FORMATION OF EMPIRE BEYOND ITALY.
SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR, 200-196 B.C. (1)
Battle of Cynoscephalae, 197 B.C.
Non dubia res fuit; extemplo terga vertere Macedones, terrore primo bestiarum aversi. Et ceteri quidem hos pulsos sequebantur; unus e tribunis militum, ex tempore capto consilio, cum viginti signorum militibus, relicta ea parte suorum, quae 5 haud dubie vincebat, brevi circuitu dextrum cornu hostium aversum invadit. Nullam aciem ab tergo adortus non turbasset; ceterum ad communem omnium in tali re trepidationem accessit, quod phalanx Macedonum, gravis atque immobilis, nec 10 circumagere se poterat, nec hoc, qui a fronte, paulo ante pedem referentes, tunc ultro territis instabant, patiebantur. Ad hoc loco etiam premebantur, quia iugum, ex quo pugnaverant, dum per proclive pulsos insequuntur, tradiderant hosti ad terga sua circumducto. 15 Paulisper in medio caesi, deinde omissis plerique armis capessunt fugam. Philippus cum paucis peditum equitumque primo tumulum altiorem inter ceteros cepit, ut specularetur, quae in laeva parte suorum fortuna esset; deinde, postquam fugam 20 effusam animadvertit et omnia circa iuga signis atque armis fulgere, tum et ipse acie excessit.
Livy, xxxiii. 9, 10.
Context. Philip V, King of Macedon, had made a treaty with Hannibal in 215 B.C., and provoked the first Macedonian War (214-205 B.C.) by an attack on Apollonia in Illyria, and the capture of the port of Oricum in Epirus. The Romans now resolved to make Philip suffer for the trouble he had caused them by interfering in the war with Hannibal. A casus belli was soon found in the Athenian Embassy to Rome (201 B.C.) asking for help against Philip.
3-4 unus . . . militum. Ihne says ‘He seized the favourable opportunity to shape the battle which had begun without plan into a brilliant victory for Rome.’
5 signorum (= manipulorum) = companies, i.e. with some 3500 men.
13 loco premebantur = they (i.e. the phalanx) began to feel the disadvantage of position.—Rawlins.
16 in medio caesi = cut down from both sides.—R.
Cynoscephalae (Dog’s Heads), a low chain of hills between Pherae and Scotussa in Thessaly.
Results of the Battle. ‘The Romans lost only 700 men. That was the price paid for a victory which laid the Monarchy of Alexander the Great in the dust.’—Ihne.
Terms of Peace, 196 B.C. Macedonia to remain an independent state, but, like Carthage, to lose all her foreign possessions, and to be sunk to the level of a vassal state.
SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR, 200-196 B.C. (2)
Flamininus proclaims the Freedom of Greece, 196 B.C.
Isthmiorum statum ludicrum aderat, semper quidem et alias frequens cum propter spectaculi studium insitum genti, quo certamina omnis generis artium viriumque et pernicitatis visuntur, tum quia propter opportunitatem loci, per duo diversa maria 5 omnium rerum usus ministrantis humano generi, concilium Asiae Graeciaeque is mercatus erat; tum vero non ad solitos modo usus undique convenerant, sed exspectatione erecti, qui deinde status futurus Graeciae, quae sua fortuna esset. Ad spectaculum 10 consederant, et praeco cum tubicine, ut mos est, in mediam aream, unde sollemni carmine ludicrum indici solet, processit et, tuba silentio facto, ita pronuntiat: ‘Senatus Romanus et T. Quinctius imperator, Philippo rege Macedonibusque devictis, 15 liberos, immunes, suis legibus esse iubet Corinthios, Phocenses, Locrensesque omnes et insulam Euboeam et Magnetas, Thessalos, Perrhaebos, Achaeos Phthiotas.’ . . . Esse aliquam in terris gentem, quae sua impensa, suo labore ac periculo bella gerat pro 20 libertate aliorum. Una voce praeconis liberatas omnes Graeciae atque Asiae urbes; hoc spe concipere audacis animi fuisse, ad effectum adducere et virtutis et fortunae ingentis.
Livy, xxxiii. 32, 33 (sel.)
1 Isthmiorum statum ludicrum = time fixed (statum) for the Isthmian Games (celebrated at Corinth every two years).
3-4 quo certamina . . . visuntur = which makes them go to see contests of every kind of artistic performance (artium) and of feats of strength and agility.—Rawlins.
7 concilium is mercatus erat . . . = that gathering was the general rendezvous (mercatus) of . . . mercatus = i. trade, or mart; ii. a festival assemblage (πανήγυρις).
11 in mediam aream = into the centre of the open space (of the stadium).
17 Locrensesque omnes, i.e. E. & W. Locris.
18 Perrhaebos, N. of Thessaly.
Achaeos Phthiotas = the Achaeans who inhabited Phthiotis (S.E. of Thessaly).
19-24 Esse aliquam . . . ingentis: in these words the Greeks express their astonishment and gratitude at the greatness of the boon conferred upon them.
The Freedom of Greece. ‘The Greeks believed with a childlike simplicity that the Romans really cared for their freedom, and that they had crossed the sea with no other object than to deliver Greece from a foreign yoke. . . . Flamininus was a skilful diplomatist, and particularly qualified to sift and settle the affairs of Greece; for he understood the Greek character, and was not inaccessible, like so many other Romans, to Greek views and opinions.’—Ihne.
WAR WITH ANTIOCHUS OF SYRIA, 191-190 B.C.
[A.] Battle of Thermopylae, 191 B.C. Victory due to Cato.
Acilius Glabrio consul adversus Antiochi regis aciem, quam is in Achaia pro angustiis Thermopylarum direxerat, iniquitatibus loci non irritus tantum, sed cum iactura qnoque repulsus esset, nisi circummissus ab eo Porcius Cato, qui tum, iam 5 consularis, tribunus militum a populo factus in exercitu erat, deiectis iugis Callidromi mentis Aetolis, qui praesidio ea tenebant, super imminentem castris regiis collem a tergo subitus apparuisset: quo facto perturbatis Antiochi copiis utrimque irrupere Romani 10 et fusis fugatisque castra ceperunt.
Frontinus, Strategemata, ii. 4. 4.
Context. In 192 B.C. Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, accepted the invitation of the Aetolians, who, since the Peace of 196 B.C., had been snubbed by the Romans, to come to liberate Greece from the tyranny of Rome.
[B.] Battle of Magnesia, 190 B.C.
Tum consule Scipione, cui frater, ille modo victor Carthaginis Africanus, aderat voluntaria legatione, debellari regem placet. Et iam toto cesserat mari, sed nos imus ulterius. Maeandrum 15 ad amnem montemque Sipylum castra ponuntur. Hic rex, incredibile dictu quibus auxiliis, quibus copiis, consederat. Trecenta milia peditum, equitum falcatorumque curruum non minor numerus. Elephantis ad hoc immensae magnitudinis, auro purpura 20 argento et suo ebore fulgentibus aciem utrimque vallaverat. Sed haec omnia praepedita magnitudine sua, ad hoc imbre, qui subito superfusus mira felicitate Persicos arcus corruperat. Primum trepidatio, mox fuga, deinde triumphus fuerunt. 25
Florus, i. 24. 14-18.
Context. In 190 B.C. Lucius Scipio was appointed to carry the war into Asia. Scipio Africanus, who accompanied his brother as Chief of Staff, fell ill at Elaea, the port of Pergamum. His place was taken by Cn. Domitius, an experienced officer.
14-15 Et iam toto cesserat mari, as the result of the decisive defeat, in 190 B.C., of the Syrian fleet off Myonnesus.
15-16 Maeandrum . . . ponuntur. The battle was fought near Magnesia (N.W. of Lydia) at the foot of Mt. Sipylus.
Parallel Passage. Livy, xxxvii. 39-44, ‘The Battle of Magnesia decided the fate of the Syrian Empire, as the battles of Zama and Cynoscephalae had decided the fate of Carthage and Macedonia.’—Ihne.
Deaths of Three Great Men, 183 B.C.
Hannibal, postquam est nuntiatum milites regios in vestibulo esse, postico fugere conatus, ut id quoque occursu militum obsaeptum sensit et omnia circa clausa custodiis dispositis esse, venenum, quod multo ante praeparatum ad tales habebat casus, 5 poposcit. ‘Liberemus,’ inquit, ‘diuturna cura populum Romanum, quando mortem senis exspectare longum censent. Nec magnam nec memorabilem ex inermi proditoque Flamininus victoriam feret.’ Exsecratus deinde in caput regnumque 10 Prusiae, et hospitales deos violatae ab eo fidei testes invocans, poculum exhausit. . . . Trium clarissimorum suae cuiusque gentis virorum non tempore magis congruente comparabilis mors videtur esse, quam quod nemo eorum satis dignum splendore 15 vitae exitum habuit. Nam primum omnes non in patrio solo mortui nec sepulti sunt. Veneno absumpti Hannibal et Philopoemen; exsul Hannibal, proditus ab hospite, captus Philopoemen in carcere et in vinculis exspiravit. Scipio etsi non exsul neque 20 damnatus, die tamen dicta, ad quam non adfuerat reus, absens citatus, voluntarium non sibimet ipse solum sed etiam funeri suo exsilium indixit.
Livy, xxxix, 51, 52 (sel.)
Context. After Zama Hannibal held the highest office (Suffete = L. praetura) at Carthage, and effected useful democratic reforms. However, his political enemies denounced him to Rome as making plans for a new war, and in 195 B.C. he was forced to flee from Carthage and took refuge with Antiochus. After Magnesia, H. found for seven years a safe asylum with Prusias, king of Bithynia; but the Romans could not be at ease so long as H. lived, and Flamininus the Liberator of Greece undertook the inglorious quest of demanding the surrender of Hannibal.
13-15 non tempore magis congruente quam = not so much in coincidence of (congruente, lit. agreeing with) date as.—R.
18 Philopoemen, the heroic chief of the Achaean League, was taken prisoner by Dinocrates, imprisoned in a dungeon at Messene (in carcere, l. 19), and compelled to drink poison.
20-23 Scipio was accused, at the instigation of Cato, by the tribune Naevius (185 B.C.) of having been bribed by Antiochus to procure for him favourable conditions of peace. Too proud to defend himself against such a charge, Scipio retired to his country-seat at Liternum, where by a voluntary act he consigned both himself and his grave to exile (voluntarium . . . indixit).
‘Ingrata patria, ne ossa quidem mea habes.’
Epitaph of Scipio, written by himself.
M. Porcius Cato, 234-149 B.C. (1)
At Cato, censor cum L. Valerio Flacco, severe praefuit ei potestati. Nam et in complures nobiles animadvertit et multas res novas in edictum addidit, qua re luxuria reprimeretur, quae iam tum incipiebat pullulare. Circiter annos octoginta, usque ad extremam 5 aetatem ab adolescentia, rei publicae causa suscipere inimicitias non destitit. A multis tentatus non modo nullum detrimentum existimationis fecit, sed, quoad vixit, virtutum laude crevit.
In omnibus rebus singulari fuit industria: nam 10 et agricola sollers et peritus iuris consultus et magnus imperator et probabilis orator et cupidissimus litterarum fuit. Quarum studium etsi senior arripuerat, tamen tantum progressum fecit, ut non facile reperiri posset neque de Graecis neque de 15 Italicis rebus, quod ei fuerit incognitum. Ab adulescentia confecit orationes. Senex historias scribere instituit. Earum sunt libri vii. Primus continet res gestas regum populi Romani, secundus et tertius unde quaeque civitas orta sit Italica, ob quam rem omnes 20 Origines videtur appellasse.
Nepos, Cato, ii., iii.
1 Censor, 184 B.C., with L. Valerius Flaccus, his great friend and patron, by whom he was introduced to political life.
3 in edictum. The Censors, on their entrance upon office, issued a proclamation or edict, setting forth the principles upon which they intended to act. Cato set forth in his edict that he intended to use his power for the suppression of luxury.
5 pullulare = to spread, increase; lit. to put forth, of plants and animals. Cf. pull-us (our pullet), pu-er, πῶλος (= a foal).
octoginta. This is an exaggeration. He was only eighty-five when he died 149 B.C.
6-7 rei publicae . . . non destitit. Seneca says: Scipio cum hostibus nostris bellum, Cato cum moribus gessit.
7-9 Cato was accused no less than 44 times, but each time acquitted.
11 iuris consultus = lawyer.
12 magnus imperator, e.g. in the 2nd Punic War, and the decisive victory at Thermopylae (191 B.C.) was mainly due to Cato.
probabilis orator = a tolerable, acceptable orator. Oscar Browning.
17-21 His two great works were his treatise De Re Rustica (or De Agri Cultura), the earliest extant work in Latin prose, and his Origines, or accounts of the rise and growth of the Italian nation, the earliest history in Latin prose. ‘It was Cato’s great merit that he asserted the rights of his native language for literary prose composition.’—Ihne.
Cato the Censor. ‘He deserves our highest respect for the defiant and manly spirit that animated him in his untiring contest with the vices of the age.’—Ihne.
M. Porcius Cato. (2)
Iam pauca aratro iugera regiae
Moles relinquent, undique latius
Extenta visentur Lucrino
Stagna lacu platanusque caelebs
Evincet ulmos: tum violaria et
Myrtus et omnis copia narium
Spargent olivetis odorem
Fertilibus domino priori;
Tum spissa ramis laurea fervidos
Excludet ictus. Non ita Romuli
Praescriptum et intonsi Catonis
Auspiciis veterumque norma.
Privatus illis census erat brevis,
Commune magnum: nulla decempedis
Metata privatis opacam
Porticus excipiebat Arcton.
Nec fortuitum spernere caespitem
Leges sinebant, oppida publico
Sumptu iubentes et deorum
Templa novo decorare saxo.
Horace, Odes, II. xv.
Argument. ‘Our palaces and fish-ponds and ornamental gardens are supplanting the cultivation of corn and vines and olives. This is not the spirit of Romulus or of Cato. Their rule was private thrift, public magnificence; private houses of turf, public buildings and temples of hewn stone.’—W.
1 Iam = presently.
1-2 regiae moles = princely piles. moles, lit. masses, of huge buildings.
2-4 undique . . . lacu = and fish-ponds (stagna) of wider extent than the L. lake will be sights to see (visentur).—Wickham.
4 platanus caelebs = the bachelor plane, so called because vines were not wedded to it (i.e. trained upon it).—Gow.
6 omnis copia narium = all that is sweet to smell. Lit. all the fulness of the nostrils.
10 ictus (sc. solis). The point is that formerly trees were stripped to admit the sun to the vines and olives: nowadays the sun is excluded.—Gow.
11 intonsi (= antiqui) = old-fashioned. Cf. Cic.’s use of barbatus.
13 census erat brevis = list of property was short.
14 commune (= τὸ κοινόν) = the common (public) stock.
14-15 decempedis metata privatis = measured with ten-foot rods for private owners. In old days the porticūs were always publicae.
17 fortuitum caespitem = the chance-cut (handy) turf.
20 novo saxo = with fresh-hewn stone, i.e. hewn on purpose.—W.
Parallel Passages. Livy xxxix. 6. 40. 41; Sallust, Catiline 12, 13.
‘Cato saw the greatness of Rome in the olden time, and he endeavoured without success to bring this old time back.’—Ihne.
THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR, 171-168 B.C.
Pydna (Aemilius Paulus), 168 B.C. (1)
Movebat imperii maiestas, gloria viri, ante omnia aetas, quod maior sexaginta annis iuvenum munia in parte praecipua laboris periculique capessebat. Intervallum, quod inter caetratos at phalanges erat, implevit legio, atque aciem hostium interrupit. A 5 tergo caetratis erat, frontem adversus clipeatos habebat: chalcaspides appellabantur. Secundam legionem L. Albinus consularis ducere adversus leucaspidem phalangem iussus; ea media acies hostium fuit. In dextrum cornu, unde circa fluvium 10 commissum proclium erat, elephantos inducit et alas sociorum; et hinc primum fuga Macedonum est orta. Nam sicut pleraque nova commenta mortalium in verbis vim habent, experiendo, cum agi, non quemadmodum agatur edisseri oportet, sine ullo 15 effectu evanescunt, ita tum elephantorum impetum sustinere non poterant, et commenta Macedonum nomen tantum sine usu fuerunt. Elephantorum impetum subsecuti sunt socii nominis Latini, pepuleruntque laevum cornu. 20
Livy, xliv. 41.
Context. Perseus, son of Philip, became King of Macedonia on the death of his father in 179 B.C. He did all he could to prepare for the inevitable struggle with Rome by strengthening Macedonia, posing as the Liberator of Greece, and forming marriage alliances with Seleucus of Syria (the successor of Antiochus), and Prusias of Bithynia. In 174 B.C., the Romans were informed that Perseus was secretly negotiating with Carthage, and after fruitless embassies war was declared. The Senate, after three years of unsuccessful warfare (171-168 B.C.), appointed L. Aemilius Paulus (son of the hero who died at Cannae) to the supreme command in Macedonia.
4 caetratos = Targeteers, armed with the small round shield.
5-7 A tergo . . . habebat (sc. legio prima) = the (first) Legion thus took the Targeteers in the rear, while it faced towards the Shieldmen.—Rawlins.
6 clipeatos = Shieldmen, armed with the large round shield.
7 chalcaspides = Brazen Shields, Right Division of phalanx.
9 leucaspidem = White Shields, Left Division of phalanx.
10 in dextrum cornu (sc. Romanum), i.e. nearest to the sea.
13-15 commenta . . . oportet = lit. the contrivances of men, though in theory (in verbis) they had some importance (vim) yet upon trial (experiendo) when there is need of action and not of discussion (edisseri) how to act. . . .
17 commenta Macedonum. Perh. with reference to Perseus’ contrivances (e.g. by the use of dummy elephants) to prepare his men and horses to make a stand against real elephants.
THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR, 171-168 B.C.
Pydna (Aemilius Paulus), 168 B.C. (2)
In medio secunda legio immissa dissipavit phalangem; neque ulla evidentior causa victoriae fuit, quam quod multa passim proelia erant, quae fluctuantem turbarunt primo, deinde disiecerunt phalangem, cuius confertae et intentis horrentes 5 hastis intolerabiles vires sunt; si carptim aggrediendo circumagere immobilem longitudine et gravitate hastam cogas, confusa strue implicantur: si vero aut ab latere aut ab tergo aliquid tumultus increpuit, ruinae modo turbantur. Sicut tum adversus catervatim 10 incurrentes Romanos et interrupta multifariam acie obviam ire cogebantur, et Romani, quacumque data intervalla essent, insinuabant ordines suos. . . . Diu phalanx a fronte, a lateribus, ab tergo caesa est; postremo, qui ex hostium manibus elapsi erant, 15 inermes ad mare fugientes, quidam aquam etiam ingressi, manus ad eos, qui in classe erant tendentes, suppliciter vitam orabant; et cum scaphas concurrere undique ab navibus cernerent, ad excipiendos sese venire rati, ut caperent potius quam occiderent, 20 longius in aquam, quidam etiam natantes, progressi sunt. Sed cum hostiliter e scaphis caederentur, retro, qui poterant, nando repetentes terram, in aliam foediorem pestem incidebant. Elephanti enim, ab rectoribus ad litus acti, exeuntes obterebant 25 elidebantque.
Livy, xliv. 41, 42.
1 In medio . . . immissa = On the centre the second legion charged (immissa), i.e. into the interstices of the phalanx, which was not preserving its usual close order.—Rawlins.
4-6 fluctuantem . . . vires sunt = first demoralised the phalanx so as to make it waver, (fluctuantem), and then shattered it. Its (aggressive) force, so long as it keeps close order and bristles with couched (intentis) spears, is irresistible (intolerabiles).
6 carptim aggrediendo = by repeated harassing attacks.
10 ruinae modo = in hopeless confusion.—R.
17 classe. The Roman fleet under Octavius was co-operating with the army.
Results of the Battle. Perseus was captured, and his kingdom was divided into four independent parts. The Macedonian phalanx had fought its last great battle.
Character of Paulus. ‘He was a model of the Roman of the best time. He was not, like his contemporary Cato, a onesided worshipper of everything old; but he was a Conservative in the best sense of the word, anxious to preserve old institutions, but at the same time to improve them.’—Ihne.
THIRD PUNIC WAR, 149-146 B.C.
Destruction of Carthage, 146 B.C.
Manilio deinde consule terra marique fervebat obsidio. Operti portus, nudatus est primus et sequens, iam et tertius murus, cum tamen Byrsa, quod nomen arci fuit, quasi altera civitas resistebat. Quamvis profligato urbis excidio tamen fatale Africae nomen 5 Scipionum videbatur. Igitur in alium Scipionem conversa respublica finem belli reposcebat. Sed quem ad modum maxime mortiferi morsus solent esse morientium bestiarum, sic plus negoti fuit cum semiruta Carthagine quam cum integra. Compulsis 10 in unam arcem hostibus portum quoque mari Romanus obstruxerat. Illi alterum sibi portum ab alia urbis parte foderunt, nec ut fugerent; sed qua nemo illos nec evadere posse credebat, inde quasi enata subito classis erupit, cum interim iam diebus, 15 iam noctibus nova aliqua moles, nova machina, nova perditorum hominum manus quasi ex obruto incendio subita de cineribus flamma prodibat. Deploratis novissime rebus triginta sex milia virorum se dederunt quod minus credas—duce Hasdrubale. 20
Florus, II. xv. 11-17 (sel.).
Context. An Embassy was sent from Rome in 157 B.C. to inquire into the affairs of Africa. Among its members was M. Porcius Cato, who, astonished and alarmed at the flourishing condition of Carthage, returned to Rome with the firm conviction that Carthage must be destroyed—delenda est Carthago. A pretext was soon found in the war (151 B.C.) between Carthage and Masinissa, King of Numidia, the ally of Rome. Though the Carthaginians surrendered all their arms and munitions of war, Rome declared that they would have to leave their city and settle ten miles from the sea. The Carthaginians resolved to die rather than give up the sacred soil of their country.
5 profligato = almost finished.
6 in alium Scipionem, i.e. P. Corn. Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Minor, the younger son of Aemilius Paulus (of Pydna) and adopted by P. Scipio, the son of the conqueror of Hannibal.
12 alterum portum, i.e. they pierced the narrow strip of land separating the round naval port (Cothon) from the sea.
18 deploratis = was looked upon as lost, lit. wept for bitterly.
20 duce Hasdrubale: ‘Hasdrubal seems to have deserved the name of the last Carthaginian in the best sense of the word, as a representative of the intensity of the strength, endurance, and patriotism of his race.’—Ihne.
‘The plough was drawn over the site of destroyed Carthage, and a solemn curse was pronounced against anyone who should ever undertake to build a new town on that spot.’—Ihne.
Africa made a Roman Province.
WAR WITH ANDRISCUS AND THE ACHAEANS, 148-146 B.C.
Destruction of Corinth (L. Mummius Achaicus), 146 B.C.
Eodem anno, quo Carthago concidit, L. Mummius Corinthum post annos DCCCCLII, quam ab Alete Hippotis filio erat condita, funditus eruit. Uterque imperator devictae a se gentis nomine honoratus, alter Africanus, alter appellatus est Achaicus; nec 5 quisquam ex novis hominibus prior Mummio cognomen virtute partum vindicavit. Diversi imperatoribus mores, diversa fuere studia: quippe Scipio tam elegans liberalium studiorum omnisque doctrinae et auctor et admirator fuit, ut Polybium Panaetiumque, 10 praecellentes ingenio viros, domi militiaeque secum habuerit. Neque enim quisquam hoc Scipione elegantius intervalla negotiorum otio dispunxit semperque aut belli aut pacis serviit artibus: semper inter arma ac studia versatus aut corpus periculis 15 aut animum disciplinis exercuit. Mummius tam rudis fuit, ut capta Corintho cum maximorum artificum perfectas manibus tabulas ac statuas in Italiam portandas locaret, iuberet praedici conducentibus, si eas perdidissent, novas eos reddituros. 20
Velleius Paterculus, i. 13.
Context. In 149 B.C. an adventurer named Andriscus claimed to be Philip, the son of Perseus, and mastered Macedonia and part of Thessaly. He totally defeated the praetor Juventius, but in 148 B.C. his army was routed and himself taken prisoner by Q. Caecilius Metellus. The Romans, no longer needing the help of Greek troops, determined to break up the Achaean League. A last desperate struggle for freedom ensued, but the Greeks were easily defeated (146 B.C.) by L. Mummius on the Isthmus, and Corinth itself was plundered and destroyed.
2-3 quam . . . condita. Aletes, son of Hippotes and a descendant of Heracles, is said to have taken possession of Corinth by the help of the oracle of Zeus at Dodona, and therefore named the city Διὸς Κόρινθος.
10 Panaetium, a native of Rhodes and a celebrated Stoic philosopher, settled in Rome, where he became the intimate friend of Laelius and Scipio Africanus Minor.
13 dispunxit = he devoted, gave up (lit. marked off).
19 locaret = he hired (lit. place out, i.e. give out on contract).
conducentibus = to the contractors.
The Destruction of Corinth. ‘The flames which consumed Miletus (destroyed by the Persians 494 B.C.) and Athens (burnt by Xerxes 480 B.C.) were the signal for the great rising of the people, the dawn of a magnificent day of Greek splendour: after the fall of Corinth came the long dark night.’—Ihne.
Macedonia made a Roman Province. Greece placed under the control of the Roman governor of Macedonia.
WAR WITH VIRIATHUS IN SPAIN, 149-140 B.C.
The Lusitanian Hannibal.
Sed tota certaminum moles cum Lusitanis fuit et Numantinis. Quippe solis gentium Hispaniae duces contigerunt. Lusitanos Viriathus erexit, vir calliditatis acerrimae. Qui ex venatore latro, ex latrone subito dux atque imperator et, si fortuna 5 cessisset, Hispaniae Romulus, non contentus libertatem suorum defendere, per quattuordecim annos omnia citra ultraque Hiberum et Tagum igni ferroque populatus, castra etiam praetoria et praesidia aggressus Claudium Unimanum paene ad internecionem 10 exercitus cecidit et insignia trabeis et fascibus nostris quae ceperat in montibus suis tropaea fixit. Tandem eum iam Fabius Maximus consul oppresserat; sed a successore Popilio violata victoria est. Quippe qui conficiendae rei cupidus, fractum ducem et extrema 15 deditionis agitantem per fraudem et insidias et domesticos percussores aggressus hanc hosti gloriam dedit ut videretur aliter vinci non posse.
Florus, II. xvii. 13-17 (sel.).
Context. After the defeat of Perseus (168 B.C.) and before the outbreak of the third Punic War (149 B.C.) a suitable opportunity seemed to present itself to Rome for continuing the interrupted conquest of Spain; but ‘for eight long years Viriathus, although a barbarian and of humble origin, defied the armies of Rome, and thereby secured for himself a position in history almost equal to that of Hannibal and Mithridates.’ Ihne.
1 cum Lusitanis. The Lusitani (S. of the R. Tagus = mod. Portugal, and part of Estremadura and Toledo) were not finally subdued till after the capture of Numantia by Scipio in 133 B.C.
6 cessisset (= concessisset) = had permitted.
10-12 Claudium Unimanum . . . fixit, i.e. in 147 B.C. ‘The captured fasces of the lictors were exhibited, with other trophies (e.g. trabeis, l. 11), far and wide on the Spanish mountains.’—Ihne.
