The Spartan kings, kings only in name; the most eminent kings of Persia, I.----The greatest kings of Macedonia; the only great sovereign of Sicily, II.----The kings that arose after the death of Alexander the Great, III.

I. THESE were almost all the generals of Greece ²²¹ that seemed worthy of record, except kings, for we would not treat of them, because the actions of them all are narrated separately;²²² nor are they indeed very numerous. As for |413 Agesilaus the Lacedaemonian, he was a king in name, not in power, just like the other Spartan kings. But of those who were sovereigns with absolute authority, the most eminent were, as we think, Cyrus, king of the Persians, and Darius, the son of Hystaspes, both of whom, originally in a private station, obtained thrones by merit. The first of these was killed in battle among the Massagetae; Darius died a natural death at an advanced age. There are also three others of the same nation; Xerxes and the two Artaxerxes, Macrochir and Mnemon.²²³ The most remarkable act of Xerxes was, that he made war upon Greece, by land and sea, with the greatest armies in the memory of man. Macrochir is greatly celebrated for a most noble and handsome person, which he rendered still more remarkable by extraordinary bravery in the field; for no one of the Persians was more valorous in action than he. Mnemon was renowned for his justice; for, when he lost his wife through the wickedness of his mother, he indulged his resentment so far only, that filial duty overcame it.²²⁴ Of these, the two of the same name died a natural death; ²²⁵ the third was killed with the sword by Artabanus, one of his satraps.

II. Of the nation of the Macedonians, two kings far excelled the rest in renown for their achievements; Philip, the son of Amyntas, and Alexander the Great. One of these was cut off by a disease at Babylon; Philip was killed by Pausanias, near the theatre at Aegae, when he was going to see the games. Of Epirus, the only great king was Pyrrhus, who made war upon the people of Rome; he was killed by a blow from a stone, when he was besieging the city of Argos in the Peloponnesus. There was also one great sovereign of Sicily, Dionysius the |414 elder; for he was both brave in action and skilful in military operations, and, what is not commonly found in a tyrant, was far from being sensual, or luxurious, or avaricious, and was covetous indeed of nothing but absolute and firmly-established sovereignty; and to attain that object he was cruel; for in his eagerness to secure it he spared the life of no one that he thought to be plotting against it. After having gained absolute power for himself by his abilities, he preserved it with remarkable good fortune, and died at the age of more than sixty, with his dominions in a flourishing condition. Nor in the course of so many years did he see the funeral of any one of his offspring, though he had children by three wives, and several grand-children had been born to him.

III. There arose also some great kings from among the followers of Alexander the Great, who assumed regal authority alter his death. Among these were Antigonus, and his son Demetrius, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy; of whom Antigonus was killed in battle, when he was fighting against Seleucus and Lysimachus; and Lysimachus was cut off in a similar way by Seleucus, for the alliance between the two being broken, they went to war with one another. Demetrius, after he had given his daughter to Seleucus in marriage, and yet the alliance between them could not be maintained the more faithfully on that account, was taken prisoner in battle, and died of some disease, the father-in-law in the custody of his son-in-law. Not long after, Seleucus was treacherously killed by Ptolemy Ceraunus, whom he had entertained, when he was expelled by his father from Alexandria, and stood in need of assistance from others. As for Ptolemy himself, he is said, after having resigned his throne to his son during his life, to have been deprived of life by that same son.

But, as we think that sufficient has been said concerning these, it seems proper not to omit Hamilcar and Hannibal, who, as is agreed, surpassed all the natives of Africa in power and subtilty of intellect. |415

XXII. HAMILCAR.

Hamilcar's success in Sicily; his defence of Eryx, and honourable capitulation, I.----His suppression of the rebellion raised by the Carthaginian mercenaries, II.----He takes his son Hannibal with him into Spain, and his son-in-law Hasdrubal, III.----Is killed in battle in Spain, IV.

I. HAMILCAR the Carthaginian, the son of Hannibal, and surnamed Barcas, began in the first Punic war, but towards the end of it, to hold the command of the army in Sicily; and though, before his coming, the efforts of the Carthaginians were unsuccessful both by sea and land, he, after he arrived, never gave way to the enemy,²²⁶ or afforded them any opportunity of doing him harm, but, on the contrary, often attacked the foe when occasion presented itself, and always came off with the advantage. Afterwards, though the Carthaginians had lost almost every place in Sicily, he so ably defended Eryx, ²²⁷ that there seemed to be no war going on there. In the meantime, the Carthaginians, having been defeated at sea, near the islands called Aegates,²²⁸ by Caius Lutatius, the Roman consul, resolved on putting an end to the war, and left the settlement of the matter to the judgment of Hamilcar, who, though he ardently desired to continue in arms, thought it, nevertheless, necessary to submit to make peace, because he saw that his country, exhausted by the expenses of the war, was no longer in a condition to bear the pressure of it; but such was his feeling on the occasion, that he soon meditated, if the affairs of his country should be but in a small degree improved, to resume the war, and to pursue the Romans with hostilities, until they should indisputably obtain the mastery, or, being conquered, should make submission. With this resolution he concluded a peace, but showed such a spirit in the transaction, that when Catulus refused to desist from hostilities unless Hamilcar, with such of his men as were in |416 possession of Eryx, should lay down their arms and quit Sicily, Hamilcar replied, that, though his country submitted, he himself would rather perish on the spot than return home under such disgrace, for that it was not consistent with his spirit to resign to his enemies arms which he had received from his country as a defence against enemies.

II. Catulus yielded to his resolution. But Hamilcar, when he arrived at Carthage, found the republic in a far different condition than he had expected; for, through the long continuance of foreign troubles, so violent a rebellion had broken out at home, that Carthage was never in such danger, except when it was actually destroyed. In the first place, the mercenary troops, who had served against the Romans, and the number of whom amounted to twenty thousand, revolted; and these drew the whole of Africa over to their side, and laid siege to Carthage itself. With these disasters the Carthaginians were so much alarmed, that they requested aid even from the Romans, and obtained it. But at last, when they were almost sunk into despair, they made Hamilcar general, who not only repulsed the enemy from the walls of Carthage, though they amounted to a hundred thousand men in arms, but reduced them to such a condition, that being shut up in a confined space, they perished in greater numbers by famine than by the sword. All the towns that had revolted, and among them Utica and Hippo, the strongest cities of all Africa, he brought back to their allegiance to his country. Nor was he satisfied with these successes, but extended even the bounds of the Carthaginian empire, and re-established such tranquillity through all Africa, that there seemed to have been no war in it for many years.

III. These objects being executed according to his desire, he then, by dint of a spirit confident and incensed against the Romans, contrived, in order more easily to find a pretext for going to war with them, to be sent as commander-in-chief with an army into Spain, and took with him thither his son Hannibal, then nine years old. There also accompanied him a young man named Hasdrubal, a person of high birth and great beauty, who, as some said, was beloved by Hamilcar with less regard to his character than was becoming; for so great a man could not fail to have slanderers. Hence it happened that Hasdrubal was forbidden by the censor of public morals |417 to associate with him; but Hamilcar then gave him his daughter in marriage, because, according to their usages, a son-in-law could not be interdicted the society of his father-in-law. We have inserted this notice of Hasdrubal, because, after Hamilcar was killed, he took the command of the army, and achieved great exploits; and he was also the first that corrupted the ancient manners of the Carthaginians by bribery. After his death Hannibal received the command from the army.

IV. Hamilcar, however, after he had crossed the sea, and arrived in Spain, executed some great undertakings with excellent success; he subdued some very powerful and warlike nations, and supplied all Africa with horses, arms, men, and money. But as he was meditating to carry the war into Italy, in the ninth year after his arrival in Spain, he was killed in a battle with the Vettones.

His constant hatred to the Romans seems to have been the chief cause of producing the second Punic war; for Hannibal, his son, was so wrought upon by the continual instigations of his father, that he would have chosen to die rather than not make trial of the Romans.

XXIII. HANNIBAL.

Hannibal, the greatest of generals, suffers from the envy of his countrymen, I.----Was the deadly enemy of the Romans, II.----He reduces Spain; besieges Saguntum; crosses the Alps, III.----His successful battles in Italy, IV.----His further proceedings in that country, V.----Is recalled to the defence of his country, and defeated by Scipio, VI.----Quits his country, and seeks refuge with Antiochus, VII.----Endeavours in vain to excite his countrymen to war; defeats the Rhodians, VIII.----Eludes the avarice of the Cretans, IX.----Stirs up Prusias against the Romans, X.----His stratagem in contending with Eumenes, XI.----Commits suicide to escape being delivered to the Romans. XII.----His attachment to literature, XIII.

I. HANNIBAL was the son of Hamilcar, and a native of Carthage. If it be true, as no one doubts, that the Roman people excelled all other nations in warlike merit, it is not to be disputed that Hannibal surpassed other commanders in ability as much as the Romans surpassed all other people in |418 valour; for as often as he engaged with the Romans in Italy, he always came off with the advantage; and, had not his efforts been paralyzed by the envy of his countrymen at home, he would appear to have been capable of getting the mastery over the Romans. But the jealous opposition of many prevailed against the ability of one. He, however, so cherished in his mind the hatred which his father had borne the Romans, and which was left him, as it were, by bequest, that he laid down his life before he would abate it; for even when he was exiled from his country, and stood in need of support from others, he never ceased in thought to make war with the Romans.

