Plutarch's Lives

Chapter 73

[Footnote 305: This was L. Afranius, one of the legati of Pompeius, who has often been mentioned. He was consul with Q. Metellus Celer B.C. 60 (compare Dion Ca.s.sius, 37. c. 49). Cicero, who was writing to Atticus at the time (_Ad Attic._ i. 17), speaks of the bribery at the election of Afranius, and accuses Pompeius of being active on the occasion. From this consulship Horatius (_Od._ ii. 1) dates the commencement of the civil wars, for in this year was formed the coalition between Caesar, Pompeius, and Cra.s.sus. See the remark of Cato, c. 47.]

[Footnote 306: Compare Appia.n.u.s (_Mithridatic War_, c. 116) and Dramann, _Geschichte Roms_, Pompeii, p. 485. When particular measures of money are not mentioned, Plutarch, as usual with him, means Attic drachmae.]

[Footnote 307: The triumph of Pompeius was in B.C. 61 on his birthday (Plinius 37. c. 2). Pompeius was born B.C. 106, and consequently he was now entering on his forty-sixth year--Xylander (Holzmann) preferred to read "fifty" instead of "forty."]

[Footnote 308: Cicero went into exile B.C. 58, and after the events mentioned in chapter 47. Caesar returned from his province of Iberia in B.C. 60.]

[Footnote 309: See the Life of Caesar, c. 14, as to the events mentioned in this chapter and the following. Caesar was consul B.C.

59.]

[Footnote 310: L. Calpurnius Piso and A. Gabinius were consuls B.C.

58, in the year in which Clodius was tribune and Cicero was exiled.]

[Footnote 311: As to this remark of Pompeius, compare the Life of Lucullus, c. 38.]

[Footnote 312: Compare the Life of Cato, c. 34.]

[Footnote 313: A mark of an effeminate person. Compare the Life of Caesar, c. 4, which explains this pa.s.sage.]

[Footnote 314: This event is told by Dion Ca.s.sius (39. c. 19), but as Kaltwa.s.ser remarks he places it in B.C. 56, when Clodius was aedile and Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and M. Marcius Philippus were consuls. The trial was that of Milo De Vi, B.C. 56. Compare Cicero (Ad Quintum Fratrem, ii. 3) and Rein (_Criminalrecht der Romer_, p. 758, note).]

[Footnote 315: Q. Terentius Culleo was a tribunus plebis B.C. 58. He is mentioned by Cicero (_Ad Attic._ iii. 15) and elsewhere.]

[Footnote 316: Cicero returned to Rome B.C. 57 in the consulship of P.

Cornelius Lentulus Spinther and Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos. See the Life of Cicero, c. 33. He had returned to Rome before the trial mentioned at the end of c. 48.]

[Footnote 317: Pompeius was made Praefectus Annonae for five years.

There was a great scarcity at Rome, which was nothing unusual, and dangerous riots (see the article CORN TRADE, ROMAN, "Political Dictionary," by the author of this note). The appointment of Pompeius is mentioned by Dion Ca.s.sius (39. c. 9, and the notes of Reimarus).

Cicero (_Ad Attic.u.m_, iv. 1) speaks of the appointment of Pompeius.]

[Footnote 318: Ptolemaeus Auletes had given large bribes to several Romans to purchase their influence and to get himself declared a friend and ally of the Romans; which was in fact to put himself under their protection. His subjects were dissatisfied with him for various reasons, and among others for the heavy taxes which he laid on them to raise the bribe money. He made his escape from Egypt and was now in Rome. The story is told at some length in Dion Ca.s.sius (39. c. 12, &c.), and the matter of the king"s restoration is discussed by Cicero in several letters (_Ad Diversos_, i. 1-7) to this Spinther. The king for the present did not get the aid which he wanted, and he retired to Ephesus, where he lodged within the precincts of the temple of Artemis, which was an ASYLUM. (See "Political Dictionary," art.

Asylum; and Strabo, p. 641.)]

[Footnote 319: A Greek historian of the time of Augustus. He was originally a captive slave, but he was manumitted and admitted to the intimacy of Augustus Caesar. He was very free with his tongue, which at last caused him to be forbidden the house of Augustus. (Seneca, _De Ira_, iii. 23.) He burnt some of his historical writings, but not all of them, for Plutarch here refers to his authority. Horatius (1 _Ep_.

19. v. 15) alludes to Timagenes. (See Suidas, [Greek: Timagenes]

??a?????.)]

[Footnote 320: See the Life of Caesar, c. 15, and as to the conference at Luca, c. 21. The conference took place B.C. 56, when Marcellinus (c. 48, notes) was one of the consuls. Compare also the Life of Cra.s.sus (c. 14, 15), and Dion Ca.s.sius, 39. c. 30, as to the trouble at Rome at this time, and Appia.n.u.s (_Civil Wars_, ii. 17).]