13 Fabius Maximus consul, i.e. Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus, who allowed himself to be decoyed into an ambush 141 B.C., and was compelled to grant an honourable peace, which Rome soon found a pretext for breaking.
17 percussores = assassins, lit. strikers (per + cutio = quatio). Cf. the fate of Sertorius, 72 B.C.
The War with Viriathus. ‘It was sad and disgraceful for the Roman arms, but in a far higher degree for Roman morals. It sowed, moreover, the seeds of the Numantine War, in which both the warlike ability and the moral virtues of the Roman nation appear more deteriorated than even in the war with Viriathus.’—Ihne.
NUMANTINE WAR, 143-133 B.C.
Destruction of Numantia, 133 B.C.
Tanti esse exercitum quanti imperatorem vere proditum est. Sic redacto in disciplinam milite a Scipione commissa acies, quodque nemo visurum se umquam speraverat, factum ut fugientes Numantinos quisquam videret. Dedere etiam se volebant, 5 si toleranda viris imperarentur. Cum fossa atque lorica quattuorque castris circumdatos fames premeret, a duce orantes proelium, ut tamquam viros occideret, ubi non impetrabant, placuit eruptio. Sic conserta manu plurimi occisi, et cum urgueret 10 fames, novissime consilium fugae sedit; sed hoc quoque ruptis equorum cingulis uxores ademere, summo scelere per amorem. Itaque deplorato exitu in ultimam rabiem furoremque conversi, postremo Rhoecogene duce se suos patriam ferro veneno 15 subiecto igne undique peregerunt. Macte fortissimam et meo iudicio beatissimam in ipsis malis civitatem! Asseruit cum fide socios, populum orbis terrarum viribus fultum sua manu aetate tam longa sustinuit. Novissime maximo duce oppressa civitas nullum de 20 se gaudium hosti reliquit. Unus enim vir Numantinus non fuit qui in catenis duceretur; praeda, ut de pauperrimis, nulla: arma ipsa cremaverunt. Triumphus fuit tantum de nomine.
Florus, II. xviii. 11-17 (sel.).
Context. In 143 B.C. the Celtiberians (of Middle Spain), encouraged by the successes of the Lusitanians, took up arms once more. Their most important town was Numantia, situated near the sources of the R. Durius (Douro), strongly fortified by nature and by art. Consul after consul failed to take it, until in 134 B.C. Scipio Africanus Minor, the conqueror of Carthage, was sent out to Spain to reduce the stubborn city.
2-3 Sic redacto . . . a Scipione. ‘Scipio’s first task, when he arrived in Spain, was to accustom the army which he found there, once more to Roman discipline. Luxury and indulgence were rife, and cowardice—the most unroman of all vices—had begun to creep in.’—Ihne.
7 lorica = a breastwork, serving as a screen. Usu. = a cuirass.
11 sedit = was decided on, lit. settled.
16 Macte = a blessing on or hail to thee. Mactus prob. from √μακ, e.g. in μάκ-αρ = blessed, but cf. mag-nus.
18 Asseruit = it protected. assero (ad + sero) = lit. join-to.
Destruction of Numantia. Scipio, of his own accord, razed the town to the ground, and received the added surname of Numantinus.
Roman Province in Spain.
Rome the Invincible.
Dixitque tandem perfidus Hannibal:
‘Cervi, luporum praeda rapacium,
Sectamur ultro, quos opimus
Fallere et effugere est triumphus.
Gens, quae cremato fortis ab Ilio
Iactata Tuscis aequoribus sacra
Natosque maturosque patres
Pertulit Ausonias ad urbes,
Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus
Nigrae feraci frondis in Algido,
Per damna, per caedes ab ipso
Ducit opes animumque ferro
Non Hydra secto corpore firmior
Vinci dolentem crevit in Herculem,
Monstrumve submisere Colchi
Maius Echioniaeve Thebae.
Merses profundo: pulchrior evenit;
Luctere: multa proruet integrum
Cum laude victorem geretque
Proelia coniugibus loquenda.’
Horace, Odes, IV. iv. 49-68.
51 ultro = aggressively, needlessly.—Wickham.
51-52 opimus triumphus = a rare (lit. rich, noble) triumph. Cf. spolia opima.
53-56 ‘This stanza is a résumé of the story of the Aeneid.’—W.
53 gens (sc. illa), i.e. the Roman stock.
57-60 ‘The idea of this stanza is that their very calamities only gave them fresh heart and vigour. They rise like the Phoenix from its pyre.’—W.
58 frondis with feraci. Cf. fertilis frugum.
59-60 ab ipso . . . ferro = from the very edge of the steel itself, the holm-oak (= the Roman stock) draws fresh power and spirit.
61-62 Cf. the saying of Pyrrhus, recorded by Floras i. 18, ‘I see that I was born under the constellation of Hercules, since so many heads of enemies, that were cut off, arise upon me afresh out of their own blood, as if from the Lernaean serpent.’
63-64 i.e. of the armed warriors which sprang from the dragon’s teeth sown by Jason at Colchis or by Cadmus at Thebes.
63 submisere = produced, raised.
64 Echioniae Thebae. Echion was one of the five survivors of the Σπαρτοί (sown men). He helped Cadmus to found Thebes.
65 Merses (= si mersaris) = plunge it if you will.
evenit = it emerges (comes forth).
66-67 multa cum laude = amid loud applause, of a feat in a wrestling match.—W.
68 coniugibus = i. by Roman wives or ii. by Carthaginian widows. So Conington, ‘Whose story widow’d wives shall tell.’
CIVIL STRIFE IN ITALY, AND FOREIGN WARS,
ENDING IN REVOLUTION 133-44 B.C.
THE GRACCHI.
Nam postquam Tiberius et C. Gracchus, quorum maiores Punico atque aliis bellis multum rei publicae addiderant, vindicare plebem in libertatem et paucorum celera patefacere coepere, nobilitas noxia atque eo perculsa, modo per socios et nomen Latinum, 5 interdum per equites Romanos, quos spes societatis a plebe dimoverat, Gracchorum actionibus obviam ierat, et primo Tiberium, dein paucos post annos eadem ingredientem Gaium, tribunum alterum, alterum triumvirum coloniis deducendis, cum 10 M. Fulvio Flacco ferro necaverat. Et sane Gracchis cupidine victoriae haud satis moderatus animus fuit. Sed bono vinci satius est quam malo more iniuriam vincere. Igitur ea victoria nobilitas ex lubidine sua usa multos mortales ferro aut fuga exstinxit plusque 15 in reliquum sibi timoris quam potentiae addidit. Quae res plerumque magnas civitates pessum dedit, dum alteri alteros vincere quovis modo et victos acerbius ulcisci volunt.
Sallust, Jugurtha, 42.
1-3 quorum maiores . . . addiderant, e.g. their grandfather P. Scipio Africanus Maior, and their father Tib. Sempronius Gracchus (in Spain and Sardinia).
3-4 paucorum scelera . . . coepere. (i) Tib. Gracchus by his Agrarian Law tried to counteract the selfish land-grabbing of the ruling class (in excess of the 500 iugera limit of the Licinian Laws, 367 B.C.). (ii) C. Gracchus exposed the corrupt Senatorian Courts, transferred their judicial power to the Equites, and carried the Sempronian Law, ‘one of the cornerstones of individual liberty.’
5 per socios . . . Latinum, by working on Roman jealousy against the Italians, for whom equality was claimed.
6 spes societatis, i.e. the hope of sharing with the nobility in office, and in provincial appointments.
10 triumvirum c. d., one of the three Commissioners for establishing Colonies of Roman citizens on the ager publicus.
11 Fulvio Flacco, slain with C. Gracchus, 121 B.C.
17 pessum dedit = has destroyed. pessum (prob.) = pedis + versum = towards the feet, to the ground, cf. pessum ire.
The aim of the Gracchi. ‘Their object was to reduce the excessive power of the nobility, and to make the sovereignty of the people, which had become merely nominal, a reality.’—Ihne.
Their political mistake. ‘Their error consisted in the belief that such a change was possible by returning to the simple forms of the old Comitia. They overlooked the necessity of remodelling the Roman people itself by giving the popular assemblies a form which would in reality make them represent the people.’—Ihne.
CICERO ON THE GRACCHI.
[A.] On the Death of Tiberius Gracchus, 133 B.C.
Nec plus Africanus, singularis et vir et imperator, in exscindenda Numantia rei publicae profuit quam eodem tempore P. Nasica privatus, cum Ti. Gracchum interemit.
De Off. i. 76.
2 Numantia, destroyed by P. Scipio Africanus Minor Numantinus, 133 B.C.
3 P. Nasīca, a partisan leader of the Senate. privatus = not in office. Cicero speaks very differently of the Gracchi when it suits his purpose, e.g. in de lege agraria, ii. § 10, duos (Gracchos) clarissimos, ingeniosissimos, amantissimos plebei Romanae viros . . . quorum consiliis, sapientia, legibus multas esse video partes constitutas.
[B.] On the Lex Frumentaria of C. Gracchus, 123 B.C.
Et quidem C. Gracchus, cum largitiones maximas 5 fecisset et effudisset aerarium, verbis tamen defendebat aerarium. Quid verba audiam, cum facta videam? L. Piso ille Frugi semper contra legem frumentariam dixerat. Is lege lata consularis ad frumentum accipiendum venerat. Animum advertit 10 Gracchus in contione Pisonem stantem: quaerit audiente populo Romano qui sibi constet, cum ea lege frumentum petat, quam dissuaserit. ‘Nolim’ inquit ‘mea bona, Gracche, tibi viritim dividere libeat, sed si facias, partem petam.’ Parumne declaravit vir 15 gravis et sapiens lege Sempronia patrimonium publicum dissipari? Lege orationes Gracchi, patronum aerari esse dices.
Tusc. Disput. iii. 20, 48.
8 L. Piso ille Frugi = L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi (the man of worth), a convinced and honourable opponent of C. Gracchus.
8-9 legem frumentariam, by which corn was sold to Roman citizens at about half the market price. ‘One of the worst measures ever proposed by a well-meaning statesman.’—Ihne.
12 qui = how, old abl. of qui.
[C.] On C. Gracchus as an Orator.
Sed ecce in manibus vir et praestantissimo ingenio et flagranti studio et doctus a puero, C. Gracchus. Noli enim putare quemquam. Brute, pleniorem et uberiorem ad dicendum fuisse.
Brutus, 125.
20 doctus a puero. Cornelia mater gracchorum (inscribed upon her statue erected by the Roman people), the daughter of the Conqueror of Zama, was mainly responsible for their training and education; so Cic. Brut. 104 Fuit Tib. Gracchus diligentia matris a puero doctus et Graecis literis eruditus. ‘From her they had received that sensitive nature and that sympathy with the weak and suffering, which animated their political action.’—Ihne.
THE JUGURTHINE WAR, 111-106 B.C.
The Betrayal of Jugurtha, 106 B.C.
Postea, tempore et loco constituto, in colloquium uti de pace veniretur, Bocchus Sullam modo, modo Iugurthae legatum appellare, benigne habere, idem ambobus polliceri. Illi pariter laeti ac spei bonae pleni esse. Sed nocte ea, quae proxuma fuit ante 5 diem colloquio decretum, Maurus, adhibitis amicis ac statim immutata voluntate remotis, dicitur secum ipse multa agitavisse, voltu et oculis pariter atque animo varius: quae scilicet tacente ipso occulta pectoris patefecisse. Tamen postremo Sullam accersi 10 iubet et ex illius sententia Numidae insidias tendit. Deinde ubi dies advenit et ei nuntiatum est Iugurtham haud procul abesse, cum paucis amicis et quaestore nostro quasi obvius honoris causa procedit in tumulum facillumum visu insidiantibus. Eodem 15 Numida cum plerisque necessariis suis inermis, uti dictum erat, accedit; ac statim signo dato undique simul ex insidiis invaditur. Ceteri obtruncati, Iugurtha Suilae vinctus traditur et ab eo ad Marium deductus est. 20
Sallust, Jugurtha, 113.
2 Bocchus, King of Mauretania, and father-in-law of Jugurtha, coveted the West of Numidia, and was ready to accept it either from the Romans or from Jugurtha, as the price of his alliance.
Sullam, appointed Quaestor 107 B.C. by Marius, who superseded Metellus in the conduct of the Jugurthine War.
9 quae scilicet . . . patefecisse, i.e. the external signs of his irresolution,—the calling and then dismissing his people (adhibitis . . . remotis, ll. 6, 7), and the changes of his countenance (voltu . . . varius, ll. 8, 9). Scilicet is here used with the Infinitive patefecisse, the verbal sense of the word (= scire + licet) being prominent.
10 accersi (= arcessiri), frequent in Sallust.
16 necessariis (necesse) = friends. Cf. ἀναγκαῖοι (ἀνάγκη).
19 Iugurtha Sullae . . . traditur. Sulla is said to have been so proud of this stratagem that he had the scene engraved upon a signet-ring, an act of vainglory which estranged Marius from him. (Plutarch, Sulla, 3.)
Jugurtha. ‘Having resisted the whole power of the great Republic for six years, having kept his ground against the best generals of the time, against a Metellus, a Marius, and a Sulla, he was deluded by treacherous promises of peace and betrayed by his own ally and father-in-law.’—Ihne.
[A.] Arpinum—Birthplace of Cicero and Marius.
237
Hic novus Arpinas, ignobilis et modo Romae
Municipalis eques, galeatum ponit ubique
Praesidium attonitis et in omni monte laborat.
. . . . . . . . . Sed Roma parentem,
Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit.
Arpinas alius Volscorum in monte solebat
Poscere mercedes alieno lassus aratro,
Nodosam post haec frangebat vertice vitem,
Si lentus pigra muniret castra dolabra;
Hic tamen et Cimbros et summa pericula rerum
Excipit et solus trepidantem protegit urbem.
Juvenal, Sat. viii. 237-239, 243-250.
239 in omni monte, i.e. in every part of Rome, on each of the seven hills.
244 patrem patriae: under the Empire the title pater patriae became a formal one, always accorded to the new Emperor.
libera = while yet free, emphatic. The State was no longer free when Augustus received this title, 2 B.C.—Duff.
247 frangebat vertice vitem = he had the vine-switch (rattan) broken on his head, i.e. served as a common soldier.—D.
248 dolabra = half-hatchet for cutting stakes, and half-pickaxe for digging the fossa. For dolabra, cf. Dolabella.
249 Cimbros, annihilated by Marius and Catulus near Vercellae, 101 B.C.
250 Excipit = faced (lit. is ready to receive); metaphor from field-sports.—D.
[B.] From a poem by Cicero on his fellow-townsman Marius.
Hic Iovis altisoni subito pinnata satelles
Arboris e trunco serpentis saucia morsu
Surrigit ipsa feris transfigens unguibus anguem
Semianimum et varia graviter cervice micantem.
.......
Hanc ubi praepetibus pennis lapsuque volantem
Conspexit Marius, divini numinis augur,
Faustaque signa suae laudis reditusque notavit,
Partibus intonuit caeli pater ipse sinistris:
Sic aquilae clarum firmavit Iuppiter omen.
1 Iovis pinnata satelles, i.e. the Eagle. Cf. Pindar, Pyth. i. 6: εὕδει δ’ ἀνὰ σκάπτῳ (= σκήπτρῳ) Διὸς αἰετός, and sleeps on the staff of Zeus his eagle.
3 Surrigit (= surgit) = raises up; very rare in this sense. The v.l. Sūbigit (for sŭbigit) = carries aloft.
Compare Plutarch’s story of the eagle’s nest, with seven young ones in it, which fell into the lap of Marius when a boy, predicting (so the diviners said) that Marius would be seven times Consul.
The Annihilation of the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae, 102 B.C.
Cimbri et Teutones ab extremis Germaniae profugi, cum terras eorum inundasset Oceanus, novas sedes toto orbe quaerebant, exclusique et Gallia et Hispania cum in Italiam demigrarent, misere legatos in castra Silani, inde ad Senatum 5 petentes ut populus Martius aliquid sibi terrae daret. Sed quas daret terras populus Romanus, agrariis legibus inter se dimicaturus? Repulsi igitur, quod nequiverant precibus, armis petere coeperunt. Sed nec primum impetum barbarorum Silanus, nec 10 secundum Mallius, nec tertium Caepio sustinere potuerunt: omnes fugati, exuti castris. Actum erat, nisi Marius illi saeculo contigisset. . . . Ille mira statim velocitate occupatis compendiis praevenit hostem, prioresque Teutones sub ipsis Alpium radicibus 15 adsecutus in loco quem Aquas Sextias vocant, proelio oppressit. Vallem fluviumque medium hostes tenebant, et nostris aquarum nulla erat copia. Consultone id egerit imperator an errorem in consilium verterit, dubium; certe necessitate acta virtus 20 victoriae causa fuit. Nam flagitante aquam exercitu, ‘Si viri estis’ inquit, ‘en, illic habetis.’ Itaque tanto ardore pugnatum est, ea caedes hostium fuit ut victor Romanus cruento flumine non plus aquae biberit quam sanguinis barbarorum. 25
Florus, III. iii. 1-9 (sel).
5 Silani = M. Junius Silanus, defeated by Cimbri, 109 B.C.
11 Mallius—Caepio, defeated by Cimbrians at Arausio, on the Rhone, 105 B.C.
Plutarch, Lucullus 27, says: ‘The 6th Oct., on which day the battle was fought, was marked in the calendar as a black day, like the fatal day of the Allia, 390 B.C.’
12 Actum erat, sc. de republica.
14 compendiis = short ways; cf. our compendium = an abridgement.
16 Aquas Sextias, founded by Sextius Calvinus 122 B.C. = Aix, 18 miles N. of Marseilles.
23 caedes hostium. 150,000 (Vell.) and 200,000 (Liv. Ep. lxviii.).
‘By the great victories of Aquae Sextiae and of Vercellae (over the Cimbri, 101 B.C.), the movement of the German races southward was for the present stopped. Rome was saved, and the saviour of Rome was Marius, the champion of the people.’—Ihne.
Parallel Passages. Propert. IV. iii. 41-44; Livy Ep. lxviii.
References. Plutarch, Marius, 15. Ihne, Hist. Rome, vol. v. pp. 98-105.
MARIUS, 157-86 B.C.
[A.] His Flight from Sulla: Consul for the 7th time.
Atque aliquis magno quaerens exempla timori,
‘Non alios,’ inquit, ‘motus tum fata parabant,
Cum post Teutonicos victor Libycosque triumphos
Exsul limosa Marius caput abdidit ulva.
Stagna avidi texere soli laxaeque paludes
Depositum, Fortuna, tuum: mox vincula ferri
Exedere senem longusque in carcere paedor.
Consul et eversa felix moriturus in urbe
Poenas ante dabat scelerum. Mors ipsa refugit
Saepe virum, frustraque hosti concessa potestas.
Sanguinis invisi: primo qui caedis in ictu*
Deriguit ferrumque manu torpente remisit;
Viderat immensum tenebroso in carcere lumen
Terribilesque deos scelerum Mariumque futurum
Audieratque pavens: “Fas haec contingere non est
Colla tibi: debet multas his legibus aevi
Ante suam mortes: vanum depone furoremi.”
Si libet ulcisci deletae funera gentis,
Hunc, Cimbri, servate senem.’
Lucan, Pharsalia, ii. 67-85.
* Postgate, actu.
67 exempla timori = precedents to hear out his fears.—Haskins.
70 Exsul. 88-7 B.C. For details see Plut. Marius, caps. 38-40.
72 Fortuna, i.e. the evil destiny of Rome, protecting him because the gods were angry with Rome. Cf. 82-83 debet . . . mortes.
73 in carcere, i.e. at Minturnae, S.E. of Latium. There were extensive marshes in the neighbourhood.
paedor = filth.
82 legibus aevi = the laws that govern time = fatis.—H.
[B.] Marius outlived his fame.
Quid illo cive tulisset
Natura in terris, quid Roma beatius umquam,
Si circumducto captivorum agmine et omni
Bellorum pompa animam exhalasset opimam,
Cum de Teutonico vellet descendere curru?
Juvenal, Sat. x. 278-282.
Marius outlived his powers and his reputation.
‘Had he now died, he would have gone down to posterity as one of the greatest men of his people, as a second Romulus or Camillus, unstained with any blood save that of foreign foes.’—Ihne.
Parallel Passages. Ov. P. Ep. iv. 3. 45-48; Juv. x. 276-278.
References. Plut. Marius, caps. 38-end. Ihne, vol. iv. pp. 336-7, vol. v. pp. 111-12.
Cicero on Civil Strife.
Etenim recordamini, Quirites, omnes civiles dissensiones, non solum eas quas audistis, sed et has quas vosmetipsi meministis atque vidistis. L. Sulla P. Sulpicium oppressit: ex Urbe eiecit C. Marium, custodem huius urbis, multosque fortes viros partim 5 eiecit ex civitate, partim interemit. Cn. Octavius consul armis ex Urbe collegam suum expulit: omnis his locus acervis corporum et civium sanguine redundavit. Superavit postea Cinna cum Mario: tum vero, clarissimis viris interfectis, lumina civitatis 10 exstincta sunt. Ultus est huius victoriae crudelitatem postea Sulla: ne dici quidem opus est, quanta deminutione civium et quanta calamitate reipublicae. . . . Atque illae tamen omnes dissensiones, quae non ad delendam, sed ad commutandam rempublicam 15 pertinebant—non illi nullam esse rempublicam, sed in ea quae esset se esse principes, neque hanc urbem conflagrare, sed se in hac urbe florere voluerunt—eius modi fuerunt, ut non reconciliatione concordiae, sed internecione civium diiudicatae sint. 20
Cicero, In Cat. iii. 10.
4 P. Sulpicium, distinguished orator, bought over by Marius. As Tribunus Plebis 88 B.C. carried the Leges Sulpiciae.
6 Cn. Octavius, one of Sulla’s chief supporters. Consul 87 B.C. Expelled his colleague Cinna. Murdered in his curule chair.
9-11 Superavit . . . exstincta sunt, i.e. 87-6 B.C. The Reign of Terror. Marius Consul for the 7th time. Cf. Vell. Pat. ii. 22 ‘Nihil illa victoria fuisset crudelius, nisi mox Sullana esset secuta.’
10 lumina civitatis, e.g. the Consuls Cn. Octavius and L. Merula; Q. Catulus, the conqueror (with Marius) in the Cimbric War; the orator M. Antonius; the brothers L. and C. Caesar.
11-13 The victims of the Sullanian proscriptions. Cf. Vell. Pat. ii. 28 ‘Primus ille (Sulla), et utinam ultimus, exemplum proscriptionis invenit.’
Parallel Passages. Horace, Epodes vii. and xvi. 1-14.
The Sullanian Proscriptions. Sulla was not like Marius swayed by feelings of revenge alone. His main object was the public good, which in his conviction was to be realised by a return to the older institutions of the republic. This he believed could be accomplished only by the utter annihilation of his opponents. The Proscriptions were not however intended to be an encouragement to indiscriminate murder, but rather a barrier against the rage of over-zealous partisans.
Tribunate of M. Livius Drusus, 91 B.C.
Deinde interiectis paucis annis tribunatum iniit M. Livius Drusus, vir nobilissimus, eloquentissimus, sanetissimus, meliore in omnia ingenio animoque quam fortuna usus. Qui cum senatui priscum restituere cuperet decus et indicia ab equitibus ad 5 eum transferre ordinem . . . in eis ipsis, quae pro senatu moliebatur, senatum habuit adversarium non intellegentem, si qua de plebis commodis ab eo agerentur, veluti illiciendae multitudinis causa fieri, ut minoribus perceptis maiora permitteret. Denique 10 ea fortuna Drusi fuit, ut malefacta collegarum quamvis optime ab ipso cogitatis senatus probaret magis. . . . Tum conversus Drusi animus, quando bene incepta male cedebant, ad dandam civitatem Italiae: quod cum moliens revertisset e foro, immensa 15 illa et incondita, quae eum semper comitabatur, cinctus multitudine in area domus suae cultello percussus, qui affixus lateri eius relictus est, intra paucas horas decessit. Sed cum ultimum redderet spiritum, intuens circumstantium macrentiumque 20 frequentiam, effudit vocem convenientissimam conscientiae suae: ecquandone, inquit, propinqui amicique, similem mei civem habebit res publica? Hunc finem clarissimus iuvenis vitae habuit.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 13-14.
3-4 Drusus. ‘Generous and free from all selfishness and meanness, but without political experience, adroitness and knowledge of men, he aspired to a task which surpassed his strength.’—Ihne.
4-6 By the Sempronian Laws of C. Gracchus 123 B.C. exclusive judicial rights had been given to the Equites, as a counterpoise to the power of the Senate. The corruption of the Equites (as Judices) was flagrant, and Drusus proposed to transfer the judicial functions to a mixed body of 300 Senators and 300 Knights, the selected Knights to be included in the now attenuated ranks of the Senate.
14 ad dandam civitatem Italiae. The claims of the Italians to the franchise were just and pressing, but the overbearing pride and self-sufficiency of the Roman citizens proved too strong.
Parallel Passages. Cic. de Oratore iii. 1, and pro Cluent. 56, 153. Florus, iii. 18.
Reference. Ihne, Hist. vol. v. pp. 176-189.
‘Drusus was the Mirabeau of the social revolution of Rome, and had his measures been carried Rome might have been spared the most terrible of her civil wars.’
THE SOCIAL OR MARSIC WAR, 91-88 B.C. (1)
[A.] Cause and Outbreak of the War at Asculum.
Cum ius civitatis, quam viribus auxerant, socii iustissime postularent, quam in spem eos cupidine dominationis Drusus erexerat, postquam ille domestico scelere oppressus est, eadem fax, quae illum cremavit, socios in arma et in expugnationem urbis 5 accendit. . . . Primum fuit belli consilium ut in Albano monte festo die Latinarum Iulius Caesar et Marcius Philippus consules inter sacra et aras immolarentur. Postquam id nefas proditione discussum est, Asculo furor omnis erupit, in ipsa quidem ludorum 10 frequentia trucidatis qui tum aderant ab urbe legatis. Hoc fuit impii belli sacramentum. Inde iam passim ab omni parte Italiae duce et auctore belli discursante Poppaedio diversa per populos et urbes signa cecinere. 15
Florus, III. xviii. 3-10 (sel.).
2 iustissime. ‘The final issue of the war confirmed the justice and the wisdom of the reforms planned by the Gracchi and by Livius Drusus.’—Ihne.
7 Latinarum, sc. Feriarum, the solemn festival conducted by the Consuls on the Alban Mount.
10 Asculo. Asculum (Ascoli), chief town of Picenum. The opening and closing scene of the war.
[B.] Advice of the Sabellian father to his sons.
‘Vivite contenti casulis et collibus istis,
O pueri,’ Marsus dicebat et Hernicus olim
Vestinusque senex, ‘panem quaeramus aratro,
Qui satis est mensis: laudant hoc numina ruris,
Quorum ope et auxilio gratae post munus aristae
Contingunt homini veteris fastidia quercus.
Nil vetitum fecisse volet, quem non pudet alto
Per glaciem perone tegi, qui summovet Euros
Pellibus inversis; peregrina ignotaque nobis
Ad scelus atque nefas, quaecumque est, purpura ducit.’
Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 179-188.
179 collibus istis, i.e. in the central mountain range of Italy. The Federals chose Corfinium (E. of Lake Fucinus) to be the Italian rallying-point, and the seat of a new State.