II. To say nothing of Philip,²²⁹ whom he rendered an enemy to the Romans, though at a distance from him, Antiochus was the most powerful of all kings at that period; and him he so inflamed with a desire for war, that he endeavoured to bring troops against Italy even from the Red Sea.²³⁰ As some ambassadors from Rome were sent to that prince, in order to gain information respecting his intentions, and to endeavour, by underhand contrivances, to render Hannibal an object of suspicion to the king (as if, being bribed by them, he entertained other sentiments than before); and as they were not unsuccessful in their attempts, and Hannibal became aware of that fact, and found himself excluded from the privy council, he went at a time appointed to the king himself, and, after having said much concerning his attachment to him and his hatred to the Romans, he added the following statement: "My father Hamilcar," said he, "when I was a very little boy, being not more than nine years old, offered sacrifices at Carthage, when he was going as commander into Spain, to Jupiter, the best and greatest of the gods; and while this religious ceremony was being performed, he asked me whether I should like to go with him to the camp. As I willingly expressed my consent, and proceeded to beg him not to hesitate to take me, he replied, 'I will do so, if you will give me the promise which I ask of you.' At the same time he led me to the altar at which he had begun to sacrifice, and, sending the rest of the company away, required me, taking hold of the altar, to swear |419 that I would never be in friendship with the Romans, This oath, thus taken before my father, I have so strictly kept even to this day, that no man ought to doubt but that I shall be of the same mind for the rest of my life. If, therefore, you entertain any friendly thoughts towards the Romans, you will not act imprudently if you conceal them from me; but whenever you prepare war, you will disappoint yourself unless you constitute me leader in it."

III. At this age, accordingly, he accompanied his father into Spain. After his father's death, when Hasdrubal was made general-in-chief, he had the command of all the cavalry. When Hasdrubal also was killed, the army conferred upon him the supreme command, and this act, when reported at Carthage, received public approbation.

Hannibal being thus made commander-in-chief, at the age of five-and-twenty, subdued in war, during the next three years, all the nations of Spain, took Saguntum, a city in alliance with the Romans, by storm, and collected three vast armies, of which he sent one into Africa, left another with his brother Hasdrubal in Spain, and took the third with him into Italy. He made his way through the forests of the Pyrenees,²³¹ he engaged, wherever he directed his course, with all the inhabitants of the country, and let none go unconquered. On arriving at the Alps, which separate Italy from Gaul, and which no one had ever crossed with an army before him, (except Hercules the Greek, from which achievement the forest there is now called the Grecian forest), he cut to pieces the people of the Alps who endeavoured to prevent his passage, laid open those parts, made roads, and put things in such a state, that an elephant fully equipped could walk where previously one unarmed man could scarcely crawl. Along this tract he led his army, and arrived in Italy.

IV. On the banks of the Rhone he engaged with the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio, and put him to flight. At the Po he fought with the same consul for the possession of Clastidium,²³² and expelled him from that place wounded and |420 defeated The same Scipio, with his colleague Tiberius Longus, came against him a third time at the Trebia; he came to battle with them, and put both of them to flight. He then passed through the country of the Ligurians over the chain of the Apennnines, directing his course towards Etruria. During this march he was afflicted with so violent a distemper in his eyes, that he never had the use of his right eye so well afterwards. But even when he was troubled with this malady, and carried in a litter, he cut off Caius Flaminius the consul at the lake Trasimenus, being caught with his army in an ambush; and not long after he killed the praetor Caius Centenius, who was occupying the forest with a choice body of troops. He then proceeded into Apulia, where the two consuls, Caius Terentius Varro, and Paulus Aemilius, met him, both of whose armies he routed in one battle; the consul Paulus he killed, with several others of consular dignity, and among them Cnaeus Servilius Geminus, who had been consul the year before.

V. After fighting this battle, he marched towards Rome, nobody opposing him, and halted on the hills near the city. When he had lain encamped there some days, and was turning back towards Capua, Quintus Fabius Maximus, the Roman dictator, threw himself in his way in the Falernian territory. Here, though enclosed in a confined space, he extricated himself without any loss to his army. He deceived Fabius, a most skilful commander; for, when night had come on, he set fire to some bundles of twigs, tied upon the horns of oxen, and drove forward a vast number of those cattle, scattering themselves hither and thither. By presenting this object suddenly to their view,²³³ he struck such terror into the army of the Romans, that nobody ventured to stir beyond the rampart. Not many days after this success, he put to flight Marcus Minucius Rufus, master of the horse, who was equal in power with the dictator, and who had been drawn into an engagement by a stratagem. While he was at |421 a distance, too, he cut off ²³⁴ Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, consul for the second time, in the country of the Lucanians, after he had been inveigled into an ambush. In like manner he caused the death of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, consul for the fifth time, at Venusia. To enumerate his battles would occupy too much time; and this one observation, accordingly, (from which it will be understood how great a general he was), will be sufficient, that, as long as he continued in Italy, none made a stand against him in a regular engagement, none, after the battle of Cannae, pitched a camp against him in the field.

VI. Being recalled, without having suffered any defeat, to defend his country, he maintained a war with the son of that Publius Scipio whom he had routed first on the Rhone, again on the Po, and a third time on the Trebia. As the resources of his country were now exhausted, he wished, by a treaty with him, to put a stop to the war for a time, in order that he might engage in it afterwards with greater vigour. He came to a conference with him, but the conditions were not agreed upon. A few days after this meeting, he came to battle with Scipio at Zama; and being defeated (incredible to relate! ) he made his way to Adrumetum, which is about three hundred miles ²³⁵ from Zama, in two days and two nights. In the course of his retreat, some Numidians, who had left the field in his company, formed a conspiracy against him; however he not only escaped them, but deprived them of life. At Adrumetum he assembled those who had survived the defeat, and, with the aid of new levies, drew together, in a few days, a numerous force.

VII. While he was most vigorously engaged in preparing for action, the Carthaginians made an end of the war by a treaty with the Romans. He had nevertheless afterwards the command of the army, and continued to act, as well as his brother Mago, in Africa, until the time when Publius Sulpicius and Caius Aurelius became consuls; for, during their term of office, ambassadors from Carthage went to Rome, to thank the Roman senate and people for having made peace with |422 them, and to present them, on that account, with a crown of gold, requesting, at the same time, that their hostages might reside at Fregellae,²³⁶ and that their prisoners might be restored. An answer was made them, by a resolution of the senate, that "their present was acceptable and welcome, and that their hostages should live in the place which they desired, but that they would not restore the prisoners, because the Carthaginians retained Hannibal, by whose acts the war had been occasioned, and who was the bitterest of enemies to the name of Rome, in command of the army, as also his brother Mago." The Carthaginians, on hearing this answer, recalled Hannibal and Mago home. When he returned, he was made praetor, ²³⁷ in the two-and-twentieth year after he had been appointed king; ²³⁸ for, as consuls are elected at Rome, so, at Carthage, two kings are annually chosen, retaining their office for a year. In that post Hannibal conducted himself with the same activity as he had exhibited in war; for he took care, not only that there should be money raised from new taxes, to be paid to the Romans according to the treaty, but that there should be a surplus to be deposited in the treasury.

In the year after his praetorship, when Marcus Claudius and Lucius Furius were consuls, ambassadors from Rome came again to Carthage; and Hannibal, supposing that they were sent to demand that he should be delivered to the Romans, went secretly, before an audience of the senate was given them, on board a vessel, and fled into Syria to Antiochus. His departure being made public, the Carthaginians sent two ships to seize him, if they could overtake him. His property they confiscated; his house they razed to its foundations; and himself they declared an outlaw.

VIII. In the third year, however, after he had fled from home, and in the consulship of Lucius Cornelius and Quintus Minucius, Hannibal landed with five ships in Africa, on the coast of the Cyrenaeans, to try if he could move the Carthaginians to war, by giving them hope and confidence in Antiochus, |423 whom he had now persuaded to proceed with his forces to Italy. Thither he summoned his brother Mago; and, when the Carthaginians knew of the circumstance, they inflicted on Mago the same penalties as they had laid on his absent brother. When they had let loose their vessels, and sailed off, in despair of success, Hannibal went to join Antiochus. Of Mago's end two accounts have been given; for some have left on record that he perished by shipwreck, others that he was killed by his own slaves.

Antiochus, if he had been as ready to obey Hannibal's advice in conducting the war as he had resolved to be when he undertook it, might have fought for the empire of the world nearer the Tiber than Thermopylae.²³⁹ Hannibal, however, though he saw him attempt many things imprudently, left him in nothing unsupported. He took the command of a few ships, which he had been directed to bring from Syria into Asia, and with these he engaged the fleet of the Rhodians in the Pamphylian sea,²⁴⁰ and though his men were overpowered in the struggle by the number of the enemy, he had the advantage himself in the wing in which he acted.

IX. After Antiochus was put to flight,²⁴¹ Hannibal, fearing that he should be delivered to the Romans (an event which would doubtless have come to pass, if he had given the king an opportunity of securing him), went off to the people of Gortyn, in Crete, that he might there consider in what place he should settle himself. But, as he was the most perspicacious of all men, he saw that unless he took some precautions, he should be in great danger from the covetousness of the Cretans; for he carried with him a large sum of money, of which he knew that a report had gone abroad. He therefore adopted the following contrivance; he filled several pots with lead, covering the upper part with gold and silver, and deposited them, in the presence of the leading men ²⁴², in the temple of Diana, pretending that he trusted his fortune to |424 their honesty. Having thus deceived them, he filled the whole of some brazen statues, which he carried with him, with his money, and threw them down in an open place at his own residence. The Gortynians, meanwhile, guarded the temple with extreme care, not so much against others as against Hannibal himself, lest he should remove any thing without their knowledge, and carry it off with him.

