Sulla left L. Lucullus behind him to collect the money. (See Life of Lucullus, c. 4.) The story of Fimbria in Appian (Mithridat. War, c. 69, 70) differs from that of Plutarch in some respects, but it is near enough to show that though these two writers apparently followed different authorities, Plutarch has given the facts substantially correct.
When Sulla was within two stadia of Fimbria, he sent him orders to give up the army, which he was illegally commanding. Fimbria sent back an insulting message to the effect that Sulla also had no right to the command which he held. While Sulla was throwing up his intrenchments, and many of Fimbria's soldiers were openly leaving him, Fimbria summoned those who still remained to a meeting, and urged them to stay with him. Upon the soldiers saying that they would not fight against their fellow-citizens, Fimbria tore his dress, and began to intreat them severally. But the soldiers turned a deaf ear to him, and the desertions became still more numerous, on which Fimbria went round to the tents of the officers, and bribing some of them, he called another meeting, and commanded the soldiers to take the oath to him. As those who were hired by him called out that he ought to summon the men by name to take the oath, he called by the crier those who had received favours from him, and he called Nonius first who had been his partner in everything. Nonius refused to take the oath, and Fimbria drew his sword and threatened to kill him, but as there was a general shout, he became alarmed and desisted. However he induced a slave by money and the promise of his freedom to go to Sulla as a deserter, and to attempt his life. The man as he came near the act was alarmed, and this gave rise to suspicion, which led to his being seized, and he confessed. The army of Sulla, full of indignation and contempt, surrounded the camp of Fimbria, and abused him, calling him Athenion, which was the name of the fellow who put himself at the head of the rebel runaway slaves in Sicily, and was a king for a few days. Fimbria now despairing came to the rampart, and invited Sulla to a conference. But Sulla sent Rutilius; and this first of all annoyed Fimbria, as he was not honoured with a meeting, which is granted even to enemies. On his asking for pardon for any error that he might have committed, being still a young man, Rutilius promised that Sulla would allow him to pass safe to the coast, if he would sail away from Asia, of which Sulla was proconsul. Fimbria replied that he had better means than that, and going to Pergamum and entering the temple of Æsculapius, he pierced himself with his sword. As the wound was not mortal, he bade his slave plunge the sword into his body. The slave killed his master, and then killed himself on the body. Thus died Fimbria, who had done much mischief to Asia after Mithridates. Sulla allowed Fimbria's freedmen to bury their master; adding that he would not imitate Cinna and Marius, who had condemned many persons to death at Rome, and also refused to allow their bodies to be buried. The army of Fimbria now came over to Sulla, and was received by him and united with his own. Sulla also commissioned Curio to restore Nicomedes to Bithynia and Ariobarzanes to Cappadocia, and he wrote to the Senate about all these matters, pretending that he did not know that he had been declared an enemy.
[259] Thyateira was a town in Lydia about 45 miles from Pergamum.
[260] The original is simply "after being initiated;" but the Eleusinian mysteries are meant. The city of Eleusis was in Attica, and the sacred rites were those of Ceres and Proserpine (Demeter and Persephone). Those only who were duly initiated could partake in these ceremonies. An intruder ran the risk of being put to death. Livius (31, c. 14) tells a story of two Akarnanian youths who were not initiated, and during the time of the Initia, as he calls them, entered the temple of Ceres with the rest of the crowd, knowing nothing of the nature of the ceremonies. Their language and some questions that they put, betrayed them, and they were conducted to the superintendents of the temple; and though it was clear that they had erred entirely through ignorance, they were put to death as if they had committed an abominable crime. Toleration was no part of the religious system of Antiquity; that is, nothing was permitted which was opposed to any religious institution, though there was toleration for a great variety. Many illustrious persons were initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries, which were maintained until Christianity became the general religion of the Empire. Marcus Aurelius, when he visited Athens, was initiated. The ceremonial of the temple may be collected to a certain extent from the ancient writers, but no one has yet succeeded in divining what were the peculiar doctrines of this place.
[261] Much has been written about this story, which cannot be literally true. The writings of Aristotle were not unknown to his immediate followers. If there is any truth in this story as told by Plutarch and Strabo (p. 608) it must refer to the original manuscripts of Aristotle. Part of the text of Plutarch is here manifestly corrupt. The subject has been examined by several writers. See art. "Aristotle," Biog. Dict. of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and Blakesley, Life of Aristotle, Cambridge 1839.
[262] This is Strabo the Geographer, but the passage is not in the Geography, and probably was in an historical work Ὑπομνήατα ἱστορικά, Strabo, p. 13) which he wrote, and which is cited by Plutarch in his Life of Lucullus, c. 28.
[263] These warm springs, which still exist, are on the west coast of Eubœa, opposite to the mainland. They were much resorted to in Plutarch's time, as appears from his Symposium (iv. Probl. 4). The place is named Galepsus in Wyttenbach's edition, but in a note the editor admits that the true name is Ædepsus. Demetrius Calatianus (quoted by Strabo, p. 60), who had recorded all the earthquakes in Greece, says that the hot springs at Thermopylæ and at Ædepsus once ceased to flow for three days owing to an earthquake, and those of Ædepsus, when they flowed again, broke out in a fresh place. The hot springs near Cape Therma in Eubœa are supposed to be those of Ædepsus. They are more copious than the springs of Thermopylæ on the opposite mainland, but of the same kind. "The water rushes down in a copious stream into the sea, the vapour from which is visible at a considerable distance." (Penny Cyclopædia, art. "Eubœa.")
[264] Halæae should probably be written Halæ. It was near the Euripus, within Bœotia and on the borders of Phokia. (Pansaunias, ix. 24.)
[265] The usual passage from Italy to Greece and Greece to Italy was between Brundisium and Dyrrachium. Compare Appian, Civil Wars, c. 79.
[266] This phenomenon is mentioned by Strabo (p. 316), Dion Cassius (41, c. 45), and Ælian (Various History, 13, c. 16). I do not know if this spot has been examined by any modern traveller. It is a matter of some interest to ascertain how long a phenomenon of this kind has lasted. The pitch-springs of Zante (Zakynthus), which Herodotus visited and describes (iv. 195), still produce the native pitch. Strabo, who had not seen the Nymphæum, describes it thus after the account of Poseidonius: "In the territory of Apollonia is a place called the Nymphæum; it is a rock which sends forth fire, and at the base of it are springs of warm asphaltus, the asphaltic earth, as it appears, being in a state of combustion: and there is a mine of it near on a hill. Whatever is cut out, is filled up again in course of time, as the earth which is thrown into the excavations changes into asphaltus, as Poseidonius says." We cannot conclude from this confused description what the real nature of the phenomenon was. Probably the asphaltus or bitumen was occasionally set on fire by the neighbouring people. (See the art. "Asphaltum," Penny Cyclopædia.)