180-181 Marsus . . . Hernicus . . . Vestinus, Sabellian peoples noted for their bravery and simplicity; the backbone of Rome’s army.
182 numina ruris, e.g. Ceres, Liber and Priapus.
185-186 alto perone = a high rustic boot of raw hide.
187 pellibus inversis = skins with the hair turned inwards.—Duff.
THE SOCIAL OR MARSIC WAR, 91-88 B.C. (2)
[A.] Defeat and Death of Rutilius.
Hanc tibi, ‘Quo properas’, memorant dixisse ‘Rutili?
Luce mea Marso consul ab hoste cades.’
Exitus accessit verbis, flumenque Toleni
Purpureum mixtis sanguine fluxit aquis.
Ovid, Fasti, vi. 563-566.
563 Hanc, sc. Leucothea, goddess of the sea and of harbours.
Rutili. Rutilius, consul 90 B.C., defeated and slain at the R. Tolenus (Turano) by the Marsian Vettius Scato.
[B.] The Lex Plautia Papiria of 89 B.C.
Data est civitas Silvani lege et Carbonis: si qui 5 foederatis civitatibus ascripti fuissent, si tum, cum lex ferebatur, in Italia domicilium habuissent et si sexaginta diebus apud praetorem essent professi.
Cicero, pro Archia, 4, 7.
5 lege, i.e. the Lex Plautia Papiria of the tribines M. Plautius Silvanus and C. Papirius Carbo. The Lex Julia of L. Julius Caesar 90 B.C., granting the civitas to the Latins and to all the other Italian States not in rebellion, had weakened the resistance. The Lex Plautia Papiria ‘scattered among the Italian ranks the seeds of discord and dissolution.’
[C.] Cicero’s first and only Campaign.
Memini colloquia et cum acerrimis hostibus et cum gravissime dissidentibus civibus. Cn. Pompeius, 10 consul me praesente, cum essem tiro in eius exercitu, cum P. Vettio Scatone, duce Marsorum, inter bina castra collocutus est. . . . Quem cum Scato salutasset, ‘quem te appellem?’ inquit: ‘voluntate hospitem, necessitate hostem.’ Erat in colloquio aequitas: 15 nullus timor, nulla suberat suspicio; mediocre etiam odium. Non enim, ut eriperent nobis socii civitatem, sed ut in eam reciperentur petebant.
Cicero, Phil. xii. 11, 27.
[D.] The battle near Asculum, and capture of the city.
Strabo vero Pompeius omnia flammis ferroque populatus non prius finem caedium fecit quam Asculi 20 eversione manibus tot exercituum consulum direptarumque urbium dis litaretur.
Florus, III. xviii. 14.
20 Asculi eversione. The siege was memorable for the desperate patriotism of the besieged under their leader Judacilius, cf. siege of Saguntum.
Reference. Ihne, Hist. vol. v. pp. 190-220.
L. CORNELIUS SULLA, 138-78 B.C.
His Character and Bearing.
Igitur Sulla gentis patriciae nobilis fuit, familia prope iam exstincta maiorum ignavia, litteris Graecis et Latinis iuxta atque doctissimi eruditus, animo ingenti, cupidus voluptatum sed gloriae cupidior: tamen ab negotiis numquam voluptas remorata; 5 facundus callidus et amicitia facilis, ad simulanda negotia altitudo ingeni incredibilis, multarum rerum ac maxumae pecuniae largitor. Atque illi, felicissumo omnium ante civilem victoriam, numquam super industriam fortuna fuit, multique dubitavere fortior 10 an felicior esset. Nam postea quae fecerit, incertum habeo pudeat an pigeat magis disserere. Igitur Sulla, uti supra dictum est, postquam in Africam atque in castra Mari cum equitatu venit, rudis antea et ignarus belli, solertissumus omnium in paucis 15 tempestatibus factus est. Ad hoc milites benigne appellare, multis rogantibus aliis per se ipse dare beneficia, invitus accipere, sed ea properantius quam aes mutuum reddere, ipse ab nullo repetere, magis id laborare ut illi quam plurimi deberent, ioca atque 20 seria cum humillumis
agere, in operibus in agmine atque ad vigilias multus adesse neque interim, quod prava ambitio solet, consulis aut cuiusquam boni famam laedere, tantum modo neque consilio neque manu priorem alium pati, plerosque antevenire. 25
Sallust, Jug. 95, 96.
1 nobilis, i.e. of a patrician family which had held curule offices.
1-2 familia . . . exstincta. The Cornelii were a distinguished gens in early times and included 7 patrician families (e.g. the Lentuli and Scipios). Of these the Sullae were the least known.
2-3 litteris Graecis . . . eruditus. Contrast the proud boast of Marius:—‘I have learnt no Greek: in the knowledge, however, which is far the most important for the State, I am a master.’—Sall. Jug. 85.
9 ante civilem victoriam, i.e. before 81 B.C.
10-11 fortior an felicior. Sulla assumed the name Felix on the death of the younger Marius 82 B.C. Cf. Plut. Sulla, cap. vi.
11-12 Nam postea . . . disserere. Cf. Vell. Patere. II. xvii. 2: ‘Sulla vir qui neque ad finem victoriae satis laudari neque post victoriam abunde vituperari potest.’
20 illi more strictly sibi—‘a negligence not unfrequent.’—Merivale.
22 multus adesse = frequently visited, multus = saepe.
For character of Sulla cf. Plut. Sulla, and Mommsen, iv. pp. 139-142: ‘One of the most marvellous characters in history.’
MITHRIDATES THE GREAT, 130-63 B.C.
[A.] His Youth and Early Training.
Huius futuram magnitudinem etiam caelestia ostenta praedixerant. Nam et eo, quo genitus est, anno, et eo, quo regnare primum coepit, stella cometes per utrumque tempus LXX diebus ita luxit, ut caelum omne conflagrare videretur. Puer tutorum insidias 5 passus est, qui eum fero equo impositum equitare iacularique cogebant: qui conatus cum eos fefellissent, supra aetatem regente equum Mithridate, veneno eum appetivere. Veritus deinde, ne inimici, quod veneno non potuerant, ferro peragerent, venandi 10 studium finxit, quo per septem annos neque urbano neque rustico tecto usus est, sed per silvas vagatus, diversis montium regionibus pernoctabat ignaris omnibus, quibus esset locis; adsuetus feras cursu aut fugere aut persequi, cum quibusdam etiam viribus 15 congredi. Quibus rebus et insidias vitavit, et corpus ad omnem virtutis patientiam duravit.
1 Huius. Mithridates (Mithras = Persian sun-god) ‘second only to Hannibal in inextinguishable, life-long hostility to Rome, as also in military genius.’ Ihne.
5 tutorum = (at the hands) of his guardians. Cf. tueor.
17 ad omnem virtutis patientiam = to all manly endurance.
[B.] His Preparations for Conquest.
Ad regni deinde administrationem cum accessisset, statim non de regendo, sed de augendo regno cogitavit. Itaque Scythas invictos antea ingenti 20 felicitate perdomuit. Hieme deinde appetente, non in convivio, sed in campo, nec in avocationibus, nec inter sodales, sed inter aequales, aut equo aut cursu aut viribus contendebat. Exercitum quoque suum ad parem laboris patientiam cotidiana exercitatione 25 durabat, atque ita invictus ipse inexpugnabilem exercitum fecerat.
Justinus, xxxvii. 2, 3, 4.
19 de augendo regno. He subdued all the coast districts of the Euxine, East, North and West, as far as the Hister (Danube).
22 avocationibus = in diversions (very rare).
24 exercitum. At the outbreak of the War with Rome, 88 B.C., he had collected a motley force of 250,000 foot and 40,000 horse.
Mithridates. ‘With one blow he overthrew the Roman dominion in Asia, carried the war into Europe, united almost the whole Eastern world in an attack on the Republic, and resisted for 25 years the first generals of his time,—a Sulla, a Lucullus, and a Pompeius.’—Ihne.
Historic Parallels. Alexander, Hannibal, Peter the Great.
FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR, 88-84 B.C. (1)
The Battle of Chaeronea, 86 B.C.
Brilliant Tactics of Sulla.
Archelaus adversus L. Sullam in fronte ad perturbandum hostem falcatas quadrigas locavit, in secunda acie phalangem Macedonicam, in tertia Romanorum more armatos auxiliares, mixtis fugitivis Italicae gentis, quorum pervicaciae plurimum fidebat; 5 levem armaturam in ultimo statuit; in utroque deinde latere equitatum, cuius amplum numerum habebat, circumeundi hostis causa posuit. Contra haec Sulla fossas amplae latitudinis utroque latere duxit et capitibus earum castella communiit: qua 10 ratione, ne circuiretur ab hoste et peditum numero et maxime equitatu superante, consecutus est. Triplicem deinde peditum aciem ordinavit relictis intervallis per quae levem armaturam et equitem, quem in novissimo conlocaverat, cum res exegisset, emitteret. 15 Tum postsignanis qui in secunda acie erant imperavit ut densos numerososque palos firme in terram defigerent, intraque eos appropinquantibus quadrigis antesignanorum aciem recepit: tum demum sublato universorum clamore velites et levem armaturam 20 ingerere tela iussit. Quibus factis quadrigae hostium aut implicitae palis aut exterritae clamore telisque in suos conversae sunt turbaveruntque Macedonum structuram: qua cedente, cum Sulla instaret et Archelaus equitem opposuisset, Romani equites 25 subito emissi averterunt eos consummaverantque victoriam.
Frontinus, Strategemata, ii. 3. 17.
1 Archelaus (and his brother Neoptolemus) ‘trained in the traditions and experience of Greek and Macedonian masters.’
2 falcatas quadrigras. Archelaus had 60 of these chariots armed with scythes projecting. Cf. Livy xxxvii. 41.
5 pervicaciae = steadfastness (per + vic; cf. vinco).
11-12 qua ratione . . . consecutus est. Sulla had about 30,000 men (15,000 Romans only) against 120,000.
23 turbaverunt. ‘The war-chariots on this as on other occasions (e.g. at Magnesia) had not only proved a failure, but had actually led to a partial disaster.’—Ihne. Cf. use of war elephants, e.g. at Beneventum 275 B.C. and at Zama 202 B.C.
27 victoriam. It was a great victory, but the results were trifling, partly because Sulla had no fleet, and partly because his political enemies at Rome were bent on crippling him.
Historic Parallel. The Battle of Magnesia 190 B.C.
FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR, 88-84 B.C. (2)
[A.] Capture of Athens and the Piraeus, 86 B.C.
Sulla interim cum Mithridatis praefectis circa Athenas ita dimicavit, ut et Athenas reciperet et plurimo circa multiplices Piraei portus munitiones labore expleto amplius CC milia hostium interficeret nec minus multa caperet. . . . Nam oppressi (Athenienses) 5 Mithridatis armis homines miserrimae condicionis cum ab inimicis tenerentur, oppugnabantur ab amicis et animos extra moenia, corpora necessitati servientes intra muros habebant.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 23.
2 ut Athenas reciperet. Sulla reduced the city by starvation.
3 Piraei portus. This was strongly held by Archelaus, and was taken only after a most obstinate defence.
7 cum . . . tenerentur. The contemptible adventurer Aristion, with his bodyguard of 2000 men and the bribe of Delos and its treasure, had made himself master of Athens.
[B.] Battle of Orchomenus, 85 B.C.
Sulla restores the Fight.
L. Sulla, cedentibus iam legionibus exercitui 10 Mithridatico ductu Archelai, stricto gladio in primam aciem procucurrit appellansque milites dixit, si quis quaesisset, ubi imperatorem reliquissent, responderent pugnantem in Boeotia: cuius rei pudore universi eum secuti sunt. 15
Frontinus, Strategemata, ii. 8. 12.
10-15 = ‘The great victory at Orchomenus was the turning-point in the War.’—Ihne.
[C.] Peace of Dardanus.
End of the First Mithridatic War, 84 B.C.
Transgressus deinde in Asiam Sulla parentem ad omnia supplicemque Mithridatem invenit, quem multatum pecunia ac parte navium, Asia omnibusque aliis provinciis, quas armis occupaverat, decedere coegit, captivos recepit, in perfugas noxiosque 20 animadvertit, paternis, id est Ponticis finibus contentum esse iussit.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 23.
16-22 The terms of peace were (i) Restoration of all conquests, (ii) Surrender of 80 ships and of all prisoners, (iii) Indemnity of 3000 talents. Florus says ‘Non fregit ea res Ponticos, sed incendit.’ Sulla was anxious to secure peace, because his presence was needed at Rome.
Sulla’s Conduct of the War. ‘No previous general had shown so great a mastery of the art of war and such care and interest for the welfare of the State, as distinguished from the success of a party.’—Ihne.
SECOND CIVIL WAR, 83-82 B.C. (1)
Battles of Sacriportus and the Colline Gate.
Iam quot apud Sacri cecidere cadavera Portum
Aut Collina tulit stratas quot porta catervas,
Tum cum, paene caput mundi rerumque potestas
Mutavit translata locum, Romanaque Samnis
Ultra Caudinas speravit volnera Furcas.
Lucan, Pharsalia, ii. 134-138.
134 apud Sacriportum, near Praeneste, where Sulla totally defeated the Marians, under the younger Marius, 82 B.C.
135 Collina Porta, i.e. N.E. gate of Rome near the Collis Quirinalis.
138 paene, with mutavit, l. 137.
[B.] At Pontius Telesinus, dux Samnitium, vir animi bellique fortissimus penitusque Romano nomini infestissimus, contractis circiter XL milibus fortissimae pertinacissimaeque in retinendis armis iuventutis Kal. Novembribus ita ad portam Collinam cum Sulla 10 dimicavit, ut ad summum discrimen et eum et rempublicam perduceret, quae non maius periculum adiit Hannibalis intra tertium miliarium conspicata castra, quam eo die, quo circumvolans ordines exercitus sui Telesinus dictitansque adesse Romanis ultimum 15 diem vociferabatur eruendam delendamque urbem, adiciens numquam deluturos raptores Italicae libertatis lupos, nisi silva, in quam refugere solerent, esset excisa. Post primam demum horam noctis et Romana acies respiravit et hostium cessit. Telesinus 20 postera die semianimis repertus est, victoris magis quam morientis vultum praeferens, cuius abscisum caput ferro figi gestarique circa Praeneste Sulla iussit.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 27.
6 Pontius Telesinus, ‘a kinsman in name and temper of the hero of 321 B.C.’
12-14 quae . . . castra. ‘As Hannibal had tried to relieve the closely pressed Capua by a direct attack on Rome, Pontius Telesinus thought to draw off the besieging army from Praeneste by threatening the Capital.’—Ihne.
20 Romana acies respiravit. Sulla, with the left wing, was driven back by the Samnites to the walls of Rome, but Crassus with the right wing was completely victorious, and to him the final victory was due.
‘The issue of the whole war, at least on Italian ground, was decided by the battle of the Colline Gate.’—Ihne.
SECOND CIVIL WAR, 83-82 B.C. (2)
[A.] Death of the Younger Marius.
Sulla Felix.
Tum demum desperatis rebus suis C. Marius adulescens per cuniculos, qui miro opere fabricati in diversas agrorum partes fuerunt, conatus erumpere, cum foramine e terra emersisset, a dispositis in id ipsum interemptus est. . . . De quo iuvene quid 5 existimaverit Sulla, in promptu est; occiso enim demum eo Felicis nomen adsumpsit, quod quidem usurpasset iustissime, si eundem et vincendi et vivendi finem habuisset.
Vell. Pat. ii. 27.
1 Tum, i.e. after Sulla’s victory at the Colline Gate, 82 B.C.
C. Marius. ‘He possessed his father’s martial spirit, courage and unyielding perseverance.’—Ihne.
2 per cuniculos = through subterranean passages.
[B.] The Sullan Proscriptions.
139
‘Sulla quoque immensis accessit cladibus ultor.
Ille quod exiguum restabat sanguinis urbi
Hausit: dumque nimis iam putria membra recidit,
Excessit medicina modum, nimiumque secuta est,
Qua morbi duxere, manus . . . .
Tum data libertas odiis, resolutaque legum
Frenis ira ruit. Non uni cuncta dabantur,
Sed fecit sibi quisque nefas: semel omnia victor
Iusserat . . .
Hisne Salus rerum, Felix his Sulla vocari,
His meruit tumulum medio sibi tollere Campo?
Haec rursus patienda manent: hoc ordine belli
Ibitur: hic stabit civilibus exitus armis.’
....Sic maesta senectus
Praeteritique memor flebat metuensque futuri.
Lucan, Pharsalia, ii. 139-148, 221-224.
139 Sulla . . . ultor = Sulla too in his vengeance came to crown these fearful disasters.—Haskins.
141-143 dumque . . . manus. Sulla is compared to a surgeon who in too great haste to remove the mortified flesh cuts away the sound flesh also.
146 non uni . . . = all crimes were not committed for one man’s sake, i.e. to please Sulla.
223-224 hoc ordine belli ibitur = in this course of war events will move.—H. i.e. History will repeat itself.
232 sic maesta senectus. An old man, who had lived through the Marian and Sullan times, predicts similar horrors of the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey.
The Proscriptions. ‘They were the product not of passion or thirst of blood, but of a cool political calculation, and the conviction of its inevitable necessity.’—Ihne.
[A.] Sulla appointed Dictator, 81 B.C.
Dictator creatus (cuius honoris usurpatio per annos centum et viginti intermissa; nam proximus post annum quam Hannibal Italia excesserat, uti appareat populum Romanum usum dictatoris haud metu desiderasse tali quo timuisset potestatem) imperio, 5 quo priores ad vindicandum maximis periculis patriam usi erant, eo in immodicae crudelitatis licentiam usus est.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 28.
1-2 cuius honoris . . . intermissa. The last real Dictator (M. Junius Pera) was appointed after Cannae 216 B.C.
5-8 imperio quo . . . usus est. ‘The Dictator of the first age of the Republic down to the Punic Wars had always a well-defined special duty to discharge in a given time. Sulla’s task was of a general nature and all-comprehensive range, and he had the most essential of all monarchical attributes, which is the unlimited duration of office.’—Ihne.
[B.] Sulla lays down his Dictatorship, 79 B.C.
Nec minoris impotentiae voces propalam edebat, ut Titus Ampius scribit, ‘Nihil esse rempublicam, 10 appellationem modo sine corpore ac specie. Sullam nescisse litteras, qui dictaturam deposuerit.’
Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 77.
9 impotentiae = arrogance (lack of self-restraint).
10 Ampius. Titus Ampius Balbus, a Pompeian general.
11-12 Sullam nescisse litteras = (i) S. had not profited by the teachings of History, or (ii) S. was without a liberal education.
[C.] Death of Sulla, 78 B.C.
Puteolis enim ardens indignatione, quod Granius, princeps eius coloniae pecuniam a decurionibus ad refectionem Capitolii promissam cunctantius daret, 15 animi concitatione nimia atque immoderato vocis impetu convulso pectore, spiritum cruore ac minis mixtum evomuit, nec senio iam prolapsus, utpote sexagesimum ingrediens annum, sed alita miseriis reipublicae inpotentia furens. Igitur in dubio est 20 Sullane prior an iracundia Sullae sit extincta.
Valerius Maximus, ix. 3. 8.
13 Granius, the chief magistrate of Puteoli, had kept back money destined for the building of the new temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The old one was destroyed by fire 83 B.C. ‘It was Sulla’s great desire that his name should be recorded on the front of the new temple, for it was to be the symbol of the Republic, restored as he fondly hoped by him to its pristine purity.’—Ihne.
THE LEGES CORNELIAE, 81 B.C.
[A.] Limitation of the Tribune’s Right of Veto.
In ista quidem re vehementer Sullam probo, qui tribunis plebis sua lege iniuriae faciendae potestatem ademerit, auxili ferendi reliquerit.
Cicero, de Legibus, iii. 9. 22.
2 iniuriae faciendae, e.g. by their abuse of the right of veto.
3 auxili ferendi. ‘Sulla limited the office of tribune to the original functions for which it was established, the legal protection of the people from the abuse of magisterial power.’—Ihne.
[B.] Abolition of Corn Distributions.
Populus Romanus, paullo ante gentium moderator, exutus imperio gloria iure, agitandi inops despectusque ne servilia quidem alimenta relicua habet.
Sallust, Hist., Orat. M. Lepidi.
5 agitandi inops (i.e. vitam sustentandi) = without means of livelihood.
6 servilia alimenta = a slave’s allowance of food. Sulla abolished the largesses of corn.
[C.] Restoration of Judicial Functions to the Senators.
Iudicandi munus quod C. Gracchus ereptum senatui ad Equites, Sulla ab illis ad Senatum transtulerat.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 32.
8-10 Sulla filled up the gaps in the Senate from the ranks of the Equites, and to the new Senate thus constituted he entrusted the administration of justice.
[D.] A Sumptuary Law, Limiting the Expense of the Table.
L. Sulla dictator, cum plerique in patrimoniis amplis eluerentur et familiam pecuniamque suam prandiorum conviviorumque gurgitibus proluissent, legem ad populam tulit, qua cautum est, ut Kalendis, Idibus, Nonis diebusque ludorum et feriis quibusdam 15 sollemnibus sestertios trecenos in cenam insumere ius potestasque esset, ceteris autem diebus omnibus non amplius tricenos.
Aulus Gellius, ii. 24, 11.
12 eluerentur = had squandered (lit. ‘washed away’).
Leges Corneliae. ‘Sulla’s legislation was an attempt to revive what was dead and gone. The time had arrived when the old republican institutions could last no longer. The transformation of the state into a monarchy was inevitable.’—Ihne.
The Sultan Constitution. It had as little endurance as that of Cromwell, and was finally destroyed in 70 B.C. during the consulship of Pompeius and Crassus.
Speech of Lepidus against Sulla, 78 B.C.
Nam praeter satellites commaculatos quis eadem volt? aut quis non omnia mutata praeter victorem? Scilicet milites, quorum sanguine Tarulae Scyrtoque, pessumis servorum, divitiae partae sunt! Itaque maxumam mihi fiduciam parit victor exercitus, cui 5 per tot volnera et labores nihil praeter tyrannum quaesitum est. Nisi forte tribuniciam potestatem evorsum profecti sunt, per arma conditam a maioribus suis, utique iura et iudicia sibimet extorquerent, egregia scilicet mercede, cum relegati in paludes et 10 silvam contumeliam atque invidiam suam, praemia penes paucos intellegerint. Quare igitur tanto agmine atque animis incedit? Quia secundae res mire sunt vitiis obtentui; quibus labefactis, quam formidatus est, tam contemnetur; nisi forte specie 15 concordiae et pacis, quae sceleri et parricidio suo nomina indidit; neque aliter rempublicam et belli finem ait, nisi maneat expulsa agris plebes, praeda civilis acerbissima, ius iudiciumque omnium rerum penes se, quod populi Romani fuit. Quae si vobis 20 pax et concordia intelleguntur, maxuma turbamenta reipublicae atque exitia probate, annuite legibus impositis, accipite otium cum servitio et tradite exemplum posteris ad populum Romanum suimet sanguinis mercede circumveniundum. 25
Sallust, Hist, Orat. M. Lepidi.
1 Nam, sc. ‘His luck is not so great as he supposes, for. . .’
7-8 tribuniciam . . . evorsum, i.e. by the Leges Corneliae 81 B.C.
9 iudicia. Sulla restored the judicial functions to the Senate (from the Equites).
10 relegati in paludes. Sulla established 120,000 soldiers in military colonies in different parts of Italy, but their roaming adventurous life had unfitted them for agricultural pursuits.
13-14 Quia . . . obtentui = because prosperity serves in a marvellous manner to cover a man’s faults of character.—Holden. For obtentui cf. draw a veil over.
16 parricidio = treason.
18 nisi . . . agris, i.e. Sulla’s confiscations of estates, especially of those Italians who had fought against him.
24-25 ad p. R. circumveniundum = for oppressing (enslaving) the people of Rome.
M. Aemillus Lepidus, Consul 78 B.C., a disappointed Optimate, jealous of Sulla’s power, but without Sulla’s ability. He posed as leader of the democratic party, took up arms against the State, but was defeated by Q. Catulus at the Milvian Bridge, 77 B.C.
WAR WITH SERTORIUS IN SPAIN, 78-72 B.C. (1)
Sertorius and his Fawn.
Huic Sertorio cerva alba eximiae pulchritudinis et vivacissimae celeritatis a Lusitano quodam dono data est. Hanc sibi oblatam divinitus, et instinctam Dianae numine colloqui secum, monereque, et docere, quae utilia factu essent, persuadere omnibus instituit: 5 ac, si quid durius videbatur, quod imperandum militibus foret, a cerva sese monitum tum praedicabat. Id cum dixerat, universi, tamquam si deo, libentes parebant. Ea cerva quodam die, cum incursio esset hostium nuntiata, festinatione ac tumultu consternata 10 in fugam se proripuit, atque in palude proxima delituit; et postea requisita perisse credita est. Neque multis diebus post inventam esse cervam Sertorio nuntiatur. Tum, qui nuntiaverat, iussit tacere: ac, ne cui palam diceret, interminatus est: 15 praecepitque, ut eam postero die repente in eum locum, in quo ipse cum amicis esset, immitteret: admissis deinde amicis postridie, visum sibi esse ait in quiete cervam, quae perisset, ad se reverti, et, ut prius consueverat, quod opus esset facto praedicare. 20 Tum servo, quod imperaverat, significat. Cerva emissa in cubiculum Sertorii introrupit; clamor factus et orta admiratio est: eaque hominum barbarorum credulitas Sertorio in magnis rebus magno usui fuit. 25
Gellius, Noctes Atticae, xv. 22.
1 alba = a dull white as opp. to ater = dull black. Cf. candidus = shining white as opp. to niger = shining black.
3 instinctam = fired, animated.
15 interminatus = he forbade with threats. inter + minor, freq. in Plautus and Terence.
23-25 ‘Sertorius did not disdain to turn to account the superstition of the ruder Spanish tribes, and to have his plans of war brought to him as commands of Diana by the white fawn of the goddess.’—M.
Character of Sertorius. ‘He was the only democratic (Marian) officer who knew how to prepare and to conduct war, and the only democratic statesman who opposed the furious doings of his party with statesmanlike energy. His Spanish soldiers called him the new Hannibal, and not merely because he had, like that hero, lost an eye in war. He in reality reminds us of the great Phoenician by his equally cunning and courageous strategy, and by the quickness of his ingenuity in turning to good account his victories and averting the consequences of his defeats.’—M.
WAR WITH SERTORIUS IN SPAIN (2)
[A.] A New Hannibal.
Sertorius, exsul et profugus feralis illius tabulae, vir summae quidem sed calamitosae virtutis, malis suis maria terrasque permiscuit; et iam Africae, iam Balearibus insulis fortunam expertus usque in Oceanum Fortunatasque insulas penetravit consiliis, 5 tandem Hispaniam armavit. Viro cum viris facile convenit. Nec alias magis apparuit Hispani militis vigor quam Romano duce. Quamquam ille non contentus Hispania ad Mithridatem quoque Ponticosque respexit regemque classe iuvit. Et quid futurum 10 fuit satis tanto hosti, cui uno imperatore resistere res Romana non potuit? Additus Metello Gnaeus Pompeius. Hi copias attrivere viri prope tota Hispania persecuti. Diu et ancipiti; semper acie pugnatum est nec tamen prius bello quam suorum scelere 15 et insidiis extinctus est.
