containing two hundred\r\nthousand distinct volumes; that at a great banquet, in the presence of many\r\nguests, he had risen up and rubbed her feet, to fulfill some wager or promise;\r\nthat he had suffered the Ephesians to salute her as their queen; that he had\r\nfrequently at the public audience of kings and princes received amorous\r\nmessages written in tablets made of onyx and crystal, and read them openly on\r\nthe tribunal; that when Furnius, a man of great authority and eloquence among\r\nthe Romans, was pleading, Cleopatra happening to pass by in her chair, Antony\r\nstarted up and left them in the middle of their cause, to follow at her side\r\nand attend her home.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCalvisius, however, was looked upon as the inventor of most of these stories.\r\nAntony’s friends went up and down the city to gain him credit, and sent one of\r\nthemselves, Geminius, to him, to beg him to take heed and not allow himself to\r\nbe deprived by vote of his authority, and proclaimed a public enemy to the\r\nRoman state. But Geminius no sooner arrived in Greece but he was looked upon as\r\none of Octavia’s spies; at their suppers he was made a continual butt for\r\nmockery, and was put to sit in the least honorable places; all which he bore\r\nvery well, seeking only an occasion of speaking with Antony. So, at supper,\r\nbeing told to say what business he came about, he answered he would keep the\r\nrest for a soberer hour, but one thing he had to say, whether full or fasting,\r\nthat all would go well if Cleopatra would return to Egypt. And on Antony\r\nshowing his anger at it, “You have done well, Geminius,” said Cleopatra, “to\r\ntell your secret without being put to the rack.” So Geminius, after a few days,\r\ntook occasion to make his escape and go to Rome. Many more of Antony’s friends\r\nwere driven from him by the insolent usage they had from Cleopatra’s\r\nflatterers, amongst whom were Marcus Silanus and Dellius the historian. And\r\nDellius says he was afraid of his life, and that Glaucus, the physician,\r\ninformed him of Cleopatra’s design against him. She was angry with him for\r\nhaving said that Antony’s friends were served with sour wine, while at Rome\r\nSarmentus, Caesar’s little page (his delicia, as the Romans call it), drank\r\nFalernian.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as Caesar had completed his preparations, he had a decree made,\r\ndeclaring war on Cleopatra, and depriving Antony of the authority which he had\r\nlet a woman exercise in his place. Caesar added that he had drunk potions that\r\nhad bereaved him of his senses, and that the generals they would have to fight\r\nwith would be Mardion the eunuch, Pothinus, Iras, Cleopatra’s hairdressing\r\ngirl, and Charmion, who were Antony’s chief state-councillors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese prodigies are said to have announced the war. Pisaurum, where Antony had\r\nsettled a colony, on the Adriatic sea, was swallowed up by an earthquake; sweat\r\nran from one of the marble statues of Antony at Alba for many days together,\r\nand, though frequently wiped off, did not stop. When he himself was in the city\r\nof Patrae, the temple of Hercules was struck by lightning, and, at Athens, the\r\nfigure of Bacchus was torn by a violent wind out of the Battle of the Giants,\r\nand laid flat upon the theater; with both which deities Antony claimed\r\nconnection, professing to be descended from Hercules, and from his imitating\r\nBacchus in his way of living having received the name of Young Bacchus. The\r\nsame whirlwind at Athens also brought down, from amongst many others which were\r\nnot disturbed, the colossal statues of Eumenes and Attalus, which were\r\ninscribed with Antony’s name. And in Cleopatra’s admiral-galley, which was\r\ncalled the Antonias, a most inauspicious omen occurred. Some swallows had built\r\nin the stern of the galley, but other swallows came, beat the first away, and\r\ndestroyed their nests.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the armaments gathered for the war, Antony had no less than five hundred\r\nships of war, including numerous galleys of eight and ten banks of oars, as\r\nrichly ornamented as if they were meant for a triumph. He had a hundred\r\nthousand foot and twelve thousand horse. He had vassal kings attending, Bocchus\r\nof Libya, Tarcondemus of the Upper Cilicia, Archelaus of Cappadocia,\r\nPhiladelphus of Paphlagonia, Mithridates of Commagene, and Sadalas of Thrace;\r\nall these were with him in person. Out of Pontus Polemon sent him considerable\r\nforces, as did also Malchus from Arabia, Herod the Jew, and Amyntas, king of\r\nLycaonia and Galatia; also the Median king sent some troops to join him. Caesar\r\nhad two hundred and fifty galleys of war, eighty thousand foot, and horse about\r\nequal to the enemy. Antony’s empire extended from Euphrates and Armenia to the\r\nIonian sea and the Illyrians; Caesar’s, from Illyria to the westward ocean, and\r\nfrom the ocean all along the Tuscan and Sicilian sea. Of Africa, Caesar had all\r\nthe coast opposite to Italy, Gaul, and Spain, as far as the Pillars of\r\nHercules, and Antony the provinces from Cyrene to Ethiopia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut so wholly was he now the mere appendage to the person of Cleopatra, that,\r\nalthough he was much superior to the enemy in land-forces, yet, out of\r\ncomplaisance to his mistress, he wished the victory to be gained by sea, and\r\nthat, too, when he could not but see how, for want of sailors, his captains,\r\nall through unhappy Greece, were pressing every description of men, common\r\ntravelers and ass-drivers, harvest laborers and boys, and for all this the\r\nvessels had not their complements, but remained, most of them, ill-manned and\r\nbadly rowed. Caesar, on the other side, had ships that were built not for size\r\nor show, but for service, not pompous galleys, but light, swift, and perfectly\r\nmanned; and from his head-quarters at Tarentum and Brundusium he sent messages\r\nto Antony not to protract the war, but come out with his forces; he would give\r\nhim secure roadsteads and ports for his fleet, and, for his land army to\r\ndisembark and pitch their camp, he would leave him as much ground in Italy,\r\ninland from the sea, as a horse could traverse in a single course. Antony, on\r\nthe other side, with the like bold language, challenged him to a single combat,\r\nthough he were much the older; and, that being refused, proposed to meet him in\r\nthe Pharsalian fields, where Caesar and Pompey had fought before. But whilst\r\nAntony lay with his fleet near Actium, where now stands Nicopolis, Caesar\r\nseized his opportunity, and crossed the Ionian sea, securing himself at a place\r\nin Epirus called the Ladle. And when those about Antony were much disturbed,\r\ntheir land-forces being a good way off, “Indeed,” said Cleopatra, in mockery,\r\n“we may well be frightened if Caesar has got hold of the Ladle!”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOn the morrow, Antony, seeing the enemy sailing up, and fearing lest his ships\r\nmight be taken for want of the soldiers to go on board of them, armed all the\r\nrowers, and made a show upon the decks of being in readiness to fight; the oars\r\nwere mounted as if waiting to be put in motion, and the vessels themselves\r\ndrawn up to face the enemy on either side of the channel of Actium, as though\r\nthey were properly manned, and ready for an engagement And Caesar, deceived by\r\nthis stratagem, retired. He was also thought to have shown considerable skill\r\nin cutting off the water from the enemy by some lines of trenches and forts,\r\nwater not being plentiful anywhere else, nor very good. And again, his conduct\r\nto Domitius was generous, much against the will of Cleopatra. For when he had\r\nmade his escape in a little boat to Caesar, having then a fever upon him,\r\nalthough Antony could not but resent it highly, yet he sent after him his whole\r\nequipage, with his friends and servants; and Domitius, as if he would give a\r\ntestimony to the world how repentant he had become on his desertion and\r\ntreachery being thus manifest, died soon after. Among the kings, also, Amyntas\r\nand Deiotarus went over to Caesar. And the fleet was so unfortunate in\r\neverything that was undertaken, and so unready on every occasion, that Antony\r\nwas driven again to put his confidence in the land-forces. Canidius, too, who\r\ncommanded the legions, when he saw how things stood, changed his opinion, and\r\nnow was of advice that Cleopatra should be sent back, and that, retiring into\r\nThrace or Macedonia, the quarrel should be decided in a land fight. For\r\nDicomes, also, the king of the Getae, promised to come and join him with a\r\ngreat army, and it would not be any kind of disparagement to him to yield the\r\nsea to Caesar, who, in the Sicilian wars, had had such long practice in\r\nship-fighting; on the contrary, it would be simply ridiculous for Antony, who\r\nwas by land the most experienced commander living, to make no use of his\r\nwell-disciplined and numerous infantry, scattering and wasting his forces by\r\nparceling them out in the ships. But for all this, Cleopatra prevailed that a\r\nsea-fight should determine all, having already an eye to flight, and ordering\r\nall her affairs, not so as to assist in gaining a victory, but to escape with\r\nthe greatest safety from the first commencement of a defeat.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were two long walls, extending from the camp to the station of the ships,\r\nbetween which Antony used to pass to and fro without suspecting any danger. But\r\nCaesar, upon the suggestion of a servant that it would not be difficult to\r\nsurprise him, laid an ambush, which, rising up somewhat too hastily, seized the\r\nman that came just before him, he himself escaping narrowly by flight.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen it was resolved to stand to a fight at sea, they set fire to all the\r\nEgyptian ships except sixty; and of these the best and largest, from ten banks\r\ndown to three, he manned with twenty thousand full-armed men, and two thousand\r\narchers. Here it is related that a foot captain, one that had fought often\r\nunder Antony, and had his body all mangled with wounds, exclaimed, “O, my\r\ngeneral, what have our wounds and swords done to displease you, that you should\r\ngive your confidence to rotten timbers? Let Egyptians and Phoenicians contend\r\nat sea, give us the land, where we know well how to die upon the spot or gain\r\nthe victory.” To which he answered nothing, but, by his look and motion of his\r\nhand seeming to bid him be of good courage, passed forwards, having already, it\r\nwould seem, no very sure hopes, since when the masters proposed leaving the\r\nsails behind them, he commanded they should be put aboard, “For we must not,”\r\nsaid he, “let one enemy escape.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThat day and the three following the sea was so rough they could not engage.\r\nBut on the fifth there was a calm, and they fought; Antony commanding with\r\nPublicola the right, and Coelius the left squadron, Marcus Octavius and Marcus\r\nInsteius the center. Caesar gave the charge of the left to Agrippa, commanding\r\nin person on the right. As for the land-forces, Canidius was general for\r\nAntony, Taurus for Caesar; both armies remaining drawn up in order along the\r\nshore. Antony in a small boat went from one ship to another, encouraging his\r\nsoldiers, and bidding them stand firm, and fight as steadily on their large\r\nships as if they were on land. The masters he ordered that they should receive\r\nthe enemy lying still as if they were at anchor, and maintain the entrance of\r\nthe port, which was a narrow and difficult passage. Of Caesar they relate,\r\nthat, leaving his tent and going round, while it was yet dark, to visit the\r\nships, he met a man driving an ass, and asked him his name. He answered him\r\nthat his own name was “Fortunate, and my ass,” says he, “is called Conqueror.”\r\nAnd afterwards, when he disposed the beaks of the ships in that place in token\r\nof his victory, the statue of this man and his ass in bronze were placed\r\namongst them. After examining the rest of his fleet, he went in a boat to the\r\nright wing, and looked with much admiration at the enemy lying perfectly still\r\nin the straits, in all appearance as if they had been at anchor. For some\r\nconsiderable length of time he actually thought they were so, and kept his own\r\nships at rest, at a distance of about eight furlongs from them. But about noon\r\na breeze sprang up from the sea, and Antony’s men, weary of expecting the enemy\r\nso long, and trusting to their large tall vessels, as if they had been\r\ninvincible, began to advance the left squadron. Caesar was overjoyed to see\r\nthem move, and ordered his own right squadron to retire, that he might entice\r\nthem out to sea as far as he could, his design being to sail round and round,\r\nand so with his light and well-manned galleys to attack these huge vessels,\r\nwhich their size and their want of men made slow to move and difficult to\r\nmanage.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen they engaged, there was no charging or striking of one ship by another,\r\nbecause Antony’s, by reason of their great bulk, were incapable of the rapidity\r\nrequired to make the stroke effectual, and, on the other side, Caesar’s durst\r\nnot charge head to head on Antony’s, which were all armed with solid masses and\r\nspikes of brass; nor did they like even to run in on their sides, which were so\r\nstrongly built with great squared pieces of timber, fastened together with iron\r\nbolts, that their vessels’ beaks would easily have been shattered upon them. So\r\nthat the engagement resembled a land fight, or, to speak yet more properly, the\r\nattack and defense of a fortified place; for there were always three or four\r\nvessels of Caesar’s about one of Antony’s, pressing them with spears, javelins,\r\npoles, and several inventions of fire, which they flung among them, Antony’s\r\nmen using catapults also, to pour down missiles from wooden towers. Agrippa\r\ndrawing out the squadron under his command to outflank the enemy, Publicola was\r\nobliged to observe his motions, and gradually to break off from the middle\r\nsquadron, where some confusion and alarm ensued, while Arruntius engaged them.\r\nBut the fortune of the day was still undecided, and the battle equal, when on a\r\nsudden Cleopatra’s sixty ships were seen hoisting sail and making out to sea in\r\nfull flight, right through the ships that were engaged. For they were placed\r\nbehind the great ships, which, in breaking through, they put into disorder. The\r\nenemy was astonished to see them sailing off with a fair wind towards\r\nPeloponnesus. Here it was that Antony showed to all the world that he was no\r\nlonger actuated by the thoughts and motives of a commander or a man, or indeed\r\nby his own judgment at all, and what was once said as a jest, that the soul of\r\na lover lives in some one else’s body, he proved to be a serious truth. For, as\r\nif he had been born part of her, and must move with her wheresoever she went,\r\nas soon as he saw her ship sailing away, he abandoned all that were fighting\r\nand spending their lives for him, and put himself aboard a galley of five ranks\r\nof oars, taking with him only Alexander of Syria and Scellias, to follow her\r\nthat had so well begun his ruin and would hereafter accomplish it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nShe, perceiving him to follow, gave the signal to come aboard. So, as soon as\r\nhe came up with them, he was taken into the ship. But without seeing her or\r\nletting himself be seen by her, he went forward by himself, and sat alone,\r\nwithout a word, in the ship’s prow, covering his face with his two hands. In\r\nthe meanwhile, some of Caesar’s light Liburnian ships, that were in pursuit,\r\ncame in sight. But on Antony’s commanding to face about, they all gave back\r\nexcept Eurycles the Laconian, who pressed on, shaking a lance from the deck, as\r\nif he meant to hurl it at him. Antony, standing at the prow, demanded of him,\r\n“Who is this that pursues Antony?” “I am,” said he, “Eurycles, the son of\r\nLachares, armed with Caesar’s fortune to revenge my father’s death.” Lachares\r\nhad been condemned for a robbery, and beheaded by Antony’s orders. However,\r\nEurycles did not attack Antony, but ran with his full force upon the other\r\nadmiral-galley (for there were two of them), and with the blow turned her\r\nround, and took both her and another ship, in which was a quantity of rich\r\nplate and furniture. So soon as Eurycles was gone, Antony returned to his\r\nposture, and sat silent, and thus he remained for three days, either in anger\r\nwith Cleopatra, or wishing not to upbraid her, at the end of which they touched\r\nat Taenarus. Here the women of their company succeeded first in bringing them\r\nto speak, and afterwards to eat and sleep together. And, by this time, several\r\nof the ships of burden and some of his friends began to come in to him from the\r\nrout, bringing news of his fleet’s being quite destroyed, but that the\r\nland-forces, they thought, still stood firm. So that he sent messengers to\r\nCanidius to march the army with all speed through Macedonia into Asia. And,\r\ndesigning himself to go from Taenarus into Africa, he gave one of the merchant\r\nships, laden with a large sum of money, and vessels of silver and gold of great\r\nvalue, belonging to the royal collections, to his friends, desiring them to\r\nshare it amongst them, and provide for their own safety. They refusing his\r\nkindness with tears in their eyes, he comforted them with all the goodness and\r\nhumanity imaginable, entreating them to leave him, and wrote letters in their\r\nbehalf to Theophilus, his steward, at Corinth, that he would provide for their\r\nsecurity, and keep them concealed till such time as they could make their peace\r\nwith Caesar. This Theophilus was the father of Hipparchus, who had such\r\ninterest with Antony, who was the first of all his freedmen that went over to\r\nCaesar, and who settled afterwards at Corinth. In this posture were affairs\r\nwith Antony.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut at Actium, his fleet, after a long resistance to Caesar, and suffering the\r\nmost damage from a heavy sea that set in right ahead, scarcely, at four in the\r\nafternoon, gave up the contest, with the loss of not more than five thousand\r\nmen killed, but of three hundred ships taken, as Caesar himself has recorded.\r\nOnly few had known of Antony’s flight; and those who were told of it could not\r\nat first give any belief to so incredible a thing, as that a general who had\r\nnineteen entire legions and twelve thousand horse upon the sea-shore, could\r\nabandon all and fly away; and he, above all, who had so often experienced both\r\ngood and evil fortune, and had in a thousand wars and battles been inured to\r\nchanges. His soldiers, howsoever would not give up their desires and\r\nexpectations, still fancying he would appear from some part or other, and\r\nshowed such a generous fidelity to his service, that, when they were thoroughly\r\nassured that he was fled in earnest, they kept themselves in a body seven days,\r\nmaking no account of the messages that Caesar sent to them. But at last, seeing\r\nthat Canidius himself, who commanded them, was fled from the camp by night, and\r\nthat all their officers had quite abandoned them, they gave way, and made their\r\nsubmission to the conqueror. After this, Caesar set sail for Athens, where he\r\nmade a settlement with Greece, and distributed what remained of the provision\r\nof corn that Antony had made for his army among the cities, which were in a\r\nmiserable condition, despoiled of their money, their slaves, their horses, and\r\nbeasts of service. My great-grandfather Nicarchus used to relate, that the\r\nwhole body of the people of our city were put in requisition to carry each one\r\na certain measure of corn upon their shoulders to the sea-side near Anticyra,\r\nmen standing by to quicken them with the lash. They had made one journey of the\r\nkind, but when they had just measured out the corn and were putting it on their\r\nbacks for a second, news came of Antony’s defeat, and so saved Chaeronea, for\r\nall Antony’s purveyors and soldiers fled upon the news, and left them to divide\r\nthe corn among themselves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Antony came into Africa, he sent on Cleopatra from Paraetonium into Egypt,\r\nand stayed himself in the most entire solitude that he could desire, roaming\r\nand wandering about with only two friends, one a Greek, Aristocrates, a\r\nrhetorician, and the other a Roman, Lucilius, of whom we have elsewhere spoken,\r\nhow, at Philippi, to give Brutus time to escape, he suffered himself to be\r\ntaken by the pursuers, pretending he was Brutus. Antony gave him his life, and\r\non this account he remained true and faithful to him to the last.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when also the officer who commanded for him in Africa, to whose care he had\r\ncommitted all his forces there, took them over to Caesar, he resolved to kill\r\nhimself, but was hindered by his friends. And coming to Alexandria, he found\r\nCleopatra busied in a most bold and wonderful enterprise. Over the small space\r\nof land which divides the Red Sea from the sea near Egypt, which may be\r\nconsidered also the boundary between Asia and Africa, and in the narrowest\r\nplace is not much above three hundred furlongs across, over this neck of land\r\nCleopatra had formed a project of dragging her fleet, and setting it afloat in\r\nthe Arabian Gulf, thus with her soldiers and her treasure to secure herself a\r\nhome on the other side, where she might live in peace, far away from war and\r\nslavery. But the first galleys which were carried over being burnt by the\r\nArabians of Petra, and Antony not knowing but that the army before Actium still\r\nheld together, she desisted from her enterprise, and gave orders for the\r\nfortifying all the approaches to Egypt. But Antony, leaving the city and the\r\nconversation of his friends, built him a dwelling-place in the water, near\r\nPharos, upon a little mole which he cast up in the sea, and there, secluding\r\nhimself from the company of mankind, said he desired nothing but to live the\r\nlife of Timon; as, indeed, his case was the same, and the ingratitude and\r\ninjuries which he suffered from those he had esteemed his friends, made him\r\nhate and mistrust all mankind.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis Timon was a citizen of Athens, and lived much about the Peloponnesian war,\r\nas may be seen by the comedies of Aristophanes and Plato, in which he is\r\nridiculed as the hater and enemy of mankind. He avoided and repelled the\r\napproaches of everyone, but embraced with kisses and the greatest show of\r\naffection Alcibiades, then in his hot youth. And when Apemantus was astonished,\r\nand demanded the reason, he replied that he knew this young man would one day\r\ndo infinite mischief to the Athenians. He never admitted anyone into his\r\ncompany, except at times this Apemantus, who was of the same sort of temper,\r\nand was an imitator of his way of life. At the celebration of the festival of\r\nflagons, these two kept the feast together, and Apemantus saying to him, “What\r\na pleasant party, Timon!” “It would be,” he answered, “if you were away.” One\r\nday he got up in a full assembly on the speaker’s place, and when there was a\r\ndead silence and great wonder at so unusual a sight, he said, “Ye men of\r\nAthens, I have a little plot of ground, and in it grows a fig-tree, on which\r\nmany citizens have been pleased to hang themselves; and now, having resolved to\r\nbuild in that place, I wished to announce it publicly that any of you who may\r\nbe desirous may go and hang yourselves before I cut it down.” He died and was\r\nburied at Halae, near the sea, where it so happened that, after his burial, a\r\nland-slip took place on the point of the shore, and the sea, flowing in,\r\nsurrounded his tomb, and made it inaccessible to the foot of man. It bore this\r\ninscription: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHere am I laid, my life of misery done.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nAsk not my name, I curse you every one.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd this epitaph was made by himself while yet alive; that which is more\r\ngenerally known is by Callimachus: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nTimon, the misanthrope, am I below.\u003cbr\u003e\r\nGo, and revile me, traveler, only go.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus much of Timon, of whom much more might be said. Canidius now came,\r\nbringing word in person of the loss of the army before Actium. Then he received\r\nnews that Herod of Judaea was gone over to Caesar with some legions and\r\ncohorts, and that the other kings and princes were in like manner deserting\r\nhim, and that, out of Egypt, nothing stood by him. All this, however, seemed\r\nnot to disturb him, but, as if he were glad to put away all hope, that with it\r\nhe might be rid of all care, and leaving his habitation by the sea, which he\r\ncalled the Timoneum, he was received by Cleopatra in the palace, and set the\r\nwhole city into a course of feasting, drinking, and presents. The son of Caesar\r\nand Cleopatra was registered among the youths, and Antyllus, his own son by\r\nFulvia, received the gown without the purple border, given to those that are\r\ncome of age; in honor of which the citizens of Alexandria did nothing but feast\r\nand revel for many days. They themselves broke up the Order of the Inimitable\r\nLivers, and constituted another in its place, not inferior in splendor, luxury,\r\nand sumptuosity, calling it that of the Diers together. For all those that said\r\nthey would die with Antony and Cleopatra gave in their names, for the present\r\npassing their time in all manner of pleasures and a regular succession of\r\nbanquets. But Cleopatra was busied in making a collection of all varieties of\r\npoisonous drugs, and, in order to see which of them were the least painful in\r\nthe operation, she had them tried upon prisoners condemned to die. But, finding\r\nthat the quick poisons always worked with sharp pains, and that the less\r\npainful were slow, she next tried venomous animals, and watched with her own\r\neyes whilst they were applied, one creature to the body of another. This was\r\nher daily practice, and she pretty well satisfied herself that nothing was\r\ncomparable to the bite of the asp, which, without convulsion or groaning,\r\nbrought on a heavy drowsiness and lethargy, with a gentle sweat on the face,\r\nthe senses being stupefied by degrees; the patient, in appearance, being\r\nsensible of no pain, but rather troubled to be disturbed or awakened, like\r\nthose that are in a profound natural sleep.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt the same time, they sent ambassadors to Caesar into Asia, Cleopatra asking\r\nfor the kingdom of Egypt for her children, and Antony, that he might have leave\r\nto live as a private man in Egypt, or, if that were thought too much, that he\r\nmight retire to Athens. In lack of friends, so many having deserted, and others\r\nnot being trusted, Euphronius, his son’s tutor, was sent on this embassy. For\r\nAlexas of Laodicea, who, by the recommendation of Timagenes, became acquainted\r\nwith Antony at Rome, and had been more powerful with him than any Greek, and\r\nwas, of all the instruments which Cleopatra made use of to persuade Antony, the\r\nmost violent, and the chief subverter of any good thoughts that, from time to\r\ntime, might rise in his mind in Octavia’s favor, had been sent before to\r\ndissuade Herod from desertion; but, betraying his master, stayed with him, and,\r\nconfiding in Herod’s interest, had the boldness to come into Caesar’s presence.\r\nHerod, however, was not able to help him, for he was immediately put in chains,\r\nand sent into his own country, where, by Caesar’s order, he was put to death.\r\nThis reward of his treason Alexas received while Antony was yet alive.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar would not listen to any proposals for Antony, but he made answer to\r\nCleopatra, that there was no reasonable favor which she might not expect, if\r\nshe put Antony to death, or expelled him from Egypt. He sent back with the\r\nambassadors his own freedman Thyrsus, a man of understanding, and not at all\r\nill-qualified for conveying the messages of a youthful general to a woman so\r\nproud of her charms and possessed with the opinion of the power of her beauty.\r\nBut by the long audiences he received from her, and the special honors which\r\nshe paid him, Antony’s jealousy began to be awakened; he had him seized,\r\nwhipped, and sent back; writing Caesar word that the man’s busy, impertinent\r\nways had provoked him; in his circumstances he could not be expected to be very\r\npatient: “But if it offend you,” he added, “you have got my freedman,\r\nHipparchus, with you; hang him up and scourge him to make us even.” But\r\nCleopatra, after this, to clear herself, and to allay his jealousies, paid him\r\nall the attentions imaginable. When her own birthday came, she kept it as was\r\nsuitable to their fallen fortunes; but his was observed with the utmost\r\nprodigality of splendor and magnificence, so that many of the guests sat down\r\nin want, and went home wealthy men. Meantime, continual letters came to Caesar\r\nfrom Agrippa, telling him his presence was extremely required at Rome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd so the war was deferred for a season. But, the winter being over, he began\r\nhis march; he himself by Syria, and his captains through Africa. Pelusium being\r\ntaken, there went a report as if it had been delivered up to Caesar by Seleucus\r\nnot without the consent of Cleopatra; but she, to justify herself, gave up into\r\nAntony’s hands the wife and children of Seleucus to be put to death. She had\r\ncaused to be built, joining to the temple of Isis, several tombs and monuments\r\nof wonderful height, and very remarkable for the workmanship; thither she\r\nremoved her treasure, her gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony, ivory,\r\ncinnamon, and, after all, a great quantity of torchwood and tow. Upon which\r\nCaesar began to fear lest she should, in a desperate fit, set all these riches\r\non fire; and, therefore, while he was marching towards the city with his army,\r\nhe omitted no occasion of giving her new assurances of his good intentions. He\r\ntook up his position in the Hippodrome, where Antony made a fierce sally upon\r\nhim, routed the horse, and beat them back into their trenches, and so returned\r\nwith great satisfaction to the palace, where, meeting Cleopatra, armed as he\r\nwas, he kissed her, and commended to her favor one of his men, who had most\r\nsignalized himself in the fight, to whom she made a present of a breastplate\r\nand helmet of gold; which he having received, went that very night and deserted\r\nto Caesar.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Antony sent a new challenge to Caesar, to fight him hand to hand;\r\nwho made him answer that he might find several other ways to end his life; and\r\nhe, considering with himself that he could not die more honorably than in\r\nbattle, resolved to make an effort both by land and sea. At supper, it is said,\r\nhe bade his servants help him freely, and pour him out wine plentifully, since\r\ntomorrow, perhaps, they should not do the same, but be servants to a new\r\nmaster, whilst he should lie on the ground, a dead corpse, and nothing. His\r\nfriends that were about him wept to hear him talk so; which he perceiving, told\r\nthem he would not lead them to a battle in which he expected rather an\r\nhonorable death than either safety or victory. That night, it is related, about\r\nthe middle of it, when the whole city was in a deep silence and general\r\nsadness, expecting the event of the next day, on a sudden was heard the sound\r\nof all sorts of instruments, and voices singing in tune, and the cry of a crowd\r\nof people shouting and dancing, like a troop of bacchanals on its way. This\r\ntumultuous procession seemed to take its course right through the middle of the\r\ncity to the gate nearest the enemy; here it became loudest, and suddenly passed\r\nout. People who reflected considered this to signify that Bacchus, the god whom\r\nAntony had always made it his study to copy and imitate, had now forsaken him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as it was light, he marched his infantry out of the city, and posted\r\nthem upon a rising ground, from whence he saw his fleet make up to the enemy.\r\nThere he stood in expectation of the event; but, as soon as the fleets came\r\nnear to one another, his men saluted Caesar’s with their oars; and, on their\r\nresponding, the whole body of the ships, forming into a single fleet, rowed up\r\ndirect to the city. Antony had no sooner seen this, but the horse deserted him,\r\nand went over to Caesar; and his foot being defeated, he retired into the city,\r\ncrying out that Cleopatra had betrayed him to the enemies he had made for her\r\nsake. She, being afraid lest in his fury and despair he might do her a\r\nmischief, fled to her monument, and letting down the falling doors, which were\r\nstrong with bars and bolts, she sent messengers who should tell Antony she was\r\ndead. He, believing it, cried out, “Now, Antony, why delay longer? Fate has\r\nsnatched away the only pretext for which you could say you desired yet to\r\nlive.” Going into his chamber, and there loosening and opening his coat of\r\narmor, “I am not,” said he, “troubled, Cleopatra, to be at present bereaved of\r\nyou, for I shall soon be with you; but it distresses me that so great a general\r\nshould be found of a tardier courage than a woman.” He had a faithful servant,\r\nwhose name was Eros; he had engaged him formerly to kill him when he should\r\nthink it necessary, and now he put him to his promise. Eros drew his sword, as\r\ndesigning to kill him, but, suddenly turning round, he slew himself. And as he\r\nfell dead at his feet, “It is well done, Eros,” said Antony; “you show your\r\nmaster how to do what you had not the heart to do yourself;” and so he ran\r\nhimself into the belly, and laid himself upon the couch. The wound, however,\r\nwas not immediately mortal; and the flow of blood ceasing when he lay down,\r\npresently he came to himself, and entreated those that were about him to put\r\nhim out of his pain; but they all fled out of the chamber, and left him crying\r\nout and struggling, until Diomede, Cleopatra’s secretary, came to him, having\r\norders from her to bring him into the monument.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he understood she was alive, he eagerly gave order to the servants to take\r\nhim up, and in their arms was carried to the door of the building. Cleopatra\r\nwould not open the door, but, looking from a sort of window, she let down ropes\r\nand cords, to which Antony was fastened; and she and her two women, the only\r\npersons she had allowed to enter the monument, drew him up. Those that were\r\npresent say that nothing was ever more sad than this spectacle, to see Antony,\r\ncovered all over with blood and just expiring, thus drawn up, still holding up\r\nhis hands to her, and lifting up his body with the little force he had left.\r\nAs, indeed, it was no easy task for the women; and Cleopatra, with all her\r\nforce, clinging to the rope, and straining with her head to the ground, with\r\ndifficulty pulled him up, while those below encouraged her with their cries,\r\nand joined in all her effort and anxiety. When she had got him up, she laid him\r\non the bed, tearing all her clothes, which she spread upon him; and, beating\r\nher breasts with her hands, lacerating herself, and disfiguring her own face\r\nwith the blood from his wounds, she called him her lord, her husband, her\r\nemperor, and seemed to have pretty nearly forgotten all her own evils, she was\r\nso intent upon his misfortunes. Antony, stopping her lamentations as well as he\r\ncould, called for wine to drink, either that he was thirsty; or that he\r\nimagined that it might put him the sooner out of pain. When he had drunk, he\r\nadvised her to bring her own affairs, so far as might be honorably done, to a\r\nsafe conclusion, and that, among all the friends of Caesar, she should rely on\r\nProculeius; that she should not pity him in this last turn of fate, but rather\r\nrejoice for him in remembrance of his past happiness, who had been of all men\r\nthe most illustrious and powerful, and, in the end, had fallen not ignobly, a\r\nRoman by a Roman overcome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nJust as he breathed his last, Proculeius arrived from Caesar; for when Antony\r\ngave himself his wound, and was carried in to Cleopatra, one of his guards,\r\nDercetaeus, took up Antony’s sword and hid it; and, when he saw his\r\nopportunity, stole away to Caesar, and brought him the first news of Antony’s\r\ndeath, and withal showed him the bloody sword. Caesar, upon this, retired into\r\nthe inner part of his tent, and, giving some tears to the death of one that had\r\nbeen nearly allied to him in marriage, his colleague in empire, and companion\r\nin so many wars and dangers, he came out to his friends, and, bringing with him\r\nmany letters, he read to them with how much reason and moderation he had always\r\naddressed himself to Antony, and in return what overbearing and arrogant\r\nanswers he received. Then he sent Proculeius to use his utmost endeavors to get\r\nCleopatra alive into his power; for he was afraid of losing a great treasure,\r\nand, besides, she would be no small addition to the glory of his triumph. She,\r\nhowever, was careful not to put herself in Proculeius’s power; but from within\r\nher monument, he standing on the outside of a door, on the level of the ground,\r\nwhich was strongly barred, but so that they might well enough hear one\r\nanother’s voice, she held a conference with him; she demanding that her kingdom\r\nmight be given to her children, and he bidding her be of good courage, and\r\ntrust Caesar for everything.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving taken particular notice of the place, he returned to Caesar, and Gallus\r\nwas sent to parley with her the second time; who, being come to the door, on\r\npurpose prolonged the conference, while Proculeius fixed his scaling-ladders in\r\nthe window through which the women had pulled up Antony. And so entering, with\r\ntwo men to follow him, he went straight down to the door where Cleopatra was\r\ndiscoursing with Gallus. One of the two women who were shut up in the monument\r\nwith her cried out, “Miserable Cleopatra, you are taken prisoner!” Upon which\r\nshe turned quick, and, looking at Proculeius, drew out her dagger, which she\r\nhad with her to stab herself. But Proculeius ran up quickly, and, seizing her\r\nwith both his hands, “For shame,” said he, “Cleopatra; you wrong yourself and\r\nCaesar much, who would rob him of so fair an occasion of showing his clemency,\r\nand would make the world believe the most gentle of commanders to be a\r\nfaithless and implacable enemy.” And so, taking the dagger out of her hand, he\r\nalso shook her dress to see if there were any poison hid in it. After this,\r\nCaesar sent Epaphroditus, one of his freedmen, with orders to treat her with\r\nall the gentleness and civility possible, but to take the strictest precautions\r\nto keep her alive.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meanwhile, Caesar made his entry into Alexandria, with Areius the\r\nphilosopher at his side, holding him by the hand and talking with him; desiring\r\nthat all his fellow-citizens should see what honor was paid to him, and should\r\nlook up to him accordingly from the very first moment. Then, entering the\r\nexercise-ground, he mounted a platform erected for the purpose, and from thence\r\ncommanded the citizens (who, in great fear and consternation, fell prostrate at\r\nhis feet) to stand up, and told them, that he freely acquitted the people of\r\nall blame, first, for the sake of Alexander, who built their city; then, for\r\nthe city’s sake itself, which was so large and beautiful; and, thirdly, to\r\ngratify his friend Areius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSuch great honor did Areius receive from Caesar; and by his intercession many\r\nlives were saved, amongst the rest that of Philostratus, a man, of all the\r\nprofessors of logic that ever were, the most ready in extempore speaking, but\r\nquite destitute of any right to call himself one of the philosophers of the\r\nAcademy. Caesar, out of disgust at his character, refused all attention to his\r\nentreaties. So, growing a long, white beard, and dressing himself in black, he\r\nfollowed behind Areius, shouting out the verse,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe wise, if they are wise, will save the wise.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nWhich Caesar hearing, gave him his pardon, to prevent rather any odium that\r\nmight attach to Areius, than any harm that Philostratus might suffer.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOf Antony’s children, Antyllus, his son by Fulvia, being betrayed by his tutor,\r\nTheodorus, was put to death; and while the soldiers were cutting off his head,\r\nhis tutor contrived to steal a precious jewel which he wore about his neck, and\r\nput it into his pocket, and afterwards denied the fact, but was convicted and\r\ncrucified. Cleopatra’s children, with their attendants, had a guard set on\r\nthem, and were treated very honorably. Caesarion, who was reputed to be the son\r\nof Caesar the Dictator, was sent by his mother, with a great sum of money,\r\nthrough Ethiopia, to pass into India; but his tutor, a man named Rhodon, about\r\nas honest as Theodorus, persuaded him to turn back, for that Caesar designed to\r\nmake him king. Caesar consulting what was best to be done with him, Areius, we\r\nare told, said,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nToo many \u003ci\u003eCaesars\u003c/i\u003e are not well.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nSo, afterwards, when Cleopatra was dead, he was killed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMany kings and great commanders made petition to Caesar for the body of Antony,\r\nto give him his funeral rites; but he would not take away his corpse from\r\nCleopatra, by whose hands he was buried with royal splendor and magnificence,\r\nit being granted to her to employ what she pleased on his funeral. In this\r\nextremity of grief and sorrow, and having inflamed and ulcerated her breasts\r\nwith beating them, she fell into a high fever, and was very glad of the\r\noccasion, hoping, under this pretext, to abstain from food, and so to die in\r\nquiet without interference. She had her own physician, Olympus, to whom she\r\ntold the truth, and asked his advice and help to put an end to herself, as\r\nOlympus himself has told us, in a narrative which he wrote of these events. But\r\nCaesar, suspecting her purpose, took to menacing language about her children,\r\nand excited her fears for them, before which engines her purpose shook and gave\r\nway, so that she suffered those about her to give her what meat or medicine\r\nthey pleased.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome few days after, Caesar himself came to make her a visit and comfort her.\r\nShe lay then upon her pallet-bed in undress, and, on his entering in, sprang up\r\nfrom off her bed, having nothing on but the one garment next her body, and\r\nflung herself at his feet, her hair and face looking wild and disfigured, her\r\nvoice quivering, and her eyes sunk in her head. The marks of the blows she had\r\ngiven herself were visible about her bosom, and altogether her whole person\r\nseemed no less afflicted than her soul. But, for all this, her old charm, and\r\nthe boldness of her youthful beauty had not wholly left her, and, in spite of\r\nher present condition, still sparkled from within, and let itself appear in all\r\nthe movements of her countenance. Caesar, desiring her to repose herself, sat\r\ndown by her; and, on this opportunity, she said something to justify her\r\nactions, attributing what she had done to the necessity she was under, and to\r\nher fear of Antony; and when Caesar, on each point, made his objections, and\r\nshe found herself confuted, she broke off at once into language of entreaty and\r\ndeprecation, as if she desired nothing more than to prolong her life. And at\r\nlast, having by her a list of her treasure, she gave it into his hands; and\r\nwhen Seleucus, one of her stewards, who was by, pointed out that various\r\narticles were omitted, and charged her with secreting them, she flew up and\r\ncaught him by the hair, and struck him several blows on the face. Caesar\r\nsmiling and withholding her, “Is it not very hard, Caesar,” said she, “when you\r\ndo me the honor to visit me in this condition I am in, that I should be accused\r\nby one of my own servants of laying by some women’s toys, not meant to adorn,\r\nbe sure, my unhappy self, but that I might have some little present by me to\r\nmake your Octavia and your Livia, that by their intercession I might hope to\r\nfind you in some measure disposed to mercy?” Caesar was pleased to hear her\r\ntalk thus, being now assured that she was desirous to live. And, therefore,\r\nletting her know that the things she had laid by she might dispose of as she\r\npleased, and his usage of her should be honorable above her expectation, he\r\nwent away, well satisfied that he had overreached her, but, in fact, was\r\nhimself deceived.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was a young man of distinction among Caesar’s companions, named Cornelius\r\nDolabella. He was not without a certain tenderness for Cleopatra, and sent her\r\nword privately, as she had besought him to do, that Caesar was about to return\r\nthrough Syria, and that she and her children were to be sent on within three\r\ndays. When she understood this, she made her request to Caesar that he would be\r\npleased to permit her to make oblations to the departed Antony; which being\r\ngranted, she ordered herself to be carried to the place where he was buried,\r\nand there, accompanied by her women, she embraced his tomb with tears in her\r\neyes, and spoke in this manner: “O, dearest Antony,” said she, “it is not long\r\nsince that with these hands I buried you; then they were free, now I am a\r\ncaptive, and pay these last duties to you with a guard upon me, for fear that\r\nmy just griefs and sorrows should impair my servile body, and make it less fit\r\nto appear in their triumph over you. No further offerings or libations expect\r\nfrom me; these are the last honors that Cleopatra can pay your memory, for she\r\nis to be hurried away far from you. Nothing could part us whilst we lived, but\r\ndeath seems to threaten to divide us. You, a Roman born, have found a grave in\r\nEgypt; I, an Egyptian, am to seek that favor, and none but that, in your\r\ncountry. But if the gods below, with whom you now are, either can or will do\r\nanything (since those above have betrayed us), suffer not your living wife to\r\nbe abandoned; let me not be led in triumph to your shame, but hide me and bury\r\nme here with you, since, amongst all my bitter misfortunes, nothing has\r\nafflicted me like this brief time that I have lived away from you.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving made these lamentations, crowning the tomb with garlands and kissing it,\r\nshe gave orders to prepare her a bath, and, coming out of the bath, she lay\r\ndown and made a sumptuous meal. And a country fellow brought her a little\r\nbasket, which the guards intercepting and asking what it was, the fellow put\r\nthe leaves which lay uppermost aside, and showed them it was full of figs; and\r\non their admiring the largeness and beauty of the figs, he laughed, and invited\r\nthem to take some, which they refused, and, suspecting nothing, bade him carry\r\nthem in. After her repast, Cleopatra sent to Caesar a letter which she had\r\nwritten and sealed; and, putting everybody out of the monument but her two\r\nwomen, she shut the doors. Caesar, opening her letter, and finding pathetic\r\nprayers and entreaties that she might be buried in the same tomb with Antony,\r\nsoon guessed what was doing. At first he was going himself in all haste, but,\r\nchanging his mind, he sent others to see. The thing had been quickly done. The\r\nmessengers came at full speed, and found the guards apprehensive of nothing;\r\nbut on opening the doors, they saw her stone-dead, lying upon a bed of gold,\r\nset out in all her royal ornaments. Iras, one of her women, lay dying at her\r\nfeet, and Charmion, just ready to fall, scarce able to hold up her head, was\r\nadjusting her mistress’s diadem. And when one that came in said angrily, “Was\r\nthis well done of your lady, Charmion?” “Extremely well,” she answered, “and as\r\nbecame the descendant of so many kings”; and as she said this, she fell down\r\ndead by the bedside.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome relate that an asp was brought in amongst those figs and covered with the\r\nleaves, and that Cleopatra had arranged that it might settle on her before she\r\nknew, but, when she took away some of the figs and saw it, she said, “So here\r\nit is,” and held out her bare arm to be bitten. Others say that it was kept in\r\na vase, and that she vexed and pricked it with a golden spindle till it seized\r\nher arm. But what really took place is known to no one. Since it was also said\r\nthat she carried poison in a hollow bodkin, about which she wound her hair; yet\r\nthere was not so much as a spot found, or any symptom of poison upon her body,\r\nnor was the asp seen within the monument; only something like the trail of it\r\nwas said to have been noticed on the sand by the sea, on the part towards which\r\nthe building faced and where the windows were. Some relate that two faint\r\npuncture-marks were found on Cleopatra’s arm, and to this account Caesar seems\r\nto have given credit; for in his triumph there was carried a figure of\r\nCleopatra, with an asp clinging to her. Such are the various accounts. But\r\nCaesar, though much disappointed by her death, yet could not but admire the\r\ngreatness of her spirit, and gave order that her body should he buried by\r\nAntony with royal splendor and magnificence. Her women, also, received\r\nhonorable burial by his directions. Cleopatra had lived nine and thirty years,\r\nduring twenty-two of which she had reigned as queen, and for fourteen had been\r\nAntony’s partner in his empire. Antony, according to some authorities, was\r\nfifty-three, according to others, fifty-six years old. His statues were all\r\nthrown down, but those of Cleopatra were left untouched; for Archibius, one of\r\nher friends, gave Caesar two thousand talents to save them from the fate of\r\nAntony’s.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntony left by his three wives seven children, of whom only Antyllus, the\r\neldest, was put to death by Caesar; Octavia took the rest, and brought them up\r\nwith her own. Cleopatra, his daughter by Cleopatra, was given in marriage to\r\nJuba, the most accomplished of kings; and Antony, his son by Fulvia, attained\r\nsuch high favor, that whereas Agrippa was considered to hold the first place\r\nwith Caesar, and the sons of Livia the second, the third, without dispute, was\r\npossessed by Antony. Octavia, also, having had by her first husband, Marcellus,\r\ntwo daughters, and one son named Marcellus, this son Caesar adopted, and gave\r\nhim his daughter in marriage; as did Octavia one of the daughters to Agrippa.\r\nBut Marcellus dying almost immediately after his marriage, she, perceiving that\r\nher brother was at a loss to find elsewhere any sure friend to be his\r\nson-in-law, was the first to recommend that Agrippa should put away her\r\ndaughter and marry Julia. To this Caesar first, and then Agrippa himself, gave\r\nassent; so Agrippa married Julia, and Octavia, receiving her daughter, married\r\nher to the young Antony. Of the two daughters whom Octavia had borne to Antony,\r\nthe one was married to Domitius Ahenobarbus; and the other, Antonia, famous for\r\nher beauty and discretion, was married to Drusus, the son of Livia, and\r\nstep-son to Caesar. Of these parents were born Germanicus and Claudius.\r\nClaudius reigned later; and of the children of Germanicus, Caius, after a reign\r\nof distinction, was killed with his wife and child; Agrippina, after bearing a\r\nson, Lucius Domitius, to Ahenobarbus, was married to Claudius Caesar, who\r\nadopted Domitius, giving him the name of Nero Germanicus. He was emperor in our\r\ntime, and put his mother to death, and with his madness and folly came not far\r\nfrom ruining the Roman empire, being Antony’s descendant in the fifth\r\ngeneration.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap61\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF DEMETRIUS AND ANTONY\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs both are great examples of the vicissitudes of fortune, let us first\r\nconsider in what way they attained their power and glory. Demetrius heired a\r\nkingdom already won for him by Antigonus, the most powerful of the Successors,\r\nwho, before Demetrius grew to be a man, traversed with his armies and subdued\r\nthe greater part of Asia. Antony’s father was well enough in other respects,\r\nbut was no warrior, and could bequeath no great legacy of reputation to his\r\nson, who had the boldness, nevertheless, to take upon him the government, to\r\nwhich birth gave him no claim, which had been held by Caesar, and became the\r\ninheritor of his great labors. And such power did he attain, with only himself\r\nto thank for it, that, in a division of the whole empire into two portions, he\r\ntook and received the nobler one; and, absent himself, by his mere subalterns\r\nand lieutenants often defeated the Parthians, and drove the barbarous nations\r\nof the Caucasus back to the Caspian Sea. Those very things that procured him\r\nill-repute bear witness to his greatness. Antigonus considered Antipater’s\r\ndaughter Phila, in spite of the disparity of her years, an advantageous match\r\nfor Demetrius. Antony was thought disgraced by his marriage with Cleopatra, a\r\nqueen superior in power and glory to all, except Arsaces, who were kings in her\r\ntime. Antony was so great as to be thought by others worthy of higher things\r\nthan his own desires.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs regards the right and justice of their aims at empire, Demetrius need not be\r\nblamed for seeking to rule a people that had always had a king to rule them.\r\nAntony, who enslaved the Roman people, just liberated from the rule of Caesar,\r\nfollowed a cruel and tyrannical object. His greatest and most illustrious work,\r\nhis successful war with Brutus and Cassius, was done to crush the liberties of\r\nhis country and of his fellow-citizens. Demetrius, till he was driven to\r\nextremity, went on, without intermission, maintaining liberty in Greece, and\r\nexpelling the foreign garrisons from the cities; not like Antony, whose boast\r\nwas to have slain in Macedonia those who had set up liberty in Rome. As for the\r\nprofusion and magnificence of his gifts, one point for which Antony is lauded,\r\nDemetrius so far outdid them, that what he gave to his enemies was far more\r\nthan Antony ever gave to his friends. Antony was renowned for giving Brutus\r\nhonorable burial; Demetrius did so to all the enemy’s dead, and sent the\r\nprisoners back to Ptolemy with money and presents.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBoth were insolent in prosperity, and abandoned themselves to luxuries and\r\nenjoyments. Yet it cannot be said that Demetrius, in his revelings and\r\ndissipations, ever let slip the time for action; pleasures with him attended\r\nonly the superabundance of his ease, and his Lamia, like that of the fable,\r\nbelonged only to his playful, half-waking, half-sleeping hours. When war\r\ndemanded his attention, his spear was not wreathed with ivy, nor his helmet\r\nredolent of unguents; he did not come out to battle from the women’s chamber,\r\nbut, hushing the bacchanal shouts and putting an end to the orgies, he became\r\nat once, as Euripides calls it, “the minister of the unpriestly Mars;” and, in\r\nshort, he never once incurred disaster through indolence or self-indulgence.\r\nWhereas Antony, like Hercules in the picture where Omphale is seen removing his\r\nclub and stripping him of his lion’s skin, was over and over again disarmed by\r\nCleopatra, and beguiled away, while great actions and enterprises of the first\r\nnecessity fell, as it were, from his hands, to go with her to the seashore of\r\nCanopus and Taphosiris, and play about. And in the end, like another Paris, he\r\nleft the battle to fly to her arms; or rather, to say the truth, Paris fled\r\nwhen he was already beaten; Antony fled first, and, to follow Cleopatra,\r\nabandoned his victory.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was no law to prevent Demetrius from marrying several wives; from the\r\ntime of Philip and Alexander, it had become usual with Macedonian kings, and he\r\ndid no more than was done by Lysimachus and Ptolemy. And those he married he\r\ntreated honorably. But Antony, first of all, in marrying two wives at once, did\r\na thing which no Roman had ever allowed himself; and then he drove away his\r\nlawful Roman wife to please the foreign and unlawful woman. And so Demetrius\r\nincurred no harm at all; Antony procured his ruin by his marriage. On the other\r\nhand, no licentious act of Antony’s can be charged with that impiety which\r\nmarks those of Demetrius. Historical writers tell us that the very dogs are\r\nexcluded from the whole Acropolis, because of their gross, uncleanly habits.\r\nThe very Parthenon itself saw Demetrius consorting with harlots and debauching\r\nfree women of Athens. The vice of cruelty, also, remote as it seems from the\r\nindulgence of voluptuous desires, must be attributed to him, who, in the\r\npursuit of his pleasures, allowed, or to say more truly, compelled the death of\r\nthe most beautiful and most chaste of the Athenians, who found no way but this\r\nto escape his violence. In one word, Antony himself suffered by his excesses,\r\nand other people by those of Demetrius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn his conduct to his parents, Demetrius was irreproachable. Antony gave up his\r\nmother’s brother, in order that he might have leave to kill Cicero, this itself\r\nbeing so cruel and shocking an act, that Antony would hardly be forgiven if\r\nCicero’s death had been the price of this uncle’s safety. In respect of\r\nbreaches of oaths and treaties, the seizure of Artabazes, and the assassination\r\nof Alexander, Antony may urge the plea which no one denies to be true, that\r\nArtabazes first abandoned and betrayed him in Media; Demetrius is alleged by\r\nmany to have invented false pretexts for his act, and not to have retaliated\r\nfor injuries, but to have accused one whom he injured himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe achievements of Demetrius are all his own work. Antony’s noblest and\r\ngreatest victories were won in his absence by his lieutenants. For their final\r\ndisasters they have both only to thank themselves; not, however, in an equal\r\ndegree. Demetrius was deserted, the Macedonians revolted from him: Antony\r\ndeserted others, and ran away while men were fighting for him at the risk of\r\ntheir lives. The fault to be found with the one is that he had thus entirely\r\nalienated the affections of his soldiers; the other’s condemnation is that he\r\nabandoned so much love and faith as he still possessed. We cannot admire the\r\ndeath of either, but that of Demetrius excites our greater contempt. He let\r\nhimself become a prisoner, and was thankful to gain a three years’ accession of\r\nlife in captivity. He was tamed like a wild beast by his belly, and by wine;\r\nAntony took himself out of the world in a cowardly, pitiful, and ignoble\r\nmanner, but, still in time to prevent the enemy having his person in their\r\npower.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap62\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eDION\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIf it be true, Sosius Senecio, that, as Simonides tells us,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“Of the Corinthians Troy does not complain”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nfor having taken part with the Achaeans in the siege, because the Trojans also\r\nhad Corinthians (Glaucus, who sprang from Corinth,) fighting bravely on their\r\nside, so also it may be fairly said that neither Romans nor Greeks can quarrel\r\nwith the Academy, each nation being equally represented in the following pair\r\nof lives, which will give an account of Brutus and of Dion, — Dion, who was\r\nPlato’s own hearer, and Brutus, who was brought up in his philosophy. They came\r\nfrom one and the selfsame school, where they had been trained alike, to run the\r\nrace of honor; nor need we wonder that in the performance of actions often most\r\nnearly allied and akin, they both bore evidence to the truth of what their\r\nguide and teacher had said, that, without the concurrence of power and success\r\nwith justice and prudence, public actions do not attain their proper, great,\r\nand noble character. For as Hippomachus the wrestling-master affirmed, he could\r\ndistinguish his scholars at a distance. though they were but carrying meat from\r\nthe shambles, so it is very probable that the principles of those who have had\r\nthe same good education should appear with a resemblance in all their actions,\r\ncreating in them a certain harmony and proportion, at once agreeable and\r\nbecoming.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWe may also draw a close parallel of the lives of the two men from their\r\nfortunes, wherein chance, even more than their own designs, made them nearly\r\nalike. For they were both cut off by an untimely death, not being able to\r\naccomplish those ends which through many risks and difficulties they aimed at.\r\nBut, above all, this is most wonderful; that by preternatural interposition\r\nboth of them had notice given of their approaching death by an unpropitious\r\nform, which visibly appeared to them. Although there are people who utterly\r\ndeny any such thing, and say that no man in his right senses ever yet saw any\r\nsupernatural phantom or apparition, but that children only, and silly women, or\r\nmen disordered by sickness, in some aberration of the mind or distemperature of\r\nthe body, have had empty and extravagant imaginations, whilst the real evil\r\ngenius, superstition, was in themselves. Yet if Dion and Brutus, men of solid\r\nunderstanding, and philosophers, not to be easily deluded by fancy or\r\ndiscomposed by any sudden apprehension, were thus affected by visions, that\r\nthey forthwith declared to their friends what they had seen, I know not how we\r\ncan avoid admitting again the utterly exploded opinion of the oldest times,\r\nthat evil and beguiling spirits, out of an envy to good men, and a desire of\r\nimpeding their good deeds, make efforts to excite in them feelings of terror\r\nand distraction, to make them shake and totter in their virtue, lest by a\r\nsteady and unbiased perseverance they should obtain a happier condition than\r\nthese beings after death. But I shall leave these things for another\r\nopportunity, and, in this twelfth book of the lives of great men compared one\r\nwith another, begin with his who was the elder.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDionysius the First, having possessed himself of the government, at once took\r\nto wife the daughter of Hermocrates, the Syracusan. She, in an outbreak which\r\nthe citizens made before the new power was well settled, was abused in such a\r\nbarbarous and outrageous manner, that for shame she put an end to her own life.\r\nBut Dionysius, when he was reestablished and confirmed in his supremacy,\r\nmarried two wives together, one named Doris, of Locri, the other, Aristomache,\r\na native of Sicily, and daughter of Hipparinus, a man of the first quality in\r\nSyracuse, and colleague with Dionysius when he was first chosen general with\r\nunlimited powers for the war. It is said he married them both in one day, and\r\nno one ever knew which of the two he first made his wife; and ever after he\r\ndivided his kindness equally between them, both accompanying him together at\r\nhis table, and in his bed by turns. Indeed, the Syracusans were urgent that\r\ntheir own countrywoman might be preferred before the stranger; but Doris, to\r\ncompensate for her foreign extraction; had the good fortune to be the mother of\r\nthe son and heir of the family, whilst Aristomache continued a long time\r\nwithout issue, though Dionysius was very desirous to have children by her, and,\r\nindeed, caused Doris’s mother to be put to death, laying to her charge that she\r\nhad given drugs to Aristomache, to prevent her being with child.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDion, Aristomache’s brother, at first found an honorable reception for his\r\nsister’s sake; but his own worth and parts soon procured him a nearer place in\r\nhis brother-in-law’s affection, who, among other favors, gave special command\r\nto his treasurers to furnish Dion with whatever money he demanded, only telling\r\nhim on the same day what they had delivered out. Now, though Dion was before\r\nreputed a person of lofty character; of a noble mind, and daring courage, yet\r\nthese excellent qualifications all received a great development from the happy\r\nchance which conducted Plato into Sicily; not assuredly by any human device or\r\ncalculation, but some supernatural power, designing that this remote cause\r\nshould hereafter occasion the recovery of the Sicilians’ lost liberty and the\r\nsubversion of the tyrannical government, brought the philosopher out of Italy\r\nto Syracuse, and made acquaintance between him and Dion. Dion was, indeed, at\r\nthis time extremely young in years, but of all the scholars that attended Plato\r\nhe was the quickest and aptest to learn, and the most prompt and eager to\r\npractice, the lessons of virtue, as Plato himself reports of him, and his own\r\nactions sufficiently testify. For though he had been bred up under a tyrant in\r\nhabits of submission, accustomed to a life, on the one hand of servility and\r\nintimidation, and yet on the other of vulgar display and luxury, the mistaken\r\nhappiness of people that knew no better thing than pleasure and\r\nself-indulgence, yet, at the first taste of reason and a philosophy that\r\ndemands obedience to virtue, his soul was set in a flame, and in the simple\r\ninnocence of youth, concluding, from his own disposition, that the same reasons\r\nwould work the same effects upon Dionysius, he made it his business, and at\r\nlength obtained the favor of him, at a leisure hour, to hear Plato.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt this their meeting, the subject-matter of their discourse in general was\r\nhuman virtue, but, more particularly, they disputed concerning fortitude, which\r\nPlato proved tyrants, of all men, had the least pretense to; and thence\r\nproceeding to treat of justice, asserted the happy estate of the just, and the\r\nmiserable condition of the unjust; arguments which Dionysius would not hear\r\nout, but, feeling himself, as it were, convicted by his words, and much\r\ndispleased to see the rest of the auditors full of admiration for the speaker\r\nand captivated with his doctrine, at last, exceedingly exasperated, he asked\r\nthe philosopher in a rage, what business he had in Sicily. To which Plato\r\nanswered, “I came to seek a virtuous man.” “It seems then,” replied Dionysius,\r\n“you have lost your labor.” Dion, supposing, that this was all, and that\r\nnothing further could come of his anger, at Plato’s request, conveyed him\r\naboard a galley, which was conveying Pollis, the Spartan, into Greece. But\r\nDionysius privately dealt with Pollis, by all means to kill Plato in the\r\nvoyage; if not, to be sure to sell him for a slave: he would, of course, take\r\nno harm of it, being the same just man as before; he would enjoy that\r\nhappiness, though he lost his liberty. Pollis, therefore, it is stated, carried\r\nPlato to Aegina, and there sold him; the Aeginetans, then at war with Athens,\r\nhaving made a decree that whatever Athenian was taken on their coasts should\r\nforthwith be exposed to sale. Notwithstanding, Dion was not in less favor and\r\ncredit with Dionysius than formerly, but was entrusted with the most\r\nconsiderable employments, and sent on important embassies to Carthage, in the\r\nmanagement of which he gained very great reputation. Besides, the usurper bore\r\nwith the liberty he took to speak his mind freely, he being the only man who\r\nupon any occasion durst boldly say what he thought, as, for example, in the\r\nrebuke he gave him about Gelon. Dionysius was ridiculing Gelon’s government,\r\nand, alluding to his name, said, he had been the laughing-stock of Sicily.