[78] I can find nothing more about him. This strange punishment was the punishment for parricide.
[79] Cicero (Lælius, c. 11) and Valerius Maximus (4, c. 7) make Lælius ask these questions.
[80] Aristonikus was an illegitimate son of Eumenes II. King of Pergamum. He disputed the will of Attalus III. and seized the kingdom. Publius Licinius Crassus Mucianus Dives, who was sent against him B.C. 131, was unsuccessful, and lost his life; but Aristonikus was defeated by the consul M. Perperna B.C. 130, and taken to Rome, where he was strangled in prison.
[81] This is P. Licinius Crassus Mucianus Dives, c. 9. 20.
[82] This does not appear in the extant Lives which bear the name of Nepos; but what we have under his name is a spurious work of little value except the Life of Atticus.
[83] D. Junius Brutus Gallæcus was consul with P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio B.C. 138. He completely subdued the Gallæci (people of Galicia) and the Lusitani who occupied a part of modern Portugal, and carried the Roman arms to the western extremity of the Spanish peninsula.
[84] He was the colleague of Brutus B.C. 138, as just stated, and Pontifex Maximus in the year of the death of Tiberius. He must have died soon after going to Asia; for Publius Licinius Crassus Mucianus Dives was Pontifex Maximus B.C. 131 (c. 9); but the remark in the Epitome of Livius (lib. 59) that he was the first Pontifex Maximus who went beyond the limits of Italy is not true. The Pontifex Maximus, who was the chief of the college of Pontifices, was chosen for life. He could not be deprived of his office, nor, it seems, could he give it up. Augustus allowed his old rival Lepidus to keep his dignity of Pontifex Maximus till his death. (Dion Cassius, 49, c. 15.)
[85] The line is from Homer’s Odyssey, i. 47.
[86] This is lost, and also Plutarch’s Life of Scipio Africanus Major.
[87] The word by which Plutarch has translated Forum is Agora (ἀγορά). A Forum was an open place or area, and is often generally used for Public Place, such as almost every town has. The Forum at Rome was the Forum Romanum, which was situated between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills; it was surrounded by buildings and was the chief place for the administration of justice and for the public assemblies. To keep away from the Forum here means to take no share in public affairs. Sometimes, Forensic (forensis), a term comprehending all that relates to public business and the proceedings in the courts, is opposed to Domestic (domesticus), private, as we see in Cicero (Ad Attic. i. 5, &c.).