Florus, III. xxii. 2-6. A.
1 feralis illius tabulae = from that fatal list, i.e. Sulla’s list of proscribed Marians 82 B.C.
9-10 ad Mithridatem . . . iuvit. In 75 B.C. he concluded a formal treaty of alliance with Mithridates, and sent him the propraetor M. Marius to lead his troops. Cf. alliance between Hannibal and Philip.
14-15 Diu et ancipiti semper acie pugnatum est, e.g. the defeat of Pompey near Lauro. (For a graphic account of the strategy by which the battle was won see Frontinus, Strat. ii. 5.)
[B.] The Death of Sertorius.
M. Perpenna praetorius e proscriptis, gentis clarioris quam animi, Sertorium inter cenam Oscae interemit Romanisque certam victoriam, partibus suis excidium, sibi turpissimam mortem pessimo 20 auctoravit facinore. Metellus et Pompeius ex Hispaniis triumphaverunt.
Vell. Paterc. ii. 30.
17 M. Perpenna praetorius (= ex-praetor), with the remnant of the army of Lepidus (defeated by Pompey in 77 B.C.) joined Sertorius in Spain. After serving under Sertorius for some years, through jealousy, he brought about his leader’s assassination.
21 auctoravit = he brought about. More usu. as auctorari = to hire oneself out for some service, e.g. of gladiators.
The Death of Sertorius. ‘So ended one of the greatest men that Rome had hitherto produced—a man who under more fortunate circumstances would perhaps have become the regenerator of his country.’—M.
Character and Early Career of Lucullus.
Magnum ingenium L. Luculli, magnumque optimarum artium studium, tum omnis liberalis et digna homine nobili ab eo percepta doctrina, quibus temporibus florere in foro maxime potuit, caruit omnino rebus urbanis. Ut enim admodum adolescens, 5 cum fratre pari pietate et industria praedito, paternas inimicitias magna cum gloria est persecutus, in Asiam quaestor profectus, ibi permultos annos admirabili quadam laude provinciae praefuit: deinde absens factus aedilis, continuo praetor: licebat 10 enim celerius legis praemio: post in Africam: inde ad consulatum: quem ita gessit ut diligentiam admirarentur omnes, ingenium cognoscerent. Post ad Mithridaticum bellum missus a senatu non modo opinionem vicit omnium quae de virtute eius erat, sed 15 etiam gloriam superiorum. Idque eo fuit mirabilius, quod ab eo laus imperatoria non admodum exspectabatur, qui adolescentiam in forensi opera, quaesturae diuturnum tempus, Murena bellum in Ponto gerente, in Asiae pace consumpserat. . . . 20 In eodem tanta prudentia fuit in constituendis temperandisque civitatibus, tanta aequitas, ut hodie stet Asia Luculli institutis servandis et quasi vestigiis persequendis.
Cicero, Academica, ii. 1.
1-3 ingenium, studium, doctrina, subjects of caruit.
3-5 quibus temporibus . . . urbanis = all this was divorced (caruit, lit. was cut off from) from the business of the capital, at the season when he might have had a specially brilliant career in the forum.—J. S. Reid.
6 paternas inimicitias = his father’s quarrel. The first appearance of Lucullus in public life was as the accuser of the Augur Servilius who had procured the banishment of his father.
7-9 in Asiam . . . praefuit, i.e. as Sulla’s quaestor in the first Mithridatic War, 88-84 B.C. and then till 80 B.C. in charge of the province of Asia (= orig. Kingdom of Pergamus, N.W. part of Asia Minor).
11 legis praemio = owing to a privilege conveyed by statute. J. S. R.
13-14 ad Mithridaticum bellum, i.e. the 3rd M. War, which he carried on for eight years (74-66 B.C.) with great success, until superseded by Pompeius in 66 B.C.
19-20 Murena . . . gerente. Lic. Murena, anxious for distinction, provoked the disastrous 2nd Mithridatic War, 83-81 B.C., when by the peremptory orders of Sulla the peace was renewed.
23 stet . . . servandis = persists in maintaining (lit. stands by) the ordinances of L.—J. S. R.
Reference. For Character of Lucullus, see Mommsen, vol. iv. pp. 337-8. Cf. also Vell. Paterc. ii. 32.
[A.] A Soldier of Lucullus.
Luculli miles collecta viatica multis
Aerumnis, lassus dum noctu stertit, ad assem
Perdiderat; post hoc vehemens lupus, et sibi et hosti
Iratus pariter, ieiunis dentibus acer,
Praesidium regale loco deiecit, ut aiunt,
Summe munito et multarum divite rerum.
Clarus ob id factum donis ornatur honestis,
Accipit et bis dena super sestertia nummum.
Forte sub hoc tempus castellum evertere praetor
Nescio quod cupiens hortari coepit eundem
Verbis, quae timido quoque possent addere mentem:
‘I, bone, quo virtus tua te vocat, i pede fausto,
Grandia laturus meritorum praemia. Quid stas?’
Post haec ille catus, quantumvis rusticus, ‘Ibit,
Ibit eo quo vis qui zonam perdidit,’ inquit.
Horace, Ep. II. ii. 26-40.
26 viatica = savings (cf. prize-money). viaticum = originally travelling-money.
28 vehemens lupus = a very wolf in his fury. Cf. Vergil’s simile for a forlorn hope—‘lupi ceu | Raptores.’—Wickham.
32 donis honestis = gifts of honour—i.e. the corona muralis, the mural crown, such as is worn by the goddess Cybele.
33 nummum (= nummorum) = in hard cash.
39 catus = shrewd, witty, a Sabine word, = acutus.
39-40 Ibit . . . quo vis, the original of Juvenal’s ad caelum, iusseris, ibit.
40 zonam = purse. The zona here was a broad belt made double or hollow to carry money in.
[B.] The Wealth of Lucullus.
20
Chlamydes Lucullus, ut aiunt,
Si posset centum scaenae praebere rogatus,
‘Qui possum tot?’ ait; ‘tamen et quaeram, et quot habebo
Mittam’: post paulo scribit sibi milia quinque
Esse domi chlamydum; partem vel tolleret omnes.
Horace, Ep. I. vi. 40-44.
Subject. Horace says ‘I am like Lucullus’ soldier—when his pocket was empty he would volunteer for forlorn hopes; when it was full again he would do so no more. It was poverty that made me write verses.’—W.
40 Chlamydes. The Chlamys was the light short mantle of the Greeks, here wanted for a pageant on the stage.
44 tolleret. The subj. is the praetor or person giving the show.—W.
Reference. For the magnificence of his Villas at Tusculum and near Neapolis, see Cicero De Fin. ii. § 107, De Leg. iii. § 30, Pliny, N. H. ix. 170.
WAR WITH SPARTACUS, 73-71 B.C.
Spartacus and his Gladiators.
Spartacus, Crixus, Oenomaus effracto Lentuli ludo cum triginta aut amplius eiusdem fortunae viris erupere Capua; servisque ad vexillum vocatis cum statim decem amplius milia coissent, homines modo effugisse contenti iam et vindicari volebant. 5 Prima sedes velut rabidis beluis mons Vesuvius placuit. Ibi cum obsiderentur a Clodio Glabro, per fauces cavi montis vitineis delapsi vinculis ad imas eius descendere radices et exitu inviso nihil tale opinantis ducis subito impetu castra rapuerunt. Adfluentibus 10 in diem copiis cum iam esset iustus exercitus, e viminibus pecudumque tegumentis inconditos sibi clipeos et ferro ergastulorum recocto gladios ac tela fecerunt, Indo iam consulares quoque aggressus in Appennino Lentuli exercitum percecidit, apud 15 Mutinam Gai Cassi castra delevit. Tandem enim totis imperii viribus contra mirmillonem consurgunt, pudoremque Romanum Marcus Crassus asseruit: a quo pulsi fugatique hostes in extrema Italiae refugerunt. Ibi circa Bruttium angulum clusi cum 20 fugam in Siciliam pararent neque navigia suppeterent ratesque ex trabibus et dolia connexa virgultis rapidissimo freto frustra experirentur, tandem eruptione facta dignam viris obiere mortem, et quod sub gladiatore duce oportuit, sine missione 25 pugnatum est. Spartacus ipse in primo agmine fortissime dimicans quasi imperator occisus est.
Florus, III. xx. 3-14 (sel.).
1 Spartacus, by birth a Thracian, who had served among the Thracian auxiliaries in the Roman army, had deserted and become a chief of banditti. He was taken prisoner and sold to a trainer of gladiators.
Crixus, Oenomaus, the slave-names of two Celts.
1-2 effracto ludo = broke out of the gladiators’ school.
8 vitineis vinculis = by means of ropes made of vine-branches.
9 inviso = unknown, lit. unseen.
13 ergastulorum = from the slaves’ work-houses.
17 mirmillonem. The Mirmillones were a class of gladiators usually matched with the Thraces or the retiarii (net-fighters).
18 Marcus Crassus, the Triumvir of 60 B.C.
asseruit = maintained. Cf. our assert.
21 in Siciliam, where the slaves had risen in 133 and 104 B.C., and only waited an impulse to break out a third time.
25 sine missione = without quarter. Cf. missio = the discharge from service of soldiers and gladiators.
THE THIRD MITHRIDATIC WAR, 74-63 B.C. (1)
Lucullus Ponticus.
Quoniam de genere belli dixi, nunc de magnitudine pauca dicam. Atque ut omnes intellegant me L. Lucullo tantum impertire laudis, quantum forti viro et sapienti homini et magno imperatori debeatur, dico eius adventu maximas Mithridatis 5 copias omnibus rebus ornatas atque instructas fuisse urbemque Asiae clarissimam nobisque amicissimam, Cyzicenorum, obsessam esse ab ipso rege maxima multitudine et oppugnatam vehementissime, quam L. Lucullus virtute, assiduitate, consilio summis 10 obsidionis periculis liberavit: ab eodem imperatore classem magnam et ornatam, quae ducibus Sertorianis ad Italiam studio inflammata raperetur, superatam esse atque depressam; magnas hostium praeterea copias multis proeliis esse deletas patefactumque 15 nostris legionibus esse Pontum, qui antea populo Romano ex omni aditu clausus fuisset; Sinopen atque Amisum, quibus in oppidis erant domicilia regis, omnibus rebus ornatas atque refertas, ceterasque urbes Ponti et Cappadociae permultas uno 20 aditu adventuque esse captas; regem spoliatum regno patrio atque avito ad alios se reges atque ad alias gentes supplicem contulisse: atque haec omnia salvis populi Romani sociis atque integris vectigalibus esse gesta. 25
Cicero, pro Lege Manilia, 20, 21.
5-6 maximas . . . fuisse. M. had 140,000 well-trained men, Roman officers sent by Sertorius, 16,000 cavalry, a war-fleet of 400 ships, and abundance of stores.
7-11 urbemque . . . liberavit. The city of Cyzicus stood on the S. side of the island of the same name in the Propontis (Sea of Marmora), close to the shore of Mȳsia, to which it was joined by two bridges.
12-14 classem . . . depressam, i.e. probably the Battle of Tenedos 73 B.C., in which Marcus Marius and the ablest of the Roman emigrants met their death, and the whole Aegean fleet of Mithridates was annihilated.
15 multis proeliis, e.g. of Cabira, 72 B.C.; Tigranocerta, 69 B.C.
18 Sinopen. Sinope, on the W. headland of the great bay of which the delta of the R. Halys forms the E. headland, was the birthplace and residence (domicilia) of M.
22 ad alios reges, e.g. to his son-in-law, Tigranes of Armenia.
23-24 salvis . . . vectigalibus, i.e. without ruining the provincial by forced contributions and requisitions.
Reference. For Siege of Cyzicus, see Mommsen, vol. iv. pp. 326-328; Frontinus, Strat. ii. 13. 6.
CN. POMPEIUS MAGNUS, 106-48 B.C.
His Character, and Career to 66 B.C.
Iam vero virtuti Cn. Pompei quae potest oratio par inveniri? Quid est quod quisquam aut illo dignum, aut vobis novum aut cuiquam inauditum possit adferre? Neque enim illae sunt solae virtutes imperatoriae, quae vulgo esistimantur, labor in 5 negotiis, fortitudo in periculis, industria in agendo, celeritas in conficiendo, consilium in providendo, quae tanta sunt in hoc uno, quanta in omnibus reliquis imperatoribus, quos aut vidimus aut audivimus, non fuerunt. Testis est Italia, quam ille ipse 10 victor L. Sulla huius virtute et subsidio confessus est liberatam: testis est Sicilia, quam multis undique cinctam periculis non terrore belli, sed consilii celeritate explicavit: testis est Africa, quae magnis oppressa hostium copiis eorum ipsorum sanguine 15 redundavit: testis est Gallia, per quam legionibus nostris iter in Hispaniam Gallorum internecione patefactum est: testis est Hispania, quae saepissime plurimos hostes ab hoc superatos prostratosque conspexit: testis est iterum et saepius Italia, quae 20 cum servili bello taetro periculosoque premeretur, ab hoc auxilium absente expetivit, quod bellum exspectatione eius attenuatum atque imminutum est, adventu sublatum ac sepultum: testes nunc vero iam omnes orae atque omnes exterae gentes ac nationes. 25
Cicero, pro Lege Manilia, 29-31.
10-12 Testis est Italia . . . liberatam. In 83 B.C. Pompeius, aged twenty-four, raised three legions in Picenum, gained several advantages over the Marian generals, and was saluted by Sulla as Imperator.
12-14 testis est Sicilia . . . explicavit. In 82 B.C. Pompeius, sent as propraetor to Sicily, quickly took possession of the island for Sulla.
14-16 testis est Africa . . . redundavit. In 81 B.C. Pompeius defeated at Utica the Marian Ahenobarbus (allied with Hiarbas of Numidia), and was, though a simple Roman eques, granted a triumph by Sulla and saluted as Magnus.
16-18 testis est Gallia . . . patefactum est. In 77 B.C., on his way to Spain as proconsul against Sertorius, he had to cut his way through the Transalpine Gauls, and laid out a new and shorter road over the Cottian Alps.
21 servili bello. On his return from Spain he cut to pieces the scattered remnants of the army of Spartacus.
21-23 ab hoc . . . imminutum est. Cic. assumes that the enemy was crippled even by the mere notion of sending for Pompeius.
References. Plutarch, Pompeius; Vell. Paterc. ii. 29.
GAIUS IULIUS CAESAR (1)
The Man Caesar.
Fuisse traditur excelsa statura, colore candido, teretibus membris, ore paulo pleniore, nigris vegetisque oculis, valetudine prospera; nisi quod tempore extremo repente animo linqui atque etiam per somnum exterreri solebat. Armorum et equitandi 5 peritissimus, laboris ultra fidem patiens erat. In agmine nonnunquam equo, saepius pedibus anteibat, capite detecto, seu sol seu imber esset; longissimas vias incredibili celeritate confecit. In obeundis expeditionibus dubium cautior an audentior, 10 exercitum neque per insidiosa itinera duxit umquam nisi perspeculatus locorum situs. A Brundisio Dyrrachium inter oppositas classes hieme transmisit cessantibusque copiis, quas subsequi iusserat, cum ad accersendas frustra saepe misisset, 15 novissime ipse clam noctu parvulum navigium solus obvoluto capite conscendit, neque aut quis esset ante detexit aut gubernatorem cedere adversae tempestati passus est, quam paene obrutus fluctibus. Ne religione quidem ulla a quoquam incepto absterritus 20 umquam vel retardatus est. Cum immolanti aufugisset hostia, profectionem adversus Scipionem et Iubam non distulit. Prolapsus etiam in egressu navis, verso ad melius omine Teneo te, inquit, Africa.
Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 45, 57-59 (sel.)
4 animo linqui = he was subject to fainting-fits.
8 capite detecto, so Cyrus the Younger and Hannibal.
9 incredibili celeritate, cf. Cic. Ep. ad Att. viii. 9 hoc τέρας (= prodigy) horribili vigilantia, celeritate, diligentia est. Cf. also Napoleon the Great.
14 cessantibusque copiis = and when the troops delayed their coming. Caesar did not then know that Antonius had himself been attacked at Brundisium by a Pompeian fleet, and had shown great skill in baffling it, and forcing it to put to sea again. Once more Antonius set sail with 4 legions and 800 horsemen, and fortunately a strong S. wind carried him safely to the port of Lissus (N. of Dyrrachium).
18-19 gubernatorem . . . passus est. ‘Quid times? Caesarem vehis!’ was Caesar’s famous exhortation to the pilot. (Florus.)
21-22 Cum . . . hostia: if the victim even tugged at the rope when being led to sacrifice, it was considered unfortunate, and hence a long slack rope was used. Cf. Juv. xii. 5 Sed procul extensum petulans (butting) quatit hostia funem.
24 According to Frontinus his words were ‘Teneo te, terra mater.’
The man Caesar. ‘We may picture him as a man the dignity of whose bodily presence was in due proportion to the greatness of his mental powers.’—Warde Fowler.
GAIUS IULIUS CAESAR (2)
Captured by Pirates.
Studies Oratory at Rhodes, 76-75 B.C.
Composita seditione civili Cornelium Dolabellam consularem et triumphalem repetundarum postulavit; absolutoque Rhodum secedere statuit, et ad declinandam invidiam et ut per otium ac requiem Apollonio Moloni clarissimo tunc dicendi magistro 5 operam daret. Huc dum hibernis iam mensibus traicit, circa Pharmacussam insulam a praedonibus captus est, mansitque apud eos, non sine summa indignatione, prope quadraginta dies cum uno medico et cubicularis duobus. Nam comites servosque 10 ceteros initio statim ad expediendas pecunias, quibus redimeretur, dimiserat. Numeratis deinde quinquaginta talentis, expositus in litore non distulit quin e vestigio classe deducta persequeretur abeuntis, ac redactos in potestatem supplicio, quod saepe illis 15 minatus inter iocum fuerat, adficeret. Vastante regiones proximas Mithridate ne desidere in discrimine sociorum videretur, ab Rhodio quo pertenderat, transiit in Asiam, auxiliisque contractis et praefecto regis provincia expulso, nutantes ac dubias civitates 20 retinuit in fide.
Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 4.
1 Composita seditione civili, i.e. after the abortive attempt of Lepidus to make himself master of the state 77 B.C.
C. Dolabellam, impeached for illegal extortion during his government of Macedonia.
Repetundarum (sc. pecuniarum), post-Aug. for de repetundis (pecuniis), used i. of money extorted by an official and to be returned, ii. of money extorted as a bribe. Caesar lost his case, but succeeded in showing that Sulla’s senatorial judges were corrupt.
4 Apollonio Moloni, the famous rhetorician, whose pupil Cicero was both at Rome and at Rhodes. Very possibly Caesar took this step by the advice of Cicero.
7 circa Pharmacussam insulam: S.W. of Miletus (= mod. Farmako).
8-9 non sine summa indignatione: Plutarch, Caes. gives a picturesque account of his adventures as their prisoner.
10 cubicularis (cubiculum) = lit. chamber-servants.
11 pecunias . . . Velleius says that Caesar’s ransom was paid out of public funds.
14 e vestigio (= statim) = immediately.
Caesar at Rhodes. ‘Caesar, from what we know of his taste and character, could hardly have found the same delight as Cicero in his studies at Rhodes. He nevertheless became one of the greatest orators of his day, and according to some accounts, second only to Cicero. It is characteristic of Caesar, but unfortunate for us, that he never took any pains to collect and preserve his speeches.’—Warde Fowler.
CICERO PROSECUTES VERRES, 70 B.C.
A Roman Citizen maltreated.
Quid ego de P. Gavio, Consano municipe, dicam, indices? Aut qua vi vocis, qua gravitate verborum, quo dolore animi dicam? Quod crimen eius modi est ut, cum primum ad me delatum est, usurum me illo non putarem; tametsi enim verissimum esse 5 intellegebam, tamen credibile fore non arbitrabar. Quid nunc agam? Rem in medio ponam: quae tantum habet ipsa gravitatis ut neque mea, quae nulla est, neque cuiusquam ad inflammandos vestros animos eloquentia requiratur. 10
Caedebatur virgis in medio foro Messanae civis Romanus, iudices; cum interea nullus gemitus, nulla vox alia illius miseri inter dolorem crepitumque plagarum audiebatur, nisi haec, Civis Romanus sum. Hac se commemoratione civitatis omnia verbera 15 depulsurum, cruciatum a corpore deiecturum arbitrabatur. Is non modo hoc non perfecit ut virgarum vim deprecaretur, sed cum imploraret saepius usurparetque nomen civitatis, crux, crux, inquam, infelici et aerumnoso comparabatur. 20
O nomen dulce libertatis! O ius eximium nostrae civitatis! O lex Porcia legesque Semproniae! O graviter desiderata et aliquando reddita plebi Romanae tribunicia potestas! Hucine tandem omnia reciderunt ut civis Romanus in provincia populi Romani, 25 in oppido foederatorum, ab eo qui beneficio populi Romani fasces et secures haberet deligatus in foro virgis caederetur?
Cicero, in Verrem, ii. 5. 62.
1 Consano municipe = a burgess of Consa, on the borders of Lucania.
22 Lex Porcia. Passed by M. Porcius Cato, 197 B.C., forbade the execution or scourging of a Roman citizen.
Leges Semproniae, a code of laws passed by C. Sempronius Gracchus, 123 B.C. One of these declared it to be the sole right of the people to decide capital cases.
22-24 O graviter desiderata . . . potestas! Sulla (Dictator 82-79 B.C.) took from the tribunes the right of proposing laws, and left them only their original right of Intercessio or veto. In 70 B.C. Pompeius, who had formally accepted the democratic programme, gave back to the tribunes the power to initiate legislation.
The Orationes In Verrem. Cicero, as patronus of the Sicilians, undertook the prosecution of the Senator C. Verres for his gross misconduct as governor of Sicily, 73-71 B.C.
CN. POMPEIUS MAGNUS, 106-48 B.C.
The Lex Gabinia, 67 B.C.
Converterat Cn. Pompei persona totum in se terrarum orbem et per omnia maior cive habebatur. Qui cum consul perquam laudabiliter iurasset se in nullam provinciam ex eo magistratu iturum idque servasset, post biennium A. Gabinius tribunus 5 legem tulit, ut cum belli more, non latrociniorum, orbem classibus iam, non furtivis expeditionibus, piratae terrerent, quasdamque etiam Italiae urbis diripuissent, Cn. Pompeius ad eos opprimendos mitteretur essetque ei imperium aequum in omnibus 10 provinciis cum proconsulibus usque ad quinquagesimum miliarium a mari. Quo decreto paene totius terrarum orbis imperium uni viro deferebatur; sed tamen idem hoc ante biennium in M. Antoni praetura decretum erat. Sed interdum persona ut exemplo 15 nocet, ita invidiam auget aut levat: in Antonio homines aequo animo passi erant; raro enim invidetur eorum honoribus, quorum vis non timetur: contra in iis homines extraordinaria reformidant, qui ea suo arbitrio aut deposituri aut retenturi videntur 20 et modum in voluntate habent. Dissuadebant optimates, sed consilia impetu victa sunt.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 31.
3-5 Qui cum consul . . . servasset. Pompeius, consul with Crassus in 71-70 B.C., thought it beneath his dignity to accept a consular province, and waited in Rome as a simple citizen until an opportunity should be offered him to play an extraordinary part.
5 A. Gabinius, a client of Pompeius, a man ruined in finances and character, but a dexterous negotiator, a bold orator, and a brave soldier. In 57 B.C. did excellent service as proconsul of Syria.
6-9 ut cum belli more . . . diripuissent. ‘For twenty years the sea had been rendered unsafe by these curses of human society.’ The commerce of the whole Mediterranean was in their power.
13-15 sed tamen . . . decretum erat. In 74 B.C. M. Antonius, son of the orator and father of the triumvir, was entrusted by the Senate with the task of clearing the seas from the corsairs. In spite of his extensive powers, the utter incapacity of Antonius, and the mismanagement of the Senate, caused the expedition to end in failure and disgrace.
Result. ‘The Gabinio-Manilian proposals terminated the struggle between the senate and the popular party, which the Sempronian laws (133-123 B.C.) had begun. As the Sempronian laws first constituted the revolutionary party into a political opposition, the Gabinio-Manilian first converted it from an opposition into a government.’—M.
CN. POMPEIUS MAGNUS, 106-48 B.C.
Pompeius clears the Seas of Pirates, 67 B.C.
Quis enim umquam aut obeundi negoti aut consequendi quaestus studio tam brevi tempore tot loca adire, tantos cursus conficere potuit, quam celeriter Cn. Pompeio duce tanti belli impetus navigavit? Qui nondum tempestivo ad navigandum mari Siciliam 5 adiit, Africam exploravit, in Sardiniam cum classe venit, atque haec tria frumentaria subsidia rei publicae firmissimis praesidiis classibusque munivit. Inde cum se in Italiam recepisset, duabus Hispaniis et Gallia transalpina praesidiis ac navibus confirmata, 10 missis item in oram Illyrici maris et in Achaiam omnemque Graeciam navibus Italiae duo maria maximis classibus firmissimisque praesidiis adornavit, ipse autem, ut Brundisio profectus est, undequinquagesimo die totam ad imperium populi Romani 15 Ciliciam adiunxit: omnes, qui ubique praedones fuerant, partim capti interfectique sunt, partim unius huius se imperio ac potestati dediderunt. Ita tantum bellum, tam diuturnum, tam longe lateque dispersum, quo bello omnes gentes ac nationes 20 premebantur, Cn. Pompeius extrema hieme adparavit, ineunte vere suscepit, media aestate confecit.
Cicero, pro Lege Manilia, 34, 35.
4 tanti belli impetus, fig. for an attacking fleet of such force, which from its size would ordinarily sail slowly.—Wilkins.
5-8 Qui . . . munivit. Early in the year (nondum tempestivo ad navigandum) Pompeius cleared of pirates the Sicilian, African, and Sardinian waters, so re-establish the supply of grain from these provinces to Italy.
14-18 undequagesimo . . . dediderunt. The bold Cilician seakings alone ventured to face the Roman fleet in the offing of Coracesium (at the W. frontier of Cilicia), but were completely defeated. Forty-nine days (undequinquagesimo) after Pompeius had appeared in the Eastern seas, Cilicia was subdued, and the war at an end. ‘In all about 1300 piratical vessels are said to have been destroyed: besides which the richly filled arsenals and magazines of the buccaneers were burnt. Of the pirates, about 10,000 perished (interfecti); upwards of 20,000 fell alive (partim capti—partim se dediderunt) into the hands of the victor.’—M.
22 ineunte vere . . . confecit. ‘In the summer of 67 B.C., three months after the beginning of the campaign, commerce resumed its wonted course, and instead of the former famine abundance prevailed in Italy.’—M.
This was the first trial of rule centralised in a single hand, and Pompeius fully justified the confidence that was placed in him.
THE THIRD MITHRIDATIC WAR, 74-63 B.C. (2)
Pompeius subdues Mithridates and Tigranes.