\r\nWhile others seemed to admire and applaud the quibble, Dion very warmly\r\nreplied, “Nevertheless, it is certain that you are sole governor here, because\r\nyou were trusted for Gelon’s sake; but for your sake no man will ever hereafter\r\nbe trusted again.” For, indeed, Gelon had made a monarchy appear the best,\r\nwhereas Dionysius had convinced men that it was the worst, of governments.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDionysius had three children by Doris, and by Aristomache four, two of which\r\nwere daughters, Sophrosyne and Arete. Sophrosyne was married to his son\r\nDionysius; Arete, to his brother Thearides, after whose death, Dion received\r\nhis niece Arete to wife. Now when Dionysius was sick and like to die, Dion\r\nendeavored to speak with him in behalf of the children he had by Aristomache,\r\nbut was still prevented by the physicians, who wanted to ingratiate themselves\r\nwith the next successor, who also, as Timaeus reports, gave him a sleeping\r\npotion which he asked for, which produced an insensibility only followed by his\r\ndeath.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNevertheless, at the first council which the young Dionysius held with his\r\nfriends, Dion discoursed so well of the present state of affairs, that he made\r\nall the rest appear in their politics but children, and in their votes rather\r\nslaves than counselors, who timorously and disingenuously advised what would\r\nplease the young man, rather than what would advance his interest. But that\r\nwhich startled them most was the proposal he made to avert the imminent danger\r\nthey feared of a war with the Carthaginians, undertaking, if Dionysius wanted\r\npeace, to sail immediately over into Africa, and conclude it there upon\r\nhonorable terms; but, if he rather preferred war, then he would fit out and\r\nmaintain at his own cost and charges fifty galleys ready for the service.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDionysius wondered much at his greatness of mind, and received his offer with\r\nsatisfaction. But the other courtiers, thinking his generosity reflected upon\r\nthem, and jealous of being lessened by his greatness, from hence took all\r\noccasions by private slanders to render him obnoxious to the young man’s\r\ndispleasure; as if he designed by his power at sea to surprise the government,\r\nand by the help of those naval forces confer the supreme authority upon his\r\nsister Aristomache’s children. But, indeed, the most apparent and the strongest\r\ngrounds for dislike and hostility existed already in the difference of his\r\nhabits, and his reserved and separate way of living. For they, who, from the\r\nbeginning, by flatteries and all unworthy artifices, courted the favor and\r\nfamiliarity of the prince, youthful and voluptuously bred, ministered to his\r\npleasures, and sought how to find him daily some new amours and occupy him in\r\nvain amusements, with wine or with women, and in other dissipations; by which\r\nmeans, the tyranny, like iron softened in the fire, seemed, indeed, to the\r\nsubject to be more moderate and gentle, and to abate somewhat of its extreme\r\nseverity; the edge of it being blunted, not by the clemency, but rather the\r\nsloth and degeneracy of the sovereign, whose dissoluteness, gaining ground\r\ndaily, and growing upon him, soon weakened and broke those “adamantine chains,”\r\nwith which his father, Dionysius, said he had left the monarchy fastened and\r\nsecured. It is reported of him, that, having begun a drunken debauch, he\r\ncontinued it ninety days without intermission; in all which time no person on\r\nbusiness was allowed to appear, nor was any serious conversation heard at\r\ncourt, but drinking, singing, dancing. and buffoonery reigned there without\r\ncontrol.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is likely then they had little kindness for Dion, who never indulged himself\r\nin any youthful pleasure or diversion. And so his very virtues were the matter\r\nof their calumnies, and were represented under one or other plausible name as\r\nvices; they called his gravity pride, his plain-dealing self-will, the good\r\nadvice he gave was all construed into reprimand, and he was censured for\r\nneglecting and scorning those in whose misdemeanors he declined to participate.\r\nAnd to say the truth, there was in his natural character something stately,\r\naustere, reserved, and unsociable in conversation, which made his company\r\nunpleasant and disagreeable not only to the young tyrant, whose ears had been\r\ncorrupted by flatteries; many also of Dion’s own intimate friends, though they\r\nloved the integrity and generosity of his temper, yet blamed his manner, and\r\nthought he treated those with whom he had to do, less courteously and affably\r\nthan became a man engaged in civil business. Of which Plato also afterwards\r\nwrote to him; and, as it were, prophetically advised him carefully to avoid an\r\narbitrary temper, whose proper helpmate was a solitary life. And, indeed, at\r\nthis very time, though circumstances made him so important, and, in the danger\r\nof the tottering government, he was recognized as the only or the ablest\r\nsupport of it, yet he well understood that he owed not his high position to any\r\ngood-will or kindness, but to the mere necessities of the usurper.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd, supposing the cause of this to be ignorance and want of education, he\r\nendeavored to induce the young man into a course of liberal studies, and to\r\ngive him some knowledge of moral truths and reasonings, hoping he might thus\r\nlose his fear of virtuous living, and learn to take pleasure in laudable\r\nactions. Dionysius, in his own nature, was not one of the worst kind of\r\ntyrants, but his father, fearing that if he should come to understand himself\r\nbetter, and converse with wise and reasonable men, he might enter into some\r\ndesign against him, and dispossess him of his power, kept him closely shut up\r\nat home; where, for want of other company, and ignorant how to spend his time\r\nbetter, he busied himself in making little chariots, candlesticks, stools,\r\ntables, and other things of wood. For the elder Dionysius was so diffident and\r\nsuspicious, and so continually on his guard against all men, that he would not\r\nso much as let his hair be trimmed with any barber’s or hair-cutter’s\r\ninstruments, but made one of his artificers singe him with a live coal. Neither\r\nwere his brother or his son allowed to come into his apartment in the dress\r\nthey wore, but they, as all others, were stripped to their skins by some of the\r\nguard, and, after being seen naked, put on other clothes before they were\r\nadmitted into the presence. When his brother Leptines was once describing the\r\nsituation of a place, and took a javelin from one of the guard to draw the plan\r\nof it, he was extremely angry with him, and had the soldier who gave him the\r\nweapon put to death. He declared, the more judicious his friends were, the more\r\nhe suspected them; because he knew, that were it in their choice, they would\r\nrather be tyrants themselves than the subjects of a tyrant. He slew Marsyas,\r\none of his captains whom he had preferred to a considerable command, for\r\ndreaming that he killed him: without some previous waking thought and purpose\r\nof the kind, he could not, he supposed, have had that fancy in his sleep. So\r\ntimorous was he, and so miserable a slave to his fears, yet very angry with\r\nPlato, because he would not allow him to be the valiantest man alive.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDion, as we said before, seeing the son thus deformed and spoilt in character\r\nfor want of teaching, exhorted him to study, and to use all his entreaties to\r\npersuade Plato, the first of philosophers, to visit him in Sicily, and; when he\r\ncame, to submit himself to his direction and advice: by whose instructions he\r\nmight conform his nature to the truths of virtue, and, living after the\r\nlikeness of the Divine and glorious Model of Being, out of obedience to whose\r\ncontrol the general confusion is changed into the beautiful order of the\r\nuniverse, so he in like manner might be the cause of great happiness to himself\r\nand to all his subjects, who, obliged by his justice and moderation, would then\r\nwillingly pay him obedience as their father, which now grudgingly, and upon\r\nnecessity, they are forced to yield him as their master. Their usurping tyrant\r\nhe would then no longer be, but their lawful king. For fear and force, a great\r\nnavy and standing army of ten thousand hired barbarians are not, as his father\r\nhad said, the adamantine chains which secure the regal power, but the love,\r\nzeal, and affection inspired by clemency and justice; which, though they seem\r\nmore pliant than the stiff and hard bonds of severity, are nevertheless the\r\nstrongest and most durable ties to sustain a lasting government. Moreover, it\r\nis mean and dishonorable that a ruler, while careful to be splendid in his\r\ndress, and luxurious and magnificent in his habitation, should, in reason and\r\npower of speech, make no better show than the commonest of his subjects, nor\r\nhave the princely palace of his mind adorned according to his royal dignity.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDion frequently entertaining the king upon this subject, and, as occasion\r\noffered, repeating some of the philosopher’s sayings, Dionysius grew\r\nimpatiently desirous to have Plato’s company, and to hear him discourse.\r\nForthwith, therefore, he sent letter upon letter to him to Athens, to which\r\nDion added his entreaties; also several philosophers of the Pythagorean sect\r\nfrom Italy sent their recommendations, urging him to come and obtain a hold\r\nupon this pliant, youthful soul, which his solid and weighty reasonings might\r\nsteady, as it were, upon the seas of absolute power and authority. Plato, as he\r\ntells us himself, out of shame more than any other feeling, lest it should seem\r\nthat he was all mere theory, and that of his own good-will he would never\r\nventure into action, hoping withal, that if he could work a cure upon one man,\r\nthe head and guide of the rest, he might remedy the distempers of the whole\r\nisland of Sicily, yielded to their requests.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Dion’s enemies, fearing an alteration in Dionysius, persuaded him to recall\r\nfrom banishment Philistus, a man of learned education, and at the same time of\r\ngreat experience in the ways of tyrants, and who might serve as a counterpoise\r\nto Plato and his philosophy. For Philistus from the beginning had been a great\r\ninstrument in establishing the tyranny, and for a long time had held the office\r\nof captain of the citadel. There was a report, that he had been intimate with\r\nthe mother of Dionysius the first, and not without his privity. And when\r\nLeptines, having two daughters by a married woman whom he had debauched, gave\r\none of them in marriage to Philistus, without acquainting Dionysius, he, in\r\ngreat anger, put Leptines’s mistress in prison, and banished Philistus from\r\nSicily. Whereupon, he fled to some of his friends on the Adriatic coast, in\r\nwhich retirement and leisure it is probable he wrote the greatest part of his\r\nhistory; for he returned not into his country during the reign of that\r\nDionysius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut after his death, as is just related, Dion’s enemies occasioned him to be\r\nrecalled home, as fitter for their purpose, and a firm friend to the arbitrary\r\ngovernment. And this, indeed, immediately upon his return he set himself to\r\nmaintain; and at the same time various calumnies and accusations against Dion\r\nwere by others brought to the king: as that he held correspondence with\r\nTheodotes and Heraclides, to subvert the government; as, doubtless, it is\r\nlikely enough, that Dion had entertained hopes, by the coming of Plato, to\r\nmitigate the rigid and despotic severity of the tyranny, and to give Dionysius\r\nthe character of a fair and lawful governor; and had determined, if he should\r\ncontinue averse to that, and were not to be reclaimed, to depose him, and\r\nrestore the commonwealth to the Syracusans; not that he approved a democratic\r\ngovernment, but thought it altogether preferable to a tyranny, when a sound and\r\ngood aristocracy could not be procured.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was the state of affairs when Plato came into Sicily, who, at his first\r\narrival, was received with wonderful demonstration of kindness and respect. For\r\none of the royal chariots, richly ornamented, was in attendance to receive him\r\nwhen he came on shore; Dionysius himself sacrificed to the gods in thankful\r\nacknowledgment for the great happiness which had befallen his government. The\r\ncitizens, also, began to entertain marvelous hopes of a speedy reformation,\r\nwhen they observed the modesty which now ruled in the banquets, and the general\r\ndecorum which prevailed in all the court, their tyrant himself also behaving\r\nwith gentleness and humanity in all their matters of business that came before\r\nhim. There was a general passion for reasoning: and philosophy, insomuch that\r\nthe very palace, it is reported, was filled with dust by the concourse of the\r\nstudents in mathematics who were working their problems there. Some few days\r\nafter, it was the time of one of the Syracusan sacrifices, and when the priest,\r\nas he was wont, prayed for the long and safe continuance of the tyranny,\r\nDionysius, it is said, as he stood by, cried out, “Leave off praying for evil\r\nupon us.” This sensibly vexed Philistus and his party, who conjectured, that if\r\nPlato, upon such brief acquaintance, had so far transformed and altered the\r\nyoung man’s mind, longer converse and greater intimacy would give him such\r\ninfluence and authority, that it would he impossible to withstand him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTherefore, no longer privately and apart, but jointly and in public, all of\r\nthem, they began to slander Dion, noising it about that he had charmed and\r\nbewitched Dionysius by Plato’s sophistry, to the end that when he was persuaded\r\nvoluntarily to part with his power, and lay down his authority, Dion might take\r\nit up, and settle it upon his sister Aristomache’s children. Others professed\r\nto be indignant that the Athenians, who formerly had come to Sicily with a\r\ngreat fleet and a numerous land-army, and perished miserably without being able\r\nto take the city of Syracuse, should now, by means of one sophister, overturn\r\nthe sovereignty of Dionysius; inveigling him to cashier his guard of ten\r\nthousand lances, dismiss a navy of four hundred galleys, disband an army of ten\r\nthousand horse and many times over that number of foot, and go seek in the\r\nschools an unknown and imaginary bliss, and learn by the mathematics how to be\r\nhappy; while, in the meantime, the substantial enjoyments of absolute power,\r\nriches, and pleasure would be handed over to Dion and his sister’s children.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBy these means, Dion began to incur at first suspicion, and by degrees more\r\napparent displeasure and hostility. A letter, also, was intercepted and brought\r\nto the young prince, which Dion had written to the Carthaginian agents,\r\nadvising them, that, when they treated with Dionysius concerning the peace,\r\nthey should not come to their audience without communicating with him: they\r\nwould not fail to obtain by this means all that they wanted. When Dionysius had\r\nshown this to Philistus, and consulted with him, as Timaeus relates, about it,\r\nhe overreached Dion by a feigned reconciliation, professing, after some fair\r\nand reasonable expression of his feelings, that he was at friends with him, and\r\nthus, leading him alone to the sea-side, under the castle wall, he showed him\r\nthe letter, and taxed him with conspiring with the Carthaginians against him.\r\nAnd when Dion essayed to speak in his own defense, Dionysius suffered him not;\r\nbut immediately forced him aboard a boat, which lay there for that purpose, and\r\ncommanded the sailors to set him ashore on the coast of Italy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen this was publicly known, and was thought very hard usage, there was much\r\nlamentation in the tyrant’s own household on account of the women, but the\r\ncitizens of Syracuse encouraged themselves, expecting that for his sake some\r\ndisturbance would ensue; which, together with the mistrust others would now\r\nfeel, might occasion a general change and revolution in the state. Dionysius,\r\nseeing this, took alarm, and endeavored to pacify the women and others of\r\nDion’s kindred and friends; assuring them that he had not banished, but only\r\nsent him out of the way for a time, for fear of his own passion, which might be\r\nprovoked some day by Dion’s self-will into some act which he should be sorry\r\nfor. He gave also two ships to his relations, with liberty to send into\r\nPeloponnesus for him whatever of his property or servants they thought fit.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDion was very rich, and had his house furnished with little less than royal\r\nsplendor and magnificence. These valuables his friends packed up and conveyed\r\nto him, besides many rich presents which were sent him by the women and his\r\nadherents. So that, so far as wealth and riches went, he made a noble\r\nappearance among the Greeks, and they might judge, by the affluence of the\r\nexile, what was the power of the tyrant.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDionysius immediately removed Plato into the castle, designing, under color of\r\nan honorable and kind reception, to set a guard upon him, lest he should follow\r\nDion, and declare to the world in his behalf, how injuriously he had been dealt\r\nwith. And, moreover, time and conversation (as wild beasts by use grow tame and\r\ntractable) had brought Dionysius to endure Plato’s company and discourse, so\r\nthat he began to love the philosopher, but with such an affection as had\r\nsomething of the tyrant in it, requiring of Plato that he should, in return of\r\nhis kindness, love him only, and attend to him above all other men; being ready\r\nto permit to his care the chief management of affairs, and even the government,\r\ntoo, upon condition that he would not prefer Dion’s friendship before his. This\r\nextravagant affection was a great trouble to Plato, for it was accompanied with\r\npetulant and jealous humors, like the fond passions of those that are\r\ndesperately in love; frequently he was angry and fell out with him, and\r\npresently begged and entreated to be friends again. He was beyond measure\r\ndesirous to be Plato’s scholar, and to proceed in the study of philosophy, and\r\nyet he was ashamed of it with those who spoke against it and professed to think\r\nit would ruin him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut a war about this time breaking out, he sent Plato away, promising him in\r\nthe summer to recall Dion, though in this he broke his word at once;\r\nnevertheless, he remitted to him his revenues, desiring Plato to excuse him as\r\nto the time appointed, because of the war, but, as soon as he had settled a\r\npeace, he would immediately send for Dion, requiring him in the interim to be\r\nquiet, and not raise any disturbance, nor speak ill of him among the Grecians.\r\nThis Plato endeavored to effect, by keeping Dion with him in the Academy, and\r\nbusying him in philosophical studies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDion sojourned in the Upper Town of Athens, with Callippus, one of his\r\nacquaintance; but for his pleasure he bought a seat in the country, which\r\nafterwards, when he went into Sicily, he gave to Speusippus, who had been his\r\nmost frequent companion while he was at Athens, Plato so arranging it, with the\r\nhope that Dion’s austere temper might be softened by agreeable company, with an\r\noccasional mixture of seasonable mirth. For Speusippus was of the character to\r\nafford him this; we find him spoken of in Timon’s Silli, as “good at a jest.”\r\nAnd Plato himself, as it happened, being called upon to furnish a chorus of\r\nboys, Dion took upon him the ordering and management of it, and defrayed the\r\nwhole expense, Plato giving him this opportunity to oblige the Athenians, which\r\nwas likely to procure his friend more kindness than himself credit. Dion went\r\nalso to see several other cities, visiting the noblest and most statemanlike\r\npersons in Greece, and joining in their recreations and entertainments in their\r\ntimes of festival. In all which, no sort of vulgar ignorance, or tyrannic\r\nassumption, or luxuriousness was remarked in him; but, on the contrary, a great\r\ndeal of temperance, generosity, and courage, and a well-becoming taste for\r\nreasoning and philosophic discourses. By which means he gained the love and\r\nadmiration of all men, and in many cities had public honors decreed him; the\r\nLacedaemonians making him a citizen of Sparta, without regard to the\r\ndispleasure of Dionysius, though at that time he was aiding them in their wars\r\nagainst the Thebans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is related that once, upon invitation, he went to pay a visit to Ptoeodorus\r\nthe Megarian, a man, it would seem, of wealth and importance; and when, on\r\naccount of the concourse of people about his doors, and the press of business,\r\nit was very troublesome and difficult to get access to him, turning about to\r\nhis friends who seemed concerned and angry at it, “What reason,” said he, “have\r\nwe to blame Ptoeodorus, when we ourselves used to do no better when we were at\r\nSyracuse?”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter some little time, Dionysius, envying Dion, and jealous of the favor and\r\ninterest he had among the Grecians, put a stop upon his incomes, and no longer\r\nsent him his revenues, making his own commissioners trustees of the estate.\r\nBut, endeavoring to obviate the ill-will and discredit which, upon Plato’s\r\naccount, might accrue to him among the philosophers, he collected in his court\r\nmany reputed learned men; and, ambitiously desiring to surpass them in their\r\ndebates he was forced to make use, often incorrectly, of arguments he had\r\npicked up from Plato. And now he wished for his company again, repenting he had\r\nnot made better use of it when he had it, and had given no greater heed to his\r\nadmirable lessons. Like a tyrant, therefore, inconsiderate in his desires,\r\nheadstrong and violent in whatever he took a will to, on a sudden he was\r\neagerly set on the design of recalling him, and left no stone unturned, but\r\naddressed himself to Archytas the Pythagorean (his acquaintance and friendly\r\nrelations with whom owed their origin to Plato), and persuaded him to stand as\r\nsurety for his engagements, and to request Plato to revisit Sicily.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nArchytas therefore sent Archedemus, and Dionysius some galleys, with divers\r\nfriends, to entreat his return; moreover, he wrote to him himself expressly and\r\nin plain terms, that Dion must never look for any favor or kindness, if Plato\r\nwould not be prevailed with to come into Sicily; but if Plato did come, Dion\r\nshould be assured of whatever he desired. Dion also received letters full of\r\nsolicitations from his sister and his wife, urging him to beg Plato to gratify\r\nDionysius in this request, and not give him an excuse for further ill-doing. So\r\nthat, as Plato says of himself, the third time he set sail for the Strait of\r\nScylla,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n“Venturing again Charybdis’s dangerous gulf.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThis arrival brought great joy to Dionysius, and no less hopes to the\r\nSicilians, who were earnest in their prayers and good wishes that Plato might\r\nget the better of Philistus, and philosophy triumph over tyranny. Neither was\r\nhe unbefriended by the women, who studied to oblige him; and he had with\r\nDionysius that peculiar credit which no man else ever obtained, namely, liberty\r\nto come into his presence without being examined or searched. When he would\r\nhave given him a considerable sum of money, and, on several repeated occasions,\r\nmade fresh offers, which Plato as often declined, Aristippus the Cyrenaean,\r\nthen present, said that Dionysius was very safe in his munificence, he gave\r\nlittle to those who were ready to take all they could get, and a great deal to\r\nPlato, who would accept of nothing.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the first compliments of kindness were over, when Plato began to\r\ndiscourse of Dion, he was at first diverted by excuses for delay, followed soon\r\nafter by complaints and disgusts, though not as yet observable to others,\r\nDionysius endeavoring to conceal them, and, by other civilities and honorable\r\nusage, to draw him off from his affection to Dion. And for some time Plato\r\nhimself was careful not to let anything of this dishonesty and breach of\r\npromise appear, but bore with it, and dissembled his annoyance. While matters\r\nstood thus between them, and, as they thought, they were unobserved and\r\nundiscovered, Helicon the Cyzicenian, one of Plato’s followers, foretold an\r\neclipse of the sun, which happened according to his prediction; for which he\r\nwas much admired by the tyrant, and rewarded with a talent of silver; whereupon\r\nAristippus, jesting with some others of the philosophers, told them, he also\r\ncould predict something extraordinary; and on their entreating him to declare\r\nit, “I foretell,” said he, “that before long there will be a quarrel between\r\nDionysius and Plato.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt length, Dionysius made sale of Dion’s estate, and converted the money to his\r\nown use, and removed Plato from an apartment he had in the gardens of the\r\npalace to lodgings among the guards he kept in pay, who from the first had\r\nhated Plato, and sought opportunity to make away with him, supposing he advised\r\nDionysius to lay down the government and disband his soldiers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Archytas understood the danger he was in, he immediately sent a galley\r\nwith messengers to demand him of Dionysius; alleging that he stood engaged for\r\nhis safety, upon the confidence of which Plato had come to Sicily. Dionysius,\r\nto palliate his secret hatred, before Plato came away, treated him with great\r\nentertainments and all seeming demonstrations of kindness, but could not\r\nforbear breaking out one day into the expression, “No doubt, Plato, when you\r\nare at home among the philosophers, your companions, you will complain of me,\r\nand reckon up a great many of my faults.” To which Plato answered with a smile,\r\n“The Academy will never, I trust, be at such a loss for subjects to discuss as\r\nto seek one in you.” Thus, they say, Plato was dismissed; but his own writings\r\ndo not altogether agree with this account.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDion was angry at all this, and not long after declared open enmity to\r\nDionysius, on hearing what had been done with his wife; on which matter Plato,\r\nalso, had had some confidential correspondence with Dionysius. Thus it was.\r\nAfter Dion’s banishment, Dionysius, when he sent Plato back, had desired him to\r\nask Dion privately, if he would be averse to his wife’s marrying another man,\r\nFor there went a report, whether true, or raised by Dion’s enemies, that his\r\nmarriage was not pleasing to him, and that he lived with his wife on uneasy\r\nterms. When Plato therefore came to Athens, and had mentioned the subject to\r\nDion, he wrote a letter to Dionysius, speaking of other matters openly, but on\r\nthis in language expressly designed to be understood by him alone, to the\r\neffect that he had talked with Dion about the business, and that it was evident\r\nhe would highly resent the affront, if it should be put into execution. At that\r\ntime, therefore, while there were yet great hopes of an accommodation, he took\r\nno new steps with his sister, suffering her to live with Dion’s child. But when\r\nthings were come to that pass, that no reconciliation could be expected, and\r\nPlato, after his second visit, was again sent away in displeasure, he then\r\nforced Arete, against her will, to marry Timocrates, one of his favorites; in\r\nthis action coming short even of his father’s justice and lenity; for he, when\r\nPolyxenus, the husband of his sister, Theste, became his enemy, and fled in\r\nalarm out of Sicily, sent for his sister, and taxed her, that, being privy to\r\nher husband’s flight, she had not declared it to him. But the lady, confident\r\nand fearless, made him this reply: “Do you believe me, brother, so bad a wife,\r\nor so timorous a woman, that, having known my husband’s flight, I would not\r\nhave borne him company, and shared his fortunes? I knew nothing of it; since\r\notherwise it had been my better lot to be called the wife of the exile\r\nPolyxenus, than the sister of the tyrant Dionysius.” It is said, he admired her\r\nfree and ready answer, as did the Syracusans, also, her courage and virtue,\r\ninsomuch that she retained her dignity and princely retinue after the\r\ndissolution of the tyranny, and, when she died, the citizens, by public decree,\r\nattended the solemnity of her funeral. And the story, though a digression from\r\nthe present purpose, was well worth the telling.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom this time, Dion set his mind upon warlike measures; with which Plato, out\r\nof respect for past hospitalities, and because of his age, would have nothing\r\nto do. But Speusippus and the rest of his friends assisted and encouraged him,\r\nbidding him deliver Sicily, which with lift-up hands implored his help, and\r\nwith open arms was ready to receive him. For when Plato was staying at\r\nSyracuse, Speusippus, being oftener than he in company with the citizens, had\r\nmore thoroughly made out how they were inclined; and though at first they had\r\nbeen on their guard, suspecting his bold language, as though he had been set on\r\nby the tyrant to trepan them, yet at length they trusted him. There was but one\r\nmind and one wish or prayer among them all, that Dion would undertake the\r\ndesign, and come, though without either navy, men, horse, or arms; that he\r\nwould simply put himself aboard any ship, and lend the Sicilians his person and\r\nname against Dionysius. This information from Speusippus encouraged Dion, who,\r\nconcealing his real purpose, employed his friends privately to raise what men\r\nthey could; and many statesmen and philosophers were assisting to him, as, for\r\ninstance, Eudemus the Cyprian, on whose death Aristotle wrote his Dialogue of\r\nthe Soul, and Timonides the Leucadian. They also engaged on his side Miltas the\r\nThessalian, who was a prophet, and had studied in the Academy. But of all that\r\nwere banished by Dionysius, who were not fewer than a thousand, five and twenty\r\nonly joined in the enterprise; the rest were afraid, and abandoned it. The\r\nrendezvous was in the island Zacynthus, where a small force of not quite eight\r\nhundred men came together, all of them, however, persons already distinguished\r\nin plenty of previous hard service, their bodies well trained and practiced,\r\nand their experience and courage amply sufficient to animate and embolden to\r\naction the numbers whom Dion expected to join him in Sicily.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet these men, when they first understood the expedition was against Dionysius,\r\nwere troubled and disheartened, blaming Dion, that, hurried on like a madman by\r\nmere passion and despair, he rashly threw both himself and them into certain\r\nruin. Nor were they less angry with their commanders and muster-masters, that\r\nthey had not in the beginning let them know the design. But when Dion in his\r\naddress to them had set forth the unsafe and weak condition of arbitrary\r\ngovernment, and declared that he carried them rather for commanders than\r\nsoldiers, the citizens of Syracuse and the rest of the Sicilians having been\r\nlong ready for a revolt, and when, after him, Alcimenes, an Achaean of the\r\nhighest birth and reputation, who accompanied the expedition, harangued them to\r\nthe same effect, they were contented.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was now the middle of summer, and the Etesian winds blowing steadily on the\r\nseas, the moon was at the full, when Dion prepared a magnificent sacrifice to\r\nApollo; and with great solemnity marched his soldiers to the temple in all\r\ntheir arms and accouterments. And after the sacrifice, he feasted them all in\r\nthe race-course of the Zacynthians, where he had made provision for their\r\nentertainment. And when here they beheld with wonder the quantity and the\r\nrichness of the gold and silver plate, and the tables laid to entertain them,\r\nall far exceeding the fortunes of a private man, they concluded with\r\nthemselves, that a man now past the prime of life, who was master of so much\r\ntreasure, would not engage himself in so hazardous an enterprise without good\r\nreason of hope, and certain and sufficient assurances of aid from friends over\r\nthere. Just after the libations were made, and the accompanying prayers\r\noffered, the moon was eclipsed; which was no wonder to Dion, who understood the\r\nrevolutions of eclipses, and the way in which the moon is overshadowed and the\r\nearth interposed between her and the sun. But because it was necessary that the\r\nsoldiers, who were surprised and troubled at it, should be satisfied and\r\nencouraged, Miltas the diviner, standing up in the midst of the assembly, bade\r\nthem be of good cheer, and expect all happy success, for that the divine powers\r\nforeshowed that something at present glorious and resplendent should be\r\neclipsed and obscured; nothing at this time being more splendid than the\r\nsovereignty of Dionysius, their arrival in Sicily should dim this glory, and\r\nextinguish this brightness. Thus Miltas, in public, descanted upon the\r\nincident. But concerning a swarm of bees which settled on the poop of Dion’s\r\nship, he privately told him and his friends, that he feared the great actions\r\nthey were like to perform, though for a time they should thrive and flourish,\r\nwould be of short continuance, and soon suffer a decay. It is reported, also,\r\nthat many prodigies happened to Dionysius at that time. An eagle, snatching a\r\njavelin from one of the guard, carried it aloft, and from thence let it fall\r\ninto the sea. The water of the sea that washed the castle walls was for a whole\r\nday sweet and potable, as many that tasted it experienced. Pigs were farrowed\r\nperfect in all their other parts, but without ears. This the diviners declared\r\nto portend revolt and rebellion, for that the subjects would no longer give ear\r\nto the commands of their superiors. They expounded the sweetness of the water\r\nto signify to the Syracusans a change from hard and grievous times into easier\r\nand more happy circumstances. The eagle being the bird of Jupiter, and the\r\nspear an emblem of power and command, this prodigy was to denote that the chief\r\nof the gods designed the end and dissolution of the present government. These\r\nthings Theopompus relates in his history.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTwo ships of burden carried all Dion’s men; a third vessel, of no great size,\r\nand two galleys of thirty oars attended them. In addition to his soldiers’ own\r\narms, he carried two thousand shields, a very great number of darts and lances,\r\nand abundant stores of all manner of provisions, that there might be no want of\r\nanything in their voyage; their purpose being to keep out at sea during the\r\nwhole voyage, and use the winds, since all the land was hostile to them, and\r\nPhilistus, they had been told, was in Iapygia with a fleet, looking out for\r\nthem. Twelve days they sailed with a fresh and gentle breeze; on the\r\nthirteenth, they made Pachynus, the Sicilian cape. There Protus, the chief\r\npilot, advised them to land at once and without delay, for if they were forced\r\nagain from the shore, and did not take advantage of the headland, they might\r\nride out at sea many nights and days, waiting for a southerly wind in the\r\nsummer season. But Dion, fearing a descent too near his enemies, and desirous\r\nto begin at a greater distance, and further on in the country, sailed on past\r\nPachynus. They had not gone far, before stress of weather, the wind blowing\r\nhard at north, drove the fleet from the coast; and it being now about the time\r\nthat Arcturus rises, a violent storm of wind and rain came on, with thunder and\r\nlightning, the mariners were at their wits’ end, and ignorant what course they\r\nran, until on a sudden they found they were driving with the sea on Cercina,\r\nthe island on the coast of Africa, just where it is most craggy and dangerous\r\nto run upon. Upon the cliffs there they escaped narrowly of being forced and\r\nstaved to pieces; but, laboring hard at their oars, with much difficulty they\r\nkept clear until the storm ceased. Then, lighting by chance upon a vessel, they\r\nunderstood they were upon the Heads, as it is called, of the Great Syrtis; and\r\nwhen they were now again disheartened by a sudden calm, and beating to and fro\r\nwithout making any way, a soft air began to blow from the land, when they\r\nexpected anything rather than wind from the south and scarce believed the happy\r\nchange of their fortune. The gale gradually increasing, and beginning to blow\r\nfresh, they clapped on all their sails, and, praying to the gods, put out again\r\ninto the open sea, steering right from Africa for Sicily. And, running steady\r\nbefore the wind, the fifth day they arrived at Minoa, a little town of Sicily,\r\nin the dominion of the Carthaginians, of which Synalus, an acquaintance and\r\nfriend of Dion’s, happened at that time to be governor; who, not knowing it was\r\nDion and his fleet, endeavored to hinder his men from landing; but they rushed\r\non shore with their swords in their hands, not slaying any of their opponents\r\n(for this Dion had forbidden, because of his friendship with the\r\nCarthaginians), but forced them to retreat, and, following close, pressed in a\r\nbody with them into the place, and took it. As soon as the two commanders met,\r\nthey mutually saluted each other; Dion delivered up the place again to Synalus,\r\nwithout the least damage done to anyone therein, and Synalus quartered and\r\nentertained the soldiers, and supplied Dion with what he wanted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey were most of all encouraged by the happy accident of Dionysius’s absence\r\nat this nick of time; for it appeared that he was lately gone with eighty sail\r\nof ships to Italy. Therefore, when Dion was desirous that the soldiers should\r\nrefresh themselves there, after their tedious and troublesome voyage, they\r\nwould not be prevailed with, but, earnest to make the best use of that\r\nopportunity, they urged Dion to lead them straight on to Syracuse. Leaving\r\ntherefore their baggage, and the arms they did not use, Dion desired Synalus to\r\nconvey them to him as he had occasion, and marched directly to Syracuse.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe first that came in to him upon his march were two hundred horse of the\r\nAgrigentines who were settled near Ecnomum, and, after them, the Geloans. But\r\nthe news soon flying to Syracuse, Timocrates, who had married Dion’s wife, the\r\nsister of Dionysius, and was the principal man among his friends now remaining\r\nin the city, immediately dispatched a courier to Dionysius with letters\r\nannouncing Dion’s arrival; while he himself took all possible care to prevent\r\nany stir or tumult in the city, where all were in great excitement, but as yet\r\ncontinued quiet, fearing to give too much credit to what was reported. A very\r\nstrange accident happened to the messenger who was sent with the letters; for\r\nbeing arrived in Italy, as he traveled through the land of Rhegium, hastening\r\nto Dionysius at Caulonia, he met one of his acquaintance, who was carrying home\r\npart of a sacrifice. He accepted a piece of the flesh, which his friend offered\r\nhim, and proceeded on his journey with all speed; having traveled a good part\r\nof the night, and being through weariness forced to take a little rest, he laid\r\nhimself down in the next convenient place he came to, which was in a wood near\r\nthe road. A wolf, scenting the flesh, came and seized it as it lay fastened to\r\nthe letter-bag, and with the flesh carried away the bag also, in which were the\r\nletters to Dionysius. The man, awaking and missing his bag, sought for it up\r\nand down a great while, and, not finding it, resolved not to go to the king\r\nwithout his letters, but to conceal himself, and keep out of the way.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDionysius, therefore, came to hear of the war in Sicily from other hands, and\r\nthat a good while after. In the meantime, as Dion proceeded in his march, the\r\nCamarineans joined his forces, and the country people in the territory of\r\nSyracuse rose and joined him in a large body. The Leontines and Campanians,\r\nwho, with Timocrates, guarded the Epipolae, receiving a false alarm which was\r\nspread on purpose by Dion, as if he intended to attack their cities first, left\r\nTimocrates, and hastened off to carry succor to their own homes. News of which\r\nbeing brought to Dion, where he lay near Macrae, he raised his camp by night,\r\nand came to the river Anapus, which is distant from the city about ten\r\nfurlongs; there he made a halt, and sacrificed by the river, offering vows to\r\nthe rising sun. The soothsayers declared that the gods promised him victory;\r\nand they that were present, seeing him assisting at the sacrifice with a\r\ngarland on his head, one and all crowned themselves with garlands. There were\r\nabout five thousand that had joined his forces in their march; who, though but\r\nill-provided, with such weapons as came next to hand, made up by zeal and\r\ncourage for the want of better arms; and when once they were told to advance,\r\nas if Dion were already conqueror, they ran forward with shouts and\r\nacclamations, encouraging each other with the hopes of liberty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe most considerable men and better sort of the citizens of Syracuse, clad all\r\nin white, met him at the gates. The populace set upon all that were of\r\nDionysius’s party, and principally searched for those they called setters or\r\ninformers, a number of wicked and hateful wretches, who made it their business\r\nto go up and down the city, thrusting themselves into all companies, that they\r\nmight inform Dionysius what men said, and how they stood affected. These were\r\nthe first that suffered, being beaten to death by the crowd. Timocrates, not\r\nbeing able to force his way to the garrison that kept the castle, took horse,\r\nand fled out of the city, filling all the places where he came with fear and\r\nconfusion, magnifying the amount of Dion’s forces, that he might not be\r\nsupposed to have deserted his charge without good reason for it. By this time,\r\nDion was come up, and appeared in the sight of the people; he marched first in\r\na rich suit of arms, and by him on one hand his brother, Megacles, on the\r\nother, Callippus the Athenian, crowned with garlands. Of the foreign soldiers,\r\na hundred followed as his guard, and their several officers led the rest in\r\ngood order; the Syracusans looking on and welcoming them, as if they believed\r\nthe whole to be a sacred and religious procession, to celebrate the solemn\r\nentrance, after an absence of forty-eight years, of liberty and popular\r\ngovernment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDion entered by the Menitid gate, and, having by sound of trumpet quieted the\r\nnoise of the people, he caused proclamation to be made, that Dion and Megacles,\r\nwho were come to overthrow the tyrannical government, did declare the\r\nSyracusans and all other Sicilians to be free from the tyrant. But, being\r\ndesirous to harangue the people himself, he went up through the Achradina. The\r\ncitizens on each side the way brought victims for sacrifice, set out their\r\ntables and goblets, and as he passed by each door threw flowers and ornaments\r\nupon him, with vows and acclamations, honoring him as a god. There was under\r\nthe castle and the Pentapyla a lofty and conspicuous sundial, which Dionysius\r\nhad set up. Getting up upon the top of that, he made an oration to the people,\r\ncalling upon them to maintain and defend their liberty; who, with great\r\nexpressions of joy and acknowledgment, created Dion and Megacles generals, with\r\nplenary powers, joining in commission with them, at their desire and entreaty,\r\ntwenty colleagues, of whom half were of those that had returned with them out\r\nof banishment. It seemed also to the diviners a most happy omen, that Dion,\r\nwhen he made his address to the people, had under his feet the stately monument\r\nwhich Dionysius had been at such pains to erect; but because it was a sundial\r\non which he stood when he was made general, they expressed some fears that the\r\ngreat actions he had performed might be subject to change, and admit some rapid\r\nturn and declination of fortune.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Dion, taking the Epipolae, released the citizens who were\r\nimprisoned there, and then raised a wall to invest the castle. Seven days\r\nafter, Dionysus arrived by sea, and got into the citadel, and about the same\r\ntime came carriages bringing the arms and ammunition which Dion had left with\r\nSynalus. These he distributed among the citizens; and the rest that wanted\r\nfurnished themselves as well as they could, and put themselves in the condition\r\nof zealous and serviceable men-at-arms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDionysius sent agents, at first privately, to Dion, to try what terms they\r\ncould make with him. But he declaring that any overtures they had to make must\r\nbe made in public to the Syracusans as a free people, envoys now went and came\r\nbetween the tyrant and the people, with fair proposals, and assurances that\r\nthey should have abatements of their tributes and taxes, and freedom from the\r\nburdens of military expeditions, all which should be made according to their\r\nown approbation and consent with him. The Syracusans laughed at these offers,\r\nand Dion returned answer to the envoys that Dionysius must not think to treat\r\nwith them upon any other terms but resigning the government; which if he would\r\nactually do, he would not forget how nearly he was related to him, or be\r\nwanting to assist him in procuring oblivion for the past, and whatever else was\r\nreasonable and just. Dionysius seemed to consent to this, and sent his agents\r\nagain, desiring some of the Syracusans to come into the citadel and discuss\r\nwith him in person the terms to which on each side they might be willing, after\r\nfair debate, to consent. There were therefore some deputed, such as Dion\r\napproved of; and the general rumor from the castle was, that Dionysius would\r\nvoluntarily resign his authority, and rather do it himself as his own good\r\ndeed, than let it be the act of Dion. But this profession was a mere trick to\r\namuse the Syracusans. For he put the deputies that were sent to him in custody,\r\nand by break of day, having first, to encourage his men, made them drink\r\nplentifully of raw wine, he sent the garrison of mercenaries out to make a\r\nsudden sally against Dion’s works. The attack was quite unexpected, and the\r\nbarbarians set to work boldly with loud cries to pull down the cross-wall, and\r\nassailed the Syracusans so furiously that they were not able to maintain their\r\npost. Only a party of Dion’s hired soldiers, on first taking the alarm,\r\nadvanced to the rescue; neither did they at first know what to do, or how to\r\nemploy the aid they brought, not being able to hear the commands of their\r\nofficers, amidst the noise and confusion of the Syracusans, who fled from the\r\nenemy and ran in among them, breaking through their ranks, until Dion, seeing\r\nnone of his orders could be heard, resolved to let them see by example what\r\nthey ought to do, and charged into the thickest of the enemy. The fight about\r\nhim was fierce and bloody, he being as well known by the enemy as by his own\r\nparty, and all running with loud cries to the quarter where he fought. Though\r\nhis time of life was no longer that of the bodily strength and agility for such\r\na combat, still his determination and courage were sufficient to maintain him\r\nagainst all that attacked him; but, while bravely driving them back, he was\r\nwounded in the hand with a lance, his body armor also had been much battered,\r\nand was scarcely any longer serviceable to protect him, either against missiles\r\nor blows hand to hand. Many spears and javelins had passed into it through the\r\nshield, and, on these being broken back, he fell to the ground, but was\r\nimmediately rescued, and carried off by his soldiers. The command-in-chief he\r\nleft to Timonides, and, mounting a horse, rode about the city, rallying the\r\nSyracusans that fled; and, ordering up a detachment of the foreign soldiers out\r\nof Achradina, where they were posted on guard, he brought them as a fresh\r\nreserve, eager for battle, upon the tired and failing enemy, who were already\r\nwell inclined to give up their design. For having hopes at their first sally to\r\nretake the whole city, when beyond their expectation they found themselves\r\nengaged with bold and practiced fighters, they fell back towards the castle. As\r\nsoon as they gave ground, the Greek soldiers pressed the harder upon them, till\r\nthey turned and fled within the walls. There were lost in this action\r\nseventy-four of Dion’s men, and a very great number of the enemy. This being a\r\nsignal victory, and principally obtained by the valor of the foreign soldiers,\r\nthe Syracusans rewarded them in honor of it with a hundred minae, and the\r\nsoldiers on their part presented Dion with a crown of gold.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSoon after, there came heralds from Dionysius, bringing Dion letters from the\r\nwomen of his family, and one addressed outside, “To his father, from\r\nHipparinus;” this was the name of Dion’s son, though Timaeus says, he was, from\r\nhis mother Arete’s name, called Aretaeus; but I think credit is rather to be\r\ngiven to Timonides’s report, who was his father’s fellow-soldier and confidant.\r\nThe rest of the letters were read publicly, containing many solicitations and\r\nhumble requests of the women; that professing to be from his son, the heralds\r\nwould not have them open publicly, but Dion, putting force upon them, broke the\r\nseal. It was from Dionysius, written in the terms of it to Dion, but in effect\r\nto the Syracusans, and so worded that, under a plausible justification of\r\nhimself and entreaty to him, means were taken for rendering him suspected by\r\nthe people. It reminded him of the good service he had formerly done the\r\nusurping government, it added threats to his dearest relations, his sister,\r\nson, and wife, if he did not comply with the contents, also passionate demands\r\nmingled with lamentations, and, most to the purpose of all, urgent\r\nrecommendations to him not to destroy the government, and put the power into\r\nthe hands of men who always hated him, and would never forget their old piques\r\nand quarrels; let him take the sovereignty himself, and so secure the safety of\r\nhis family and his friends.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen this letter was read, the Syracusans were not, as they should have been,\r\ntransported with admiration at the unmovable constancy and magnanimity of Dion,\r\nwho withstood all his dearest interests to be true to virtue and justice, but,\r\non the contrary, they saw in this their reason for fearing and suspecting that\r\nhe lay under an invincible necessity to be favorable to Dionysius; and they\r\nbegan therefore to look out for other leaders, and the rather, because to their\r\ngreat joy they received the news that Heraclides was on his way. This\r\nHeraclides was one of those whom Dionysius had banished, very good soldier, and\r\nwell known for the commands he had formerly had under the tyrant; yet a man of\r\nno constant purpose, of a fickle temper, and least of all to be relied upon\r\nwhen he had to act with a colleague in any honorable command. He had had a\r\ndifference formerly with Dion in Peloponnesus, and had resolved, upon his own\r\nmeans, with what ships and soldiers he had, to make an attack upon Dionysius.\r\nWhen he arrived at Syracuse, with seven galleys and three small vessels, he\r\nfound Dionysius already close besieged, and the Syracusans high and proud of\r\ntheir victories. Forthwith, therefore, he endeavored by all ways to make\r\nhimself popular; and, indeed, he had in him naturally something that was very\r\ninsinuating and taking with a populace that loves to be courted. He gained his\r\nend, also, the easier, and drew the people over to his side, because of the\r\ndislike they had taken to Dion’s grave and stately manner, which they thought\r\noverbearing and assuming; their successes having made them so careless and\r\nconfident, that they expected popular arts and flatteries from their leaders,\r\nbefore they had in reality secured a popular government.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nGetting therefore together in an irregular assembly, they chose Heraclides\r\ntheir admiral; but when Dion came forward, and told them, that conferring this\r\ntrust upon Heraclides was in effect to withdraw that which they had granted\r\nhim, for he was no longer their generalissimo if another had the command of the\r\nnavy, they repealed their order, and, though much against their wills, canceled\r\nthe new appointment. When this business was over, Dion invited Heraclides to\r\nhis house, and pointed out to him, in gentle terms, that he had not acted\r\nwisely or well to quarrel with him upon a punctilio of honor, at a time when\r\nthe least false step might be the ruin of all; and then, calling a fresh\r\nassembly of the people, he there named Heraclides admiral, and prevailed with\r\nthe citizens to allow him a life-guard, as he himself had.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHeraclides openly professed the highest respect for Dion, and made him great\r\nacknowledgments for this favor, attending him with all deference, as ready to\r\nreceive his commands; but underhand he kept up his dealings with the populace\r\nand the unrulier citizens, unsettling their minds and disturbing them with his\r\ncomplaints, and putting Dion into the utmost perplexity and disquiet. For if he\r\nadvised to give Dionysius leave to quit the castle, he would be exposed to the\r\nimputation of sparing and protecting him; if, to avoid giving offense or\r\nsuspicion, he simply continued the siege, they would say he protracted the war,\r\nto keep his office of general the longer, and overawe the citizens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was one Sosis, notorious in the city for his bad conduct and his\r\nimpudence, yet a favorite with the people, for the very reason that they liked\r\nto see it made a part of popular privileges to carry free speech to this excess\r\nof license. This man, out of a design against Dion, stood up one day in an\r\nassembly, and, having sufficiently railed at the citizens as a set of fools,\r\nthat could not see how they had made an exchange of a dissolute and drunken for\r\na sober and watchful despotism, and thus having publicly declared himself\r\nDion’s enemy, took his leave. The next day, he was seen running through the\r\nstreets, as if he fled from some that pursued him, almost naked, wounded in the\r\nhead, and bloody all over. In this condition, getting people about him in the\r\nmarketplace, he told them that he had been assaulted by Dion’s men; and, to\r\nconfirm what he said, showed them the wounds he had received in his head. And a\r\ngood many took his part, exclaiming loudly against Dion for his cruel and\r\ntyrannical conduct, stopping the mouths of the people by bloodshed and peril of\r\nlife. Just as an assembly was gathering in this unsettled and tumultuous state\r\nof mind, Dion came before them, and made it appear how this Sosis was brother\r\nto one of Dionysius’s guard, and that he was set on by him to embroil the city\r\nin tumult and confusion; Dionysius having now no way left for his security but\r\nto make his advantage of their dissensions and distractions. The surgeons,\r\nalso, having searched the wound, found it was rather razed, than cut with a\r\ndownright blow; for the wounds made with a sword are, from their mere weight,\r\nmost commonly deepest in the middle, but this was very slight, and all along of\r\nan equal depth; and it was not one continued wound, as if cut at once, but\r\nseveral incisions, in all probability made at several times, as he was able to\r\nendure the pain. There were credible persons, also, who brought a razor, and\r\nshowed it in the assembly, stating that they met Sosis running in the street,\r\nall bloody, who told them that he was flying from Dion’s soldiers, who had just\r\nattacked and wounded him; they ran at once to look after them, and met no one,\r\nbut spied this razor lying under a hollow stone near the place from which they\r\nobserved he came.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSosis was now likely to come by the worst of it. But when, to back all this,\r\nhis own servants came in, and gave evidence that he had left his house alone\r\nbefore break of day, with the razor in his hand, Dion’s accusers withdrew\r\nthemselves, and the people by a general vote condemned Sosis to die, being once\r\nagain well satisfied with Dion and his proceedings.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet they were still as jealous as before of his soldiers, and the rather,\r\nbecause the war was now carried on principally by sea; Philistus being come\r\nfrom Iapygia with a great fleet to Dionysius’s assistance. They supposed,\r\ntherefore, that there would be no longer need of the soldiers, who were all\r\nlandsmen and armed accordingly: these were rather, indeed, they thought, in a\r\ncondition to be protected by themselves, who were seamen, and had their power\r\nin their shipping. Their good opinion of themselves was also much enhanced by\r\nan advantage they got in an engagement by sea, in which they took Philistus\r\nprisoner, and used him in a barbarous and cruel manner. Ephorus relates that\r\nwhen he saw his ship was taken he slew himself. But Timonides, who was with\r\nDion from the very first, and was present at all the events as they occurred,\r\nwriting to Speusippus the philosopher, relates the story thus: that Philistus’s\r\ngalley running aground, he was taken prisoner alive, and first disarmed, then\r\nstripped of his corslet, and exposed naked, being now an old man, to every kind\r\nof contumely; after which they cut off his head, and gave his body to the boys\r\nof the town, bidding them drag it through the Achradina, and then throw it into\r\nthe Quarries. Timaeus, to increase the mockery, adds further, that the boys\r\ntied him by his lame leg, and so drew him through the streets, while the\r\nSyracusans stood by laughing and jesting at the sight of that very man thus\r\ntied and dragged about by the leg, who had told Dionysius, that, so far from\r\nflying on horseback from Syracuse, he ought to wait till he should be dragged\r\nout by the heels. Philistus, however, has stated, that this was said to\r\nDionysius by another, and not by himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTimaeus avails himself of this advantage, which Philistus truly enough affords\r\nagainst himself in his zealous and constant adherence to the tyranny, to vent\r\nhis own spleen and malice against him. They, indeed, who were injured by him at\r\nthe time are perhaps excusable, if they carried their resentment to the length\r\nof indignities to his dead body; but they who write history afterwards, and\r\nwere noway wronged by him in his lifetime, and have received assistance from\r\nhis writings, in honor should not with opprobrious and scurrilous language\r\nupbraid him for those misfortunes, which may well enough befall even the best\r\nof men. On the other side, Ephorus is as much out of the way in his encomiums.\r\nFor, however ingenious he is in supplying unjust acts and wicked conduct with\r\nfair and worthy motives, and in selecting decorous and honorable terms, yet\r\nwhen he does his best, he does not himself stand clear of the charge of being\r\nthe greatest lover of tyrants, and the fondest admirer of luxury and power and\r\nrich estates and alliances of marriage with absolute princes. He that neither\r\npraises Philistus for his conduct, nor insults over his misfortunes, seems to\r\nme to take the fittest course.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter Philistus’s death, Dionysius sent to Dion, offering to surrender the\r\ncastle, all the arms, provisions, and garrison-soldiers, with full pay for them\r\nfor five months, demanding in return that he might have safe conduct to go\r\nunmolested into Italy, and there to continue, and also to enjoy the revenues of\r\nGyarta, a large and fruitful territory belonging to Syracuse, reaching from the\r\nsea-side to the middle of the country. Dion rejected these proposals, and\r\nreferred him to the Syracusans. They, hoping in a short time to take Dionysius\r\nalive, dismissed his ambassadors summarily. But he, leaving his eldest son,\r\nApollocrates, to defend the castle, and putting on board his ships the persons\r\nand the property that he set most value upon, took the opportunity of a fair\r\nwind, and made his escape, undiscovered by the admiral Heraclides and his\r\nfleet.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe citizens loudly exclaimed against Heraclides for this neglect; but he got\r\none of their public speakers, Hippo by name, to go among them, and make\r\nproposals to the assembly for a redivision of lands, alleging that the first\r\nbeginning of liberty was equality, and that poverty and slavery were\r\ninseparable companions. In support of this, Heraclides spoke, and used the\r\nfaction in favor of it to overpower Dion, who opposed it; and, in fine, he\r\npersuaded the people to ratify it by their vote, and further to decree, that\r\nthe foreign soldiers should receive no pay, and that they would elect new\r\ncommanders, and so be rid of Dion’s oppression. The people, attempting, as it\r\nwere, after their long sickness of despotism, all at once to stand on their\r\nlegs, and to do the part, for which they were yet unfit, of freemen, stumbled\r\nin all their actions; and yet hated Dion, who, like a good physician,\r\nendeavored to keep the city to a strict and temperate regimen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen they met in the assembly to choose their commanders, about the middle of\r\nsummer, unusual and terrible thunders, with other inauspicious appearances, for\r\nfifteen days together, dispersed the people, deterring them, on grounds of\r\nreligious fear, from creating new generals. But, at last, the popular leaders,\r\nhaving found a fair and clear day, and having got their party together, were\r\nproceeding to an election, when a draught-ox, who was used to the crowd and\r\nnoise of the streets, but for some reason or other grew unruly to his driver,\r\nbreaking from his yoke, ran furiously into the theater where they were\r\nassembled, and set the people flying and running in all directions before him\r\nin the greatest disorder and confusion; and from thence went on, leaping and\r\nrushing about, over all that part of the city which the enemies afterwards made\r\nthemselves masters of. However, the Syracusans, not regarding all this, elected\r\nfive and twenty captains, and, among the rest, Heraclides; and underhand\r\ntampered with Dion’s men, promising, if they would desert him, and enlist\r\nthemselves in their service, to make them citizens of Syracuse, with all the\r\nprivileges of natives. But they would not hear the proposals, but, to show\r\ntheir fidelity and courage, with their swords in their hands, placing Dion for\r\nhis security in the midst of their battalion, conveyed him out of the city, not\r\noffering violence to anyone, but upbraiding those they met with their baseness\r\nand ingratitude. The citizens, seeing they were but few, and did not offer any\r\nviolence, despised them; and, supposing that with their large numbers they\r\nmight with ease overpower and cut them off before they got out of the city,\r\nfell upon them in the rear.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHere Dion was in a great strait, being necessitated either to fight against his\r\nown countrymen, or tamely suffer himself and his faithful soldiers to be cut in\r\npieces. He used many entreaties to the Syracusans, stretching out his hands\r\ntowards the castle, that was full of their enemies, and showing them the\r\nsoldiers, who in great numbers appeared on the walls and watched what was\r\ndoing. But when no persuasions could divert the impulse of the multitude, and\r\nthe whole mass, like the sea in a storm, seemed to be driven before the breath\r\nof the demagogues, he commanded his men, not to charge them, but to advance\r\nwith shouts and clashing of their arms; which being done, not a man of them\r\nstood his ground; all fled at once through the streets, though none pursued\r\nthem. For Dion immediately commanded his men to face about, and led them\r\ntowards the city of the Leontines.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe very women laughed at the new captains for this retreat; so to redeem their\r\ncredit, they bid the citizens arm themselves again, and followed after Dion,\r\nand came up with him as he was passing a river. Some of the light-horse rode up\r\nand began to skirmish. But when they saw Dion no more tame and calm, and no\r\nsigns in his face of any fatherly tenderness towards his countrymen, but with\r\nan angry countenance, as resolved not to suffer their indignities any longer,\r\nbidding his men face round and form in their ranks for the onset, they\r\npresently turned their backs more basely than before, and fled to the city,\r\nwith the loss of some few of their men.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Leontines received Dion very honorably, gave money to his men, and made\r\nthem free of their city; sending envoys to the Syracusans, to require them to\r\ndo the soldiers justice, who, in return, sent back other agents to accuse Dion.\r\nBut when a general meeting of the confederates met in the town of the\r\nLeontines, and the matter was heard and debated, the Syracusans were held to be\r\nin fault. They, however, refused to stand to the award of their allies,\r\nfollowing their own conceit, and making it their pride to listen to no one, and\r\nnot to have any commanders but those who would fear and obey the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout this time, Dionysius sent in a fleet, under the command of Nypsius the\r\nNeapolitan, with provisions and pay for the garrison. The Syracusans fought\r\nhim, had the better, and took four of his ships; but they made very ill use of\r\ntheir good success, and, for want of good discipline, fell in their joy to\r\ndrinking and feasting in an extravagant manner, with so little regard to their\r\nmain interest, that, when they thought themselves sure of taking the castle,\r\nthey actually lost their city. Nypsius, seeing the citizens in this general\r\ndisorder, spending day and night in their drunken singing and reveling, and\r\ntheir commanders well pleased with the frolic, or at least not daring to try\r\nand give any orders to men in their drink, took advantage of this opportunity,\r\nmade a sally, and stormed their works; and, having made his way through these,\r\nlet his barbarians loose upon the city, giving up it and all that were in it to\r\ntheir pleasure.