[Footnote 321: This is the meaning of the word [Greek: politikoteron]

p???t???te???, which is generally mistranslated here and in other parts of Plutarch. It is the translation of the Roman term "civiliter." (Tacitus, _Annal_. i 33, iii 76.)]

[Footnote 322: Life of Cra.s.sus, c. 15, notes.]

[Footnote 323: P. Vatinius, often mentioned by Cicero. (See Orelli, _Onomasticon_, Vatinius.) Cicero"s extant oration In Vatinium was delivered B.C. 56.]

[Footnote 324: C. Trebonius, a friend of Cicero, several of whose letters to him are extant. (Cicero, _Ad Divers._ x. 28; xii. 16; xv.

20, 21.) He was one of the conspirators against Caesar; and Cicero tells him (x. 28) that he was somewhat vexed with him that he saved Antonius from the same fate. Trebonius was treacherously put to death at Smyrna by Dolabella with circ.u.mstances of great cruelty B.C. 43.

(Dion Ca.s.sius, 47. c. 29.) In the notes to the life of Cra.s.sus, c. 16, I have incorrectly called this Tribune t.i.tus.]

[Footnote 325: Plutarch must mean that Cra.s.sus left Rome before the expiration of his consulship B.C. 55; but the words [Greek: apallageis tes hupateias] ?pa??a?e?? t?? ?pate?a? are in themselves doubtful.

(Life of Cra.s.sus, c. 16.)]

[Footnote 326: Drumann (_Geschichte Roms_, Pompeii, p. 524) has diligently collected all the circ.u.mstances of this magnificent exhibition. (See also Dion Ca.s.sius, 39. c. 38, and the references in the notes of Reimarus.) The elephant-fight ([Greek: elphantomachia]

??fa?t?a??a) was a fight between the elephants and armed Gaetulians.

There were eighteen elephants. The cries of the animals when they were wounded moved the pity of the spectators. The elephants would not enter the vessels when they were leaving Africa, till they received a promise from their leaders that they should not he injured; the treacherous treatment of them at the games was the cause of their loud lamentations, in which they appealed to the deity against the violation of the solemn promise. (Dion Ca.s.sius.) Cicero, who was not fond of exhibitions of the kind, speaks with disgust of the whole affair (_Ad Diversos_, vii. 1). The letter of Cicero, written at the time, is valuable contemporary evidence. Various facts on the exhibition of elephants at Rome are collected in the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, _Menageries_, Elephant.

A rhinoceros was also exhibited at the games of Pompeius; and an actress was brought on the stage, who had made her first appearance in the consulship of C. Marius the younger, and Cn. Carbo B.C. 82, but she made her appearance again in the time of Augustus, A.D. 9, in the consulship of Poppaeus, when she was 103 years old, 91 years after her first appearance. (Plinius, _H.N_. vii. 49.) Drumann says, when speaking of the games of Pompeius, "a woman of unusually advanced age was brought forward;" but the words of Plinius "a.n.u.s pro miraculo reducta," apply to her last appearance. A woman of one-and-forty was no uncommon thing then, nor is it now. The pointing in the common texts is simply the cause of the blunder.]

[Footnote 327: See the Life of Cra.s.sus, c. 16, notes, Julia died B.C.

54, in the consulship of L. Domitius Ahen.o.barbus and Ap. Claudius Pulcher (See the Life of Caesar. c. 23.) Cra.s.sus lost his life B.C.

53.]

[Footnote 328: A quotation from the Iliad, xv. 189.]

[Footnote 329: Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala, the consuls of B.C. 53, were not elected till seven months after the proper time, so that there was during this time an anarchy [Greek: anarchia] ??a???a, which is Plutarch"s word). This term "anarchy" must be taken in its literal and primary sense of a time when there were no magistrates, which would be accompanied with anarchy in the modern sense of the term. Dion Ca.s.sius (40. c. 45) describes this period of confusion. The translation in the text may lead to a misunderstanding of Plutarch"s meaning; it should be, "he allowed an anarchy to take place." Kaltwa.s.ser"s translation: "so liess er es zu einer Anarchie kommen," is perfectly exact.]

[Footnote 330: In the year B.C. 52 in which year Clodius was killed.]

[Footnote 331: She was the daughter of Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, who was the son of P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica and of Licinia, the daughter of the orator L. Cra.s.sus. He was adopted (B.C. 64 or 63) by the testament of Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius, who fought in Spain ngainst Sertorius; but his daughter must have been born before this, as she bore the name Cornelia. Drumann (_Geschichte Roms_, Caecilii, p.