Pompeius interea memorabile adversus Mithridaten, qui post Luculli profectionem magnas novi exercitus vires reparaverat, bellum gessit. At rex fusus fugatusque et omnibus exutus copiis Armeniam Tigranenque generum petit, regem eius temporis, 5 nisi qua Luculli armis erat infractus, potentissimum. Simul itaque duos persecutus Pompeius intravit Armeniam. Prior filius Tigranis, sed discors patri, pervenit ad Pompeium: mox ipse supplex et praesens se regnumque dicioni eius permisit, 10 praefatus neminem alium neque Romanum neque ullius gentis virum futurum fuisse, cuius se societate commissurus foret, quam Pompeium; non esse turpe ab eo vinci, quem vincere esset nefas, neque inhoneste aliquem summitti huic, quem fortuna super 15 omnes extulisset. Servatus regi honos imperi, sed multato ingenti pecunia, quae omnis, sicuti Pompeio moris erat, redacta in quaestoris potestatem ac publicis descripta litteris. Syria aliaeque, quas occupaverat, provinciae ereptae, et aliae restitutae populo 20 Romano, aliae tum primum in eius potestatem redactae, ut Syria, quae tum primum facta est stipendiaria. Finis imperi regi terminatus Armenia.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 37.
Context. In 66 B.C. Lucullus, of whom Mommsen says ‘hardly any other Roman general accomplished so much with so trifling means,’ was superseded by Pompeius. By the Lex Manilia Pompeius obtained, in addition to the extensive powers conferred upon him by the Lex Gabinia 67 B.C., the military administration of Asia as far as Armenia. ‘Never since Rome stood had such power been united in the hands of a single man.’—M.
3-4 rex fusus . . . copiis, i.e. in Lesser Armenia, on S. bank of R. Lycus, where Pompeius afterwards founded Nicopolis.
5 Tigranenque generum petit. Tigranes had married Cleopatra, the daughter of Mithridates.
17-19 quae omnis . . . litteris, i.e. paid into the Roman treasury. Cf. Lucan ix. 197 Immodicas possedit opes, sed plura retentis | Intulit sc. in aerarium.
The End of Mithridates. After his defeat at Nicopolis the aged king took refuge in his Northern capital of Panticapaeum (on the Cimmerian Bosporus). Here, when all turned against him, he took poison, 63 B.C. ‘In him a great enemy was borne to the tomb, a greater than had ever yet withstood the Romans in the indolent East.’—M.
Syria made a Roman Province, 65 B.C.
GAIUS IULIUS CAESAR (3)
[A.] Curule Aedile, 65 B.C.
Aedilis praeter comitium ac forum basilicasque etiam Capitolium ornavit porticibus ad tempus exstructis, in quibus abundante rerum copia pars apparatus exponeretur. Venationes autem ludosque et cum collega et separatim edidit, quo factum est, 5 ut communium quoque impensarum solus gratiam caperet, nec dissimularet collega eius Marcus Bibulus evenisse sibi quod Polluci: ut enim geminis fratribus aedes in foro constituta tantum Castoris vocaretur, ita suam Caesarisque munificentiam unius Caesaris 10 dici.
Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 10.
1 Aedilis. As curule-aedile Caesar exceeded all previous expenditure. This was meant to secure the favour of the democracy, and gain the position of its leader, which was in fact vacant; for Crassus was never popular, and Pompeius was absent in the East.
basilicas (βασιλική sc. οἰκία and στοά: regia) = halls.
2 porticibus: these acted as booths, in a grand fair, as we should say.
4 Venationes, here of the combats with wild beasts.
7 M. Bibulus, also Caesar’s colleague in his first consulship, 59 B.C.
[B.] Propraetor in Further Spain, 61 B.C.
Ex praetura ulteriorem sortitus Hispaniam, retinentes creditores interventu sponsorum removit, ac neque more neque iure, ante quam provinciae ornarentur, profectus est; pacataque provincia, pari 15 festinatione, non expectato successore, ad triumphum simul consulatumque decessit. Sed cum, edictis iam comitiis, ratio eius haberi non posset nisi privatus introisset urbem, et ambienti ut legibus solveretur multi contradicerent, coactus est triumphum, 20 ne consulatu excluderetur, dimittere.
Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 18.
Context. In 69 B.C. Caesar was elected to a Quaestorship (the lowest step in the ladder of official life) and discharged his judicial duties in Further Spain with tact and industry.
13 retinentes . . . removit = freed himself from his creditors, who were for detaining him, by the help of sureties. Caesar is said to have borrowed from Crassus 830 talents.
14-15 ante quam provinciae ornarentur: a regular phrase used of supplying the newly chosen magistrate with money, arms, attendants, etc.
18 ratio . . . posset = his candidature could not be considered.
Propraetor in F. Spain. ‘His governorship enabled him partly to rid himself of his debts partly to lay the foundation for his military repute.’—M.
THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE, 63 B.C. (1)
Cicero declaims against the Audacity of Catiline.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? Quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia? Nihilne te nocturnum praesidium Palati, nihil urbis vigiliae, nihil timor populi, nihil concursus bonorum 5 omnium, nihil hic munitissimus habendi senatus locus, nihil horum ora voltusque moverunt? Patere tua consilia non sentis? Constrictam iam horum omnium scientia teneri coniurationem tuam non vides? Quid proxima, quid superiore nocte egeris, 10 ubi fueris, quos convocaveris, quid consilii ceperis, quem nostrum ignorare arbitraris? O tempora! O mores! Senatus haec intellegit; consul videt: hic tamen vivit. Vivit? immo vero etiam in senatum venit: fit publici consilii particeps; notat at designat 15 oculis ad caedem unum quemque nostrum. . . . Castra sunt in Italia contra rem publicam in Etruriae faucibus collocata: crescit in dies singulos hostium numerus; eorum autem castrorum imperatorem ducemque hostium intra moenia atque 20 adeo in senatu videmus intestinam aliquam cotidie perniciem rei publicae molientem. Si te iam, Catilina, eomprehendi, si interfici iussero, credo, erit verendum mihi ne non hoc potius omnes boni serius a me quam quisquam crudelius factum esse dicat. 25
Cicero, in Catilinam, i. §§ 1, 2, 5.
1 Quo usque tandem abutere = how long, pray, will you presume upon? Catiline had been declared hostis patriae, and yet dared to appear in the Senate.
4 praesidium Palati: in the case of any threatening danger the Mons Palatinus was occupied as one of the most important military points in the city.
6-7 senatus locus, i.e. the temple of Jupiter Stator, on the N. slope of the Palatine, chosen as the safest meeting-place, and near Cicero’s house.
17-18 castra . . . collocata, the camp of Manlius (one of the veteran centurions of Sulla) was planted at Faesulae (Fiesole), a rocky fastness three miles N.E. of Florence.
19 imperatorem: ironical, as though Catiline were the legally appointed general of the Republic.
In L. Catilinam Oratio i. ‘This splendid oration, in its fiery vigour and mastery of invective, is unsurpassed except by the Second Philippic.’—Cruttwell.
Its effect on Catiline. Tum ille furibundus ‘quoniam quidem circumventus’ inquit ‘ab inimicis praeceps agor, incendium meum ruina restinguam.’ Sall. Catil. 31. That night Catiline left Rome for the camp of Manlius.
THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE, 63 B.C. (2)
The End of Catiline.
Sed confecto proelio tum vero cerneres, quanta audacia quantaque vis animi fuisset in exercitu Catilinae. Nam fere, quem quisque vivus pugnando locum ceperat, eum, amissa anima, corpore tegebat. Pauci autem, quos medios cohors praetoria disiecerat, 5 paulo divorsius, sed omnes tamen advorsis volneribus conciderant. Catilina vero longe a suis inter hostium cadavera repertus est, paululum etiam spirans ferociamque animi, quam habuerat vivus, in voltu retinens. Postremo ex omni copia neque in 10 proelio neque in fuga quisquam civis ingenuus captus est. Ita cuncti suae hostiumque vitae iuxta pepercerant. Neque tamen exercitus populi Romani laetam aut incruentam victoriam adeptus erat; nam strenuissumus quisque aut occiderat in proelio, aut 15 graviter volneratus discesserat. Multi autem, qui de castris visundi aut spoliandi gratia processerant, volventes hostilia cadavera, amicum alii, pars hospitem aut cognatum reperiebant; fuere item, qui inimicos suos cognoscerent. Ita varie per omnem 20 exercitum laetitia, maeror, luctus atque gaudia agitabantur.
Sallust, Bellum Catilinae, 61.
5 cohors praetoria: a corps d’élite, specially organised as a bodyguard of the general (praetor = praeitor, prae + eo), dating from the time when the praetores was the older name of the consuls (= colleagues).
8 etiam (= adhuc) = still. Cf. Verg. Aen. vi. 485 etiam currus etiam arma tenentem.
11 civis ingenuus, i.e. a free citizen born of free citizens.
12 Ita cuncti . . . pepercerant = so unsparing had they all been alike of their own and their opponents’ lives.—Pollard.
21 laetitia = joy manifested, gaudia = joy felt.
luctus = grief shown by outward signs, e.g. by dress.
maeror = grief shown by inward signs, e.g. by tears, or a sad face.
The Battle of Pistoria (Pistoia, N.W. of Faesulae). ‘Catiline showed on this day that nature had destined him for no ordinary things, and that he knew at once how to command and how to fight as a soldier. At length Petreius, with his bodyguard, broke the centre of the enemy, and then attacked the two wings from within. This decided the day.’—M.
The character of Catiline. ‘He was one of the most wicked men in that wicked age. He possessed in a high degree the qualities which are required in the leader of a band of ruined and desperate men—the faculty of enjoying all pleasures and of bearing all privations, courage, military talent, knowledge of men, indomitable energy.’—M. Cf. Sall. Catil. 5.
GAIUS IULIUS CAESAR (4).
Forms the First Triumvirate: Consul, 60-59 B.C.
Hoc igitur consule inter eum et Cn. Pompeium et M. Crassum inita potentiae societas, quae urbi orbique terrarum nec minus diverso quoque tempore ipsis exitiabilis fuit. Hoc consilium sequendi Pompeius causam habuerat, ut tandem acta in 5 transmarinis provinciis, quibus, ut praediximus, multi obtrectabant, per Caesarem confirmarentur consulem, Caesar autem, quod animadvertebat se cedendo Pompei gloriae aucturum suam et invidia communis potentiae in illum relegata confirmaturum 10 vires suas, Crassus, ut quem principatum solus adsequi non poterat, auctoritate Pompei, viribus teneret Caesaris. Adfinitas etiam inter Caesarem Pompeiumque contracta nuptiis, quippe Iuliam, filiam C. Caesaris, Cn. Magnus duxit uxorem. In 15 hoc consulatu Caesar legem tulit, ut ager Campanus plebei divideretur, suasore legis Pompeio: ita circiter XX milia civium eo deducta et ius urbis restitutum post annos circiter CLII quam bello Punico ab Romanis Capua in formam praefecturae 20 redacta erat. Bibulus, collega Caesaris, cum actiones eius magis vellet impedire quam posset, maiore parte anni domi se tenuit: quo facto dum augere vult invidiam collegae, auxit potentiam. Tum Caesari decretae in quinquennium Galliae. 25
Vell. Pat. ii. 44.
1-2 inter eum . . . societas, the famous First Triumvirate. ‘It was at first an expedient to secure, as we should say, a working majority for a vigorous democratic policy, but the bitterness of its enemies transformed the coalition itself from an honourable union into the semblance of a three-headed tyranny.’—Warde Fowler.
4-7 The ultra-senatorial party (after Pompeius’ great act of renunciation, when he dismissed his victorious veterans in 62 B.C.) had checked and worried Pompeius by refusing to ratify his arrangements in the East, and by criticising and opposing his plans for rewarding his veterans. Thus they deliberately drove him once more into the arms of Caesar and the democracy.
10 relegata = attributed, imputed, lit. removed (re + lēgo).
21 Bibulus, collega Caesaris: cf. Suet. Divus Iulius 20:
Non Bibulo quicquam, nuper sed Caesare factum est:
Nam Bibulo fieri consule nil memini.
Caesar’s First Consulship. Among his other acts was the famous Lex Iulia de pecuniis repetundis (against official extortion in the provinces), which won strong praise even from Cicero himself.
THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (1)
‘That day he overcame the Nervii,’ 57 B.C.
Caesar ab decimae legionis cohortatione ad dextrum cornu profectus, ubi suos urgeri signisque in unum locum collatis duodecimae legionis confertos milites sibi ipsos ad pugnam esse impedimento vidit—quartae cohortis omnibus centurionibus occisis, 5 signifero interfecto, signo amisso, reliquarum cohortium omnibus fere centurionibus aut vulneratis aut occisis, in his primipilo P. Sextio Baculo, fortissimo viro, multis gravibusque volneribus confecto, ut iam se sustinere non posset; reliquos esse tardiores et nonnullos 10 ab novissimis deserto proelio excedere ac tela vitare, hostes neque a fronte ex inferiore loco subeuntes intermittere et ab utroque latere instare, et rem esse in angusto vidit neque ullum esse subsidium quod submitti posset, scuto ab novissimis 15 militi detracto, quod ipse eo sine scuto venerat, in primam aciem processit; centurionibusque nominatim appellatis reliquos cohortatus milites signa inferre et manipulos laxare iussit, quo facilius gladiis uti possent. Cuius adventu spe illata militibus ac 20 redintegrato animo, cum pro se quisque in conspectu imperatoris etiam in extremis suis rebus operam navare cuperet, paulum hostium impetus tardatus est.
Caesar, de B. G. ii. 25.
Context. The Nervii, the bravest of the Belgae, surprised Caesar’s men while at work on their camp. There was no time to think: they took station where they could. The 9th and 10th legions on the left broke and pursued the enemy in front of them, and the two legions in the centre stood firm. But on the right there was a gap, and the Nervii were rapidly surrounding the two legions huddled together here, and the fight threatened every moment to become a second Cannae, when Caesar restored the fight. Labienus sent back the victorious 10th, who took the enemy in their rear, and the cavalry completed the victory.
14-15 neque ullum . . . posset: the rear guard, the 13th and 14th legions, had not yet come up.
18-19 signa . . . laxare = to charge and (thus) open out the ranks.
22-23 operam navare = to do their very best. navo (orig. gnavo; cf. γνώσκω) = lit. to make known, to exhibit.
The Battle of the Sambre. One of the most desperate that Caesar ever fought. The memory of it lived in Caesar’s mind so vividly that he seems to fight the battle over again as he describes it, in language for him unusually strong and intense.—W. F.
Result of the Battle, the submission of North West Gaul.
THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (2)
Naval Battle with the Veneti, 56 B.C.
Una erat magno usui res praeparata a nostris,—falces praeacutae insertae affixaeque longuriis non absimili forma muralium falcium. His cum funes qui antemnas ad malos destinabant comprehensi adductique essent, navigio remis incitato praerumpebantur. 5 Quibus abscisis antemnae necessario concidebant; ut, cum omnis Gallicis spes in velis armamentisque consisteret, his ereptis omnis usus navium uno tempore eriperetur. Reliquum erat certamen positum in virtute, qua nostri milites facile 10 superabant atque eo magis, quod in conspectu Caesaris atque omnis exercitus res gerebatur, ut nullum paulo fortius factum latere posset; omnes enim colles ac loca superiora, unde erat propinquus despectus in mare, ab exercitu tenebantur. Disiectis, ut diximus, 15 antemnis, cum singulas binae ac ternae naves circumsteterant, milites summa vi transcendere in hostium naves contendebant. Quod postquam barbari fieri animadverterunt, expugnatis compluribus navibus, cum ei rei nullum reperiretur auxilium, fuga 20 salutem petere contenderunt. Ac iam conversis in eam partem navibus quo ventus ferebat, tanta subito malacia ac tranquillitas exstitit ut se ex loco movere non possent. Quae quidem res ad negotium conficiendum maxime fuit opportuna; nam singulas 25 nostri consectati expugnaverunt, ut perpaucae ex omni numero noctis interventu ad terram pervenerint, cum ab hora fere quarta usque ad solis occasum pugnaretur.
Caesar, de B. G. iii. 14, 15.
Context. In the winter of 57-6 Roman officers, who came to levy requisitions of grain, were detained by the Veneti. Caesar’s attack on their coast-towns failed to reduce them to submission: so he determined to wait for his fleet. This he entrusted to Decimus Brutus, an able and devoted officer. At first the Roman galleys were powerless against the high-decked strong sailing-vessels of the Veneti, but the use of the murales falces, and the opportune calm, enabled Brutus to annihilate their fleet.
11-12 quod . . . gerebatur. Napoleon (Caesar, vol. ii. p. 6) thinks that Caesar was encamped on the heights of Saint Gildas overlooking Quiberon Bay.
23 malacia = a calm, but μαλακία = softness, L. mollities.
Result of the Victory—the surrender of the Veneti and of all Brittany. The earliest historical naval battle fought on the Atlantic Ocean.—M.
THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (3)
Caesar’s Bridge across the Rhine, 55 B.C.
Rationem pontis hanc instituit. Tigna bina sesquipedalia paulum ab imo praeacuta, dimensa ad altitudinem fluminis, intervallo pedum duorum inter se iungebat. Haec cum machinationibus immissa in flumen defixerat fistucisque adegerat—non sublicae 5 modo derecte ad perpendiculum, sed prone ac fastigate, ut secundum naturam fluminis procumberent—eis item contraria duo ad eundem modum iuncta intervallo pedum quadragenum ab inferiore parte contra vim atque impetum fluminis conversa statuebat. 10 Haec utraque insuper bipedalibus trabibus immissis, quantum eorum tignorum iunctura distabat, binis utrimque fibulis ab extrema parte distinebantur; quibus disclusis atque in contrariam partem revinctis, tanta erat operis firmitudo atque 15 ea rerum natura ut, quo maior vis aquae se incitavisset, hoc artius illigata tenerentur. Haec derecta materia iniecta contexebantur ac longuriis cratibusque consternebantur; ac nihilo setius sublicae et ad inferiorem partem fluminis oblique agebantur, quae 20 pro ariete subiectae et cum omni opere coniunctae vim fluminis exciperent; et aliae item supra pontem mediocri spatio, ut, si arborum trunci sive naves deiciendi operis essent a barbaris immissae, his defensoribus earum rerum vis minueretur, neu ponti 25 nocerent.
Caesar, de B. G. iv. 17.
Context. The year 55 B.C. appears to have been marked by a general movement in the migration of the German tribes. An advance, consisting of two tribes, the Usipetes and Tenctri, crowded forward by the more powerful Suevi, crossed the Lower Rhine into N. Gaul. Caesar drove them back across the Rhine, bridged the river, followed them up into their own territories, and fully established the supremacy of the Roman arms.—Allen and Greenough.
5 fistucisque adegerat = and had driven them home (ad-) with rammers. For Plan of Bridge see Allen’s Caesar, p. 103.
11-14 Haec . . . distinebantur = these two sets were held apart by two-feet timbers laid on above, equal (in thickness) to the interval left by the fastening of the piles (quantum . . . distabat), with a pair of ties (fibulis) at each end.—A. & G.
17-18 Haec . . . contexebantur = these (i.e. the framework of timber) were covered over by boards (materia) laid lengthwise.
longuriis = with long poles.
The Bridge (prob. near Bonn). ‘With extraordinary speed (in ten days) the bridge was completed. It was a triumph of engineering and industry.’—W. F.
THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (4)
Cassivellaunus.
Second Invasion of Britain, 54 B.C.
Cassivellaunus, omni deposita spe contentionis, dimissis amplioribus copiis, milibus circiter quattuor essedariorum relictis itinera nostra servabat: paulumque ex via excedebat locisque impeditis ac silvestribus sese occultabat, atque eis regionibus quibus 5 nos iter facturos cognoverat pecora atque homines ex agris in silvas compellebat; et cum equitatus noster liberius praedandi vastandique causa se in agros eiecerat, omnibus viis semitisque essedarios ex silvis emittebat; et magno cum periculo nostrorum 10 equitum cum eis confligebat atque hoc metu latius vagari prohibebat. Relinquebatur ut neque longius ab agmine legionum discedi Caesar pateretur, et tantum in agris vastandis incendiisque faciendis hostibus noceretur quantum in labore atque itinere 15 legionarii milites efficere poterant. . . . Cassivellaunus hoc proelio nuntiato, tot detrimentis acceptis, vastatis finibus, maxime etiam permotus defectione civitatum, legatos per Atrebatem Commium de deditione ad Caesarem mittit. 20
Caesar, de B. G. v. 19, 22.
Context. The First Invasion of Britain (55 B.C.) was only a visit of exploration; but in the Second Invasion (54 B.C.) Caesar aimed at a partial conquest. He had been hearing of Britain ever since he came to Gaul, and knew it to be a refuge for his Celtic enemies and a secret source of their strength. He set sail from the Portus Ittius (mod. Wissant, some twelve miles W. of Calais) and after drifting some way to the N.E., made his way to his former landing-place, probably near Romney. Some severe fighting followed, till at length Caesar crossed the Thames (apparently between Kingston and Brentford) and entered the country of Cassivellaunus, who gave Caesar much trouble by his guerilla tactics. Deserted by his allies, Cassivellaunus offered his submission, which Caesar gladly accepted.
1 Contentionis, i.e. of a general engagement with Caesar.
12 Relinquebatur ut = the consequence was that . . .
17 hoc proelio, i.e. the storming by Caesar of his fortified camp, perh. St. Albans.
18-19 defectione civitatum, espec. of the Trinobantes (chief place Camulodunum, later Colonia castrum = Colchester).
19 Commium, Caesar had made him King of the Atrebates (N.W. Gaul).
Caesar In Britain. ‘What he tells us of the geography and inhabitants of the Island comprises almost all we know, except from coins, down to the time of its final conquest by Clodius 51 A.D.’—W. F.
THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (5)
The Gallic uprising.
Fabian tactics of Vercingetorix, 52 B.C.
Vercingetorix tot continuis incommodis acceptis suos ad concilium convocat. Docet ‘longe alia ratione esse bellum gerendum atque antea gestum sit; omnibus modis huic rei studendum ut pabulatione et commeatu Romani prohibeantur: id esse 5 facile, quod equitatu ipsi abundent et quod anni tempore subleventur; pabulum secari non posse; necessario dispersos hostes ex aedificiis petere; hos omnes cotidie ab equitibus deleri posse. Praeterea, salutis causa rei familiaris commoda neglegenda; 10 vicos atque aedificia incendi oportere hoc spatio quoqueversus, quo pabulandi causa adire posse videantur. Harum ipsis rerum copiam suppetere, quod quorum in finibus bellum geratur eorum opibus subleventur: Romanos aut inopiam non laturos aut 15 magno cum periculo longius a castris processuros; neque interesse ipsosne interficiant an impedimentis exuant, quibus amissis bellum geri non possit. Praeterea, oppida incendi oportere quae non munitione et loci natura ab omni sint periculo tuta; ne 20 suis sint ad detrectandam militiam receptacula, neu Romanis proposita ad copiam commeatus praedamque tollendam. Haec si gravia aut acerba videantur, multo illa gravius aestimari debere, liberos, coniuges in servitutem abstrahi, ipsos interfici; 25 quae sit necesse accidere victis.’
Caesar, de B. G. vii. 14.
Context. On his return from Britain, Caesar found the N. Gauls in open revolt. The division of Sabinus (at Aduatuca, near Liège) was annihilated by Ambiorix, and Caesar was only just in time to relieve Q. Cicero at Charleroi. To prevent all further support to the Gauls from the Germans across the Rhine, Caesar again made a military demonstration across the river, and put an end to all the hopes of the Germans of breaking through this boundary. In the winter of 53-2 B.C., during his absence in Cisalpine Gaul, a general uprising of the S. and Central Gauls took place under the Arvernian Vercingetorix, the hero of the whole Gallic race.
6-7 anni tempore, i.e. scarcely yet spring, when no crops could be got off the land.
11-12 hoc spatio quoqueversus, quo = so far in every direction as.
19 oppida incendi: only Avaricum (Bourges) was to be spared.
22 proposita = offered to be captured by the Romans.
The tactics of Vercingetorix. ‘He adopted a system of warfare similar to that by which Cassivellaunus had saved the Celts of Britain.’—M.
THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (6)
Siege of Gergovia.
Petronius dies to save his men, 52 B.C.
Cum acerrime comminus pugnaretur, hostes loco et numero, nostri virtute confiderent, subito sunt Aedui visi ab latere nostris aperto, quos Caesar ab dextra parte alio ascensu manus distinendae causa miserat. Hi similitudine armorum vehementer 5 nostros perterruerunt. Eodem tempore L. Fabius centurio quique una murum ascenderant circumventi atque interfecti de muro praecipitabantur. M. Petronius, eiusdem legionis centurio, cum portas excidere conatus esset, a multitudine oppressus ac sibi desperans, 10 multis iam volneribus acceptis, manipularibus suis qui illum secuti erant, ‘Quoniam,’ inquit, ‘me una vobiscum servare non possum, vestrae quidem certe vitae prospiciam, quos cupiditate gloriae adductus in periculum deduxi. Vos data facultate vobis consulite.’ 15 Simul in niedios hostes irrupit, duobusque interfectis reliquos a porta paulum submovit. Conantibus auxiliari suis, ‘Frustra,’ inquit, ‘meae vitae subvenire conamini, quem iam sanguis viresque deficiunt. Proinde abite dum est facultas vosque ad 20 legionem recipite.’ Ita pugnans post paulum concidit ac suis saluti fuit.
Caesar, de B. G. vii. 50.
Context. With a half-starved army Caesar stormed Avaricum after a most obstinate defence, and then laid siege to the Arvernian capital of Gergovia, in hope of destroying Vercingetorix and ending the war. As the town was too strong to be taken by storm, he resolved to try a blockade, but he failed, as at Dyrrachium in 49 B.C., from want of sufficient troops.
A last desperate attack on the town was repulsed, and Caesar, defeated for the first time, was forced to raise the siege.
3 ab latere nostris aperto: as a soldier carries his shield on the left arm, leaving the sword hand free, this (right) side is called latus apertum.—Compton.
4 manus distinendae causa = for the purpose of diverting (distinendae, lit. hold off) the enemy’s force.
6 perterruerunt: this was all the more natural, as the Aeduan contingent was only awaiting the result of the blockade, to openly join the insurgents.
9 excidere = to cut away, hew down, i.e. from within.
Gergovia, 4 miles S. of Clermont. This famous stronghold consists of a rectangular plateau nearly a mile in length, and some 1300 feet above the plain through which the Allier flows, and descending steeply on all sides but one to the ground.
Caesar’s failure. ‘The fact was that chiefly owing to the nature of the ground and their own ardour, Caesar’s men were not well in hand.’—W. F.
THE GALLIC WAR, 58-50 B.C. (7)
Siege of Alesia.
The Last Fight of Vercingetorix, 52 B.C.
Vercingetorix ex arce Alesiae suos conspicatus ex oppido egreditur: crates, longurios, musculos, fasces, reliquaque quae eruptionis causa paraverat profert. Pugnatur uno tempore omnibus locis atque omnia temptantur; quae minime visa pars firma est huc 5 concurritur. Romanorum manus tantis munitionibus distinetur nec facile pluribus locis occurrit. . . . Labienus, postquam neque aggeres neque fossae vim hostium sustinere poterant, coactis XI cohortibus, quas ex proximis praesidiis deductas fors obtulit, 10 Caesarem per nuntios facit certiorem quid faciendum existimet. Accelerat Caesar ut proelio intersit. Eius adventu ex colore vestitus cognito (quo insigni in proeliis uti consuerat), turmisque equitum et cohortibus visis quas se sequi iusserat, ut de locis 15 superioribus haec declivia et devexa cemebantur, hostes proelium committunt. Utrimque clamore sublato excipit rursus ex vallo atque omnibus munitionibus clamor. Nostri omissis pilis gladiis rem gerunt. Repente post tergum equitatus cernitur: 20 cohortes aliae appropinquant. Hostes terga vertunt; fugientibus equites occurrunt: fit magna caedes: pauci ex tanto numero se incolumes in castra recipiunt.
