Plutarch's Lives Volume II Part 25

XLIII. This induced Lucullus still more to withdraw from public affairs; and when Cicero was banished from Rome, and Cato[442] was sent to Cyprus, he retired altogether. Before he died, it is said that his understanding was disordered and gradually failed. Cornelius Nepos says that Lucullus did not die of old age nor of disease, but that his health was destroyed by potions given him by Callisthenes, one of his freedmen, and that the potions were given him by Callisthenes with the view of increasing his master's affection for him, a power which the potions were supposed to have, but they so far disturbed and destroyed his reason, that during his lifetime his brother managed his affairs. However, when Lucullus died, the people grieved just as much as if he had died at the height of his military distinction and his political career, and they flocked together and had his body carried to the Forum by the young men of the highest rank and were proceeding forcibly to have it interred in the Campus Martius where Sulla was interred; but, as n.o.body had expected this, and it was not easy to make the requisite preparations, the brother of Lucullus prayed and prevailed on the people to allow the funeral ceremony to take place on the estate at Tusculum, where preparations for it had been made. Nor did he long survive; but as in age and reputation he came a little after Lucullus, so he died shortly after him, a most affectionate brother.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 315: The complete name of Lucullus was L. Licinius Lucullus.

The Licinii were a Plebeian Gens, to which belonged the Luculli, Cra.s.si, Muraenae, and others. Lucius Licinius Lucullus, the grandfather of Plutarch's Lucullus, was the son of L. Licinius Lucullus, who was curule aedile B.C. 202, and the first who gave n.o.bility to his family.

This grandfather of Lucullus was consul B.C. 151 with P. Postumius Albinus. He conquered the Vaccaei, Cantabri, and other nations of Spain, hitherto unknown to the Romans. Appian (_Iberica_, c. 52) gives an instance of his cruelty and perfidy in his Spanish wars. L.

Licinius Lucullus, the father, was praetor B.C. 103. In B.C. 102 he went to take the command against the slaves who were in rebellion in Sicily under Athenion. He conducted the war ill, and on his return he was prosecuted for peculation and convicted. His punishment was exile.

It is not known what the offence was that Servilius was charged with.]

[Footnote 316: This Metellus was the conqueror of Jugurtha; he was consul B.C. 109. See the Life of Marius, c. 7. His sister Caecilia was the wife of L. Licinius Lucullus, the father of Plutarch's Lucullus; she was also the mother of Marcus the brother of Lucius Lucullus.]

[Footnote 317: See Life of Sulla, c. 6.]

[Footnote 318: This line is also quoted by Plutarch in his Treatise 'De Sera Numinis Vindicta,' c. 10.]

[Footnote 319: I should have translated the Greek word ([Greek: dikologos] d????????) "orator." Jurist in Plutarch is [Greek: nomodeiktes] ???de??t?? (Plutarch, _Tib. Gracchus_, c. 9) or [Greek: nomikos] ??????. Quintus Hortensius Ortalus, the orator, was a friend and rival of Cicero, who often speaks of him. He began his career as a pleader in the courts at the age of nineteen, and continued his practice for forty-four years. (_Brutus_, c. 64, and the note in H.

Meyer's edition.)]

[Footnote 320: L. Cornelius Sisenna, a man of patrician family, was praetor, B.C. 119, and in the next year he was governor of Sicily. He and Hortensius defended C. Verres against Cicero. He wrote the history of the Marsic war and of the war of Sulla in Italy, which he continued to the death of Sulla. The historical work of Sall.u.s.tius began where that of Sisenna ended. Cicero (_De Legg_. i. 2) says that Sisenna was the best historical writer that had then appeared at Rome. He wrote other works also, and he translated into Latin the lewd stories of Aristides the Milesian (Plutarch, _Cra.s.sus_, c. 32; Ovidius, _Tristia_, ii. v. 443).

See Cicero, _Brutus_, c. 64, and the notes in Meyer's edition; Krause, _Vitae et Frag. Vet. Histor. Roman._ p. 299.]

[Footnote 321: It appears from this that the History of the Marsic war by Lucullus was extant in the time of Plutarch. Cicero (_Ad Attic_. i.

19) mentions this Greek history of Lucullus.]

[Footnote 322: This Marcus was adopted by M. Terentius Varro, whence after his adoption he was called M. Terentius Varro Lucullus. The curule aedileship of the two brothers belongs to the year B.C. 79, and the event is here placed, after Plutarch's fashion, not in the proper place in his biography, but the story is told incidentally as a characteristic of Lucullus. I have expressed myself ambiguously at the end of this chapter. It should be "that Lucullus in his absence was elected aedile with his brother." (Cicero, _Academ. Prior_. ii. 1.)]

[Footnote 323: See Life of Sulla, c. 13, &c.]

[Footnote 324: Drumann (_Geschichte Roms_, Licinii Luculli, p. 121, n.