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Syracusans quickly saw their folly and misfortune, but could not, in the\r\ndistraction they were in, so soon redress it. The city was in actual process of\r\nbeing sacked, the enemy putting the men to the sword, demolishing the\r\nfortifications, and dragging the women and children with lamentable shrieks and\r\ncries prisoners into the castle. The commanders, giving all for lost, were not\r\nable to put the citizens in any tolerable posture of defense, finding them\r\nconfusedly mixed up and scattered among the enemy. While they were in this\r\ncondition, and the Achradina in danger to be taken, everyone was sensible who\r\nhe was in whom all their remaining hopes rested, but no man for shame durst\r\nname Dion, whom they had so ungratefully and foolishly dealt with. Necessity at\r\nlast forcing them, some of the auxiliary troops and horsemen cried out, “Send\r\nfor Dion and his Peloponnesians from the Leontines.” No sooner was the venture\r\nmade and the name heard among the people, but they gave a shout for joy, and,\r\nwith tears in their eyes, wished him there, that they might once again see that\r\nleader at the head of them, whose courage and bravery in the worst of dangers\r\nthey well remembered, calling to mind not only with what an undaunted spirit he\r\nalways behaved himself, but also with what courage and confidence he inspired\r\nthem when he led them against the enemy. They immediately, therefore,\r\ndispatched Archonides and Telesides of the confederate troops, and of the\r\nhorsemen Hellanicus and four others. These, traversing the road between at\r\ntheir horses’ full speed, reached the town of the Leontines in the evening. The\r\nfirst thing they did was to leap from their horses and fall at Dion’s feet,\r\nrelating with tears the sad condition the Syracusans were in. Many of the\r\nLeontines and Peloponnesians began to throng about them, guessing by their\r\nspeed and the manner of their address that something extraordinary had\r\noccurred.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDion at once led the way to the assembly, and, the people being gathered\r\ntogether in a very little time, Archonides and Hellanicus and the others came\r\nin among them, and in short declared the misery and distress of the Syracusans,\r\nbegging the foreign soldiers to forget the injuries they had received, and\r\nassist the afflicted, who had suffered more for the wrong they had done, than\r\nthey themselves who received it would (had it been in their power) have\r\ninflicted upon them. When they had made an end, there was a profound silence in\r\nthe theater; Dion then stood up, and began to speak, but tears stopped his\r\nwords; his soldiers were troubled at his grief, but bade him take good courage\r\nand proceed. When he had recovered himself a little, therefore, “Men of\r\nPeloponnesus,” he said, “and of the confederacy, I asked for your presence\r\nhere, that you might consider your own interests. For myself, I have no\r\ninterests to consult while Syracuse is perishing, and, though I may not save it\r\nfrom destruction, I will nevertheless hasten thither, and be buried in the\r\nruins of my country. Yet if you can find in your hearts to assist us, the most\r\ninconsiderate and unfortunate of men, you may to your eternal honor again\r\nretrieve this unhappy city. But if the Syracusans can obtain no more pity nor\r\nrelief from you, may the gods reward you for what you have formerly valiantly\r\ndone for them, and for your kindness to Dion, of whom speak hereafter as one\r\nwho deserted you not when you were injured and abused, nor afterwards forsook\r\nhis fellow-citizens in their afflictions and misfortunes.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBefore he had yet ended his speech, the soldiers leapt up, and with a great\r\nshout testified their readiness for the service, crying out, to march\r\nimmediately to the relief of the city. The Syracusan messengers hugged and\r\nembraced them, praying the Gods to send down blessings upon Dion and the\r\nPeloponnesians. When the noise was pretty well over, Dion gave orders that all\r\nshould go to their quarters to prepare for their march, and, having refreshed\r\nthemselves, come ready armed to their rendezvous in the place where they now\r\nwere, resolving that very night to attempt the rescue.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow at Syracuse, Dionysius’s soldiers, as long as day continued, ransacked the\r\ncity, and did all the mischief they could; but when night came on, they retired\r\ninto the castle, having lost some few of their number. At which the factious\r\nringleaders taking heart, and hoping the enemy would rest content with what\r\nthey had done and make no further attempt upon them, persuaded the people again\r\nto reject Dion, and, if he came with the foreign soldiers, not to admit him;\r\nadvising them not to yield, as inferior to them in point of honor and courage,\r\nbut to save their city and defend their liberties and properties themselves.\r\nThe populace, therefore, and their leaders sent messengers to Dion to forbid\r\nhim to advance, while the noble citizens and the horse sent others to him to\r\ndesire him to hasten his march; for which reason he slacked his pace, yet did\r\nnot remit his advance. And in the course of the night, the faction that was\r\nagainst him set a guard upon the gates of the city to hinder him from coming\r\nin. But Nypsius made another sally out of the castle with a far greater number\r\nof men, and those far more bold and eager than before, who quite ruined what of\r\nthe rampart was left standing, and fell in, pell-mell, to sack and ravage the\r\ncity. The slaughter was now very great, not only of the men, but of the women\r\nalso and children; for they regarded not so much the plunder, as to destroy and\r\nkill all they met. For Dionysius, despairing to regain the kingdom, and\r\nmortally hating the Syracusans, resolved to bury his lost sovereignty in the\r\nruin and desolation of Syracuse. The soldiers, therefore, to anticipate Dion’s\r\nsuccors, resolved upon the most complete and ready way of destruction, to lay\r\nthe city in ashes, firing all at hand with torches and lamps, and at distance\r\nwith flaming arrows, shot from their bows. The citizens fled every way before\r\nthem; they who, to avoid the fire, forsook their houses were taken in the\r\nstreets and put to the sword; they who betook themselves for refuge into the\r\nhouses were forced out again by the flames, many buildings being now in a\r\nblaze, and many falling in ruins upon them as they fled past.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis fresh misfortune by general consent opened the gates for Dion. He had\r\ngiven up his rapid advance, when he received advice that the enemies were\r\nretreated into the castle; but, in the morning, some horse brought him the news\r\nof another assault, and, soon after, some of those who before opposed his\r\ncoming fled now to him, to entreat him he would hasten his relief. The pressure\r\nincreasing, Heraclides sent his brother, and after him his uncle, Theodotes, to\r\nbeg him to help them: for that now they were not able to resist any longer; he\r\nhimself was wounded, and the greatest part of the city either in ruins or in\r\nflames. When Dion met this sad news, he was about sixty furlongs distant from\r\nthe city. When he had acquainted the soldiers with the exigency, and exhorted\r\nthem to behave themselves like men, the army no longer marched but ran\r\nforwards, and by the way were met by messengers upon messengers entreating them\r\nto make haste. By the wonderful eagerness of the soldiers and their\r\nextraordinary speed, Dion quickly came to the city and entered what is called\r\nthe Hecatompedon, sending his light-armed men at once to charge the enemy,\r\nthat, seeing them, the Syracusans might take courage. In the meantime, he drew\r\nup in good order his full-armed men and all the citizens that came in and\r\njoined him; forming his battalions deep, and distributing his officers in many\r\nseparate commands, that he might, be able to attack from many quarters at once,\r\nand so he more alarming to the enemy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo, having made his arrangements and offered vows to the gods, when he was seen\r\nin the streets advancing at the head of his men to engage the enemy, a confused\r\nnoise of shouts, congratulations, vows, and prayers was raised by the\r\nSyracusans, who now called Dion their deliverer and tutelar deity, and his\r\nsoldiers their friends, brethren, and fellow-citizens. And, indeed, at that\r\nmoment, none seemed to regard themselves, or value their safeties, but to be\r\nconcerned more for Dion’s life than for all their own together, as he marched\r\nat the head of them to meet the danger, through blood and fire and over heaps\r\nof dead bodies that lay in his way.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd indeed the posture of the enemy was in appearance terrible; for they were\r\nflushed and ferocious with victory, and had posted themselves very\r\nadvantageously along the demolished works, which made the access to them very\r\nhazardous and difficult. Yet that which disturbed Dion’s soldiers most was the\r\napprehension they were in of the fire, which made their march very trouble some\r\nand difficult; for the houses being in flames on al] sides, they were met\r\neverywhere with the blaze, and, treading upon burning ruins and every minute in\r\ndanger of being overwhelmed with falling houses, through clouds of ashes and\r\nsmoke they labored hard to keep their order and maintain their ranks. When they\r\ncame near to the enemy, the approach was so narrow and uneven that but few of\r\nthem could engage at a time; but at length, with loud cheers and much zeal on\r\nthe part of the Syracusans, encouraging them and joining with them, they beat\r\noff Nypsius’s men, and put them to flight. Most of them escaped into the\r\ncastle, which was near at hand; all that could not get in were pursued and\r\npicked up here and there by the soldiers, and put to the sword. The present\r\nexigency, however, did not suffer the citizens to take immediate benefit of\r\ntheir victory in such mutual congratulations and embraces as became so great a\r\nsuccess; for now all were busily employed to save what houses were left\r\nstanding, laboring hard all night, and scarcely so could master the fire.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe next day, not one of the popular haranguers durst stay in the city, but all\r\nof them, knowing their own guilt, by their flight confessed it, and secured\r\ntheir lives. Only Heraclides and Theodotes went voluntarily and surrendered\r\nthemselves to Dion, acknowledging that they had wronged him, and begging he\r\nwould be kinder to them than they had been just to him; adding, how much it\r\nwould become him who was master of so many excellent accomplishments, to\r\nmoderate his anger and be generously compassionate to ungrateful men, who were\r\nhere before him, making their confession, that, in all the matter of their\r\nformer enmity and rivalry against him, they were now absolutely overcome by his\r\nvirtue. Though they thus humbly addressed him, his friends advised him not to\r\npardon these turbulent and ill-conditioned men, but to yield them to the\r\ndesires of his soldiers, and utterly root out of the commonwealth the ambitious\r\naffectation of popularity, a disease as pestilent and pernicious as the passion\r\nfor tyranny itself. Dion endeavored to satisfy them, telling them that other\r\ngenerals exercised and trained themselves for the most part in the practices of\r\nwar and arms; but that he had long studied in the Academy how to conquer anger,\r\nand not let emulation and envy conquer him; that to do this it is not\r\nsufficient that a man be obliging and kind to his friends, and those that have\r\ndeserved well of him, but rather, gentle and ready to forgive in the case of\r\nthose who do wrong; that he wished to let the world see that he valued not\r\nhimself so much upon excelling Heraclides in ability and conduct, as he did in\r\noutdoing him in justice and clemency; herein to have the advantage is to excel\r\nindeed; whereas the honor of success in war is never entire; fortune will be\r\nsure to dispute it, though no man should pretend to have a claim. What if\r\nHeraclides be perfidious, malicious, and base, must Dion therefore sully or\r\ninjure his virtue by passionate concern for it? For, though the laws determine\r\nit juster to revenge an injury than to do an injury, yet it is evident that\r\nboth, in the nature of things, originally proceed from the same deficiency and\r\nweakness. The malicious humor of men, though perverse and refractory, is not so\r\nsavage and invincible but it may be wrought upon by kindness, and altered by\r\nrepeated obligations. Dion, making use of these arguments, pardoned and\r\ndismissed Heraclides and Theodotes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now, resolving to repair the blockade about the castle, he commanded all\r\nthe Syracusans to cut each man a stake and bring it to the works; and then,\r\ndismissing them to refresh themselves, and take their rest, he employed his own\r\nmen all night, and by morning had finished his line of palisade; so that both\r\nthe enemy and the citizens wondered, when day returned, to see the work so far\r\nadvanced in so short a time. Burying therefore the dead, and redeeming the\r\nprisoners, who were near two thousand, he called a public assembly, where\r\nHeraclides made a motion that Dion should be declared general with full powers\r\nat land and sea. The better citizens approved well of it, and called on the\r\npeople to vote it so. But the mob of sailors and handicraftsmen would not yield\r\nthat Heraclides should lose his command of the navy; believing him, if\r\notherwise an ill man, at any rate to be more citizenlike than Dion, and readier\r\nto comply with the people. Dion therefore submitted to them in this, and\r\nconsented Heraclides should continue admiral. But when they began to press the\r\nproject of the redistribution of lands and houses, he not only opposed it, but\r\nrepealed all the votes they had formerly made upon that account, which sensibly\r\nvexed them. Heraclides, therefore, took a new advantage of him, and, being at\r\nMessene, harangued the soldiers and ships’ crews that sailed with him, accusing\r\nDion that he had a design to make himself absolute. And yet at the same time he\r\nheld private correspondence for a treaty with Dionysius by means of Pharax the\r\nSpartan. Which when the noble citizens of Syracuse had intimation of, there\r\narose a sedition in the army, and the city was in great distress and want of\r\nprovisions; and Dion now knew not what course to take, being also blamed by all\r\nhis friends for having thus fortified against himself such a perverse and\r\njealous and utterly corrupted man as Heraclides was.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPharax at this time lay encamped at Neapolis, in the territory of Agrigentum.\r\nDion, therefore, led out the Syracusans, but with an intent not to engage him\r\ntill he saw a fit opportunity. But Heraclides and his seamen exclaimed against\r\nhim, that he delayed fighting on purpose that he might the longer continue his\r\ncommand; so that, much against his will, he was forced to an engagement and was\r\nbeaten, his loss however being inconsiderable, and that occasioned chiefly by\r\nthe dissension that was in the army. He rallied his men, and, having put them\r\nin good order and encouraged them to redeem their credit, resolved upon a\r\nsecond battle. But, in the evening, he received advice that Heraclides with his\r\nfleet was on his way to Syracuse, with the purpose to possess himself of the\r\ncity and keep him and his army out. Instantly, therefore, taking with him some\r\nof the strongest and most active of his men, he rode off in the dark, and about\r\nnine the next morning was at the gates, having ridden seven hundred furlongs\r\nthat night. Heraclides, though he strove to make all the speed he could, yet,\r\ncoming too late, tacked and stood out again to sea; and, being unresolved what\r\ncourse to steer, accidentally he met Gaesylus the Spartan, who told him he was\r\ncome from Lacedaemon to head the Sicilians, as Gylippus had formerly done.\r\nHeraclides was only too glad to get hold of him, and fastening him as it might\r\nbe a sort of amulet to himself, he showed him to the confederates, and sent a\r\nherald to Syracuse to summon them to accept the Spartan general. Dion returned\r\nanswer that they had generals enough, and, if they wanted a Spartan to command\r\nthem, he could supply that office, being himself a citizen of Sparta. When\r\nGaesylus saw this, he gave up all pretensions, and sailed in to Dion, and\r\nreconciled Heraclides to him, making Heraclides swear the most solemn oaths to\r\nperform what he engaged, Gaesylus himself also undertaking to maintain Dion’s\r\nright, and inflict chastisement on Heraclides if he broke his faith.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Syracusans then laid up their navy, which was at present a great charge and\r\nof little use to them, but an occasion of differences and dissensions among the\r\ngenerals, and pressed on the siege, finishing the wall of blockade with which\r\nthey invested the castle. The besieged, seeing no hopes of succors and their\r\nprovisions failing, began to mutiny; so that the son of Dionysius, in despair\r\nof holding out longer for his father, capitulated, and articled with Dion to\r\ndeliver up the castle with all the garrison soldiers and ammunition; and so,\r\ntaking his mother and sisters and manning five galleys, he set out to go to his\r\nfather, Dion seeing him safely out, and scarce a man in all the city not being\r\nthere to behold the sight, as indeed they called even on those that were not\r\npresent, out of pity that they could not be there, to see this happy day and\r\nthe sun shining on a free Syracuse. And as this expulsion of Dionysius is even\r\nnow always cited as one of the greatest and most remarkable examples of\r\nfortune’s vicissitudes, how extraordinary may we imagine their joy to have\r\nbeen, and how entire their satisfaction, who had totally subverted the most\r\npotent tyranny that ever was by very slight and inconsiderable means!\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Apollocrates was gone, and Dion coming to take possession of the castle,\r\nthe women could not stay while he made his entry, but ran to meet him at the\r\ngate. Aristomache led Dion’s son, and Arete followed after weeping, fearful and\r\ndubious how to salute or address her husband, after living with another man.\r\nDion first embraced his sister, then his son; when Aristomache bringing Arete\r\nto him, “O Dion,” said she, “your banishment made us all equally miserable;\r\nyour return and victory has canceled all sorrows, excepting this poor\r\nsufferer’s, whom I, unhappy, saw compelled to be another’s, while you were yet\r\nalive. Fortune has now given you the sole disposal of us; how will you\r\ndetermine concerning her hard fate? In what relation must she salute you as her\r\nuncle, or as her husband?” This speech of Aristomache’s brought tears from\r\nDion, who with great affection embraced his wife, gave her his son, and desired\r\nher to retire to his own house, where he continued to reside when he had\r\ndelivered up the castle to the Syracusans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor though all things had now succeeded to his wish, yet he desired not to\r\nenjoy any present advantage of his good fortune, except to gratify his friends,\r\nreward his allies, and bestow upon his companions of former time in Athens and\r\nthe soldiers that had served him some special mark of kindness and honor,\r\nstriving herein to outdo his very means in his generosity. As for himself, he\r\nwas content with a very frugal and moderate competency, and was indeed the\r\nwonder of all men, that when not only Sicily and Carthage, but all Greece\r\nlooked to him as in the height of prosperity, and no man living greater than\r\nhe, no general more renowned for valor and success, yet in his garb, his\r\nattendance, his table, he seemed as if he rather commoned with Plato in the\r\nAcademy than lived among hired captains and paid soldiers, whose solace of\r\ntheir toils and dangers it is to eat and drink their fill, and enjoy themselves\r\nplentifully every day. Plato indeed wrote to him that the eyes of all the world\r\nwere now upon him; but it is evident that he himself had fixed his eye upon one\r\nplace in one city, the Academy, and considered that the spectators and judges\r\nthere regarded not great actions, courage, or fortune, but watched to see how\r\ntemperately and wisely he could use his prosperity, how evenly he could behave\r\nhimself in the high condition he now was in. Neither did he remit anything of\r\nhis wonted stateliness in conversation or serious carriage to the people; he\r\nmade it rather a point to maintain it, notwithstanding that a little\r\ncondescension and obliging civility were very necessary for his present\r\naffairs; and Plato, as we said before, rebuked him, and wrote to tell him that\r\nself-will keeps house with solitude. But certainly his natural temperament was\r\none that could not bend to complaisance; and, besides, he wished to work the\r\nSyracusans back the other way, out of their present excess of license and\r\ncaprice.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHeraclides began again to set up against him, and, being invited by Dion to\r\nmake one of the Council, refused to come, saying he would give his opinion as a\r\nprivate citizen in the public assembly. Next he complained of Dion because he\r\nhad not demolished the citadel, and because he had hindered the people from\r\nthrowing down Dionysius’s tomb and doing despite to the dead; moreover he\r\naccused him for sending to Corinth for counselors and assistants in the\r\ngovernment, thereby neglecting and slighting his fellow-citizens. And indeed he\r\nhad sent messages for some Corinthians to come to him, hoping by their means\r\nand presence the better to settle that constitution he intended; for he\r\ndesigned to suppress the unlimited democratic government, which indeed is not a\r\ngovernment, but, as Plato calls it, a marketplace of governments, and to\r\nintroduce and establish a mixed polity, on the Spartan and Cretan model,\r\nbetween a commonwealth and a monarchy, wherein an aristocratic body should\r\npreside, and determine all matters of greatest consequence; for he saw also\r\nthat the Corinthians were chiefly governed by something like an oligarchy, and\r\nthe people but little concerned in public business.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow knowing that Heraclides would be his most considerable adversary, and that\r\nin all ways he was a turbulent, fickle, and factious man, he gave way to some\r\nwhom formerly he hindered when they designed to kill him, who, breaking in,\r\nmurdered Heraclides in his own house. His death was much resented by the\r\ncitizens. Nevertheless, when Dion made him a splendid funeral, followed the\r\ndead body with all his soldiers, and then addressed them, they understood that\r\nit would have been impossible to have kept the city quiet, as long as Dion and\r\nHeraclides were competitors in the government.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDion had a friend called Callippus, an Athenian, who, Plato says, first made\r\nacquaintance and afterwards obtained familiarity with him, not from any\r\nconnection with his philosophic studies, but on occasion afforded by the\r\ncelebration of the mysteries, and in the way of ordinary society. This man went\r\nwith him in all his military service, and was in great honor and esteem; being\r\nthe first of his friends who marched by his side into Syracuse, wearing a\r\ngarland upon his head, having behaved himself very well in all the battles, and\r\nmade himself remarkable for his gallantry. He, finding that Dion’s principal\r\nand most considerable friends were cut off in the war, Heraclides now dead, and\r\nthe people without a leader, and that the soldiers had a great kindness for\r\nhim, like a perfidious and wicked villain, in hopes to get the chief command of\r\nSicily as his reward for the ruin of his friend and benefactor, and, as some\r\nsay, being also bribed by the enemy with twenty talents to destroy Dion,\r\ninveigled and engaged several of the soldiers in a conspiracy against him,\r\ntaking this cunning and wicked occasion for his plot. He daily informed Dion of\r\nwhat he heard or what he feigned the soldiers said against him; whereby he\r\ngained that credit and confidence, that he was allowed by Dion to consort\r\nprivately with whom he would, and talk freely against him in any company, that\r\nhe might discover who were his secret and factious maligners. By this means,\r\nCallippus in a short time got together a cabal of all the seditious malcontents\r\nin the city; and if anyone who would not be drawn in advised Dion that he was\r\ntampered with, he was not troubled or concerned at it, believing Callippus did\r\nit in compliance with his directions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile this conspiracy was afoot, a strange and dreadful apparition was seen by\r\nDion. As he sat one evening in a gallery in his house alone and thoughtful,\r\nhearing a sudden noise he turned about, and saw at the end of the colonnade, by\r\nclear daylight, a tall woman, in her countenance and garb like one of the\r\ntragical Furies, with a broom in her hand, sweeping the floor. Being amazed and\r\nextremely affrighted, he sent for some of his friends, and told them what he\r\nhad seen, entreating them to stay with him and keep him company all night; for\r\nhe was excessively discomposed and alarmed, fearing that if he were left alone\r\nthe specter would again appear to him. He saw it no more. But a few days after,\r\nhis only son, being almost grown up to man’s estate, upon some displeasure and\r\npet he had taken upon a childish and frivolous occasion, threw himself headlong\r\nfrom the top of the house and broke his neck.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhile Dion was under this affliction, Callippus drove on his conspiracy, and\r\nspread a rumor among the Syracusans, that Dion, being now childless, was\r\nresolved to send for Dionysius’s son, Apollocrates, who was his wife’s nephew\r\nand sister’s grandson, and make him his heir and successor. By this time, Dion\r\nand his wife and sister began to suspect what was doing, and from all hands\r\ninformation came to them of the plot. Dion, being troubled, it is probable, for\r\nHeraclides’s murder, which was like to be a blot and stain upon his life and\r\nactions, in continual weariness and vexation, declared he had rather die a\r\nthousand times, and open his breast himself to the assassin, than live not only\r\nin fear of his enemies but suspicion of his friends. But Callippus, seeing the\r\nwomen very inquisitive to search to the bottom of the business, took alarm, and\r\ncame to them, utterly denying it with tears in his eyes, and offering to give\r\nthem whatever assurances of his fidelity they desired. They required that he\r\nshould take the Great Oath, which was after this manner. The juror went into\r\nthe sanctuary of Ceres and Proserpine, where, after the performance of some\r\nceremonies, he was clad in the purple vestment of the goddess, and, holding a\r\nlighted torch in his hand, took his oath. Callippus did as they required, and\r\nforswore the fact. And indeed he so little valued the goddesses, that he stayed\r\nbut till the very festival of Proserpine, by whom he had sworn, and on that\r\nvery day committed his intended murder; as truly he might well enough disregard\r\nthe day, since he must at any other time as impiously offend her, when he who\r\nhad acted as her initiating priest should shed the blood of her worshiper.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere were a great many in the conspiracy; and as Dion was at home with several\r\nof his friends in a room with tables for entertainment in it, some of the\r\nconspirators beset the house around, others secured the doors and windows. The\r\nactual intended murderers were some Zacynthians, who went inside in their\r\nunder-dresses without swords. Those outside shut the doors upon them and kept\r\nthem fast. The murderers fell on Dion, endeavoring to stifle and crush him;\r\nthen, finding they were doing nothing, they called for a sword, but none durst\r\nopen the door. There were a great many within with Dion, but everyone was for\r\nsecuring himself, supposing that by letting him lose his life he should save\r\nhis own, and therefore no man ventured to assist him. When they had waited a\r\ngood while, at length Lycon the Syracusan reached a short sword in at the\r\nwindow to one of the Zacynthians, and thus, like a victim at a sacrifice, this\r\nlong time in their power, and trembling for the blow, they killed him. His\r\nsister, and wife big with child, they hurried to prison, who poor lady, in her\r\nunfortunate condition was there brought to bed of a son, which, by the consent\r\nof the keepers, they intended to bring up, the rather because Callippus began\r\nalready to be embroiled in troubles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the murder of Dion, he was in great glory, and had the sole government of\r\nSyracuse in his hands; and to that effect wrote to Athens, a place which, next\r\nthe immortal gods, being guilty of such an abominable crime, he ought to have\r\nregarded with shame and fear. But true it is, what is said of that city, that\r\nthe good men she breeds are the most excellent, and the bad the most notorious;\r\nas their country also produces the most delicious honey and the most deadly\r\nhemlock. Callippus, however, did not long continue to scandalize fortune and\r\nupbraid the gods with his prosperity, as though they connived at and bore with\r\nthe wretched man, while he purchased riches and power by heinous impieties, but\r\nhe quickly received the punishment he deserved. For, going to take Catana, he\r\nlost Syracuse; whereupon they report he said, he had lost a city and got a\r\nbauble. Then, attempting Messena, he had most of his men cut off, and, among\r\nthe rest, Dion’s murderers. When no city in Sicily would admit him, but all\r\nhated and abhorred him, he went into Italy and took Rhegium; and there, being\r\nin distress and not able to maintain his soldiers, he was killed by Leptines\r\nand Polysperchon, and, as fortune would have it with the same sword by which\r\nDion was murdered, which was known by the size, being but short, as the Spartan\r\nswords, and the workmanship of it very curious and artificial. Thus Callippus\r\nreceived the reward of his villanies.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Aristomache and Arete were released out of prison, Hicetes, one of Dion’s\r\nfriends, took them to his house, and seemed to intend to entertain them well\r\nand like a faithful friend. Afterwards, being persuaded by Dion’s enemies, he\r\nprovided a ship and pretended to send them into Peloponnesus, but commanded the\r\nsailors, when they came out to sea, to kill them and throw them overboard.\r\nOthers say that they and the little boy were thrown alive into the sea. This\r\nman also escaped not the due recompense of his wickedness, for he was taken by\r\nTimoleon and put to death, and the Syracusans, to revenge Dion, slew his two\r\ndaughters; of all which I have given a more particular account in the life of\r\nTimoleon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap63\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eMARCUS BRUTUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMarcus Brutus was descended from that Junius Brutus to whom the ancient Romans\r\nerected a statue of brass in the capitol among the images of their kings with a\r\ndrawn sword in his hand, in remembrance of his courage and resolution in\r\nexpelling the Tarquins and destroying the monarchy. But that ancient Brutus was\r\nof a severe and inflexible nature, like steel of too hard a temper, and having\r\nnever had his character softened by study and thought, he let himself be so far\r\ntransported with his rage and hatred against tyrants, that, for conspiring with\r\nthem, he proceeded to the execution even of his own sons. But this Brutus,\r\nwhose life we now write, having to the goodness of his disposition added the\r\nimprovements of learning and the study of philosophy, and having stirred up his\r\nnatural parts, of themselves grave and gentle, by applying himself to business\r\nand public affairs, seems to have been of a temper exactly framed for virtue;\r\ninsomuch that they who were most his enemies upon account of his conspiracy\r\nagainst Caesar, if in that whole affair there was any honorable or generous\r\npart, referred it wholly to Brutus, and laid whatever was barbarous and cruel\r\nto the charge of Cassius, Brutus’s connection and familiar friend, but not his\r\nequal in honesty and pureness of purpose. His mother, Servilia, was of the\r\nfamily of Servilius Ahala, who, when Spurius Maelius worked the people into a\r\nrebellion and designed to make himself king, taking a dagger under his arm,\r\nwent forth into the marketplace, and, upon presence of having some private\r\nbusiness with him, came up close to him, and, as he bent his head to hear what\r\nhe had to say, struck him with his dagger and slew him. And thus much, as\r\nconcerns his descent by the mother’s side, is confessed by all; but as for his\r\nfather’s family, they who for Caesar’s murder bore any hatred or ill-will to\r\nBrutus say that he came not from that Brutus who expelled the Tarquins, there\r\nbeing none of his race left after the execution of his two sons; but that his\r\nancestor was a plebeian, son of one Brutus, a steward, and only rose in the\r\nlatest times to office or dignity in the commonwealth. But Posidonius the\r\nphilosopher writes that it is true indeed what the history relates, that two of\r\nthe sons of Brutus who were of men’s estate were put to death, but that a\r\nthird, yet an infant, was left alive, from whom the family was propagated down\r\nto Marcus Brutus; and further, that there were several famous persons of this\r\nhouse in his time whose looks very much resembled the statue of Junius Brutus.\r\nBut of this subject enough.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCato the philosopher was brother to Servilia, the mother of Brutus, and he it\r\nwas whom of all the Romans his nephew most admired and studied to imitate, and\r\nhe afterwards married his daughter Porcia. Of all the sects of the Greek\r\nphilosophers, though there was none of which he had not been a hearer and in\r\nwhich he had not made some proficiency, yet he chiefly esteemed the Platonists;\r\nand, not much approving of the modern and middle Academy, as it is called, he\r\napplied himself to the study of the ancient. He was all his lifetime a great\r\nadmirer of Antiochus of the city of Ascalon, and took his brother Aristus into\r\nhis own house for his friend and companion, a man for his learning inferior\r\nindeed to many of the philosophers, but for the evenness of his temper and\r\nsteadiness of his conduct equal to the best. As for Empylus, of whom he himself\r\nand his friends often make mention in their epistles, as one that lived with\r\nBrutus, he was a rhetorician, and has left behind him a short but well-written\r\nhistory of the death of Caesar, entitled Brutus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn Latin, he had by exercise attained a sufficient skill to be able to make\r\npublic addresses and to plead a cause; but in Greek, he must be noted for\r\naffecting the sententious and short Laconic way of speaking in sundry passages\r\nof his epistles; as when, in the beginning of the war, he wrote thus to the\r\nPergamenians: “I hear you have given Dolabella money; if willingly, you must\r\nown you have injured me; if unwillingly, show it by giving willingly to me.”\r\nAnd another time to the Samians: “Your counsels are remiss and your\r\nperformances slow: what think ye will be the end?” And of the Patareans thus:\r\n“The Xanthians, suspecting my kindness, have made their country the grave of\r\ntheir despair; the Patareans, trusting themselves to me, enjoy in all points\r\ntheir former liberty; it is in your power to choose the judgment of the\r\nPatareans or the fortune of the Xanthians.” And this is the style for which\r\nsome of his letters are to be noted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he was but a very young man, he accompanied his uncle Cato, to Cyprus,\r\nwhen he was sent there against Ptolemy. But when Ptolemy killed himself, Cato,\r\nbeing by some necessary business detained in the isle of Rhodes, had already\r\nsent one of his friends, named Canidius, to take into his care and keeping the\r\ntreasure of the king; but presently, not feeling sure of his honesty, he wrote\r\nto Brutus to sail immediately for Cyprus out of Pamphylia, where he then was\r\nstaying to refresh himself, being but just recovered of a fit of sickness. He\r\nobeyed his orders, but with a great deal of unwillingness, as well out of\r\nrespect to Canidius, who was thrown out of this employment by Cato with so much\r\ndisgrace, as also because he esteemed such a commission mean, and unsuitable to\r\nhim, who was in the prime of his youth, and given to books and study.\r\nNevertheless, applying himself to the business, he behaved himself so well in\r\nit that he was highly commended by Cato, and, having turned all the goods of\r\nPtolemy into ready money, he sailed with the greatest part of it in his own\r\nship to Rome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut upon the general separation into two factions, when, Pompey and Caesar\r\ntaking up arms against one another, the whole empire was turned into confusion,\r\nit was commonly believed that he would take Caesar’s side; for his father in\r\npast time had been put to death by Pompey. But he, thinking it his duty to\r\nprefer the interest of the public to his own private feelings, and judging\r\nPompey’s to be the better cause, took part with him; though formerly he used\r\nnot so much as to salute or take any notice of Pompey, if he happened to meet\r\nhim, esteeming it a pollution to have the least conversation with the murderer\r\nof his father. But now, looking upon him as the general of his country, he\r\nplaced himself under his command, and set sail for Cilicia in quality of\r\nlieutenant to Sestius, who had the government of that province. But finding no\r\nopportunity there of doing any great service, and hearing that Pompey and\r\nCaesar were now near one another and preparing for the battle upon which all\r\ndepended, he came of his own accord to Macedonia to partake in the danger. At\r\nhis coming it is said that Pompey was so surprised and so pleased, that, rising\r\nfrom his chair in the sight of all who were about him, he saluted and embraced\r\nhim, as one of the chiefest of his party. All the time that he was in the camp,\r\nexcepting that which he spent in Pompey’s company, he employed in reading and\r\nin study, which he did not neglect even the day before the great battle. It was\r\nthe middle of summer, and the heat was very great, the camp having been pitched\r\nnear some marshy ground, and the people that carried Brutus’s tent were a long\r\nwhile before they came. Yet though upon these accounts he was extremely\r\nharassed and out of order, having scarcely by the middle of the day anointed\r\nhimself and eaten a sparing meal, whilst most others were either laid to sleep\r\nor taken up with the thoughts and apprehensions of what would be the issue of\r\nthe fight, he spent his time until the evening in writing an epitome of\r\nPolybius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt is said that Caesar had so great a regard for him that he ordered his\r\ncommanders by no means to kill Brutus in the battle, but to spare him, if\r\npossible, and bring him safe to him, if he would willingly surrender himself;\r\nbut if he made any resistance, to suffer him to escape rather than do him any\r\nviolence. And this he is believed to have done out of a tenderness to Servilia,\r\nthe mother of Brutus; for Caesar had, it seems, in his youth been very intimate\r\nwith her, and she passionately in love with him; and, considering that Brutus\r\nwas born about that time in which their loves were at the highest, Caesar had a\r\nbelief that he was his own child. The story is told, that when the great\r\nquestion of the conspiracy of Catiline, which had like to have been the\r\ndestruction of the commonwealth, was debated in the senate, Cato and Caesar\r\nwere both standing up, contending together on the decision to be come to; at\r\nwhich time a little note was delivered to Caesar from without, which he took\r\nand read silently to himself. Upon this, Cato cried out aloud, and accused\r\nCaesar of holding correspondence with and receiving letters from the enemies of\r\nthe commonwealth; and when many other senators exclaimed against it, Caesar\r\ndelivered the note as he had received it to Cato, who reading it found it to be\r\na love-letter from his own sister Servilia, and threw it back again to Caesar\r\nwith the words, “Keep it, you drunkard,” and returned to the subject of the\r\ndebate. So public and notorious was Servilia’s love to Caesar.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter the great overthrow at Pharsalia, Pompey himself having made his escape\r\nto the sea, and Caesar’s army storming the camp, Brutus stole privately out by\r\none of the gates leading to marshy ground full of water and covered with reeds,\r\nand, traveling through the night, got safe to Larissa. From Larissa he wrote to\r\nCaesar, who expressed a great deal of joy to hear that he was safe, and,\r\nbidding him come, not only forgave him freely, but honored and esteemed him\r\namong his chiefest friends. Now when nobody could give any certain account\r\nwhich way Pompey had fled, Caesar took a little journey alone with Brutus, and\r\ntried what was his opinion herein, and after some discussion which passed\r\nbetween them, believing that Brutus’s conjecture was the right one, laying\r\naside all other thoughts, he set out directly to pursue him towards Egypt. But\r\nPompey, having reached Egypt, as Brutus guessed his design was to do, there met\r\nhis fate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus in the meantime gained Caesar’s forgiveness for his friend Cassius; and\r\npleading also in defense of the king of the Lybians, though he was overwhelmed\r\nwith the greatness of the crimes alleged against him, yet by his entreaties and\r\ndeprecations to Caesar in his behalf, he preserved to him a great part of his\r\nkingdom. It is reported that Caesar, when he first heard Brutus speak in\r\npublic, said to his friends, “I know not what this young man intends, but,\r\nwhatever he intends, he intends vehemently.” For his natural firmness of mind,\r\nnot easily yielding, or complying in favor of everyone that entreated his\r\nkindness, once set into action upon motives of right reason and deliberate\r\nmoral choice, whatever direction it thus took, it was pretty sure to take\r\neffectively, and to work in such a way as not to fail in its object. No\r\nflattery could ever prevail with him to listen to unjust petitions; and he held\r\nthat to be overcome by the importunities of shameless and fawning entreaties,\r\nthough some compliment it with the name of modesty and bashfulness, was the\r\nworst disgrace a great man could suffer. And he used to say, that he always\r\nfelt as if they who could deny nothing could not have behaved well in the\r\nflower of their youth.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar, being about to make his expedition into Africa against Cato and Scipio,\r\ncommitted to Brutus the government of Cisalpine Gaul, to the great happiness\r\nand advantage of that province. For while people in other provinces were in\r\ndistress with the violence and avarice of their governors, and suffered as much\r\noppression as if they had been slaves and captives of war, Brutus, by his easy\r\ngovernment, actually made them amends for their calamities under former rulers,\r\ndirecting moreover all their gratitude for his good deeds to Caesar himself;\r\ninsomuch that it was a most welcome and pleasant spectacle to Caesar, when in\r\nhis return he passed through Italy, to see the cities that were under Brutus’s\r\ncommand and Brutus himself increasing his honor and joining agreeably in his\r\nprogress.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow several praetorships being vacant, it was all men’s opinion, that that of\r\nthe chiefest dignity, which is called the praetorship of the city, would be\r\nconferred either upon Brutus or Cassius; and some say that, there having been\r\nsome little difference upon former accounts between them, this competition set\r\nthem much more at variance, though they were connected in their families,\r\nCassius having married Junia, the sister of Brutus. Others say that the\r\ncontention was raised between them by Caesar’s doing, who had privately given\r\neach of them such hopes of his favor as led them on, and provoked them at last\r\ninto this open competition and trial of their interest. Brutus had only the\r\nreputation of his honor and virtue to oppose to the many and gallant actions\r\nperformed by Cassius against the Parthians. But Caesar, having heard each side,\r\nand deliberating about the matter among his friends, said, “Cassius has the\r\nstronger plea, but we must let Brutus be first praetor.” So another praetorship\r\nwas given to Cassius; the gaining of which could not so much oblige him, as he\r\nwas incensed for the loss of the other. And in all other things Brutus was\r\npartaker of Caesar’s power as much as he desired; for he might, if he had\r\npleased, have been the chief of all his friends, and had authority and command\r\nbeyond them all, but Cassius and the company he met with him drew him off from\r\nCaesar. Indeed, he was not yet wholly reconciled to Cassius, since that\r\ncompetition which was between them; but yet he gave ear to Cassius’s friends,\r\nwho were perpetually advising him not to be so blind as to suffer himself to be\r\nsoftened and won upon by Caesar, but to shun the kindness and favors of a\r\ntyrant, which they intimated that Caesar showed him, not to express any honor\r\nto his merit or virtue, but to unbend his strength, and undermine his vigor of\r\npurpose.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNeither was Caesar wholly without suspicion of him nor wanted informers that\r\naccused Brutus to him; but he feared, indeed, the high spirit and the great\r\ncharacter and the friends that he had, but thought himself secure in his moral\r\ndisposition. When it was told him that Antony and Dolabella designed some\r\ndisturbance, “It is not,” said he, “the fat and the long-haired men that I\r\nfear, but the pale and the lean,” meaning Brutus and Cassius. And when some\r\nmaligned Brutus to him, and advised him to beware of him, taking hold of his\r\nflesh with his hand, “What,” he said, “do you think that Brutus will not wait\r\nout the time of this little body?” as if he thought none so fit to succeed him\r\nin his power as Brutus. And indeed it seems to be without doubt that Brutus\r\nmight have been the first man in the commonwealth, if he had had patience but a\r\nlittle time to be second to Caesar, and would have suffered his power to\r\ndecline after it was come to its highest pitch, and the fame of his great\r\nactions to die away by degrees. But Cassius, a man of a fierce disposition, and\r\none that out of private malice, rather than love of the public, hated Caesar,\r\nnot the tyrant, continually fired and stirred him up. Brutus felt the rule an\r\noppression, but Cassius hated the ruler; and, among other reasons on which he\r\ngrounded his quarrel against Caesar, the loss of his lions which he had\r\nprocured when he was aedile elect was one: for Caesar, finding these in Megara,\r\nwhen that city was taken by Calenus, seized them to himself. These beasts, they\r\nsay, were a great calamity to the Megarians; for, when their city was just\r\ntaken, they broke open the lions’ dens, and pulled off their chains and let\r\nthem loose, that they might run upon the enemy that was entering the city; but\r\nthe lions turned upon them themselves, and tore to pieces a great many unarmed\r\npersons running about, so that it was a miserable spectacle even to their\r\nenemies to behold.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd this, some say, was the chief provocation that stirred up Cassius to\r\nconspire against Caesar; but they are much in the wrong. For Cassius had from\r\nhis youth a natural hatred and rancor against the whole race of tyrants, which\r\nhe showed when he was but a boy, and went to the same school with Faustus, the\r\nson of Sylla; for, on his boasting himself amongst the boys, and extolling the\r\nsovereign power of his father, Cassius rose up and struck him two or three\r\nboxes on the ear; which when the guardians and relations of Faustus designed to\r\ninquire into and to prosecute, Pompey forbade them, and, sending for both the\r\nboys together, examined the matter himself. And Cassius then is reported to\r\nhave said thus, “Come, then, Faustus, dare to speak here those words that\r\nprovoked me, that I may strike you again as I did before.” Such was the\r\ndisposition of Cassius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Brutus was roused up and pushed on to the undertaking by many persuasions\r\nof his familiar friends, and letters and invitations from unknown citizens. For\r\nunder the statue of his ancestor Brutus, that overthrew the kingly government,\r\nthey wrote the words, “O that we had a Brutus now!” and, “O that Brutus were\r\nalive!” And Brutus’s own tribunal, on which he sat as praetor, was filled each\r\nmorning with writings such as these: “You are asleep, Brutus,” and, “You are\r\nnot a true Brutus.” Now the flatterers of Caesar were the occasion of all this,\r\nwho, among other invidious honors which they strove to fasten upon Caesar,\r\ncrowned his statues by night with diadems, wishing to incite the people to\r\nsalute him king instead of dictator. But quite the contrary came to pass, as I\r\nhave more particularly related in the life of Caesar.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Cassius went about soliciting friends to engage in this design against\r\nCaesar, all whom he tried readily consented, if Brutus would be head of it; for\r\ntheir opinion was that the enterprise wanted not hands or resolution, but the\r\nreputation and authority of a man such as he was, to give as it were the first\r\nreligious sanction, and by his presence, if by nothing else, to justify the\r\nundertaking; that without him they should go about this action with less heart,\r\nand should lie under greater suspicions when they had done it, for, if their\r\ncause had been just and honorable, people would be sure that Brutus would not\r\nhave refused it. Cassius, having considered these things with himself, went to\r\nBrutus, and made him the first visit after their falling out; and after the\r\ncompliments of reconciliation had passed, and former kindnesses were renewed\r\nbetween them, he asked him if he designed to be present in the senate on the\r\nCalends of March, for it was discoursed, he said, that Caesar’s friends\r\nintended then to move that he might be made king. When Brutus answered, that he\r\nwould not be there, “But what,” says Cassius, “if they should send for us?” “It\r\nwill be my business then,” replied Brutus, “not to hold my peace, but to stand\r\nup boldly, and die for the liberty of my country.” To which Cassius with some\r\nemotion answered, “But what Roman will suffer you to die? What, do you not know\r\nyourself, Brutus? Or do you think that those writings that you find upon your\r\npraetor’s seat were put there by weavers and shopkeepers, and not by the first\r\nand most powerful men of Rome? From other praetors, indeed, they expect\r\nlargesses and shows and gladiators, but from you they claim, as an hereditary\r\ndebt, the extirpation of tyranny; they are all ready to suffer anything on your\r\naccount, if you will but show yourself such as they think you are and expect\r\nyou should be.” Which said, he fell upon Brutus, and embraced him; and after\r\nthis, they parted each to try their several friends.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmong the friends of Pompey there was one Caius Ligarius, whom Caesar had\r\npardoned, though accused for having been in arms against him. This man, not\r\nfeeling so thankful for having been forgiven as he felt oppressed by that power\r\nwhich made him need a pardon, hated Caesar, and was one of Brutus’s most\r\nintimate friends. Him Brutus visited, and, finding him sick, “O Ligarius,” says\r\nhe, “what a time have you found out to be sick in!” At which words Ligarius,\r\nraising himself and leaning on his elbow, took Brutus by the hand, and said,\r\n“But, O Brutus, if you are on any design worthy of yourself, I am well.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom this time, they tried the inclinations of all their acquaintance that they\r\ndurst trust, and communicated the secret to them, and took into the design not\r\nonly their familiar friends, but as many as they believed bold and brave and\r\ndespisers of death. For which reason they concealed the plot from Cicero,\r\nthough he was very much trusted and as well beloved by them all, lest, to his\r\nown disposition, which was naturally timorous, adding now the wariness and\r\ncaution of old age, by his weighing, as he would do, every particular, that he\r\nmight not make one step without the greatest security, he should blunt the edge\r\nof their forwardness and resolution in a business which required all the\r\ndispatch imaginable. As indeed there were also two others that were companions\r\nof Brutus, Statilius the Epicurean, and Favonius the admirer of Cato, whom he\r\nleft out for this reason: as he was conversing one day with them, trying them\r\nat a distance, and proposing some such question to be disputed of as among\r\nphilosophers, to see what opinion they were of, Favonius declared his judgment\r\nto be that a civil war was worse than the most illegal monarchy; and Statilius\r\nheld, that, to bring himself into troubles and danger upon the account of evil\r\nor foolish men, did not become a man that had any wisdom or discretion. But\r\nLabeo, who was present, contradicted them both; and Brutus, as if it had been\r\nan intricate dispute, and difficult to be decided, held his peace for that\r\ntime, but afterwards discovered the whole design to Labeo, who readily\r\nundertook it. The next thing that was thought convenient, was to gain the other\r\nBrutus, surnamed Albinus, a man of himself of no great bravery or courage, but\r\nconsiderable for the number of gladiators that he was maintaining for a public\r\nshow, and the great confidence that Caesar put in him. When Cassius and Labeo\r\nspoke with him concerning the matter, he gave them no answer; but, seeking an\r\ninterview with Brutus himself alone, and finding that he was their captain, he\r\nreadily consented to partake in the action. And among the others, also, the\r\nmost and best were gained by the name of Brutus. And, though they neither gave\r\nnor took any oath of secrecy, nor used any other sacred rite to assure their\r\nfidelity to each other, yet all kept their design so close, were so wary, and\r\nheld it so silently among themselves, that, though by prophecies and\r\napparitions and signs in the sacrifices the gods gave warning of it, yet could\r\nit not be believed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Brutus, feeling that the noblest spirits of Rome for virtue, birth, or\r\ncourage were depending upon him, and surveying with himself all the\r\ncircumstances of the dangers they were to encounter, strove indeed as much as\r\npossible, when abroad, to keep his uneasiness of mind to himself, and to\r\ncompose his thoughts; but at home, and especially at night, he was not the same\r\nman, but sometimes against his will his working care would make him start out\r\nof his sleep, and other times he was taken up with further reflection and\r\nconsideration of his difficulties, so that his wife that lay with him could not\r\nchoose but take notice that he was full of unusual trouble, and had in\r\nagitation some dangerous and perplexing question. Porcia, as was said before,\r\nwas the daughter of Cato, and Brutus, her cousin-german, had married her very\r\nyoung, though not a maid, but after the death of her former husband, by whom\r\nshe had one son, that was named Bibulus; and there is a little book, called\r\nMemoirs of Brutus, written by him, yet extant. This Porcia, being addicted to\r\nphilosophy, a great lover of her husband, and full of an understanding courage,\r\nresolved not to inquire into Brutus’s secrets before she had made this trial of\r\nherself. She turned all her attendants out of her chamber, and, taking a little\r\nknife, such as they use to cut nails with, she gave herself a deep gash in the\r\nthigh; upon which followed a great flow of blood, and, soon after, violent\r\npains and a shivering fever, occasioned by the wound. Now when Brutus was\r\nextremely anxious and afflicted for her, she, in the height of all her pain,\r\nspoke thus to him: “I, Brutus, being the daughter of Cato, was given to you in\r\nmarriage, not like a concubine, to partake only in the common intercourse of\r\nbed and board, but to bear a part in all your good and all your evil fortunes;\r\nand for your part, as regards your care for me, I find no reason to complain;\r\nbut from me, what evidence of my love, what satisfaction can you receive, if I\r\nmay not share with you in bearing your hidden griefs, nor be admitted to any of\r\nyour counsels that require secrecy and trust? I know very well that women seem\r\nto be of too weak a nature to be trusted with secrets; but certainly, Brutus, a\r\nvirtuous birth and education, and the company of the good and honorable, are of\r\nsome force to the forming our manners; and I can boast that I am the daughter\r\nof Cato and the wife of Brutus, in which two titles though before I put less\r\nconfidence, yet now I have tried myself, and find that I can bid defiance to\r\npain.” Which words having spoken, she showed him her wound, and related to him\r\nthe trial that she had made of her constancy; at which he being astonished,\r\nlifted up his hands to heaven, and begged the assistance of the gods in his\r\nenterprise, that he might show himself a husband worthy of such a wife as\r\nPorcia. So then he comforted his wife.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut a meeting of the senate being appointed, at which it was believed that\r\nCaesar would be present, they agreed to make use of that opportunity: for then\r\nthey might appear all together without suspicion; and, besides, they hoped that\r\nall the noblest and leading men of the commonwealth, being then assembled, as\r\nsoon as the great deed was done, would immediately stand forward, and assert\r\nthe common liberty. The very place, too, where the senate was to meet, seemed\r\nto be by divine appointment favorable to their purpose. It was a portico, one\r\nof those joining the theater, with a large recess, in which there stood a\r\nstatue of Pompey, erected to him by the commonwealth, when he adorned that part\r\nof the city with the porticos and the theater. To this place it was that the\r\nsenate was summoned for the middle of March (the Ides of March is the Roman\r\nname for the day); as if some more than human power were leading the man\r\nthither, there to meet his punishment for the death of Pompey.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as it was day, Brutus, taking with him a dagger, which none but his\r\nwife knew of, went out. The rest met together at Cassius’s house, and brought\r\nforth his son, that was that day to put on the manly gown, as it is called,\r\ninto the forum; and from thence, going all to Pompey’s porch, stayed there,\r\nexpecting Caesar to come without delay to the senate. Here it was chiefly that\r\nanyone who had known what they had purposed, would have admired the unconcerned\r\ntemper and the steady resolution of these men in their most dangerous\r\nundertaking; for many of them, being praetors, and called upon by their office\r\nto judge and determine causes, did not only hear calmly all that made\r\napplication to them and pleaded against each other before them, as if they were\r\nfree from all other thoughts, but decided causes with as much accuracy and\r\njudgment as they had heard them with attention and patience. And when one\r\nperson refused to stand to the award of Brutus, and with great clamor and many\r\nattestations appealed to Caesar, Brutus, looking round about him upon those\r\nthat were present, said, “Caesar does not hinder me, nor will he hinder me,\r\nfrom doing according to the laws.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet there were many unusual accidents that disturbed them and by mere chance\r\nwere thrown in their way. The first and chiefest was the long stay of Caesar,\r\nthough the day was far spent, and his being detained at home by his wife, and\r\nforbidden by the soothsayers to go forth, upon some defect that appeared in his\r\nsacrifice. Another was this: There came a man up to Casca, one of the company,\r\nand, taking him by the hand, “You concealed,” said he, “the secret from us, but\r\nBrutus has told me all.” At which words when Casca was surprised, the other\r\nsaid laughing, “How come you to be so rich of a sudden, that you should stand\r\nto be chosen aedile?” So near was Casca to let out the secret, upon the mere\r\nambiguity of the other’s expression. Then Popilius Laenas, a senator, having\r\nsaluted Brutus and Cassius more earnestly than usual, whispered them softly in\r\nthe ear and said, “My wishes are with you, that you may accomplish what you\r\ndesign, and I advise you to make no delay, for the thing is now no secret.”\r\nThis said, he departed, and left them in great suspicion that the design had\r\ntaken wind. In the meanwhile, there came one in all haste from Brutus’s house,\r\nand brought him news that his wife was dying. For Porcia, being extremely\r\ndisturbed with expectation of the event, and not able to bear the greatness of\r\nher anxiety, could scarce keep herself within doors; and at every little noise\r\nor voice she heard, starting up suddenly, like those possessed with the bacchic\r\nfrenzy, she asked everyone that came in from the forum what Brutus was doing,\r\nand sent one messenger after another to inquire. At last, after long\r\nexpectation, the strength of her body could hold out no longer; her mind was\r\novercome with her doubts and fears, and she lost the control of herself, and\r\nbegan to faint away. She had not time to betake herself to her chamber, but,\r\nsitting as she was amongst her women, a sudden swoon and a great stupor seized\r\nher, and her color changed, and her speech was quite lost. At this sight, her\r\nwomen made a loud cry, and many of the neighbors running to Brutus’s door to\r\nknow what was the matter, the report was soon spread abroad that Porcia was\r\ndead; though with her women’s help she recovered in a little while, and came to\r\nherself again. When Brutus received this news, he was extremely troubled, nor\r\nwithout reason, yet was not so carried away by his private grief as to quit his\r\npublic purpose.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor now news was brought that Caesar was coming, carried in a litter. For,\r\nbeing discouraged by the ill omens that attended his sacrifice, he had\r\ndetermined to undertake no affairs of any great importance that day, but to\r\ndefer them till another time, excusing himself that he was sick. As soon as he\r\ncame out of his litter, Popilius Laenas, he who but a little before had wished\r\nBrutus good success in his undertaking, coming up to him, conversed a great\r\nwhile with him, Caesar standing still all the while, and seeming to be very\r\nattentive. The conspirators, (to give them this name,) not being able to hear\r\nwhat he said, but guessing by what themselves were conscious of that this\r\nconference was the discovery of their treason, were again disheartened, and,\r\nlooking upon one another, agreed from each other’s countenances that they\r\nshould not stay to be taken, but should all kill themselves. And now when\r\nCassius and some others were laying hands upon their daggers under their robes,\r\nand were drawing them out, Brutus, viewing narrowly the looks and gesture of\r\nLaenas, and finding that he was earnestly petitioning and not accusing, said\r\nnothing, because there were many strangers to the conspiracy mingled amongst\r\nthem, but by a cheerful countenance encouraged Cassius. And after a little\r\nwhile, Laenas, having kissed Caesar’s hand, went away, showing plainly that all\r\nhis discourse was about some particular business relating to himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow when the senate was gone in before to the chamber where they were to sit,\r\nthe rest of the company placed themselves close about Caesar’s chair, as if\r\nthey had some suit to make to him, and Cassius, turning his face to Pompey’s\r\nstatue, is said to have invoked it, as if it had been sensible of his prayers.\r\nTrebonius, in the meanwhile, engaged Antony’s attention at the door, and kept\r\nhim in talk outside. When Caesar entered, the whole senate rose up to him. As\r\nsoon as he was set down, the men all crowded round about him, and set Tillius\r\nCimber, one of their own number, to intercede in behalf of his brother, that\r\nwas banished; they all joined their prayers with his, and took Caesar by the\r\nhand, and kissed his head and his breast. But he putting aside at first their\r\nsupplications, and afterwards, when he saw they would not desist, violently\r\nrising up, Tillius with both hands caught hold of his robe and pulled it off\r\nfrom his shoulders, and Casca, that stood behind him, drawing his dagger, gave\r\nhim the first, but a slight wound, about the shoulder. Caesar snatching hold of\r\nthe handle of the dagger, and crying out aloud in Latin, “Villain Casca, what\r\ndo you?” he, calling in Greek to his brother, bade him come and help. And by\r\nthis time, finding himself struck by a great many hands, and looking round\r\nabout him to see if he could force his way out, when he saw Brutus with his\r\ndagger drawn against him, he let go Casca’s hand, that he had hold of, and,\r\ncovering his head with his robe, gave up his body to their blows. And they so\r\neagerly pressed towards the body, and so many daggers were hacking together,\r\nthat they cut one another; Brutus, particularly, received a wound in his hand,\r\nand all of them were besmeared with the blood.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar being thus slain, Brutus, stepping forth into the midst, intended to\r\nhave made a speech, and called back and encouraged the senators to stay; but\r\nthey all affrighted ran away in great disorder, and there was a great confusion\r\nand press at the door, though none pursued or followed. For they had come to an\r\nexpress resolution to kill nobody besides Caesar, but to call and invite all\r\nthe rest to liberty. It was indeed the opinion of all the others, when they\r\nconsulted about the execution of their design, that it was necessary to cut off\r\nAntony with Caesar, looking upon him as an insolent man, an affecter of\r\nmonarchy, and one that, by his familiar intercourse, had gained a powerful\r\ninterest with the soldiers. And this they urged the rather, because at that\r\ntime to the natural loftiness and ambition of his temper there was added the\r\ndignity of being consul and colleague to Caesar. But Brutus opposed this\r\ncounsel, insisting first upon the injustice of it, and afterwards giving them\r\nhopes that a change might be worked in Antony. For he did not despair but that\r\nso highly gifted and honorable a man, and such a lover of glory as Antony,\r\nstirred up with emulation of their great attempt, might, if Caesar were once\r\nremoved, lay hold of the occasion to be joint restorer with them of the liberty\r\nof his country. Thus did Brutus save Antony’s life. But he, in the general\r\nconsternation, put himself into a plebeian habit, and fled. But Brutus and his\r\nparty marched up to the capitol, in their way showing their hands all bloody,\r\nand their naked swords, and proclaiming liberty to the people. At first all\r\nplaces were filled with cries and shouts; and the wild running to and fro,\r\noccasioned by the sudden surprise and passion that everyone was in, increased\r\nthe tumult in the city. But no other bloodshed following, and no plundering of\r\nthe goods in the streets, the senators and many of the people took courage and\r\nwent up to the men in the capitol; and, a multitude being gathered together,\r\nBrutus made an oration to them, very popular, and proper for the state that\r\naffairs were then in. Therefore, when they applauded his speech, and cried out\r\nto him to come down, they all took confidence and descended into the forum; the\r\nrest promiscuously mingled with one another, but many of the most eminent\r\npersons, attending Brutus, conducted him in the midst of them with great honor\r\nfrom the capitol, and placed him in the rostra. At the sight of Brutus, the\r\ncrowd, though consisting of a confused mixture and all disposed to make a\r\ntumult, were struck with reverence, and expected what he would say with order\r\nand with silence, and, when he began to speak, heard him with quiet and\r\nattention. But that all were not pleased with this action they plainly showed\r\nwhen, Cinna beginning to speak and accuse Caesar, they broke out into a sudden\r\nrage, and railed at him in such language, that the whole party thought fit\r\nagain to withdraw to the capitol. And there Brutus, expecting to be besieged,\r\ndismissed the most eminent of those that had accompanied them thither, not\r\nthinking it just that they who were not partakers of the fact should share in\r\nthe danger.