Caesar, de B. G. vii. 84, 87, 88.
Context. After his successful defence of Gergovia, Vercingetorix allowed his judgment to be overruled, and attacked Caesar’s army (now united to the division of Labienus) on the march. Caesar shook off the enemy with the help of his German cavalry, and turned their retreat into a rout. V. then threw himself with all his forces into Alesia. Caesar constructed an inner line of investment and an outer line of defence, and was thus able to wear out the besieged and beat back the relieving host of the Gauls.
1 suos, i.e. the host (some 250,000) of the relieving army of Gauls.
2 musculos (dimin. of mus) = pent-houses or sheds.
4 omnibus locis, i.e. along the whole length of Caesar’s outer line of defence, where it ran along the slope of Mont Réa, to the N.W. of Alesia. This, as the relieving Gauls were quick to see, was the weakest point of the whole line.
13 ex colore vestitus, i.e. the purple or scarlet paludamentum.
Vercingetorix. The Celtic officers delivered up V. to Caesar, to be led in triumph five years later, and beheaded as a traitor. In 1865 a statue was erected on the summit of Alesia, in honour of the heroic Gaul.
The fall of Alesia decided the fate of Gaul.
CICERO IN EXILE, March 58 B.C.-August 57 B.C. (1)
His Banishment.
Per idem tempus P. Clodius, homo nobilis, disertus, audax, quique dicendi neque faciendi ullum nisi quem vellet nosset modum, malorum propositorum exsecutor acerrimus, cum graves inimicitias cum M. Cicerone exerceret (quid enim inter tam 5 dissimilis amicum esse poterat?) et a patribus ad plebem transisset, legem in tribunatu tulit, qui civem Romanum non damnatum interemisset, ei aqua et igni interdiceretur: cuius verbis etsi non nominabatur Cicero, tamen solus petebatur. Ita vir optime 10 meritus de re publica conservatae patriae pretium calamitatem exili tulit. Non caruerunt suspicione oppressi Ciceronis Caesar et Pompeius. Hoc sibi contraxisse videbatur Cicero, quod inter xx viros dividendo agro Campano esse noluisset. Idem intra 15 biennium sera Cn. Pompei cura, verum ut coepit intenta, votisque Italiae ac decretis senatus, virtute atque actione Anni Milonis tribuni pl. dignitati patriaeque restitutus est. Neque post Numidici exilium ac reditum quisquam aut expulsus invidiosius 20 aut receptus est laetius: cuius domus quam infeste a Clodio disiecta erat, tam speciose a senatu restituta est.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 45.
6-7 a patribus . . . transisset. When Cicero refused to throw in his lot with the Triumvirs, Publius Clodius was (by the aid of Caesar as Pontifex Maximus) hurriedly transferred from a patrician to a plebeian gens, and then chosen a tribune of the people for the year 58 B.C. Clodius was thus enabled to satisfy his private hatred of Cicero, and Caesar was enabled to get rid of the man who persisted in opposing him.
7-8 qui . . . interemisset: aimed at Cicero for his share in the summary execution of the Catilinarians 63 B.C. Mommsen calls it a judicial murder. Undoubtedly the Senate had not the power of sentencing citizens to death. But Cicero argues that the legal effect of the Senatus consultum ultimum was to disenfranchise Lentulus and his associates, and to place them in the position of outlaws.
12-13 Non caruerunt . . . Pompeius: Caesar having in vain tried to win him over abandoned him to his fate, and Pompeius basely deserted him.
15 dividendo agro Campano, i.e. by Caesar’s Agrarian Law of 59 B.C., to provide for Pompey’s veterans.
18 Anni Milonis: the bravoes of Milo protected from disturbance the voters engaged in sanctioning the decree for the recall of Cicero.
19 Numidici, i.e. Q. Caecilius Metellus, general against Jugurtha, superseded by Marius and forced to retire to Rhodes.
CICERO IN EXILE, March 58 B.C.-August 57 B.C. (2)
His Return.
Pr. Nonas Sextiles Dyrrachio sum profectus, ipso illo die, quo lex est lata de nobis; Brundisium veni Nonis Sextilibus: ibi mihi Tulliola mea fuit praesto natali suo ipso die, qui casu idem natalis erat et Brundisinae coloniae et tuae vicinae Salutis; quae 5 res animadversa a multitudine summa Brundisinorum gratulatione celebrata est. Ante diem vi Idus Sextiles cognovi, cum Brundisii essem, litteris Quinti, mirifico studio omnium aetatum atque ordinum, incredibili concursu Italiae legem comitiis 10 centuriatis esse perlatam: inde a Brundisinis honestissimis ornatus iter ita feci, ut undique ad me cum gratulatione legati convenerint. Ad urbem ita veni, ut nemo ullius ordinis homo nomenclatori notus fuerit, qui mihi obviam non venerit, praeter eos 15 inimicos, quibus id ipsum, se inimicos esse, non liceret aut dissimulare aut negare. Cum venissem ad portam Capenam, gradus templorum ab infima plebe completi erant, a qua plausu maximo cum esset mihi gratulatio significata, similis et frequentia 20 et plausus me usque ad Capitolium celebravit, in foroque et in ipso Capitolio miranda multitudo fuit. Postridie in senatu, qui fuit dies Nonarum Septembr., senatui gratias egimus.
Cicero, Ep. ad Att. iv. 1.
1 Dyrrachio (formerly Epidamnus, mod. Durazzo), a town in Illyria, on a peninsula in the Adriatic. It was the usual port of landing and departure from and for Brundisium (distant about 100 miles).
3 Tulliola, Cicero’s dearly-loved daughter Tullia, the only one of his family of whose conduct he never complains, and his tender and sympathising companion in all his pursuits.
4-5 qui casu . . . coloniae. Brundisium was founded 244 B.C. The Via Appia terminated here.
5 tuae vicinae Salutis, the Temple of Salus on the Quirinal was near the house of Atticus.
9 Quinti (sc. Ciceronis): Cicero’s only brother, a gallant soldier (e.g. as legatus to Caesar in Gaul), but a man of violent temper. Proscribed by the Triumvirs, and put to death in 43 B.C.
11-12 a Brundisinis . . . ornatus = having received attentions from the most respectable men of Brundisium.
13 legati = deputations, i.e. from the various towns en route.
14 nomenclatori (= lit. one who calls by name, cf. καλ-έω, Cal-endae): a confidential slave who attended his master in canvassing, and on similar occasions, and told him the names of the people he met.
18 ad portam Capenam (Porta S. Sebastiano), by which the Via Appia led to Capua. ‘Cicero, perhaps for effect, followed the line of triumphal procession.’—Impey.
CICERO’S RECANTATION, 56 B.C.
In praise of Caesar.
Itaque cum acerrimis nationibus et maximis Germanorum et Helvetiorum proeliis felicissime decertavit: ceteras conterruit, compulit, domuit, imperio populi Romani parere assuefecit, et quas regiones, quasque gentes nullae nobis antea litterae, 5 nulla vox, nulla fama notas fecerat, has noster imperator nosterque exercitus et populi Romani arma peragrarunt. Semitam tantum Galliae tenebamus antea, patres conscripti; ceterae partes a gentibus aut inimicis huic imperio, aut infidis, aut 10 incognitis, aut certe immanibus et barbaris et bellicosis tenebantur; quas nationes, nemo umquam fuit, quin frangi domarique cuperet; nemo sapienter de republica nostra cogitavit iam inde a principio huius imperi, quin Galliam maxime timendam huic 15 imperio putaret; sed propter vim ac multitudinem gentium illarum numquam est antea cum omnibus dimicatum. Restitimus semper lacessiti. Nunc denique est perfectum, ut imperii nostri terrarumque illarum idem esset extremum. 20
Cicero, de Provinciis Consularibus, § 33.
3 compulit = checked, usu. = to constrain.
5 nullae litterae = no book.
8 Semitam tantum Galliae = it was but a strip of Gaul.—W. F. Semita (se + mi = go aside, cf. meo, trames) = lit. a narrow way, path.
13-14 nemo . . . cogitavit = there never has been a prudent statesman.—W. F.
17 cum omnibus, i.e. with the Gauls as a nation.
19-20 ut imperi . . . extremum, i.e. that our Empire extends to the utmost limits of that land.
Cicero’s Recantation (παλινῳδία). The time for the struggle between the Senatorial party (the Optimates) and the Triumvirs, weakened by their mutual jealousy, seemed to have come. Accordingly Cicero proposed in a full house to reconsider Caesar’s Agrarian Law (of 59 B.C.) for the allotment of lands in Campania; while Domitius Ahenobarbus (candidate for next year’s Consulship) openly declared his intention to propose Caesar’s recall. Caesar acted with his usual promptness, and the Conference at Luca restored an understanding between the three regents. Pompeius then crossed to Sardinia, and informed Q. Cicero that he would be held reponsible for any act of hostility on the part of his brother. Cicero had no choice but to submit, and delivered in the Senate his oration de Provinciis Consularibus, a political manifesto on behalf of Caesar and Pompeius—the Recantation alluded to in Ep. ad Att. iv. 5, and elaborately explained in Ep. ad Fam. i. 9 (to Lentulus Spinther).
CARRHAE, 53 B.C. (1)
‘Quem deus vult perdere, prius dementat.’
Dum Gallos per Caesarem in septentrione debellat, ipse interim ad orientem grave volnus a Parthis populus Romanus accepit. Nec de fortuna queri possumus; caret solacio clades. Adversis et dis et hominibus cupiditas consulis Crassi, dum Parthico 5 inhiat auro, undecim strage legionum et ipsius capite multata est. Primum enim, qui solus et subvehere commeatus et munire poterat a tergo, relictus Euphrates, dum simulato transfugae cuidam Mazzarae Syro creditur. Tum in mediam camporum 10 vastitatem eodem duce ductus exercitus, ut undique hosti exponeretur. Itaque vixdum venerat Carrhas cum undique praefecti regis Silaces et Surenas ostendere signa auro sericisque vexillis vibrantia. Tunc sine mora circumfusi undique equitatus in 15 modum grandinis atque nimborum densa pariter tela fuderunt. Sic miserabili strage deletus exercitus. Ipse in colloquium sollicitatus signo dato vivus in hostium manus incidisset, nisi tribunis reluctantibus fugam ducis barbari ferro occupassent. Filium 20 ducis paene in conspectu patris eisdem telis operuerunt. Reliquiae infelicis exercitus, quo quemque rapuit fuga, in Armeniam Ciliciam Syriamque distractae vix nuntium cladis rettulerunt.
Florus, III. xi. 1-10 (sel.)
Context. By the conference of the Triumvirs at Luca, it was arranged to secure the succession of Crassus to the government of Syria, in order to make war on the growing strength of the Parthian Empire beyond the Euphrates. Consul with Pompeius in 55 B.C. he set out for his province even before the expiration of his consulship ‘eager to gather in the treasures of the East in addition to those of the West.’
7-14 Primum enim . . . vibrantia. The Arab prince Abgarus induced Crassus to leave the Euphrates, and cross the great Mesopotamian desert to the Tigris. When at length the enemy offered battle some 30 miles to the S. of Carrhae (Harran, not far from Edessa), by the side of the Parthian vizier stood prince Abgarus with his Bedouins.
15-17 Tunc sine mora . . . exercitus. The Roman weapons of close combat, and the Roman system of concentration yielded for the first time to cavalry and distant warfare (the bow).
20-21 Filium ducis: his young and brave son Publius, who had served with the greatest distinction under Caesar in Gaul.
22 Reliquiae: out of 40,000 Roman legionaries, who had crossed the Euphrates, not a fourth part returned: 20,000 fell, and 10,000 were taken prisoners.
Carrhae. ‘The day of Carrhae takes its place side by side with the days of the Allia, and of Cannae.’—M.
CARRHAE, 53 B.C. (2)
After the Battle.
Temporis angusti mansit concordia discors,
Paxque fuit non sponte ducum; nam sola futuri
Crassus erat belli medius mora. Qualiter undas
Qui secat et geminum gracilis mare separat Isthmos
Nec patitur conferre fretum: si terra recedat,
Ionium Aegaeo frangat mare: sic, ubi saeva
Arma ducum dirimens miserando funere Crassus
Assyrias Latio maculavit sanguine Carrhas,
Parthica Romanos solverunt damna furores.
Plus illa vobis acie quam creditis actum est,
Arsacidae: bellum victis civile dedistis.
Lucan, Pharsalia, i. 98-108.
98 Temporis . . . discors = the short-lived concord endured, but it was a jarring (discors) concord.—Haskins.
101 Isthmos, sc. of Corinth: Caesar planned to cut it, and thus to secure a direct route by sea, connecting Italy and the East.
102 Nec patitur . . . fretum = and suffers it (mare, l. 101) not to join its waters, i.e. the Corinthian and Saronic gulfs.
Milesne Crassi coniuge barbara
Turpis maritus vixit, et hostium
(Pro curia inversique mores!)
Consenuit socerorum in armis
Sub rege Medo Marsus et Apulus,
Anciliorum et nominis et togae
Oblitus aeternaeque Vestae,
Incolumi Iove et urbe Roma?
Horace, Odes III. v. 5-12.
Nearly 10,000 Roman prisoners were settled by the victors in the oasis of Merv, as bondsmen compelled after the Parthian fashion to render military service (in armis, l. 8).
8 Consenuit: Carrhae (53 B.C.) was fought 26 years before this Ode was written (27 B.C.).
10-11 Anciliorum, aeternae Vestae, pledges of the immortality of Rome.
10 togae, i.e. the Roman people, the gens togata.
12 Iove, Jove’s temple on the Capitol.
Crassus ad Euphraten aquilas natumque suosque
Perdidit, et leto est ultimus ipse datus.
“Parthe, quid exsultas?” dixit dea, “signa remittes,
Quique necem Crassi vindicet, ultor erit.”
Ovid, Fasti, vi. 465-468.
467-468 During the last few months of his life, Caesar was occupied with the preparations for his expedition against the Parthians. In 36 B.C. Antonius carried on a disastrous campaign against Phraates, King of Parthia, but in 20 B.C. Augustus received from the King the Eagles (signa, l. 467) and prisoners captured at Carrhae.
CICERO, GOVERNOR OF CILICIA, 51-50 B.C.
His humane Administration.
Ipse in Asiam profectus sum Tarso Nonis Ianuariis, non mehercule dici potest, qua admiratione Ciliciae civitatum maximeque Tarsensium; postea vero quam Taurum transgressus sum, mirifica exspectatio Asiae nostrarum dioecesium, quae sex 5 mensibus imperii mei nullas meas acceperat litteras, numquam hospitem viderat. Illud autem tempus quotannis ante me fuerat in hoc quaestu; civitates locupletes, ne in hiberna milites reciperent, magnas pecunias dabant, Cyprii talenta Attica CC, qua ex 10 insula—non ὑπερβολικῶς, sed verissime loquor—nummus nullus me obtinente erogabatur. Ob haec beneficia, quibus illi obstupescunt, nullos honores mihi nisi verborum decerni sino; statuas, fana, τέθριππα prohibeo, nec sum in ulla re alia molestus 15 civitatibus, sed fortasse tibi, qui haec praedicem de me. Perifer, si me amas; tu enim me haec facere voluisti. Iter igitur ita per Asiam feci, ut etiam fames, qua nihil miserius est, quae tum erat in hac mea Asia—messis enim nulla fuerat—, mihi optanda 20 fuerit: quacumque iter feci, nulla vi, nullo iudicio, nulla contumelia auctoritate et cohortatione perfeci, ut et Graeci et cives Romani, qui frumentum compresserant, magnum numerum populis pollicerentur.
Cicero, Ep. ad Atticum, v. 21.
1 in Asiam, i.e. to the districts N. of the Taurus range, which belonged geographically to Asia in the Roman sense, but were politically attached to Cilicia.—Watson.
Tarso = on the R. Cydnus, about twelve miles above its mouth. Pompeius made Tarsus the capital of the new province of Cilicia, 66 B.C.
6-7 nullas meas . . . viderat = had never received demands (litteras) from me, never seen a man billeted on them. The hospites = soldiers or public officials.
8 fuerat in hoc quaestu = had been devoted to gain in the following fashion.—Tyrrell.
9 ne in hiberna milites reciperent: Mommsen says ‘A town suffered nearly to the same extent when a Roman army took up winter quarters in it as when an enemy took it by storm.’
15 τέθριππα = statues in chariots drawn by four horses.
20-21 mihi optanda fuerit: i.e. because it gave him the opportunity of showing the effect of his personal influence.—T.
23 compresserant = had stowed away; lit. kept back, rare.
Cicero as Governor. His administration seems to have been just, considerate and popular.
For Cicero’s Ideal of a Roman Governor, see Ep. ad Q. F. i. 1 (Q. Cicero governed Asia as Propraetor 62-58 B.C.)
CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR.
Nec quemquam iam ferre potest Caesarve priorem
Pompeiusve parem. —Lucan.
56 B.C. By the Conference at Luca it was arranged:—
(i) to give Caesar a new term of five years’ government in which to complete his work in Gaul (until March 1, 49);
(ii) to give Pompeius the government of the two Spains, and Crassus that of Syria, for five years also.
It was further agreed that Pompeius and Crassus should have the consulship for 55 B.C.
52 B.C. Pompeius Sole Consul. So things continued until 52 B.C., when the constant rioting (Clodius v. Milo), and utter lawlessness prevailing in Rome gave Pompeius his opportunity. The Senate in their distress caused Pompeius to be nominated sole Consul, with supreme power to meet the crisis. The death of Julia in 54 and of Crassus in 53 had removed the two strongest influences for peace, and from 52 onwards the breach between Pompeius and Caesar began to widen.
During Caesar’s long absence from Rome his opponents, with Cato at their head, were waiting their chance to impeach him for numerous acts in his province, as soon as he appeared in Rome for the consular elections. He would then be merely a private citizen, and as such amenable to prosecution. Now Caesar’s proconsulship of Gaul was to terminate on March 1, 49, and the consular elections would take place at the earliest in the following summer. There would therefore be an interval between the two offices, and Caesar would be exposed to the utmost peril, if he gave up province and army on March 1, 49. Caesar had long foreseen this. When the law was passed in 55, which added a fresh term of five years to his government, Pompeius seems to have inserted in it (doubtless in accordance with a previous promise to Caesar) a clause prohibiting the discussion of a successor before March 1, 50. Caesar therefore could not be superseded except by the consuls of 49, and these would not be able to succeed him (as proconsuls) till Jan. 1, 48. He would thus be able to retain his army and government throughout the year 49.
Caesar’s canvass for the Consulship. As the law stood, he would have to come in person to Rome. But early in 52 a decree was promulgated, with the support of Pompeius, which relieved him from the necessity of canvassing in person. Caesar might now feel himself safe: he would retain both army and provinces throughout 49, and would not be forced to return to Rome until he was safe from prosecution as Consul.
Lex Pompeia de iure magistratuum. But this did not suit Caesar’s enemies. Pompeius and the Senate combined to alter the whole legal machinery for appointing provincial governors. There was to be an interval of five years between a consulship and a proconsulship, which would prevent Caesar, even if he were duly elected Consul in 49, from obtaining a fresh provincial governorship until five years from the end of 48. When the bill became law (as it did in 51) there would be an interval of some years before any consuls would be qualified under it for provinces: and to fill up the governorships during the interval, the Senate was authorised to appoint any person of consular rank who had not as yet proceeded to a proconsulship. Thus Caesar’s resignation both of his army and his province could be demanded on March 1, 49.
50 B.C. Caesar’s overtures for peace. Caesar let it be known to the Senate through Curio that he was willing to resign his army and provinces if Pompeius would simultaneously do the same: and the Senate voted a resolution in this sense by a majority of 370 to 22. The presiding Consul, Gaius Marcellus, broke up the meeting in anger, and with the two Consuls elected for 49 (Claudius Marcellus and Lentulus Crus) requested Pompeius to put himself at the head of the two legions stationed at Capua and to call the Italian militia to arms.
Caesar had completely attained the object of devolving the initiative of Civil War on his opponents. He had, while himself keeping on legal ground, compelled Pompeius to declare war, and to declare it not as the representative of the legitimate authority, but as general of a revolutionary minority of the Senate, which overawed the majority.—Adapted from Long, Mommsen, and Warde Fowler.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (1)
Caesar crosses the Rubicon, 49 B.C.
Fonte cadit modico parvisque impellitur undis
Puniceus Rubicon cum fervida canduit aestas,
Perque imas serpit valles et Gallica certus
Limes ab Ausoniis disterminat arva colonis.
Tunc vires praebebat hiemps atque auxerat undas
Tertia iam gravido pluvialis Cynthia cornu
Et madidis Euri resolutae flatibus Alpes.
Primus in obliquum sonipes opponitur amnem
Excepturus aquas; molli tum cetera rumpit
Turba vado faciles iam fracti fluminis undas.
Caesar, ut adversam superato gurgite ripam
Attigit Hesperiae vetitis et constitit arvis,
‘Hic’ ait ‘hic pacem temerataque iura relinquo;
Te, Fortuna, sequor; procul hinc iam foedora sunto,
Credidimus fatis, utendum est iudice bello.’
Sic fatus noctis tenebris rapit agmina ductor
Impiger; it torto Balearis verbere fundae
Ocior et missa Parthi post terga sagitta
Vicinumque minax invadit Ariminum, et ignes
Solis lucifero fugiebant astra relicto.
Iamque dies primos belli visura tumultus
Exoritur; seu sponte deum, seu turbidus Auster
Impulerat, maestam tenuerunt nubila lucem.
Lucan, Pharsalia, i. 213-235.
Context. On Lentulus Crus and Claudius Marcellus, the Consuls for 49 B.C., must rest the immediate blame of the Civil War. On Jan. 1st Caesar’s tribune Curio once more presented proposals from Caesar, which startle us by their marvellous moderation (cf. Suet. Caesar, 29, 30), but Lentulus would not allow them to be considered. On Jan. 7th the Senatus consultum ultimum was decreed, and a state of war declared. Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the narrow brook which separated his province from Italy, to pass which at the head of an army was high treason to the State.—W. F.
214 puniceus = dark red: Rubicon, as if from ruber.
216 limes, i.e. until the time of Augustus, by whom Italy was extended to the R. Varus, the boundary between Gallia Narbonensis and Italy.
218 I.e. prob. the third night after the change of moon; gravido = surcharged with rain.—Haskins.
219 Alpes = mountains, not the Alps.
225 temerata, i.e. by Pompeius and the senatorial party.
229 verbere = the thong, i.e. of the sling (fundae).
231 Ariminum (Rimini), at this period the frontier town of Italy.
The Passage of the Rubicon. ‘When after nine years’ absence he trod once more the soil of his native land, he trod at the same time the path of revolution. Alea iacta est.’—M.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (2)
Caesar defends himself before the Senate, April 49 B.C.
His rebus confectis Caesar, ut reliquum tempus a labore intermitteretur, milites in proxima municipia deducit; ipse ad urbem proficiscitur. Coacto senatu iniurias inimicorum commemorat. Docet se nullum extraordinarium honorem appetisse, sed exspectato 5 legitimo tempore consulatus eo fuisse contentum, quod omnibus civibus pateret. Latum ab x tribunis plebis contradicentibus inimicis, Catone vero acerrime repugnante et pristina consuetudine dicendi mora dies extrahente, ut sui ratio absentis haberetur, ipso 10 consule Pompeio; qui si improbasset, cur ferri passus esset? qui si improbasset[A], cur se uti populi beneficio prohibuisset? Patientiam proponit suam, cum de exercitibus dimittendis ultro postulavisset; in quo iacturam dignitatis atque honoris ipse facturus 15 esset. Acerbitatem inimicorum docet, qui, quod ab altero postularent, in se recusarent atque omnia permisceri mallent, quam imperium exercitusque dimittere. Iniuriam in eripiendis legionibus praedicat, crudelitatem et insolentiam in circumscribendis 20 tribunis plebis; condiciones a se latas, expetita colloquia et denegata commemorat. Pro quibus rebus hortatur ac postulat, ut rem publicam suscipiant atque una secum administrent.
Caesar, de B. C. i. 32.
Context. After his passage of the Rubicon, Caesar quickly made himself master of Italy. Town after town opened its gates to him. Corfinium (held in force by Domitius for Pompeius) surrendered, and the captured troops enlisted in his ranks. An attempt to blockade Pompeius in Brundisium was skilfully foiled. On the last day of March Caesar arrived at Rome. The Senate was legally summoned by the tribunes Antonius and Cassius, and was invited to unite with him in carrying on the government.
2 municipia, i.e. Brundisium, Tarentum, Hydruntum (Otranto).
10 ut sui . . . haberetur, i.e. allowing him to stand for the consulship in his absence.
15 iacturam dignitatis = sacrifice of prestige.—Long.
19 eripiendis legionibus, i.e. in 50 B.C. Caesar was required to send home a legion he had borrowed of Pompeius, and contribute another himself, ostensibly for the Parthian War; but the legions were detained by Pompeius in Italy, and the Parthian War was quietly dropped.
Caesar in Rome. All Caesar’s acts after the crossing of the Rubicon were entirely unconstitutional. But when he told the senators that he was prepared to take the government on himself, he was justified to himself by the past, and to posterity by the result.—W. F.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (3)
The Campaign round Lerida: the Soldiers fraternise, 49 B.C.
Dixit et ad montes tendentem praevenit hostem.
Illic exiguo paulum distantia vallo
Castra locant. Postquam spatio languentia nullo
Mutua conspicuos habuerunt lumina voltus,
Et fratres natosque sues videre, patresque;
Deprensum est civile nefas. Tenuere parumper
Ora metu, tantum nutu motoque salutant
Ense suos; mox ut stimulis maioribus ardens
Rupit amor leges, audet transcendere vallum
Miles, in amplexus effusas tendere palmas.
Hospitis ille ciet nomen, vocat ille propinquum,
Admonet hunc studiis consors puerilibus aetas;
Nec Romanus erat, qui non agnoverat hostem.
Pax erat, et miles castris permixtus utrisque
Errabat; duro concordes caespite mensas
Instituunt et permixto libamina Baccho;
Graminei luxere foci, iunctoque cubili
Extrahit insomnes bellorum fabula noctes,
Quo primum steterint campo, qua lancea dextrum
Exierit. Dum quae gesserunt fortia iactant,
Et dum multa negant, quod solum fata petebant,
Est miseris renovata fides, atque omne futurum
Crevit amore nefas.
Lucan, iv. 167-179, 196-205.
Context. On leaving Rome Caesar set out for Spain to encounter the veteran army of Pompeius under his legati Afranius and Petreius. If this were crushed, he felt he would be free to take the offensive against Pompeius in the East. Round Lerida (Ilerda) on the R. Segres (a tributary of the Ebro) he fought the most brilliant campaign of all his military life. After severe losses and hardships, Caesar outmanœuvred the Pompeians, cut them off from their base on the Ebro, and forced a surrender on most generous terms.
167 Dixit, sc. Caesar.
ad montes, i.e. the rocky hills through which the retreating Pompeians had to pass before they could reach the Ebro valley. Caesar, by a wonderful march, outstrips (praevenit) them and blocks the way.