80) observes that this winter expedition of Lucullus was "not after the capture of Athens, as Plutarch, Lucullus, c. 2," states, and he refers to Appian (_Mithridat._ c. 33). But Plutarch's account is not what Drumann represents it to be. This expedition was in the winter of B.C. 87 and 86. aelian (_Var. Hist._ ii. 42) tells a similar story of Plato and the Arcadians, and Diogenes Laertius (iii. 17) has a like story about Plato and the Arcadians and Thebans.]

[Footnote 325: This can only be Ptolemaeus VIII., sometimes called Soter II. and Lathyrus, who was restored to his kingdom B.C. 89-8. The difficulty that Kaltwa.s.ser raises about Lathyrus being in Cyprus at this time is removed by the fact that he had returned from Cyprus. As to Plutarch calling him a "young man," that is a mistake; or Plutarch may have confounded him with his younger brother Alexander.]

[Footnote 326: Plutarch is alluding to the Pyramids, and to the great temples of Memphis.]

[Footnote 327: Pitane was one of the old Greek towns of aeolis, situated on the coast at the mouth of the Evenus, and opposite to the island of Lesbos, now Mytilene.]

[Footnote 328: See Life of Sulla, c. 12.]

[Footnote 329: See Life of Sulla, c. 21.]

[Footnote 330: This was the consul L. Valerius Flaccus. See the Life of Sulla, c. 20.]

[Footnote 331: Lektum is a promontory of the Troad, which is that district of Asia Minor that took its name from the old town of Troja or Troia, and lay in the angle between the h.e.l.lespont (the Dardanelles), and the aegean or Archipelago. It is fully described by Strabo, lib. xiii.]

[Footnote 332: Kaltwa.s.ser has translated this pa.s.sage differently from his predecessors: "turned his ship aside by a quick movement and made all his men crowd to the stern." But his version is probably wrong.

The expression [Greek: epi prumnan osasthai] ?p? p???a? ?as?a? is perhaps equivalent to [Greek: prumnon krouesthai] p????? ????es?a?.

(Thucydides, i. 50.)]

[Footnote 333: See Life of Sulla, c. 24, 25.]

[Footnote 334: It is conjectured by Leopoldus that there is an error here, and that the name should be Manius, and that Manius Aquilius is meant, whom, together with others, the Mitylenaeans gave up in chains to Mithridates. (Vell. Paterc. ii. 18.)]

[Footnote 335: This is a place on the coast of the mainland, and east of Pitane.]

[Footnote 336: Lucullus was consul B.C. 74, with M. Aurelius Cotta for his colleague.]

[Footnote 337: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 20, and the Life of Sertorius, c. 21.]

[Footnote 338: P. Cornelius Cethegus originally belonged to the party of Marius, and he accompanied the younger Marius in his flight to Africa B.C. 88 (Life of Marius, c. 40). He returned to Rome B.C. 87, and in the year B.C. 83 he attached himself to Sulla after his return from Asia and was pardoned. After Sulla's death he had great influence at Rome, though he never was consul. Cicero (_Brutus_, c. 48), speaks of him as thoroughly acquainted with all the public business and as having great weight in the Senate.]

[Footnote 339: He is commemorated by Cicero (_Brutus_, c. 62) as a man well fitted for speaking in noisy a.s.semblies. He was a tribune in the year of the consulship of Lucullus.]

[Footnote 340: This was L. Octavius, who was consul with C. Aurelius Cotta B.C. 75.]

[Footnote 341: Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius. See the Life of Sertorius.]

[Footnote 342: This is the closed sea that lies between the two channels, by one of which, the Thracian Bosporus or the channel of Constantinople, it is connected with the Euxine or Black Sea, and by the other, the h.e.l.lespontus or Dardanelles, it is connected with the aegean Sea or the Archipelago. This is now the Sea of Marmora. Part of the southern and eastern coast belonged to Bithynia. The city of Kyzikus was within the Propontis.]

[Footnote 343: See the Life of Sulla, c. 25.]

[Footnote 344: The sophists of Plutarch's time were rhetoricians, who affected to declaim on any subject, which they set off with words and phrases and little more. One of the noted masters of this art, Aristides of Bithynia, might have been known to Plutarch, though he was younger than Plutarch. Many of his unsubstantial declamations are extant. Plutarch in his Life of Lucullus, c. 22, has mentioned another of this cla.s.s.]

[Footnote 345: The Romans carried on a thriving trade in this way in the provinces. In Cicero's period we find that many men of rank did not scruple to enrich themselves in this manner; and they were unsparing creditors.]