X. The Carthaginian, having thus saved his property, and deceived all the Cretans, went into Pontus to Prusias, with whom he showed himself of the same mind as to Italy; for he did nothing but excite the king to arms, and animate him against the Romans, and seeing that he was not at all strong in domestic resources, he induced other princes to join him, and united warlike nations on his side. Eumenes, king of Pergamus, was at variance with Prusias, and war was maintained between them by sea and land, for which reason Hannibal was the more desirous that he should be crushed. Eumenes had the superiority on both elements, and Hannibal thought that, if he could but cut him off, his other projects would be easier of execution. To put an end to his life, therefore, he adopted the following stratagem. They were to engage by sea in a few days; Hannibal was inferior in number of vessels, and had to use art in the contest, as he was no match for his enemy in force. He accordingly ordered as many poisonous serpents as possible to be brought together alive, and to be put into earthen vessels, of which when he bad collected a large number, he called the officers of his ships together, on the day on which he was going to fight at sea, and directed them all to make an attack upon the single ship of King Eumenes, and to be content with simply defending themselves against others, as they might easily do with the aid of the vast number of serpents; adding that he would take care they should know in what ship Eumenes sailed, and promising that, if they took or killed him, it should be of great advantage to them.

XI. After this exhortation was given to the soldiers, the fleets were brought out for action by both parties. When the line of each was formed, and before the signal was given for battle, Hannibal, in order to show his men where Eumenes was, despatched to him a letter-carrier in a boat with a herald's staff; who, when he reached the enemy's line of |425 vessels, held out a letter, and signified that he was looking for the king; he was therefore immediately taken to Eumenes, because nobody doubted that there was something written in the letter relating to peace. The messenger, having thus made the king's ship known to his party, returned to the same place from which he had come. Eumenes, on opening the letter, found nothing in it but what was meant to ridicule him; and though he wondered as to the motive of it, and none could be discovered, yet he did not hesitate to come at once to battle. In the conflict, the Bithynians, according to the direction of Hannibal, fell all at once upon the ship of Eumenes. That prince, as he was unable to withstand their onset, sought safety in flight, but would not have found it, had he not taken refuge behind his guards, which had been posted on the neighbouring shore. As the rest of the Pergamenian ships bore hard upon the enemy, the earthen pots, of which we have previously spoken, began suddenly to be hurled into them. These, when thrown, at first excited laughter among the combatants, nor could it be conceived why such a thing was done; but when they saw their ships filled with serpents, and, startled at the strangeness of the occurrence, knew not what to avoid first, they put about their ships, and retreated to their camp upon the coast. Thus Hannibal, by his stratagem, prevailed over the force of the Pergamenians. Nor was this the only occasion; but often, at other times, he defeated the enemy with his troops on land, and with equally skilful management.

XII. While these transactions were taking place in Asia, it happened accidentally at Rome that certain ambassadors from Prusias took supper at the house of Lucius Quintius Flamininus, one of the consuls; and there, as mention was made of Hannibal, one of them observed that he was in the dominions of Prusias. This information Flamininus communicated the next day to the senate. The conscript fathers, who thought that they would never be free from plots as long as Hannibal was alive, sent ambassadors to Bithynia, and among them Flamininus, to request the king not to keep their bitterest enemy with him, but to deliver him up to them. To this embassy Prusias did not dare to give a refusal; he made some opposition, however, to one point, begging them |426 not to require of him ²⁴³ what was contrary to the rights of hospitality, saying that they themselves might make Hannibal prisoner, if they could, as they would easily find out the place where he was. Hannibal indeed confined himself to one place, living in a fortress which had been given him by the king; and this he had so constructed that it had outlets on every side of the building, always fearing lest that should happen which eventually came to pass. When the Roman ambassadors had gone thither, and had surrounded his house with a number of men, a slave, looking out at a gate, told Hannibal that several armed men were to be seen, contrary to what was usual. Hannibal desired him to go round to all the gates of the castle, and bring him word immediately whether it was beset in the same way on all sides. The slave having soon reported how it was, and informed him, that all the passages were secured, he felt certain that it was no accidental occurrence, but that his person was menaced, and that his life was no longer to be preserved. That he might not part with it, however, at the pleasure of another, and dwelling on the remembrance of his past honours, he took poison, which he had been accustomed always to carry with him.

XIII. Thus this bravest of men, after having gone through many and various labours, found repose in the seventieth year of his age. Under what consuls he died, is not agreed; for Atticus has left it recorded in his chronicle that he ended his life in the consulship of Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Quintus Fabius Labeo; but Polybius says in that of Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Cnaeus Baebius Tamphilus; and Sulpicius in that of Publius Cornelius Cethegus and Marcus Baebius Tamphilus.

This great man, though occupied in such vast military operations, devoted some portion of his time to literature; for there are some books of his written in the Greek language, and amongst them one addressed to the Rhodians on the acts of Cnaeus Manlius Vulso in Asia.

Of the wars which he conducted many have given the history; and two of them were persons that were with him in the camp, and lived with him as long as fortune allowed, |427 Silenus and Sosilus the Lacedaemonian; and this Sosilus Hannibal had as his instructor in the Greek language. But it is now time to make an end of this book, and to give an account of commanders among the Romans, that, when the actions of both are compared, it may be the better determined which generals deserve the preference.

XXIV. MARCUS PORCIUS CATO.

FROM THE SECOND BOOK OF CORNELIUS NEPOS.

Cato's birth, youth, and the offices that he held, I.----His consulship in Hither Spain; his severity as censor, II.----His eulogy; his studies and writings, III.

I. CATO,²⁴⁴ born in the municipal town of Tusculum,²⁴⁵ resided, when a very young man, and before he turned his attention to the attainment of office, in the territory of the Sabines, because he had an estate there which had been left him by his father. It was at the persuasion of Lucius Valerius Flaccus, whom he had for a colleague in his consulate and censorship, that he removed, as Marcus Perperna Censorius was accustomed to relate, to Rome, and proceeded to employ himself in the forum. He served his first campaign at the age of seventeen, in the consulship of Quintus Fabius Maximus and Marcus Claudius Marcellus. He was military tribune in Sicily. When he returned from thence, he attached himself to the staff of Caius Claudius Nero, and his service was thought of great value in the battle near Sena, in which Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, fell. As quaestor, he happened to be under the consul, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, with whom he did not live according to the intimate connexion of his office; for he was at variance with him during his whole life. He was made aedile of the commons ²⁴⁶ with Caius Helvius. As praetor he had the province of Sardinia, from which, when he was returning |428 from Africa some time before in the character of quaestor, he had brought Quintus Ennius, the poet, an act which we value not less than the noblest triumph that Sardinia could have afforded.

II. He held the consulship with Lucius Valerius Flaccus, and had by lot Hither Spain for his province, from which he gained a triumph. As he stayed there a long time, Publius Scipio Africanus, when consul for the second time, wanted to remove him from his province, and to succeed him himself, but was unable, through the senate, to effect that object, even though he then possessed the greatest authority in the state; for the government was then conducted, not with regard for personal influence, but according to justice. Being displeased with the senate on this account, Scipio, after his consulship was ended, remained in the city as a private person.²⁴⁷

Cato, being made censor with the Flaccus above mentioned, exercised that office with severity; for he inflicted penalties on many noblemen, and introduced many new regulations into his edict,²⁴⁸ by means of which luxury, which was even then beginning to germinate, might be repressed. For about eighty years,²⁴⁹ from his youth to the end of his life, he never ceased to incur enmity in behalf of the commonwealth. Though attacked by many,²⁵⁰ he not only suffered no loss of character, but increased in reputation for virtue as long as he lived.

III. In all his pursuits he gave proofs of singular intelligence and industry; for he was a skilful agriculturist, well-informed in political affairs, experienced in the law, an |429 eminent, commander, a respectable orator. He was also much devoted to literature, and though he had entered on the study of it at an advanced age, yet he made such progress in it, that you could not easily discover anything, either in Grecian or Italian history, that was unknown to him. From his youth he composed speeches. In his old age he began to write his Histories, of which there are ten books. The first contains the acts of the kings of Rome; the second and third show from whence each Italian state had its rise, for which reason he seems to have called the whole body of them Origines; in the fourth is related the first Carthaginian war; in the fifth the second; and all these subjects are treated in a summary way. Other wars he has narrated in a similar manner, down to the praetorship of Lucius Galba, who spoiled the Lusitanians. The leaders in these wars, however, he has not named, but has stated the facts without the names. In the same books he has given an account of whatever seemed remarkable in Italy and Spain; and there are shown in them much labour and industry, and much learning.

Of his life and manners we have spoken more at large in the book which we wrote expressly concerning him at the request of Titus Pomponius Atticus; and we therefore refer those who would know Cato to that volume. |430

XXV. TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS.

Birth, talents, and education of Atticus, I.----He goes to Athens; assists the Athenians with money; his popularity there, II. III.----Is favourably regarded by Sulla; returns to Rome, IV.---- Inherits property from Quintus Caecilius; his friendship with Cicero and Hortensius, V.----He abstains from, seeking offices or honours, but maintains his dignity of character, VI.----In the civil war he offends neither Pompey nor Caesar, VII.----After Caesar is killed, he supplies Brutus with money, VIII.----Is not even an enemy to Antony, whose wife and children he relieves, IX. ---- Antony's regard for the services of Atticus, X.----He aids many of the proscribed, XI.----He uses his interest only to avert dangers and troubles from his friends, XII.-----Of his private life; is a good father and citizen, XIII.----His meals; his prudence in pecuniary matters, XIV.----His love of truth and diligence, XV.----Agreeable to the old in his youth, and to the young in his old age, XVI.----His dutifulness to his mother, XVII.----His love of antiquity, and literature in general, XVIII.----His connexion with Caesar Octavianus, XIX.----His friendship with Caesar and Antony, XX.----His last illness, XXI.----He starves himself to death; his funeral, XXII.

I. TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS, descended from a most ancient Roman family,²⁵¹ held the equestrian rank received in uninterrupted succession from his ancestors. He had a father who was active, indulgent, and, as times then were, wealthy, as well as eminently devoted to literature; and, as he loved learning himself, he instructed his son in all branches of knowledge with which youth ought to be made acquainted. In the boy, too, besides docility of disposition, there was great sweetness of voice, so that he not only imbibed rapidly what was taught him, but repeated it extremely well. He was in consequence distinguished among his companions in his boyhood, and shone forth with more lustre than his noble fellow-students could patiently bear; hence he stirred them all to new exertions by his application. In the number of them were Lucius Torquatus, Caius Marius the younger, and Marcus Cicero, whom he so attached to himself by his intercourse with them, that no one was ever more dear to them.

II. His father died at an early age. He himself, in his youth, on account of his connexion with Publius Sulpicius, who |431 was killed when tribune of the people, was not unapprehensive of sharing in his danger; for Anicia, Pomponius's cousin, was married to Marcus Servius, the brother of Sulpicius. When he saw that the state, therefore, after the death of Sulpicius, was thrown into confusion by the disturbances of Cinna, and that no facility was allowed him of living suitably to his dignity without offending one side or the other (the feelings of the citizens being divided, as some favoured the party of Sulla and others that of Cinna) he thought it a proper time for devoting himself to his studies, and betook himself to Athens. He nevertheless, however, assisted young Marius, when declared an enemy, by such means as he could, and relieved him in his exile with money. And, lest his sojourn in a foreign country should cause any detriment to his estate, he transported thither a great portion of his fortune. Here he lived in such a manner, that he was deservedly much beloved by all the Athenians; for, in addition to his interest, which was great for so young a man, he relieved their public exigencies from his own property; since, when the government was obliged to borrow money,²⁵² and had no fair offer of it, he always came to their aid, and in such a way, that he never received any interest of them, and never allowed them to be indebted to him longer than had been agreed upon; both which modes of acting were for their advantage, for he neither suffered their debt to grow old upon them, nor to be increased by an accumulation of interest. He enhanced this kindness also by other instances of liberality; for he presented the whole of the people with such a supply of corn, that seven modii ²⁵³ of wheat (a kind of measure which is called a medimnus at Athens) were allotted to each person. |432

III. He also conducted himself in such a way, that he appeared familiar with the lowest, though on a level with the highest. Hence it happened that they publicly bestowed upon him all the honours that they could, and offered to make him a citizen of Athens; an offer which he would not accept, because some are of opinion that the citizenship of Rome is forfeited by taking that of another city. As long as he was among them, he prevented any statue from being erected to him; but when absent, he could not hinder it; and they accordingly raised several statues both to him and Phidias,²⁵⁴ in the most sacred places, for, in their whole management of the state, they took him for their agent and adviser. It was the gift of fortune, then, in the first place, that he was born in that city, above all others, in which was the seat of the empire of the world, and had it not only for his native place but for his home; and, in the next, it was a proof of his wisdom, that when he betook himself to a city which excelled all others in antiquity, politeness, and learning, he became individually dear to it beyond other men.

IV. When Sulla arrived at Athens in his journey from Asia, he kept Pomponius in his company as long as he remained there, being charmed with the young man's politeness and knowledge; for he spoke Greek so well that he might have been thought to have been born at Athens; while there was such agreeableness in his Latin style, as to make it evident that the graces of it were natural, not acquired. He also recited verses, both in Greek and Latin, in so pleasing a manner that nothing could have been added to its attractions. It was in consequence of these accomplishments that Sulla would never suffer him to be out of his company, and wanted to take him away with him to Rome. But when he endeavoured to persuade him to go, "Do not desire, I entreat you," replied Pomponius, "to lead me with you against those, with whom, that I might not bear arms against you, I quitted |433 Italy." Sulla, commending the good feeling of the young man, directed, at his departure, that all the presents which he had received at Athens should be carried to his house.

Though he resided at Athens many years, paying such attention to his property as a not unthrifty father of a family ought to pay, and devoting all the rest of his time either to literature or to the public affairs of the Athenians, he nevertheless afforded his services to his friends at Rome; for he used to come to their elections, and whatever important business of theirs was brought forward, he was never found wanting on the occasion. Thus he showed a singular fidelity to Cicero in all his perils; and presented him, when he was banished from his country, with the sum of two hundred and fifty sestertia.²⁵⁵ And when the affairs of the Romans became tranquil, he returned to Rome, in the consulship, as I believe, of Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus; and the whole city of Athens observed the day of his departure in such a manner, that they testified by their tears the regret which they would afterwards feel for him.

V. He had an uncle, Quintus Caecilius, a Roman knight, an intimate friend of Lucius Lucullus, a rich man, but of a very morose temper, whose peevishness he bore so meekly, that he retained without interruption, to the extremity of old age, the good will of a person whom no one else could endure. In consequence, he reaped the fruit of his respectful conduct; for Caecilius, at his death, adopted him by his will, and made him heir to three-fourths of his estate, from which bequest he received about ten thousand sestertia.²⁵⁶

A sister of Atticus was married to Quintus Tullius Cicero; and Marcus Cicero had been the means of forming the connexion, a man with whom Atticus had lived in the closest intimacy from the time that they were fellow-students, in much greater intimacy, indeed, than with Quintus; whence it may be concluded that, in establishing friendship, similarity of manners has more influence than affinity. He was likewise so intimate with Quintus Hortensius, who, in those times, had the highest reputation for eloquence, that it could not be decided which of the two had the greater love for him, Cicero or Hortensius; and he succeeded in effecting what was most |434 difficult, namely, that no enmity should occur between those between whom there was emulation for such eminence, and that he himself should be the bond of union between such great men.

VI. He conducted himself in such a manner in political affairs, that he always was, and always was thought to be, on the best side; ²⁵⁷ yet he did not mingle in civil tumults, because he thought that those who had plunged into them were not more under their own control than those who were tossed by the waves of the sea. He aimed at no offices (though they were open to him as well through his influence as through his high standing), since they could neither be sought in the ancient method, nor be gained without violating the laws in the midst of such unrestrained extravagance of bribery, nor be exercised for the good of the country without danger in so corrupt a state of the public morals. He never went to a public sale,²⁵⁸ nor ever became surety or farmer in any department of the public revenue.²⁵⁹ He accused no one, either in his own name or as a subscriber to an accusation.²⁶⁰ He never went to law about property of his own, nor was ever concerned in a trial. Offers of places, under several consuls and praetors, he received in such a way as never to follow any one into his province, being content with the honour, and not solicitous to make any addition to his property; for he would not even go into Asia with Quintus Cicero, when he might have held the office of legate under him; for he did not think it became him, after he had declined to take the praetorship,²⁶¹ to become the attendant on a praetor. In such conduct he consulted not only |435 his dignity but his quiet; since he avoided even the suspicion of evil practices. Hence it happened that attentions received from him ²⁶² were more valued by all, as they saw that they were attributable to kindness, not to fear or hope.

VII. When he was about sixty years old, the civil war with Caesar broke out; but he availed himself of the privilege of his age, and went nowhere out of the city. Whatever was needful for his friends when going to Pompey, he supplied for them out of his own property. To Pompey himself, who was his intimate friend, he gave no offence; for he had accepted no distinction from him like others, who had gained honours or wealth by his means, and of whom some followed his camp most unwillingly, and some remained at home to his great disgust. But to Caesar the neutrality of Atticus was so pleasing, that when he became conqueror, and desired money from several private persons by letter, he not only forebore to trouble Atticus, but even released, at his request, his sister's son and Quintus Cicero from Pompey's camp. Thus, by adhering to his old course of life, he avoided new dangers.

VIII. Then followed the time,²⁶³ when, on the assassination of Caesar, the commonwealth seemed to be in the hands of the Bruti ²⁶⁴ and Cassius, and the whole state turned towards them. Atticus, at that period, conducted himself towards Brutus in such a way, that that young man was not in more familiar intercourse with any one of his own age, than with him who was so advanced in years, and not only paid him the highest honour at the council, but also at his table. It was projected by some that a private fund should be formed by the Roman knights for the assassins of Caesar; a scheme which they thought might easily be accomplished if even only the leading men of that order would furnish contributions. Atticus was accordingly solicited by Caius Flavius, an intimate friend of Brutus, to consent to become a promoter of the plan. But |436 Atticus, who thought that services were to be done to friends without regard to party, and had always kept himself aloof from such schemes, replied that, "If Brutus wished to make use of any of his property, he might avail himself of it as far as it would allow; but that about that project he would never confer or join with any man." Thus that combination of a party was broken by his dissent alone. Not long after, Antony began to get the advantage; so that Brutus and Cassius, despairing of their fortune, went into exile, into the provinces which had been given them for form's sake ²⁶⁵ by the consuls. Atticus, who had refused to contribute with others to that party when it was prosperous, sent to Brutus, when he was cast down and retiring from Italy, a hundred sestertia ²⁶⁶ as a present; and, when he was parted from him, he ordered three hundred ²⁶⁷ to be sent to him in Epirus. Thus he neither paid greater court to Antony when in power, nor deserted those that were in desperate circumstances.

IX. Next followed the war that was carried on at Mutina, ²⁶⁸ in which, if I were only to say that he was wise, I should say less of him than I ought; for he rather proved himself divine, if a constant goodness of nature, which is neither increased nor diminished by the events of fortune, may be called divinity. ²⁶⁹ Antony, being declared an enemy, had quitted Italy, nor was |437 there any hope of bringing him back. Not only his open enemies, who were then very powerful and numerous, but also such as had lent themselves to the party opposed to him, and hoped to gain some share of praise ²⁷⁰ by doing him injury, persecuted his friends, sought to spoil his wife Fulvia of all her property, and endeavoured even to get his children put to death. Atticus, though he lived in intimate friendship with Cicero, and was very warmly attached to Brutus, yet would not only never give them his consent to act against Antony, but, on the contrary, protected, as much as he could, such of his friends as fled from the city, and supplied them with whatever they wanted. On Publius Volumnius, indeed, he conferred such obligations, that more could not have proceeded from a father. To Fulvia herself, too, when she was distracted with lawsuits, and troubled with great alarms, he gave his services with such constancy, that she never appeared to answer to bail ²⁷¹ without the attendance of Atticus. He was her surety in all cases, and even when she had bought an estate, in her prosperous circumstances, to be paid for by a certain day, and was unable after her reverse of fortune to borrow money to discharge the debt,²⁷² he came to her aid, and lent her the money without interest, and without requiring any security for the repayment, thinking it the greatest gain to be found grateful and obliging, and to show, at the same time, that it was his practice to be a friend, not to fortune but to men; and when he acted in such a manner, no one could imagine that he acted for the sake of time-serving, for it entered into nobody's thoughts that Antony could regain his authority. But he gradually incurred blame from some of the nobles, because he did not seem to have sufficient hatred towards bad citizens.