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the next day, the senate being assembled in the temple of the Earth, and\r\nAntony and Plancus and Cicero having made orations recommending concord in\r\ngeneral and an act of oblivion, it was decreed, that the men should not only be\r\nput out of all fear or danger, but that the consuls should see what honors and\r\ndignities were proper to be conferred upon them. After which done, the senate\r\nbroke up; and, Antony having sent his son as an hostage to the capitol, Brutus\r\nand his company came down, and mutual salutes and invitations passed amongst\r\nthem, the whole of them being gathered together. Antony invited and entertained\r\nCassius, Lepidus did the same to Brutus, and the rest were invited and\r\nentertained by others, as each of them had acquaintance or friends. And as soon\r\nas it was day, the senate met again and voted thanks to Antony for having\r\nstifled the beginning of a civil war; afterwards Brutus and his associates that\r\nwere present received encomiums, and had provinces assigned and distributed\r\namong them. Crete was allotted to Brutus, Africa to Cassius, Asia to Trebonius,\r\nBithynia to Cimber, and to the other Brutus Gaul about the Po.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter these things, they began to consider of Caesar’s will, and the ordering\r\nof his funeral. Antony desired that the will might be read, and that the body\r\nshould not have a private or dishonorable interment, lest that should further\r\nexasperate the people. This Cassius violently opposed, but Brutus yielded to\r\nit, and gave leave; in which he seems to have a second time committed a fault.\r\nFor as before in sparing the life of Antony he could not be without some blame\r\nfrom his party, as thereby setting up against the conspiracy a dangerous and\r\ndifficult enemy, so now, in suffering him to have the ordering of the funeral,\r\nhe fell into a total and irrecoverable error. For first, it appearing by the\r\nwill that Caesar had bequeathed to the Roman people seventy-five drachmas a\r\nman, and given to the public his gardens beyond Tiber (where now the temple of\r\nFortune stands), the whole city was fired with a wonderful affection for him,\r\nand a passionate sense of the loss of him. And when the body was brought forth\r\ninto the forum, Antony, as the custom was, making a funeral oration in the\r\npraise of Caesar, and finding the multitude moved with his speech, passing into\r\nthe pathetic tone, unfolded the bloody garment of Caesar, showed them in how\r\nmany places it was pierced, and the number of his wounds. Now there was nothing\r\nto be seen but confusion; some cried out to kill the murderers, others (as was\r\nformerly done when Clodius led the people) tore away the benches and tables out\r\nof the shops round about, and, heaping them all together, built a great funeral\r\npile, and, having put the body of Caesar upon it, set it on fire, the spot\r\nwhere this was done being moreover surrounded with a great many temples and\r\nother consecrated places, so that they seemed to burn the body in a kind of\r\nsacred solemnity. As soon as the fire flamed out, the multitude, flocking in\r\nsome from one part and some from another, snatched the brands that were half\r\nburnt out of the pile, and ran about the city to fire the houses of the\r\nmurderers of Caesar. But they, having beforehand well fortified themselves,\r\nrepelled this danger.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was however a kind of poet, one Cinna, not at all concerned in the guilt\r\nof the conspiracy, but on the contrary one of Caesar’s friends. This man\r\ndreamed that he was invited to supper by Caesar, and that he declined to go,\r\nbut that Caesar entreated and pressed him to it very earnestly; and at last,\r\ntaking him by the hand, led him into a very deep and dark place, whither he was\r\nforced against his will to follow in great consternation and amazement. After\r\nthis vision, he had a fever the most part of the night; nevertheless in the\r\nmorning, hearing that the body of Caesar was to be carried forth to be\r\ninterred, he was ashamed not to be present at the solemnity, and came abroad\r\nand joined the people, when they were already infuriated by the speech of\r\nAntony. And perceiving him, and taking him not for that Cinna who indeed he\r\nwas, but for him that a little before in a speech to the people had reproached\r\nand inveighed against Caesar, they fell upon him and tore him to pieces.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis action chiefly, and the alteration that Antony had wrought, so alarmed\r\nBrutus and his party, that for their safety they retired from the city. The\r\nfirst stay they made was at Antium, with a design to return again as soon as\r\nthe fury of the people had spent itself and was abated, which they expected\r\nwould soon and easily come to pass in an unsettled multitude, apt to be carried\r\naway with any sudden and impetuous passion, especially since they had the\r\nsenate favorable to them; which, though it took no notice of those that had\r\ntorn Cinna to pieces, yet made a strict search and apprehended in order to\r\npunishment those that had assaulted the houses of the friends of Brutus and\r\nCassius. By this time, also, the people began to be dissatisfied with Antony,\r\nwho they perceived was setting up a kind of monarchy for himself; they longed\r\nfor the return of Brutus, whose presence they expected and hoped for at the\r\ngames and spectacles which he, as praetor, was to exhibit to the public. But\r\nhe, having intelligence that many of the old soldiers that had borne arms under\r\nCaesar, by whom they had had lands and cities given them, lay in wait for him,\r\nand by small parties at a time had stolen into the city, would not venture to\r\ncome himself; however, in his absence there were most magnificent and costly\r\nshows exhibited to the people; for, having bought up a great number of all\r\nsorts of wild beasts, he gave order that not any of them should be returned or\r\nsaved, but that all should be spent freely at the public spectacles. He himself\r\nmade a journey to Naples to procure a considerable number of players, and\r\nhearing of one Canutius, that was very much praised for his acting upon the\r\nstage, he wrote to his friends to use all their entreaties to bring him to Rome\r\n(for, being a Grecian, he could not be compelled); he wrote also to Cicero,\r\nbegging him by no means to omit being present at the shows.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was the posture of affairs when another sudden alteration was made upon\r\nthe young Caesar’s coming to Rome. He was son to the niece of Caesar, who\r\nadopted him, and left him his heir by his will. At the time when Caesar was\r\nkilled, he was following his studies at Apollonia, where he was expecting also\r\nto meet Caesar on his way to the expedition which he had determined on against\r\nthe Parthians; but, hearing of his death, he immediately came to Rome, and, to\r\ningratiate himself with the people, taking upon himself the name of Caesar, and\r\npunctually distributing among the citizens the money that was left them by the\r\nwill, he soon got the better of Antony; and by money and largesses, which he\r\nliberally dispersed amongst the soldiers, he gathered together and brought over\r\nto his party a great number of those that had served under Caesar. Cicero\r\nhimself, out of the hatred which he bore to Antony, sided with young Caesar;\r\nwhich Brutus took so ill that he treated with him very sharply in his letters,\r\ntelling him, that he perceived Cicero could well enough endure a tyrant, but\r\nwas afraid that he who hated him should be the man; that in writing and\r\nspeaking so well of Caesar, he showed that his aim was to have an easy slavery.\r\n“But our forefathers,” said Brutus, “could not brook even gentle masters.”\r\nFurther he added, that for his own part he had not as yet fully resolved\r\nwhether he should make war or peace; but that as to one point he was fixed and\r\nsettled, which was, never to be a slave; that he wondered Cicero should fear\r\nthe dangers of a civil war, and not be much more afraid of a dishonorable and\r\ninfamous peace; that the very reward that was to be given him for subverting\r\nAntony’s tyranny was the privilege of establishing Caesar as tyrant in his\r\nplace. This is the tone of Brutus’s first letters to Cicero.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe city being now divided into two factions, some betaking themselves to\r\nCaesar and others to Antony, the soldiers selling themselves, as it were, by\r\npublic outcry, and going over to him that would give them most, Brutus began to\r\ndespair of any good event of such proceedings, and, resolving to leave Italy,\r\npassed by land through Lucania and came to Elea by the seaside. From hence it\r\nwas thought convenient that Porcia should return to Rome. She was overcome with\r\ngrief to part from Brutus, but strove as much as was possible to conceal it;\r\nbut, in spite of all her constancy, a picture which she found there\r\naccidentally betrayed it. It was a Greek subject, Hector parting from\r\nAndromache when he went to engage the Greeks, giving his young son Astyanax\r\ninto her arms, and she fixing her eyes upon him. When she looked at this piece,\r\nthe resemblance it bore to her own condition made her burst into tears, and\r\nseveral times a day she went to see the picture, and wept before it. Upon this\r\noccasion, when Acilius, one of Brutus’s friends, repeated out of Homer the\r\nverses, where Andromache speaks to Hector:—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBut Hector, you\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo me are father and are mother too,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nMy brother, and my loving husband true.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBrutus, smiling, replied, “But I must not answer Porcia, as Hector did\r\nAndromache,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\n‘Mind you your loom, and to your maids give law.’\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor though the natural weakness of her body hinders her from doing what only\r\nthe strength of men can perform, yet she has a mind as valiant and as active\r\nfor the good of her country as the best of us.” This narrative is in the\r\nmemoirs of Brutus written by Bibulus, Porcia’s son.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus took ship from hence, and sailed to Athens where he was received by the\r\npeople with great demonstrations of kindness, expressed in their acclamations\r\nand the honors that were decreed him. He lived there with a private friend, and\r\nwas a constant auditor of Theomnestus the Academic and Cratippus the\r\nPeripatetic, with whom he so engaged in philosophical pursuits, that he seemed\r\nto have laid aside all thoughts of public business, and to be wholly at leisure\r\nfor study. But all this while, being unsuspected, he was secretly making\r\npreparation for war; in order to which he sent Herostratus into Macedonia to\r\nsecure the commanders there to his side, and he himself won over and kept at\r\nhis disposal all the young Romans that were then students at Athens. Of this\r\nnumber was Cicero’s son, whom he everywhere highly extols, and says that\r\nwhether sleeping or waking he could not choose but admire a young man of so\r\ngreat a spirit and such a hater of tyranny.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt length he began to act openly, and to appear in public business, and, being\r\ninformed that there were several Roman ships full of treasure that in their\r\ncourse from Asia were to come that way, and that they were commanded by one of\r\nhis friends, he went to meet him about Carystus. Finding him there, and having\r\npersuaded him to deliver up the ships, he made a more than usually splendid\r\nentertainment, for it happened also to be his birthday. Now when they came to\r\ndrink, and were filling their cups with hopes for victory to Brutus and liberty\r\nto Rome, Brutus, to animate them the more, called for a larger bowl, and\r\nholding it in his hand, on a sudden upon no occasion or forethought pronounced\r\naloud this verse: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBut fate my death and Leto’s son have wrought.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd some writers add that in the last battle which he fought at Philippi the\r\nword that he gave to his soldiers was Apollo, and from thence conclude that\r\nthis sudden unaccountable exclamation of his was a presage of the overthrow\r\nthat he suffered there.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntistius, the commander of these ships, at his parting gave him fifty thousand\r\nmyriads of the money that he was conveying to Italy; and all the soldiers yet\r\nremaining of Pompey’s army, who after their general’s defeat wandered about\r\nThessaly, readily and joyfully flocked together to join him. Besides this, he\r\ntook from Cinna five hundred horse that he was carrying to Dolabella into Asia.\r\nAfter that, he sailed to Demetrias, and there seized a great quantity of arms,\r\nthat had been provided by the command of the deceased Caesar for the Parthian\r\nwar, and were now to be sent to Antony. Then Macedonia was put into his hands\r\nand delivered up by Hortensius the praetor, and all the kings and potentates\r\nround about came and offered their services. So when news was brought that\r\nCaius, the brother of Antony, having passed over from Italy, was marching on\r\ndirectly to join the forces that Vatinius commanded in Dyrrhachium and\r\nApollonia, Brutus resolved to anticipate him, and to seize them first, and in\r\nall haste moved forwards with those that he had about him. His march was very\r\ndifficult, through rugged places and in a great snow, but so swift that he left\r\nthose that were to bring his provisions for the morning meal a great way\r\nbehind. And now, being very near to Dyrrhachium, with fatigue and cold he fell\r\ninto the distemper called Bulimia. This is a disease that seizes both men and\r\ncattle after much labor, and especially in a great snow; whether it is caused\r\nby the natural heat, when the body is seized with cold, being forced all\r\ninwards, and consuming at once all the nourishment laid in, or whether the\r\nsharp and subtle vapor which comes from the snow as it dissolves, cuts the\r\nbody, as it were, and destroys the heat which issues through the pores; for the\r\nsweatings seem to arise from the heat meeting with the cold, and being quenched\r\nby it on the surface of the body. But this I have in another place discussed\r\nmore at large.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus growing very faint, and there being none in the whole army that had\r\nanything for him to eat, his servants were forced to have recourse to the\r\nenemy, and, going as far as to the gates of the city, begged bread of the\r\nsentinels that were upon duty. As soon as they heard of the condition of\r\nBrutus, they came themselves, and brought both meat and drink along with them;\r\nin return for which, Brutus, when he took the city, showed the greatest\r\nkindness, not to them only, but to all the inhabitants, for their sakes. Caius\r\nAntonius, in the meantime, coming to Apollonia, summoned all the soldiers that\r\nwere near that city to join him there; but finding that they nevertheless went\r\nall to Brutus, and suspecting that even those of Apollonia were inclined to the\r\nsame party, he quitted that city, and came to Buthrotum, having first lost\r\nthree cohorts of his men, that in their march thither were cut to pieces by\r\nBrutus. After this, attempting to make himself master of some strong places\r\nabout Byllis which the enemy had first seized, he was overcome in a set battle\r\nby young Cicero, to whom Brutus gave the command, and whose conduct he made use\r\nof often and with much success. Caius himself was surprised in a marshy place,\r\nat a distance from his supports; and Brutus, having him in his power, would not\r\nsuffer his soldiers to attack, but maneuvering about the enemy with his horse,\r\ngave command that none of them should be killed, for that in a little time they\r\nwould all be of his side; which accordingly came to pass, for they surrendered\r\nboth themselves and their general. So that Brutus had by this time a very great\r\nand considerable army. He showed all marks of honor and esteem to Caius for a\r\nlong time, and left him the use of the ensigns of his office, though, as some\r\nreport, he had several letters from Rome, and particularly from Cicero,\r\nadvising him to put him to death. But at last, perceiving that he began to\r\ncorrupt his officers, and was trying to raise a mutiny amongst the soldiers, he\r\nput him aboard a ship and kept him close prisoner. In the meantime the soldiers\r\nthat had been corrupted by Caius retired to Apollonia, and sent word to Brutus,\r\ndesiring him to come to them thither. He answered that this was not the custom\r\nof the Romans, but that it became those who had offended to come themselves to\r\ntheir general and beg forgiveness of their offences; which they did, and\r\naccordingly received their pardon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs he was preparing to pass into Asia, tidings reached him of the alteration\r\nthat had happened at Rome; where the young Caesar, assisted by the senate, in\r\nopposition to Antony, and having driven his competitor out of Italy, had begun\r\nhimself to be very formidable, suing for the consulship contrary to law, and\r\nmaintaining large bodies of troops of which the commonwealth had no manner of\r\nneed. And then, perceiving that the senate, dissatisfied with his proceedings,\r\nbegan to cast their eyes abroad upon Brutus, and decreed and confirmed the\r\ngovernment of several provinces to him, he had taken the alarm. Therefore\r\ndispatching messengers to Antony, he desired that there might be a\r\nreconciliation, and a friendship between them. Then, drawing all his forces\r\nabout the city, he made himself be chosen consul, though he was but a boy,\r\nbeing scarce twenty years old, as he himself writes in his memoirs. At his\r\nfirst entry upon the consulship he immediately ordered a judicial process to be\r\nissued out against Brutus and his accomplices for having murdered a principal\r\nman of the city, holding the highest magistracies of Rome, without being heard\r\nor condemned; and appointed Lucius Cornificius to accuse Brutus, and Marcus\r\nAgrippa to accuse Cassius. None appearing to the accusation, the judges were\r\nforced to pass sentence and condemn them both. It is reported, that when the\r\ncrier from the tribunal, as the custom was, with a loud voice cited Brutus to\r\nappear, the people groaned audibly, and the noble citizens hung down their\r\nheads for grief. Publius Silicius was seen to burst out into tears, which was\r\nthe cause that not long after he was put down in the list of those that were\r\nproscribed. After this, the three men, Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus, being\r\nperfectly reconciled, shared the provinces among themselves, and made up the\r\ncatalogue of proscription, wherein were set those that were designed for\r\nslaughter, amounting to two hundred men, in which number Cicero was slain.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis news being brought to Brutus in Macedonia, he was under a compulsion, and\r\nsent orders to Hortensius that he should kill Caius Antonius in revenge of the\r\ndeath of Cicero his friend, and Brutus his kinsman, who also was proscribed and\r\nslain. Upon this account it was that Antony, having afterwards taken Hortensius\r\nin the battle of Philippi, slew him upon his brother’s tomb. But Brutus\r\nexpresses himself as more ashamed for the cause of Cicero’s death than grieved\r\nfor the misfortune of it, and says he cannot help accusing his friends at Rome,\r\nthat they were slaves more through their own doing than that of those who now\r\nwere their tyrants; they could be present and see and yet suffer those things\r\nwhich even to hear related ought to them to have been insufferable.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving made his army, that was already very considerable, pass into Asia, he\r\nordered a fleet to be prepared in Bithynia and about Cyzicus. But going himself\r\nthrough the country by land, he made it his business to settle and confirm all\r\nthe cities, and gave audience to the princes of the parts through which he\r\npassed. And he sent orders into Syria to Cassius to come to him, and leave his\r\nintended journey into Egypt; letting him understand, that it was not to gain an\r\nempire for themselves, but to free their country, that they went thus wandering\r\nabout and had got an army together whose business it was to destroy the\r\ntyrants; that therefore, if they remembered and resolved to persevere in their\r\nfirst purpose, they ought not to be too far from Italy, but make what haste\r\nthey could thither, and endeavor to relieve their fellow-citizens from\r\noppression.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCassius obeyed his summons, and returned, and Brutus went to meet him; and at\r\nSmyrna they met, which was the first time they had seen one another since they\r\nparted at the Piraeus in Athens, one for Syria, and the other for Macedonia.\r\nThey were both extremely joyful and had great confidence of their success at\r\nthe sight of the forces that each of them had got together, since they who had\r\nfled from Italy, like the most despicable exiles, without money, without arms,\r\nwithout a ship or a soldier or a city to rely on, in a little time after had\r\nmet together so well furnished with shipping and money, and an army both of\r\nhorse and foot, that they were in a condition to contend for the empire of\r\nRome.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCassius was desirous to show no less respect and honor to Brutus than Brutus\r\ndid to him; but Brutus was still beforehand with him, coming for the most part\r\nto him, both because he was the elder man, and of a weaker constitution than\r\nhimself. Men generally reckoned Cassius a very expert soldier, but of a harsh\r\nand angry nature, and one that desired to command rather by fear than love;\r\nthough, on the other side, among his familiar acquaintance he would easily give\r\nway to jesting, and play the buffoon. But Brutus, for his virtue, was esteemed\r\nby the people, beloved by his friends, admired by the best men, and hated not\r\nby his enemies themselves. For he was a man of a singularly gentle nature, of a\r\ngreat spirit, insensible of the passions of anger or pleasure or covetousness;\r\nsteady and inflexible to maintain his purpose for what he thought right and\r\nhonest. And that which gained him the greatest affection and reputation was the\r\nentire faith in his intentions. For it had not ever been supposed that Pompey\r\nthe Great himself, if he had overcome Caesar, would have submitted his power to\r\nthe laws, instead of taking the management of the state upon himself, soothing\r\nthe people with the specious name of consul or dictator, or some other milder\r\ntitle than king. And they were well persuaded that Cassius, being a man\r\ngoverned by anger and passion and carried often, for his interest’s sake,\r\nbeyond the bounce of justice, endured all these hardships of war and travel and\r\ndanger most assuredly to obtain dominion to himself, and not liberty to the\r\npeople. And as for the former disturbers of the peace of Rome, whether a Cinna,\r\na Marius, or a Carbo, it is manifest that they, having set their country as a\r\nstake for him that should win, did almost own in express terms that they fought\r\nfor empire. But even the enemies of Brutus did not, they tell us, lay this\r\naccusation to his charge; nay, many heard Antony himself say that Brutus was\r\nthe only man that conspired against Caesar out of a sense of the glory and the\r\napparent justice of the action, but that all the rest rose up against the man\r\nhimself, from private envy and malice of their own. And it is plain by what he\r\nwrites himself, that Brutus did not so much rely upon his forces, as upon his\r\nown virtue. For thus he speaks in a letter to Atticus, shortly before he was to\r\nengage with the enemy: that his affairs were in the best state of fortune that\r\nhe could wish; for that either he should overcome, and restore liberty to the\r\npeople of Rome, or die, and be himself out of the reach of slavery; that other\r\nthings being certain and beyond all hazard, one thing was yet in doubt, whether\r\nthey should live or die free men. He adds further, that Mark Antony had\r\nreceived a just punishment for his folly, who, when he might have been numbered\r\nwith Brutus and Cassius and Cato, would join himself to Octavius; that though\r\nthey should not now be both overcome, they soon would fight between them\r\nselves. And in this he seems to have been no ill prophet.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow when they were at Smyrna, Brutus desired of Cassius that he might have part\r\nof the great treasure that he had heaped up, because all his own was expended\r\nin furnishing out such a fleet of ships as was sufficient to keep the whole\r\ninterior sea in their power. But Cassius’s friends dissuaded him from this;\r\n“for,” said they, “it is not just that the money which you with so much\r\nparsimony keep and with so much envy have got, should be given to him to be\r\ndisposed of in making himself popular, and gaining the favor of the soldiers.”\r\nNotwithstanding this, Cassius gave him a third part of all that he had; and\r\nthen they parted each to their several commands. Cassius, having taken Rhodes,\r\nbehaved himself there with no clemency; though at his first entry, when some\r\nhad called him lord and king, he answered, that he was neither king nor lord,\r\nbut the destroyer and punisher of a king and lord. Brutus, on the other part,\r\nsent to the Lycians to demand from them a supply of money and men; but\r\nNaucrates, their popular leader, persuaded the cities to resist, and they\r\noccupied several little mountains and hills, with a design to hinder Brutus’s\r\npassage. Brutus at first sent out a party of horse, which, surprising them as\r\nthey were eating, killed six hundred of them; and afterwards, having taken all\r\ntheir small towns and villages round about, he set all his prisoners free\r\nwithout ransom, hoping to win the whole nation by good-will. But they continued\r\nobstinate, taking in anger what they had suffered, and despising his goodness\r\nand humanity; until, having forced the most warlike of them into the city of\r\nXanthus, he besieged them there. They endeavored to make their escape by\r\nswimming and diving through the river that flows by the town, but were taken by\r\nnets let down for that purpose in the channel, which had little bells at the\r\ntop, which gave present notice of any that were taken in them. After that, they\r\nmade a sally in the night, and seizing several of the battering engines, set\r\nthem on fire; but being perceived by the Romans, were beaten back to their\r\nwalls, and, there being a strong wind, it carried the flames to the battlements\r\nof the city with such fierceness, that several of the adjoining houses took\r\nfire. Brutus, fearing lest the whole city should be destroyed, commanded his\r\nown soldiers to assist, and quench the fire.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the Lycians were on a sudden possessed with a strange and incredible\r\ndesperation; such a frenzy as cannot be better expressed than by calling it a\r\nviolent appetite to die, for both women and children, the bondmen and the free,\r\nthose of all ages and of all conditions strove to force away the soldiers that\r\ncame in to their assistance, from the walls; and themselves gathering together\r\nreeds and wood, and whatever combustible matter they found, spread the fire\r\nover the whole city, feeding it with whatever fuel they could, and by all\r\npossible means exciting its fury, so that the flame, having dispersed itself\r\nand encircled the whole city, blazed out in so terrible a manner, that Brutus,\r\nbeing extremely afflicted at their calamity, got on horseback and rode round\r\nthe walls, earnestly desirous to preserve the city, and, stretching forth his\r\nhands to the Xanthians, begged of them that they would spare themselves and\r\nsave their town. Yet none regarded his entreaties, but by all manner of ways\r\nstrove to destroy themselves; not only men and women, but even boys and little\r\nchildren, with a hideous outcry, leaped, some into the fire, others from the\r\nwalls, others fell upon their parents’ swords, baring their throats and\r\ndesiring to be struck. After the destruction of the city, there was found a\r\nwoman who had hanged herself with her young child hanging from her neck, and\r\nthe torch in her hand, with which she had fired her own house. It was so\r\ntragical a sight, that Brutus could not endure to see it, but wept at the very\r\nrelation of it, and proclaimed a reward to any soldier that could save a\r\nXanthian. And it is said that one hundred and fifty only were found, to have\r\ntheir lives saved against their wills. Thus the Xanthians, after a long space\r\nof years, the fated period of their destruction having, as it were, run its\r\ncourse, repeated by their desperate deed the former calamity of their\r\nforefathers, who after the very same manner in the Persian war had fired their\r\ncity and destroyed themselves.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus, after this, finding the Patareans resolved to make resistance and hold\r\nout their city against him, was very unwilling to besiege it, and was in great\r\nperplexity lest the same frenzy might seize them too. But having in his power\r\nsome of their women, who were his prisoners, he dismissed them all without any\r\nransom; who, returning and giving an account to their husbands and fathers, who\r\nwere of the greatest rank, what an excellent man Brutus was how temperate and\r\nhow just, persuaded them to yield themselves and put their city into his hands.\r\nFrom this time all the cities round about came into his power, submitting\r\nthemselves to him, and found him good and merciful even beyond their hopes. For\r\nthough Cassius at the same time had compelled the Rhodians to bring in all the\r\nsilver and gold that each of them privately was possessed of, by which he\r\nraised a sum of eight thousand talents, and besides this had condemned the\r\npublic to pay the sum of five hundred talents more, Brutus, not having taken\r\nabove a hundred and fifty talents from the Lycians, and having done them no\r\nother manner of injury, parted from thence with his army to go into Ionia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThrough the whole course of this expedition, Brutus did many memorable acts of\r\njustice in dispensing rewards and punishments to such as had deserved either;\r\nbut one in particular I will relate, because he himself, and all the noblest\r\nRomans, were gratified with it above all the rest. When Pompey the Great, being\r\noverthrown from his great power by Caesar, had fled to Egypt, and landed near\r\nPelusium, the protectors of the young king consulted among themselves what was\r\nfit to be done on that occasion, nor could they all agree in the same opinion,\r\nsome being for receiving him, others for driving him from Egypt. But Theodotus,\r\na Chian by birth, and then attending upon the king as a paid teacher of\r\nrhetoric, and for want of better men admitted into the council, undertook to\r\nprove to them, that both parties were in the wrong, those that counseled to\r\nreceive Pompey, and those that advised to send him away; that in their present\r\ncase one thing only was truly expedient, to seize him and to kill him; and\r\nended his argument with the proverb, that “dead men don’t bite.” The council\r\nagreed to his opinion, and Pompey the Great (an example of incredible and\r\nunforeseen events) was slain, as the sophister himself had the impudence to\r\nboast, through the rhetoric and cleverness of Theodotus. Not long after, when\r\nCaesar came to Egypt, some of the murderers received their just reward and\r\nsuffered the evil death they deserved. But Theodotus, though he had borrowed on\r\nfrom fortune a little further time for a poor despicable and wandering life,\r\nyet did not lie hid from Brutus as he passed through Asia; but being seized by\r\nhim and executed, had his death made more memorable than was his life.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout this time, Brutus sent to Cassius to come to him at the city of Sardis,\r\nand, when he was on his journey, went forth with his friends to meet him; and\r\nthe whole army in array saluted each of them with the name of Imperator. Now\r\n(as it usually happens in business of great concern and where many friends and\r\nmany commanders are engaged), several jealousies of each other and matters of\r\nprivate accusation having passed between Brutus and Cassius, they resolved,\r\nbefore they entered upon any other business, immediately to withdraw into some\r\napartment; where, the door being shut and they two alone, they began first to\r\nexpostulate, then to dispute hotly, and accuse each other; and finally were so\r\ntransported into passion as to fall to hard words, and at last burst out into\r\ntears. Their friends who stood without were amazed, hearing them loud and\r\nangry, and feared lest some mischief might follow, but yet durst not interrupt\r\nthem, being commanded not to enter the room. However, Marcus Favonius, who had\r\nbeen an ardent admirer of Cato, and, not so much by his learning or wisdom as\r\nby his wild, vehement manner, maintained the character of a philosopher, was\r\nrushing in upon them, but was hindered by the attendants. But it was a hard\r\nmatter to stop Favonius, wherever his wildness hurried him; for he was fierce\r\nin all his behavior, and ready to do anything to get his will. And though he\r\nwas a senator, yet, thinking that one of the least of his excellences, he\r\nvalued himself more upon a sort of cynical liberty of speaking what he pleased,\r\nwhich sometimes, indeed, did away with the rudeness and unseasonableness of his\r\naddresses with those that would interpret it in jest. This Favonius, breaking\r\nby force through those that kept the doors, entered into the chamber, and with\r\na set voice declaimed the verses that Homer makes Nestor use, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nBe ruled, for I am older than ye both.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAt this Cassius laughed; but Brutus thrust him our, calling him impudent dog\r\nand counterfeit Cynic; but yet for the present they let it put an end to their\r\ndispute, and parted. Cassius made a supper that night, and Brutus invited the\r\nguests; and when they were set down, Favonius, having bathed, came in among\r\nthem. Brutus called out aloud and told him he was not invited, and bade him go\r\nto the upper couch; but he violently thrust himself in, and lay down on the\r\nmiddle one; and the entertainment passed in sportive talk, not wanting either\r\nwit or philosophy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe next day after, upon the accusation of the Sardians, Brutus publicly\r\ndisgraced and condemned Lucius Pella, one that had been censor of Rome, and\r\nemployed in offices of trust by himself, for having embezzled the public money.\r\nThis action did not a little vex Cassius; for but a few days before, two of his\r\nown friends being accused of the same crime, he only admonished them in\r\nprivate, but in public absolved them, and continued them in his service; and\r\nupon this occasion he accused Brutus of too much rigor and severity of justice\r\nin a time which required them to use more policy and favor. But Brutus bade him\r\nremember the Ides of March, the day when they killed Caesar, who himself\r\nneither plundered nor pillaged mankind, but was only the support and strength\r\nof those that did; and bade him consider, that if there was any color for\r\njustice to be neglected, it had been better to suffer the injustice of Caesar’s\r\nfriends than to give impunity to their own; “for then,” said he, “we could have\r\nbeen accused of cowardice only; whereas now we are liable to the accusation of\r\ninjustice, after all our pain and dangers which we endure.” By which we may\r\nperceive what was Brutus’s purpose, and the rule of his actions.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout the time that they were going to pass out of Asia into Europe, it is said\r\nthat a wonderful sign was seen by Brutus. He was naturally given to much\r\nwatching, and by practice and moderation in his diet had reduced his allowance\r\nof sleep to a very small amount of time. He never slept in the daytime, and in\r\nthe night then only when all his business was finished, and when, everyone else\r\nbeing gone to rest, he had nobody to discourse with him. But at this time, the\r\nwar being begun, having the whole state of it to consider and being solicitous\r\nof the event, after his first sleep, which he let himself take after his\r\nsupper, he spent all the rest of the night in settling his most urgent affairs;\r\nwhich if he could dispatch early and so make a saving of any leisure, he\r\nemployed himself in reading until the third watch, at which time the centurions\r\nand tribunes were used to come to him for orders. Thus one night before he\r\npassed out of Asia, he was very late all alone in his tent, with a dim light\r\nburning by him, all the rest of the camp being hushed and silent; and reasoning\r\nabout something with himself and very thoughtful, he fancied someone came in,\r\nand, looking up towards the door, he saw a terrible and strange appearance of\r\nan unnatural and frightful body standing by him without speaking. Brutus boldly\r\nasked it, “What are you, of men or gods, and upon what business come to me?”\r\nThe figure answered, “I am your evil genius, Brutus; you shall see me at\r\nPhilippi.” To which Brutus, not at all disturbed, replied, “Then I shall see\r\nyou.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as the apparition vanished, he called his servants to him, who all told\r\nhim that they had neither heard any voice nor seen any vision. So then he\r\ncontinued watching till the morning, when he went to Cassius, and told him of\r\nwhat he had seen. He, who followed the principles of Epicurus’s philosophy, and\r\noften used to dispute with Brutus concerning matters of this nature, spoke to\r\nhim thus upon this occasion: “It is the opinion of our sect, Brutus, that not\r\nall that we feel or see is real and true; but that the sense is a most slippery\r\nand deceitful thing, and the mind yet more quick and subtle to put the sense in\r\nmotion and affect it with every kind of change upon no real occasion of fact;\r\njust as an impression is made upon wax; and the soul of man, which has in\r\nitself both what imprints and what is imprinted on, may most easily, by its own\r\noperations, produce and assume every variety of shape and figure. This is\r\nevident from the sudden changes of our dreams; in which the imaginative\r\nprinciple, once started by anything matter, goes through a whole series of most\r\ndiverse emotions and appearances. It is its nature to be ever in motion, and\r\nits motion is fantasy or conception. But besides all this, in your case, the\r\nbody, being tired and distressed with continual toil, naturally works upon the\r\nmind, and keeps it in an excited and unusual condition. But that there should\r\nbe any such thing as supernatural beings, or, if there were, that they should\r\nhave human shape or voice or power that can reach to us, there is no reason for\r\nbelieving; though I confess I could wish that there were such beings, that we\r\nmight not rely upon our arms only, and our horses and our navy, all which are\r\nso numerous and powerful, but might be confident of the assistance of gods\r\nalso, in this our most sacred and honorable attempt.” With such discourses as\r\nthese Cassius soothed the mind of Brutus. But just as the troops were going on\r\nboard, two eagles flew and lighted on the first two ensigns, and crossed over\r\nthe water with them, and never ceased following the soldiers and being fed by\r\nthem till they came to Philippi, and there, but one day before the fight, they\r\nboth flew away.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus had already reduced most of the places and people of these parts; but\r\nthey now marched on as far as to the coast opposite Thasos, and, if there were\r\nany city or man of power that yet stood out, brought them all to subjection. At\r\nthis point Norbanus was encamped, in a place called the Straits, near Symbolum.\r\nHim they surrounded in such sort that they forced him to dislodge and quit the\r\nplace; and Norbanus narrowly escaped losing his whole army, Caesar by reason of\r\nsickness being too far behind; only Antony came to his relief with such\r\nwonderful swiftness that Brutus and those with him did not believe when they\r\nheard he was come. Caesar came up ten days after, and encamped over against\r\nBrutus, and Antony over against Cassius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe space between the two armies is called by the Romans the Campi Philippi.\r\nNever had two such large Roman armies come together to engage each other. That\r\nof Brutus was somewhat less in number than that of Caesar, but in the\r\nsplendidness of the men’s arms and richness of their equipage it wonderfully\r\nexceeded; for most of their arms were of gold and silver, which Brutus had\r\nlavishly bestowed among them. For though in other things he had accustomed his\r\ncommanders to use all frugality and self-control, yet he thought that the\r\nriches which soldiers carried about them in their hands and on their bodies\r\nwould add something of spirit to those that were desirous of glory, and would\r\nmake those that were covetous and lovers of gain fight the more valiantly to\r\npreserve the arms which were their estate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCaesar made a view and lustration of his army within his trenches, and\r\ndistributed only a little corn and but five drachmas to each soldier for the\r\nsacrifice they were to make. But Brutus, either pitying this poverty, or\r\ndisdaining this meanness of spirit in Caesar, first, as the custom was, made a\r\ngeneral muster and lustration of the army in the open field, and then\r\ndistributed a great number of beasts for sacrifice to every regiment, and fifty\r\ndrachmas to every soldier; so that in the love of his soldiers and their\r\nreadiness to fight for him Brutus had much the advantage. But at the time of\r\nlustration it is reported that an unlucky omen happened to Cassius; for his\r\nlictor, presenting him with a garland that he was to wear at sacrifice, gave it\r\nhim the wrong way up. Further, it is said that some time before, at a certain\r\nsolemn procession, a golden image of Victory, which was carried before Cassius,\r\nfell down by a slip of him that carried it. Besides this there appeared many\r\nbirds of prey daily about the camp, and swarms of bees were seen in a place\r\nwithin the trenches, which place the soothsayers ordered to be shut out from\r\nthe camp, to remove the superstition which insensibly began to infect even\r\nCassius himself and shake him in his Epicurean philosophy, and had wholly\r\nseized and subdued the soldiers; from whence it was that Cassius was reluctant\r\nto put all to the hazard of a present battle, but advised rather to draw out\r\nthe war until further time, considering that they were stronger in money and\r\nprovisions, but in numbers of men and arms inferior. But Brutus, on the\r\ncontrary, was still, as formerly, desirous to come with all speed to the\r\ndecision of a battle; that so he might either restore his country to her\r\nliberty, or else deliver from their misery all those numbers of people whom\r\nthey harassed with the expenses and the service and exactions of the war. And\r\nfinding also his light-horse in several skirmishes still to have had the\r\nbetter, he was the more encouraged and resolved; and some of the soldiers\r\nhaving deserted and gone to the enemy, and others beginning to accuse and\r\nsuspect one another, many of Cassius’s friends in the council changed their\r\nopinions to that of Brutus. But there was one of Brutus’s party, named\r\nAtellius, who opposed his resolution, advising rather that they should tarry\r\nover the winter. And when Brutus asked him in how much better a condition he\r\nhoped to be a year after, his answer was, “If I gain nothing else, yet I shall\r\nlive so much the longer.” Cassius was much displeased at this answer; and among\r\nthe rest, Atellius was had in much disesteem for it. And so it was presently\r\nresolved to give battle the next day.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus that night at supper showed himself very cheerful and full of hope, and\r\nreasoned on subjects of philosophy with his friends, and afterwards went to his\r\nrest. But Messala says that Cassius supped privately with a few of his nearest\r\nacquaintance, and appeared thoughtful and silent, contrary to his temper and\r\ncustom; that after supper he took him earnestly by the hand, and speaking to\r\nhim, as his manner was when he wished to show affection, in Greek, said, “Bear\r\nwitness for me, Messala, that I am brought into the same necessity as Pompey\r\nthe Great was before me, of hazarding the liberty of my country upon one\r\nbattle; yet ought we to be of courage, relying on our good fortune, which it\r\nwere unfair to mistrust, though we take evil counsels.” These, Messala says,\r\nwere the last words that Cassius spoke before he bade him farewell; and that he\r\nwas invited to sup with him the next night, being his birthday.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as it was morning, the signal of battle, the scarlet coat, was set out\r\nin Brutus’s and Cassius’s camps, and they themselves met in the middle space\r\nbetween their two armies. There Cassius spoke thus to Brutus: “Be it as we\r\nhope, O Brutus, that this day we may overcome, and all the rest of our time may\r\nlive a happy life together; but since the greatest of human concerns are the\r\nmost uncertain, and since it may be difficult for us ever to see one another\r\nagain, if the battle should go against us, tell me, what is your resolution\r\nconcerning flight and death?” Brutus answered, “When I was young, Cassius, and\r\nunskillful in affairs, I was led, I know not how, into uttering a bold sentence\r\nin philosophy, and blamed Cato for killing himself, as thinking it an\r\nirreligious act, and not a valiant one among men, to try to evade the divine\r\ncourse of things, and not fearlessly to receive and undergo the evil that shall\r\nhappen, but run away from it. But now in my own fortunes I am of another mind;\r\nfor if Providence shall not dispose what we now undertake according to our\r\nwishes, I resolve to put no further hopes or warlike preparations to the proof,\r\nbut will die contented with my fortune. For I already have given up my life to\r\nmy country on the Ides of March; and have lived since then a second life for\r\nher sake, with liberty and honor.” Cassius at these words smiled, and,\r\nembracing Brutus said, “With these resolutions let us go on upon the enemy; for\r\neither we ourselves shall conquer, or have no cause to fear those that do.”\r\nAfter this they discoursed among their friends about the ordering of the\r\nbattle; and Brutus desired of Cassius that he might command the right wing,\r\nthough it was thought that this was more fit for Cassius, in regard both of his\r\nage and his experience. Yet even in this Cassius complied with Brutus, and\r\nplaced Messala with the valiantest of all his legions in the same wing, so\r\nBrutus immediately drew out his horse, excellently well equipped, and was not\r\nlong in bringing up his foot after them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntony’s soldiers were casting trenches from the marsh by which they were\r\nencamped, across the plain, to cut off Cassius’s communications with the sea.\r\nCaesar was to be at hand with his troops to support them, but he was not able\r\nto be present himself, by reason of his sickness; and his soldiers, not much\r\nexpecting that the enemy would come to a set battle, but only make some\r\nexcursions with their darts and light arms to disturb the men at work in the\r\ntrenches, and not taking notice of the boons drawn up against them ready to\r\ngive battle, were amazed when they heard the confused and great outcry that\r\ncame from the trenches. In the meanwhile Brutus had sent his tickets, in which\r\nwas the word of battle, to the officers; and himself riding about to all the\r\ntroops, encouraged the soldiers; but there were but few of them that understood\r\nthe word before they engaged; the most of them, not staying to have it\r\ndelivered to them, with one impulse and cry ran upon the enemy. This disorder\r\ncaused an unevenness in the line, and the legions got severed and divided one\r\nfrom another; that of Messala first, and afterwards the other adjoining, went\r\nbeyond the left wing of Caesar; and having just touched the extremity, without\r\nslaughtering any great number, passing round that wing, fell directly into\r\nCaesar’s camp. Caesar himself, as his own memoirs tell us, had but just before\r\nbeen conveyed away, Marcus Artorius, one of his friends, having had a dream\r\nbidding Caesar be carried out of the camp. And it was believed that he was\r\nslain; for the soldiers had pierced his litter, which was left empty, in many\r\nplaces with their darts and pikes. There was a great slaughter in the camp that\r\nwas taken, and two thousand Lacedaemonians that were newly come to the\r\nassistance of Caesar were all cut off together.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe rest of the army, that had not gone round but had engaged the front, easily\r\noverthrew them, finding them in great disorder, and slew upon the place three\r\nlegions; and being carried on with the stream of victory, pursuing those that\r\nfled, fell into the camp with them, Brutus himself being there. But they that\r\nwere conquered took the advantage in their extremity of what the conquerors did\r\nnot consider. For they fell upon that part of the main body which had been left\r\nexposed and separated, where the right wing had broke off from them and hurried\r\naway in the pursuit; yet they could not break into the midst of their battle,\r\nbut were received with strong resistance and obstinacy. Yet they put to flight\r\nthe left wing, where Cassius commanded, being in great disorder, and ignorant\r\nof what had passed on the other wing; and, pursuing them to their camp, they\r\npillaged and destroyed it, neither of their generals being present; for Antony,\r\nthey say, to avoid the fury of the first onset, had retired into the marsh that\r\nwas hard by; and Caesar was nowhere to be found after his being conveyed out of\r\nthe tents; though some of the soldiers showed Brutus their swords bloody, and\r\ndeclared that they had killed him, describing his person and his age. By this\r\ntime also the center of Brutus’s battle had driven back their opponents with\r\ngreat slaughter; and Brutus was everywhere plainly conqueror, as on the other\r\nside Cassius was conquered. And this one mistake was the ruin of their affairs,\r\nthat Brutus did not come to the relief of Cassius, thinking that he, as well as\r\nhimself, was conqueror; and that Cassius did not expect the relief of Brutus,\r\nthinking that he too was overcome. For as a proof that the victory was on\r\nBrutus’s side, Messala urges his taking three eagles and many ensigns of the\r\nenemy without losing any of his own. But now, returning from the pursuit after\r\nhaving plundered Caesar’s camp, Brutus wondered that he could not see Cassius’s\r\ntent standing high, as it was wont, and appearing above the rest, nor other\r\nthings appearing as they had been; for they had been immediately pulled down\r\nand pillaged by the enemy upon their first falling into the camp. But some that\r\nhad a quicker and longer sight than the rest acquainted Brutus that they saw a\r\ngreat deal of shining armor and silver targets moving to and fro in Cassius’s\r\ncamp, and that they thought, by their number and the fashion of their armor,\r\nthey could not be those that they left to guard the camp; but yet that there\r\ndid not appear so great a number of dead bodies thereabouts as it was probable\r\nthere would have been after the actual defeat of so many legions. This first\r\nmade Brutus suspect Cassius’s misfortune, and, leaving a guard in the enemy’s\r\ncamp, he called back those that were in the pursuit, and rallied them together\r\nto lead them to the relief of Cassius, whose fortune had been as follows.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFirst, he had been angry at the onset that Brutus’s soldiers made, without the\r\nword of battle or command to charge. Then, after they had overcome, he was as\r\nmuch displeased to see them rush on to the plunder and spoil, and neglect to\r\nsurround and encompass the rest of the enemy. Besides this, letting himself act\r\nby delay and expectation, rather than command boldly and with a clear purpose,\r\nhe got hemmed in by the right wing of the enemy, and, his horse making with all\r\nhaste their escape and flying towards the sea, the foot also began to give way,\r\nwhich he perceiving labored as much as ever he could to hinder their flight and\r\nbring them back; and, snatching an ensign out of the hand of one that fled, he\r\nstuck it at his feet, though he could hardly keep even his own personal guard\r\ntogether. So that at last he was forced to fly with a few about him to a little\r\nhill that overlooked the plain. But he himself, being weak-sighted, discovered\r\nnothing, only the destruction of his camp, and that with difficulty. But they\r\nthat were with him saw a great body of horse moving towards him, the same whom\r\nBrutus had sent. Cassius believed these were enemies, and in pursuit of him;\r\nhowever, he sent away Titinius, one of those that were with him, to learn what\r\nthey were. As soon as Brutus’s horse saw him coming, and knew him to be a\r\nfriend and a faithful servant of Cassius, those of them that were his more\r\nfamiliar acquaintance, shouting out for joy and alighting from their horses,\r\nshook hands and embraced him, and the rest rode round about him singing and\r\nshouting, through their excess of gladness at the sight of him. But this was\r\nthe occasion of the greatest mischief that could be. For Cassius really thought\r\nthat Titinius had been taken by the enemy, and cried out, “Through too much\r\nfondness of life, I have lived to endure the sight of my friend taken by the\r\nenemy before my face.” After which words he retired into an empty tent, taking\r\nalong with him only Pindarus, one of his freedmen, whom he had reserved for\r\nsuch an occasion ever since the disasters in the expedition against the\r\nParthians, when Crassus was slain. From the Parthians he came away in safety;\r\nbut now, pulling up his mantle over his head, he made his neck bare, and held\r\nit forth to Pindarus, commanding him to strike. The head was certainly found\r\nlying severed from the body. But no man ever saw Pindarus after, from which\r\nsome suspected that he had killed his master without his command. Soon after\r\nthey perceived who the horsemen were, and saw Titinius, crowned with garlands,\r\nmaking what haste he could towards Cassius. But as soon as he understood by the\r\ncries and lamentations of his afflicted friends the unfortunate error and death\r\nof his general, he drew his sword, and having very much accused and upbraided\r\nhis own long stay, that had caused it, he slew himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus, as soon as he was assured of the defeat of Cassius, made haste to him;\r\nbut heard nothing of his death till he came near his camp. Then having lamented\r\nover his body, calling him “the last of the Romans,” it being impossible that\r\nthe city should ever produce another man of so great a spirit, he sent away the\r\nbody to be buried at Thasos, lest celebrating his funeral within the camp might\r\nbreed some disorder. He then gathered the soldiers together and comforted them;\r\nand, seeing them destitute of all things necessary, he promised to every man\r\ntwo thousand drachmas in recompense of what he had lost. They at these words\r\ntook courage, and were astonished at the magnificence of the gift; and waited\r\nupon him at his parting with shouts and praises, magnifying him for the only\r\ngeneral of all the four who was not overcome in the battle. And indeed the\r\naction itself testified that it was not without reason he believed he should\r\nconquer; for with a few legions he overthrew all that resisted him; and if all\r\nhis soldiers had fought, and the most of them had not passed beyond the enemy\r\nin pursuit of the plunder, it is very likely that he had utterly defeated every\r\npart of them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere fell of his side eight thousand men, reckoning the servants of the army,\r\nwhom Brutus calls Briges; and on the other side, Messala says his opinion is\r\nthat there were slain above twice that number. For which reason they were more\r\nout of heart than Brutus, until a servant of Cassius, named Demetrius, came in\r\nthe evening to Antony, and brought to him the garment which he had taken from\r\nthe dead body, and his sword; at the sight of which they were so encouraged,\r\nthat, as soon as it was morning, they drew out their whole force into the\r\nfield, and stood in battle array. But Brutus found both his camps wavering and\r\nin disorder; for his own, being filled with prisoners, required a guard more\r\nstrict than ordinary over them; and that of Cassius was uneasy at the change of\r\ngeneral, besides some envy and rancor, which those that were conquered bore to\r\nthat part of the army which had been conquerors. Wherefore he thought it\r\nconvenient to put his army in array, but to abstain from fighting. All the\r\nslaves that were taken prisoners, of whom there was a great number that were\r\nmixed up, not without suspicion, among the soldiers, he commanded to be slain;\r\nbut of the freemen and citizens, some he dismissed, saying that among the enemy\r\nthey were rather prisoners than with him, for with them they were captives and\r\nslaves, but with him freemen and citizens of Rome. But he was forced to hide\r\nand help them to escape privately, perceiving that his friends and officers\r\nwere bent upon revenge against them. Among the captives there was one\r\nVolumnius, a player, and Sacculio, a buffoon; of these Brutus took no manner of\r\nnotice, but his friends brought them before him, and accused them that even\r\nthen in that condition they did not refrain from their jests and scurrilous\r\nlanguage. Brutus, having his mind taken up with other affairs, said nothing to\r\ntheir accusation; but the judgment of Messala Corvinus was, that they should be\r\nwhipped publicly upon a stage, and so sent naked to the captains of the enemy,\r\nto show them what sort of fellow drinkers and companions they took with them on\r\ntheir campaigns. At this some that were present laughed; and Publius Casca, he\r\nthat gave the first wound to Caesar, said, “We do ill to jest and make merry at\r\nthe funeral of Cassius. But you, O Brutus,” he added, “will show what esteem\r\nyou have for the memory of that general, according as you punish or preserve\r\nalive those who will scoff and speak shamefully of him.” To this Brutus, in\r\ngreat discomposure replied, “Why then, Casca, do you ask me about it, and not\r\ndo yourselves what you think fitting?” This answer of Brutus was taken for his\r\nconsent to the death of these wretched men; so they were carried away and\r\nslain.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this he gave the soldiers the reward that he had promised them; and\r\nhaving slightly reproved them for having fallen upon the enemy in disorder\r\nwithout the word of battle or command, he promised them, that if they behaved\r\nthemselves bravely in the next engagement, he would give them up two cities to\r\nspoil and plunder, Thessalonica and Lacedaemon. This is the one indefensible\r\nthing of all that is found fault with in the life of Brutus; though true it may\r\nbe that Antony and Caesar were much more cruel in the rewards that they gave\r\ntheir soldiers after victory; for they drove out, one might almost say, all the\r\nold inhabitants of Italy, to put their soldiers in possession of other men’s\r\nlands and cities. But indeed their only design and end in undertaking the war\r\nwas to obtain dominion and empire, whereas Brutus, for the reputation of his\r\nvirtue, could not be permitted either to overcome or save himself but with\r\njustice and honor, especially after the death of Cassius, who was generally\r\naccused of having been his adviser to some things that he had done with less\r\nclemency. But now, as in a ship, when the rudder is broken by a storm, the\r\nmariners fit and nail on some other piece of wood instead of it, striving\r\nagainst the danger not well, but as well as in that necessity they can, so\r\nBrutus, being at the head of so great an army, in a time of such uncertainty,\r\nhaving no commander equal to his need, was forced to make use of those that he\r\nhad, and to do and to say many things according to their advice; which was, in\r\neffect, whatever might conduce to the bringing of Cassius’s soldiers into\r\nbetter order. For they were very headstrong and intractable, bold and insolent\r\nin the camp for want of their general, but in the field cowardly and fearful,\r\nremembering that they had been beaten.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNeither were the affairs of Caesar and Antony in any better posture; for they\r\nwere straitened for provision, and, the camp being in a low ground, they\r\nexpected to pass a very hard winter. For being driven close upon the marshes,\r\nand a great quantity of rain, as is usual in autumn, having fallen after the\r\nbattle, their tents were all filled with mire and water, which through the\r\ncoldness of the weather immediately froze. And while they were in this\r\ncondition, there was news brought to them of their loss at sea. For Brutus’s\r\nfleet fell upon their ships, which were bringing a great supply of soldiers out\r\nof Italy, and so entirely defeated them, that but very few of the men escaped\r\nbeing slain, and they too were forced by famine to feed upon the sails and\r\ntackle of the ship. As soon as they heard this, they made what haste they could\r\nto come to the decision of a battle, before Brutus should have notice of his\r\ngood success. For it had so happened that the fight both by sea and land was on\r\nthe same day, but by some misfortune, rather than the fault of his commanders,\r\nBrutus knew not of his victory twenty days after. For had he been informed of\r\nthis, he would not have been brought to a second battle, since he had\r\nsufficient provisions for his army for a long time, and was very advantageously\r\nposted, his camp being well sheltered from the cold weather, and almost\r\ninaccessible to the enemy, and his being absolute master of the sea, and having\r\nat land overcome on that side wherein he himself was engaged, would have made\r\nhim full of hope and confidence. But it seems, the state of Rome not enduring\r\nany longer to be governed by many, but necessarily requiring a monarchy, the\r\ndivine power, that it might remove out of the way the only man that was able to\r\nresist him that could control the empire, cut off his good fortune from coming\r\nto the ears of Brutus; though it came but a very little too late, for the very\r\nevening before the fight, Clodius, a deserter from the enemy, came and\r\nannounced that Caesar had received advice of the loss of his fleet, and for\r\nthat reason was in such haste to come to a battle. But his story met with no\r\ncredit, nor was he so much as seen by Brutus, being simply set down as one that\r\nhad had no good information, or invented lies to bring himself into favor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe same night, they say, the vision appeared again to Brutus, in the same\r\nshape that it did before, but vanished without speaking. But Publius Volumnius,\r\na philosopher, and one that had from the beginning borne arms with Brutus,\r\nmakes no mention of this apparition, but says that the first eagle was covered\r\nwith a swarm of bees, and that there was one of the captains whose arm of\r\nitself sweated oil of roses, and, though they often dried and wiped it, yet it\r\nwould not cease; and that immediately before the battle, two eagles falling\r\nupon each other fought in the space between the two armies, that the whole\r\nfield kept incredible silence and all were intent upon the spectacle, until at\r\nlast that which was on Brutus’s side yielded and fled. But the story of the\r\nEthiopian is very famous, who meeting the standard-bearer at the opening the\r\ngate of the camp, was cut to pieces by the soldiers, that took it for an ill\r\nomen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus, having brought his army into the field and set them in array against\r\nthe enemy, paused a long while before he would fight; for, as he was reviewing\r\nthe troops, suspicions were excited, and informations laid against some of\r\nthem. Besides, he saw his horse not very eager to begin the action, and waiting\r\nto see what the foot would do. Then suddenly Camulatus, a very good soldier,\r\nand one whom for his valor he highly esteemed, riding hard by Brutus himself,\r\nwent over to the enemy, the sight of which grieved Brutus exceedingly. So that\r\npartly out of anger, and partly out of fear of some greater treason and\r\ndesertion, he immediately drew on his forces upon the enemy, the sun now\r\ndeclining, about three of the clock in the afternoon. Brutus on his side had\r\nthe better, and pressed hard on the left wing, which gave way and retreated;\r\nand the horse too fell in together with the foot, when they saw the enemy in\r\ndisorder. But the other wing, when the officers extended the line to avoid its\r\nbeing encompassed, the numbers being inferior, got drawn out too thin in the\r\ncenter, and was so weak here that they could not withstand the charge, but at\r\nthe first onset fled. After defeating these, the enemy at once took Brutus in\r\nthe rear, who all the while performed all that was possible for an expert\r\ngeneral and valiant soldier, doing everything in the peril, by counsel and by\r\nhand, that might recover the victory. But that which had been his superiority\r\nin the former fight was to his prejudice in this second. For in the first\r\nfight, that part of the enemy which was beaten was killed on the spot; but of\r\nCassius’s soldiers that fled few had been slain, and those that escaped,\r\ndaunted with their defeat, infected the other and larger part of the army with\r\ntheir want of spirit and their disorder. Here Marcus, the son of Cato, was\r\nslain, fighting and behaving himself with great bravery in the midst of the\r\nyouth of the highest rank and greatest valor. He would neither fly nor give the\r\nleast ground, but, still fighting and declaring who he was and naming his\r\nfather’s name, he fell upon a heap of dead bodies of the enemy. And of the\r\nrest, the bravest were slain in defending Brutus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere was in the field one Lucilius, an excellent man and a friend of Brutus,\r\nwho, seeing some barbarian horse taking no notice of any other in the pursuit,\r\nbut galloping at full speed after Brutus, resolved to stop them, though with\r\nthe hazard of his life; and, letting himself fall a little behind, he told them\r\nthat he was Brutus. They believed him the rather, because he prayed to be\r\ncarried to Antony, as if he feared Caesar, but durst trust him. They, overjoyed\r\nwith their prey, and thinking themselves wonderfully fortunate, carried him\r\nalong with them in the night, having first sent messengers to Antony of their\r\ncoming. He was much pleased, and came to meet them; and all the rest that heard\r\nthat Brutus was taken and brought alive, flocked together to see him, some\r\npitying his fortune, others accusing; him of a meanness unbecoming his former\r\nglory, that out of too much love of life he would be a prey to barbarians. When\r\nthey came near together, Antony stood still, considering with himself in what\r\nmanner he should receive Brutus. But Lucilius, being brought up to him, with\r\ngreat confidence said: “Be assured, Antony, that no enemy either has taken or\r\never shall take Marcus Brutus alive (forbid it, heaven, that fortune should\r\never so much prevail above virtue), but he shall be found, alive or dead, as\r\nbecomes himself. As for me, I am come hither by a cheat that I put upon your\r\nsoldiers, and am ready, upon this occasion, to suffer any severities you will\r\ninflict.” All were amazed to hear Lucilius speak these words. But Antony,\r\nturning himself to those that brought him, said: “I perceive, my\r\nfellow-soldiers, that you are concerned and take it ill that you have been thus\r\ndeceived, and think yourselves abused and injured by it; but know that you have\r\nmet with a booty better than that you sought. For you were in search of an\r\nenemy, but you have brought me here a friend. For indeed I am uncertain how I\r\nshould have used Brutus, if you had brought him alive; but of this I am sure,\r\nthat it is better to have such men as Lucilius our friends than our enemies.”