[Footnote 346: The word ([Greek: telonai] te???a?) which I have elsewhere translated by the Roman word Publicani, means the men who farmed the taxes in the provences. The Publicani at this period belonged to the order of the Equites. A number of them a.s.sociated themselves in a partnership (societas) for the farming of the taxes of some particular province. These a.s.sociations had their agents in the provinces and a chief manager (magister) at Rome. The collection of the taxes gave employment to a great number of persons; and thus the Publicani had at their disposal numerous places in the provinces, which gave them great influence at Rome. (Cicero, _Pro Cn. Plancio_, c. 19.) The taxes were taken at some sum that was agreed upon; and we find an instance mentioned by Cicero (_Ad Attic._ i. 17) in which their compet.i.tion or their greediness led them to give too much and to call on the Senate to cancel the bargain. The Romans at this time derived little revenue from Italy, and the large expenditure had to be supplied out of the revenue raised in the provinces and collected by the Publicani. The Publicani thus represented the monied interest of modern times, and the state sometimes required their a.s.sistance to provide the necessary supplies.

It seems probable that the Publicani who farmed the taxes of a province, underlet them to others; which would be one cause of oppression. These Collectors ([Greek: telonai] te???a?) are called Publicans in the English version of the New Testament, where they are no doubt very justly coupled with sinners.]

[Footnote 347: Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 71) states that Mithridates invaded Bithynia, for King Nikomedes had just died childless and left his kingdom to the Romans. Cotta fled before him and took refuge in Chalkedon, a city situated on the Asiatic side of the Thracian Bosporus opposite to the site of Constantinople. The consul would not go out to meet the enemy, but his admiral Nudus with some troops occupied the strongest position in the plain. However, he was defeated by Mithridates and with difficulty got again into the city. In the confusion about the gates the Romans lost three thousand men. Mithridates also broke through the chain that was thrown across the harbour and burnt four ships and towed the other sixty off. His whole loss was only twenty men.]

[Footnote 348: See the Life of Sulla, c. 11. Mithridates was much dissatisfied with the terms of the peace that had been brought about by Archelaus, who fearing for his life went over to Murena, who was left by Sulla in the command in Asia. At the instigation of Archelaus, Murena attacked and plundered Comana in Cappadocia, which belonged to Mithridates, and contained a temple of great sanct.i.ty and wealth.

Mithridates in vain complained to Murena, and then sent an emba.s.sy to Rome. Appian considers this conduct of Murena as the commencement of the Second Mithridatic War, B.C. 83. The Third commenced B.C. 74 with the league of Mithridates and Sertorius. (Appian, _Mithridat_. 64-68; Life of Sertorius, c. 24.)]

[Footnote 349: Kyzikus. The ruins of this ancient city, now Bal Kiz, that is Palaea Kyzikus, lie near to the east of the sandy isthmus which now connects the peninsula of Kyzikus with the mainland. Hamilton (_Researches in Asia Minor_, &c., London, 1842, ii. 102), says that "the loose and rubbly character of the buildings of Kyzikus little accords with the celebrity of its architects; and although some appear to have been cased with marble, none of them give an idea of the solid grandeur of the genuine Greek style." Yet Strabo (p. 575) describes this city as among the first of Asia. In his time the present peninsula was an island, which was connected with the mainland by two bridges: the city was near the bridges, and had two harbours that could be closed. Under the Romans in Strabo's time, Kyzikus was a Free City (_Libera Civitas_).]

[Footnote 350: This range is described by Strabo as opposite to Kyzikus, on the mainland. Kaltwa.s.ser states that Strabo called the Adrasteia of Plutarch by the name Dindymus; but this is a mistake, in which he is not singular. Dindymus was a solitary hill, and on the peninsula near the town of Kyzikus.]

[Footnote 351: This is a small lake near the coast of the Propontis, at the back of which and more inland are two larger lakes, called respectively by ancient geographers, Miletopolitis (now Moniyas) and Apollonias (now Abullionte). The lake Daskylitis is not marked in the map which accompanies Hamilton's work.]

[Footnote 352: Persepha.s.sa, or Persephone, whom the Romans call Proserpina, was the patron G.o.ddess of Kyzikus. Compare Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 75).]

[Footnote 353: What he was I don't know. Kaltwa.s.ser translates the word ([Greek: grammatiste] ??aat?st?) "the public schoolmaster;" but he is inclined to take Reiske's conjecture [Greek: grammatei]

??aate? because the grammateus was an important functionary in the Greek towns, and a "public schoolmaster" is not mentioned as an ordinary personage at this period. But Kaltwa.s.ser has not observed that [Greek: grammatistes] ??aat?st?? signifies a clerk or secretary in various pa.s.sages (Herodotus, iii. 123, 128; vii. 100). If [Greek: grammatistes] ??aat?st?? could only signify a schoolmaster, it would be necessary to alter the reading. One cannot suppose that the G.o.ddess would reveal herself to a schoolmaster; or that a schoolmaster could venture to announce that he had received the honour of such a communication. When Romulus after his sudden disappearance again appeared to a.s.sure the anxious citizens, Julius Proculus was selected by him as the person to whom he showed himself; or Julius Proculus was one of the few who could claim to have the story of such an appearance believed. (Liv. i. 16.)]

[Footnote 354: I have kept the Greek word ([Greek: stele] st???), for no English word exactly expresses the thing. It was a stone placed upright, with an inscription on a flat surface, the summit of which sometimes ended with an ornamental finish. There are several in the British Museum.]