169 spatio (sc. interposito) languentia nullo = not failing (languentia) owing to the distance, i.e. they were so near they could not fail to recognise one another.—Haskins.
173 metu, i.e. of their leaders.
175 Rupit leges = burst the bonds of discipline.—H.
178 Admonet . . . aetas = one is reminded of his friend by the time passed together in boyhood’s pursuits.—H.
200 Extrahit = whiles away.
Result of the Campaign. The whole of the western half of the Empire was now in Caesar’s power, with the single exception of Massilia.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (4)
Siege of Massilia.
A Treacherous Sortie, 49 B.C.
Iam satis hoc Graiae memorandum contigit urbi
Aeternumque decus, quod non impulsa nec ipso
Strata metu tenuit flagrantis in omnia belli
Praecipitem cursum, raptisque a Caesare cunctis
Vincitur una mora. Quantum est quod fata tenentur,
Quodque virum toti properans imponere mundo
Hos perdit fortuna, dies!
Lucan, iii. 388-394.
Context. Caesar’s appeal to the leading citizens to espouse his cause was at first successful, but the arrival of Domitius (whom he had treated so generously at Corfinium) with a fleet caused the Massiliots to change their mind. Unable to remain himself, Caesar entrusted the siege to Trebonius, supported by Dec. Brutus with the fleet. He has, however, left us a detailed account of their skill and energy, and of the heroic defence of the citizens, marred by a treacherous sortie under a truce. He returned to receive its final submission, and left the city unharmed, as a tribute ‘rather to its ancient renown than to any claim it had on himself.’
389 non impulsa = not urged by others, i.e. by Pompeius and his adherents. But cf. Caesar, de B. C. i. 34.
391 raptis = speedily won.—H.
[B.] At hostes sine fide tempus atque occasionem fraudis ac doli quaerunt; interiectisque aliquot diebus, nostris languentibus atque animo remissis, 10 subito meridiano tempore, cum alius discessisset, alius ex diutino labore in ipsis operibus quieti se dedisset, arma vero omnia reposita contectaque essent, portis se foras erumpunt, secundo magnoque vento ignem operibus inferunt. Hunc sic distulit 15 ventus, uti uno tempore agger, plutei, testudo, turris, tormenta flammam conciperent, et prius haec omnia consumerentur, quam quem ad modum accidisset animadverti posset. Nostri repentina fortuna permoti arma, quae possunt, arripiunt; alii ex castris 20 sese incitant. Fit in hostes impetus eorum, sed muro sagittis tormentisque fugientes persequi prohibentur. Illi sub murum se recipiunt, ibique musculum turrimque latericiam libere incendunt. Ita multorum mensium labor hostium perfidia et vi 25 tempestatis puncto temporis interiit.
Caesar, de Bello Civili, ii. 14.
13 contecta: i.e. the shield kept in a leather casing.
16 plutei = screens or mantlets of hurdles covered with raw hides.
17 tormenta (torqu + mentum) = artillery, engines for throwing missiles by twisted ropes; e.g. the ballista, catapulta.
24 musculum = sapping-shed.
turrim latericiam = brick tower.
25 multorum mensium, i.e. from May to August 49 B.C.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (5)
‘Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it.’
Quid nunc rostra tibi prosunt turbata forumque
Unde tribunicia plebeius signifer arce
Arma dabas populis? Quid prodita iura senatus
Et gener atque socer bello concurrere iussi?
Ante iaces quam dira duces Pharsalia confert,
Spectandumque tibi bellum civile negatum est.
Libycas en nobile corpus
Pascit aves nullo contectus Curio busto.
At tibi nos, quando non proderit ista silere
A quibus omne aevi senium sua fama repellit,
Digna damus, iuvenis, meritae praeconia vitae.
Haud alium tanta civem tulit indole Roma,
Aut cui plus leges deberent recta sequenti.
Perdita nunc urbi nocuerunt saecula, postquam
Ambitus et luxus et opum metuenda facultas
Transverso mentem dubiam torrente tulerunt;
Momentumque fuit mutatus Curio rerum
Gallorum captus spoliis et Caesaris auro.
Ius licet in iugulos nostros sibi fecerit ense
Sulla potens Mariusque ferox et Cinna cruentus
Caesareaeque domus series; cui tanta potestas
Concessa est? Emere omnes, hic vendidit urbem.
Lucan, Pharsalia, iv. 799-804, 809-end.
Context. In 49 B.C. Curio was sent by Caesar to wrest the corn-province of Africa from the Pompeians. He won a signal success over Varus (allied with Juba) at Utica, but allowed himself to be surprised on the plain of the Bagradas, and, when all was lost, died sword in hand.
800 tribunicia arce = from the citadel of the tribune, i.e. the inviolability of the office and the right of veto. As tribune Curio played an all-important part in the crisis of 50 B.C.
801 prodita iura senatus, i.e. of the right of the senators to appoint governors of the provinces.—Haskins.
802 gener atque socer: by the early death of Julia (54 B.C.)—a beloved wife and daughter—the personal relation between Pompeius and Caesar was broken up.
812 senium (senex) = decay (of lapse of time).
813 digna . . . vitae = such a panegyric (praeconia) as thy life deserves.—H.
815-818 As tribune Curio for a time played the part of an independent republican, till his talent induced Caesar to buy him up.
819 momentum (= movi + mentum) rerum = that which turned the scale of history.—H.
824 vendidit: perh. referred to by Verg. Aen. vi. 621-2:
Vendidit hic auro patriam dominumque potentem
Imposuit; fixit leges pretio atque refixit.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (6)
Dyrrachium.
Caesar’s line of circumvallation, 48 B.C.
Erat nova et inusitata belli ratio cum tot castellorum numero tantoque spatio et tantis munitionibus et toto obsidionis genere, tum etiam reliquis rebus. Nam quicumque alterum obsidere conati sunt, perculsos atque infirmos hostes adorti aut proelio superatos 5 aut aliqua offensione permotos continuerunt, cum ipsi numero equitum militumque praestarent; causa autem obsidionis haec fere esse consuevit, ut frumento hostes prohiberent. At tum integras atque incolumes copias Caesar inferiore militum 10 numero continebat, cum illi omnium rerum copia abundarent; cotidie enim magnus undique navium numerus conveniebat, quae commeatum supportarent, neque ullus flare ventus poterat, quin aliqua ex parte secundum cursum haberent. Ipse autem consumptis 15 omnibus longe lateque frumentis summis erat in angustiis. Sed tamen haec singulari patientia milites ferebant. Recordabantur enim eadem se superiore anno in Hispania perpessos labore et patientia maximum bellum confecisse, meminerant ad 20 Alesiam magnam se inopiam perpessos, multo etiam maiorem ad Avaricum maximarum se gentium victores discessisse.
Caesar, de B. C. iii. 47.
Context. In Jan. (48 B.C.) Caesar set sail from Brundisium and landed safely in Epirus. After a junction with Antonius, who followed him from Brundisium with reinforcements, Caesar established himself close to Dyrrachium (Durazzo), the key of the whole military situation. Pompeius refused to fight, and encamped on a hill close to the sea at Petra, a short distance S. of Dyrrachium, where his fleets could bring him supplies. Caesar now determined to hem him in by a line of circumvallation.
2 tanto spatio: eventually the whole circuit of circumvallation covered at the least 16 miles: to this was afterwards added, just as before Alesia, an outer line of defence.
6 aut aliqua offensione permotos = or demoralised by some other mishap (offensione, lit. stumbling, and so failure).
12-15 Pompeius still had undisputed command of the sea.
Caesar’s lines broken. Pompeius was informed by Celtic deserters that Caesar had not yet secured by a cross wall the beach between his two chains of entrenchment on his left (200 yards apart), leaving it possible to land troops from the sea into the unprotected space. Troops were landed by night: Caesar’s outer line of defence was carried, and his lines broken through. ‘Like Wellington at Burgos in 1812, Caesar failed from want of a sufficient force. In each case the only safe course was a retreat: in each case the retreat was conducted with admirable skill.’—W. F.
Dyrrachium. [To face p. 216.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (7)
The Eve of Pharsalus.
Dream of Pompeius.
At nox, felicis Magno pars ultima vitae,
Sollicitos vana decepit imagine somnos.
Nam Pompeiani visus sibi sede theatri
Innumeram effigiem Romanae cernere plebis,
Attollique suum laetis ad sidera nomen
Vocibus, et plausu cuneos certare sonantes.
Qualis erat populi facies clamorque faventis,
Olim cum iuvenis primique aetata triumphi
Post domitas gentes quas torrens ambit Hiberus,
Et quaecumque fugax Sertorius impulit arma,
Vespere pacato, pura venerabilis aeque
Quam currus ornante toga, plaudente senatu,
Sedit adhuc Romanus eques: seu fine bonorum
Anxia venturis ad tempora laeta refugit,
Sive per ambages solitas contraria visis
Vaticinata quies magni tulit omina planctus,
Seu vetito patrias ultra tibi cernere sedes
Sic Romam fortuna dedit. Ne rumpite somnos.
Castrorum vigiles, nullas tuba verberet aures.
Crastina dira quies et imagine maesta diurna
Undique funestas acies feret undique bellum.
Unde pares somnos populi noctemque beatam?
O felix, si te vel sic tua Roma videret.
Lucan, Pharsalia, vii. 7-29.
9 Pompeiani theatri. Pompeius built the first stone theatre at Rome, near the Campus Martius, capable of holding 40,000 people.
10 Innumeram . . . plebis = the image of the countless Roman people. innumeram which belongs to plebis is transferred to effigiem.—Haskins.
14 Olim . . . triumphi, i.e. over Africa 79 B.C. when only 24, and adhuc Romanus eques (l. 19). It was not until 71 B.C. that he triumphed over Spain, after the murder of Sertorius. Lucan confuses the two triumphs.
16 impulit = set in motion (lit. drive forward).
17-18 pura venerabilis . . . toga = no less worshipful in pure white gown than (he would have been) in that which usually adorns the car of triumph, i.e. the toga picta.—H.
20 anxia (sc. quies) = his repose full of anxiety for the future.—H.
21-22 solitas . . . vaticinata = foretelling the opposite of his visions i.e. by the plausus of which he dreamed, the planctus which was in store for him was foreshadowed.—H.
25 nullas = at all. Cf. Cic. Ep.: nullus venit = he never came.
26 Crastina . . . diurna = to-morrow’s night of horror haunted by the sad image of the day’s events.—H.
29 sic, i.e. in dreams.
The Dream of Pompeius. Macaulay says ‘I hardly know an instance of so great an effect produced by means so simple.’
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (8)
Pompeius ill-advised at Pharsalus, 48 B.C.
Inter duas acies tantum erat relictum spatii, ut satis esset ad concursum utriusque exercitus. Sed Pompeius suis praedixerat, ut Caesaris impetum exciperent neve se loco moverent aciemque eius distrahi paterentur; idque admonitu C. Triarii 5 fecisse dicebatur, ut primus excursus visque militum infringeretur aciesque distenderetur atque in suis ordinibus dispositi dispersos adorirentur; leviusque casura pila sperabat in loco retentis militibus, quam si ipsi immissis telis occucurrissent, simul fore, ut 10 duplicato cursu Caesaris milites exanimarentur et lassitudine conficerentur. Quod nobis quidem nulla ratione factum a Pompeio videtur, propterea quod est quaedam animi incitatio atque alacritas naturaliter innata omnibus, quae studio pugnae incenditur. 15 Hanc non reprimere, sed augere imperatores debent; neque frustra antiquitus institutum est, ut signa undique concinerent clamoremque universi tollerent: quibus rebus et hostes terreri et suos incitari existimaverunt. 20
Caesar, de Bello Civili, iii. 92.
Context. Caesar made for Apollonia, where he left his wounded, and then marched S.E. into Thessaly, where he joined Domitius Calvinus. (He had been sent with two legions E. into Macedonia, to stop reinforcements for Pompeius under Scipio, Pompeius’ father-in-law.) Pompeius followed Caesar, and encamped on the slope of a hill facing Caesar’s position near Pharsalus. Here he offered battle, his better judgment overruled by the clamorous Senators in his camp.
4-5 aciem . . . paterentur = so as to allow their (advancing) line to become disorganised (distrahi), by the force of its onset.
7 in suis . . . dispositi = by maintaining their proper distances.
Scene of the Fight. The battle was fought near the town of Pharsalus, while the territory of the town was named Pharsalia. Cf. Catull. lxiv. 37:
Pharsalum coeunt, Pharsalia late frequentant.
The Battle. Pompeius had 47,000 infantry and 7000 cavalry against Caesar’s 22,000 infantry and 1000 cavalry. Pompeius stationed his cavalry and archers on his left, and confidently expected to outflank his enemy’s right. But Caesar, foreseeing the defeat of his cavalry, had stationed behind it in reserve 2000 of his best legionaries. When Caesar’s cavalry fell back outnumbered, this reserve ran forward at the charge, not discharging their pila, but using them as spears, and driving them against man and horse. Taken aback by so unusual an infantry attack, the Pompeian cavalry wavered and fled. Caesar’s third line (forming a rear-guard) was now sent forward to support the two front lines, and this decided the battle.—Result. Submission of the East to Caesar.
Pharsalus. [To face p. 218.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (9)
[A.] Pharsalus and Cannae compared.
Non aetas haec carpsit edax monimentaque rerum
Putria destituit: crimen civile videmus
Tot vacuas urbes. Generis quo turba redacta est
Humani? Toto populi qui nascimur orbe
Nec muros implere viris nec possumus agros;
Urbs nos una capit. Vincto fossore coluntur
Hesperiae segetes, stat tectis putris avitis
In nullos ruitura domus, nulloque frequentem
Cive suo Romam, sed mundi faece repletam
Cladis eo dedimus, ne tanto in tempore bellum
Iam posset civile geri. Pharsalia tanti
Causa mali. Cedant feralia nomina Cannae
Et damnata diu Romanis Allia fastis.
Tempora signavit leviorum Roma malorum:
Hunc voluit nescire diem.
Lucan, Pharsalia, vii. 397-411.
397-398 monimentaque . . . destituit = and has abandoned to decay the monuments of the past.—Haskins.
402 vincto fossore = by a chained digger (delver), in consequence of the dearth of free labour. Cf. Juv. xi. 80 squalidus in magna . . . compede fossor.
404 in nullos ruitura = ready to fall, but on the heads of none.—H.
405 faece = dregs. Cf. Juv. iii. 60, 61 Non possum ferre Quirites | Graecam urbem (a Greek Rome); quamvis (and yet) quota portio (how small a fraction) faecis Achaei?
406-407 ne tanto . . . geri = lit. so that during the long time since, it is impossible to wage civil war, i.e. from the dearth of genuine Roman soldiers.
409 Allia: 390 B.C. Cf. Vergil. Aeneid, vii. 717 quosque secans infaustum interluit Allia nomen.
411 nescire = to ignore.
[B.] The Battlefields of Pharsalus and Philippi.
Ergo inter sese paribus concurrere telis
Romanas acies iterum videre Philippi;
Nec fuit indignum superis, bis sanguine nostro
Emathiam et latos Haemi pinguescere campos.
Scilicet et tempus veniet, cum finibus illis
Agricola, incurvo terram molitus aratro,
Exesa inveniet scabra robigine pila,
Aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanes,
Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris.
Vergil, Georg. i. 489-497.
489 Ergo = therefore, in fulfilment of the terrible warnings at the death of Caesar.
490 iterum, i.e. at Philippi 42 B.C.; the first time at Pharsalus.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (10)
How Pompeius died, 48 B.C.
Pompeius, deposito adeundae Syriae consilio, et aeris magno pondere ad militarem usum in naves imposito, duobusque milibus hominum armatis, Pelusium pervenit. Ibi casu rex erat Ptolemaeus, puer aetate, magnis copiis cum sorore Cleopatra 5 bellum gerens, quam paucis ante mensibus per suos propinquos atque amicos regno expulerat; castraque Cleopatrae non longo spatio ab eius castris distabant. Ad eum Pompeius misit, ut pro hospitio atque amicitia patris Alexandria reciperetur atque illius opibus in 10 calamitate tegeretur. Sed, qui ab eo missi erant, confecto legationis officio, liberius cum militibus regis colloqui coeperant eosque hortari, ut suum officium Pompeio praestarent, neve eius fortunam despicerent. His tunc cognitis rebus amici regis, 15 qui propter aetatem eius in procuratione erant regni, sive timore adducti, ne Pompeius Alexandriam Aegyptunique occuparet, sive despecta eius fortuna, iis, qui erant ab eo missi, palam liberaliter responderunt eumque ad regem venire iusserunt: ipsi, 20 clam consilio inito, Achillan, praefectum regium, singulari hominem audacia, et L. Septimium, tribunum militum, ad interficiendum Pompeium miserunt. Ab his liberaliter ipse appellatus naviculam parvulam conscendit cum paucis suis, et ibi 25 ab Achilla et Septimio interficitur.
Caesar, de Bello Civili, iii. 103, 104 (sel.)
Context. After the battle of Pharsalus, Pompeius, closely pursued by Caesar, had thoughts of going to Parthia and trying to form alliances there. While in Cyprus he heard that Antioch (in Syria) had declared for Caesar and that the route to the Parthians was no longer open. So he altered his plan and sailed to Egypt, where a number of his old soldiers served in the Egyptian army.
4 Pelusium, on the E. side of the easternmost mouth of the Nile.
5 cum sorore Cleopatra. By his father’s will, Ptolemy ruled jointly with his sister for three years, 51-48 B.C., when he expelled her. Cleopatra raised an army in Syria and invaded Egypt. The two armies were encamped opposite each other when Pompeius landed to seek the help of Ptolemy.
15 amici regis, e.g. Achillas, l. 21, and espec. Ptolemy’s guardian Pothinus, the de facto ruler of Egypt.
‘On the same day (28 Sept.) on which he had triumphed over Mithridates (61 B.C.) Pompeius died on the desert sands of the inhospitable Casian shore by the hands of one of his old soldiers (Septimius).’—M.
CN. POMPEIUS MAGNUS, 106-48 B.C. (11)
Cato’s Eulogy on Pompeius.
190
‘Civis obit,’ inquit, ‘multum maioribus impar
Nosse modum iuris sed in hoc tamen utilis aevo,
Cui non ulla fuit iusti reverentia; salva
Libertate potens, et solus plebe parata
Privatus servire sibi, rectorque senatus,
Sed regnantis, erat. Nil belli iure poposcit,
Quaeque dari voluit, voluit sibi posse negari.
Immodicas possedit opes, sed plura retentis
Intulit: invasit ferrum, sed ponere norat;
Praetulit arma togae, sed pacem armatus amavit;
Iuvit sumpta ducem, iuvit dimissa potestas.
Casta domus luxuque carens corruptaque numquam
Fortuna domini. Clarum et venerabile nomen
Gentibus, et multum nostrae quod proderat urbi.
.......
O felix, cui summa dies fuit obvia victo,
Et cui quaerendos Pharium scelus obtulit enses!
Forsitan in soceri potuisses vivere regno.
Scire mori sors prima viris sed proxima cogi.’
Vocibus his maior, quam si Romana sonarent
Rostra ducis laudes, generosam venit ad umbram
Mortis honos.
Lucan, Pharsalia, ix. 190-217.
190-191 multum . . . iuris = far inferior to our ancestors in recognising the due bounds of power.—Haskins.
193 solus (sc. ex proceribus) . . . servire sibi = alone (of the chief men of the State) acting the private citizen when the populace were ready to be his slaves, i.e. acting unlike Sulla or Caesar.—H.
195 sed regnantis. ‘Pompeius came forward as the duly installed general of the Senate against the Imperator of the street, once more to save his country.’—M.
198 Intulit, sc. in aerarium. Cf. Shaksp. Jul. C. III. ii. (Mark Antony of Caesar) ‘He hath brought many captives home to Rome | Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.’ ‘Caesar devoted the proceeds of the confiscations (the property of defeated opponents) entirely to the benefit of the State.’—M.
208 cui summa dies . . . victo = whom the day of death met when he was vanquished, i.e. without his having to seek it himself.—H.
209 Pharium = Egyptian, lit. of Pharos (= Faro), an island near Alexandria, famous for its lighthouse.
211 One of Lucan’s famous sententiae (γνῶμαι, maxims).
Pompeius. ‘Even in his own age he would have had a clearly defined and respectable position, had he contented himself with being the general of the Senate, for which he was from the outset destined.’—M.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (12)
The Grave of Pompeius.
His Roll of Fame.
Tunc ne levis aura retectos
Auferret cineres, saxo compressit harenam:
Nautaque ne bustum religato fune moveret,
Inscripsit sacrum semiusto stipite nomen:
HIC SITUS EST MAGNUS. . . .
Quod si tam sacro dignaris nomine saxum,
Adde actus tantos monimentaque maxima rerum,
Adde truces Lepidi motus Alpinaque bella
Armaque Sertori revocato consule victa,
Et currus quos egit eques, commercia tuta
Gentibus et pavidos Cilicas maris: adde subactam
Barbariem gentesque vagas et quidquid in Euro
Regnorum Boreaque iacet. Die semper ab armis
Civilem repetisse togam, ter curribus actis
Contentum patriae multos donasse triumphos.
Quis capit haec tumulus? Surgit miserabile bustum
Non ullis plenum titulis, non ordine tanto
Fastorum, solitumque legi super alta deorum
Culmina et exstructos spoliis hostilibus arcus
Haud procul est ima Pompei nomen harena,
Depressum tumulo, quod non legat advena rectus,
Quod nisi monstratum Romanus transeat hospes.
Lucan, Pharsalia, viii. 789-793, 806-822.
Subject. Cordus, whom Lucan calls infaustus Magni comes (or according to Plutarch Philippus the faithful freedman of Pompeius), finds the cast-up body of Pompeius and gives it honourable burial.
793 HIC SITUS EST = ἔνθαδε κεῖται, the regular inscription on a tombstone.
808 truces Lepidi motus. Cf. page 178, last note on page.
809 revocato consule, i.e. Metellus. Cf. [page 180, A.], l. 12.
811 pavidos Cilicas maris = the Cilicians scared from the sea.—Jebb. Pompeius effecit ut piratae timerent maria quibus ipsi ante grassabantur (= they sailed at will).—Schol.
813-814 dic semper . . . togam, e.g. after his triumph over Spain 71 B.C., and over Mithridates and the East in 61 B.C.
814-815 ter curribus . . . triumphos = (tell how) content with thrice driving the (triumphal) car he made a present to his fatherland of many triumphs, i.e. he did not claim them when he might have done so.
817-818 Non ordine tanto Fastorum = storied with no majestic annals.—Jebb.
819 arcus = triumphal arches, orig. temporary structures of wood, but under the Empire built of marble, e.g. of Septimius Severus.
821 Depressum . . . rectus = sunk low upon a tomb, which the stranger cannot read without stooping (rectus).—Haskins.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (13)
Atrox Animus Catonis, 46 B.C.
Complures interim ex fuga Uticam perveniunt. Quos omnes Cato convocatos una cum trecentis, qui pecuniam Scipioni ad bellum faciendum contulerant, hortatur, ut servitia manumitterent, oppidumque defenderent. Quorum cum partem assentire, partem 5 animum mentemque perterritam atque in fugam destinatam habere intellexisset, amplius de ea re agere destitit, navesque eis attribuit, ut in quas quisque partes vellet proficisceretur. Ipse, omnibus rebus diligentissime constitutis, liberis suis L. Caesari, 10 qui tum ei pro quaestore fuerat, commendatis et sine suspicione, vultu atque sermone, quo superiore tempore usus fuerat, cum dormitum isset, ferrum intro clam in cubiculum tulit, atque ita se traiecit. Qui cum anima nondum exspirata concidisset, et, 15 impetu facto in cubiculum ex suspicione, medicus familiaresque continere atque vulnus obligare coepissent, ipse suis manibus vulnus crudelissime divellit, atque animo praesenti se interemit.
Asinius Pollio, de B. Africo, 88.
Context. After Pharsalus and the flight of Pompeius, we finally part company with Caesar as an author. The Bellum Alexandrinum (Caesar’s perils in Egypt and his settlement of the East 48-47 B.C.), the B. Africum (Thapsus 46 B.C.), the B. Hispaniense (Munda 45 B.C.), are the work of eyewitnesses and officers of his army. After a delay of fifteen precious months Caesar landed in Africa (Jan. 46), and by investing Thapsus tempted Scipio (Pompeius’ father-in-law) to try to save the city by a battle. His troops were quickly arranged as at Pharsalus, and by a single impetuous charge won a complete victory. The slaughter was terrible: the survivors fled to Utica, where Cato in vain tried to organise a defence and to restore order, and then in despair died by his own sword.
1 Uticam: second in importance to Carthage.
19 animo praesenti = deliberately.
After Thapsus. ‘Caesar left Africa in June 46 B.C., and celebrated a magnificent triumph, not over Roman citizens, but over Gauls and Egyptians, Pharnaces and Juba. As Dictator he remained in Rome several months, in which more permanently valuable work was done than was ever achieved in the same space of time, unless it were by Cromwell in 1653-4. The senseless outbreak of the Pompeian party in Spain under Labienus and the two sons of Pompeius took him away from Rome: but the victory of Munda (45 B.C.) closed the civil strife. Caesar returned to Rome in September, and six months more of life was all that was left to him.’—W. F.
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (14)
Cato Uticensis, 46 B.C.
[A.] Hic genitus proavo M. Catone, principe illo familiae Porciae, homo Virtuti simillimus et per omnia ingenio diis quam hominibus propior, qui nunquam recte fecit, ut facere videretur, sed quia aliter facere non potuerat, cuique id solum visum 5 est rationem habere, quod haberet iustitiae, omnibus humanis vitiis immunis semper fortunam in sua potestate habuit.
Vell. Paterc. ii. 35.
1 M. Catone, the famous Censor of 184 B.C.
principe = founder.
Ut primum tolli feralia viderat arma,
Intonsos rigidam in frontem descendere canos
Passus erat maestamque genis increscere barbam:
Uni quippe vacat studiis odiisque carenti
Humanum lugere genus . . .
Hi mores, haec duri immota Catonis
Secta fuit, servare modum finemque tenere
Naturamque sequi patriaeque impendere vitam
Nec sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo.
Huic epulae, vicisse famem; magnique penates,
Summovisse hiemem tecto; pretiosaque vestis,
Hirtam membra super Romani more Quiritis
Induxisse togam . . .
Iustitiae cultor, rigidi servator honesti,
In commune bonus: nullosque Catonis in actus
Subrepsit partemque tulit sibi nata voluptas.
Lucan, Pharsalia, ii. 374-391 (sel.)
377 uni (sc. Catoni), as the only true representative of the wise man of the Stoics.—Haskins.
381 secta (sc. via, lit. a beaten way) here = disciplina = principles.
381-383 servare modum . . . mundo. These expressions are Stoic maxims. Lucan (the nephew of Seneca) depicts the Stoic idea of virtue in the character of Cato.
382-383 patriaeque . . . mundo. Cato’s aim is patriae impendere vitam. His devotion to the service of humanity is complete; it is his part toti genitum se credere mundo. But this humanity includes Rome in the first place, the rest of the world in a quite secondary sense.—H.
386-387 hirtam togam = a coarse (lit. hairy) toga.
389 honesti = τοῦ καλοῦ. Cicero defines honestum as aut ipsa virtus, aut res gesta virtute.