\r\nHaving said this, he embraced Lucilius, and for the present commended him to\r\nthe care of one of his friends, and ever after found him a steady and a\r\nfaithful friend.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus had now passed a little brook, running among trees and under steep\r\nrocks, and, it being night, would go no further, but sat down in a hollow place\r\nwith a great rock projecting before it, with a few of his officers and friends\r\nabout him. At first, looking up to heaven, that was then full of stars, he\r\nrepeated two verses, one of which, Volumnius writes, was this: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nPunish, great Jove, the author of these ills.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe other he says he has forgot. Soon after, naming severally all his friends\r\nthat had been slain before his face in the battle, he groaned heavily,\r\nespecially at the mentioning of Flavius and Labeo, the latter his lieutenant,\r\nand the other chief officer of his engineers. In the meantime, one of his\r\ncompanions, that was very thirsty and saw Brutus in the same condition, took\r\nhis helmet and ran to the brook for water, when, a noise being heard from the\r\nother side of the river, Volumnius, taking Dardanus, Brutus’s armor-bearer,\r\nwith him, went out to see what it was. They returned in a short space, and\r\ninquired about the water. Brutus, smiling with much meaning, said to Volumnius,\r\n“It is all drunk; but you shall have some more fetched.” But he that had\r\nbrought the first water, being sent again, was in great danger of being taken\r\nby the enemy, and, having received a wound, with much difficulty escaped.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Brutus guessing that not many of his men were slain in the fight,\r\nStatyllius undertook to dash through the enemy (for there was no other way),\r\nand to see what was become of their camp; and promised, if he found all things\r\nthere safe, to hold up a torch for a signal, and then return. The torch was\r\nheld up, for Statyllius got safe to the camp; but when after a long time he did\r\nnot return, Brutus said, “If Statyllius be alive, he will come back.” But it\r\nhappened that in his return he fell into the enemy’s hands, and was slain.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe night now being far spent, Brutus, as he was sitting, leaned his head\r\ntowards his servant Clitus and spoke to him; he answered him not, but fell a\r\nweeping. After that, he drew aside his armor-bearer, Dardanus, and had some\r\ndiscourse with him in private. At last, speaking to Volumnius in Greek, he\r\nreminded him of their common studies and former discipline, and begged that he\r\nwould take hold of his sword with him, and help him to thrust it through him.\r\nVolumnius put away his request, and several others did the like; and someone\r\nsaying, that there was no staying there, but they needs must fly, Brutus,\r\nrising up, said, “Yes, indeed, we must fly, but not with our feet, but with our\r\nhands.” Then giving each of them his right hand, with a countenance full of\r\npleasure, he said, that he found an infinite satisfaction in this, that none of\r\nhis friends had been false to him; that as for fortune, he was angry with that\r\nonly for his country’s sake; as for himself, he thought himself much more happy\r\nthan they who had overcome, not only as he had been a little time ago, but even\r\nnow in his present condition; since he was leaving behind him such a reputation\r\nof his virtue as none of the conquerors with all their arms and riches should\r\never be able to acquire, no more than they could hinder posterity from\r\nbelieving and saying, that, being unjust and wicked men, they had destroyed the\r\njust and the good, and usurped a power to which they had no right. After this,\r\nhaving exhorted and entreated all about him to provide for their own safety, he\r\nwithdrew from them with two or three only of his peculiar friends; Strato was\r\none of these, with whom he had contracted an acquaintance when they studied\r\nrhetoric together. Him he placed next to himself, and, taking hold of the hilt\r\nof his sword and directing it with both his hands, he fell upon it, and killed\r\nhimself. But others say, that not he himself, but Strato, at the earnest\r\nentreaty of Brutus, turning aside his head, held the sword, upon which he\r\nviolently throwing himself, it pierced his breast, and he immediately died.\r\nThis same Strato, Messala, a friend of Brutus, being, after reconciled to\r\nCaesar, brought to him once at his leisure, and with tears in his eyes said,\r\n“This, O Caesar, is the man that did the last friendly office to my beloved\r\nBrutus.” Upon which Caesar received him kindly; and had good use of him in his\r\nlabors and his battles at Actium, being one of the Greeks that proved their\r\nbravery in his service. It is reported of Messala himself, that, when Caesar\r\nonce gave him this commendation, that though he was his fiercest enemy at\r\nPhilippi in the cause of Brutus, yet he had shown himself his most entire\r\nfriend in the fight of Actium, he answered, “You have always found me, Caesar,\r\non the best and justest side.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBrutus’s dead body was found by Antony, who commanded the richest purple mantle\r\nthat he had to be thrown over it, and afterwards the mantle being stolen, he\r\nfound the thief, and had him put to death. He sent the ashes of Brutus to his\r\nmother Servilia. As for Porcia his wife, Nicolaus the philosopher and Valerius\r\nMaximus write, that, being desirous to die, but being hindered by her friends,\r\nwho continually watched her, she snatched some burning charcoal out of the\r\nfire, and, shutting it close in her mouth, stifled herself, and died. Though\r\nthere is a letter current from Brutus to his friends, in which he laments the\r\ndeath of Porcia, and accuses them for neglecting her so that she desired to die\r\nrather than languish with her disease. So that it seems Nicolaus was mistaken\r\nin the time; for this epistle (if it indeed is authentic, and truly Brutus’s)\r\ngives us to understand the malady and love of Porcia, and the way in which her\r\ndeath occurred.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap64\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eCOMPARISON OF DION AND BRUTUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere are noble points in abundance in the characters of these two men, and one\r\nto be first mentioned is their attaining such a height of greatness upon such\r\ninconsiderable means; and on this score Dion has by far the advantage. For he\r\nhad no partner to contest his glory, as Brutus had in Cassius, who was not,\r\nindeed, his equal in proved virtue and honor, yet contributed quite as much to\r\nthe service of the war by his boldness, skill, and activity; and some there be\r\nwho impute to him the rise and beginning of the whole enterprise, saying that\r\nit was he who roused Brutus, till then indisposed to stir, into action against\r\nCaesar. Whereas Dion seems of himself to have provided not only arms, ships,\r\nand soldiers, but likewise friends and partners for the enterprise. Neither did\r\nhe, as Brutus, collect money and forces from the war itself, but, on the\r\ncontrary, laid out of his own substance, and employed the very means of his\r\nprivate sustenance in exile for the liberty of his country. Besides this,\r\nBrutus and Cassius, when they fled from Rome, could not live safe or quiet,\r\nbeing condemned to death and pursued, and were thus of necessity forced to take\r\narms and hazard their lives in their own defense, to save themselves, rather\r\nthan their country. On the other hand, Dion enjoyed more ease, was more safe,\r\nand his life more pleasant in his banishment, than was the tyrant’s who had\r\nbanished him, when he flew to action, and ran the risk of all to save Sicily.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTake notice, too, that it was not the same thing for the Sicilians to be freed\r\nfrom Dionysius, and for the Romans to be freed from Caesar. The former owned\r\nhimself a tyrant, and vexed Sicily with a thousand oppressions; whereas\r\nCaesar’s supremacy, certainly, in the process for attaining it, had inflicted\r\nno little trouble on its opponents, but, once established and victorious, it\r\nhad indeed the name and appearance, but fact that was cruel or tyrannical there\r\nwas none. On the contrary, in the malady of the times and the need of a\r\nmonarchical government, he might be thought to have been sent, as the gentlest\r\nphysician, by no other than a divine intervention. And thus the common people\r\ninstantly regretted Caesar, and grew enraged and implacable against those that\r\nkilled him. Whereas Dion’s chief offense in the eyes of his fellow-citizens was\r\nhis having let Dionysius escape, and not having demolished the former tyrant’s\r\ntomb.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the actual conduct of war, Dion was a commander without fault, improving to\r\nthe utmost those counsels which he himself gave, and, where others led him into\r\ndisaster, correcting and turning everything to the best. But Brutus seems to\r\nhave shown little wisdom in engaging in the final battle, which was to decide\r\neverything, and, when he failed, not to have done his business in seeking a\r\nremedy ; he gave all up, and abandoned his hopes, not venturing against fortune\r\neven as far as Pompey did, when he had still means enough to rely on in his\r\ntroops, and was clearly master of all the seas with his ships.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe greatest thing charged on Brutus is, that he, being saved by Caesar’s\r\nkindness, having saved all the friends whom he chose to ask for, he moreover\r\naccounted a friend, and preferred above many, did yet lay violent hands upon\r\nhis preserver. Nothing like this could be objected against Dion; quite the\r\ncontrary, whilst he was of Dionysius’s family and his friend, he did good\r\nservice, and was useful to him; but driven from his country, wronged in his\r\nwife, and his estate lost, he openly entered upon a war just and lawful. Does\r\nnot, however, the matter turn the other way? For the chief glory of both was\r\ntheir hatred of tyranny, and abhorrence of wickedness. This was unmixed and\r\nsincere in Brutus; for he had no private quarrel with Caesar, but went into the\r\nrisk singly for the liberty of his country. The other, had he not been\r\nprivately injured, had not fought. This is plain from Plato’s epistles, where\r\nit is shown that he was turned out, and did not forsake the court to wage war\r\nupon Dionysius. Moreover, the public good made Brutus Pompey’s friend (instead\r\nof his enemy as he had been) and Caesar’s enemy; since he proposed for his\r\nhatred and his friendship no other end and standard but justice. Dion was very\r\nserviceable to Dionysius whilst in favor; when no longer trusted, he grew angry\r\nand fell to arms. And, for this reason, not even were his own friends all of\r\nthem satisfied with his undertaking, or quite assured that, having overcome\r\nDionysius, he might not settle the government on himself, deceiving his\r\nfellow-citizens by some less obnoxious name than tyranny. But the very enemies\r\nof Brutus would say that he had no other end or aim, from first to last, save\r\nonly to restore to the Roman people their ancient government.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd apart from what has just been said, the adventure against Dionysius was\r\nnothing equal with that against Caesar. For none that was familiarly conversant\r\nwith Dionysius but scorned him for his life of idle amusement with wine, women,\r\nand dice; whereas it required an heroic soul and a truly intrepid and\r\nunquailing spirit so much as to entertain the thought of crushing Caesar so\r\nformidable for his ability, his power, and his fortune, whose very name\r\ndisturbed the slumbers of the Parthian and Indian kings. Dion was no sooner\r\nseen in Sicily but thousands ran in to him and joined him against Dionysius;\r\nwhereas the renown of Caesar, even when dead, gave strength to his friends; and\r\nhis very name so heightened the person that took it, that from a simple boy he\r\npresently became the chief of the Romans; and he could use it for a spell\r\nagainst the enmity and power of Antony. If any object that it cost Dion great\r\ntrouble and difficulties to overcome the tyrant, whereas Brutus slew Caesar\r\nnaked and unprovided, yet this itself was the result of the most consummate\r\npolicy and conduct, to bring it about that a man so guarded around, and so\r\nfortified at all points, should be taken naked and unprovided. For it was not\r\non the sudden, nor alone, nor with a few, that he fell upon and killed Caesar;\r\nbut after long concerting the plot, and placing confidence in a great many men,\r\nnot one of whom deceived him. For he either at once discerned the best men, or\r\nby confiding in them made them good. But Dion, either making a wrong judgment,\r\ntrusted himself with ill men, or else by his employing them made ill men of\r\ngood; either of the two would be a reflection on a wise man. Plato also is\r\nsevere upon him, for choosing such for friends as betrayed him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBesides, when Dion was killed, none appeared to revenge his death. Whereas\r\nBrutus, even amongst his enemies, had Antony that buried him splendidly; and\r\nCaesar also took care his honors should be preserved. There stood at Milan in\r\nGaul, within the Alps, a brazen statue, which Caesar in after-times noticed\r\n(being a real likeness, and a fine work of art), and passing by it, presently\r\nstopped short, and in the hearing of many commended the magistrates to come\r\nbefore him. He told them their town had broken their league, harboring an\r\nenemy. The magistrates at first simply denied the thing, and, not knowing what\r\nhe meant, looked one upon another, when Caesar, turning towards the statue and\r\ngathering his brows, said, “Pray, is not that our enemy who stands there?” They\r\nwere all in confusion, and had nothing to answer; but he, smiling, much\r\ncommended the Gauls, as who had been firm to their friends, though in\r\nadversity, and ordered that the statue should remain standing as he found it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap65\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eARATUS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe philosopher Chrysippus, O Polycrates, quotes an ancient proverb, not as\r\nreally it should be, apprehending, I suppose, that it sounded too harshly, but\r\nso as he thought it would run best, in these words,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWho praise their father but the generous sons?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nBut Dionysodorus the Troezenian proves him to be wrong, and restores the true\r\nreading, which is this, —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWho praise their fathers but degenerate sons?\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\ntelling us that the proverb is meant to stop the mouth of those who, having no\r\nmerit of their own, take refuge in the virtues of their ancestors, and make\r\ntheir advantage of praising them. But, as Pindar hath it,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nHe that by nature doth inherit\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFrom ancestors a noble spirit,\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nas you do, who make your life the copy of the fairest originals of your family,\r\n— such, I say, may take great satisfaction in being reminded, both by hearing\r\nothers speak and speaking themselves, of the best of their progenitors. For\r\nthey assume not the glory of praises earned by others out of any want of worth\r\nof their own, but, affiliating their own deeds to those of their ancestor, give\r\nthem honor as the authors both of their descent and manners.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTherefore I have sent to you the life which I have written of your\r\nfellow-citizen and forefather Aratus, to whom you are no discredit in point\r\neither of reputation or of authority, not as though you had not been most\r\ndiligently careful to inform yourself from the beginning concerning his\r\nactions, but that your sons, Polycrates and Pythocles, may both by hearing and\r\nreading become familiar with those family examples which it behooves them to\r\nfollow and imitate. It is a piece of self-love, and not of the love of virtue,\r\nto imagine one has already attained to what is best.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe city of Sicyon, from the time that it first fell off from the pure and\r\nDoric aristocracy (its harmony being destroyed, and a mere series of seditions\r\nand personal contests of popular leaders ensuing), continued to be distempered\r\nand unsettled, changing from one tyrant to another, until, Cleon being slain,\r\nTimoclides and Clinias, men of the most repute and power amongst the citizens,\r\nwere chosen to the magistracy. And the commonwealth now seeming to be in a\r\npretty settled condition, Timoclides died, and Abantidas, the son of Paseas, to\r\npossess himself of the tyranny, killed Clinias, and, of his kindred and\r\nfriends, slew some and banished others. He sought also to kill his son Aratus,\r\nwhom he left behind him, being but seven years old. This boy in the general\r\ndisorder getting out of the house with those that fled, and wandering about the\r\ncity helpless and in great fear, by chance got undiscovered into the house of a\r\nwoman who was Abantidas’s sister, but married to Prophantus, the brother of\r\nClinias, her name being Soso. She, being of a generous temper, and believing\r\nthe boy had by some supernatural guidance fled to her for shelter, hid him in\r\nthe house, and at night sent him away to Argos.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAratus, being thus delivered and secured from this danger, conceived from the\r\nfirst and ever after nourished a vehement and burning hatred against tyrants,\r\nwhich strengthened with his years. Being therefore bred up amongst his father’s\r\nacquaintance and friends at Argos with a liberal education, and perceiving his\r\nbody to promise good health and stature, he addicted himself to the exercises\r\nof the palaestra, to that degree that he competed in the five games, and gained\r\nsome crowns; and indeed in his statues one may observe a certain kind of\r\nathletic cast, and the sagacity and majesty of his countenance does not\r\ndissemble his full diet and the use of the hoe. Whence it came to pass that he\r\nless studied eloquence than perhaps became a statesman, and yet he was more\r\naccomplished in speaking than many believe, judging by the commentaries which\r\nhe left behind him, written carelessly and by the way, as fast as he could do\r\nit, and in such words as first came to his mind.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the course of time, Dinias and Aristoteles the logician killed Abantidas,\r\nwho used to be present in the marketplace at their discussions, and to make one\r\nin them; till they, taking the occasion, insensibly accustomed him to the\r\npractice, and so had opportunity to contrive and execute a plot against him.\r\nAfter him Paseas, the father of Abantidas, taking upon him the government, was\r\nassassinated by Nicocles, who himself set up for tyrant. Of him it is related\r\nthat he was strikingly like Periander the son of Cypselus, just as it is said\r\nthat Orontes the Persian bore a great resemblance to Alcmaeon the son of\r\nAmphiaraus, and that Lacedaemonian youth, whom Myrsilus relates to have been\r\ntrodden to pieces by the crowd of those that came to see him upon that report,\r\nto Hector.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis Nicocles governed four months, in which, after he had done all kinds of\r\nmischief to the city, he very nearly let it fall into the hands of the\r\nAetolians. By this time Aratus, being grown a youth, was in much esteem, both\r\nfor his noble birth and his spirit and disposition, which, while neither\r\ninsignificant nor wanting in energy, were solid, and tempered with a steadiness\r\nof judgment beyond his years. For which reason the exiles had their eyes most\r\nupon him, nor did Nicocles less observe his motions, but secretly spied and\r\nwatched him, not out of apprehension of any such considerable or utterly\r\naudacious attempt, but suspecting he held correspondence with the kings, who\r\nwere his father’s friends and acquaintance. And, indeed, Aratus first attempted\r\nthis way; but finding that Antigonus, who had promised fair, neglected him and\r\ndelayed the time, and that his hopes from Egypt and Ptolemy were long to wait\r\nfor, he determined to cut off the tyrant by himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd first he broke his mind to Aristomachus and Ecdelus, the one an exile of\r\nSicyon, the other, Ecdelus, an Arcadian of Megalopolis, a philosopher, and a\r\nman of action, having been the familiar friend of Arcesilaus the Academic at\r\nAthens. These readily consenting, he communicated with the other exiles,\r\nwhereof some few, being ashamed to seem to despair of success, engaged in the\r\ndesign; but most of them endeavored to divert him from his purpose, as one that\r\nfor want of experience was too rash and daring.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhilst he was consulting to seize upon some post in Sicyonia, from whence he\r\nmight make war upon the tyrant, there came to Argos a certain Sicyonian, newly\r\nescaped out of prison, brother to Xenocles, one of the exiles, who being by him\r\npresented to Aratus informed him, that that part of the wall over which he\r\nescaped was, inside, almost level with the ground, adjoining a rocky and\r\nelevated place, and that from the outside it might be scaled with ladders.\r\nAratus, hearing this, dispatches away Xenocles with two of his own servants,\r\nSeuthas and Technon, to view the wall, resolving, if possible, secretly and\r\nwith one risk to hazard all on a single trial, rather than carry on a contest\r\nas a private man against a tyrant by long war and open force. Xenocles,\r\ntherefore, with his companions, returning having taken the height of the wall,\r\nand declaring the place not to be impossible or indeed difficult to get over,\r\nbut that it was not easy to approach it undiscovered, by reason of some small\r\nbut uncommonly savage and noisy dogs belonging to a gardener hard by, he\r\nimmediately undertook the business.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow the preparation of arms gave no jealousy, because robberies and petty\r\nforays were at that time common everywhere between one set of people and\r\nanother; and for the ladders, Euphranor, the machine-maker, made them openly,\r\nhis trade rendering him unsuspected, though one of the exiles. As for men, each\r\nof his friends in Argos furnished him with ten apiece out of those few they\r\nhad, and he armed thirty of his own servants, and hired some few soldiers of\r\nXenophilus, the chief of the robber captains, to whom it was given out that\r\nthey were to march into the territory of Sicyon to seize the king’s stud; most\r\nof them were sent before, in small parties, to the tower of Polygnotus, with\r\norders to wait there; Caphisias also was dispatched beforehand lightly armed,\r\nwith four others, who were, as soon as it was dark, to come to the gardener’s\r\nhouse, pretending to be travelers, and, procuring their lodging there, to shut\r\nup him and his dogs; for there was no other way of getting past. And for the\r\nladders, they had been made to take in pieces, and were put into chests, and\r\nsent before hidden upon wagons. In the meantime, some of the spies of Nicocles\r\nappearing in Argos, and being said to go privately about watching Aratus, he\r\ncame early in the morning into the market-place, showing him self openly and\r\nconversing with his friends; then he anointed himself in the exercise ground,\r\nand, taking with him thence some of the young men that used to drink and spend\r\ntheir time with him, he went home; and presently after several of his servants\r\nwere seen about the marketplace, one carrying garlands, another buying\r\nflambeaus, and a third speaking to the women that used to sing and play at\r\nbanquets, all which things the spies observing were deceived, and said laughing\r\nto one another, “Certainly nothing can be more timorous than a tyrant, if\r\nNicocles, being master of so great a city and so numerous a force, stands in\r\nfear of a youth that spends what he has to subsist upon in his banishment in\r\npleasures and day-debauches;” and, being thus imposed upon, they returned home.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Aratus, departing immediately after his morning meal, and coming to his\r\nsoldiers at Polygnotus’s tower, led them to Nemea; where he disclosed, to most\r\nof them for the first time; his true design, making them large promises and\r\nfair speeches, and marched towards the city, giving for the word Apollo\r\nvictorious, proportioning his march to the motion of the moon, so as to have\r\nthe benefit of her light upon the way, and to be in the garden, which was close\r\nto the wall, just as she was setting. Here Caphisias came to him, who had not\r\nsecured the dogs, which had run away before he could catch them, but had only\r\nmade sure of the gardener. Upon which most of the company being out of heart\r\nand desiring to retreat, Aratus encouraged them to go on, promising to retire\r\nin case the dogs were too troublesome; and at the same time sending forward\r\nthose that carried the ladders, conducted by Ecdelus and Mnasitheus, he\r\nfollowed them himself leisurely, the dogs already barking very loud and\r\nfollowing, the steps of Ecdelus and his companions. However, they got to the\r\nwall, and reared the ladders with safety. But as the foremost men were mounting\r\nthem, the captain of the watch that was to be relieved by the morning guard\r\npassed on his way with the bell, and there were many lights, and a noise of\r\npeople coming up. Hearing which, they clapped themselves close to the ladders,\r\nand so were unobserved; but as the other watch also was coming up to meet this,\r\nthey were in extreme danger of being discovered. But when this also went by\r\nwithout observing them, immediately Mnasitheus and Ecdelus got upon the wall,\r\nand, possessing themselves of the approaches inside and out, sent away Technon\r\nto Aratus, desiring him to make all the haste he could.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow there was no great distance from the garden to the wall and to the tower,\r\nin which latter a large hound was kept. The hound did not hear their steps of\r\nhimself, whether that he were naturally drowsy, or overwearied the day before,\r\nbut, the gardener’s curs awaking him, he first began to growl and grumble in\r\nresponse, and then as they passed by to bark out aloud. And the barking was now\r\nso great, that the sentinel opposite shouted out to the dog’s keeper to know\r\nwhy the dog kept such a barking, and whether anything was the matter; who\r\nanswered, that it was nothing, but only that his dog had been set barking by\r\nthe lights of the watch and the noise of the bell. This reply much encouraged\r\nAratus’s soldiers, who thought the dog’s keeper was privy to their design, and\r\nwished to conceal what was passing, and that many others in the city were of\r\nthe conspiracy. But when they came to scale the wall, the attempt then appeared\r\nboth to require time and to be full of danger, for the ladders shook and\r\ntottered extremely unless they mounted them leisurely and one by one, and time\r\npressed, for the cocks began to crow, and the country people that used to bring\r\nthings to the market would be coming to the town directly. Therefore Aratus\r\nmade haste to get up himself, forty only of the company being already upon the\r\nwall, and, staying but for a few more of those that were below, he made\r\nstraight to the tyrant’s house and the general’s office, where the mercenary\r\nsoldiers passed the night, and, coming suddenly upon them, and taking them\r\nprisoners without killing any one of them, he immediately sent to all his\r\nfriends in their houses to desire them to come to him, which they did from all\r\nquarters. By this time the day began to break, and the theater was filled with\r\na multitude that were held in suspense by uncertain reports and knew nothing\r\ndistinctly of what had happened, until a public crier came forward and\r\nproclaimed that Aratus, the son of Clinias, invited the citizens to recover\r\ntheir liberty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThen at last assured that what they so long looked for was come to pass, they\r\npressed in throngs to the tyrant’s gates to set them on fire. And such a flame\r\nwas kindled, the whole house catching fire, that it was seen as far as Corinth;\r\nso that the Corinthians, wondering what the matter could be, were upon the\r\npoint of coming to their assistance. Nicocles fled away secretly out of the\r\ncity by means of certain underground passages, and the soldiers, helping the\r\nSicyonians to quench the fire, plundered the house. This Aratus hindered not,\r\nbut divided also the rest of the riches of the tyrants amongst the citizens. In\r\nthis exploit, not one of those engaged in it was slain, nor any of the contrary\r\nparty, fortune so ordering the action as to be clear and free from civil\r\nbloodshed. He restored eighty exiles who had been expelled by Nicocles, and no\r\nless than five hundred who had been driven out by former tyrants and had\r\nendured a long banishment, pretty nearly, by this time, of fifty years’\r\nduration. These returning, most of them very poor, were impatient to enter upon\r\ntheir former possessions, and, proceeding to their several farms and houses,\r\ngave great perplexity to Aratus, who considered that the city without was\r\nenvied for its liberty and aimed at by Antigonus, and within was full of\r\ndisorder and sedition. Wherefore, as things stood, he thought it best to\r\nassociate it to the Achaean community, and so, although Dorians, they of their\r\nown will took upon them the name and citizenship of the Achaeans, who at that\r\ntime had neither great repute nor much power. For the most of them lived in\r\nsmall towns, and their territory was neither large nor fruitful, and the\r\nneighboring sea was almost wholly without a harbor, breaking direct upon a\r\nrocky shore. But yet these above others made it appear that the Grecian courage\r\nwas invincible, whensoever it could only have order and concord within itself\r\nand a prudent general to direct it. For though they had scarcely been counted\r\nas any part of the ancient Grecian power, and at this time did not equal the\r\nstrength of one ordinary city, yet by prudence and unanimity, and because they\r\nknew how not to envy and malign, but to obey and follow him amongst them that\r\nwas most eminent for virtue, they not only preserved their own liberty in the\r\nmidst of so many great cities, military powers, and monarchies, but went on\r\nsteadily saving and delivering from slavery great numbers of the Greeks.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for Aratus, he was in his behavior a true statesman, high-minded, and more\r\nintent upon the public than his private concerns, a bitter hater of tyrants,\r\nmaking the common good the rule and law of his friendships and enmities. So\r\nthat indeed he seems not to have been so faithful a friend, as he was a\r\nreasonable and gentle enemy, ready, according to the needs of the state, to\r\nsuit himself on occasion to either side; concord between nations, brotherhood\r\nbetween cities, the council and the assembly unanimous in their votes, being\r\nthe objects above all other blessings to which he was passionately devoted;\r\nbackward, indeed, and diffident in the use of arms and open force, but in\r\neffecting a purpose underhand, and outwitting cities and potentates without\r\nobservation, most politic and dexterous. Therefore, though he succeeded beyond\r\nhope in many enterprises which he undertook, yet he seems to have left quite as\r\nmany unattempted, though feasible enough, for want of assurance. For it should\r\nseem, that, as the sight of certain beasts is strong in the night but dim by\r\nday, the tenderness of the humors of their eyes not bearing the contact of the\r\nlight, so there is also one kind of human skill and sagacity which is easily\r\ndaunted and disturbed in actions done in the open day and before the world, and\r\nrecovers all its self-possession in secret and covert enterprises; which\r\ninequality is occasioned in noble minds for want of philosophy, a mere wild and\r\nuncultivated fruit of a virtue without true knowledge coming up; as might be\r\nmade out by examples.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAratus, therefore, having associated himself and his city to the Achaeans,\r\nserved in the cavalry, and made himself much beloved by his commanding officers\r\nfor his exact obedience; for though he had made so large an addition to the\r\ncommon strength as that of his own credit and the power of his country, yet he\r\nwas as ready as the most ordinary person to be commanded by the Achaean general\r\nof the time being, whether he were a man of Dymae, or of Tritaea, or any yet\r\nmeaner town than these. Having also a present of five and twenty talents sent\r\nhim from the king, he took them, but gave them all to his fellow-citizens, who\r\nwanted money, amongst other purposes, for the redemption of those who had been\r\ntaken prisoners.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the exiles being by no means to be satisfied, disturbing continually those\r\nthat were in possession of their estates, Sicyon was in great danger of falling\r\ninto perfect desolation; so that, having no hope left but in the kindness of\r\nPtolemy, he resolved to sail to him, and to beg so much money of him as might\r\nreconcile all parties. So he set sail from Mothone beyond Malea, designing to\r\nmake the direct passage. But the pilot not being able to keep the vessel up\r\nagainst a strong wind and high waves that came in from the open sea, he was\r\ndriven from his course, and with much ado got to shore in Andros, an enemy’s\r\nland, possessed by Antigonus, who had a garrison there. To avoid which he\r\nimmediately landed, and, leaving the ship, went up into the country a good way\r\nfrom the sea, having along with him only one friend, called Timanthes; and\r\nthrowing themselves into some ground thickly covered with wood, they had but an\r\nill night’s rest of it. Not long after, the commander of the troops came, and,\r\ninquiring for Aratus, was deceived by his servants, who had been instructed to\r\nsay that he had fled at once over into the island of Euboea. However, he\r\ndeclared the chip, the property on board of her, and the servants, to be lawful\r\nprize, and detained them accordingly. As for Aratus, after some few days, in\r\nhis extremity by good fortune a Roman ship happened to put in just at the spot\r\nin which he made his abode, sometimes peeping out to seek his opportunity,\r\nsometimes keeping close. She was bound for Syria; but going aboard, he agreed\r\nwith the master to land him in Caria. In which voyage he met with no less\r\ndanger on the sea than before. From Caria being after much time arrived in\r\nEgypt, he immediately went to the king, who had a great kindness for him, and\r\nhad received from him many presents of drawings and paintings out of Greece.\r\nAratus had a very good judgment in them, and always took care to collect and\r\nsend him the most curious and finished works, especially those of Pamphilus and\r\nMelanthus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor the Sicyonian pieces were still in the height of their reputation, as being\r\nthe only ones whose colors were lasting; so that Apelles himself, even after he\r\nhad become well known and admired, went thither, and gave a talent to be\r\nadmitted into the society of the painters there, not so much to partake of\r\ntheir skill, which he wanted not, but of their credit. And accordingly Aratus,\r\nwhen he freed the city, immediately took down the representations of the rest\r\nof the tyrants, but demurred a long time about that of Aristratus, who\r\nflourished in the time of Philip. For this Aristratus was painted by Melanthus\r\nand his scholars, standing by a chariot, in which a figure of Victory was\r\ncarried, Apelles himself having had a hand in it, as Polemon the geographer\r\nreports. It was an extraordinary piece, and therefore Aratus was fain to spare\r\nit for the workmanship, and yet, instigated by the hatred he bore the tyrants,\r\ncommanded it to be taken down. But Nealces the painter, one of Aratus’s\r\nfriends, entreated him, it is said, with tears in his eyes, to spare it, and,\r\nfinding he did not prevail with him, told him at last he should carry on his\r\nwar with the tyrants, but with the tyrants alone: “Let therefore the chariot\r\nand the Victory stand, and I will take means for the removal of Aristratus;” to\r\nwhich Aratus consenting, Nealces blotted out Aristratus, and in his place\r\npainted a palm-tree, not daring to add anything else of his own invention. The\r\nfeet of the defaced figure of Aristratus are said to have escaped notice, and\r\nto be hid under the chariot. By these means Aratus got favor with the king,\r\nwho, after he was more fully acquainted with him, loved him so much the more,\r\nand gave him for the relief of his city one hundred and fifty talents; forty of\r\nwhich he immediately carried away with him, when he sailed to Peloponnesus, but\r\nthe rest the king divided into installments, and sent them to him afterwards at\r\ndifferent times.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAssuredly it was a great thing to procure for his fellow-citizens a sum of\r\nmoney, a small portion of which had been sufficient, when presented by a king\r\nto other captains and popular leaders, to induce them to turn dishonest, and\r\nbetray and give away their native countries to him. But it was a much greater,\r\nthat by means of this money he effected a reconciliation and good understanding\r\nbetween the rich and poor, and created quiet and security for the whole people.\r\nHis moderation, also, amidst so great power was very admirable. For being\r\ndeclared sole arbitrator and plenipotentiary for settling the questions of\r\nproperty in the case of the exiles, he would not accept the commission alone,\r\nbut, associating with himself fifteen of the citizens, with great pains and\r\ntrouble he succeeded in adjusting matters, and established peace and good-will\r\nin the city, for which good service, not only all the citizens in general\r\nbestowed extraordinary honors upon him, but the exiles, apart by themselves,\r\nerecting his statue in brass, inscribed on it these elegiac verses: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nYour counsels, deeds, and skill for Greece in war\u003cbr\u003e\r\nKnown beyond Hercules’s pillars are;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBut we this image, O Aratus, gave\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOf you who saved us, to the gods who save,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nBy you from exile to our homes restored,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThat virtue and that justice to record,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTo which the blessing Sicyon owes this day\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOf wealth that’s shared alike, and laws that all obey.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBy his success in effecting these things, Aratus secured himself from the envy\r\nof his fellow-citizens, on account of the benefits they felt he had done them;\r\nbut king Antigonus being troubled in his mind about him, and designing either\r\nwholly to bring him over to his party, or else to make him suspected by\r\nPtolemy, besides other marks of his favor shown to him, who had little mind to\r\nreceive them, added this too, that, sacrificing to the gods in Corinth, he sent\r\nportions to Aratus at Sicyon, and at the feast, where were many guests, he said\r\nopenly, “I thought this Sicyonian youth had been only a lover of liberty and of\r\nhis fellow-citizens, but now I look upon him as a good judge of the manners and\r\nactions of kings. For formerly he despised us, and, placing his hopes further\r\noff, admired the Egyptian riches, hearing so much of their elephants, fleets,\r\nand palaces. But after seeing all these at a nearer distance, perceiving them\r\nto be but mere stage show and pageantry, he is now come over to us. And for my\r\npart I willingly receive him, and, resolving to make great use of him myself,\r\ncommand you to look upon him as a friend.” These words were soon taken hold of\r\nby those that envied and maligned him, who strove which of them should, in\r\ntheir letters to Ptolemy, attack him with the worst calumnies, so that Ptolemy\r\nsent to expostulate the matter with him; so much envy and ill-will did there\r\nalways attend the so much contended for, and so ardently and passionately\r\naspired to, friendships of princes and great men.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Aratus, being now for the first time chosen general of the Achaeans,\r\nravaged the country of Locris and Calydon, just over against Achaea, and then\r\nwent to assist the Boeotians with ten thousand soldiers, but came not up to\r\nthem until after the battle near Chaeronea had been fought, in which they were\r\nbeaten by the Aetolians, with the loss of Aboeocritus the Boeotarch, and a\r\nthousand men besides. A year after, being again elected general, he resolved to\r\nattempt the capture of the Acro-Corinthus, not so much for the advantage of the\r\nSicyonians or Achaeans, as considering that by expelling the Macedonian\r\ngarrison he should free all Greece alike from a tyranny which oppressed every\r\npart of her. Chares the Athenian, having the good fortune to get the better, in\r\na certain battle, of the king’s generals, wrote to the people of Athens that\r\nthis victory was “sister to that at Marathon.” And so may this action be very\r\nsafely termed sister to those of Pelopidas the Theban and Thrasybulus the\r\nAthenian, in which they slew the tyrants; except, perhaps, it exceed them upon\r\nthis account, that it was not against natural Grecians, but against a foreign\r\nand stranger domination. The Isthmus, rising like a bank between the seas,\r\ncollects into a single spot and compresses together the whole continent of\r\nGreece; and Acro-Corinthus, being a high mountain springing up out of the very\r\nmiddle of what here is Greece, whensoever it is held with a garrison, stands in\r\nthe way and cuts off all Peloponnesus from intercourse of every kind, free\r\npassage of men and arms, and all traffic by sea and land, and makes him lord of\r\nall, that is master of it. Wherefore the younger Philip did not jest, but said\r\nvery true, when he called the city of Corinth “the fetters of Greece.” So that\r\nthis post was always much contended for, especially by the kings and tyrants;\r\nand so vehemently was it longed for by Antigonus, that his passion for it came\r\nlittle short of that of frantic love; he was continually occupied with devising\r\nhow to take it by surprise from those that were then masters of it, since he\r\ndespaired to do it by open force.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nTherefore Alexander, who held the place, being dead, poisoned by him, as is\r\nreported, and his wife Nicaea succeeding in the government and the possession\r\nof Acro-Corinthus, he immediately made use of his son, Demetrius, and, giving\r\nher pleasing hopes of a royal marriage and of a happy life with a youth, whom a\r\nwoman now growing old might well find agreeable, with this lure of his son he\r\nsucceeded in taking her; but the place itself she did not deliver up, but\r\ncontinued to hold it with a very strong garrison, of which he seeming to take\r\nno notice, celebrated the wedding in Corinth, entertaining them with shows and\r\nbanquets everyday, as one that has nothing else in his mind but to give himself\r\nup for awhile to indulgence in pleasure and mirth. But when the moment came,\r\nand Amoebeus began to sing in the theater, he waited himself upon Nicaea to the\r\nplay, she being carried in a royally-decorated chair, extremely pleased with\r\nher new honor, not dreaming of what was intended. As soon, therefore, as they\r\nwere come to the turning which led up to the citadel, he desired her to go on\r\nbefore him to the theater, but for himself, bidding farewell to the music,\r\nfarewell to the wedding, he went on faster than one would have thought his age\r\nwould have admitted to the Acro-Corinthus, and, finding the gate shut, knocked\r\nwith his staff, commanding them to open, which they within, being amazed, did.\r\nAnd having thus made himself master of the place, he could not contain himself\r\nfor joy; but, though an old man, and one that had seen so many turns of\r\nfortune, he must needs revel it in the open streets and the midst of the\r\nmarket-place, crowned with garlands and attended with flute-women, inviting\r\neverybody he met to partake in his festivity. So much more does joy without\r\ndiscretion transport and agitate the mind than either fear or sorrow.\r\nAntigonus, therefore, having in this manner possessed himself of\r\nAcro-Corinthus, put a garrison into it of those he trusted most, making\r\nPersaeus the philosopher governor.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow Aratus, even in the lifetime of Alexander, had made an attempt, but, a\r\nconfederacy being made between Alexander and the Achaeans, he desisted. But now\r\nhe started afresh, with a new plan of effecting the thing, which was this:\r\nthere were in Corinth four brothers, Syrians born, one of whom, called Diocles,\r\nserved as a soldier in the garrison, but the three others, having stolen some\r\ngold of the king’s, came to Sicyon, to one Aegias, a banker, whom Aratus made\r\nuse of in his business. To him they immediately sold part of their gold, and\r\nthe rest one of them, called Erginus, coming often thither, exchanged by\r\nparcels. Becoming, by this means, familiarly acquainted with Aegias, and being\r\nby him led into discourses concerning the fortress, he told him that in going\r\nup to his brother he had observed, in the face of the rock, a side-cleft,\r\nleading to that part of the wall of the castle which was lower than the rest.\r\nAt which Aegias joking with him and saying, “So, you wise man, for the sake of\r\na little gold you have broken into the king’s treasure; when you might, if you\r\nchose, get money in abundance for a single hour’s work, burglary, you know, and\r\ntreason being punished with the same death,” Erginus laughed and told him then,\r\nhe would break the thing to Diocles (for he did not altogether trust his other\r\nbrothers), and, returning within a few days, he bargained to conduct Aratus to\r\nthat part of the wall where it was no more than fifteen feet high, and to do\r\nwhat else should be necessary, together with his brother Diocles.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAratus, therefore, agreed to give them sixty talents if he succeeded, but if he\r\nfailed in his enterprise, and yet he and they came off safe, then he would give\r\neach of them a house and a talent. Now the threescore talents being to be\r\ndeposited in the hands of Aegias for Erginus and his partners, and Aratus\r\nneither having so much by him, nor willing, by borrowing it from others, to\r\ngive anyone a suspicion of his design, he pawned his plate and his wife’s\r\ngolden ornaments to Aegias for the money. For so high was his temper, and so\r\nstrong his passion for noble actions, that, even as he had heard that Phocion\r\nand Epaminondas were the best and justest of the Greeks, because they refused\r\nthe greatest presents and would not surrender their duty for money, so he now\r\nchose to be at the expense of this enterprise privately, and to advance all the\r\ncost out of his own property, taking the whole hazard on himself for the sake\r\nof the rest that did not so much as know what was doing. And who indeed can\r\nwithhold, even now, his admiration for and his sympathy with the generous mind\r\nof one, who paid so largely to purchase so great a risk, and lent out his\r\nrichest possessions to have an opportunity to expose his own life, by entering\r\namong his enemies in the dead of the night, without desiring any other security\r\nfor them than the hope of a noble success.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow the enterprise, though dangerous enough in itself, was made much more so by\r\nan error happening through mistake in the very beginning. For Technon, one of\r\nAratus’s servants, was sent away to Diocles, that they might together view the\r\nwall. Now he had never seen Diocles, but made no question of knowing him by the\r\nmarks Erginus had given him of him; namely, that he had curly hair, a swarthy\r\ncomplexion, and no beard. Being come, therefore, to the appointed place, he\r\nstayed waiting for Erginus and Diocles outside the town, in front of the place\r\ncalled Ornis. In the meantime, Dionysius, elder brother to Erginus and Diocles,\r\nwho knew nothing at all of the matter, but much resembled Diocles, happened to\r\npass by. Technon, upon this likeness, all being in accordance with what he had\r\nbeen told, asked him if he knew Erginus; and on his replying that he was his\r\nbrother, taking it for granted that he was speaking with Diocles, not so much\r\nas asking his name or staying for any other token, he gave him his hand, and\r\nbegan to discourse with him and ask him questions about matters agreed upon\r\nwith Erginus. Dionysius, cunningly taking the advantage of his mistake, seemed\r\nto understand him very well, and returning towards the city, led him on, still\r\ntalking, without any suspicion. And being now near the gate, he was just about\r\nto seize on him, when by chance again Erginus met them, and, apprehending the\r\ncheat and the danger, beckoned to Technon to make his escape, and immediately\r\nboth of them, betaking themselves to their heels, ran away as fast as they\r\ncould to Aratus, who for all this despaired not, but immediately sent away\r\nErginus to Dionysius to bribe him to hold his tongue. And he not only effected\r\nthat, but also brought him along with him to Aratus. But, when they had him,\r\nthey no longer left him at liberty, but binding him, they kept him close shut\r\nup in a room, whilst they prepared for executing their design.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll things being now ready, he commanded the rest of his forces to pass the\r\nnight by their arms, and taking with him four hundred chosen men, few of whom\r\nknew what they were going about, he led them to the gates by the temple of\r\nJuno. It was the midst of summer, and the moon was at full, and the night so\r\nclear without any clouds, that there was danger lest the arms glistening in the\r\nmoonlight should discover them. But as the foremost of them came near the city,\r\na mist came off from the sea, and darkened the city itself and the outskirts\r\nabout it. Then the rest of them, sitting down, put off their shoes, because men\r\nboth make less noise and also climb surer, if they go up ladders barefooted,\r\nbut Erginus, taking with him seven young men dressed like travelers, got\r\nunobserved to the gate, and killed the sentry with the other guards. And at the\r\nsame time the ladders were clapped to the walls, and Aratus, having in great\r\nhaste got up a hundred men, commended the rest to follow as they could, and\r\nimmediately drawing up his ladders after him, he marched through the city with\r\nhis hundred men towards the castle, being already overjoyed that he was\r\nundiscovered, and not doubting of the success. But while still they were some\r\nway off, a watch of four men came with a light, who did not see them, because\r\nthey were still in the shade of the moon, but were seen plainly enough\r\nthemselves as they came on directly towards them. So withdrawing a little way\r\namongst some walls and plots for houses, they lay in wait for them; and three\r\nof them they killed. But the fourth, being wounded in the head with a sword,\r\nfled, crying out that the enemy was in the city. And immediately the trumpets\r\nsounded, and all the city was in an uproar at what had happened, and the\r\nstreets were full of people running up and down, and many lights were seen\r\nshining both below in the town, and above in the castle, and a confused noise\r\nwas to be heard in all parts.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime, Aratus was hard at work struggling to get up the rocks, at\r\nfirst slowly and with much difficulty, straying continually from the path,\r\nwhich lay deep, and was overshadowed with the crags, leading to the wall with\r\nmany windings and turnings; but the moon immediately and as if by miracle, it\r\nis said, dispersing the clouds, shone out and gave light to the most difficult\r\npart of the way, until he got to that part of the wall he desired, and there\r\nshe overshadowed and hid him, the clouds coming together again. Those soldiers\r\nwhom Aratus had left outside the gate, near Juno’s temple, to the number of\r\nthree hundred, entering the town, now full of tumult and lights, and not\r\nknowing the way by which the former had gone, and finding no track of them,\r\nslunk aside, and crowded together in one body under a flank of the cliff that\r\ncast a strong shadow, and there stood and waited in great distress and\r\nperplexity. For, by this time, those that had gone with Aratus were attacked\r\nwith missiles from the citadel, and were busy fighting, and a sound of cries of\r\nbattle came down from above, and a loud noise, echoed back and back from the\r\nmountain sides, and therefore confused and uncertain whence it proceeded, was\r\nheard on all sides. They being thus in doubt which way to turn themselves,\r\nArchelaus, the commander of Antigonus’s troops, having a great number of\r\nsoldiers with him, made up towards the castle with great shouts and noise of\r\ntrumpets to fall upon Aratus’s people, and passed by the three hundred, who, as\r\nif they had risen out of an ambush, immediately charged him, killing the first\r\nthey encountered, and so affrighted the rest, together with Archelaus, that\r\nthey put them to flight and pursued them until they had quite broke and\r\ndispersed them about the city. No sooner were these defeated, but Erginus came\r\nto them from those that were fighting above, to acquaint them that Aratus was\r\nengaged with the enemy, who defended themselves very stoutly, and there was a\r\nfierce conflict at the very wall, and need of speedy help. They therefore\r\ndesired him to lead them on without delay, and, marching up, they by their\r\nshouts made their friends understand who they were, and encouraged them; and\r\nthe full moon, shining on their arms, made them, in the long line by which they\r\nadvanced, appear more in number to the enemy than they were; and the echo of\r\nthe night multiplied their shouts. In short, falling on with the rest, they\r\nmade the enemy give way, and were masters of the castle and garrison, day now\r\nbeginning to be bright, and the rising sun shining out upon their success. By\r\nthis time, also, the rest of his army came up to Aratus from Sicyon, the\r\nCorinthians joyfully receiving them at the gates and helping them to secure the\r\nking’s party.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd now, having put all things into a safe posture, he came down from the\r\ncastle to the theater, an infinite number of people crowding thither to see him\r\nand to hear what he would say to the Corinthians. Therefore drawing up the\r\nAchaeans on each side of the stage-passages, he came forward himself upon the\r\nstage, with his corslet still on, and his face showing the effects of all his\r\nhard work and want of sleep, so that his natural exultation and joyfulness of\r\nmind were overborne by the weariness of his body. The people, as soon as he\r\ncame forth, breaking out into great applauses and congratulations, he took his\r\nspear in his right hand, and, resting his body upon it with his knee a little\r\nbent, stood a good while in that posture, silently receiving their shouts and\r\nacclamations, while they extolled his valor and wondered at his fortune; which\r\nbeing over, standing up, he began an oration in the name of the Achaeans,\r\nsuitable to the late action, persuading the Corinthians to associate themselves\r\nto the Achaeans, and withal delivered up to them the keys of their gates, which\r\nhad never been in their power since the time of king Philip. Of the captains of\r\nAntigonus, he dismissed Archelaus, whom he had taken prisoner, and\r\nTheophrastus, who refused to quit his post, he put to death. As for Persaeus,\r\nwhen he saw the castle was lost, he had got away to Cenchreae, where, some time\r\nafter, discoursing with one that said to him that the wise man only is a true\r\ngeneral, “Indeed,” he replied, “none of Zeno’s maxims once pleased me better\r\nthan this, but I have been converted to another opinion by the young man of\r\nSicyon.” This is told by many of Persaeus. Aratus, immediately after, made\r\nhimself master of the temple of Juno and haven of Lechaeum, seized upon five\r\nand twenty of the king’s ships, together with five hundred horses and four\r\nhundred Syrians; these he sold. The Achaeans kept guard in the Acro-Corinthus\r\nwith a body of four hundred soldiers, and fifty dogs with as many keepers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Romans, extolling Philopoemen, called him the last of the Grecians, as if\r\nno great man had ever since his time been bred amongst them. But I should call\r\nthis capture of the Acro-Corinthus the last of the Grecian exploits, being\r\ncomparable to the best of them, both for the daringness of it, and the success,\r\nas was presently seen by the consequences. For the Megarians, revolting from\r\nAntigonus, joined Aratus, and the Troezenians and Epidaurians enrolled\r\nthemselves in the Achaean community, and issuing forth for the first time, he\r\nentered Attica, and passing over into Salamis, he plundered the island, turning\r\nthe Achaean force every way, as if it were just let loose out of prison and set\r\nat liberty. All freemen whom he took he sent back to the Athenians without\r\nransom, as a sort of first invitation to them to come over to the league. He\r\nmade Ptolemy become a confederate of the Achaeans, with the privilege of\r\ncommand both by sea and land. And so great was his power with them, that since\r\nhe could not by law be chosen their general every year, yet every other year he\r\nwas, and by his counsels and actions was in effect always so. For they\r\nperceived that neither riches nor reputation, nor the friendship of kings, nor\r\nthe private interest of his own country, nor anything else was so dear to him\r\nas the increase of the Achaean power and greatness. For he believed that the\r\ncities, weak individually, could be preserved by nothing else but a mutual\r\nassistance under the closest bond of the common interest; and, as the members\r\nof the body live and breathe by the union of all in a single natural growth,\r\nand on the dissolution of this, when once they separate, pine away and putrefy,\r\nin the same manner are cities ruined by being dissevered, as well as preserved\r\nwhen, as the members of one great body they enjoy the benefit of that\r\nprovidence and counsel that govern the whole.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow being distressed to see that, whereas the chief neighboring cities enjoyed\r\ntheir own laws and liberties, the Argives were in bondage, he took counsel for\r\ndestroying their tyrant Aristomachus, being very desirous both to pay his debt\r\nof gratitude to the city where he had been bred up, by restoring it its\r\nliberty, and to add so considerable a town to the Achaeans. Nor were there some\r\nwanting who had the courage to undertake the thing, of whom Aeschylus and\r\nCharimenes the soothsayer were the chief. But they wanted swords; for the\r\ntyrant had prohibited the keeping of any under a great penalty. Therefore\r\nAratus, having provided some small daggers at Corinth and hidden them in the\r\npack-saddles of some pack-horses that carried ordinary ware, sent them to\r\nArgos. But Charimenes letting another person into the design, Aeschylus and his\r\npartners were angry at it, and henceforth would have no more to do with him,\r\nand took their measures by themselves, and Charimenes, on finding this, went,\r\nout of anger, and informed against them, just as they were on their way to\r\nattack the tyrant; however, the most of them made a shift to escape out of the\r\nmarketplace, and fled to Corinth. Not long after, Aristomachus was slain by\r\nsome slaves, and Aristippus, a worse tyrant than he, seized the government.\r\nUpon this, Aratus, mustering all the Achaeans present that were of age, hurried\r\naway to the aid of the city, believing that he should find the people ready to\r\njoin with him. But the greater number being by this time habituated to slavery\r\nand content to submit, and no one coming to join him, he was obliged to retire,\r\nhaving moreover exposed the Achaeans to the charge of committing acts of\r\nhostility in the midst of peace; upon which account they were sued before the\r\nMantineans, and, Aratus not making his appearance, Aristippus gained the cause,\r\nand had damages allowed him to the value of thirty minae. And now hating and\r\nfearing Aratus, he sought means to kill him, having the assistance herein of\r\nking Antigonus; so that Aratus was perpetually dogged and watched by those that\r\nwaited for an opportunity to do this service. But there is no such safeguard of\r\na ruler as the sincere and steady good-will of his subjects, for, where both\r\nthe common people and the principal citizens have their fears not of but for\r\ntheir governor, he sees with many eyes and hears with many ears whatsoever is\r\ndoing. Therefore I cannot but here stop short a little in the course of my\r\nnarrative, to describe the manner of life which the so much envied arbitrary\r\npower and the so much celebrated and admired pomp and pride of absolute\r\ngovernment obliged Aristippus to lead.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor though Antigonus was his friend and ally, and though he maintained numerous\r\nsoldiers to act as his body-guard, and had not left one enemy of his alive in\r\nthe city, yet he was forced to make his guards encamp in the colonnade about\r\nhis house; and for his servants, he turned them all out immediately after\r\nsupper, and then shutting the doors upon them, he crept up into a small upper\r\nchamber, together with his mistress, through a trapdoor, upon which he placed\r\nhis bed, and there slept after: such a fashion, as one in his condition can be\r\nsupposed to sleep, that is, interruptedly and in fear. The ladder was taken\r\naway by the woman’s mother, and locked up in another room; in the morning she\r\nbrought it again, and putting it to, called up this brave and wonderful tyrant,\r\nwho came crawling out like some creeping thing out of its hole. Whereas Aratus,\r\nnot by force of arms, but lawfully and by his virtue, lived in possession of a\r\nfirmly settled command, wearing the ordinary coat and cloak, being the common\r\nand declared enemy of all tyrants, and has left behind him a noble race of\r\ndescendants surviving among the Grecians to this day; while those occupiers of\r\ncitadels and maintainers of bodyguards, who made all this use of arms and gates\r\nand bolts to protect their lives, in some few cases perhaps escaped, like the\r\nhare from the hunters; but in no instance have we either house or family, or so\r\nmuch as a tomb to which any respect is shown, remaining to preserve the memory\r\nof any one of them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAgainst this Aristippus, therefore, Aratus made many open and many secret\r\nattempts, whilst he endeavored to take Argos, though without success; once,\r\nparticularly, clapping scaling ladders in the night to the wall, he desperately\r\ngot up upon it with a few of his soldiers, and killed the guards that opposed\r\nhim. But the day appearing, the tyrant set upon him on all hands, whilst the\r\nArgives, as if it had not been their liberty that was contended for, but some\r\nNemean game going on for which it was their privilege to assign the prize, like\r\nfair and impartial judges, sat looking on in great quietness. Aratus, fighting\r\nbravely, was run through the thigh with a lance, yet he maintained his ground\r\nagainst the enemy till night, and, had he been able to go on and hold out that\r\nnight also, he had gained his point; for the tyrant thought of nothing but\r\nflying, and had already shipped most of his goods. But Aratus, having no\r\nintelligence of this, and wanting water, being disabled himself by his wound,\r\nretreated with his soldiers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDespairing henceforth to do any good this way, he fell openly with his army\r\ninto Argolis, and plundered it, and, in a fierce battle with Aristippus near\r\nthe river Chares, he was accused of having withdrawn out of the fight, and\r\nthereby abandoned the victory. For whereas one part of his army had\r\nunmistakably got the better, and was pursuing the enemy at a good distance from\r\nhim, he yet retreated in confusion into his camp, not so much because he was\r\noverpressed by those with whom he was engaged, as out of mistrust of success\r\nand through a panic fear. But when the other wing, returning from the pursuit,\r\nshowed themselves extremely vexed, that though they had put the enemy to flight\r\nand killed many more of his men than they had lost, yet those that were in a\r\nmanner conquered should erect a trophy as conquerors, being much ashamed he\r\nresolved to fight them again about the trophy, and the next day but one drew up\r\nhis army to give them battle. But, perceiving that they were reinforced with\r\nfresh troops, and came on with better courage than before, he durst not hazard\r\na fight, but retired, and sent to request a truce to bury his dead. However, by\r\nhis dexterity in dealing personally with men and managing political affairs,\r\nand by his general favor, he excused and obliterated this fault, and brought in\r\nCleonae to the Achaean association, and celebrated the Nemean games at Cleonae,\r\nas the proper and more ancient place for them. The games were also celebrated\r\nby the Argives at the same time, which gave the first occasion to the violation\r\nof the privilege of safe conduct and immunity always granted to those that came\r\nto compete for the prizes, the Achaeans at that time selling as enemies all\r\nthose they caught going through their country after joining in the games at\r\nArgos. So vehement and implacable a hater was he of the tyrants.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNot long after, having notice that Aristippus had a design upon Cleonae, but\r\nwas afraid of him, because he then was staying in Corinth, he assembled an army\r\nby public proclamation, and, commanding them to take along with them provision\r\nfor several days, he marched to Cenchreae, hoping by this stratagem to entice\r\nAristippus to fall upon Cleonae, when he supposed him far enough off. And so it\r\nhappened, for he immediately brought his forces against it from Argos. But\r\nAratus, returning from Cenchreae to Corinth in the dusk of the evening, and\r\nsetting posts of his troops in all the roads, led on the Achaeans, who followed\r\nhim in such good order and with so much speed and alacrity, that they were\r\nundiscovered by Aristippus, not only whilst upon their march, but even when\r\nthey got, still in the night, into Cleonae, and drew up in order of battle. As\r\nsoon as it was morning, the gates being opened and the trumpets sounding, he\r\nfell upon the enemy with great cries and fury, routed them at once, and kept\r\nclose in pursuit, following the course which he most imagined Aristippus would\r\nchoose, there being many turns that might be taken. And so the chase lasted as\r\nfar as Mycenae, where the tyrant was slain by a certain Cretan called\r\nTragiscus, as Dinias reports. Of the common soldiers, there fell above fifteen\r\nhundred. Yet though Aratus had obtained so great a victory, and that too\r\nwithout the loss of a man, he could not make himself master of Argos nor set it\r\nat liberty, because Agias and the younger Aristomachus got into the town with\r\nsome of the king’s forces, and seized upon the government. However, by this\r\nexploit he spoiled the scoffs and jests of those that flattered the tyrants,\r\nand in their raillery would say that the Achaean general was usually troubled\r\nwith a looseness when he was to fight a battle, that the sound of a trumpet\r\nstruck him with a drowsiness and a giddiness, and that, when he had drawn up\r\nhis army and given the word, he used to ask his lieutenants and officers\r\nwhether there was any further need of his presence now the die was cast, and\r\nthen went aloof, to await the result at a distance. For indeed these stories\r\nwere so generally listened to, that, when the philosophers disputed whether to\r\nhave one’s heart beat and to change color upon any apparent danger be an\r\nargument of fear, or rather of some distemperature and chilliness of bodily\r\nconstitution, Aratus was always quoted as a good general, who was always thus\r\naffected ill time of battle.