[208] Caius Oppius, an intimate friend of Cæsar. Some persons believed that he was the author of the Books on the Alexandrine, African, and Spanish campaigns, which are printed with the Gallic War of Cæsar. (Suetonius, Cæsar, 56.) Hs wrote various biographies. Oppius is often mentioned by Cicero. There is extant a letter of Cicero to him Ad Diversos, xi. 29); but it is entitled in some editions of Cicero 'To Appius.'
[209] This was Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the father-in-law of Cinna. He had been consul B.C. 96 with C. Cassius Longinus.
[210] C. Memmius, according to Drumann, the same who afterwards fell in the war against Sertorius. (Life of Sertorius, c. 21.)
[211] The expedition of Pompeius to Africa was in B.C. 81. Iarbas is said to have been a descendant of Massinissa. He escaped from the battle. The scene of the battle and the subsequent movements of Pompeius cannot be collected from Plutarch's narrative, which here, as in the case of military operations generally, is of no value. As to the age of Pompeius, see the note in Clinton's Fasti B.C. 81.
[212] The lion is a native of North Africa, but it is doubtful if the elephant is. The Carthaginians employed many elephants in their armies, which they probably got from the countries south of the great desert. Plutarch evidently considers the elephant as a native of North Africa, or he would not speak of hunting it; yet in chapter 14 he speaks of the elephants as the King's, or the King's elephants, as if the elephants that Pompeius took were merely some that belonged to Iarbas or some of the African kings, and had got loose. Plinius (N.H. viii. 1) speaks of elephants in the forests of Mauritania. They are enumerated by Herodotus (iv. 191) among the beasts of North Africa.
[213] Drumann discusses at some length the question as to the time and occasion on which Pompeius received the appellation: those who are curious may consult his work, Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 335.
[214] M. Valerius Maximus, a brother of Publicola. The allusion is to the secession of the Plebs to the Mons Sacer, B.C. 494, which was followed by the institution of the Tribunitian office. Cicero (Brutus, 14) mentions this Valerius, and the secession to the Mons Sacer. See Livius, ii. 30.
[215] Q. Fabius Maximus Rullus, who was five times consul, and for the last time in B.C. 295. (Livius, x. 22.) He was afterwards Dictator and Censor. It was in his capacity of Censor that he ejected these persons from the Senate, B.C. 304. Compare the Life of Fabius Maximus, c. 1.
[216] Kaltwasser observes that it was not so much a law (lex) as a usage: but Plutarch's words by no means imply that he thought there was a Lex to this effect. Livius (xxxi. c. 20) states that only a dictator, consul, or prætor could have a triumph. The claim of Pompeius was an impudent demand: but he felt his power. The 'first Scipio' is the elder Africanus. See Life of Tiberius Gracchus, c. 1, Notes.
[217] Plutarch may mean that Pompeius really attempted to enter the gate in a chariot drawn by elephants, and finding that he could not do it, he got out and mounted a chariot drawn by horses. This is perhaps nearer the literal version of the passage, and agrees better with Plinius (N. H. viii. 1).