49) thinks that the story of her attempting to destroy herself when she heard of the death of her husband (Life of Pompeius, c. 74) is suspicious, because she married Pompeius the year after. If Cornelia were the only woman that was ever said to have done so, we might doubt the story; but as she is not, we need not suspect it on that account.]

[Footnote 332: Corruption is [Greek: dorodokia] d???d???a in Plutarch, "gift receiving," and it ought to correspond to the Roman Peculatus.

But [Greek: dorodokia] d???d???a also means corruption by bribes.

Bribery is [Greek: dekasmos] de?as?? in Plutarch, which is expressed generally by the Roman Ambitus, and specially by the verb "decuriare."

(See Cicero"s Oration Pro Cn. Plancio, Ed. Wunder.) The offence of Scipio was Ambitus. (Dion Ca.s.sius, 40. c. 51, &c.; Appia.n.u.s, _Civil Wars_, ii. 24.) As to Roman Bribery, see the article BRIBERY, "Political Dictionary," by the author of this note, whose contribution begins p. 416.]

[Footnote 333: These 360 Judices appear to have been chosen for the occasion of these trials. (Velleius Pater. ii. 76; Goettling, _Roemische Staatsverfa.s.sung_, p. 482.)]

[Footnote 334: T. Munatius Plancus Bursa, a tribune of the Plebs. In B.C. 52 Milo and Clodius with their followers had an encounter in which Clodius was killed. Tho people, with whom he was a favourite, burnt his body in the Curia Hostilia, and the Curia with it. (Dion Ca.s.sius, 40, c. 48.) Plancus was charged with encouraging this disorder, and he was brought to trial. Cicero was his accuser; he was condemned and exiled. (Cicero, _Ad Diversos_, vii. 2.)]

[Footnote 335: Plautius Hypsaeus was not a consular. He had been the quaestor of Pompeius. He and Scipio had been candidates for the consulship this year, and were both charged with bribery. (Dion Ca.s.sius, 40, c. 53.) Hypsaeus was convicted.]

[Footnote 336: See the Life of Caesar, c. 29. Pompeius had lent Caesar two legions (c. 52). Compare Dion Ca.s.sius, 40. c. 65, and Appia.n.u.s, _Civil Wars_, ii. 29. The illness of Pompeius and the return of the legions from Gaul took place in the year B.C. 50. Appius Claudius (c.

57) was sent by the Senate to conduct the legions from Gaul. Dion Ca.s.sius (40. c. 65) says that Pompeius had lent Caesar only one legion, but that Caesar had to give up another also, inasmuch as Pompeius obtained an order of the Senate that both he and Caesar should give a legion to Bibulus, who was in Syria, for the Parthian war. (Appia.n.u.s, _Civil Wars_, ii. 29; _Bell. Gall._ viii. 54.) Thus Pompeius in effect gave up nothing, but Caesar parted with two legions. The legions were not sent to Syria, but both wintered in Capua. The consul C. Claudius Marcellus (B.C. 50) gave both these legions to Pompeius.]

[Footnote 337: L. aemilius Paulus was consul B.C. 50, with C. Claudius Marcellus a violent opponent of Caesar. He built the Basilica Pauli (Appia.n.u.s, _Civil Wars_, ii. 26). Basilica is a Greek word ([Greek: basilike] as?????); a basilica was used as a court of law, and a place of business for merchants. The form of a Roman basilica is known from the description of Vitruvius (v. 1), the ground-plan of two Basilicae at Rome, and that of Pompeii which is in better preservation.

Some of the great Roman churches are called Basilicae, and in their construction bear some resemblance to the antient Basilicae. ("Penny Cyclopaedia," _Basilica_.)]

[Footnote 338: C. Scribonius Curio. Compare the Life of M. Antonius, c. 2. He was a man of ability, but extravagant in his habits (Dion Ca.s.sius, 40. c. 60):--

"Momentumque fuit mutatus Curio rerum, Gallorum captus spoliis et Caesaris auro."--

Luca.n.u.s, _Pharsalia_, iv. 819

As to the vote on the proposition of Curio, Appia.n.u.s (_Civil Wars_, ii. 30) agrees with Plutarch. Dion Ca.s.sius (40. c. 64: and 41. c. 2) gives a different account of this transaction.]

[Footnote 339: C. Claudius Marcellus and L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus were consuls for the year B.C. 49, in which the war broke out, This Marcellus was the cousin of the consul Marcellus of the year B.C. 50, who (Appia.n.u.s, _Civil Wars_, ii. 30) presented Pompeius with a sword when he commissioned him to fight against Caesar. Plutarch appears (c.

58, 59) to mean the same Marcellus; but he has confounded them. The Marcellus of c. 58 is the consul of B.C. 49; and the Marcellus of c.

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