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHaving thus dispatched Aristippus, he advised with himself how to overthrow\r\nLydiades, the Megalopolitan, who held usurped power over his country. This\r\nperson was naturally of a generous temper, and not insensible of true honor,\r\nand had been led into this wickedness, not by the ordinary motives of other\r\ntyrants, licentiousness and rapacity, but being young, and stimulated with the\r\ndesire of glory, he had let his mind be unwarily prepossessed with the vain and\r\nfalse applauses given to tyranny, as some happy and glorious thing. But he no\r\nsooner seized the government, than he grew weary of the pomp and burden of it.\r\nAnd at once emulating the tranquillity and fearing the policy of Aratus, he\r\ntook the best of resolutions, first, to free himself from hatred and fear, from\r\nsoldiers and guards, and, secondly, to be the public benefactor of his country.\r\nAnd sending for Aratus, he resigned the government, and incorporated his city\r\ninto the Achaean community. The Achaeans, applauding this generous action,\r\nchose him their general; upon which, desiring to outdo Aratus in glory, amongst\r\nmany other uncalled-for things, he declared war against the Lacedaemonians;\r\nwhich Aratus opposing was thought to do it out of envy; and Lydiades was the\r\nsecond time chosen general, though Aratus acted openly against him, and labored\r\nto have the office conferred upon another. For Aratus himself had the command\r\nevery other year, as has been said. Lydiades, however, succeeded so well in his\r\npretensions, that he was thrice chosen general, governing alternately, as did\r\nAratus; but at last, declaring himself his professed enemy, and accusing him\r\nfrequently to the Achaeans, he was rejected, and fell into contempt, people now\r\nseeing that it was a contest between a counterfeit and a true, unadulterated\r\nvirtue, and, as Aesop tells us that the cuckoo once, asking the little birds\r\nwhy they flew away from her, was answered, because they feared she would one\r\nday prove a hawk, so Lydiades’s former tyranny still cast a doubt upon the\r\nreality of his change.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Aratus gained new honor in the Aetolian war. For the Achaeans resolving to\r\nfall upon the Aetolians on the Megarian confines, and Agis also, the\r\nLacedaemonian king, who came to their assistance with an army, encouraging them\r\nto fight, Aratus opposed this determination. And patiently enduring many\r\nreproaches, many scoffs and jeerings at his soft and cowardly temper, he would\r\nnot, for any appearance of disgrace, abandon what he judged to be the true\r\ncommon advantage, and suffered the enemy to pass over Geranea into Peloponnesus\r\nwithout a battle. But when, after they had passed by, news came that they had\r\nsuddenly captured Pellene, he was no longer the same man, nor would he hear of\r\nany delay, or wait to draw together his whole force, but marched towards the\r\nenemy with such as he had about him to fall upon them, as they were indeed now\r\nmuch less formidable through the intemperances and disorders committed in their\r\nsuccess. For as soon as they entered the city, the common soldiers dispersed\r\nand went hither and thither into the houses, quarreling and fighting with one\r\nanother about the plunder; and the officers and commanders were running about\r\nafter the wives and daughters of the Pellenians, on whose heads they put their\r\nown helmets, to mark each man his prize, and prevent another from seizing it.\r\nAnd in this posture were they when news came that Aratus was ready to fall upon\r\nthem. And in the midst of the consternation likely to ensue in the confusion\r\nthey were in, before all of them heard of the danger, the outmost of them,\r\nengaging at the gates and in the suburbs with the Achaeans, were already beaten\r\nand put to flight, and, as they came headlong back, filled with their panic\r\nthose who were collecting and advancing to their assistance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn this confusion, one of the captives, daughter of Epigethes, a citizen of\r\nrepute, being extremely handsome and tall, happened to be sitting in the temple\r\nof Diana, placed there by the commander of the band of chosen men, who had\r\ntaken her and put his crested helmet upon her. She, hearing the noise, and\r\nrunning out to see what was the matter, stood in the temple gates, looking down\r\nfrom above upon those that fought, having the helmet upon her head; in which\r\nposture she seemed to the citizens to be something more than human, and struck\r\nfear and dread into the enemy, who believed it to be a divine apparition; so\r\nthat they lost all courage to defend themselves. But the Pellenians tell us\r\nthat the image of Diana stands usually untouched, and when the priestess\r\nhappens at any time to remove it to some other place, nobody dares look upon\r\nit, but all turn their faces from it; for not only is the sight of it terrible\r\nand hurtful to mankind, but it makes even the trees, by which it happens to be\r\ncarried, become barren and cast their fruit. This image, therefore, they say,\r\nthe priestess produced at that time, and, holding it directly in the faces of\r\nthe Aetolians, made them lose their reason and judgment. But Aratus mentions no\r\nsuch thing in his commentaries, but says, that, having put to flight the\r\nAetolians, and falling in pell-mell with them into the city, he drove them out\r\nby main force, and killed seven hundred of them. And the action was extolled as\r\none of the most famous exploits, and Timanthes the painter made a picture of\r\nthe battle, giving by his composition a most lively representation of it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut many great nations and potentates combining against the Achaeans, Aratus\r\nimmediately treated for friendly arrangements with the Aetolians, and, making\r\nuse of the assistance of Pantaleon, the most powerful man amongst them, he not\r\nonly made a peace, but an alliance between them and the Achaeans. But being\r\ndesirous to free the Athenians, he got into disgrace and ill-repute among the\r\nAchaeans, because, notwithstanding the truce and suspension of arms made\r\nbetween them and the Macedonians, he had attempted to take the Piraeus. He\r\ndenies this fact in his commentaries, and lays the blame on Erginus, by whose\r\nassistance he took Acro-Corinthus, alleging that he upon his own private\r\naccount attacked the Piraeus, and, his ladders happening to break, being hotly\r\npursued, he called out upon Aratus as if present, by which means deceiving the\r\nenemy, he got safely off. This excuse, however, sounds very improbable; for it\r\nis not in any way likely that Erginus, a private man and a Syrian stranger,\r\nshould conceive in his mind so great an attempt, without Aratus at his back, to\r\ntell him how and when to make it, and to supply him with the means. Nor was it\r\ntwice or thrice, but very often, that, like an obstinate lover, he repeated his\r\nattempts on the Piraeus, and was so far from being discouraged by his\r\ndisappointments, that his missing his hopes but narrowly was an incentive to\r\nhim to proceed the more boldly in a new trial. One time amongst the rest, in\r\nmaking his escape through the Thriasian plain, he put his leg out of joint, and\r\nwas forced to submit to many operations with the knife before he was cured, so\r\nthat for a long time he was carried in a litter to the wars.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd when Antigonus was dead, and Demetrius succeeded him in the kingdom, he was\r\nmore bent than ever upon Athens, and in general quite despised the Macedonians.\r\nAnd so, being overthrown in battle near Phylacia by Bithys, Demetrius’s\r\ngeneral, and there being a very strong report that he was either taken or\r\nslain, Diogenes, the governor of the Piraeus, sent letters to Corinth,\r\ncommanding the Achaeans to quit that city, seeing Aratus was dead. When these\r\nletters came to Corinth, Aratus happened to be there in person, so that\r\nDiogenes’s messengers, being sufficiently mocked and derided, were forced to\r\nreturn to their master. King Demetrius himself also sent a ship, wherein Aratus\r\nwas to be brought to him in chains. And the Athenians, exceeding all possible\r\nfickleness of flattery to the Macedonians, crowned themselves with garlands\r\nupon the first news of his death. And so in anger he went at once and invaded\r\nAttica, and penetrated as far as the Academy, but then suffering himself to be\r\npacified, he did no further act of hostility. And the Athenians afterwards,\r\ncoming to a due sense of his virtue, when upon the death of Demetrius they\r\nattempted to recover their liberty, called him in to their assistance; and\r\nalthough at that time another person was general of the Achaeans, and he\r\nhimself had long kept his bed with a sickness, yet, rather than fail the city\r\nin a time of need, he was carried thither in a litter, and helped to persuade\r\nDiogenes the governor to deliver up the Piraeus, Munychia, Salamis, and Sunium\r\nto the Athenians in consideration of a hundred and fifty talents, of which\r\nAratus himself contributed twenty to the city. Upon this, the Aeginetans and\r\nthe Hermionians immediately joined the Achaeans, and the greatest part of\r\nArcadia entered their confederacy; and the Macedonians being occupied with\r\nvarious wars upon their own confines and with their neighbors, the Achaean\r\npower, the Aetolians also being in alliance with them, rose to great height.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Aratus, still bent on effecting his old project, and impatient that tyranny\r\nshould maintain itself in so near a city as Argos, sent to Aristomachus to\r\npersuade him to restore liberty to that city, and to associate it to the\r\nAchaeans, and that, following Lydiades’s example, he should rather choose to be\r\nthe general of a great nation, with esteem and honor, than the tyrant of one\r\ncity, with continual hatred and danger. Aristomachus slighted not the message,\r\nbut desired Aratus to send him fifty talents, with which he might pay off the\r\nsoldiers. In the meantime, whilst the money was providing, Lydiades, being then\r\ngeneral, and extremely ambitious that this advantage might seem to be of his\r\nprocuring for the Achaeans, accused Aratus to Aristomachus, as one that bore an\r\nirreconcilable hatred to the tyrants, and, persuading him to commit the affair\r\nto his management, he presented him to the Achaeans. But there the Achaean\r\ncouncil gave a manifest proof of the great credit Aratus had with them and the\r\ngood-will they bore him. For when he, in anger, spoke against Aristomachus’s\r\nbeing admitted into the association, they rejected the proposal, but when he\r\nwas afterwards pacified and came himself and spoke in its favor, they voted\r\neverything cheerfully and readily, and decreed that the Argives and Phliasians\r\nshould be incorporated into their commonwealth, and the next year they chose\r\nAristomachus general. He, being in good credit with the Achaeans, was very\r\ndesirous to invade Laconia, and for that purpose sent for Aratus from Athens.\r\nAratus wrote to him to dissuade him as far as he could from that expedition,\r\nbeing very unwilling the Achaeans should be engaged in a quarrel with\r\nCleomenes, who was a daring man, and making extraordinary advances to power.\r\nBut Aristomachus resolving to go on, he obeyed and served in person, on which\r\noccasion he hindered Aristomachus from fighting a battle, when Cleomenes came\r\nupon them at Pallantium; and for this act was accused by Lydiades, and, coming\r\nto an open conflict with him in a contest for the office of general, he carried\r\nit by the show of hands, and was chosen general the twelfth time.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis year, being routed by Cleomenes near the Lycaeum, he fled, and, wandering\r\nout of the way in the night, was believed to be slain; and once more it was\r\nconfidently reported so throughout all Greece. He, however, having escaped this\r\ndanger and rallied his forces, was not content to march off in safety, but,\r\nmaking a happy use of the present conjuncture, when nobody dreamed any such\r\nthing, he fell suddenly upon the Mantineans, allies of Cleomenes, and, taking\r\nthe city, put a garrison into it, and made the stranger inhabitants free of the\r\ncity; procuring, by this means, those advantages for the beaten Achaeans,\r\nwhich, being conquerors, they would not easily have obtained. The\r\nLacedaemonians again invading the Megalopolitan territories, he marched to the\r\nassistance of the city, but refused to give Cleomenes, who did all he could to\r\nprovoke him to it, any opportunity of engaging him in a battle, nor could be\r\nprevailed upon by the Megalopolitans, who urged him to it extremely. For\r\nbesides that by nature he was ill-suited for set battles, he was then much\r\ninferior in numbers, and was to deal with a daring leader, still in the heat of\r\nyouth, while he himself, now past the prime of courage and come to a chastised\r\nambition, felt it his business to maintain by prudence the glory, which he had\r\nobtained, and the other was only aspiring to by forwardness and daring.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo that though the light-armed soldiers had sallied out and driven the\r\nLacedaemonians as far as their camp, and had come even to their tents, yet\r\nwould not Aratus lead his men forward, but, posting himself in a hollow\r\nwatercourse in the way thither, stopped and prevented the citizens from\r\ncrossing this. Lydiades, extremely vexed at what was going on, and loading\r\nAratus with reproaches, entreated the horse that together with him they would\r\nsecond them that had the enemy in chase, and not let a certain victory slip out\r\nof their hands, nor forsake him that was going to venture his life for his\r\ncountry. And being reinforced with many brave men that turned after him, he\r\ncharged the enemy’s right wing, and routing it, followed the pursuit without\r\nmeasure or discretion, letting his eagerness and hopes of glory tempt him on\r\ninto broken ground, full of planted fruit trees and cut up with broad ditches,\r\nwhere, being engaged by Cleomenes, he fell, fighting gallantly the noblest of\r\nbattles, at the gate of his country. The rest, flying back to their main body\r\nand troubling the ranks of the full-armed infantry, put the whole army to the\r\nrout. Aratus was extremely blamed, being suspected to have betrayed Lydiades,\r\nand was constrained by the Achaeans, who withdrew in great anger, to accompany\r\nthem to Aegium, where they called a council, and decreed that he should no\r\nlonger be furnished with money, nor have any more soldiers hired for him, but\r\nthat, if he would make war, he should pay them himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis affront he resented so far as to resolve to give up the seal and lay down\r\nthe office of general; but upon second thoughts he found it best to have\r\npatience, and presently marched with the Achaeans to Orchomenus and fought a\r\nbattle with Megistonus, the step-father of Cleomenes, where he got the victory,\r\nkilling three hundred men and taking Megistonus prisoner. But whereas he used\r\nto be chosen general every other year, when his turn came and he was called to\r\ntake upon him that charge, he declined it, and Timoxenus was chosen in his\r\nstead. The true cause of which was not the pique he was alleged to have taken\r\nat the people, but the ill circumstances of the Achaean affairs. For Cleomenes\r\ndid not now invade them gently and tenderly as hitherto, as one controlled by\r\nthe civil authorities, but having killed the Ephors, divided the lands, and\r\nmade many of the stranger residents free of the city, he was responsible to no\r\none in his government; and therefore fell in good earnest upon the Achaeans,\r\nand put forward his claim to the supreme military command. Wherefore Aratus is\r\nmuch blamed, that in a stormy and tempestuous time, like a cowardly pilot, he\r\nshould forsake the helm, when it was even perhaps his duty to have insisted,\r\nwhether they would or no, on saving them; or if he thought the Achaean affairs\r\ndesperate, to have yielded all up to Cleomenes, and not to have let\r\nPeloponnesus fall once again into barbarism with Macedonian garrisons, and\r\nAcro-Corinthus be occupied with Illyric and Gaulish soldiers, and, under the\r\nspecious name of Confederates, to have made those masters of the cities whom he\r\nhad held it his business by arms and by policy to baffle and defeat, and, in\r\nthe memoirs he left behind him, loaded with reproaches and insults. And say\r\nthat Cleomenes was arbitrary and tyrannical, yet was he descended from the\r\nHeraclidae, and Sparta was his country, the obscurest citizen of which deserved\r\nto be preferred to the generalship before the best of the Macedonians by those\r\nthat had any regard to the honor of Grecian birth. Besides, Cleomenes sued for\r\nthat command over the Achaeans as one that would return the honor of that title\r\nwith real kindnesses to the cities; whereas Antigonus, being declared absolute\r\ngeneral by sea and land, would not accept the office unless Acro-Corinthus were\r\nby special agreement put into his hands, following the example of Aesop’s\r\nhunter; for he would not get up and ride the Achaeans, who desired him so to\r\ndo, and offered their backs to him by embassies and popular decrees, till, by a\r\ngarrison and hostages, they had allowed him to bit and bridle them. Aratus\r\nexhausts all his powers of speech to show the necessity that was upon him. But\r\nPolybius writes, that long before this, and before there was any necessity,\r\napprehending the daring temper of Cleomenes, he communicated secretly with\r\nAntigonus, and that he had beforehand prevailed with the Megalopolitans to\r\npress the Achaeans to crave aid from Antigonus. For they were the most harassed\r\nby the war, Cleomenes continually plundering and ransacking their country. And\r\nso writes also Phylarchus, who, unless seconded by the testimony of Polybius,\r\nwould not be altogether credited; for he is seized with enthusiasm when he so\r\nmuch as speaks a word of Cleomenes, and as if he were pleading, not writing a\r\nhistory, goes on throughout defending the one and accusing the other.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe Achaeans, therefore, lost Mantinea, which was recovered by Cleomenes, and\r\nbeing beaten in a great fight near Hecatombaeum, so general was the\r\nconsternation, that they immediately sent to Cleomenes to desire him to come to\r\nArgos and take the command upon him. But Aratus, as soon as he understood that\r\nhe was coming, and was got as far as Lerna with his troops, fearing the result,\r\nsent ambassadors to him, to request him to come accompanied with three hundred\r\nonly, as to friends and confederates, and, if he mistrusted anything, he should\r\nreceive hostages. Upon which Cleomenes, saying this was mere mockery and\r\naffront, went away, sending a letter to the Achaeans full of reproaches and\r\naccusation against Aratus. And Aratus also wrote letters against Cleomenes; and\r\nbitter revilings and railleries were current on both hands, not sparing even\r\ntheir marriages and wives. Hereupon Cleomenes sent a herald to declare war\r\nagainst the Achaeans, and in the meantime missed very narrowly of taking Sicyon\r\nby treachery. Turning off at a little distance, he attacked and took Pellene,\r\nwhich the Achaean general abandoned, and not long after took also Pheneus and\r\nPenteleum. Then immediately the Argives voluntarily joined with him, and the\r\nPhliasians received a garrison, and in short nothing among all their new\r\nacquisitions held firm to the Achaeans. Aratus was encompassed on every side\r\nwith clamor and confusion; he saw the whole of Peloponnesus shaking around him,\r\nand the cities everywhere set in revolt by men desirous of innovations.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor indeed no place remained quiet or satisfied with the present condition;\r\neven amongst the Sicyonians and Corinthians themselves, many were well known to\r\nhave had private conferences with Cleomenes, who long since, out of desire to\r\nmake themselves masters of their several cities, had been discontented with the\r\npresent order of things. Aratus, having absolute power given him to bring these\r\nto condign punishment, executed as many of them as he could find at Sicyon, but\r\ngoing about to find them out and punish them at Corinth also, he irritated the\r\npeople, already unsound in feeling and weary of the Achaean government. So\r\ncollecting tumultuously in the temple of Apollo, they sent for Aratus, having\r\ndetermined to take or kill him before they broke out into open revolt. He came\r\naccordingly, leading his horse in his hand, as if he suspected nothing. Then\r\nseveral leaping up and accusing and reproaching him, with mild words and a\r\nsettled countenance he bade them sit down, and not stand crying out upon him in\r\na disorderly manner, desiring, also, that those that were about the door might\r\nbe let in, and saying so, he stepped out quietly, as if he would give his horse\r\nto somebody. Clearing himself thus of the crowd, and speaking without\r\ndiscomposure to the Corinthians that he met, commanding them to go to Apollo’s\r\ntemple, and being now, before they were aware, got near to the citadel, he\r\nleaped upon his horse, and commanding Cleopater, the governor of the garrison,\r\nto have a special care of his charge, he galloped to Sicyon, followed by thirty\r\nof his soldiers, the rest leaving him and shifting for themselves. And not long\r\nafter, it being known that he was fled, the Corinthians pursued him, but not\r\novertaking him, they immediately sent for Cleomenes and delivered up the city\r\nto him, who, however, thought nothing they could give was so great a gain, as\r\nwas the loss of their having let Aratus get away. Nevertheless, being\r\nstrengthened by the accession of the people of the Acte, as it is called, who\r\nput their towns into his hands, he proceeded to carry a palisade and lines of\r\ncircumvallation around the Acro-Corinthus.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Aratus being arrived at Sicyon, the body of the Achaeans there flocked to\r\nhim, and, in an assembly there held, he was chosen general with absolute power,\r\nand he took about him a guard of his own citizens, it being now three and\r\nthirty years since he first took a part in public affairs among the Achaeans,\r\nhaving in that time been the chief man in credit and power of all Greece; but\r\nhe was now deserted on all hands, helpless and overpowered, drifting about\r\namidst the waves and danger on the shattered hulk of his native city. For the\r\nAetolians, affected whom he applied to, declined to assist him in his distress,\r\nand the Athenians, who were well affected to him, were diverted from lending\r\nhim any succor by the authority of Euclides and Micion. Now whereas he had a\r\nhouse and property in Corinth, Cleomenes meddled not with it, nor suffered\r\nanybody else to do so, but calling for his friends and agents, he bade them\r\nhold themselves responsible to Aratus for everything, as to him they would have\r\nto render their account; and privately he sent to him Tripylus, and afterwards\r\nMegistonus, his own stepfather, to offer him, besides several other things, a\r\nyearly pension of twelve talents, which was twice as much as Ptolemy allowed\r\nhim, for he gave him six; and all that he demanded was to be declared commander\r\nof the Achaeans, and together with them to have the keeping of the citadel of\r\nCorinth. To which Aratus returning answer that affairs were not so properly in\r\nhis power as he was in the power of them, Cleomenes, believing this a mere\r\nevasion, immediately entered the country of Sicyon, destroying all with fire\r\nand sword, and besieged the city three months, whilst Aratus held firm, and was\r\nin dispute with himself whether he should call in Antigonus upon condition of\r\ndelivering up the citadel of Corinth to him; for he would not lend him\r\nassistance upon any other terms.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the meantime the Achaeans assembled at Aegium, and called for Aratus; but it\r\nwas very hazardous for him to pass thither, while Cleomenes was encamped before\r\nSicyon; besides, the citizens endeavored to stop him by their entreaties,\r\nprotesting that they would not suffer him to expose himself to so evident\r\ndanger, the enemy being so near; the women, also, and children hung about him,\r\nweeping and embracing him as their common father and defender. But he, having\r\ncomforted and encouraged them as well as he could, got on horseback, and being\r\naccompanied with ten of his friends and his son, then a youth, got away to the\r\nsea-side, and finding vessels there waiting off the shore, went on board of\r\nthem and sailed to Aegium to the assembly; in which it was decreed that\r\nAntigonus should be called in to their aid, and should have the Acro-Corinthus\r\ndelivered to him. Aratus also sent his son to him with the other hostages. The\r\nCorinthians, extremely angry at this proceeding, now plundered his property,\r\nand gave his house as a present to Cleomenes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAntigonus being now near at hand with his army, consisting of twenty thousand\r\nMacedonian foot and one thousand three hundred horse, Aratus, with the Members\r\nof Council, went to meet him by sea, and got, unobserved by the enemy, to\r\nPegae, having no great confidence either in Antigonus or the Macedonians. For\r\nhe was very sensible that his own greatness had been made out of the losses he\r\nhad caused them, and that the first great principle of his public conduct had\r\nbeen hostility to the former Antigonus. But perceiving the necessity that was\r\nnow upon him, and the pressure of the time, that lord and master of those we\r\ncall rulers, to be inexorable, he resolved to put all to the venture. So soon,\r\ntherefore, as Antigonus was told that Aratus was coming up to him, he saluted\r\nthe rest of the company after the ordinary manner, but him he received at the\r\nvery first approach with especial honor, and finding him afterwards to be both\r\ngood and wise, admitted him to his nearer familiarity. For Aratus was not only\r\nuseful to him in the management of great affairs, but singularly agreeable also\r\nas the private companion of a king in his recreations. And therefore, though\r\nAntigonus was young, yet as soon as he observed the temper of the man to be\r\nproper for a prince’s friendship, he made more use of him than of any other,\r\nnot only of the Achaeans, but also of the Macedonians that were about him. So\r\nthat the thing fell out to him just as the god had foreshown in a sacrifice.\r\nFor it is related that, as Aratus was not long before offering sacrifice, there\r\nwere found in the liver two gall-bags enclosed in the same caul of fat;\r\nwhereupon the soothsayer told him that there should very soon be the strictest\r\nfriendship imaginable between him and his greatest and most mortal enemies;\r\nwhich prediction he at that time slighted, having in general no great faith in\r\nsoothsayings and prognostications, but depending most upon rational\r\ndeliberation. At an after time, however, when, things succeeding well in the\r\nwar, Antigonus made a great feast at Corinth, to which he invited a great\r\nnumber of guests, and placed Aratus next above himself, and presently calling\r\nfor a coverlet, asked him if he did not find it cold, and on Aratus’s answering\r\n“Yes, extremely cold,” bade him come nearer, so that when the servants brought\r\nthe coverlet, they threw it over them both, then Aratus remembering the\r\nsacrifice, fell a laughing, and told the king the sign which had happened to\r\nhim, and the interpretation of it. But this fell out a good while after.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo Aratus and the king, plighting their faith to each other at Pegae,\r\nimmediately marched towards the enemy, with whom they had frequent engagements\r\nnear the city, Cleomenes maintaining a strong position, and the Corinthians\r\nmaking a very brisk defense. In the meantime, Aristoteles the Argive, Aratus’s\r\nfriend, sent privately to him to let him know, that he would cause Argos to\r\nrevolt, if he would come thither in person with some soldiers. Aratus\r\nacquainted Antigonus, and, taking fifteen hundred men with him, sailed in boats\r\nalong the shore as quickly as he could from the Isthmus to Epidaurus. But the\r\nArgives had not patience till he could arrive, but, making a sudden\r\ninsurrection, fell upon Cleomenes’s soldiers, and drove them into the citadel.\r\nCleomenes having news of this, and fearing lest, if the enemy should possess\r\nthemselves of Argos, they might cut off his retreat home, leaves the\r\nAcro-Corinthus and marches away by night to help his men. He got thither first,\r\nand beat off the enemy, but Aratus appearing not long after, and the king\r\napproaching with his forces, he retreated to Mantinea, upon which all the\r\ncities again came over to the Achaeans, and Antigonus took possession of the\r\nAcro-Corinthus. Aratus, being chosen general by the Argives, persuaded them to\r\nmake a present to Antigonus of the property of the tyrants and the traitors. As\r\nfor Aristomachus, after having put him to the rack in the town of Cenchreae,\r\nthey drowned him in the sea; for which, more than anything else, Aratus was\r\nreproached, that he could suffer a man to be so lawlessly put to death, who was\r\nno bad man, had been one of his long acquaintance, and at his persuasion had\r\nabdicated his power, and annexed the city to the Achaeans.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd already the blame of the other things that were done began to be laid to\r\nhis account; as that they so lightly gave up Corinth to Antigonus, as if it had\r\nbeen an inconsiderable village; that they had suffered him, after first sacking\r\nOrchomenus, then to put into it a Macedonian garrison; that they made a decree\r\nthat no letters nor embassy should be sent to any other king without the\r\nconsent of Antigonus, that they were forced to furnish pay and provision for\r\nthe Macedonian soldiers, and celebrated sacrifices, processions, and games in\r\nhonor of Antigonus, Aratus’s citizens setting the example and receiving\r\nAntigonus, who was lodged and entertained at Aratus’s house. All these things\r\nthey treated as his fault, not knowing that having once put the reins into\r\nAntigonus’s hands, and let himself be borne by the impetus of regal power, he\r\nwas no longer master of anything but one single voice, the liberty of which it\r\nwas not so very safe for him to use. For it was very plain that Aratus was much\r\ntroubled at several things, as appeared by the business about the statues. For\r\nAntigonus replaced the statues of the tyrants of Argos that had been thrown\r\ndown, and on the contrary threw down the statues of all those that had taken\r\nthe Acro-Corinthus, except that of Aratus, nor could Aratus, by all his\r\nentreaties, dissuade him. Also, the usage of the Mantineans by the Achaeans\r\nseemed not in accordance with the Grecian feelings and manners. For being\r\nmasters of their city by the help of Antigonus, they put to death the chief and\r\nmost noted men amongst them; and of the rest, some they sold, others they sent,\r\nbound in fetters, into Macedonia, and made slaves of their wives and children;\r\nand of the money thus raised, a third part they divided among themselves, and\r\nthe other two thirds were distributed among the Macedonians. And this might\r\nseem to have been justified by the law of retaliation; for although it be a\r\nbarbarous thing for men of the same nation and blood thus to deal with one\r\nanother in their fury, yet necessity makes it, as Simonides says, sweet and\r\nsomething excusable, being the proper thing, in the mind’s painful and inflamed\r\ncondition, to give alleviation and relief. But for what was afterwards done to\r\nthat city, Aratus cannot be defended on any ground either of reason or\r\nnecessity. For the Argives having had the city bestowed on them by Antigonus,\r\nand resolving to people it, he being then chosen as the new founder, and being\r\ngeneral at that time, decreed that it should no longer be called Mantinea, but\r\nAntigonea, which name it still bears. So that he may be said to have been the\r\ncause that the old memory of the “beautiful Mantinea” has been wholly\r\nextinguished, and the city to this day has the name of the destroyer and slayer\r\nof its citizens.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, Cleomenes, being overthrown in a great battle near Sellasia,\r\nforsook Sparta and fled into Egypt, and Antigonus, having shown all manner of\r\nkindness and fair-dealing to Aratus, retired into Macedonia. There, falling\r\nsick, he sent Philip, the heir of the kingdom, into Peloponnesus, being yet\r\nscarce a youth, commanding him to follow above all the counsel of Aratus, to\r\ncommunicate with the cities through him, and through him to make acquaintance\r\nwith the Achaeans; and Aratus, receiving him accordingly, so managed him as to\r\nsend him back to Macedon both well affected to himself and full of desire and\r\nambition to take an honorable part in the affairs of Greece.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Antigonus was dead, the Aetolians, despising the sloth and negligence of\r\nthe Achaeans, who, having learned to be defended by other men’s valor and to\r\nshelter themselves under the Macedonian arms, lived in ease and without any\r\ndiscipline, now attempted to interfere in Peloponnesus. And plundering the land\r\nof Patrae and Dyme in their way, they invaded Messene and ravaged it; at which\r\nAratus being indignant, and finding that Timoxenus, then general, was\r\nhesitating and letting the time go by, being now on the point of laying down\r\nhis office, in which he himself was chosen to succeed him, he anticipated the\r\nproper term by five days, that he might bring relief to the Messenians. And\r\nmustering the Achaeans, who were both in their persons unexercised in arms and\r\nin their minds relaxed and averse to war, he met with a defeat at Caphyae.\r\nHaving thus begun the war, as it seemed, with too much heat and passion, he\r\nthen ran into the other extreme, cooling again and desponding so much, that he\r\nlet pass and overlooked many fair opportunities of advantage given by the\r\nAetolians, and allowed them to run riot, as it were, throughout all\r\nPeloponnesus, with all manner of insolence and licentiousness. Wherefore,\r\nholding forth their hands once more to the Macedonians, they invited and drew\r\nin Philip to intermeddle in the affairs of Greece, chiefly hoping, because of\r\nhis affection and trust that he felt for Aratus, they should find him\r\neasy-tempered, and ready to be managed as they pleased.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the king, being now persuaded by Apelles, Megaleas, and other courtiers,\r\nthat endeavored to ruin the credit Aratus had with him, took the side of the\r\ncontrary faction, and joined them in canvassing to have Eperatus chosen general\r\nby the Achaeans. But he being altogether scorned by the Achaeans, and, for the\r\nwant of Aratus to help, all things going wrong, Philip saw he had quite\r\nmistaken his part, and, turning about and reconciling himself to Aratus, he was\r\nwholly his; and his affairs now going on favorably both for his power and\r\nreputation, he depended upon him altogether as the author of all his gains in\r\nboth respects; Aratus hereby giving a proof to the world that he was as good a\r\nnursing father of a kingdom as he had been of a democracy, for the actions of\r\nthe king had in them the touch and color of his judgment and character. The\r\nmoderation which the young man showed to the Lacedaemonians, who had incurred\r\nhis displeasure, and his affability to the Cretans, by which in a few days he\r\nbrought over the whole island to his obedience, and his expedition against the\r\nAetolians, so wonderfully successful, brought Philip reputation for hearkening\r\nto good advice, and to Aratus for giving it; for which things the king’s\r\nfollowers envying him more than ever and finding they could not prevail against\r\nhim by their secret practices, began openly to abuse and affront him at the\r\nbanquets and over their wine, with every kind of petulance and impudence; so\r\nthat once they threw stones at him as he was going back from supper to his\r\ntent. At which Philip being much offended, immediately fined them twenty\r\ntalents; and finding afterwards that they still went on disturbing matters and\r\ndoing mischief in his affairs, he put them to death.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut with his run of good success, prosperity began to puff him up, and various\r\nextravagant desires began to spring and show themselves in his mind; and his\r\nnatural bad inclinations, breaking through the artificial restraints he had put\r\nupon them, in a little time laid open and discovered his true and proper\r\ncharacter. And in the first place, he privately injured the younger Aratus in\r\nhis wife, which was not known of a good while, because he was lodged and\r\nentertained at their house; then he began to be more rough and untractable in\r\nthe domestic politics of Greece, and showed plainly that he was wishing to\r\nshake himself loose of Aratus. This the Messenian affairs first gave occasion\r\nto suspect. For they falling into sedition, and Aratus being just too late with\r\nhis succors, Philip, who got into the city one day before him, at once blew up\r\nthe flame of contention amongst them, asking privately, on the one hand, the\r\nMessenian generals, if they had not laws whereby to suppress the insolence of\r\nthe common people, and on the other, the leaders of the people, whether they\r\nhad not hands to help themselves against their oppressors. Upon which gathering\r\ncourage, the officers attempted to lay hands on the heads of the people, and\r\nthey on the other side, coming upon the officers with the multitude, killed\r\nthem, and very near two hundred persons with them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPhilip having committed this wickedness, and doing his best to set the\r\nMessenians by the ears together more than before, Aratus arrived there, and\r\nboth showed plainly that he took it ill himself, and also he suffered his son\r\nbitterly to reproach and revile him. It should seem that the young man had an\r\nattachment for Philip, and so at this time one of his expressions to him was,\r\nthat he no longer appeared to him the handsomest, but the most deformed of all\r\nmen, after so foul an action. To all which Philip gave him no answer, though he\r\nseemed so angry as to make it expected he would, and though several times he\r\ncried out aloud, while the young man was speaking. But as for the elder Aratus,\r\nseeming to take all that he said in good part, and as if he were by nature a\r\npolitic character and had a good command of himself, he gave him his hand and\r\nled him out of the theater, and carried him with him to the Ithomatas, to\r\nsacrifice there to Jupiter, and take a view of the place, for it is a post as\r\nfortifiable as the Acro-Corinthus, and, with a garrison in it, quite as strong\r\nand as impregnable to the attacks of all around it. Philip therefore went up\r\nhither, and having offered sacrifice, receiving the entrails of the ox with\r\nboth his hands from the priest, he showed them to Aratus and Demetrius the\r\nPharian, presenting them sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other,\r\nasking them what they judged, by the tokens in the sacrifice, was to be done\r\nwith the fort; was he to keep it for himself, or restore it to the Messenians.\r\nDemetrius laughed and answered, “If you have in you the soul of soothsayer, you\r\nwill restore it, but if of a prince, you will hold the ox by both the horns,”\r\nmeaning to refer to Peloponnesus, which would be wholly in his power and at his\r\ndisposal if he added the Ithomatas to the Acro-Corinthus. Aratus said not a\r\nword for a good while; but Philip entreating him to declare his opinion, he\r\nsaid “Many and great hills are there in Crete, and many rocks in Boeotia and\r\nPhocis, and many remarkable strong-holds both near the sea and in the midland\r\nin Acarnania, and yet all these people obey your orders, though you have not\r\npossessed yourself of any one of those places. Robbers nest themselves in rocks\r\nand precipices; but the strongest fort a king can have is confidence and\r\naffection. These have opened to you the Cretan sea; these make you master of\r\nPeloponnesus, and by the help of these, young as you are, are you become\r\ncaptain of the one, and lord of the other.” While he was still speaking, Philip\r\nreturned the entrails to the priest, and drawing Aratus to him by the hand,\r\n“Come, then,” said he, “let us follow the same course;” as if he felt himself\r\nforced by him, and obliged to give up the town.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFrom this time Aratus began to withdraw from court, and retired by degrees from\r\nPhilip’s company; when he was preparing to march into Epirus, and desired him\r\nthat he would accompany him thither, he excused himself and stayed at home,\r\napprehending that he should get nothing but discredit by having anything to do\r\nwith his actions. But when, afterwards, having shamefully lost his fleet\r\nagainst the Romans and miscarried in all his designs, he returned into\r\nPeloponnesus, where he tried once more to beguile the Messenians by his\r\nartifices, and failing in this, began openly to attack them and to ravage their\r\ncountry, then Aratus fell out with him downright, and utterly renounced his\r\nfriendship; for he had begun then to be fully aware of the injuries done to his\r\nson in his wife, which vexed him greatly, though he concealed them from his\r\nson, as he could but know he had been abused, without having any means to\r\nrevenge himself. For, indeed, Philip seems to have been an instance of the\r\ngreatest and strangest alteration of character; after being a mild king and\r\nmodest and chaste youth, he became a lascivious man and most cruel tyrant;\r\nthough in reality this was not a change of his nature, but a bold unmasking,\r\nwhen safe opportunity came, of the evil inclinations which his fear had for a\r\nlong time made him dissemble.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor that the respect he at the beginning bore to Aratus had a great alloy of\r\nfear and awe appears evidently from what he did to him at last. For being\r\ndesirous to put him to death, not thinking himself, whilst he was alive, to be\r\nproperly free as a man, much less at liberty to do his pleasure as a king or\r\ntyrant, he durst not attempt to do it by open force, but commanded Taurion, one\r\nof his captains and familiars, to make him away secretly by poison, if\r\npossible, in his absence. Taurion, therefore, made himself intimate with\r\nAratus, and gave him a dose, not of your strong and violent poisons, but such\r\nas cause gentle, feverish heats at first, and a dull cough, and so by degrees\r\nbring on certain death. Aratus perceived what was done to him, but, knowing\r\nthat it was in vain to make any words of it, bore it patiently and with\r\nsilence, as if it had been some common and usual distemper. Only once, a friend\r\nof his being with him in his chamber, he spat some blood, which his friend\r\nobserving and wondering at, “These, O Cephalon,” said he, “are the wages of a\r\nking’s love.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus died he in Aegium, in his seventeenth generalship. The Achaeans were very\r\ndesirous that he should be buried there with a funeral and monument suitable to\r\nhis life, but the Sicyonians treated it as a calamity to them if he were\r\ninterred anywhere but in their city, and prevailed with the Achaeans to grant\r\nthem the disposal of the body.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut there being an ancient law that no person should be buried within the walls\r\nof their city, and besides the law also a strong religious feeling about it,\r\nthey sent to Delphi to ask counsel of the Pythoness, who returned this answer:\r\n—\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nSicyon, whom oft he rescued, “Where,” you say,\u003cbr\u003e\r\n“Shall we the relics of Aratus lay?”\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe soil that would not lightly o’er him rest,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOr to be under him would feel oppressed,\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWere in the sight of earth and seas and skies unblest.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis oracle being brought, all the Achaeans were well pleased at it, but\r\nespecially the Sicyonians, who, changing their mourning into public joy,\r\nimmediately fetched the body from Aegium, and in a kind of solemn procession\r\nbrought it into the city, being crowned with garlands, and arrayed in white\r\ngarments, with singing and dancing, and, choosing a conspicuous place, they\r\nburied him there, as the founder and savior of their city. The place is to this\r\nday called Aratium, and there they yearly make two solemn sacrifices to him,\r\nthe one on the day he delivered the city from tyranny, being the fifth of the\r\nmonth Daesius, which the Athenians call Anthesterion, and this sacrifice they\r\ncall Soteria; the other in the month of his birth, which is still remembered.\r\nNow the first of these was performed by the priest of Jupiter Soter, the second\r\nby the priest of Aratus, wearing a band around his head, not pure white, but\r\nmingled with purple. Hymns were sung to the harp by the singers of the feasts\r\nof Bacchus; the procession was led up by the president of the public exercises,\r\nwith the boys and young men; these were followed by the councilors wearing\r\ngarlands, and other citizens such as pleased. Of these observances, some small\r\ntraces, it is still made a point of religion not to omit, on the appointed\r\ndays; but the greatest part of the ceremonies have through time and other\r\nintervening accidents been disused.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd such, as history tells us, was the life and manners of the elder Aratus.\r\nAnd for the younger, his son, Philip, abominably wicked by nature and a savage\r\nabuser of his power, gave him such poisonous medicines, as though they did not\r\nkill him indeed, yet made him lose his senses, and run into wild and absurd\r\nattempts and desire to do actions and satisfy appetites that were ridiculous\r\nand shameful. So that his death, which happened to him while he was yet young\r\nand in the flower of his age, cannot be so much esteemed a misfortune as a\r\ndeliverance and end of his misery. However, Philip paid dearly, all through the\r\nrest of his life, for these impious violations of friendship and hospitality.\r\nFor, being overcome by the Romans, he was forced to put himself wholly into\r\ntheir hands, and, being deprived of his other dominions and surrendering all\r\nhis ships except five, he had also to pay a fine of a thousand talents, and to\r\ngive his son for hostage, and only out of mere pity he was suffered to keep\r\nMacedonia and its dependences; where continually putting to death the noblest\r\nof his subjects and the nearest relations he had, he filled the whole kingdom\r\nwith horror and hatred of him. And whereas amidst so many misfortunes he had\r\nbut one good chance, which was the having a son of great virtue and merit, him,\r\nthrough jealousy and envy at the honor the Romans had for him, he caused to be\r\nmurdered, and left his kingdom to Perseus, who, as some say, was not his own\r\nchild, but supposititious, born of a seamstress called Gnathaenion. This was he\r\nwhom Paulus Aemilius led in triumph, and in whom ended the succession of\r\nAntigonus’s line and kingdom. But the posterity of Aratus continued still in\r\nour days at Sicyon and Pellene.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap66\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eARTAXERXES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe first Artaxerxes, among all the kings of Persia the most remarkable for a\r\ngentle and noble spirit, was surnamed the Long-handed, his right hand being\r\nlonger than his left, and was the son of Xerxes. The second, whose story I am\r\nnow writing, who had the surname of the Mindful, was the grandson of the\r\nformer, by his daughter Parysatis, who brought Darius four sons, the eldest\r\nArtaxerxes, the next Cyrus, and two younger than these, Ostanes and Oxathres.\r\nCyrus took his name of the ancient Cyrus, as he, they say, had his from the\r\nsun, which, in the Persian language, is called Cyrus. Artaxerxes was at first\r\ncalled Arsicas; Dinon says Oarses; but it is utterly improbable that Ctesias\r\n(however otherwise he may have filled his books with a perfect farrago of\r\nincredible and senseless fables) should be ignorant of the name of the king\r\nwith whom he lived as his physician, attending upon himself, his wife, his\r\nmother, and his children.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nCyrus, from his earliest youth, showed something of a headstrong and vehement\r\ncharacter; Artaxerxes, on the other side, was gentler in everything, and of a\r\nnature more yielding and soft in its action. He married a beautiful and\r\nvirtuous wife, at the desire of his parents, but kept her as expressly against\r\ntheir wishes. For king Darius, having put her brother to death, was purposing\r\nlikewise to destroy her. But Arsicas, throwing himself at his mother’s feet, by\r\nmany tears, at last, with much ado, persuaded her that they should neither put\r\nher to death nor divorce her from him. However, Cyrus was his mother’s\r\nfavorite, and the son whom she most desired to settle in the throne. And\r\ntherefore, his father Darius now lying ill, he, being sent for from the sea to\r\nthe court, set out thence with full hopes that by her means he was to be\r\ndeclared the successor to the kingdom. For Parysatis had the specious plea in\r\nhis behalf, which Xerxes on the advice of Demaratus had of old made use of,\r\nthat she had borne him Arsicas when he was a subject, but Cyrus when a king.\r\nNotwithstanding, she prevailed not with Darius, but the eldest son Arsicas was\r\nproclaimed king, his name being changed into Artaxerxes; and Cyrus remained\r\nsatrap of Lydia, and commander in the maritime provinces.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was not long after the decease of Darius that the king, his successor, went\r\nto Pasargadae, to have the ceremony of his inauguration consummated by the\r\nPersian priests. There is a temple dedicated to a warlike goddess, whom one\r\nmight liken to Minerva; into which when the royal person to be initiated has\r\npassed, he must strip himself of his own robe, and put on that which Cyrus the\r\nfirst wore before he was king; then, having devoured a frail of figs, he must\r\neat turpentine, and drink a cup of sour milk. To which if they superadd any\r\nother rites, it is unknown to any but those that are present at them. Now\r\nArtaxerxes being about to address himself to this solemnity, Tisaphernes came\r\nto him, bringing a certain priest, who, having trained up Cyrus in his youth in\r\nthe established discipline of Persia, and having taught him the Magian\r\nphilosophy, was likely to be as much disappointed as any man that his pupil did\r\nnot succeed to the throne. And for that reason his veracity was the less\r\nquestioned when he charged Cyrus as though he had been about to lie in wait for\r\nthe king in the temple, and to assault and assassinate him as he was putting\r\noff his garment. Some affirm that he was apprehended upon this impeachment,\r\nothers that he had entered the temple and was pointed out there, as he lay\r\nlurking, by the priest. But as he was on the point of being put to death, his\r\nmother clasped him in her arms, and, entwining him with the tresses of her\r\nhair, joined his neck close to her own, and by her bitter lamentation and\r\nintercession to Artaxerxes for him, succeeded in saving his life; and sent him\r\naway again to the sea and to his former province. This, however, could no\r\nlonger content him; nor did he so well remember his delivery as his arrest, his\r\nresentment for which made him more eagerly desirous of the kingdom than before.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSome say that he revolted from his brother, because he had not a revenue\r\nallowed him sufficient for his daily meals; but this is on the face of it\r\nabsurd. For had he had nothing else, yet he had a mother ready to supply him\r\nwith whatever he could desire out of her own means. But the great number of\r\nsoldiers who were hired from all quarters and maintained, as Xenophon informs\r\nus, for his service, by his friends and connections, is in itself a sufficient\r\nproof of his riches. He did not assemble them together in a body, desiring as\r\nyet to conceal his enterprise; but he had agents everywhere, enlisting foreign\r\nsoldiers upon various pretenses; and, in the meantime, Parysatis, who was with\r\nthe king, did her best to put aside all suspicions, and Cyrus himself always\r\nwrote in a humble and dutiful manner to him, sometimes soliciting favor,\r\nsometimes making countercharges against Tisaphernes, as if his jealousy and\r\ncontest had been wholly with him. Moreover, there was a certain natural\r\ndilatoriness in the king, which was taken by many for clemency. And, indeed, in\r\nthe beginning of his reign, he did seem really to emulate the gentleness of the\r\nfirst Artaxerxes, being very accessible in his person, and liberal to a fault\r\nin the distribution of honors and favors. Even in his punishments, no contumely\r\nor vindictive pleasure could be seen; and those who offered him presents were\r\nas much pleased with his manner of accepting, as were those who received gifts\r\nfrom him with his graciousness and amiability in giving them. Nor truly was\r\nthere anything, however inconsiderable, given him, which he did not deign\r\nkindly to accept of; insomuch that when one Omises had presented him with a\r\nvery large pomegranate, “By Mithras,” said he, “this man, were he entrusted\r\nwith it, would turn a small city into a great one.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOnce when some were offering him one thing, some another, as he was on a\r\nprogress, a certain poor laborer, having got nothing at hand to bring him, ran\r\nto the river side, and, taking up water in his hands, offered it to him; with\r\nwhich Artaxerxes was so well pleased that he sent him a goblet of gold and a\r\nthousand darics. To Euclidas, the Lacedaemonian, who had made a number of bold\r\nand arrogant speeches to him, he sent word by one of his officers, “You have\r\nleave to say what you please to me, and I, you should remember, may both say\r\nand do what I please to you.” Teribazus once, when they were hunting, came up\r\nand pointed out to the king that his royal robe was torn; the king asked him\r\nwhat he wished him to do; and when Teribazus replied “May it please you to put\r\non another and give me that,” the king did so, saying withal, “I give it you,\r\nTeribazus, but I charge you not to wear it.” He, little regarding the\r\ninjunction, being not a bad, but a light-headed, thoughtless man, immediately\r\nthe king took it off, put it on, and bedecked himself further with royal golden\r\nnecklaces and women’s ornaments, to the great scandal of everybody, the thing\r\nbeing quite unlawful. But the king laughed and told him, “You have my leave to\r\nwear the trinkets as a woman, and the robe of state as a fool.” And whereas\r\nnone usually sat down to eat with the king besides his mother and his wedded\r\nwife, the former being placed above, the other below him, Artaxerxes invited\r\nalso to his table his two younger brothers, Ostanes and Oxathres. But what was\r\nthe most popular thing of all among the Persians was the sight of his wife\r\nStatira’s chariot, which always appeared with its curtains down, allowing her\r\ncountrywomen to salute and approach her, which made the queen a great favorite\r\nwith the people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nYet busy, factious men, that delighted in change, professed it to be their\r\nopinion that the times needed Cyrus, a man of a great spirit, an excellent\r\nwarrior, and a lover of his friends, and that the largeness of their empire\r\nabsolutely required a bold and enterprising prince. Cyrus, then; not only\r\nrelying upon those of his own province near the sea, but upon many of those in\r\nthe upper countries near the king, commenced the war against him. He wrote to\r\nthe Lacedaemonians, bidding them come to his assistance and supply him with\r\nmen, assuring them that to those who came to him on foot he would give horses,\r\nand to the horsemen chariots; that upon those who had farms he would bestow\r\nvillages, and those who were lords of villages he would make so of cities; and\r\nthat those who would be his soldiers should receive their pay, not by count,\r\nbut by weight. And among many other high praises of himself, he said he had the\r\nstronger soul; was more a philosopher and a better Magian; and could drink and\r\nbear more wine than his brother, who, as he averred, was such a coward and so\r\nlittle like a man, that he could neither sit his horse in hunting nor his\r\nthrone in time of danger. The Lacedaemonians, his letter being read, sent a\r\nstaff to Clearchus, commanding him to obey Cyrus in all things. So Cyrus\r\nmarched towards the king, having under his conduct a numerous host of\r\nbarbarians, and but little less than thirteen thousand stipendiary Grecians;\r\nalleging first one cause, then another, for his expedition. Yet the true reason\r\nlay not long concealed, but Tisaphernes went to the king in person to declare\r\nit. Thereupon, the court was all in an uproar and tumult, the queen-mother\r\nbearing almost the whole blame of the enterprise, and her retainers being\r\nsuspected and accused. Above all, Statira angered her by bewailing the war and\r\npassionately demanding where were now the pledges and the intercessions which\r\nsaved the life of him that conspired against his brother; “to the end,” she\r\nsaid, “that he might plunge us all into war and trouble.” For which words\r\nParysatis hating Statira, and being naturally implacable and savage in her\r\nanger and revenge, consulted how she might destroy her. But since Dinon tells\r\nus that her purpose took effect in the time of the war, and Ctesias says it was\r\nafter it, I shall keep the story for the place to which the latter assigns it,\r\nas it is very unlikely that he, who was actually present, should not know the\r\ntime when it happened, and there was no motive to induce him designedly to\r\nmisplace its date in his narrative of it, though it is not infrequent with him\r\nin his history to make excursions from truth into mere fiction and romance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs Cyrus was upon the march, rumors and reports were brought him, as though the\r\nking still deliberated, and were not minded to fight and presently to join\r\nbattle with him; but to wait in the heart of his kingdom until his forces\r\nshould have come in thither from all parts of his dominions. He had cut a\r\ntrench through the plain ten fathoms in breadth, and as many in depth, the\r\nlength of it being no less than four hundred furlongs. Yet he allowed Cyrus to\r\npass across it, and to advance almost to the city of Babylon. Then Teribazus,\r\nas the report goes, was the first that had the boldness to tell the king that\r\nhe ought not to avoid the conflict, nor to abandon Media, Babylon, and even\r\nSusa, and hide himself in Persis, when all the while he had an army many times\r\nover more numerous than his enemies, and an infinite company of governors and\r\ncaptains that were better soldiers and politicians than Cyrus. So at last he\r\nresolved to fight, as soon as it was possible for him. Making, therefore, his\r\nfirst appearance, all on a sudden, at the head of nine hundred thousand\r\nwell-marshaled men, he so startled and surprised the enemy, who with the\r\nconfidence of contempt were marching on their way in no order, and with their\r\narms not ready for use, that Cyrus, in the midst of much noise and tumult, was\r\nscarce able to form them for battle. Moreover, the very manner in which he led\r\non his men, silently and slowly, made the Grecians stand amazed at his good\r\ndiscipline; who had expected irregular shouting and leaping, much confusion and\r\nseparation between one body of men and another, in so vast a multitude of\r\ntroops. He also placed the choicest of his armed chariots in the front of his\r\nown phalanx over against the Grecian troops, that a violent charge with these\r\nmight cut open their ranks before they closed with them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut as this battle is described by many historians, and Xenophon in particular\r\nas good as shows it us by eyesight, not as a past event, but as a present\r\naction, and by his vivid account makes his hearers feel all the passions and\r\njoin in all the dangers of it, it would be folly in me to give any larger\r\naccount of it than barely to mention any things omitted by him which yet\r\ndeserve to be recorded. The place, then, in which the two armies were drawn out\r\nis called Cunaxa, being about five hundred furlongs distant from Babylon. And\r\nhere Clearchus beseeching Cyrus before the fight to retire behind the\r\ncombatants, and not expose himself to hazard, they say he replied, “What is\r\nthis, Clearchus? Would you have me, who aspire to empire, show myself unworthy\r\nof it?” But if Cyrus committed a great fault in entering headlong into the\r\nmidst of danger, and not paying any regard to his own safety, Clearchus was as\r\nmuch to blame, if not more, in refusing to lead the Greeks against the main\r\nbody of the enemy, where the king stood, and in keeping his right wing close to\r\nthe river, for fear of being surrounded. For if he wanted, above all other\r\nthings, to be safe, and considered it his first object to sleep in whole skin,\r\nit had been his best way not to have stirred from home. But, after marching in\r\narms ten thousand furlongs from the sea-coast, simply on his own choosing, for\r\nthe purpose of placing Cyrus on the throne, to look about and select a position\r\nwhich would enable him, not to preserve him under whose pay and conduct he was,\r\nbut himself to engage with more ease and security seemed much like one that\r\nthrough fear of present dangers had abandoned the purpose of his actions, and\r\nbeen false to the design of his expedition. For it is evident from the very\r\nevent of the battle that none of those who were in array around the king’s\r\nperson could have stood the shock of the Grecian charge; and had they been\r\nbeaten out of the field, and Artaxerxes either fled or fallen, Cyrus would have\r\ngained by the victory, not only safety, but a crown. And, therefore, Clearchus,\r\nby his caution, must be considered more to blame for the result in the\r\ndestruction of the life and fortune of Cyrus, than he by his heat and rashness.\r\nFor had the king made it his business to discover a place, where having posted\r\nthe Grecians, he might encounter them with the least hazard, he would never\r\nhave found out any other but that which was most remote from himself and those\r\nnear him; of his defeat in which he was insensible, and, though Clearchus had\r\nthe victory, yet Cyrus could not know of it, and could take no advantage of it\r\nbefore his fall. Cyrus knew well enough what was expedient to be done, and\r\ncommanded Clearchus with his men to take their place in the center. Clearchus\r\nreplied that he would take care to have all arranged as was best, and then\r\nspoiled all.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor the Grecians, where they were, defeated the barbarians till they were\r\nweary, and chased them successfully a very great way. But Cyrus being mounted\r\nupon a noble but a headstrong and hard-mouthed horse, bearing the name, as\r\nCtesias tells us, of Pasacas, Artagerses, the leader of the Cadusians, galloped\r\nup to him, crying aloud, “O most unjust and senseless of men, who are the\r\ndisgrace of the honored name of Cyrus, are you come here leading the wicked\r\nGreeks on a wicked journey, to plunder the good things of the Persians, and\r\nthis with the intent of slaying your lord and brother, the master of ten\r\nthousand times ten thousand servants that are better men than you? as you shall\r\nsee this instant; for you shall lose your head here, before you look upon the\r\nface of the king.” Which when he had said, he cast his javelin at him. But the\r\ncoat of mail stoutly repelled it, and Cyrus was not wounded; yet the stroke\r\nfalling heavy upon him, he reeled under it. Then Artagerses turning his horse,\r\nCyrus threw his weapon, and sent the head of it through his neck near the\r\nshoulder bone. So that it is almost universally agreed to by all the author\r\nthat Artagerses was slain by him. But as to the death of Cyrus, since Xenophon,\r\nas being himself no eye-witness of it, has stated it simply and in few words,\r\nit may not be amiss perhaps to run over on the one hand what Dinon, and on the\r\nother, what Ctesias has said of it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDinon then affirms, that, after the death of Artagerses, Cyrus, furiously\r\nattacking the guard of Artaxerxes, wounded the king’s horse, and so dismounted\r\nhim, and when Teribazus had quickly lifted him up upon another, and said to\r\nhim, “O king, remember this day, which is not one to be forgotten,” Cyrus,\r\nagain spurring up his horse, struck down Artaxerxes. But at the third assault\r\nthe king being enraged, and saying to those near him that death was more\r\neligible, made up to Cyrus, who furiously and blindly rushed in the face of the\r\nweapons opposed to him. So the king struck him with a javelin, as likewise did\r\nthose that were about him. And thus Cyrus falls, as some say, by the hand of\r\nthe king; as others, by the dart of a Carian, to whom Artaxerxes, for a reward\r\nof his achievement, gave the privilege of carrying ever after a golden cock\r\nupon his spear before the first ranks of the army in all expeditions. For the\r\nPersians call the men of Caria cocks, because of the crests with which they\r\nadorn their helmets.