X. Being under the guidance of his own judgment, however, he considered ²⁷³ rather what it was right for him to do, than |438 what others would commend. On a sudden fortune was changed. When Antony returned into Italy, every one thought that Atticus would be in great peril, on account of his close intercourse with Cicero and Brutus. He accordingly withdrew from the forum on the approach of the leaders,²⁷⁴ from dread of the proscription, and lived in retirement at the house of Publius Volumnius, to whom, as we have said, he had not long before given assistance; (such were the vicissitudes of fortune in those days, that sometimes one party, and sometimes the other, was in the greatest exaltation or in the greatest peril;) and he had with him Quintus Gellius Canus, a man of the same age, and of a character very similar to his own; and this also may be given as an instance of the goodness of Atticus's disposition, that he lived in such close intimacy with him whom he had known when a boy at school, that their friendship increased even to the end of their lives. But Antony, though he was moved with such hatred towards Cicero, that he showed his enmity, not only to him, but to all his friends, and resolved to proscribe them, yet, at the instance of many, was mindful of the obliging conduct of Atticus; and, after ascertaining where he was, wrote to him with his own hand, that he need be under no apprehension, but might come to him immediately; as he had excepted him and Gellius Canus, for his sake, from the number of the proscribed; and that he might not fall into any danger, as the message was sent at night, he appointed him a guard. Thus Atticus, in a time of the greatest alarm, was able to save, not only himself, but him whom he held most dear; for he did not seek aid from any one for the sake of his own security only, but in conjunction with his friend; so that it might appear that he wished to endure no kind of fortune apart from him. But if a pilot is extolled with the greatest praise, who saves a ship from a tempest in the midst of a rocky sea, why should not his prudence be thought of the highest character, who arrives at safety through so many and so violent civil tumults?

XI. When he had delivered himself from these troubles, he had no other care than to assist as many persons as possible, |439 by whatever means he could. When the common people, in consequence of the rewards offered by the triumvirs, were searching for the proscribed, no one went into Epirus ²⁷⁵ without finding a supply of everything; and to every one was given permission to reside there constantly. After the battle of Philippi, too, and the death of Caius Cassius and Marcus Brutus, he resolved on protecting Lucius Julius Mocilla, a man of praetorian rank, and his son, as well as Aulus Torquatus, and others involved in the same ill fortune, and caused supplies of everything to be sent them from Epirus to Samothrace.

To enumerate all such acts of his would be difficult; nor are they necessary to be particularized. One point we would wish to be understood, that his generosity was not timeserving or artful, as may be judged from the circumstances and period in which it was shown; for he did not make his court to the prosperous, but was always ready to succour the distressed. Servilia, for instance, the mother of Brutus, he treated with no less consideration after Brutus's death than when she was in the height of good fortune. Indulging his liberality in such a manner, he incurred no enmities, since he neither injured any one, nor was he, if he received any injury, more willing to resent than to forget it. Kindnesses that he received he kept in perpetual remembrance; but such as he himself conferred, he remembered only so long as he who had received them was grateful. He accordingly made it appear, to have been truly said, that "Every man's manners make his fortune." Yet he did not study his fortune ²⁷⁶ before he formed himself, taking care that he might not justly suffer for any part of his conduct.

XII. By such conduct, therefore, he brought it to pass, that Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, who was united in the closest intimacy with young Caesar, though, through his own interest and Caesar's influence, he had power to choose a wife from any rank whatever, fixed on a connexion with him rather than |440 with any other, and preferred a marriage with the daughter of a Roman knight to an alliance with the most noble of women. The promoter of this match (for it is not to be concealed) was Mark Antony, when triumvir for settling the state; but though Atticus might have increased his property by the interest of Antony, he was so far from coveting money, that he never made use of that interest except to save his friends from danger or trouble;²⁷⁷ a fact which was eminently remarkable at the time of the proscription; for when the triumviri, according to the way in which things were then managed, had sold the property of Lucius Saufeius, a Roman knight, who was of the same age as Atticus, and who, induced by a love for the study of philosophy, had lived with him several years at Athens, and had valuable estates in Italy, it was effected by the efforts and perseverance of Atticus, that Saufeius was made acquainted by the same messenger, that "he had lost his property and had recovered it." He also brought off Lucius Julius Calidus, whom I think I may truly assert to have been the most elegant poet that our age has produced since the death of Lucretius and Catullus, as well as a man of high character, and distinguished by the best intellectual accomplishments, who, in his absence, after the proscription of the knights, had been enrolled in the number of the proscribed by Publius Volumnius, the captain of Antony's engineers, on account of his great possessions in Africa; an act on the part of Atticus, of which it was hard to judge at the time, whether it were more onerous or honourable. But it was well known that the friends of Atticus, in times of danger, were not less his care in their absence than when they were present.

XIII. Nor was he considered less deserving as a master of a family than as a member of the state; for though he was very rich, no man was less addicted to buying or building than he. Yet he lived in very good style, and had everything of the best; for he occupied the house that had belonged to Tamphilus ²⁷⁸ on the Quirinal hill, which was bequeathed to him by his uncle, and the attractions of which consisted, not in |441 the building itself, but in the wood by which it was surrounded; for the edifice, constructed after the ancient fashion, showed more regard to convenience ²⁷⁹ than expense, and Atticus made no alteration in it except such as he was obliged to make by the effects of time. He kept an establishment of slaves of the best kind, if we were to judge of it by its utility, but if by its external show, scarcely coming up to mediocrity; for there were in it well-taught youths, excellent readers, and numerous transcribers of books, insomuch that there was not even a footman ²⁸⁰ that could not act in either of those capacities extremely well. Other kinds of artificers,²⁸¹ also, such as domestic necessities require, were very good there, yet he had no one among them that was not born and instructed in his house; all which particulars are proofs, not only of his self-restraint, but of his attention to his affairs; for not to desire inordinately what he sees desired by many, gives proof of a man's moderation; and to procure what he requires by labour rather than by purchase, manifests no small exertion. Atticus was elegant, not magnificent; polished, not extravagant; he studied, with all possible care, neatness, and not profusion. His household furniture was moderate, not superabundant, but so that it could not be considered as remarkable in either respect. Nor will I omit the following particular, though I may suppose that it will be unimportant to some: that though he was a hospitable Roman knight, and invited, with no want of liberality, men of all ranks to his house, we know that he was accustomed to reckon from his day-book, as laid out in current expenses, not more than three thousand asses ²⁸² a |442 month, one month with another; and we relate this, not as hearsay, but as what we know, for we were often present, by reason of the intimacy between us, at his domestic arrangements.

XIV. At his banquets no one ever heard any other entertainment for the ears ²⁸³ than a reader; an entertainment which we, for our parts, think in the highest degree pleasing; nor was there ever a supper at his house without reading of some kind, that the guests might find their intellect gratified no less than their appetite, for he used to invite people whose tastes were not at variance with his own. After a large addition, too, was made to his property, he made no change in his daily arrangements, or usual way of life, and exhibited such moderation, that he neither lived unhandsomely, with a fortune of two thousand sestertia,²⁸⁴ which he had inherited from his father, nor did he, when he had a fortune of a hundred thousand sestertia,²⁸⁵ adopt a more splendid mode of living than that with which he had commenced, but kept himself at an equal elevation in both states. He had no gardens, no expensive suburban or maritime villa, nor any farm except those at Ardea and Nomentum; and his whole revenue arose from his property in Epirus and at Rome. Hence it may be seen that he was accustomed to estimate the worth of money, not by the quantity of it, but by the mode in which it was used.

XV. He would neither utter a falsehood himself, nor could he endure it in others. His courtesies, accordingly, were paid with a strict regard to veracity, just as his gravity was mingled with affability; so that it is hard to determine whether his friends' reverence or love for him were the greater. Whatever he was asked to do, he did not promise without solemnity,²⁸⁶ for he thought it the part, not of a liberal, but of a light-minded man, to promise what he would be unable to perform. But in striving to effect what he had once engaged to do, he used to take so much pains, that he seemed to be |443 engaged, not in an affair entrusted to him, but in his own. Of a matter which he had once taken in hand, he was never weary; for he thought his reputation, than which he held nothing more dear, concerned in the accomplishment of it. Hence it happened that he managed all the commissions ²⁸⁷ of the Ciceros, Cato, Marius, Quintus Hortensius, Aulus Torquatus, and of many Roman knights besides. It may therefore be thought certain that he declined business of state, not from indolence, but from judgment.

XVI. Of his kindness of disposition, I can give no greater proof than that, when he was young, he was greatly liked by Sulla, who was then old, and when he was old, he was much beloved by Marcus Brutus, then but young; and that with those friends of the same age as himself, Quintus Hortensius and Marcus Cicero, he lived in such a manner that it is hard to determine to which age his disposition was best adapted, though Marcus Cicero loved him above all men, so that not even his brother Quintus was dearer or more closely united to him. In testimony of this fact (besides the books in which Cicero mentions him, and which have been published to the world), there are sixteen books of letters, written to Atticus, which extend from his consulship to his latter days, and which he that reads will not much require a regular history of those times; for all particulars concerning the inclinations of leading men, the faults of the generals, and the revolutions in the government, are so fully stated in them that every thing is made clear; and it may be easily concluded that wisdom is in some degree divination, as Cicero not only predicted that those things would happen which took place during his life, but foretold, like a prophet, the things which are coming to pass at present.