Cato Uticensis. ‘He was like Caesar alone in this, that he had clear political convictions and acted on them not only with consistency but with justice and humanity. It is “his vain faith and courage” that alone lights up the dark hours of the falling Commonwealth:—
’Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni.’—W. F.
GAIUS IULIUS CAESAR. (5)
Caesar dines with Cicero, Dec. 19, 45 B.C.
O hospitem mihi tam gravem ἀμεταμέλητον! fuit enim periucunde. Sed cum secundis Saturnalibus ad Philippum vesperi venisset, villa ita completa militibus est, ut vix triclinium, ubi cenaturus ipse Caesar esset, vacaret; quippe hominum ⅭⅠↃ ⅭⅠↃ. 5 Sane sum commotus, quid futurum esset postridie; at mihi Barba Cassius subvenit: custodes dedit. Castra in agro, villa defensa est. Ille tertiis Saturnalibus apud Philippum ad h. VII, nec quemquam admisit: rationes opinor cum Balbo. Inde ambulavit 10 in litore; post h. viii in balneum; unctus est, accubuit. Et edit et bibit ἀδεῶς et iucunde, opipare sane et apparate, nec id solum, sed
bene cocto,
condito, sermone bono et, si quaeri’, libenter.
Praeterea tribus tricliniis accepti οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν valde copiose. Libertis minus lautis servisque nihil defuit: nam lautiores eleganter accepti. Quid multa? homines visi sumus. Hospes tamen non is, cui diceres: ‘amabo te, eodem ad me, cum revertere’: semel 20 satis est. Σπουδαῖον οὐδὲν in sermone, φιλόλογα multa. Quid quaeris? delectatus est et libenter fuit. Puteolis se aiebat unum diem fore, alterum ad Baias. Habes hospitium sive ἐπισταθμείαν, odiosam mihi, dixi, non molestam. 25
Cicero, Ep. ad Att. xiii. 52.
Subject. We here catch a glimpse of Caesar as he really was. He had spent a night near Puteoli (where Cicero also had a villa) with Philippus, the step-father of Octavianus. The Dictator proposed a visit, and Cicero in this memorable letter describes to Atticus what happened.
1 O hospitem . . . ἀμεταμέλητον! = Oh, what a formidable guest to have had, and yet I have had no reason to repent of it (ἀμεταμέλητον).
10 rationes (sc. conferebat) . . . Balbo = he was settling accounts with Balbus, I suppose. L. Cornelius Balbus, a native of Gades (Cadiz), was Caesar’s confidential secretary and faithful friend. He was the first enfranchised foreigner who attained to the highest magistracy (Consul 40 B.C.).
14-15
‘Though the cook was good,
’Twas Attic salt (sermone bono) that flavoured most the food.’—Jeans.
18-19 homines visi sumus = I showed myself a man of taste, i.e. as host.
21 Σπουδαῖον οὐδὲν = lit. nothing serious, i.e. nothing political. φιλόλογα = literary chat.
24-25 ἐπισταθμείαν = billeting, as Caesar’s offer to dine with Cicero was equivalent to a command.
odiosam . . . molestam = unwelcome, though not disagreeable.
GAIUS IULIUS CAESAR. (6)
The Death of Caesar, 44 B.C.
Assidentem conspirati specie officii circumsteterunt; ilicoque Cimber Tillius, qui primas partes susceperat, quasi aliquid rogaturus propius accessit, renuentique et gestu in aliud tempus differenti ab utroque umero togam apprehendit; deinde clamantem: 5 Ista quidem vis est, alter e Cascis aversum vulnerat, paulum infra iugulum. Caesar Cascae brachium arreptum graphio traiecit, conatusque prosilire alio vulnere tardatus est; utque animadvertit undique se strictis pugionibus peti, toga caput 10 obvolvit, simul sinistra manu sinum ad ima crura deduxit, quo honestius caderet etiam inferiore corporis parte velata. Atque ita tribus et viginti plagis confossus est, uno modo ad primum ictum gemitu sine voce edito; etsi tradiderunt quidam 15 Marco Bruto irruenti dixisse: Καὶ σὺ τέκνον; Exanimis, diffugientibus cunctis, aliquamdiu iacuit, donec lecticae impositum, dependente brachio, tres servoli domum rettulerunt. Nec in tot vulneribus, ut Antistius medicus existimabat, letale ullum 20 repertum est, nisi quod secundo loco in pectore acceperat.
Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 82.
Context. After his return from Spain (Sept. 45 B.C.), Caesar was busy with the reconstruction of the Senate, the completion of his vast buildings in Rome, and with other far-reaching projects. But during these months the clouds of ill-will were gathering and threatening him on every side. A conspiracy was formed, of which C. Cassius, ‘a lean and hungry man,’ of a bitter and jealous disposition, seems to have been the real instigator. He persuaded Brutus, a student of life chiefly in books, that liberty could only be gained by murder, and at last it was resolved that the deed should be done on the Ides (15th) of March.
8 graphio (γραφίον = scriptorium) = a writing-style.
12 quo honestius caderet, cf. Ovid, Fasti ii. 833 (of Lucretia):
Tunc quoque iam moriens ne non procumbat honeste
Respicit, haec etiam cura cadentis erat.
16 Καὶ σὺ τέκνον; there seems to be no authority for attributing the words Et tu Brute? to Caesar. Shakespeare found them in an earlier play.
The Murder of Caesar. ‘It is the most brutal and the most pathetic scene that profane history has to record; it was, as Goethe has said, the most senseless deed that ever was done. It was wholly useless, for it did not and could not save Rome from monarchy. The deed was done by a handful of men, who, pursuing a phantom liberty and following the lead of a personal hatred, slew the one man who saw the truth of things.’—W. F.
GAIUS IULIUS CAESAR. (7)
‘There may be many Caesars
Ere such another Julius.’—Cymbeline.
[A.] Fuit in illo ingenium, ratio, memoria, litterae, cura, cogitatio, diligentia; res bello gesserat quamvis rei publicae calamitosas, at tamen magnas; multos annos regnare meditatus magno labore multis periculis quod cogitarat effecerat; muneribus, monumentis, 5 congiariis, epulis multitudinem imperitam delenierat: suos praemiis, adversarios clementiae specie devinxerat.
Cicero, Philippica, ii. 45.
4 regnare meditatus. For Caesar monarchy meant the liberation of the Empire.
5-6 muneribus (sc. gladiatoriis) = gladiatorial shows.
monumentis = public buildings, e.g. his forum, amphitheatre, Temple of Venus Genetrix, and other public works begun (e.g. the Curia Iulia) and planned.
6 congiariis (sc. donis), orig. a gift of wine (a congius = about 6 pints), then = wine-money (Ger. Trinkgeld), and so of any largess.
7-8 clementiae specie. Cic. himself refutes this ungrateful taunt in his pro Marcello: Recte igitur unus invictus est, a quo etiam ipsius victoriae condicio visque devicta est.
Sed non in Caesare tantum
Nomen erat nec fama ducis, sed nescia virtus
Stare loco, solusque pudor non vincere bello.
Acer et indomitus, quo spes quoque ira vocasset,
Ferre manum et numquam temerando parcere ferro.
Successus urguere suos, instare favori
Numinis, impellens quidquid sibi summa petenti
Obstaret, gaudensque viam fecisse ruina.
Lucan, Pharsalia, i. 143-150.
143-144 tantum nomen = not a mere name alone, in contrast to Pompeius:—Stat magni nominis umbra.— Haskins.
147 temerando parcere ferro = shrink from dyeing his sword (in blood).—H.
Apotheosis of Caesar.
[C.] Periit sexto et quinquagesimo aetatis anno atque in deorum numerum relatus est, non ore modo decernentium sed et persuasione volgi. Si quidem ludis, quos primos consecrato ei heres Augustus edebat, 20 stella crinita per septem continuos dies fulsit, exoriens circa undecimam horam, creditumque est animam esse Caesaris in caelum recepti; et hac de causa simulacro eius in vertice additur stella.
Suet. Div. Iul. 88.
21 stella crinita (= κομήτης); cf. Verg. Georg. iv. 466-8:
Ille (= the sun) etiam exstincto miseratus Caesare Romam
Cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine (= gloom) texit,
Impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem.
‘FACTA DUCIS VIVENT, OPEROSAQUE GLORIA RERUM.’—OVID.
‘THE HERO’S DEEDS AND HARD-WON FAME SHALL LIVE.’
Caesar was the sole creative genius produced by Rome, and the last produced by the ancient world, which accordingly moved on in the path that he marked out for it until its sun went down.
Whatever he undertook and achieved was pervaded and guided by the cool sobriety which constitutes the most marked peculiarity of his genius. To this he owed the power of living energetically in the present, undisturbed either by recollection or by expectation: to this he owed the capacity of acting at any moment with collected vigour, and of applying his whole genius even to the smallest and most incidental enterprise. Gifts such as these could not fail to produce a statesman.
Caesar as a statesman.—From early youth Caesar was a statesman in the deepest sense of the term, and his aim was the political, military, intellectual, and moral regeneration of his own deeply decayed nation, and of the still more deeply decayed Hellenic nation intimately akin to his own. According to his original plan, he had proposed to reach his object, like Pericles and Gaius Gracchus, without force of arms, until, reluctantly convinced of the necessity for a military support, he, when already forty years of age, put himself at the head of an army.
His talent for organisation was marvellous.—No statesman has ever compelled alliances, no general has ever collected an army out of unyielding and refractory elements with such decision, and kept them together with such firmness, as Caesar displayed in constraining and upholding his coalitions and his legions; never did regent judge his instruments and assign each to the place appropriate for him with so accurate an eye.
He was monarch; but he never played the king.—‘I am no king, but Caesar.’ Even when absolute lord of Rome, he retained the deportment of the party-leader; perfectly pliant and smooth, easy and charming in conversation, complaisant towards everyone, it seemed as if he wished io be nothing but the first among his peers.
Caesar ruled as king of Rome for five years and a half, not half as long as Alexander: in the intervals of seven great campaigns, which allowed him to stay not more than fifteen months altogether in the capital of his empire, he regulated the destinies of the world for the present and the future. The outlines were laid down, and thereby the new State was defined for all coming time: the boundless future alone could complete the structure. But precisely because the building was an endless one, the master so long as he lived restlessly added stone to stone, with always the same dexterity and always the same elasticity busy at work. Thus he worked and created as never did any man before or after him: and as a worker and creator he still, after well-nigh two thousand years, lives in the memory of the nations—the first and withal unique Imperator Caesar.
Mommsen.
CICERO AND ANTONIUS.
[A.] Peroration of the Second Philippic, 44 B.C.
Respice, quaeso, aliquando rem publicam, M. Antoni: quibus ortus sis, non quibuscum vivas considera: mecum, uti voles: redi cum re publica in gratiam. Sed de te tu videris: ego de me ipso profitebor. Defendi rem publicam adulescens, non 5 deseram senex: contempsi Catilinae gladios, non pertimescam tuos. Quin etiam corpus libenter obtulerim, si repraesentari morte mea libertas civitatis potest: ut aliquando dolor populi Romani pariat, quod iam diu parturit. Etenim si abhinc 10 annos prope viginti hoc ipso in templo negavi posse mortem immaturam esse consulari, quanto verius nunc negabo seni? Mihi vero, patres conscripti, iam etiam optanda mors est, perfuncto rebus eis quas adeptus sum quasque gessi. Duo modo haec 15 opto: unum, ut moriens populum Romanum liberum relinquam—hoc mihi maius ab dis immortalibus dari nihil potest,—alterum, ut ita cuique eveniat ut de re publica quisque mereatur.
Cicero, Phil. ii. 46.
2 quibus ortus sis: espec. his grandfather M. Antonius, the famous orator, whom Cicero held in great esteem.
5 adulescens, i.e. in 63 B.C., when he was in his 44th year.
8 repraesentari = be realised, won now and here.—Jebb.
11 templo, i.e. Concordiae. Cic. refers to In Catil. iv.
The Peroration. ‘Such a passage speaks to us with a living impression of unity and directness which we acknowledge without question. We admire and ask for nothing more.’—Nettleship.
[B.] On the Murder of Cicero, by order of Antonius.
Par scelus admisit Phariis Antonius armis:
Abscidit voltus ensis uterque sacros.
Illud, laurigeros ageres cum laeta triumphos,
Hoc tibi, Roma, caput, cum loquereris, erat.
Antoni tamen est peior quam causa Pothini:
Hic facinus domino praestitit, ille sibi.
Martial, Epig. III. lxvi.
1 Par Phariis armis = which matches (that committed by) the armed hand of an Egyptian, i.e. Pothinus (the guardian of the young king) who planned the murder of Pompeius, when he fled to Egypt 48 B.C.
sacros: consecrated to Rome from their public services.
3-4 Illud caput = Pompeius. hoc caput = Cicero. Cf. Epig. v. lxix: Quid gladium demens Romana stringis in ora?
6 domino, sc. Ptolemaeus, King of Egypt, jointly with Cleopatra.
CICERO.
[A.] Cicero as Orator and Poet.
Eloquium ac famam Demosthenis aut Ciceronis
Incipit optare et totis Quinquatribus optat
Quisquis adhuc uno parcam colit asse Minervam,
Quem sequitur custos angustae vernula capsae.
Eloquio sed uterque perit orator, utrumque
Largus et exundans leto dedit ingenii fons.
Ingenio manus est et cervix caesa, nec umquam
Sanguine causidici maduerunt rostra pusilli.
‘O fortunatam natam me consule Romam’:
Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, si sic
Omnia dixisset. Ridenda poemata malo
Quam te, conspicuae divina Philippica famae,
Volveris a prima quae proxima.
Juvenal, Satires, x. 114-126.
114-118 Boys at school long to be a Demosthenes or a Cicero.
115 totis Quinquatribus, i.e. during all the five days of the Quinquatria, an annual feast of Minerva, March 19-23: it was always a holiday time at schools, and the school year began at the close of it.
116 parcam Minervam = a cheap kind of learning, and uno asse = an entrance fee of one as. But Duff says as here = stips, i.e. the boy’s contribution to the goddess of wisdom, who can make him wise, and parcam (= economical), transferred from asse to Minervam.
117 vernula = a little home-born slave, capsa a circular box of beech-wood, used for the transport of books.
121 causidici pusilli = of a petty pleader, as opposed to orator.
122 From Cicero’s poem de suo consulatu. Another line quoted in the 2nd Philippic is Cedant arma togae, concedat laurea laudi.
124 Ridenda poemata malo, i.e. they are better as being safer. Juvenal himself refutes this argument:
Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori
Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.
[B.] Cicero as Advocate.
Disertissime Romuli nepotum,
Quot sunt quotque fuere, Marce Tulli,
Quotque post aliis erunt in annis,
Gratias tibi maximas Catullus
Agit pessimus omnium poeta,
Tanto pessimus omnium poeta
Quanto tu optimus omnium patronus.
Catullus, xlix.
2 Marce Tulli: the formal address suits the formal expression of thanks to a patronus (= advocate).
5 pessimus omnium poeta: the self-depreciation heightens the praise of the last line.—Merrill.
CICERO.
His Death, by order of Antonius, 43 B.C.
M. Cicero sub adventum triumvirorum urbe cesserat pro certo habens id quod erat, non magis se Antonio eripi quam Caesari Cassium et Brutum posse: primo in Tusculanum fugerat, inde transversis itineribus in Formianum ut ab Caieta navem 5 conscensurus proficiscitur. Unde aliquoties in altum provectum cum modo venti adversi retulissent, modo ipse iactationem navis caeco volvente fluctu pati non posset, taedium tandem eum et fugae et vitae cepit, regressusque ad superiorem villam, quae paulo 10 plus mille passibus a mari abest, ‘moriar,’ inquit, ‘in patria saepe servata.’ Satis constat servos fortiter fideliterque paratos fuisse ad dimicandum; ipsum deponi lecticam et quietos pati quod sors iniqua cogeret iussisse. Prominenti ex lectica praebentique 15 immotam cervicem caput praecisum est. Nec satis stolidae crudelitati militum fuit: manus quoque scripsisse aliquid in Antonium exprobrantes praeciderunt. Ita relatum caput ad Antonium iussuque eius inter duas manus in rostris positum, ubi 20 ille consul, ubi saepe consularis, ubi eo ipso anno adversus Antonium quanta nulla umquam humana vox cum admiratione eloquentiae auditus fuerat: vix attollentes prae lacrimis oculos homines intueri trucidati membra civis poterant. Vixit tres et sexaginta 25 annos, ut si vis afuisset, ne immatura quidem mors videri possit.
Livy, Fr. ap. Sen. Rh. Suas. vii.
1 triumvirorum, sc. Antonius, Octavianus, and Lepidus. These three allies (about the end of Oct. 43 B.C.) held their famous meeting on an island in the R. Rhenus (a tributary of the Padus) near Bononia (Bologna), at which they constituted themselves a commission of three with absolute powers for five years. This was followed by a proscription of their principal opponents, of whom seventeen, including Cicero (sacrificed to Antonius), were at once put to death.
4 in Tusculanum, i.e. to his villa at Tusculum, richly adorned with pictures and statues.
5 in Formianum, i.e. to his villa at Formiae, on the Appian Way, in the innermost corner of the beautiful Gulf of Caieta (Gaëta). Near this villa Cicero was murdered.
The Death of Cicero. Cicero’s work was over, and the tragedy of his death was the natural outcome of his splendid failure. The restoration of the Commonwealth of the Scipios was but a dream; still it was a beautiful dream, and Cicero gave his life for it.—Tyrrell.
In Praise of Cicero.
[A.] Nihil tamen egisti, M. Antoni, nihil, inquam, egisti mercedem caelestissimi oris et clarissimi capitis abscisi numerando, auctoramentoque funebri ad conservatoris quondam rei publicae tantique consulis irritando necem. Rapuisti tum Ciceroni lucem 5 sollicitam et aetatem senilem et vitam miseriorem te principe quam sub te triumviro mortem, famam vero gloriamque factorum atque dictorum adeo non abstulisti, ut auxeris. Vivit vivetque per omnem saeculorum memoriam, dumque hoc vel forte vel 10 providentia vel utcumque constitutum rerum naturae corpus, quod ille paene solus Romanorum animo vidit, ingenio complexus est, eloquentia illuminavit, manebit incolume, comitem aevi sui laudem Ciceronis trahet omnisque posteritas illius in te scripta mirabitur, 15 tuum in eum factum exsecrabitur citiusque e mundo genus hominum quam Ciceronis memoria cedet.
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 66.
3-4 auctoramentoque funebri irritando = lit. and by stimulating (provoking) by a fatal reward (auctoramento) the death. . . .
10-15 dumque . . . trahet, in reference to Cicero’s philosophical works, in which Cicero propounds no original scheme of philosophy, claiming only that he renders the conclusions of Greek thinkers accessible to his own countrymen.
[B.] Ingenium et operibus et praemiis operum felix; ipse fortunae diu prosperae et in longo tenore felicitatis 20 magnis interim ictus vulneribus, exilio, ruina partium pro quibus steterat, filiae exitu tam tristi tamque acerbo, omnium adversorum nihil ut viro dignum erat tulit praeter mortem, quae vere aestimanti minus indigna videri potuit, quod a victore 25 inimico nil crudelius passurus erat quam quod eiusdem fortunae compos victo fecisset. Si quis tamen virtutibus vitia pensaret, vir magnus ac memorabilis fuit, et in cuius laudes exsequendas Cicerone laudatore opus fuerit. 30
Livy, Fr. ap. Sen.
21-22 ruina . . . steterat, i.e. the restoration of the Commonwealth of the Scipios.
Cicero. ‘It happened many years after that Augustus once found one of his grandsons with a work of Cicero’s in his hands. The boy was frightened, and hid the book under his gown; but Caesar took it from him, and, standing there motionless, he read through a great part of the book; then he gave it back to the boy, and said “This was a great orator, my child; a great orator, and a man who loved his country well.”’—Plutarch, Cicero, 49.
LAUS ITALIAE.
Si te forte iuvant Helles Athamantidos urbes,
Nec desiderio, Tulle, movere meo,
Tu licet aspicias caelum omne Atlanta gerentem,
Sectaque Persea Phorcidos ora manu,
Geryonis stabula et luctantum in pulvere signa
Herculis Antaeique Hesperidumque choros,
Tuque tuo Colchum propellas remige Phasim,
Peliacaeque trabis totum iter ipse legas,
Qua rudis Argoa natat inter saxa columba
In faciem prorae pinus adacta novae,
Et siqua Ortygii visenda est ora Caystri,
Et quae septenas temperat unda vias;
Omnia Romanae cedent miracula terrae;
Natura his posuit, quicquid ubique fuit.
Armis apta magis tellus, quam commoda noxae:
Famam, Roma, tuae non pudet historiae.
Nam quantum ferro, tantum pietate potentes
Stamus: victrices temperat illa manus.
Hic Anio Tiburne fluis, Clitumnus ab Umbro
Tramite, et aeternum Marcius umor opus,
Albanus lacus et foliis Nemorensis abundans,
Potaque Pollucis lympha salubris equo.
Haec tibi, Tulle, parens, haec est pulcherrima sedes;
Hic tibi pro digna gente petendus honos;
Hic tibi ad eloquium cives, hic ampla nepotum
Spes et venturae coniugis aptus amor.
Propertius, III. (IV.) xxii. 5-26, 39-42.
Subject. Go where thou wilt, my Tullus, know that all the sights and marvels of all lands, from West to East, are outdone by those of thine own Italy. A truly famous land! A land ever victorious, ever merciful; full of fair lakes and streams. Here, Tullus, is thy true abode: here seek a life of honour and a home.
8 Phorcidos ora = the head of Medusa, the daughter of Phorcus.
15 Ortygii Caystri. Ortygia, an old name for Ephesus, near the mouth of the R. Cayster: the haunt of quails (Ortygia, ὄρτυξ).
16 temperat septenas vias = moderates its seven channels, of the delta of the Nile.—Ramsay.
19-22 Cf. Verg. Aen. vi. 853 Parcere subiectis et debellare superbos.
19 commoda noxae = disposed to harm.—North Pinder.
24 Marcius umor, i.e. the aqueduct of Q. Marcius Rex; built 145 B.C.
25 The Alban and Arician Lakes (Nemorensis = mod. Nemi) are close together.
26 i.e. the well Iuturna in the Forum (‘the well that springs by Vesta’s fane’) at which the Dioscuri washed their horses after their hot ride from Lake Regillus.
41 ad eloquium cives = citizens to hear and profit by your eloquence.—N. P.
LAUS ROMAE.
150
Haec est in gremium victos quae sola recepit
Humanumque genus communi nomine fovit
Matris, non dominae ritu: civesque vocavit
Quos domuit, nexuque pio longinqua revinxit.
Huius pacificis debemus moribus omnes
Quod veluti patriis regionibus utitur hospes:
Quod sedem mutare licet: quod cernere Thulen
Lusus, et horrendos quondam penetrare recessus:
Quod bibimus passim Rhodanum, potamus Orontem;
Quod cuncti gens una sumus. Nec terminus unquam
Romanae dicionis erit. Nam cetera regna
Luxuries vitiis odiisque superbia vertit.
Sic male sublimes fregit Spartanus Athenas
Atque idem Thebas cecidit. Sic Medus ademit
Assyrio, Medoque tulit moderamina Perses:
Subiecit Macedo Persen, cessurus et ipse
Romanis. Haec auguriis firmata Sibyllae,
Haec sacris animata Numae: huic fulmina vibrat
Iuppiter: hanc tota Tritonia Gorgone velat.
Arcanas huc Vesta faces, huc orgia Bacchus
Transtulit, et Phrygios genetrix turrita leones.
Huc defensurus morbos Epidaurius hospes
Reptavit placido tractu, vectumque per undas
Insula Paeonium texit Tiberina draconem.
Claudian, de Consulatu Stilichonis, iii. 150-173.
153 nexuque . . . revinxit = and has linked far places in a bond of love.—Jebb.
156 Thulen: cf. Vergil’s ultima Thule, of the northernmost island known, variously identified with the Shetlands, Iceland, or Norway.
158 Orontem: the largest river of Syria, whence Juvenal, iii. 62, uses it of the Syrian people—
Iam pridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes.
159 Quod cuncti . . . sumus = that the whole earth is one people.
164 moderamina = the reins of power; lit. a means of managing.
168 hanc tota . . . velat = she it is above whom Pallas spreads the whole shadow of the aegis (tota Gorgone). Cf. Verg. Aen. viii. 435-8:
Aegidaque horriferam, turbatae Palladis arma,
Certatim squamis serpentum auroque polibant,
Connexosque angues ipsamque in pectore divae
Gorgona, desecto vertentem lumina collo.
170 genetrix turrita, i.e. Cybele, the goddess of settled life.
171 Epidaurius hospes, i.e. Asclepius (Aesculapius), who had a famous temple at Epidaurus (in Argolis), whence his worship was introduced into Rome to avert a pestilence 293 B.C.
172 reptavit placido tractu = came gently gliding on his voyage. Jebb.—For reptavit cf. repo, ἕρπω, and our creep.
173 Paeonium draconem = the serpent of the healer. Cf. Παιών.
‘QUOD CUNCTI GENS UNA SUMUS.’ —CLAUDIAN.
Vis dicam, quae causa tuos, Romane, labores
In tantum extulerit, quis gloria fotibus aucta
Sic cluat, impositis ut mundum frenet habenis?
Discordes linguis populos et dissona cultu
Regna volens sociare Dens, subiungier uni
Imperio, quidquid tractabile moribus esset,
Concordique iugo retinacula mollia ferre
Constituit, quo corda hominum coniuncta teneret
Relligionis amor: nec enim fit copula Christo
Digna, nisi implicitas societ mens unica gentes.
Ius fecit commune pares et nomine eodem
Nexuit et domitos fraterna in vincla redegit.
Vivitur omnigenis in partibus, haud secus ac si
Cives congenitos concludat moenibus unis
Urbs patria atque omnes lare conciliemur avito.
En ades omnipotens, concordibus influe terris:
Iam mundus te, Christe, capit, quem congrege nexu
Pax et Roma tenent: capita haec et culmina rerum
Esse iubes, nec Roma tibi sine pace probatur:
Et pax ut placeat, facit excellentia Romae,
Quae motus varios simul et dicione coercet
Et terrore premit.
Prudentius, contra Symmachum, ii. 583-640 (sel.).
Subject. In a remarkable passage, Prudentius (circ. 400 A.D.) views the victorious empire of Rome as preparing the way for the coming of Christ. The triumphs of the Romans were not, he says, the gifts of false gods, grateful for sacrifices, but were designed by Providence to break down the barriers between the jarring nationalities of the world, and familiarise them with a common yoke, by way of disciplining them for a common Christianity. An “universal peace is struck through sea and land,” and Law, Art, Commerce, and Marriage constitute the world one city and one family. Thus the way was paved for the coming of Christ by the unity of the empire and the civilisation of the individual subject.—North Pinder.
584 fotibus (cf. fotum, foveo) = cherishings, supports, post-classical.
585 sic cluat = is so famed, for cluo (ante and post-class.) cf. κλέος.
590-591 quo (sc. iugo) . . . amor, i.e. hearts once knit together by a common yoke would best be held together by a common faith.—N. P.
609 fraterna in vincla = in the bonds of brotherhood, not those of slavery, as domitos would naturally suggest.
634 concordibus = now they are in harmony and peace, emphatic.
635 capit = is fit to receive thee.