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the account of Ctesias, to put it shortly, omitting many details, is as\r\nfollows: Cyrus, after the death of Artagerses, rode up against the king, as he\r\ndid against him, neither exchanging a word with the other. But Ariaeus, Cyrus’s\r\nfriend, was beforehand with him, and darted first at the king, yet wounded him\r\nnot. Then the king cast his lance at his brother, but missed him, though he\r\nboth hit and slew Satiphernes, a noble man and a faithful friend to Cyrus. Then\r\nCyrus directed his lance against the king, and pierced his breast with it quite\r\nthrough his armor, two inches deep, so that he fell from his horse with the\r\nstroke. At which those that attended him being put to flight and disorder, he,\r\nrising with a few, among whom was Ctesias, and making his way to a little hill\r\nnot far off, rested himself. But Cyrus, who was in the thick of the enemy, was\r\ncarried off a great way by the wildness of his horse, the darkness which was\r\nnow coming on making it hard for them to know him, and for his followers to\r\nfind him. However, being made elate with victory, and full of confidence and\r\nforce, he passed through them, crying out, and that more than once, in the\r\nPersian language, “Clear the way, villains, clear the way;” which they indeed\r\ndid, throwing themselves down at his feet. But his tiara dropped off his head,\r\nand a young Persian, by name Mithridates, running by, struck a dart into one of\r\nhis temples near his eye, not knowing who he was, out of which wound much blood\r\ngushed, so that Cyrus, swooning and senseless, fell off his horse. The horse\r\nescaped, and ran about the field; but the companion of Mithridates took the\r\ntrappings, which fell off, soaked with blood. And as Cyrus slowly began to come\r\nto himself, some eunuchs who were there tried to put him on another horse, and\r\nso convey him safe away. And when he was not able to ride, and desired to walk\r\non his feet, they led and supported him, being indeed dizzy in the head and\r\nreeling, but convinced of his being victorious, hearing, as he went, the\r\nfugitives saluting Cyrus as king, and praying for grace and mercy. In the\r\nmeantime, some wretched, poverty-stricken Caunians, who in some pitiful\r\nemployment as camp-followers had accompanied the king’s army, by chance joined\r\nthese attendants of Cyrus, supposing them to be of their own party. But when,\r\nafter a while, they made out that their coats over their breastplates were red,\r\nwhereas all the king’s people wore white ones, they knew that they were\r\nenemies. One of them, therefore, not dreaming that it was Cyrus, ventured to\r\nstrike him behind with a dart. The vein under the knee was cut open, and Cyrus\r\nfell, and at the same time struck his wounded temple against a stone, and so\r\ndied. Thus runs Ctesias’s account, tardily, with the slowness of a blunt\r\nweapon, effecting the victim’s death.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he was now dead, Artasyras, the king’s eye, passed by on horseback, and,\r\nhaving observed the eunuchs lamenting, he asked the most trusty of them, “Who\r\nis this, Pariscas, whom you sit here deploring?” He replied, “Do not you see, O\r\nArtasyras, that it is my master, Cyrus?” Then Artasyras wondering, bade the\r\neunuch be of good cheer, and keep the dead body safe. And going in all haste to\r\nArtaxerxes, who had now given up all hope of his affairs, and was in great\r\nsuffering also with his thirst and his wound, he with much joy assured him that\r\nhe had seen Cyrus dead. Upon this, at first, he set out to go in person to the\r\nplace, and commanded Artasyras to conduct him where he lay. But when there was\r\na great noise made about the Greeks, who were said to be in full pursuit,\r\nconquering and carrying all before them, he thought it best to send a number of\r\npersons to see; and accordingly thirty men went with torches in their hands.\r\nMeantime, as he seemed to be almost at the point of dying from thirst, his\r\neunuch Satibarzanes ran about seeking drink for him; for the place had no water\r\nin it, and he was at a good distance from his camp. After a long search he at\r\nlast luckily met with one of those poor Caunian camp-followers, who had in a\r\nwretched skin about four pints of foul and stinking water, which he took and\r\ngave to the king; and when he had drunk all off, he asked him if he did not\r\ndislike the water; but he declared by all the gods, that he never so much\r\nrelished either wine, or water out of the lightest or purest stream. “And\r\ntherefore,” said he, “if I fail myself to discover and reward him who gave it\r\nto you, I beg of heaven to make him rich and prosperous.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nJust after this, came back the thirty messengers, with joy and triumph in their\r\nlooks, bringing him the tidings of his unexpected fortune. And now he was also\r\nencouraged by the number of soldiers that again began to flock in and gather\r\nabout him; so that he presently descended into the plain with many lights and\r\nflambeaus round about him. And when he had come near the dead body, and,\r\naccording to a certain law of the Persians, the right hand and head had been\r\nlopped off from the trunk, he gave orders that the latter should be brought to\r\nhim, and, grasping the hair of it, which was long and bushy, he showed it to\r\nthose who were still uncertain and disposed to fly. They were amazed at it, and\r\ndid him homage; so that there were presently seventy thousand of them got about\r\nhim, and entered the camp again with him. He had led out to the fight, as\r\nCtesias affirms, four hundred thousand men. But Dinon and Xenophon aver that\r\nthere were many more than forty myriads actually engaged. As to the number of\r\nthe slain, as the catalogue of them was given up to Artaxerxes, Ctesias says,\r\nthey were nine thousand, but that they appeared to him no fewer than twenty\r\nthousand. Thus far there is something to be said on both sides. But it is a\r\nflagrant untruth on the part of Ctesias to say that he was sent along with\r\nPhalinus the Zacynthian and some others to the Grecians. For Xenophon knew well\r\nenough that Ctesias was resident at court; for he makes mention of him, and had\r\nevidently met with his writings. And, therefore, had he come, and been deputed\r\nthe interpreter of such momentous words, Xenophon surely would not have struck\r\nhis name out of the embassy to mention only Phalinus. But Ctesias, as is\r\nevident, being excessively vain-glorious, and no less a favorer of the\r\nLacedaemonians and Clearchus, never fails to assume to himself some province in\r\nhis narrative, taking opportunity, in these situations, to introduce abundant\r\nhigh praise of Clearchus and Sparta.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen the battle was over, Artaxerxes sent goodly and magnificent gifts to the\r\nson of Artagerses, whom Cyrus slew. He conferred likewise high honors upon\r\nCtesias and others, and, having found out the Caunian who gave him the bottle\r\nof water, he made him, of a poor, obscure man, a rich and an honorable person.\r\nAs for the punishments he indicted upon delinquents, there was a kind of\r\nharmony betwixt them and the crimes. He gave order that one Arbaces, a Mede,\r\nthat had fled in the fight to Cyrus, and again at his fall had come back,\r\nshould, as a mark that he was considered a dastardly and effeminate, not a\r\ndangerous or treasonable man, have a common harlot set upon his back, and carry\r\nher about for a whole day in the marketplace. Another, besides that he had\r\ndeserted to them, having falsely vaunted that he had killed two of the rebels,\r\nhe decreed that three needles should be struck through his tongue. And both\r\nsupposing that with his own hand he had cut off Cyrus, and being willing that\r\nall men should think and say so, he sent rich presents to Mithridates, who\r\nfirst wounded him, and charged those by whom he conveyed the gifts to him to\r\ntell him, that “the king has honored you with these his favors, because you\r\nfound and brought him the horse-trappings of Cyrus.” The Carian, also, from\r\nwhose wound in the ham Cyrus died, suing for his reward, he commanded those\r\nthat brought it him to say that “the king presents you with this as a second\r\nremuneration for the good news told him; for first Artasyras, and, next to him,\r\nyou assured him of the decease of Cyrus.” Mithridates retired without\r\ncomplaint, though not without resentment. But the unfortunate Carian was fool\r\nenough to give way to a natural infirmity. For being ravished with the sight of\r\nthe princely gifts that were before him, and being tempted thereupon to\r\nchallenge and aspire to things above him, he deigned not to accept the king’s\r\npresent as a reward for good news, but indignantly crying out and appealing to\r\nwitnesses, he protested that he, and none but he, had killed Cyrus, and that he\r\nwas unjustly deprived of the glory. These words, when they came to his ear,\r\nmuch offended the king, so that forthwith he sentenced him to be beheaded. But\r\nthe queen mother, being in the king’s presence, said, “Let not the king so\r\nlightly discharge this pernicious Carian; let him receive from me the fitting\r\npunishment of what he dares to say.” So when the king had consigned him over to\r\nParysatis, she charged the executioners to take up the man, and stretch him\r\nupon the rack for ten days, then, tearing out his eyes, to drop molten brass\r\ninto his ears till he expired.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMithridates, also, within a short time after, miserably perished by the like\r\nfolly; for being invited to a feast where were the eunuchs both of the king and\r\nof the queen mother, he came arrayed in the dress and the golden ornaments\r\nwhich he had received from the king. After they began to drink, the eunuch that\r\nwas the greatest in power with Parysatis thus speaks to him: A magnificent\r\ndress, indeed, O Mithridates, is this which the king has given you; the chains\r\nand bracelets are glorious, and your scimitar of invaluable worth; how happy\r\nhas he made you, the object of every eye!” To whom he, being a little overcome\r\nwith the wine replied, “What are these things, Sparamizes? Sure I am, I showed\r\nmyself to the king in that day of trial to be one deserving greater and\r\ncostlier gifts than these.” At which Sparamizes smiling, said, “I do not grudge\r\nthem to you, Mithridates; but since the Grecians tell us that wine and truth go\r\ntogether, let me hear now, my friend, what glorious or mighty matter was it to\r\nfind some trappings that had slipped off a horse, and to bring them to the\r\nking?” And this he spoke, not as ignorant of the truth, but desiring to unbosom\r\nhim to the company, irritating the vanity of the man, whom drink had now made\r\neager to talk and incapable of controlling himself. So he forbore nothing, but\r\nsaid out, “Talk you what you please of horse-trappings, and such trifles; I\r\ntell you plainly, that this hand was the death of Cyrus. For I threw not my\r\ndart as Artagerses did, in vain and to no purpose, but only just missing his\r\neye, and hitting him right on the temple, and piercing him through, I brought\r\nhim to the ground; and of that wound he died.” The rest of the company, who saw\r\nthe end and the hapless fate of Mithridates as if it were already completed,\r\nbowed their heads to the ground; and he who entertained them said,\r\n“Mithridates, my friend, let us eat and drink now, revering the fortune of our\r\nprince, and let us waive discourse which is too weighty for us.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nPresently after, Sparamizes told Parysatis what he said, and she told the king,\r\nwho was greatly enraged at it, as having the lie given him, and being in danger\r\nto forfeit the most glorious and most pleasant circumstance of his victory. For\r\nit was his desire that everyone, whether Greek or barbarian, should believe\r\nthat in the mutual assaults and conflicts between him and his brother, he,\r\ngiving and receiving a blow, was himself indeed wounded, but that the other\r\nlost his life. And, therefore, he decreed that Mithridates should be put to\r\ndeath in boats; which execution is after the following manner: Taking two boats\r\nframed exactly to fit and answer each other, they lay down in one of them the\r\nmalefactor that suffers, upon his back; then, covering it with the other, and\r\nso setting them together that the head, hands, and feet of him are left\r\noutside, and the rest of his body lies shut up within, they offer him food, and\r\nif he refuse to eat it, they force him to do it by pricking his eyes; then,\r\nafter he has eaten, they drench him with a mixture of milk and honey, pouring\r\nit not only into his mouth, but all over his face. They then keep his face\r\ncontinually turned towards the sun; and it becomes completely covered up and\r\nhidden by the multitude of flies that settle on it. And as within the boats he\r\ndoes what those that eat and drink must needs do, creeping things and vermin\r\nspring out of the corruption and rottenness of the excrement, and these\r\nentering into the bowels of him, his body is consumed. When the man is\r\nmanifestly dead, the uppermost boat being taken off, they find his flesh\r\ndevoured, and swarms of such noisome creatures preying upon and, as it were,\r\ngrowing to his inwards. In this way Mithridates, after suffering for seventeen\r\ndays, at last expired.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMasabates, the king’s eunuch, who had cut off the hand and head of Cyrus,\r\nremained still as a mark for Parysatis’s vengeance. Whereas, therefore, he was\r\nso circumspect, that he gave her no advantage against him, she framed this kind\r\nof snare for him. She was a very ingenious woman in other ways, and was an\r\nexcellent player at dice, and, before the war, had often played with the king.\r\nAfter the war, too, when she had been reconciled to him, she joined readily in\r\nall amusements with him, played at dice with him, was his confidant in his love\r\nmatters, and in every way did her best to leave him as little as possible in\r\nthe company of Statira, both because she hated her more than any other person,\r\nand because she wished to have no one so powerful as herself. And so once when\r\nArtaxerxes was at leisure, and inclined to divert himself, she challenged him\r\nto play at dice with her for a thousand Darics, and purposely let him win them,\r\nand paid him down in gold. Yet, pretending to be concerned for her loss, and\r\nthat she would gladly have her revenge for it, she pressed him to begin a new\r\ngame for a eunuch; to which he consented. But first they agreed that each of\r\nthem might except five of their most trusty eunuchs, and that out of the rest\r\nof them the loser should yield up any the winner should make choice of. Upon\r\nthese conditions they played. Thus being bent upon her design, and thoroughly\r\nin earnest with her game, and the dice also running luckily for her, when she\r\nhad got the game, she demanded Masabates, who was not in the number of the five\r\nexcepted. And before the king could suspect the matter, having delivered him up\r\nto the tormentors, she enjoined them to flay him alive, to set his body upon\r\nthree stakes, and to stretch his skin upon stakes separately from it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese things being done, and the king taking them ill, and being incensed\r\nagainst her, she with raillery and laughter told him, “You are a comfortable\r\nand happy man indeed, if you are so much disturbed for the sake of an old\r\nrascally eunuch, when I, though I have thrown away a thousand Darics, hold my\r\npeace and acquiesce in my fortune.” So the king, vexed with himself for having\r\nbeen thus deluded, hushed up all. But Statira both in other matters openly\r\nopposed her, and was angry with her for thus, against all law and humanity,\r\nsacrificing to the memory of Cyrus the king’s faithful friends and eunuchs.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow after that Tisaphernes had circumvented and by a false oath had betrayed\r\nClearchus and the other commanders, and, taking them, had sent them bound in\r\nchains to the king, Ctesias says that he was asked by Clearchus to supply him\r\nwith a comb; and that when he had it, and had combed his head with it, he was\r\nmuch pleased with this good office, and gave him a ring, which might be a token\r\nof the obligation to his relatives and friends in Sparta; and that the\r\nengraving upon this signet was a set of Caryatides dancing. He tells us that\r\nthe soldiers, his fellow captives, used to purloin a part of the allowance of\r\nfood sent to Clearchus, giving him but little of it; which thing Ctesias says\r\nhe rectified, causing a better allowance to be conveyed to him, and that a\r\nseparate share should be distributed to the soldiers by themselves; adding that\r\nhe ministered to and supplied him thus by the interest and at the instance of\r\nParysatis. And there being a portion of ham sent daily with his other food to\r\nClearchus, she, he says, advised and instructed him, that he ought to bury a\r\nsmall knife in the meat, and thus send it to his friend, and not leave his fate\r\nto be determined by the king’s cruelty; which he, however, he says, was afraid\r\nto do. However, Artaxerxes consented to the entreaties of his mother, and\r\npromised her with an oath that he would spare Clearchus; but afterwards, at the\r\ninstigation of Statira, he put every one of them to death except Menon. And\r\nthenceforward, he says, Parysatis watched her advantage against Statira, and\r\nmade up poison for her; not a very probable story, or a very likely motive to\r\naccount for her conduct, if indeed he means that out of respect to Clearchus\r\nshe dared to attempt the life of the lawful queen, that was mother of those who\r\nwere heirs of the empire. But it is evident enough, that this part of his\r\nhistory is a sort of funeral exhibition in honor of Clearchus. For he would\r\nhave us believe, that, when the generals were executed, the rest of them were\r\ntorn in pieces by dogs and birds; but as for the remains of Clearchus, that a\r\nviolent gust of wind, bearing before it a vast heap of earth, raised a mound to\r\ncover his body, upon which, after a short time, some dates having fallen there,\r\na beautiful grove of trees grew up and overshadowed the place, so that the king\r\nhimself declared his sorrow, concluding that in Clearchus he put to death a man\r\nbeloved of the gods.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nParysatis, therefore, having from the first entertained a secret hatred and\r\njealousy against Statira, seeing that the power she herself had with Artaxerxes\r\nwas founded upon feelings of honor and respect for her, but that Statira’s\r\ninfluence was firmly and strongly based upon love and confidence, was resolved\r\nto contrive her ruin, playing at hazard, as she thought, for the greatest stake\r\nin the world. Among her attendant women there was one that was trusty and in\r\nthe highest esteem with her, whose name was Gigis; who, as Dinon avers,\r\nassisted in making up the poison. Ctesias allows her only to have been\r\nconscious of it, and that against her will; charging Belitaras with actually\r\ngiving the drug, whereas Dinon says it was Melantas. The two women had begun\r\nagain to visit each other and to eat together; but though they had thus far\r\nrelaxed their former habits of jealousy and variance, still, out of fear and as\r\na matter of caution, they always ate of the same dishes and of the same parts\r\nof them. Now there is a small Persian bird, in the inside of which no excrement\r\nis found, only a mass of fat, so that they suppose the little creature lives\r\nupon air and dew. It is called rhyntaces. Ctesias affirms, that Parysatis,\r\ncutting a bird of this kind into two pieces with a knife, one side of which had\r\nbeen smeared with the drug, the other side being clear of it, ate the untouched\r\nand wholesome part herself, and gave Statira that which was thus infected; but\r\nDinon will not have it to be Parysatis, but Melantas, that cut up the bird and\r\npresented the envenomed part of it to Statira; who, dying with dreadful agonies\r\nand convulsions, was herself sensible of what had happened to her, and aroused\r\nin the king’s mind suspicion of his mother, whose savage and implacable temper\r\nhe knew. And therefore proceeding instantly to an inquest, he seized upon his\r\nmother’s domestic servants that attended at her table, and put them upon the\r\nrack. Parysatis kept Gigis at home with her a long time, and, though the king\r\ncommanded her, she would not produce her. But she, at last, herself desiring\r\nthat she might be dismissed to her own home by night, Artaxerxes had intimation\r\nof it, and, lying in wait for her, hurried her away, and adjudged her to death.\r\nNow poisoners in Persia suffer thus by law. There is a broad stone, on which\r\nthey place the head of the culprit, and then with another stone beat and press\r\nit, until the face and the head itself are all pounded to pieces; which was the\r\npunishment Gigis lost her life by. But to his mother, Artaxerxes neither said\r\nnor did any other hurt, save that he banished and confined her, not much\r\nagainst her will, to Babylon, protesting that while she lived he would not come\r\nnear that city. Such was the condition of the king’s affairs in his own house.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when all his attempts to capture the Greeks that had come up with Cyrus,\r\nthough he desired to do so no less than he had desired to overcome Cyrus and\r\nmaintain his throne, proved unsuccessful, and they, though they had lost both\r\nCyrus and their own generals, nevertheless escaped, as it were, out of his very\r\npalace, making it plain to all men that the Persian king and his empire were\r\nmighty indeed in gold and luxury and women, but otherwise were a mere show and\r\nvain display, upon this, all Greece took courage, and despised the barbarians;\r\nand especially the Lacedaemonians thought it strange if they should not now\r\ndeliver their countrymen that dwelt in Asia from their subjection to the\r\nPersians, nor put an end to the contumelious usage of them. And first having an\r\narmy under the conduct of Thimbron, then under Dercyllidas, but doing nothing\r\nmemorable, they at last committed the war to the management of their king\r\nAgesilaus, who, when he had arrived with his men in Asia, as soon as he had\r\nlanded them, fell actively to work, and got himself great renown. He defeated\r\nTisaphernes in a pitched battle, and set many cities in revolt. Upon this,\r\nArtaxerxes, perceiving what was his wisest way of waging the war, sent\r\nTimocrates the Rhodian into Greece, with large sums of gold, commanding him by\r\na free distribution of it to corrupt the leading men in the cities, and to\r\nexcite a Greek war against Sparta. So Timocrates following his instructions,\r\nthe most considerable cities conspiring together, and Peloponnesus being in\r\ndisorder, the ephors remanded Agesilaus from Asia. At which time, they say, as\r\nhe was upon his return, he told his friends that Artaxerxes had driven him out\r\nof Asia with thirty thousand archers; the Persian coin having an archer stamped\r\nupon it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nArtaxerxes scoured the seas, too, of the Lacedaemonians, Conon the Athenian and\r\nPharnabazus being his admirals. For Conon, after the battle of Aegospotami,\r\nresided in Cyprus; not that he consulted his own mere security, but looking for\r\na vicissitude of affairs with no less hope than men wait for a change of wind\r\nat sea. And perceiving that his skill wanted power, and that the king’s power\r\nwanted a wise man to guide it, he sent him an account by letter of his\r\nprojects, and charged the bearer to hand it to the king, if possible, by the\r\nmediation of Zeno the Cretan or Polycritus the Mendaean (the former being a\r\ndancing-master, the latter a physician), or, in the absence of them both, by\r\nCtesias; who is said to have taken Conon’s letter, and foisted into the\r\ncontents of it a request; that the king would also be pleased to send over\r\nCtesias to him, who was likely to be of use on the sea-coast. Ctesias, however,\r\ndeclares that the king, of his own accord, deputed him to this service.\r\nArtaxerxes, however, defeating the Lacedaemonians in a sea-fight at Cnidos,\r\nunder the conduct of Pharnabazus and Conon, after he had stripped them of their\r\nsovereignty by sea, at the same time, brought, so to say, the whole of Greece\r\nover to him, so that upon his own terms he dictated the celebrated peace among\r\nthem, styled the peace of Antalcidas. This Antalcidas was a Spartan, the son of\r\none Leon, who, acting for the king’s interest, induced the Lacedaemonians to\r\ncovenant to let all the Greek cities in Asia and the islands adjacent to it\r\nbecome subject and tributary to him, peace being upon these conditions\r\nestablished among the Greeks, if indeed the honorable name of peace can fairly\r\nbe given to what was in fact the disgrace and betrayal of Greece, a treaty more\r\ninglorious than had ever been the result of any war to those defeated in it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd therefore Artaxerxes, though always abominating other Spartans, and looking\r\nupon them, as Dinon says, to be the most impudent men living, gave wonderful\r\nhonor to Antalcidas when he came to him into Persia; so much so that one day,\r\ntaking a garland of flowers and dipping it in the most precious ointment, he\r\nsent it to him after supper, a favor which all were amazed at. Indeed he was a\r\nperson fit to be thus delicately treated, and to have such a crown, who had\r\namong the Persians thus made fools of Leonidas and Callicratidas. Agesilaus, it\r\nseems, on someone having said, “O the deplorable fate of Greece, now that the\r\nSpartans turn Medes!” replied, “Nay, rather it is the Medes who become\r\nSpartans.” But the subtlety of the repartee did not wipe off the infamy of the\r\naction. The Lacedaemonians soon after lost their sovereignty in Greece by their\r\ndefeat at Leuctra; but they had already lost their honor by this treaty. So\r\nlong then as Sparta continued to be the first state in Greece, Artaxerxes\r\ncontinued to Antalcidas the honor of being called his friend and his guest; but\r\nwhen, routed and humbled at the battle of Leuctra, being under great distress\r\nfor money, they had dispatched Agesilaus into Egypt, and Antalcidas went up to\r\nArtaxerxes, beseeching him to supply their necessities, he so despised,\r\nslighted, and rejected him, that finding himself, on his return, mocked and\r\ninsulted by his enemies, and fearing also the ephors, he starved himself to\r\ndeath. Ismenias, also, the Theban, and Pelopidas, who had already gained the\r\nvictory at Leuctra, arrived at the Persian court; where the latter did nothing\r\nunworthy of himself. But Ismenias, being commanded to do obeisance to the king,\r\ndropped his ring before him upon the ground, and so, stooping to take it up,\r\nmade a show of doing him homage. He was so gratified with some secret\r\nintelligence which Timagoras the Athenian sent in to him by the hand of his\r\nsecretary, Beluris, that he bestowed upon him ten thousand darics, and because\r\nhe was ordered, on account of some sickness, to drink cow’s milk, there were\r\nfourscore milch kine driven after him; also, he sent him a bed, furniture, and\r\nservants for it, the Grecians not having skill enough to make it, as also\r\nchairmen to carry him, being infirm in body, to the seaside. Not to mention the\r\nfeast made for him at court, which was so princely and splendid that Ostanes,\r\nthe king’s brother, said to him, “O, Timagoras, do not forget the sumptuous\r\ntable you have sat at here; it was not put before you for nothing;” which was\r\nindeed rather a reflection upon his treason than to remind him of the king’s\r\nbounty. And indeed the Athenians condemned Timagoras to death for taking\r\nbribes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut Artaxerxes gratified the Grecians in one thing in lieu of the many\r\nwherewith he plagued them, and that was by taking off Tisaphernes, their most\r\nhated and malicious enemy, whom he put to death; Parysatis adding her influence\r\nto the charges made against him. For the king did not persist long in his wrath\r\nwith his mother, but was reconciled to her, and sent for her, being assured\r\nthat she had wisdom and courage fit for royal power, and there being now no\r\ncause discernible but that they might converse together without suspicion or\r\noffense. And from thenceforward humoring the king in all things according to\r\nhis heart’s desire, and finding fault with nothing that he did, she obtained\r\ngreat power with him, and was gratified in all her requests. She perceived he\r\nwas desperately in love with Atossa, one of his own two daughters, and that he\r\nconcealed and checked his passion chiefly for fear of herself, though, if we\r\nmay believe some writers, he had privately given way to it with the young girl\r\nalready. As soon as Parysatis suspected it, she displayed a greater fondness\r\nfor the young girl than before, and extolled both her virtue and beauty to him,\r\nas being truly imperial and majestic. In fine, she persuaded him to marry her\r\nand declare her to be his lawful wife, overriding all the principles and the\r\nlaws by which the Greeks hold themselves bound, and regarding himself as\r\ndivinely appointed for a law to the Persians, and the supreme arbitrator of\r\ngood and evil. Some historians further affirm, in which number is Heraclides of\r\nCuma, that Artaxerxes married not only this one, but a second daughter also,\r\nAmestris, of whom we shall speak by and by. But he so loved Atossa when she\r\nbecame his consort, that when leprosy had run through her whole body, he was\r\nnot in the least offended at it; but putting up his prayers to Juno for her, to\r\nthis one alone of all the deities he made obeisance, by laying his hands upon\r\nthe earth; and his satraps and favorites made such offerings to the goddess by\r\nhis direction, that all along for sixteen furlongs, betwixt the court and her\r\ntemple, the road was filled up with gold and silver, purple and horses, devoted\r\nto her.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe waged war out of his own kingdom with the Egyptians, under the conduct of\r\nPharnabazus and Iphicrates, but was unsuccessful by reason of their\r\ndissensions. In his expedition against the Cadusians, he went himself in person\r\nwith three hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand horse. And making an\r\nincursion into their country, which was so mountainous as scarcely to be\r\npassable, and withal very misty, producing no sort of harvest of corn or the\r\nlike, but with pears, apples, and other tree-fruits feeding a warlike and\r\nvaliant breed of men, he unawares fell into great distresses and dangers. For\r\nthere was nothing to be got fit for his men to eat, of the growth of that\r\nplace, nor could anything be imported from any other. All they could do was to\r\nkill their beasts of burden, and thus an ass’s head could scarcely be bought\r\nfor sixty drachmas. In short, the king’s own table failed; and there were but\r\nfew horses left; the rest they had spent for food. Then Teribazus, a man often\r\nin great favor with his prince for his valor, and as often out of it for his\r\nbuffoonery, and particularly at that time in humble estate and neglected, was\r\nthe deliverer of the king and his army. There being two kings amongst the\r\nCadusians, and each of them encamping separately, Teribazus, after he had made\r\nhis application to Artaxerxes and imparted his design to him, went to one of\r\nthe princes, and sent away his son privately to the other. So each of them\r\ndeceived his man, assuring him that the other prince had deputed an ambassador\r\nto Artaxerxes, suing for friendship and alliance for himself alone; and,\r\ntherefore, if he were wise, he told him, he must apply himself to his master\r\nbefore he had decreed anything, and he, he said, would lend him his assistance\r\nin all things. Both of them gave credit to these words, and because they\r\nsupposed they were each intrigued against by the other, they both sent their\r\nenvoys, one along with Teribazus, and the other with his son. All this taking\r\nsome time to transact, fresh surmises and suspicions of Teribazus were\r\nexpressed to the king, who began to be out of heart, sorry that he had confided\r\nin him, and ready to give ear to his rivals who impeached him. But at last he\r\ncame, and so did his son, bringing the Cadusian agents along with them, and so\r\nthere was a cessation of arms and a peace signed with both the princes. And\r\nTeribazus, in great honor and distinction, set out homewards in the company of\r\nthe king; who, indeed, upon this journey made it appear plainly that cowardice\r\nand effeminacy are the effects, not of delicate and sumptuous living, as many\r\nsuppose, but of a base and vicious nature, actuated by false and bad opinions.\r\nFor notwithstanding his golden ornaments, his robe of state, and the rest of\r\nthat costly attire, worth no less than twelve thousand talents, with which the\r\nroyal person was constantly clad, his labors and toils were not a whit inferior\r\nto those of the meanest persons in his army. With his quiver by his side and\r\nhis shield on his arm, he led them on foot, quitting his horse, through craggy\r\nand steep ways, insomuch that the sight of his cheerfulness and unwearied\r\nstrength gave wings to the soldiers, and so lightened the journey, that they\r\nmade daily marches of above two hundred furlongs.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter they had arrived at one of his own mansions, which had beautiful\r\nornamented parks in the midst of a region naked and without trees, the weather\r\nbeing very cold, he gave full commission to his soldiers to provide themselves\r\nwith wood by cutting down any, without exception, even the pine and cypress.\r\nAnd when they hesitated and were for sparing them, being large and goodly\r\ntrees, he, taking up an ax himself, felled the greatest and most beautiful of\r\nthem. After which his men used their hatchets, and piling up many fires, passed\r\naway the night at their ease. Nevertheless, he returned not without the loss of\r\nmany and valiant subjects, and of almost all his horses. And supposing that his\r\nmisfortunes and the ill success of his expedition made him despised in the eyes\r\nof his people, he looked jealously on his nobles, many of whom he slew in\r\nanger, and yet more out of fear. As, indeed, fear is the bloodiest passion in\r\nprinces; confidence, on the other hand, being merciful, gentle, and\r\nunsuspicious. So we see among wild beasts, the intractable and least tamable\r\nare the most timorous and most easily startled; the nobler creatures, whose\r\ncourage makes them trustful, are ready to respond to the advances of men.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nArtaxerxes, now being an old man, perceived that his sons were in controversy\r\nabout his kingdom, and that they made parties among his favorites and peers.\r\nThose that were equitable among them thought it fit, that as he had received\r\nit, so he should bequeath it, by right of age, to Darius. The younger brother,\r\nOchus, who was hot and violent, had indeed a considerable number of the\r\ncourtiers that espoused his interest, but his chief hope was that by Atossa’s\r\nmeans he should win his father. For he flattered her with the thoughts of being\r\nhis wife and partner in the kingdom after the death of Artaxerxes. And truly it\r\nwas rumored that already Ochus maintained a too intimate correspondence with\r\nher. This, however, was quite unknown to the king; who, being willing to put\r\ndown in good time his son Ochus’s hopes, lest, by his attempting the same\r\nthings his uncle Cyrus did, wars and contentions might again afflict his\r\nkingdom, proclaimed Darius, then twenty-five years old, his successor, and gave\r\nhim leave to wear the upright hat, as they call it. It was a rule and usage of\r\nPersia, that the heir apparent to the crown should beg a boon, and that he that\r\ndeclared him so should give whatever he asked, provided it were within the\r\nsphere of his power. Darius therefore requested Aspasia, in former time the\r\nmost prized of the concubines of Cyrus, and now belonging to the king. She was\r\nby birth a Phocaean, of Ionia, born of free parents, and well educated. Once\r\nwhen Cyrus was at supper, she was led in to him with other women, who, when\r\nthey were sat down by him, and he began to sport and dally and talk jestingly\r\nwith them, gave way freely to his advances. But she stood by in silence,\r\nrefusing to come when Cyrus called her, and when his chamberlains were going to\r\nforce her towards him, said, “Whosoever lays hands on me shall rue it;” so that\r\nshe seemed to the company a sullen and rude-mannered person. However, Cyrus was\r\nwell pleased, and laughed, saying to the man that brought the women, “Do you\r\nnot see of a certainty that this woman alone of all that came with you is truly\r\nnoble and pure in character?” After which time he began to regard her, and\r\nloved her above all of her sex, and called her the Wise. But Cyrus being slain\r\nin the fight, she was taken among the spoils of his camp.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDarius, in demanding her, no doubt much offended his father, for the barbarian\r\npeople keep a very jealous and watchful eye over their carnal pleasures, so\r\nthat it is death for a man not only to come near and touch any concubine of his\r\nprince, but likewise on a journey to ride forward and pass by the carriages in\r\nwhich they are conveyed. And though, to gratify his passion, he had against all\r\nlaw married his daughter Atossa, and had besides her no less than three hundred\r\nand sixty concubines selected for their beauty, yet being importuned for that\r\none by Darius, he urged that she was a free-woman, and allowed him to take her,\r\nif she had an inclination to go with him, but by no means to force her away\r\nagainst it. Aspasia, therefore, being sent for, and, contrary to the king’s\r\nexpectation, making choice of Darius, he gave him her indeed, being constrained\r\nby law, but when he had done so, a little after he took her from him. For he\r\nconsecrated her priestess to Diana of Ecbatana, whom they name Anaitis, that\r\nshe might spend the remainder of her days in strict chastity, thinking thus to\r\npunish his son, not rigorously, but with moderation, by a revenge checkered\r\nwith jest and earnest. But he took it heinously, either that he was\r\npassionately fond of Aspasia, or because he looked upon himself as affronted\r\nand scorned by his father. Teribazus, perceiving him thus minded, did his best\r\nto exasperate him yet further, seeing in his injuries a representation of his\r\nown, of which the following is the account: Artaxerxes, having many daughters,\r\npromised to give Apama to Pharnabazus to wife, Rhodogune to Orontes, and\r\nAmestris to Teribazus; whom alone of the three he disappointed, by marrying\r\nAmestris himself. However, to make him amends, he betrothed his youngest\r\ndaughter Atossa to him. But after he had, being enamored of her too, as has\r\nbeen said, married her, Teribazus entertained an irreconcilable enmity against\r\nhim. As indeed he was seldom at any other time steady in his temper, but uneven\r\nand inconsiderate; so that whether he were in the number of the choicest\r\nfavorites of his prince, or whether he were offensive and odious to him, he\r\ndemeaned himself in neither condition with moderation; but if he was advanced\r\nhe was intolerably insolent, and in his degradation not submissive and\r\npeaceable in his deportment, but fierce and haughty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd therefore Teribazus was to the young prince flame added upon flame, ever\r\nurging him, and saying, that in vain those wear their hats upright who consult\r\nnot the real success of their affairs, and that he was ill befriended of reason\r\nif he imagined, whilst he had a brother, who, through the women’s apartments,\r\nwas seeking a way to the supremacy, and a father of so rash and fickle a humor,\r\nthat he should by succession infallibly step up into the throne. For he that\r\nout of fondness to an Ionian girl has eluded a law sacred and inviolable among\r\nthe Persians is not likely to be faithful in the performance of the most\r\nimportant promises. He added, too, that it was not all one for Ochus not to\r\nattain to, and for him to be put by his crown; since Ochus as a subject might\r\nlive happily, and nobody could hinder him; but he, being proclaimed king, must\r\neither take up his scepter or lay down his life. These words presently inflamed\r\nDarius: what Sophocles says being indeed generally true: —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nQuick travels the persuasion to what’s wrong.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nFor the path is smooth, and upon an easy descent, that leads us to our own\r\nwill; and the most part of us desire what is evil through our strangeness to\r\nand ignorance of good. And in this case, no doubt, the greatness of the empire\r\nand the jealousy Darius had of Ochus furnished Teribazus with material for his\r\npersuasions. Nor was Venus wholly unconcerned in the matter, in regard, namely,\r\nof his loss of Aspasia.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDarius, therefore, resigned himself up to the dictates of Teribazus; and many\r\nnow conspiring with them, a eunuch gave information to the king of their plot\r\nand the way how it was to be managed, having discovered the certainty of it,\r\nthat they had resolved to break into his bed-chamber by night, and there to\r\nkill him as he lay. After Artaxerxes had been thus advertised, he did not think\r\nfit, by disregarding the discovery, to despise so great a danger, nor to\r\nbelieve it when there was little or no proof of it. Thus then he did: he\r\ncharged the eunuch constantly to attend and accompany the conspirators wherever\r\nthey were; in the meanwhile, he broke down the party-wall of the chamber behind\r\nhis bed, and placed a door in it to open and shut, which covered up with\r\ntapestry; so the hour approaching, and the eunuch having told him the precise\r\ntime in which the traitors designed to assassinate him, he waited for them in\r\nhis bed, and rose not up till he had seen the faces of his assailants and\r\nrecognized every man of them. But as soon as he saw them with their swords\r\ndrawn and coming up to him, throwing up the hanging, he made his retreat into\r\nthe inner chamber, and, bolting to the door, raised a cry. Thus when the\r\nmurderers had been seen by him, and had attempted him in vain, they with speed\r\nwent back through the same doors they came in by, enjoining Teribazus and his\r\nfriends to fly, as their plot had been certainly detected. They, therefore,\r\nmade their escape different ways; but Teribazus was seized by the king’s\r\nguards, and after slaying many, while they were laying hold on him, at length\r\nbeing struck through with a dart at a distance, fell. As for Darius, who was\r\nbrought to trial with his children, the king appointed the royal judges to sit\r\nover him, and because he was not himself present, but accused Darius by proxy,\r\nhe commanded his scribes to write down the opinion of every one of the judges,\r\nand show it to him. And after they had given their sentences, all as one man,\r\nand condemned Darius to death, the officers seized on him and hurried him to a\r\nchamber not far off. To which place the executioner, when summoned, came with a\r\nrazor in his hand, with which men of his employment cut off the heads of\r\noffenders. But when he saw that Darius was the person thus to be punished, he\r\nwas appalled and started back, offering to go out, as one that had neither\r\npower nor courage enough to behead a king; yet at the threats and commands of\r\nthe judges, who stood at the prison door, he returned, and grasping the hair of\r\nhis head and bringing his face to the ground with one hand, he cut through his\r\nneck with the razor he had in the other. Some affirm that sentence was passed\r\nin the presence of Artaxerxes; that Darius, after he had been convicted by\r\nclear evidence, falling prostrate before him, did humbly beg his pardon; that\r\ninstead of giving it, he, rising up in rage and drawing his scimitar, smote him\r\ntill he had killed him; that then, going forth into the court, he worshipped\r\nthe sun, and said, “Depart in peace, ye Persians, and declare to your\r\nfellow-subjects how the mighty Oromasdes hath dealt out vengeance to the\r\ncontrivers of unjust and unlawful things.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSuch, then, was the issue of this conspiracy. And now Ochus was high in his\r\nhopes, being confident in the influence of Atossa; but yet was afraid of\r\nAriaspes, the only male surviving, besides himself, of the legitimate\r\noff-spring of his father, and of Arsames, one of his natural sons. For indeed\r\nAriaspes was already claimed as their prince by the wishes of the Persians, not\r\nbecause he was the elder brother, but because he excelled Ochus in gentleness,\r\nplain-dealing, and good-nature; and on the other hand Arsames appeared, by his\r\nwisdom, fitted for the throne, and that he was dear to his father, Ochus well\r\nknew. So he laid snares for them both, and being no less treacherous than\r\nbloody, he made use of the cruelty of his nature against Arsames, and of his\r\ncraft and wiliness against Ariaspes. For he suborned the king’s eunuchs and\r\nfavorites to convey to him menacing and harsh expressions from his father, as\r\nthough he had decreed to put him to a cruel and ignominious death. When they\r\ndaily communicated these things as secrets, and told him at one time that the\r\nking would do so to him ere long, and at another, that the blow was actually\r\nclose impending, they so alarmed the young man, struck; such a terror into him,\r\nand cast such a confusion and anxiety upon his thoughts, that, having prepared\r\nsome poisonous drugs, he drank them, that he might be delivered from his life.\r\nThe king, on hearing what kind of death he died, heartily lamented him, and was\r\nnot without a suspicion of the cause of it. But being disabled by his age to\r\nsearch into and prove it, he was, after the loss of this son, more affectionate\r\nthan before to Arsames, did manifestly place his greatest confidence in him,\r\nand made him privy to his counsels. Whereupon Ochus had no longer patience to\r\ndefer the execution of his purpose, but having procured Arpates, Teribazus’s\r\nson, for the undertaking, he killed Arsames by his hand. Artaxerxes at that\r\ntime had but a little hold on life, by reason of his extreme age, and so, when\r\nhe heard of the fate of Arsames, he could not sustain it at all, but sinking at\r\nonce under the weight of his grief and distress, expired, after a life of\r\nninety-four years, and a reign of sixty-two. And then he seemed a moderate and\r\ngracious governor, more especially as compared to his son Ochus, who outdid all\r\nhis predecessors in blood-thirstiness and cruelty.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap67\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eGALBA\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIphicrates the Athenian used to say that it is best to have a mercenary soldier\r\nfond of money and of pleasures, for thus he will fight the more boldly, to\r\nprocure the means to gratify his desires. But most have been of opinion, that\r\nthe body of an army, as well as the natural one, when in its healthy condition,\r\nshould make no efforts apart, but in compliance with its head. Wherefore they\r\ntell us that Paulus Aemilius, on taking command of the forces in Macedonia, and\r\nfinding them talkative and impertinently busy, as though they were all\r\ncommanders, issued out his orders that they should have only ready hands and\r\nkeen swords, and leave the rest to him. And Plato, who can discern no use of a\r\ngood ruler or general, if his men are not on their part obedient and\r\nconformable (the virtue of obeying, as of ruling, being in his opinion one that\r\ndoes not exist without first a noble nature, and then a philosophic education,\r\nwhere the eager and active powers are allayed with the gentler and humaner\r\nsentiments), may claim in confirmation of his doctrines sundry mournful\r\ninstances elsewhere, and, in particular, the events that followed among the\r\nRomans upon the death of Nero, in which plain proofs were given that nothing is\r\nmore terrible than a military force moving about in an empire upon uninstructed\r\nand unreasoning impulses. Demades, after the death of Alexander, compared the\r\nMacedonian army to the Cyclops after his eye was out, seeing their many\r\ndisorderly and unsteady motions. But the calamities of the Roman government\r\nmight be likened to the motions of the giants that assailed heaven, convulsed\r\nas it was, and distracted, and from every side recoiling, as it were, upon\r\nitself, not so much by the ambition of those who were proclaimed emperors, as\r\nby the covetousness and license of the soldiery, who drove commander after\r\ncommander out, like nails one upon another.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nDionysius, in raillery, said of the Pheraean who enjoyed the government of\r\nThessaly only ten months, that he had been a tragedy-king, but the Caesars’\r\nhouse in Rome, the Palatium, received in a shorter space of time no less than\r\nfour emperors, passing, as it were, across the stage, and one making room for\r\nanother to enter.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis was the only satisfaction of the distressed, that they needed not require\r\nany other justice on their oppressors, seeing them thus murder each other, and\r\nfirst of all, and that most justly, the one that ensnared them first, and\r\ntaught them to expect such happy results from a change of emperors, sullying a\r\ngood work by the pay he gave for its being done, and turning revolt against\r\nNero into nothing better than treason.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nFor, as already related, Nymphidius Sabinus, captain of the guards, together\r\nwith Tigellinus, after Nero’s circumstances were now desperate, and it was\r\nperceived that he designed to fly into Egypt, persuaded the troops to declare\r\nGalba emperor, as if Nero had been already gone, promising to all the court and\r\npraetorian soldiers, as they are called, seven thousand five hundred drachmas\r\napiece, and to those in service abroad twelve hundred and fifty drachmas each;\r\nso vast a sum for a largess as it was impossible anyone could raise, but he\r\nmust be infinitely more exacting and oppressive than ever Nero was. This\r\nquickly brought Nero to his grave, and soon after Galba too; they murdered the\r\nfirst in expectation of the promised gift, and not long after the other because\r\nthey did not obtain it from him; and then, seeking about to find someone who\r\nwould purchase at such a rate, they consumed themselves in a succession of\r\ntreacheries and rebellions before they obtained their demands. But to give a\r\nparticular relation of all that passed would require a history in full form; I\r\nhave only to notice what is properly to my purpose, namely, what the Caesars\r\ndid and suffered.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSulpicius Galba is owned by all to have been the richest private person that\r\never came to the imperial seat. And besides the additional honor of being of\r\nthe family of the Servii, he valued himself more especially for his\r\nrelationship to Catulus, the most eminent citizen of his time both for virtue\r\nand renown, however he may have voluntarily yielded to others as regards power\r\nand authority. Galba was also akin to Livia, the wife of Augustus, by whose\r\ninterest he was preferred to the consulship by the emperor. It is said of him\r\nthat he commanded the troops well in Germany, and, being made proconsul in\r\nLibya, gained a reputation that few ever had. But his quiet manner of living\r\nand his sparingness in expenses and his disregard of appearance gave him, when\r\nhe became emperor, an ill-name for meanness, being, in fact, his worn-out\r\ncredit for regularity and moderation. He was entrusted by Nero with the\r\ngovernment of Spain, before Nero had yet learned to be apprehensive of men of\r\ngreat repute. To the opinion, moreover, entertained of his mild natural temper,\r\nhis old age added a belief that he would never act incautiously.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere while Nero’s iniquitous agents savagely and cruelly harassed the\r\nprovinces under Nero’s authority, he could afford no succor, but merely offer\r\nthis only ease and consolation, that he seemed plainly to sympathize, as a\r\nfellow-sufferer, with those who were condemned upon suits and sold. And when\r\nlampoons were made upon Nero and circulated and sung everywhere about, he\r\nneither prohibited them, nor showed any indignation on behalf of the emperor’s\r\nagents, and for this was the more beloved; as also that he was now well\r\nacquainted with them, having been in chief power there eight years at the time\r\nwhen Junius Vindex, general of the forces in Gaul, began his insurrection\r\nagainst Nero. And it is reported that letters came to Galba before it fully\r\nbroke out into an open rebellion, which he neither seemed to give credit to,\r\nnor on the other hand to take means to let Nero know, as other officers did,\r\nsending to him the letters which came to them, and so spoiled the design, as\r\nmuch as in them lay, who yet afterwards shared in the conspiracy, and confessed\r\nthey had been treacherous to themselves as well as him. At last Vindex, plainly\r\ndeclaring war, wrote to Galba, encouraging him to take the government upon him,\r\nand give a head to this strong body, the Gaulish provinces, which could already\r\ncount a hundred thousand men in arms, and were able to arm a yet greater number\r\nif occasion were. Galba laid the matter before his friends, some of whom\r\nthought it fit to wait, and see what movement there might be and what\r\ninclinations displayed at Rome for the revolution. But Titus Vinius, captain of\r\nhis praetorian guard, spoke thus: “Galba, what means this inquiry? To question\r\nwhether we shall continue faithful to Nero is, in itself, to cease to be\r\nfaithful. Nero is our enemy, and we must by no means decline the help of\r\nVindex: or else we must at once denounce him, and march to attack him, because\r\nhe wishes you to be the governor of the Romans, rather than Nero their tyrant.”\r\nThereupon Galba, by an edict, appointed a day when he would receive\r\nmanumissions, and general rumor and talk beforehand about his purpose brought\r\ntogether a great crowd of men so ready for a change, that he scarcely appeared,\r\nstepping up to the tribunal, but they with one consent saluted him emperor.\r\nThat title he refused at present to take upon him; but after he had a while\r\ninveighed against Nero, and bemoaned the loss of the more conspicuous of those\r\nthat had been destroyed by him, he offered himself and service to his country,\r\nnot by the titles of Caesar or emperor, but as the lieutenant of the Roman\r\nsenate and people.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNow that Vindex did wisely in inviting Galba to the empire, Nero himself bore\r\ntestimony; who, though he seemed to despise Vindex and altogether to slight the\r\nGauls and their concerns, yet when he heard of Galba (as by chance he had just\r\nbathed and sat down to his morning meal), at this news he overturned the table.\r\nBut the senate having voted Galba an enemy, presently, to make his jest, and\r\nlikewise to personate a confidence among his friends, “This is a very happy\r\nopportunity,” he said, “for me, who sadly want such a booty as that of the\r\nGauls, which must all fall in as lawful prize; and Galba’s estate I can use or\r\nsell at once, he being now an open enemy.” And accordingly he had Galba’s\r\nproperty exposed to sale, which when Galba heard of; he sequestered all that\r\nwas Nero’s in Spain, and found far readier bidders.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nMany now began to revolt from Nero, and pretty nearly all adhered to Galba;\r\nonly Clodius Macer in Africa, and Virginius Rufus, commander of the German\r\nforces in Gaul, followed counsel of their own; yet these two were not of one\r\nand the same advice, for Clodius, being sensible of the rapines and murders to\r\nwhich he had been led by cruelty and covetousness, was in perplexity, and felt\r\nit was not safe for him either to retain or quit his command. But Virginius,\r\nwho had the command of the strongest legions, by whom he was many repeated\r\ntimes saluted emperor and pressed to take the title upon him, declared that he\r\nneither would assume that honor himself, nor see it given to any other than\r\nwhom the senate should elect.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThese things at first did not a little disturb Galba, but when presently\r\nVirginius and Vindex were in a manner forced by their armies, having got the\r\nreins, as it were, out of their hands, to a great encounter and battle, in\r\nwhich Vindex, having seen twenty thousand of the Gauls destroyed, died by his\r\nown hand, and when the report straight spread abroad, that all desired\r\nVirginius, after this great victory, to take the empire upon him, or else they\r\nwould return to Nero again, Galba, in great alarm at this, wrote to Virginius,\r\nexhorting him to join with him for the preservation of the empire and the\r\nliberty of the Romans, and so retiring with his friends into Clunia, a town in\r\nSpain, he passed away his time, rather repenting his former rashness, and\r\nwishing for his wonted ease and privacy, than setting about what was fit to be\r\ndone.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was now summer, when on a sudden, a little before dusk, comes a freedman,\r\nIcelus by name, having arrived in seven days from Rome; and being informed\r\nwhere Galba was reposing himself in private, he went straight on, and pushing\r\nby the servants of the chamber, opened the door and entered the room, and told\r\nhim, that Nero being yet alive but not appearing, first the army, and then the\r\npeople and senate, declared Galba emperor; not long after, it was reported that\r\nNero was dead; “but I,” said he, “not giving credit to common fame, went myself\r\nto the body and saw him lying dead, and only then set out to bring you word.”\r\nThis news at once made Galba great again, and a crowd of people came hastening\r\nto the door, all very confident of the truth of his tidings, though the speed\r\nof the man was almost incredible. Two days after came Titus Vinius with sundry\r\nothers from the camp, who gave an account in detail of the orders of the\r\nsenate, and for this service was considerably advanced. On the freedman, Galba\r\nconferred the honor of the gold ring, and Icelus, as he had been before, now\r\ntaking the name of Marcianus, held the first place of the freedmen.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut at Rome, Nymphidius Sabinus, not gently and little by little, but at once,\r\nand without exception, engrossed all power to himself; Galba, being an old man\r\n(seventy-three years of age), would scarcely, he thought, live long enough to\r\nbe carried in a litter to Rome; and the troops in the city were from old time\r\nattached to him, and now bound by the vastness of the promised gift, for which\r\nthey regarded him as their benefactor, and Galba as their debtor. Thus\r\npresuming on his interest, he straightway commanded Tigellinus, who was in\r\njoint commission with himself, to lay down his sword; and giving\r\nentertainments, he invited the former consuls and commanders, making use of\r\nGalba’s name for the invitation; but at the same time prepared many in the camp\r\nto propose that a request should be sent to Galba that he should appoint\r\nNymphidius sole prefect for life without a colleague. And the modes which the\r\nsenate took to show him honor and increase his power, styling him their\r\nbenefactor, and attending daily at his gates, and giving him the compliment of\r\nheading with his own name and confirming all their acts, carried him on to a\r\nyet greater degree of arrogance, so that in a short time he became an object,\r\nnot only of dislike, but of terror, to those that sought his favor. When the\r\nconsuls themselves had dispatched their couriers with the decrees of the senate\r\nto the emperor, together with the sealed diplomas, which the authorities in all\r\nthe towns where horses or carriages are changed, look at and on that\r\ncertificate hasten the couriers forward with all their means, he was highly\r\ndispleased that his seal had not been used, and none of his soldiers employed\r\non the errand. Nay, he even deliberated what course to take with the consuls\r\nthemselves, but upon their submission and apology he was at last pacified. To\r\ngratify the people, he did not interfere with their beating to death any that\r\nfell into their hands of Nero’s party. Amongst others, Spiclus, the gladiator,\r\nwas killed in the forum by being thrown under Nero’s statues, which they\r\ndragged about the place over his body. Aponius, one of those who had been\r\nconcerned in accusations, they knocked to the ground, and drove carts loaded\r\nwith stones over him. And many others they tore in pieces, some of them no way\r\nguilty, insomuch that Mauriscus, a person of great account and character, told\r\nthe senate that he feared, in a short time, they might wish for Nero again.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNymphidius, now advancing towards the consummation of his hopes, did not refuse\r\nto let it be said that he was the son of Caius Caesar, Tiberius’s successor;\r\nwho, it is told, was well acquainted with his mother in his early youth, a\r\nwoman indeed handsome enough, the off-spring of Callistus, one of Caesar’s\r\nfreedmen, and a certain seamstress. But it is plain that Caius’s familiarity\r\nwith his mother was of too late date to give him any pretensions, and it was\r\nsuspected he might, if he pleased, claim a father in Martianus, the gladiator,\r\nwhom his mother, Nymphidia, took a passion for, being a famous man in his way,\r\nwhom also he much more resembled. However, though he certainly owned Nymphidia\r\nfor his mother, he ascribed meantime the downfall of Nero to himself alone, and\r\nthought he was not sufficiently rewarded with the honors and riches he enjoyed,\r\n(nay, though to all was added the company of Sporus, whom he immediately sent\r\nfor while Nero’s body was yet burning on the pile, and treated as his consort,\r\nwith the name of Poppaea,) but he must also aspire to the empire. And at Rome\r\nhe had friends who took measures for him secretly, as well as some women and\r\nsome members of the senate also, who worked underhand to assist him. And into\r\nSpain he dispatched one of his friends, named Gellianus, to view the posture of\r\naffairs.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut all things succeeded well with Galba after Nero’s death; only Virginius\r\nRufus, still standing doubtful, gave him some anxiety, lest he should listen to\r\nthe suggestions of some who encouraged him to take the government upon him,\r\nhaving, at present, besides the command of a large and warlike army, the new\r\nhonors of the defeat of Vindex and the subjugation of one considerable part of\r\nthe Roman empire, namely, the entire Gaul, which had seemed shaking about upon\r\nthe verge of open revolt. Nor had any man indeed a greater name and reputation\r\nthan Virginius, who had taken a part of so much consequence in the deliverance\r\nof the empire at once from a cruel tyranny and a Gallic war. But he, standing\r\nto his first resolves, reserved to the senate the power of electing an emperor.\r\nYet when it was now manifest that Nero was dead, the soldiers pressed him hard\r\nto it, and one of the tribunes, entering his tent with his drawn sword, bade\r\nhim either take the government or that. But after Fabius Valens, having the\r\ncommand of one legion, had first sworn fealty to Galba, and letters from Rome\r\ncame with tidings of the resolves of the senate, at last with much ado he\r\npersuaded the army to declare Galba emperor. And when Flaccus Hordeonius came\r\nby Galba’s commission as his successor, he handed over to him his forces, and\r\nwent himself to meet Galba on his way, and having met him, turned back to\r\nattend him; in all which no apparent displeasure nor yet honor was shown him.\r\nGalba’s feelings of respect for him prevented the former; the latter was\r\nchecked by the envy of his friends, and particularly of Titus Vinius, who,\r\nacting in the desire of hindering Virginius’s promotion, unwittingly aided his\r\nhappy genius in rescuing him from those hazards and hardships which other\r\ncommanders were involved in, and securing him the safe enjoyment of a quiet\r\nlife and peaceable old age.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNear Narbo, a city in Gaul, the deputation of the senate met Galba, and, after\r\nthey had delivered their compliments, begged him to make what haste he could to\r\nappear to the people, that impatiently expected him. He discoursed with them\r\ncourteously and unassumingly, and in his entertainment, though Nymphidius had\r\nsent him royal furniture and attendance of Nero’s, he put all aside, and made\r\nuse of nothing but his own, for which he was well spoken of, as one who had a\r\ngreat mind, and was superior to little vanities. But in a short time, Vinius,\r\nby declaring to him that these noble, unpompous, citizen-like ways were a mere\r\naffectation of popularity and a petty bashfulness at assuming his proper\r\ngreatness, induced him to make use of Nero’s supplies, and in his\r\nentertainments not to be afraid of a regal sumptuosity. And in more than one\r\nway the old man let it gradually appear that he had put himself under Vinius’s\r\ndisposal.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nVinius was a person of an excessive covetousness, and not quite free from blame\r\nin respect to women. For being a young man, newly entered into the service\r\nunder Calvisius Sabinus, upon his first campaign, he brought his commander’s\r\nwife, a licentious woman, in a soldier’s dress, by night into the camp, and was\r\nfound with her in the very general’s quarters, the principia, as the Romans\r\ncall them. For which insolence Caius Caesar cast him into prison, from whence\r\nhe was fortunately delivered by Caius’s death. Afterwards, being invited by\r\nClaudius Caesar to supper, he privily conveyed away a silver cup, which Caesar\r\nhearing of, invited him again the next day, and gave order to his servants to\r\nset before him no silver plate, but only earthen ware. And this offense,\r\nthrough the comic mildness of Caesar’s reprimand, was treated rather as a\r\nsubject of jest than as a crime. But the acts to which now, when Galba was in\r\nhis hands and his power was so extensive, his covetous temper led him were the\r\ncauses, in part, and in part the provocation, of tragical and fatal mischiefs.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nNymphidius became very uneasy upon the return out of Spain of Gellianus, whom\r\nhe had sent to pry into Galba’s actions, understanding that Cornelius Laco was\r\nappointed commander of the court guards, and that Vinius was the great\r\nfavorite, and that Gellianus had not been able so much as to come nigh, much\r\nless have any opportunity to offer any words in private, so narrowly had he\r\nbeen watched and observed. Nymphidius, therefore, called together the officers\r\nof the troops, and declared to them that Galba of himself was a good,\r\nwell-meaning old man, but did not act by his own counsel, and was ill-guided by\r\nVinius and Laco; and lest, before they were aware, they should engross the\r\nauthority Tigellinus had with the troops, he proposed to them to send deputies\r\nfrom the camp, acquainting him that if he pleased to remove only these two from\r\nhis counsel and presence, he would be much more welcome to all at his arrival.\r\nWherein when he saw he did not prevail (it seeming absurd and unmannerly to\r\ngive rules to an old commander what friends to retain or displace, as if he had\r\nbeen a youth newly taking the reins of authority into his hands), adopting\r\nanother course, he wrote himself to Galba letters in alarming terms, one while\r\nas if the city were unsettled, and had not yet recovered its tranquillity; then\r\nthat Clodius Macer withheld the corn-ships from Africa; that the legions in\r\nGermany began to be mutinous, and that he heard the like of those in Syria and\r\nJudaea. But Galba not minding him much nor giving credit to his stories, he\r\nresolved to make his attempt beforehand, though Clodius Celsus, a native of\r\nAntioch, a person of sense, and friendly and faithful to Nymphidius, told him\r\nhe was wrong, saying he did not believe one single street in Rome would ever\r\ngive him the title of Caesar. Nevertheless many also derided Galba, amongst the\r\nrest Mithridates of Pontus, saying, that as soon as this wrinkled, bald-headed\r\nman should be seen publicly at Rome, they would think it an utter disgrace ever\r\nto have had such a Caesar.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAt last it was resolved, about midnight, to bring Nymphidius into the camp, and\r\ndeclare him emperor. But Antonius Honoratus, who was first among the tribunes,\r\nsummoning together in the evening those under his command, charged himself and\r\nthem severely with their many and unreasonable turns and alterations, made\r\nwithout any purpose or regard to merit, simply as if some evil genius hurried\r\nthem from one treason to another. “What though Nero’s miscarriages,” said he,\r\n“gave some color to your former acts, can you say you have any plea for\r\nbetraying Galba in the death of a mother, the blood of a wife, or the\r\ndegradation of the imperial power upon the stage and amongst players? Neither\r\ndid we desert Nero for all this, until Nymphidius had persuaded us that he had\r\nfirst left us and fled into Egypt. Shall we, therefore, send Galba after, to\r\nappease Nero’s shade, and, for the sake of making the son of Nymphidia emperor,\r\ntake off one of Livia’s family, as we have already the son of Agrippina?