XVII. Of the affectionate disposition of Atticus towards his relatives, why should I say much, since I myself heard him proudly assert, and with truth, at the funeral of his mother, whom he buried at the age of ninety, that "he had never had occasion to be reconciled to his mother," ²⁸⁸ and that "he had never been at all at variance with his sister," who was nearly of the |444 same age with himself; a proof that either no cause of complaint had happened between them, or that he was a person of such kind feelings towards his relatives, as to think it an impiety to be offended with those whom he ought to love. Nor did he act thus from nature alone, though we all obey her, but from knowledge; for he had fixed in his mind the precepts of the greatest philosophers, so as to use them for the direction of his life, and not merely for ostentation.

XVIII. He was also a strict imitator of the customs of our ancestors, and a lover of antiquity, of which he had so exact a knowledge, that he has illustrated it throughout in the book in which he has characterized ²⁸⁹ the Roman magistrates; for there is no law, or peace, or war, or illustrious action of the Roman people, which is not recorded in it at its proper period, and, what was extremely difficult, he has so interwoven in it the origin of families, that we may ascertain from it the pedigrees of eminent men. He has given similar accounts too, separately, in other books; as, at the request of Marcus Brutus, he specified in order the members of the Junian family, from its origin to the present age, stating who each was, from whom sprung, what offices he held, and at what time. In like manner, at the request of Marcellus Claudius, he gave an account of the family of the Marcelli; at the request of Scipio Cornelius and Fabius Maximus, of that of the Fabii and Aemilii; than which books nothing can be more agreeable to those who have any desire for a knowledge of the actions of illustrious men.

He attempted also poetry, in order, we suppose, that he might not be without experience of the pleasure of writing it; for he has characterized in verse such men as excelled the rest of the Roman people in honour and the greatness of their achievements, so that he has narrated, under each of their effigies, their actions and offices, in not more than four or five lines; and it is almost inconceivable that such important matters could have been told in so small a space. There is also a book of his written in Greek, on the consulship of Cicero.

These particulars, so far, were published by me whilst Atticus was alive. |445

XIX. Since fortune has chosen that we should outlive him, we will now proceed with the sequel, and will show our readers by example, as far as we can, that (as we have intimated above) "it is in general a man's manners that bring him his fortune."²⁹⁰ For Atticus, though content in the equestrian rank in which he was born, became united by marriage with the emperor Julius's son, whose friendship he had previously obtained by nothing else but his elegant mode of living, by which he had charmed also other eminent men in the state, of equal birth,²⁹¹ but of lower fortune; for such prosperity attended Caesar, that fortune gave him everything that she had previously bestowed upon any one, and secured for him what no citizen of Rome had ever been able to attain. Atticus had a granddaughter, the daughter of Agrippa, to whom he had married his daughter in her maidenhood; and Caesar betrothed her, when she was scarcely a year old, to Tiberius Claudius Nero, son of Drusilla, and step-son to himself; an alliance which established their friendship, and rendered their intercourse more frequent.

XX. Even before this connexion, however, Caesar not only, when he was absent from the city, never despatched letters to any one of his friends without writing to Atticus what he was doing, what, above all, he was reading, in what place he was, and how long he was going to stay in it, but even when he was in Rome, and through his numberless occupations enjoyed the society of Atticus less frequently than he wished, scarcely any day passed in which he did not write to him, sometimes asking him something relating to antiquity, sometimes proposing to him some poetical question, and sometimes, by a jest, drawing from him a longer letter than ordinary. Hence it was, that when the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, built in the Capitol by Romulus, was unroofed and falling down through age and neglect, Caesar, on the suggestion of Atticus, took care that it should be repaired.

Nor was he less frequently, when absent, addressed in letters by Mark Antony; so that, from the remotest parts of the earth, he gave Atticus precise information what he was doing, and what cares he had upon him. How strong such |446 attachment is, he will be easily able to judge, who can understand how much prudence is required to preserve the friendship and favour of those between whom there existed not only emulation in the highest matters, but such a mutual struggle to lessen one another as was sure to happen between Caesar and Antony, when each of them desired to be chief, not merely of the city of Rome, but of the whole world.

XXI. After he had completed, in such a course of life,seventy-seven years, and had advanced, not less in dignity, than in favour and fortune (for he obtained many legacies on no other account than his goodness of disposition), and had also been in the enjoyment of so happy a state of health, that he had wanted no medicine for thirty years, he contracted a disorder of which at first both himself and the physicians thought lightly, for they supposed it to be a tenesmus, and speedy and easy remedies were proposed for it; but after he had passed three months under it without any pain, except what he suffered from the means adopted for his cure, such force of the disease fell into the one intestine,²⁹² that at last a putrid ulcer broke out through his loins. Before this took place, and when he found that the pain was daily increasing, and that fever was superadded, he caused his son-in-law Agrippa to be called to him, and with him Lucius Cornelius Balbus and Sextus Peducaeus. When he saw that they were come, he said, as he supported himself on his elbow, "How much care and diligence I have employed to restore my health on this occasion, there is no necessity for me to state at large, since I have yourselves as witneses; and since I have, as I hope, satisfied you, that I have left nothing undone that seemed likely to cure me, it remains that I consult for myself. Of this feeling on my part I had no wish that you should be ignorant; for I have determined on ceasing to feed the disease; as, by the food and drink that I have taken during the last few days, I have prolonged life only so as to increase my pains without hope of recovery. I therefore entreat you, in the first place, to give your approbation to my resolution, and in the next, not to labour in vain by endeavouring to dissuade me from executing it." |447

XXII. Having delivered this address with so much steadiness of voice and countenance, that he seemed to be removing, not out of life, but out of one house into another,----when Agrippa, weeping over him and kissing him, entreated and conjured him "not to accelerate that which nature herself would bring, and, since he might live some time longer,²⁹³ to preserve his life for himself and his friends,"----he put a stop to his prayers, by an obstinate silence. After he had accordingly abstained from food for two days, the fever suddenly left him, and the disease began to be less oppressive. He persisted, nevertheless, in executing his purpose; and in consequence, on the fifth day after he had fixed his resolution, and on the last day of February, in the consulship of Cnaeus Domitius and Caius Sosius, he died.²⁹⁴ His body was carried out of his house on a small couch, as he himself had directed, without any funereal pomp, all the respectable portion of the people attending, ²⁹⁵ and a vast crowd of the populace. He was buried close by the Appian way, at the fifth milestone from the city, in the sepulchre of his uncle Quintus Caecilius. |448

FRAGMENTS ²⁹⁶

I. Words excerpted from the letter of Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, from the book of Cornelius Nepos On the Latin Historians.²⁹⁷

You will say that it is beautiful to take revenge on enemies. That seems neither greater nor more beautiful to anyone than to me, but <only> if it is allowed by the safety of the republic to pursue it. But inasmuch as that cannot be done, for a long time and in many ways our enemies will not perish, as this is better than that the republic be overthrown and perish.

II. Likewise from another place.

I intend to swear formally that, apart from those who killed Tiberius Gracchus, no enemy has caused me so many troubles and so many labours as you on account of these things; you who should, as the only one <surviving> of all those children whom I had previously, have taken trouble and care that I should have the fewest anxieties in my old age; certainly you should have wished that all your actions should be pleasing to me and to consider it a sin to do things of great importance against my advice, especially when a small part of life remains to me. Cannot even that brief span aid me in preventing you from opposing me and ruining the republic? Finally what end will there be? Will our family ever stop the insanity? Will it ever be possible to have moderation? Will we ever desist from causing and suffering trouble? Will we ever be embarrased to confuse and disturb the republic? But if it is not possible in any way, when I am dead, campaign for the tribunacy; do whatever you like, as far as I am concerned, when I am no longer aware of it. When I am dead, you will make sacrifices at my tomb, and invoke the parental deity. In that time, will you not be ashamed to ask for the prayers of those as gods whom living and present you abandoned and deserted? Jupiter forbid you to persist in that, or allow such madness to come into your soul. And if you persist, I fear that you will receive so much trouble in your whole life that it will never be possible to make peace with yourself.

III. Cornelius Nepos, in the book On the Latin Historians, in praise of Cicero.²⁹⁸

You should not ignore that this ²⁹⁹ is the sole branch of Latin letters that still cannot be compared with that of the Greeks, but was left rude and inchoate by the death of Cicero. For he was the only man who could or sought to produce history in a worthy way, since he highly polished up the rude eloquence handed down from the great men of the past, and strengthened Latin philosophy, before him uncouth, with his style. From which I doubt whether from his loss the republic or history suffered more.

IV. Likewise.

Opulent and divine nature, to obtain greater admiration and wider benefit, has chosen not to give every gift to one man, nor further to deny every gift to anyone.

V. Cornelius Nepos so wrote to ... Cicero. ^³⁰⁰

I am so far from thinking that philosophy teaches how to live, and the thing that perfects a blessed life, that I consider no men have more need of teachers in how to live than most of those who spend their time teaching it. For I see that a great part of those who lecture most subtly in the schools on decency and continence themselves live in lusts for every kind of sensual pleasure.

|448

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS MENTIONED BY CORNELIUS NEPOS.

In this Chronological Summary such events only are noticed as more immediately concern Cornelius Nepos. Facts that are not found here may be sought in the Chronology appended to Justin in this volume, or in general Chronological Tables. The dates are taken from Tzschucke.

B.C.

