[328] A quotation from the Iliad, xv. 189.
[329] Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala, the consuls of B.C. 53, were not elected till seven months after the proper time, so that there was during this time an anarchy ἀναρχία, which is Plutarch's word). This term 'anarchy' must be taken in its literal and primary sense of a time when there were no magistrates, which would be accompanied with anarchy in the modern sense of the term. Dion Cassius (40. c. 45) describes this period of confusion. The translation in the text may lead to a misunderstanding of Plutarch's meaning; it should be, "he allowed an anarchy to take place." Kaltwasser's translation: "so liess er es zu einer Anarchie kommen," is perfectly exact.
[330] In the year B.C. 52 in which year Clodius was killed.
[331] She was the daughter of Q. Cæcilius Metellus Pius Scipio, who was the son of P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica and of Licinia, the daughter of the orator L. Crassus. He was adopted (B.C. 64 or 63) by the testament of Q. Cæcilius Metellus Pius, who fought in Spain ngainst Sertorius; but his daughter must have been born before this, as she bore the name Cornelia. Drumann (Geschichte Roms, Cæcilii, p. 49) thinks that the story of her attempting to destroy herself when she heard of the death of her husband (Life of Pompeius, c. 74) is suspicious, because she married Pompeius the year after. If Cornelia were the only woman that was ever said to have done so, we might doubt the story; but as she is not, we need not suspect it on that account.
[332] Corruption is δοροδοκία in Plutarch, 'gift receiving,' and it ought to correspond to the Roman Peculatus. But δοροδοκία also means corruption by bribes. Bribery is δεκασμός in Plutarch, which is expressed generally by the Roman Ambitus, and specially by the verb 'decuriare.' (See Cicero's Oration Pro Cn. Plancio, Ed. Wunder.) The offence of Scipio was Ambitus. (Dion Cassius, 40. c. 51, &c.; Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 24.) As to Roman Bribery, see the article BRIBERY, 'Political Dictionary,' by the author of this note, whose contribution begins p. 416.
[333] These 360 Judices appear to have been chosen for the occasion of these trials. (Velleius Pater. ii. 76; Goettling, Roemische Staatsverfassung, p. 482.)
[334] T. Munatius Plancus Bursa, a tribune of the Plebs. In B.C. 52 Milo and Clodius with their followers had an encounter in which Clodius was killed. Tho people, with whom he was a favourite, burnt his body in the Curia Hostilia, and the Curia with it. (Dion Cassius, 40, c. 48.) Plancus was charged with encouraging this disorder, and he was brought to trial. Cicero was his accuser; he was condemned and exiled. (Cicero, Ad Diversos, vii. 2.)
[335] Plautius Hypsæus was not a consular. He had been the quæstor of Pompeius. He and Scipio had been candidates for the consulship this year, and were both charged with bribery. (Dion Cassius, 40, c. 53.) Hypsæus was convicted.
[336] See the Life of Cæsar, c. 29. Pompeius had lent Cæsar two legions (c. 52). Compare Dion Cassius, 40. c. 65, and Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 29. The illness of Pompeius and the return of the legions from Gaul took place in the year B.C. 50. Appius Claudius (c. 57) was sent by the Senate to conduct the legions from Gaul. Dion Cassius (40. c. 65) says that Pompeius had lent Cæsar only one legion, but that Cæsar had to give up another also, inasmuch as Pompeius obtained an order of the Senate that both he and Cæsar should give a legion to Bibulus, who was in Syria, for the Parthian war. (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 29; Bell. Gall. viii. 54.) Thus Pompeius in effect gave up nothing, but Cæsar parted with two legions. The legions were not sent to Syria, but both wintered in Capua. The consul C. Claudius Marcellus (B.C. 50) gave both these legions to Pompeius.
[337] L. Æmilius Paulus was consul B.C. 50, with C. Claudius Marcellus a violent opponent of Cæsar. He built the Basilica Pauli (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 26). Basilica is a Greek word (βασιλική); a basilica was used as a court of law, and a place of business for merchants. The form of a Roman basilica is known from the description of Vitruvius (v. 1), the ground-plan of two Basilicæ at Rome, and that of Pompeii which is in better preservation. Some of the great Roman churches are called Basilicæ, and in their construction bear some resemblance to the antient Basilicæ. ('Penny Cyclopædia,' Basilica.)