\r\nRather, doing justice on him, let us revenge Nero’s death, and show ourselves\r\ntrue and faithful by preserving Galba.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe tribune having ended his harangue, the soldiers assented, and encouraged\r\nall they met with to persist in their fidelity to the emperor, and, indeed,\r\nbrought over the greatest part. But presently hearing a great shout,\r\nNymphidius, imagining, as some say, that the soldiers called for him, or\r\nhastening to be in time to check any opposition and gain the doubtful, came on\r\nwith many lights, carrying in his hand a speech in writing, made by Cingonius\r\nVarro, which he had got by heart, to deliver to the soldiers. But seeing the\r\ngates of the camp shut up, and large numbers standing armed about the walls, he\r\nbegan to be afraid. Yet drawing nearer, he demanded what they meant, and by\r\nwhose orders they were then in arms; but hearing a general acclamation, all\r\nwith one consent crying out that Galba was their emperor, advancing towards\r\nthem, he joined in the cry, and likewise commanded those that followed him to\r\ndo the same. The guard notwithstanding permitted him to enter the camp only\r\nwith a few, where he was presently struck with a dart, which Septimius, being\r\nbefore him, received on his shield; others, however, assaulted him with their\r\nnaked swords, and on his flying, pursued him into a soldier’s cabin, where they\r\nslew him. And dragging his body thence, they placed a railing about it, and\r\nexposed it next day to public view. When Galba heard of the end which\r\nNymphidius had thus come to, he commanded that all his confederates who had not\r\nat once killed themselves should immediately be dispatched; amongst whom were\r\nCingonius, who made his oration, and Mithridates, formerly mentioned. It was,\r\nhowever, regarded as arbitrary and illegal, and though it might be just, yet by\r\nno means popular, to take off men of their rank and quality without a hearing.\r\nFor everyone expected another scheme of government, being deceived, as is\r\nusual, by the first plausible pretenses; and the death of Petronius\r\nTurpilianus, who was of consular dignity, and had remained faithful to Nero,\r\nwas yet more keenly resented. Indeed, the taking off of Macer in Africa by\r\nTrebonius, and Fonteius by Valens in Germany, had a fair pretense, they being\r\ndreaded as armed commanders, having their soldiers at their bidding; but why\r\nrefuse Turpilianus, an old man and unarmed, permission to try to clear himself,\r\nif any part of the moderation and equity at first promised were really to come\r\nto a performance? Such were the comments to which these actions exposed him.\r\nWhen he came within five and twenty furlongs or thereabouts of the city, he\r\nhappened to light on a disorderly rabble of the seamen, who beset him as he\r\npassed. These were they whom Nero made soldiers, forming them into a legion.\r\nThey so rudely crowded to have their commission confirmed, that they did not\r\nlet Galba either be seen or heard by those that had come out to meet their new\r\nemperor; but tumultuously pressed on with loud shouts to have colors to their\r\nlegion, and quarters assigned them. Galba put them off until another time,\r\nwhich they interpreting as a denial, grew more insolent and mutinous, following\r\nand crying out, some of them with their drawn swords in their hands. Upon\r\nseeing which, Galba commanded the horse to ride over them, when they were soon\r\nrouted, not a man standing his ground, and many of them were slain, both there\r\nand in the pursuit; an ill omen, that Galba should make his first entry through\r\nso much blood and among dead bodies. And now he was looked upon with terror and\r\nalarm by any who had entertained contempt of him at the sight of his age and\r\napparent infirmities.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when he desired presently to let it appear what change would be made from\r\nNero’s profuseness and sumptuosity in giving presents, he much missed his aim,\r\nand fell so short of magnificence, that he scarcely came within the limits of\r\ndecency. When Canus, who was a famous musician, played at supper for him, he\r\nexpressed his approbation, and bade the bag be brought to him; and taking a few\r\ngold pieces, put them in with this remark, that it was out of his own purse,\r\nand not on the public account. He ordered the largesses which Nero had made to\r\nactors and wrestlers and such like to be strictly required again, allowing only\r\nthe tenth part to be retained; though it turned to very small account, most of\r\nthose persons expending their daily income as fast as they received it, being\r\nrude, improvident livers; upon which he had further inquiry made as to those\r\nwho had bought or received from them, and called upon these people to refund.\r\nThe trouble was infinite, the exactions being prosecuted far, touching a great\r\nnumber of persons, bringing disrepute on Galba, and general hatred on Vinius,\r\nwho made the emperor appear base-minded and mean to the world, whilst he\r\nhimself was spending profusely, taking whatever he could get, and selling to\r\nany buyer. Hesiod tells us to drink without stinting of\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nThe end and the beginning of the cask.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nAnd Vinius, seeing his patron old and decaying, made the most of what he\r\nconsidered to be at once the first of his fortune and the last of it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus the aged man suffered in two ways: first, through the evil deeds which\r\nVinius did himself, and, next, by his preventing or bringing into disgrace\r\nthose just acts which he himself designed. Such was the punishing Nero’s\r\nadherents. When he destroyed the bad, amongst whom were Helius, Polycletus,\r\nPetinus, and Patrobius, the people mightily applauded the act, crying out, as\r\nthey were dragged through the forum, that it was a goodly sight, grateful to\r\nthe gods themselves, adding, however, that the gods and men alike demanded\r\njustice on Tigellinus, the very tutor and prompter of all the tyranny. This\r\ngood man, however, had taken his measures beforehand, in the shape of a present\r\nand a promise to Vinius. Turpilianus could not be allowed to escape with life,\r\nthough his one and only crime had been that he had not betrayed or shown hatred\r\nto such a ruler as Nero. But he who had made Nero what he became, and\r\nafterwards deserted and betrayed him whom he had so corrupted, was allowed to\r\nsurvive as an instance that Vinius could do anything, and an advertisement that\r\nthose that had money to give him need despair of nothing. The people, however,\r\nwere so possessed with the desire of seeing Tigellinus dragged to execution,\r\nthat they never ceased to require it at the theater and in the race-course,\r\ntill they were checked by an edict from the emperor himself, announcing that\r\nTigellinus could not live long, being wasted with a consumption, and requesting\r\nthem not to seek to make his government appear cruel and tyrannical. So the\r\ndissatisfied populace were laughed at, and Tigellinus made a splendid feast,\r\nand sacrificed in thanksgiving for his deliverance: and after supper, Vinius,\r\nrising from the emperor’s table, went to revel with Tigellinus, taking his\r\ndaughter, a widow, with him; to whom Tigellinus presented his compliments, with\r\na gift of twenty-five myriads of money, and bade the superintendent of his\r\nconcubines take off a rich necklace from her own neck and tie it about hers,\r\nthe value of it being estimated at fifteen myriads.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter this, even reasonable acts were censured; as, for example, the treatment\r\nof the Gauls who had been in the conspiracy with Vindex. For people looked upon\r\ntheir abatement of tribute and admission to citizenship as a piece, not of\r\nclemency on the part of Galba, but of money-making on that of Vinius. And thus\r\nthe mass of the people began to look with dislike upon the government. The\r\nsoldiers were kept on a while in expectation of the promised donative,\r\nsupposing that if they did not receive the full, yet they should have at least\r\nas much as Nero gave them. But when Galba, on hearing they began to complain,\r\ndeclared greatly, and like a general, that he was used to enlist and not to buy\r\nhis soldiers, when they heard of this, they conceived an implacable hatred\r\nagainst him; for he did not seem to defraud them merely himself in their\r\npresent expectations, but to give an ill precedent, and instruct his successors\r\nto do the like. This heart-burning, however, was as yet at Rome a thing\r\nundeclared, and a certain respect for Galba’s personal presence somewhat\r\nretarded their motions, and took off their edge, and their having no obvious\r\noccasion for beginning a revolution curbed and kept under, more or less, their\r\nresentments. But those forces that had been formerly under Virginius, and now\r\nwere under Flaccus in Germany, valuing themselves much upon the battle they had\r\nfought with Vindex, and finding now no advantage of it, grew very refractory\r\nand intractable towards their officers: and Flaccus they wholly disregarded,\r\nbeing incapacitated in body by unintermitted gout, and, besides, a man of\r\nlittle experience in affairs. So at one of their festivals, when it was\r\ncustomary for the officers of the army to wish all health and happiness to the\r\nemperor, the common soldiers began to murmur loudly, and on their officers\r\npersisting in the ceremony, responded with the words, “If he deserves it.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen some similar insolence was committed by the legions under Vitellius,\r\nfrequent letters with the information came to Galba from his agents; and taking\r\nalarm at this, and fearing that he might be despised not only for his old age,\r\nbut also for want of issue, he determined to adopt some young man of\r\ndistinction, and declare him his successor. There was at this time in the city\r\nMarcus Otho, a person of fair extraction, but from his childhood one of the few\r\nmost debauched, voluptuous, and luxurious livers in Rome. And as Homer gives\r\nParis in several places the title of “fair Helen’s love,” making a woman’s name\r\nthe glory and addition to his, as if he had nothing else to distinguish him, so\r\nOtho was renowned in Rome for nothing more than his marriage with Poppaea, whom\r\nNero had a passion for when she was Crispinus’s wife. But being as yet\r\nrespectful to his own wife, and standing in awe of his mother, he engaged Otho\r\nunderhand to solicit her. For Nero lived familiarly with Otho, whose\r\nprodigality won his favor, and he was well pleased when he took the freedom to\r\njest upon him as mean and penurious. Thus when Nero one day perfumed himself\r\nwith some rich essence and favored Otho with a sprinkle of it, he, entertaining\r\nNero next day, ordered gold and silver pipes to disperse the like on a sudden\r\nfreely, like water, throughout the room. As to Poppaea, he was beforehand with\r\nNero, and first seducing her himself, then, with the hope of Nero’s favor, he\r\nprevailed with her to part with her husband, and brought her to his own house\r\nas his wife, and was not content afterwards to have a share in her, but grudged\r\nto have Nero for a claimant, Poppaea herself, they say, being rather pleased\r\nthan otherwise with this jealousy; she sometimes excluded Nero, even when Otho\r\nwas not present, either to prevent his getting tired with her, or, as some say,\r\nnot liking the prospect of an imperial marriage, though willing enough to have\r\nthe emperor as her lover. So that Otho ran the risk of his life, and strange it\r\nwas he escaped, when Nero, for this very marriage, killed his wife and sister.\r\nBut he was beholden to Seneca’s friendship, by whose persuasions and entreaty\r\nNero was prevailed with to dispatch him as praetor into Lusitania, on the\r\nshores of the Ocean; where he behaved himself very agreeably and indulgently to\r\nthose he had to govern, well knowing this command was but to color and disguise\r\nhis banishment.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen Galba revolted from Nero, Otho was the first governor of any of the\r\nprovinces that came over to him, bringing all the gold and silver he possessed\r\nin the shape of cups and tables, to be coined into money, and also what\r\nservants he had fitly qualified to wait upon a prince. In all other points,\r\ntoo, he was faithful to him, and gave him sufficient proof that he was inferior\r\nto none in managing public business. And he so far ingratiated himself, that he\r\nrode in the same carriage with him during the whole journey, several days\r\ntogether. And in this journey and familiar companionship, he won over Vinius\r\nalso, both by his conversation and presents, but especially by conceding to him\r\nthe first place, securing the second, by his interest, for himself. And he had\r\nthe advantage of him in avoiding all odium and jealousy, assisting all\r\npetitioners, without asking for any reward, and appearing courteous and of easy\r\naccess towards all, especially to the military men, for many of whom he\r\nobtained commands, some immediately from the emperor, others by Vinius’s means,\r\nand by the assistance of the two favorite freedmen, Icelus and Asiaticus, these\r\nbeing the men in chief power in the court. As often as he entertained Galba, he\r\ngave the cohort on duty, in addition to their pay, a piece of gold for every\r\nman there, upon pretense of respect to the emperor, while really he undermined\r\nhim, and stole away his popularity with the soldiers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSo Galba consulting about a successor, Vinius introduced Otho, yet not even\r\nthis gratis, but upon promise that he would marry his daughter, if Galba should\r\nmake him his adopted son and successor to the empire. But Galba, in all his\r\nactions, showed clearly that he preferred the public good before his own\r\nprivate interest, not aiming so much to pleasure himself as to advantage the\r\nRomans by his selection. Indeed he does not seem to have been so much as\r\ninclined to make choice of Otho, had it been but to inherit his own private\r\nfortune, knowing his extravagant and luxurious character, and that he was\r\nalready plunged in debt five thousand myriads deep. So he listened to Vinius,\r\nand made no reply, but mildly suspended his determination. Only he appointed\r\nhimself consul, and Vinius his colleague, and it was the general expectation\r\nthat he would declare his successor at the beginning of the new year. And the\r\nsoldiers desired nothing more than that Otho should be the person.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut the forces in Germany broke out into their mutiny whilst he was yet\r\ndeliberating, and anticipated his design. All the soldiers in general felt much\r\nresentment against Galba for not having given them their expected largess but\r\nthese troops made a pretense of a more particular concern, that Virginius Rufus\r\nwas cast off dishonorably, and that the Gauls who had fought with them were\r\nwell rewarded, while those who had refused to take part with Vindex were\r\npunished; and Galba’s thanks seemed all to be for him, to whose memory he had\r\ndone honor after his death with public solemnities as though he had been made\r\nemperor by his means only. Whilst these discourses passed openly throughout the\r\narmy, on the first day of the first month of the year, the Calends, as they\r\ncall it, of January, Flaccus summoning them to take the usual anniversary oath\r\nof fealty to the emperor, they overturned and pulled down Galba’s statues, and\r\nhaving sworn in the name of the senate and people of Rome, departed. But the\r\nofficers now feared anarchy and confusion, as much as rebellion; and one of\r\nthem came forward and said: “What will become of us, my fellow-soldiers, if we\r\nneither set up another general, nor retain the present one? This will be not so\r\nmuch to desert from Galba as to decline all subjection and command. It is\r\nuseless to try and maintain Flaccus Hordeonius, who is but a mere shadow and\r\nimage of Galba. But Vitellius, commander of the other Germany, is but one day’s\r\nmarch distant, whose father was censor and thrice consul, and in a manner\r\nco-emperor with Claudius Caesar; and he himself has the best proof to show of\r\nhis bounty and largeness of mind, in the poverty with which some reproach him.\r\nHim let us make choice of, that all may see we know how to choose an emperor\r\nbetter than either Spaniards or Lusitanians.” Which motion whilst some assented\r\nto, and others gainsaid, a certain standard-bearer slipped out and carried the\r\nnews to Vitellius, who was entertaining much company by night. This, taking\r\nair, soon passed through the troops, and Fabius Valens, who commanded one\r\nlegion, riding up next day with a large body of horse, saluted Vitellius\r\nemperor. He had hitherto seemed to decline it, professing a dread he had to\r\nundertake the weight of the government; but on this day, being fortified, they\r\nsay, by wine and a plentiful noonday repast, he began to yield, and submitted\r\nto take on him the title of Germanicus they gave him, but desired to be excused\r\nas to that of Caesar. And immediately the army under Flaccus also, putting away\r\ntheir fine and popular oaths in the name of the senate, swore obedience to\r\nVitellius as emperor, to observe whatever he commanded.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus Vitellius was publicly proclaimed emperor in Germany; which news coming to\r\nGalba’s ear, he no longer deferred his adoption; yet knowing that some of his\r\nfriends were using their interest for Dolabella, and the greatest number of\r\nthem for Otho, neither of whom he approved of, on a sudden, without anyone’s\r\nprivity, he sent for Piso, the son of Crassus and Scribonia, whom Nero slew, a\r\nyoung man in general of excellent dispositions for virtue, but his most eminent\r\nqualities those of steadiness and austere gravity. And so he set out to go to\r\nthe camp to declare him Caesar and successor to the empire. But at his very\r\nfirst going forth, many signs appeared in the heavens, and when he began to\r\nmake a speech to the soldiers, partly extempore, and partly reading it, the\r\nfrequent claps of thunder and flashes of lightning and the violent storm of\r\nrain that burst on both the camp and the city were plain discoveries that the\r\ndivine powers did not look with favor or satisfaction on this act of adoption,\r\nthat would come to no good result. The soldiers, also, showed symptoms of\r\nhidden discontent, and wore sullen looks, no distribution of money being even\r\nnow made to them. However, those that were present and observed Piso’s\r\ncountenance and voice could not but feel admiration to see him so little\r\novercome by so great a favor, of the magnitude of which at the same time he\r\nseemed not at all insensible. Otho’s aspect, on the other hand, did not fail to\r\nlet many marks appear of his bitterness and anger at his disappointment; since\r\nto have been the first man thought of for it, and to have come to the very\r\npoint of being chosen, and now to be put by, was in his feelings a sign of the\r\ndispleasure and ill-will of Galba towards him. This filled him with fears and\r\napprehensions, and sent him home with a mind full of various passions, whilst\r\nhe dreaded Piso, hated Galba, and was full of wrath and indignation against\r\nVinius. And the Chaldeans and soothsayers about him would not permit him to lay\r\naside his hopes or quit his design, chiefly Ptolemaeus, insisting much on a\r\nprediction he had made, that Nero should not murder Otho, but he himself should\r\ndie first, and Otho succeed as emperor; for the first proving true, he thought\r\nhe could not distrust the rest. But none perhaps stimulated him more than those\r\nthat professed privately to pity his hard fate and compassionate him for being\r\nthus ungratefully dealt with by Galba; especially Nymphidius’s and Tigellinus’s\r\ncreatures, who, being now cast off and reduced to low estate, were eager to put\r\nthemselves upon him, exclaiming at the indignity he had suffered, and provoking\r\nhim to revenge himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAmongst these were Veturius and Barbius, the one an optio, the other a\r\ntesserarius (these are men who have the duties of messengers and scouts), with\r\nwhom Onomastus, one of Otho’s freedmen, went to the camp, to tamper with the\r\narmy, and brought over some with money, others with fair promises, which was no\r\nhard matter, they being already corrupted, and only wanting a fair pretense. It\r\nhad been otherwise more than the work of four days (which elapsed between the\r\nadoption and murder) so completely to infect them as to cause a general revolt.\r\nOn the sixth day ensuing, the eighteenth, as the Romans call it, before the\r\nCalends of February, the murder was done. On that day, in the morning, Galba\r\nsacrificed in the Palatium, in the presence of his friends, when Umbricius, the\r\npriest, taking up the entrails, and speaking not ambiguously, but in plain\r\nwords, said that there were signs of great troubles ensuing, and dangerous\r\nsnares laid for the life of the emperor. Thus Otho had even been discovered by\r\nthe finger of the god; being there just behind Galba, hearing all that was\r\nsaid, and seeing what was pointed out to them by Umbricius. His countenance\r\nchanged to every color in his fear, and he was betraying no small discomposure,\r\nwhen Onomastus, his freedman, came up and acquainted him that the\r\nmaster-builders had come, and were waiting for him at home. Now that was the\r\nsignal for Otho to meet the soldiers. Pretending then that he had purchased an\r\nold house, and was going to show the defects to those that had sold it to him,\r\nhe departed; and passing through what is called Tiberius’s house, he went on\r\ninto the forum, near the spot where a golden pillar stands, at which all the\r\nseveral roads through Italy terminate.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHere, it is related, no more than twenty-three received and saluted him\r\nemperor; so that, although he was not in mind as in body enervated with soft\r\nliving and effeminacy, being in his nature bold and fearless enough in danger,\r\nnevertheless, he was afraid to go on. But the soldiers that were present would\r\nnot suffer him to recede, but came with their drawn swords about his chair,\r\ncommanding the bearers to take him up, whom he hastened on, saying several\r\ntimes over to himself, “I am a lost man.” Several persons overheard the words,\r\nwho stood by wondering, rather than alarmed, because of the small number that\r\nattempted such an enterprise. But as they marched on through the forum, about\r\nas many more met him, and here and there three or four at a time joined in.\r\nThus returning towards the camp, with their bare swords in their hands, they\r\nsaluted him as Caesar; whereupon Martialis, the tribune in charge of the watch,\r\nwho was, they say, noways privy to it, but was simply surprised at the\r\nunexpectedness of the thing, and afraid to refuse, permitted him entrance. And\r\nafter this, no man made any resistance; for they that knew nothing of the\r\ndesign, being purposely encompassed by the conspirators, as they were\r\nstraggling here and there, first submitted for fear, and afterwards were\r\npersuaded into compliance. Tidings came immediately to Galba in the Palatium,\r\nwhilst the priest was still present and the sacrifices at hand, so that persons\r\nwho were most entirely incredulous about such things, and most positive in\r\ntheir neglect of them, were astonished, and began to marvel at the divine\r\nevent. A multitude of all sorts of people now began to run together out of the\r\nforum; Vinius and Laco and some of Galba’s freedmen drew their swords and\r\nplaced themselves beside him; Piso went forth and addressed himself to the\r\nguards on duty in the court; and Marius Celsus, a brave man, was dispatched to\r\nthe Illyrian legion, stationed in what is called the Vipsanian chamber, to\r\nsecure them.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nGalba now consulting whether he should go out, Vinius dissuaded him, but Celsus\r\nand Laco encouraged him by all means to do so, and sharply reprimanded Vinius.\r\nBut on a sudden a rumor came hot that Otho was slain in the camp; and presently\r\nappeared one Julius Atticus, a man of some distinction in the guards, running\r\nup with his drawn sword, crying out that he had slain Caesar’s enemy; and\r\npressing through the crowd that stood in his way, he presented himself before\r\nGalba with his bloody weapon, who, looking on him, demanded, “Who gave you your\r\norders?” And on his answering that it had been his duty and the obligation of\r\nthe oath he had taken, the people applauded, giving loud acclamations, and\r\nGalba got into his chair and was carried out to sacrifice to Jupiter, and so to\r\nshow himself publicly. But coming into the forum, there met him there, like a\r\nturn of wind, the opposite story, that Otho had made himself master of the\r\ncamp. And as usual in a crowd of such a size, some called to him to return\r\nback, others to move forward; some encouraged him to be bold and fear nothing,\r\nothers bade him be cautious and distrust. And thus whilst his chair was tossed\r\nto and fro, as it were on the waves, often tottering, there appeared first\r\nhorse, and straightaway heavy-armed foot, coming through Paulus’s court, and\r\nall with one accord crying out, “Down with this private man.” Upon this, the\r\ncrowd of people set off running, not to fly and disperse, but to possess\r\nthemselves of the colonnades and elevated places of the forum, as it might be\r\nto get places to see a spectacle. And as soon as Atillius Vergilio knocked down\r\none of Galba’s statues, this was taken as the declaration of war, and they sent\r\na discharge of darts upon Galba’s litter, and, missing their aim, came up and\r\nattacked him nearer hand with their naked swords. No man resisted or offered to\r\nstand up in his defense, save one only, a centurion, Sempronius Densus, the\r\nsingle man among so many thousands that the sun beheld that day act worthily of\r\nthe Roman empire, who, though he had never received any favor from Galba, yet\r\nout of bravery and allegiance endeavored to defend the litter. First, lifting\r\nup his switch of vine, with which the centurions correct the soldiers when\r\ndisorderly, he called aloud to the aggressors, charging them not to touch their\r\nemperor. And when they came upon him hand to hand, he drew his sword, and made\r\na defense for a long time, until at last he was cut under the knees and brought\r\nto the ground.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nGalba’s chair was upset at the spot called the Lacus Curtius, where they ran up\r\nand struck at him as he lay in his corslet. He, however, offered his throat,\r\nbidding them “Strike, if it be for the Romans’ good.” He received several\r\nwounds on his legs and arms, and at last was struck in the throat, as most say,\r\nby one Camurius, a soldier of the fifteenth legion. Some name Terentius, others\r\nLecanius; and there are others that say it was Fabius Falulus, who, it is\r\nreported, cut off the head and carried it away in the skirt of his coat, the\r\nbaldness making it a difficult thing to take hold of. But those that were with\r\nhim would not allow him to keep it covered up, but bade him let everyone see\r\nthe brave deed he had done; so that after a while he stuck upon the lance the\r\nhead of the aged man that had been their grave and temperate ruler, their\r\nsupreme priest and consul, and, tossing it up in the air, ran like a bacchanal,\r\ntwirling and flourishing with it, while the blood ran down the spear. But when\r\nthey brought the head to Otho, “Fellow-soldiers,” he cried out, “this is\r\nnothing, unless you show me Piso’s too,” which was presented him not long\r\nafter. The young man, retreating upon a wound received, was pursued by one\r\nMurcus, and slain at the temple of Vesta. Titus Vinius was also dispatched,\r\navowing himself to have been privy to the conspiracy against Galba by calling\r\nout that they were killing him contrary to Otho’s pleasure. However, they cut\r\noff his head, and Laco’s too, and brought them to Otho, requesting a boon.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd as Archilochus says —\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"poem\"\u003e\r\nWhen six or seven lie breathless on the ground,\u003cbr\u003e\r\n’Twas I, ’twas I, say thousands, gave the wound.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp class=\"noindent\"\u003e\r\nThus many that had no share in the murder wetted their hands and swords in\r\nblood, and came and showed them to Otho, presenting memorials suing for a\r\ngratuity. Not less than one hundred and twenty were identified afterwards from\r\ntheir written petitions; all of whom Vitellius sought out and put to death.\r\nThere came also into the camp Marius Celsus, and was accused by many voices of\r\nencouraging the soldiers to assist Galba, and was demanded to death by the\r\nmultitude. Otho had no desire for this, yet, fearing an absolute denial, he\r\nprofessed that he did not wish to take him off so soon, having many matters yet\r\nto learn from him; and so committed him safe to the custody of those he most\r\nconfided in.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nForthwith a senate was convened, and as if they were not the same men, or had\r\nother gods to swear by, they took that oath in Otho’s name which he himself had\r\ntaken in Galba’s and had broken; and withal conferred on him the titles of\r\nCaesar and Augustus; whilst the dead carcasses of the slain lay yet in their\r\nconsular robes in the marketplace. As for their heads, when they could make no\r\nother use of them, Vinius’s they sold to his daughter for two thousand five\r\nhundred drachmas; Piso’s was begged by his wife Verania; Galba’s they gave to\r\nPatrobius’s servants; who when they had it, after all sorts of abuse and\r\nindignities, tumbled it into the place where those that suffer death by the\r\nemperor’s orders are usually cast, called Sessorium. Galba’s body was conveyed\r\naway by Priscus Helvidius by Otho’s permission, and buried in the night by\r\nArgius, his freedman.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThus you have the history of Galba, a person inferior to few Romans, either for\r\nbirth or riches, rather exceeding all of his time in both, having lived in\r\ngreat honor and reputation in the reigns of five emperors, insomuch that he\r\noverthrew Nero rather by his fame and repute in the world than by actual force\r\nand power. Of all the others that joined in Nero’s deposition, some were by\r\ngeneral consent regarded as unworthy, others had only themselves to vote them\r\ndeserving of the empire. To him the title was offered, and by him it was\r\naccepted; and simply lending his name to Vindex’s attempt, he gave to what had\r\nbeen called rebellion before, the name of a civil war, by the presence of one\r\nthat was accounted fit to govern. And, therefore, as he considered that he had\r\nnot so much sought the position as the position had sought him, he proposed to\r\ncommand those whom Nymphidius and Tigellinus had wheedled into obedience, no\r\notherwise than Scipio formerly and Fabricius and Camillus had commanded the\r\nRomans of their times. But being now overcome with age, he was indeed among the\r\ntroops and legions an upright ruler upon the antique model; but for the rest,\r\ngiving himself up to Vinius, Laco, and his freedmen, who made their gain of all\r\nthings, no otherwise than Nero had done to his insatiate favorites, he left\r\nnone behind him to wish him still in power, though many to compassionate his\r\ndeath.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003ca id=\"chap68\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eOTHO\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThe new emperor went early in the morning to the capitol, and sacrificed; and,\r\nhaving commanded Marius Celsus to be brought, he saluted him, and with obliging\r\nlanguage desired him rather to forget his accusation than remember his\r\nacquittal; to which Celsus answered neither meanly nor ungratefully, that his\r\nvery crime ought to recommend his integrity, since his guilt had been his\r\nfidelity to Galba, from whom he had never received any personal obligations.\r\nUpon which they were both of them admired by those that were present, and\r\napplauded by the soldiers.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIn the senate, Otho said much in a gentle and popular strain. He was to have\r\nbeen consul for part of that year himself, but he gave the office to Virginius\r\nRufus, and displaced none that had been named for the consulship by either Nero\r\nor Galba. Those that were remarkable for their age and dignity he promoted to\r\nthe priest-hoods; and restored the remains of their fortunes, that had not yet\r\nbeen sold, to all those senators that were banished by Nero and recalled by\r\nGalba. So that the nobility and chief of the people, who were at first\r\napprehensive that no human creature, but some supernatural penal, or vindictive\r\npower had seized the empire, began now to flatter themselves with hopes of a\r\ngovernment that smiled upon them thus early.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBesides, nothing gratified or gained the whole Roman people more than his\r\njustice in relation to Tigellinus. It was not seen how he was in fact already\r\nsuffering punishment, not only by the very terror of retribution which he saw\r\nthe whole city requiring as a just debt, but with several incurable diseases\r\nalso; not to mention those unhallowed frightful excesses among impure and\r\nprostituted women, to which, at the very close of life, his lewd nature clung,\r\nand in them gasped out, as it were, its last; these, in the opinion of all\r\nreasonable men, being themselves the extremest punishment, and equal to many\r\ndeaths. But it was felt like a grievance by people in general that he continued\r\nyet to see the light of day, who had been the occasion of the loss of it to so\r\nmany persons, and such persons, as had died by his means. Wherefore Otho\r\nordered him to be sent for, just as he was contriving his escape by means of\r\nsome vessels that lay ready for him on the coast near where he lived, in the\r\nneighborhood of Sinuessa. At first he endeavored to corrupt the messenger, by a\r\nlarge sum of money, to favor his design; but when he found this was to no\r\npurpose, he made him as considerable a present, as if he had really connived at\r\nit, only entreating him to stay till he had shaved; and so took that\r\nopportunity, and with his razor dispatched himself.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAnd while giving the people this most righteous satisfaction of their desires,\r\nfor himself he seemed to have no sort of regard for any private injuries of his\r\nown. And at first, to please the populace, he did not refuse to be called Nero\r\nin the theater, and did not interfere when some persons displayed Nero’s\r\nstatues to public view. And Cluvius Rufus says, imperial letters, such as are\r\nsent with couriers, went into Spain with the name of Nero affixed adoptively to\r\nthat of Otho; but as soon as he perceived this gave offense to the chief and\r\nmost distinguished citizens, it was omitted.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter he had begun to model the government in this manner, the paid soldiers\r\nbegan to murmur, and endeavored to make him suspect and chastise the nobility,\r\neither really out of a concern for his safety, or wishing, upon this pretense,\r\nto stir up trouble and warfare. Thus, whilst Crispinus, whom he had ordered to\r\nbring him the seventeenth cohort from Ostia, began to collect what he wanted\r\nafter it was dark, and was putting the arms upon the wagons, some of the most\r\nturbulent cried out that Crispinus was disaffected, that the senate was\r\npracticing something against the emperor, and that those arms were to be\r\nemployed against Caesar, and not for him. When this report was once set afoot,\r\nit got the belief and excited the passions of many; they broke out into\r\nviolence; some seized the wagons, and others slew Crispinus and two centurions\r\nthat opposed them; and the whole number of them, arraying themselves in their\r\narms, and encouraging one another to stand by Caesar, marched to Rome. And\r\nhearing there that eighty of the senators were at supper with Otho, they flew\r\nto the palace, and declared it was a fair opportunity to take off Caesar’s\r\nenemies at one stroke. A general alarm ensued of an immediate coming sack of\r\nthe city. All were in confusion about the palace, and Otho himself in no small\r\nconsternation, being not only concerned for the senators (some of whom had\r\nbrought their wives to supper thither), but also feeling himself to be an\r\nobject of alarm and suspicion to them, whose eyes he saw fixed on him in\r\nsilence and terror. Therefore he gave orders to the prefects to address the\r\nsoldiers and do their best to pacify them, while he bade the guests rise, and\r\nleave by another door. They had only just made their way out, when the soldiers\r\nrushed into the room, and called out, “Where are Caesar’s enemies?” Then Otho,\r\nstanding up on his couch, made use both of arguments and entreaties, and by\r\nactual tears at last, with great difficulty, persuaded them to desist. The next\r\nday he went to the camp, and distributed a bounty of twelve hundred and fifty\r\ndrachmas a man amongst them; then commended them for the regard and zeal they\r\nhad for his safety, but told them, that there were some who were intriguing\r\namong them, who not only accused his own clemency, but had also misrepresented\r\ntheir loyalty; and, therefore, he desired their assistance in doing justice\r\nupon them. To which when they all consented, he was satisfied with the\r\nexecution of two only, whose deaths he knew would be regretted by no one man in\r\nthe whole army.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nSuch conduct, so little expected from him, was rewarded by some with gratitude\r\nand confidence; others looked upon his behavior as a course to which necessity\r\ndrove him, to gain the people to the support of the war. For now there were\r\ncertain tidings that Vitellius had assumed the sovereign title and authority,\r\nand frequent expresses brought accounts of new accessions to him; others,\r\nhowever, came, announcing that the Pannonian, Dalmatian, and Moesian legions,\r\nwith their officers, adhered to Otho. Erelong also came favorable letters from\r\nMucianus and Vespasian, generals of two formidable armies, the one in Syria,\r\nthe other in Judaea, to assure him of their firmness to his interest: in\r\nconfidence whereof he was so exalted, that he wrote to Vitellius not to attempt\r\nanything beyond his post; and offered him large sums of money and a city, where\r\nhe might live his time out in pleasure and ease. These overtures at first were\r\nresponded to by Vitellius with equivocating civilities; which soon, however,\r\nturned into an interchange of angry words; and letters passed between the two,\r\nconveying bitter and shameful terms of reproach, which were not false indeed,\r\nfor that matter, only it was senseless and ridiculous for each to assail the\r\nother with accusations to which both alike must plead guilty. For it were hard\r\nto determine which of the two had been most profuse, most effeminate, which was\r\nmost a novice in military affairs, and most involved in debt through previous\r\nwant of means.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs to the prodigies and apparitions that happened about this time, there were\r\nmany reported which none could answer for, or which were told in different\r\nways, but one which everybody actually saw with their eyes was the statue in\r\nthe capitol, of Victory carried in a chariot, with the reins dropped out of her\r\nhands, as if she were grown too weak to hold them any longer; and a second,\r\nthat Caius Caesar’s statue in the island of Tiber, without any earthquake or\r\nwind to account for it, turned round from west to east; and this they say,\r\nhappened about the time when Vespasian and his party first openly began to put\r\nthemselves forward. Another incident, which the people in general thought an\r\nevil sign, was the inundation of the Tiber; for though it happened at a time\r\nwhen rivers are usually at their fullest, yet such height of water and so\r\ntremendous a flood had never been known before, nor such a destruction of\r\nproperty, great part of the city being under water, and especially the corn\r\nmarket, so that it occasioned a great dearth for several days.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBut when news was now brought that Caecina and Valens, commanding for\r\nVitellius, had possessed themselves of the Alps, Otho sent Dolabella (a\r\npatrician, who was suspected by the soldiery of some ill design), for whatever\r\nreason, whether it were fear of him or of anyone else, to the town of Aquinum,\r\nto give encouragement there; and proceeding then to choose which of the\r\nmagistrates should go with him to the war, he named amongst the rest Lucius,\r\nVitellius’s brother, without distinguishing him by any new marks either of his\r\nfavor or displeasure. He also took the greatest precautions for Vitellius’s\r\nwife and mother, that they might be safe, and free from all apprehension for\r\nthemselves. He made Flavius Sabinus, Vespasian’s brother, governor of Rome,\r\neither in honor to the memory of Nero, who had advanced him formerly to that\r\ncommand, which Galba had taken away, or else to show his confidence in\r\nVespasian by his favor to his brother.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAfter he came to Brixillum, a town of Italy near the Po, he stayed behind\r\nhimself, and ordered the army to march under the conduct of Marius Celsus,\r\nSuetonius Paulinus, Gallus, and Spurina, all men of experience and reputation,\r\nbut unable to carry their own plans and purposes into effect, by reason of the\r\nungovernable temper of the army, which would take orders from none but the\r\nemperor whom they themselves had made their master. Nor was the enemy under\r\nmuch better discipline, the soldiers there also being haughty and disobedient\r\nupon the same account, but they were more experienced and used to hard work;\r\nwhereas Otho’s men were soft from their long easy living and lack of service,\r\nhaving spent most of their time in theaters and at state-shows and on the\r\nstage; while moreover they tried to cover their deficiencies by arrogance and\r\nvain display, pretending to decline their duty not because they were unable to\r\ndo the thing commanded but because they thought themselves above it. So that\r\nSpurina had like to have been cut in pieces for attempting to force them to\r\ntheir work; they assailed him with insolent language, accusing him of a design\r\nto betray and ruin Caesar’s interest; nay, some of them that were in drink\r\nforced his tent in the night, and demanded money for the expenses of their\r\njourney, which they must at once take, they said, to the emperor, to complain\r\nof him.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHowever, the contemptuous treatment they met with at Placentia did for the\r\npresent good service to Spurina, and to the cause of Otho. For Vitellius’s men\r\nmarched up to the walls, and upbraided Otho’s upon the ramparts, calling them\r\nplayers, dancers, idle spectators of Pythian and Olympic games, but novices in\r\nthe art of war, who never so much as looked on at a battle; mean souls, that\r\ntriumphed in the beheading of Galba, an old man unarmed, but had no desire to\r\nlook real enemies in the face. Which reproaches so inflamed them, that they\r\nkneeled at Spurina’s feet, entreated him to give his orders, and assured him no\r\ndanger or toil should be too great or too difficult for them. Whereupon when\r\nVitellius’s forces made a vigorous attack on the town, and brought up numerous\r\nengines against the walls, the besieged bravely repulsed them, and, repelling\r\nthe enemy with great slaughter, secured the safety of a noble city, one of the\r\nmost flourishing places in Italy.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nBesides, it was observed that Otho’s officers were much more inoffensive, both\r\ntowards the public and to private men, than those of Vitellius; among whom was\r\nCaecina, who used neither the language nor the apparel of a citizen; an\r\noverbearing, foreign-seeming man, of gigantic stature and always dressed in\r\ntrews and sleeves, after the manner of the Gauls, whilst he conversed with\r\nRoman officials and magistrates. His wife, too, traveled along with him, riding\r\nin splendid attire on horseback, with a chosen body of cavalry to escort her.\r\nAnd Fabius Valens, the other general, was so rapacious, that neither what he\r\nplundered from enemies nor what he stole or got as gifts and bribes from his\r\nfriends and allies could satisfy his wishes. And it was said that it was in\r\norder to have time to raise money that he had marched so slowly that he was not\r\npresent at the former attack. But some lay the blame on Caecina, saying, that\r\nout of a desire to gain the victory by himself before Fabius joined him, he\r\ncommitted sundry other errors of lesser consequence, and by engaging\r\nunseasonably and when he could not do so thoroughly, he very nearly brought all\r\nto ruin.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nWhen he found himself beat off at Placentia, he set off to attack Cremona,\r\nanother large and rich city. In the meantime, Annius Gallus marched to join\r\nSpurina at Placentia; but having intelligence that the siege was raised, and\r\nthat Cremona was in danger, he turned to its relief, and encamped just by the\r\nenemy, where he was daily reinforced by other officers. Caecina placed a strong\r\nambush of heavy infantry in some rough and woody country, and gave orders to\r\nhis horse to advance, and if the enemy should charge them, then to make a slow\r\nretreat, and draw them into the snare. But his stratagem was discovered by some\r\ndeserters to Celsus, who attacked with a good body of horse, but followed the\r\npursuit cautiously, and succeeded in surrounding and routing the troops in the\r\nambuscade; and if the infantry which he ordered up from the camp had come soon\r\nenough to sustain the horse, Caecina’s whole army, in all appearance, had been\r\ntotally routed. But Paulinus, moving too slowly, was accused of acting with a\r\ndegree of needless caution not to have been expected from one of his\r\nreputation. So that the soldiers incensed Otho against him, accused him of\r\ntreachery, and boasted loudly that the victory had been in their power, and\r\nthat if it was not complete, it was owing to the mismanagement of their\r\ngenerals; all which Otho did not so much believe as he was willing to appear\r\nnot to disbelieve. He therefore sent his brother Titianus, with Proculus, the\r\nprefect of the guards, to the army, where the latter was general in reality,\r\nand the former in appearance. Celsus and Paulinus had the title of friends and\r\ncounselors, but not the least authority or power. At the same time, there was\r\nnothing but quarrel and disturbance amongst the enemy, especially where Valens\r\ncommanded; for the soldiers here, being informed of what had happened at the\r\nambuscade, were enraged because they had not been permitted to be present to\r\nstrike a blow in defense of the lives of so many men that had died in that\r\naction. Valens, with much difficulty, quieted their fury, after they had now\r\nbegun to throw missiles at him, and quitting his camp, joined Caecina.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout this time, Otho came to Bedriacum, a little town near Cremona, to the\r\ncamp, and called a council of war; where Proculus and Titianus declared for\r\ngiving battle, while the soldiers were flushed with their late success, saying\r\nthey ought not to lose their time and opportunity and present height of\r\nstrength, and wait for Vitellius to arrive out of Gaul. But Paulinus told them\r\nthat the enemy’s whole force was present, and that there was no body of reserve\r\nbehind; but that Otho, if he would not be too precipitate, and choose the\r\nenemy’s time, instead of his own, for the battle, might expect reinforcements\r\nout of Moesia and Pannonia, not inferior in numbers to the troops that were\r\nalready present. He thought it probable, too, that the soldiers, who were then\r\nin heart before they were joined, would not be less so when the forces were all\r\ncome up. Besides, the deferring battle could not be inconvenient to them that\r\nwere sufficiently provided with all necessaries; but the others, being in an\r\nenemy’s country, must needs be exceedingly straitened in a little time. Marius\r\nCelsus was of Paulinus’s opinion; Annius Gallus, being absent and under the\r\nsurgeon’s hands through a fall from his horse, was consulted by letter, and\r\nadvised Otho to stay for those legions that were marching from Moesia. But\r\nafter all he did not follow the advice; and the opinion of those that declared\r\nfor a battle prevailed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThere are several reasons given for this determination, but the most apparent\r\nis this; that the praetorian soldiers, as they are called, who serve as guards,\r\nnot relishing the military discipline which they now had begun a little more to\r\nexperience, and longing for their amusements and unwarlike life among the shows\r\nof Rome, would not be commanded, but were eager for a battle, imagining that\r\nupon the first onset they should carry all before them. Otho also himself seems\r\nnot to have shown the proper fortitude in bearing up against the uncertainty,\r\nand, out of effeminacy and want of use, had not patience for the calculations\r\nof danger, and was so uneasy at the apprehension of it, that he shut his eyes,\r\nand like one going to leap from a precipice, left everything to fortune. This\r\nis the account Secundus the rhetorician, who was his secretary, gave of the\r\nmatter. But others would tell you that there were many movements in both armies\r\nfor acting in concert; and if it were possible for them to agree, then they\r\nshould proceed to choose one of their most experienced officers that were\r\npresent; if not, they should convene the senate, and invest it with the power\r\nof election. And it is not improbable that, neither of the emperors then\r\nbearing the title having really any reputation, such purposes were really\r\nentertained among the genuine, serviceable, and sober-minded part of the\r\nsoldiers. For what could be more odious and unreasonable than that the evils\r\nwhich the Roman citizens had formerly thought it so lamentable to inflict upon\r\neach other for the sake of a Sylla or a Marius, a Caesar or a Pompey, should\r\nnow be undergone anew, for the object of letting the empire pay the expenses of\r\nthe gluttony and intemperance of Vitellius, or the looseness and effeminacy of\r\nOtho? It is thought that Celsus, upon such reflections, protracted the time in\r\norder to a possible accommodation; and that Otho pushed on things to an\r\nextremity to prevent it.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nHe himself returned to Brixillum, which was another false step, both because he\r\nwithdrew from the combatants all the motives of respect and desire to gain his\r\nfavor, which his presence would have supplied, and because he weakened the army\r\nby detaching some of his best and most faithful troops for his horse and foot\r\nguards.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAbout the same time also happened a skirmish on the Po. As Caecina was laying a\r\nbridge over it, Otho’s men attacked him, and tried to prevent it. And when they\r\ndid not succeed, on their putting into their boats torchwood with a quantity of\r\nsulphur and pitch, the wind on the river suddenly caught their material that\r\nthey had prepared against the enemy, and blew it into a light. First came\r\nsmoke, and then a clear flame, and the men, getting into great confusion and\r\njumping overboard, upset the boats, and put themselves ludicrously at the mercy\r\nof their enemies. Also the Germans attacked Otho’s gladiators upon a small\r\nisland in the river, routed them, and killed a good many.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAll which made the soldiers at Bedriacum full of anger, and eagerness to be led\r\nto battle. So Proculus led them out of Bedriacum to a place fifty furlongs off,\r\nwhere he pitched his camp so ignorantly and with such a ridiculous want of\r\nforesight, that the soldiers suffered extremely for want of water, though it\r\nwas the spring time, and the plains all around were full of running streams and\r\nrivers that never dried up. The next day he proposed to attack the enemy, first\r\nmaking a march of not less than a hundred furlongs; but to this Paulinus\r\nobjected, saying they ought to wait, and not immediately after a journey engage\r\nmen who would have been standing in their arms and arranging themselves for\r\nbattle at their leisure, whilst they were making a long march with all their\r\nbeasts of burden and their camp followers to encumber them. As the generals\r\nwere arguing about this matter, a Numidian courier came from Otho with orders\r\nto lose no time, but give battle. Accordingly they consented, and moved. As\r\nsoon as Caecina had notice, he was much surprised, and quitted his post on the\r\nriver to hasten to the camp. In the meantime, the men had armed themselves\r\nmostly, and were receiving the word from Valens; so while the legions took up\r\ntheir position, they sent out the best of their horse in advance.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOtho’s foremost troops, upon some groundless rumor, took up the notion that the\r\ncommanders on the other side would come over; and accordingly, upon their first\r\napproach, they saluted them with the friendly title of fellow-soldiers. But the\r\nothers returned the compliment with anger and disdainful words; which not only\r\ndisheartened those that had given the salutation, but excited suspicions of\r\ntheir fidelity amongst the others on their side, who had not. This caused a\r\nconfusion at the very first onset. And nothing else that followed was done upon\r\nany plan; the baggage-carriers, mingling up with the fighting men, created\r\ngreat disorder and division, as well as the nature of the ground; the ditches\r\nand pits in which were so many, that they were forced to break their ranks to\r\navoid and go round them, and so to fight without order and in small parties.\r\nThere were but two legions, one of Vitellius’s, called The Ravenous, and\r\nanother of Otho’s, called The Assistant, that got out into the open outspread\r\nlevel and engaged in proper form, fighting, one main body against the other,\r\nfor some length of time. Otho’s men were strong and bold, but had never been in\r\nbattle before; Vitellius’s had seen many wars, but were old and past their\r\nstrength. So Otho’s legion charged boldly, drove back their opponents, and took\r\nthe eagle, killing pretty nearly every man in the first rank, till the others,\r\nfull of rage and shame, returned the charge, slew Orfidius, the commander of\r\nthe legion, and took several standards. Varus Alfenus, with his Batavians, who\r\nare the natives of an island of the Rhine, and are esteemed the best of the\r\nGerman horse, fell upon the gladiators, who had a reputation both for valor and\r\nskill in fighting. Some few of these did their duty, but the greatest part of\r\nthem made towards the river, and, falling in with some cohorts stationed there,\r\nwere cut off. But none behaved so ill as the praetorians, who, without ever so\r\nmuch as meeting the enemy, ran away, broke through their own body that stood,\r\nand put them into disorder. Notwithstanding this, many of Otho’s men routed\r\nthose that were opposed to them, broke right into them, and forced their way to\r\nthe camp through the very middle of their conquerors.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs for their commanders, neither Proculus nor Paulinus ventured to reenter with\r\nthe troops; they turned aside, and avoided the soldiers, who had already\r\ncharged the miscarriage upon their officers. Annius Gallus received into the\r\ntown and rallied the scattered parties, and encouraged them with an assurance\r\nthat the battle was a drawn one and the victory had in many parts been theirs.\r\nMarius Celsus, collecting the officers, urged the public interest; Otho\r\nhimself, if he were a brave man, would not, after such an expense of Roman\r\nblood, attempt anything further; especially since even Cato and Scipio, though\r\nthe liberty of Rome was then at stake, had been accused of being too prodigal\r\nof so many brave men’s lives as were lost in Africa, rather than submit to\r\nCaesar after the battle of Pharsalia had gone against them. For though all\r\npersons are equally subject to the caprice of fortune, yet all good men have\r\none advantage she cannot deny, which is this, to act reasonably under\r\nmisfortunes.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis language was well accepted amongst the officers, who sounded the private\r\nsoldiers, and found them desirous of peace; and Titianus also gave directions\r\nthat envoys should be sent in order to a treaty. And accordingly it was agreed\r\nthat the conference should be between Celsus and Gallus on one part, and Valens\r\nwith Caecina on the other. As the two first were upon their journey, they met\r\nsome centurions, who told them the troops were already in motion, marching for\r\nBedriacum, but that they themselves were deputed by their generals to carry\r\nproposals for an accommodation. Celsus and Gallus expressed their approval, and\r\nrequested them to turn back and carry them to Caecina. However, Celsus, upon\r\nhis approach, was in danger from the vanguard, who happened to be some of the\r\nhorse that had suffered at the ambush. For as soon as they saw him, they\r\nhallooed, and were coming down upon him; but the centurions came forward to\r\nprotect him, and the other officers crying out and bidding them desist, Caecina\r\ncame up to inform himself of the tumult, which he quieted, and, giving a\r\nfriendly greeting to Celsus, took him in his company and proceeded towards\r\nBedriacum. Titianus, meantime, had repented of having sent the messengers; and\r\nplaced those of the soldiers who were more confident upon the walls once again,\r\nbidding the others also go and support them. But when Caecina rode up on his\r\nhorse and held out his hand, no one did or said to the contrary; those on the\r\nwalls greeted his men with salutations, others opened the gates and went out,\r\nand mingled freely with those they met; and instead of acts of hostility, there\r\nwas nothing but mutual shaking of hands and congratulations, everyone taking\r\nthe oaths and submitting to Vitellius.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThis is the account which the most of those that were present at the battle\r\ngive of it, yet own that the disorder they were in, and the absence of any\r\nunity of action would not give them leave to be certain as to particulars. And\r\nwhen I myself traveled afterwards over the field of battle, Mestrius Florus, a\r\nman of consular degree, one of those who had been, not willingly, but by\r\ncommand, in attendance on Otho at the time, pointed out to me an ancient\r\ntemple, and told me, that as he went that way after the battle, he observed a\r\nheap of bodies piled up there to such a height, that those on the top of it\r\ntouched the pinnacles of the roof. How it came to be so, he could neither\r\ndiscover himself nor learn from any other person; as indeed, he said, in civil\r\nwars it generally happens that greater numbers are killed when an army is\r\nrouted, quarter not being given, because captives are of no advantage to the\r\nconquerors; but why the carcasses should be heaped up after that manner is not\r\neasy to determine.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nOtho, at first, as it frequently happens, received some uncertain rumors of the\r\nissue of the battle. But when some of the wounded that returned from the field\r\ninformed him rightly of it, it is not, indeed, so much to be wondered at that\r\nhis friends should bid him not give all up as lost or let his courage sink; but\r\nthe feeling shown by the soldiers is something that exceeds all belief. There\r\nwas not one of them would either go over to the conqueror or show any\r\ndisposition to make terms for himself, as if their leader’s cause was\r\ndesperate; on the contrary, they crowded his gates, called out to him with the\r\ntitle of emperor, and as soon as he appeared, cried out and entreated him,\r\ncatching hold of his hand, and throwing themselves upon the ground, and with\r\nall the moving language of tears and persuasion, besought him to stand by them,\r\nnot abandon them to their enemies, but employ in his service their lives and\r\npersons, which would not cease to be his so long as they had breath; so urgent\r\nwas their zealous and universal importunity. And one obscure and private\r\nsoldier, after he had drawn his sword, addressed himself to Otho: “By this,\r\nCaesar, judge our fidelity; there is not a man amongst us but would strike thus\r\nto serve you;” and so stabbed himself. Notwithstanding this, Otho stood serene\r\nand unshaken, and, with a face full of constancy and composure, turned himself\r\nabout and looked at them, replying thus: “This day, my fellow-soldiers, which\r\ngives me such proofs of your affection, is preferable even to that on which you\r\nsaluted me emperor; deny me not, therefore, the yet higher satisfaction of\r\nlaying down my life for the preservation of so many brave men; in this, at\r\nleast, let me be worthy of the empire, that is, to die for it. I am of opinion\r\nthe enemy has neither gained an entire nor a decisive victory; I have advice\r\nthat the Moesian army is not many days’ journey distant, on its march to the\r\nAdriatic; Asia, Syria, and Egypt, and the legions that are serving against the\r\nJews, declare for us; the senate is also with us, and the wives and children of\r\nour opponents are in our power; but alas, it is not in defense of Italy against\r\nHannibal or Pyrrhus or the Cimbri that we fight; Romans combat here against\r\nRomans, and, whether we conquer or are defeated, our country suffers and we\r\ncommit a crime: victory, to whichever it fall, is gained at her expense.\r\nBelieve it many times over, I can die with more honor than I can reign. For I\r\ncannot see at all, how I should do any such great good to my country by gaining\r\nthe victory, as I shall by dying to establish peace and unanimity and to save\r\nItaly from such another unhappy day.”\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nAs soon as he had done, he was resolute against all manner of argument or\r\npersuasion, and taking leave of his friends and the senators that were present,\r\nhe bade them depart, and wrote to those that were absent, and sent letters to\r\nthe towns, that they might have every honor and facility in their journey. Then\r\nhe sent for Cocceius, his brother’s son, who was yet a boy, and bade him be in\r\nno apprehension of Vitellius, whose mother and wife and family he had treated\r\nwith the same tenderness as his own; and also told him that this had been his\r\nreason for delaying to adopt him, which he had meant to do, as his son; he had\r\ndesired that he might share his power, if he conquered, but not be involved in\r\nhis ruin, if he failed. “Take notice,” he added, “my boy, of these my last\r\nwords, that you neither too negligently forget, nor too zealously remember,\r\nthat Caesar was your uncle.” By and by he heard a tumult amongst the soldiers\r\nat the door, who were treating the senators with menaces for preparing to\r\nwithdraw; upon which, out of regard to their safety, he showed himself once\r\nmore in public, but not with a gentle aspect and in a persuading manner as\r\nbefore; on the contrary, with a countenance that discovered indignation and\r\nauthority, he commanded such as were disorderly to leave the place, and was not\r\ndisobeyed.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nIt was now evening, and feeling thirsty, he drank some water, and then took two\r\ndaggers that belonged to him, and when he had carefully examined their edges,\r\nhe laid one of them down, and put the other in his robe, under his arm, then\r\ncalled his servants, and distributed some money amongst them, but not\r\ninconsiderately, nor like one too lavish of what was not his own; for to some\r\nhe gave more, to others less, all strictly in moderation, and distinguishing\r\nevery one’s particular merit. When this was done, he dismissed them, and passed\r\nthe rest of the night in so sound a sleep, that the officers of his bedchamber\r\nheard him snore. In the morning, he called for one of his freedmen, who had\r\nassisted him in arranging about the senators, and bade him bring him an account\r\nif they were safe. Being informed they were all well and wanted nothing, “Go\r\nthen,” said he, “and show yourself to the soldiers, lest they should cut you to\r\npieces for being accessory to my death.” As soon as he was gone, he held his\r\nsword upright under him with both his hands, and falling upon it, expired with\r\nno more than one single groan, to express his sense of the pang, or to inform\r\nthose that waited without. When his servants therefore raised their\r\nexclamations of grief, the whole camp and city were at once filled with\r\nlamentation; the soldiers immediately broke in at the doors with a loud cry, in\r\npassionate distress, and accusing themselves that they had been so negligent in\r\nlooking after that life which was laid down to preserve theirs. Nor would a man\r\nof them quit the body to secure his own safety with the approaching enemy; but\r\nhaving raised a funeral pile, and attired the body, they bore it thither,\r\narrayed in their arms, those among them greatly exulting, who succeeded in\r\ngetting first under the bier and becoming its bearers. Of the others, some\r\nthrew themselves down before the body and kissed his wound, others grasped his\r\nhand, and others that were at a distance knelt down to do him obeisance. There\r\nwere some who, after putting their torches to the pile, slew themselves, though\r\nthey had not, so far as appeared, either any particular obligations to the\r\ndead, or reason to apprehend ill usage from the victor. Simply it would seem,\r\nno king, legal or illegal, had ever been possessed with so extreme and vehement\r\na passion to command others, as was that of these men to obey Otho. Nor did\r\ntheir love of him cease with his death; it survived and changed erelong into a\r\nmortal hatred to his successor, as will be shown in its proper place.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\nThey placed the remains of Otho in the earth, and raised over them a monument\r\nwhich neither by its size nor the pomp of its inscription might excite\r\nhostility. I myself have seen it, at Brixillum; a plain structure, and the\r\nepitaph only this: To the memory of Marcus Otho. He died in his thirty-eighth\r\nyear, after a short reign of about three months, his death being as much\r\napplauded as his life was censured; for if he lived not better than Nero, he\r\ndied more nobly. The soldiers were displeased with Pollio, one of their two\r\nprefects, who bade them immediately swear allegiance to Vitellius; and when\r\nthey understood that some of the senators were still upon the spot, they made\r\nno opposition to the departure of the rest, but only disturbed the tranquillity\r\nof Virginius Rufus with an offer of the government, and moving in one body to\r\nhis house in arms, they first entreated him, and then demanded of him to accept\r\nof the empire, or at least to be their mediator. But he, that refused to\r\ncommand them when conquerors, thought it ridiculous to pretend to it now they\r\nwere beat, and was unwilling to go as their envoy to the Germans, whom in past\r\ntime he had compelled to do various things that they had not liked; and for\r\nthese reasons he slipped away through a private door. As soon as the soldiers\r\nperceived this, they owned Vitellius, and so got their pardon, and served under\r\nCaecina.\r\n\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\u003c!–end chapter–\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003c/article\u003e"}],"SectionSequence":["Back Link","Work Title","Deck","Author","Period","Era","Composition","Date Note","Region","Terra Avita","Terra Avita Region","Modern Country","Original Title","Language","Primary Discipline","Secondary Discipline","Tradition","Full Versions","Core Thesis","Classification","Arguments","Influence","Significance","Evidence Note","Full Text"],"Counts":{"ContextCards":3,"GeoCards":4,"DisciplineCards":2,"Links":11,"Sections":25,"Styles":3,"Scripts":1}}