512. Miltiades sent to the Chersones. Milt. 1
507. -----------returns to Athens. Milt 3.
489. -----------dies. Milt. 7.
483. Aristides banished. Arist. 1.
----Themistocles begins to construct the harbour of the Piraeeus.
479.----------------prevails on the Athenians to rebuild the walls of their city. Them. 6.
477. --------------- completes the Piraeeus. Them. 6.
----Pausanias sails to Cyprus with the combined fleet of Greece. Paus. 2.
---- Aristides establishes the treasury of Greece at Delos. Arist. 3.
471. Themistocles flees to Artaxerxes. Them. 8.
467. Death of Aristides. Arist. 3.
466. ----------. Themistocles. Them. 10.
463. Cimon subdues the Thasians. Cim 2.
460. -------banished. Cim. 3.
455. -------recalled. Ib.
450.-------defeats the Persians in Cyprus. Ib.
449. -------dies in Cyprus. Ib.
416. Alcibiades, with Nicias and Lamachus, sails against Syracuse. Alcib. 3.
415. -------------, accused of treachery to his country, flees to Sparta. Alcib. 4.
414.-------------prevails on the Lacedaemonians to fortify Decelia. Ib.
411. -------------joins the Athenian army; is united in command with Thrasybulus and Theramenes; defeats the Lacedaemonians. Alcib. 5.
408.-------------is unsuccessful, and banished. Alcib. 6, 7.
406. Dionysius the elder becomes tyrant of Syracuse. Dion. 1; De Reg. 2.
405. Lysander terminates the Peloponnesian war. Lys. 1; Alcib. 8; Conon 1
404. Alcibiades killed, Alcib. 10.
403. Lysander tried for attempting to bribe the oracle of Jupiter Ammon. Lys. 3.
401. Thrasybulus overthrows the Thirty Tyrants. Thras. 1.
400. Agesilaus becomes king of Sparta. Ages. 1.
398. Plato goes to Syracuse. Dion 2.
396. Lysander falls in battle against the Thebans at Haliartus. Lys, 3.
395. Conon defeats Pisander at Cnidus. Con. 4.
394. --------, with the aid of the Thebans, rebuilds the walls of Athens, Con. 4, 5.
---- ---------is made prisoner by Tiribazus at Sardis. Ib.
393 Iphicrates defeats the Spartans at Corinth. Iph. 2.
390. Thrasybulus killed at Aspendus. Thras 4.
387. Chabrias subdues Cyprus. Chab. 2.
385. Datames made governor of Cilicia by Artaxerxes. Dat. 1.
382. Phoebidas seizes on the citadel of Thebes. Pelop. 1.
378. The Theban exiles retake it. Pelop. 3.
377. Agesilaus invades Boeotia; is withstood by Chabrias. Chab. 1.
---- Chabrias assists Acoris king of Egypt. Chab. 3.
---- Iphicrates goes to the assistance of Artaxerxes. Iph. 2.
376. Timotheus defeats the Lacedaemonians at Leucate. Tim. 2.
374. Iphicrates returns to Athens. Iph. 2.
371. Epaminondas defeats the Spartans at Leuctra. Epam. 8
370. Iphicrates protects Eurydice of Macedonia. Iph. 3.
369. Epaminoudas invades Laconia, advances on Sparta, and restores Messene. Epam. 7. 8.
-----------------------and Pelopidas support the Arcadians in their struggle with the Spartans. Pelop. 4.
---- Iphicrates assists the Lacedaemonians. Iph. 2.
388. Pelopidas imprisoned by Alexander of Pherae. Pelop. 5.
------------------rescued by Epaminondas. Ib.
386. Epaminondas at war in the Peloponnesus. Epam. 7.
334. Pelopidas killed in a battle with Alexander of Pherae. Pelop. 5.
----Timotheus at war with the Olynthians. Tim. 1.
363. Epaminoudas falls victorious at Mantinea. Epam. 9.
332. Death of Agesilaus. Ages. 8.
---- Datames revolts from Artaxerxes. Dat.
358. Death of Chabrias. Chab. 4.
----Dion flees from Dionysius, and prepares to go to war with him. Dion. 4.
357. ------takes possession of Syracuse. Dion. 5.
356. The Athenians, under Chares, Iphicrates, and Timotheus, at war with their allies. Tim. 3.
----- Timotheus fined by the Athenians. Tim. 3.
355. Dion assassinated at Syracuse. Dion 9; Timol. 2.
345. Expedition of Timoleon to Syracuse; he gives liberty to the Syracusans. Ib.
344. Timoleon expels Dionysius, who goes to Corinth. Ib.
342. Timoleon re-establishes a republican form of government at Syracuse; secures peace to all Sicily. Ib.
337. -----------dies. Timol. 4.
322. Phocion procures for Athens the protection of Antipater. Phoc. 2.
321. Eumenes defeats Craterus and Neoptolemus. Eum. 3, 4.
-----------------besieged by Antigonus at Nora. Eum. 5.
318. Nicanor, at the command of Cassander, takes possession of the Piraeeus. Phoc. 2.
----Death of Phocion. Phoc. 4.
317. Eumenes commences hostilities against Antigonus. Eum. 7.
316. -----------taken and put to death by Antigonus. Eum. 10-12.
301. Antigonus killed at Ipsus. De Reg. 3.
272. Pyrrhus killed at Argos. De Reg. 2.
248. Hamilcar made commander of the Punic fleet. Hamil. 1.
238. -----------sent as commander-in-chief into Spain. Hamil. 3; Hann. 2.
229. -----------'s death. Ham. 3.
221. Hannibal becomes commander-in-chief in Spain. Hamil. 3; Hann. 3.
214. Cato military tribune. Cat. 1.
205. ------quaestor to Publius Scipio. 76.
198. ------praetor, with Sardinia for his province. Cat. 1.
195. ------made consul with Lucius Valerius Flaccus. Cat. 1, 2.
194. ------obtains a triumph for his successes in Spain. Cat. 2.
184. ------Censor with L. Flaccus. Cat. 2.
149. ------dies at the age of 85. Cat. 2.
109. Birth of Pomponius Atticus.
88. Publius Sulpicius, tribune of the people, killed by Sulla. Att. 2,
87. Atticus retires to Athens. Ib.
84. Sulla visits Athens in his return from Asia. Att. 4.
65. Atticus returns to Rome. Ib.
32. Death of Atticus. Att 22.

221. ‡ Graecae gentis.] All the preceding biographies are those of Greeks, except that of Datames.

222. § Separatem sunt relatae.] In another book written by Nepos, which contained the lives of kings, as Lambinus thinks; and Vossius de Hist. Lat. i. 14, is of the same opinion. I rather imagine that the writings of other authors, who have spoken of the acts of kings, are intended; for if Nepos had meant a composition of his own, he would have said à me sunt relatae, as in the Life of Cato, c. 3, he says in eo libra quem separatim de eo fecimus.----Bos.

223. * Macrochir, Longimanus, or "long-handed." Mnemon, mnh&mwn, signifying one that has a good memory.

224. † There was no remarkable proof of his justice given on this occasion. His mother Parysatis poisoned his wife Statira; but he spared Parysatis, and put to death Gingis, who had merely been her tool. See Plutarch, Life of Artaxerxes, c. 19.

225. ‡ Morbo naturae debitum reddiderunt.] "Paid (their) debt to nature by disease."

226. * Nunquam hosti cessit.] Not exactly true; but he doubtless resisted the enemy vigorously.

227. † Erycem.] Not the mountain, as Bos observes, but the town situated between the top and the foot of the mountain, of both of which the Romans had possession. See Polyb. i. 53; ii. 7; Diod. Sic. xxiv. 2; Cluverius, Sicil. Antiq. ii. 1.

228. ‡ Three islands on the western coast of Sicily. This battle brought the first Punic war to an end.

229. * Son of Demetrius, and last king but one of Macedonia. See Justin, xxviii. 4; xxix. 1-4; xxx. 3; xxxii. 2.

230. † A Rubro Mari.] It is the Mare Erythraeum that is meant, lying between Arabia and India.

231. * Saltum Pyrenaeum.] The forest, i. e. the woody chain or range of the Pyrenees.

232. † Clastidio.] Clastidio, thus given by Bos, without a preposition or any word to govern it, cannot be right. It seems necessary either to read Clastidii, or, with Lambinus, de Clastidio. I have adopted the latter, as the termination in o is found in all the manuscripts. But no account of a battle between Hannibal and Scipio at Clastidium (a town of Gallia Cispadana, at no great distance from the Po), is found in any other author. Ithe has therefore ventured, somewhat boldly, to eject Clastidio from his text altogether.

233. * Quo repentino objectu viso.] "Which sudden appearance being seen" by the Romans.

234. * Absens----sustulit.] The battle being fought by one of Hannibal's generals in his absence.

235. † Circiter millia passuum trecenta.] One hundred and fifty miles is supposed to be nearer the truth.

236. * A town on the Liris, in the Volscian territory.

237. † Praetor.] This office seems, from what follows, to have been in a great degree financial; but judicial duties were probably combined in it.

238. ‡ Rex.] The two annual magistrates at Carthage were called suffetes in the Punic tongue; the Greeks and Romans called them kings.

239. * Antiochus here suffered a defeat from the Romans.

240. † In Pamphylio mari.] The sea on the coast of Pamphylia in Asia Minor.

241. ‡ Antiocho fugato.] Viz., in the battle near Magnesia, at the bottom of Mount Sipylus in Lydia.

242. § Principibus praesentibus.] Many of the old editions have Gortyniis praesentibus, a manifest error, as Bos observes. Principibus occurs in three manuscripts.

243. * Illud recusavit, ne id a se fieri postularent.] "He refused this, (requesting) that they would not require that to be done by him."

244. * Cato the censor, the great grandfather of the Cato that killed himself at Utica.

245. † Situate about ten miles south-east of Rome, not far from the modern Frascati.

246. † Aedilis plebis.] There were two sorts of aediles, plebeian and curule.

247. * Privatus in urbe mansit.] That is, he did not take any other foreign province. Plutarch, however, in his life of Cato, says that Scipio was appointed to succeed Cato in Spain, but that, being unable to procure from the senate a vote of censure on Cato's administration, he passed his term of office in inactivity.

248. † Edictum.] The code of regulations which a magistrate published on entering upon his office, adopting what he chose from the edicts of his predecessors, and adding what he thought proper of his own. See Adam's Rom. Ant. p. 111, 8vo. ed.

249. ‡ Circiter annos octoginta.] This passage is in some way faulty. Bos thinks that the number is corrupt, or that the three words have been intruded from the margin into the text. Pighius would read Vixit circiter annos octoginta, et, &c.

250. § A multis tentatus.] Plutarch, in his life of Cato, c. 15, says that Cato was attacked or accused about fifty times in the sourse of his political life.----Bos.

251. * Ab origine ultima stirpis Romanae.] "From the most remote origin of the Roman race." His family was so old that it reached back to the earliest age of Rome.

252. * Versuram facere.] Versura, according to Festus süb voce, properly signifies borrowing from one to pay another. Our language has no word corresponding to it.

253. † Septem modii.] This is the reading of the old editions, and of the manuscripts of Manutius, Gifanius, Schottus, Leid, and Medic. 2. But since it appears from Cicero in Verr. iii. 45, 46, 49, as well as from Ausonius, Suidas, and other ancient writers, that the medimnus contained six modii, Manutius, Faernus, and Ursinus, following Georg. Agricola de Mens. et Pond. Gr. et Rom. lib. ii., substituted sex for septem in this passage, and Lambinus, with all the subsequent editors of Nepos, adopted it. There seem, however, to have been variations in the content of the medimni and modii. According to the old author on measures, published by Rigaltius among the Auctores Finium Regundorum, p. 335, five modii made a medimnus; and Isidore, Orig. xvi. 25, makes the same statement . . . . . Phavorinus, again, says that the medimnus was mo&dioi e(pta.----Bos. On the whole, therefore, Bos prefers that septem should stand. The modius was 1 gal. 7.8576 pints English.

254. * Phidiae.] Some editions have Piliae. "This was some Phidias, who, though unmentioned by any other writer, was known to Nepos through Atticus with whom he was intimate." See c. 13.---- Van Staveren.

255. * About £1600 of our money.

256. † About £80,729 3s. 4d.

257. * Optimarum partium.] Ursinus and Schottus conjecture optimatum partium.----Heusinger thinks optimarum right.

258. † Ad hastam publicam nunquam, accessit.] That is, to a sale of the property confiscated in the proscriptions. A hasta, or spear, set up, was the signal of an auction; a custom derived from the sale of spoils taken in war.

259. † Nullius rei neque praes, neque manceps factus est.] The farmers, mancipes, of the revenues were chiefly equités, but Atticus, though of that order, neither became a farmer himself, nor a surety, praes, for any farmer.

260. § Neque suo nomine neque subscribens.] He neither brought accusations against people himself, nor supported the accusations of others by setting his hand to them. This is said with reference to the time of the proscriptions.

261. || That he declined offices generally is stated above in this chapter; there is no particular mention that he declined the praetorship.

262. * Ejus observantia.] Observantia, as Bos and Fischer observe, is evidently to be understood actively.

263. † Secutum est illud, occiso Caesare, &c.] The commencement of this chapter is extremely bald. Whether tempus, which Bos understands with illud, has dropped out of the text, or whether the author purposely omitted it, must remain doubtful. Perhaps more words than one are lost.

264. ‡ Penes Brutos.] Some editions have Brutum. I prefer the plural, says Bos, Marcus and Decimus being meant.

265. * Dicis----causa.] Bos's text, and many others, with all the manuscripts, have necis causa. Dicis causa is a conjecture of Cujacius. Necis is defended by Savaro, who says that the provinces were given to Brutus and Cassius for killing Caesar. Gebhard supports Savaro, referring to Vell. Pat. ii. 62: Bruto Cassioque provinciae, quas jam ipsi sine ullo senatus consulto occupaverant, decretae. Bos, too, quotes from. Appian, 9H boulh_ ge/ra toi=j a)nelou~sin w(j turannokto&noij e0yhfi/zeto. But, as Ernstius observes, the provinces could not have been given to Brutus and Cassius particularly for killing Caesar, for they were not the only ones concerned in his death; and he therefore prefers dicis causa, supposing that the provinces were given to them merely to afford them an honourable pretext for leaving the city to avoid the fury of the lower orders. Heusinger not unhappily conjectures necessitatis causa.

266. † £807 5s. 10d.

267. ‡ £2421 17s. 6d.

268. § A war that arose between Mark Antony and Octavius (see Florus, iv. 4), through a dispute about the will of Caesar, in which Octavius had been set before Antony, who, in displeasure, had recourse to arms, and besieged Decimus Brutus, who took the side of Octavius, in Mutina, now Modena.----Fischer.

269. || Divinatio.] We should rather read divinitas, as Buchner first observed. Divinatio occurs below, c. 16, but in its proper sense.

270. * Commendationem.] Manuscripts and editions are divided between this word and commoditatem.

271. † Stiterit vadimonium.] Promittere vadimonium is to give bail for one's appearance in court on a certain day; sistere or obire vadimonium is to appear according to the obligation entered into when the bail was given.

272. ‡ Versuram facere.] See note on c. 2.

273. § Ille autem sui judicii----intuebatur, &c.] The words sui judicii must be taken as a genitive of the quality, Ille autem, cum vir esset sui judicii, &c. But they are, as they stand, by no means satisfactory: something seems to be wanting in the text. Schottus, however, thinks them an intruded gloss.

274. * Imperatorum.] The triumvirs, Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus. At their approach he retired from the forum, i.e., from all public business.

275. * Where Atticus had estates. See c. 14.

276. † Neque tamen priùs ille fortunam, quàm se ipse, finxit.] A very inapplicable observation. Nepos first says that a man's manners fashion his fortune, and then speaks of Atticus forming himself and his fortune. The word tamen would intimate some opposition; but there is none. Atticus, having formed his manners, might leave his manners to form his fortune.

277. * Nisi in deprecandis amicorum aut periculis aut incommodis.] "Unless in deprecating either the dangers or troubles of his friends."

278. † Domum Tamphilanam.] To what Tamphilus the house had belonged is not known. There were two consuls with that surname, A.U.C. 570, 571.

279. * Plus salis.] The word salis does not admit of a very satisfactory explanation in this passage. Most interpreters, says Boecler, take it for gratia, venustas, ars, elegantia.

280. † Pedissequus.] The word signifies any slave or servant who follows or attends on his master; a footman, lacquey, or page. Many of the better sort of slaves, among the Romans, were so well educated that, while they still continued pedissequi, they were able to act as anagnostae or librarii, readers or transcribers.

281. † Artifices caeteri.] Workmen of all kinds.

282. § Terna millia ceris.] Such is the reading of all the manuscripts and editions, but no commentator has thought it a sufficient sum. It amounts only to £24 4s. 4 1/2d. Hotomannus, Tract. de Re Nummaria, p. 87, would read tricena, thirty, but even £240 a month would be a very small expenditure for a man of such income as Atticus. Conjecture, however, in such a case, is useless.

283. * Aliud acroama.] Acroama, as Fischer observes, generally signified among the Latins, not a thing, but a person; and it may be so interpreted in this passage.

284. † In sestertio vicies.] £16,145 16s. 8d.

285. ‡ In sestertio centies.] £80,729 3s. 4d

286. § Religiose promittebat.] He made no promise lightly, but as if he were religiously determined to fulfil it.

287. * Omnia negotia.] This must be taken with much limitation; he might do all the business with which they troubled him.

288. † Nunquam cum matre in gratiam rediisse.] Never having had any disagreement with her.

289. * Ornavit.] Bos, Vossius, and others, prefer ordinavit. But Hensinger thinks ornavit may very well be taken in the sense in which I have rendered it.

290. * Conciliare fortunam.] "Procure him his fortune," make his fortune. As the mores are, so the fortune will be.

291. † Dignitate pari.] It is evidently dignity of birth that is intended.

292. * In unum intestinum.] Barthius wished to alter it to imum intestinum, because, I suppose, he knew that there was the seat of the disease. . . . But there is no need of change; unum is the same as solum.----Bos.

293. * Temporibus superesse.] The commentators are not agreed about the exact sense of these words. I follow Heusinger, who understands them in the sense of "getting over, and surviving, the troubles and danger of the present time."

294. † A.U.C. 720; B.C. 34.

295. ‡ Comitantibus omnibus bonis.] This omnibus, like the omnia in c. 15, must be understood in a limited sense.

296. The following text, and the notes to it, are not found in the Bohn text, and have been added to the public domain online edition. I have located the Latin text in the Loeb edition, and made a public domain translation from them. Robert Stonehouse in humanities.classics kindly made a translation of fragment V, which I have also consulted.

297. This comes from the Codex Gif., according to Savaro and Patavius.

298. On the first page of the Codex Guelferbytanus Gudianus 2788, saec. xiii, of Cicero's Philippics. Apparently formed part of the preface of the book De Historicis Latinis.

299. I.e., history.

300. From Lactantius, Inst. Div. iii.15.10. The dots indicate a lacuna in the Latin. Other brief quotations from Nepos may be found, I gather, in Suetonius and Aulus Gellius.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, Ipswich, UK, 2003. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

N.S. Gill
Ancient / Classical History Guide

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Cornelius Nepos: Lives of Eminent Commanders (1886)

CORNELIUS NEPOS.

LIVES OF EMINENT COMMANDERS.

XXI. OF KINGS.