Plutarch's Lives Volume II Part 26

[Footnote 355: This river enters Lake Apollonias on the south side of the lake, and issues from the north side of the lake, whence it flows in a general north direction into the Propontis. Apollonia, now commonly called Abullionte, though the Greeks still call it by its ancient name, is situated on a small island which is on the east side of Lake Apollonias and is now connected with the mainland by a wooden bridge. If the battle was fought on the river, the women must have gone a considerable distance for their plunder. (Hamilton, _Researches_, &c. ii. 88, &c.)]

[Footnote 356: Kaltwa.s.ser remarks that Livius (37, c. 40) mentions camels as being in the army of Antiochus. The pa.s.sage of Sall.u.s.tius must have been in his Roman History.]

[Footnote 357: This river is to the west of Kyzikus and enters the Propontis by a general north course. On the banks of this river Alexander won his first victory in his Persian Campaign. (Arrian, _Anab._ i. 14.) Appian, in his account of the defeat of the army of Mithridates (_Mithridat. War_, c. 76) places it on the aesepus, a river which lies between Kyzikus and the Granikus, and also flows into the Propontis. He also adds that the aesepus was then at its greatest flood, which contributed to the loss of Mithridutes. But it appears from Appian that the remnant of the army of Mithridates crossed the Granikus also, for they reached Lampsakus.]

[Footnote 358: The Troad is a district, but Plutarch expresses himself as if he meant a town. It appears that Lucullus was near Ilium. The Achaean harbour, or harbour of the Achaeans, is near the promontory Sigeium.]

[Footnote 359: Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 77) simply says that Lucullus ordered Varius (the Marius of Plutarch) to be put to death.]

[Footnote 360: This town was at the eastern extremity of the long inlet of the Propontis, called the Gulf of Astakus. Mithridates according to Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 76) fled in his ships from Kyzikus to Parium, which is near the western extremity of the Propontis and west of the Granikus. From Parium he sailed to Nikomedia, a fact omitted by Plutarch, which explains the other fact, which he does mention, of Voconius being ordered to Nikomedia to look after the king.]

[Footnote 361: This island lies in the Archipelago off the coast of Thrace. It was noted for certain religious rites in honour of the G.o.ds called Kabeiri. (Strabo, p. 472.)]

[Footnote 362: This place was on the coast of Bithynia. Appian (c. 78) says that Mithridates landed at Sinope (Sinab), a large town considerably east of Heraklea, on the coast of the Black Sea; and that from Sinope he went along the coast to Amisus. See c. 23.]

[Footnote 363: This notion is common in the Greek writers; the G.o.ds brought misfortune on those whose prosperity was excessive, and visited them with punishment for arrogant speaking and boasting. Among instances of those whose prosperity at last brought calamity on them was Polykrates, tyrant of Samos (Herodotus, iii. 125); a notorious instance of the danger of prosperity. See vol. i. Life of Camillus, ch. 37, note.]

[Footnote 364: Artemis was so called from a town Priapus, which is on the south coast of the Propontis, and is placed in the maps a little west of the outlet of the Granikus. Strabo (p. 587) says that the Granikus flows between the aesepus and Priapus; and that some say that Priapus was a Milesian colony, others a colony of Kyzikus. It derived its name from the G.o.d Priapus, who was in great repute here and in Lampsakus. The soldiers of Mithridates seem to have committed the excesses spoken of by Plutarch in their march through Priapus to Lampsakus.

The word for wooden statue is [Greek: xoanon] ??a??? which is sometimes simply translated statue. I am not aware that it is ever used by Pausanias, who often uses the word, in any other sense than that of a statue of wood.]

[Footnote 365: The Thermodon is a river of Asia Minor which flows through the plain of Themiskyra into the Black Sea. There is now a small town, Thermeh, on the left bank of the river. Plutarch might be supposed to be speaking of a town Themiskyra, and so some persons have understood him; but perhaps incorrectly, for no town Themiskyra is mentioned by any other writer.]

[Footnote 366: Amisus, now Samsun, is on the coast of the Black Sea, between the Halys, Kizil Ermak, and the Iris, Yechil Ermak. The ruins of the old town are about a mile and a half N.N.W. of the modern town.

"The pier which defended the ancient harbour may be distinctly traced, running out about 300 yards to the S.E., but chiefly under water. It consists of large blocks of a volcanic conglomerate, some of which measure nineteen feet by six or eight, and ten feet in thickness; whilst a little farther north another wall extends E.N.E. to a natural reef of rocks." (Hamilton, _Researches in Asia Minor_, &c. i. 290.)]

[Footnote 367: These tribes were in the neighbourhood of the Thermodon. They were encountered by the Ten Thousand in their retreat (_Anab._ v. 5). The Chaldaeans, whom Xenophon names Chalybes, were neighbours of the Tibareni: but he also speaks of another tribe of the same name (iv. 5, &c.) who lived on the borders of Armenia.]

[Footnote 368: The great mountain region between the Black Sea and the Caspian.]

[Footnote 369: The position of Kabeira is uncertain. Strabo (p. 556) says that it is about 150 stadia south of the Paryadres range; but he does not say that it is on the Lykus. It may be collected from the following chapter of Plutarch that it was near the Lykus. Pompeius made Kabeira a city and named it Diopolis. A woman named Pythodoris added to it and called it Sebaste, that is, in Latin, Augusta, and it was her royal residence at the time when Strabo wrote.]

[Footnote 370: The reign of Tigranes in Armenia began about B.C. 96.

Little is known of his early history. He become King of Syria about B.C. 83, and thus he supplanted the kings, the descendants of Seleukus. He lost Syria after his defeat by Lucullus, B.C. 69; and he was finally reduced to the limits of his native kingdom by Pompeius, B.C. 66. (See the Life of Pompeius, c. 23.)]

[Footnote 371: Some writers read Dardarii. The Dandarii are mentioned by Strabo (p. 495) as one of the tribes on the Maeotis or Sea of Azoff.

Mithridates held the parts on the Bosporus. Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 79) has this story of Olthakus, whom he names Olkades, but he calls him a Scythian.]

[Footnote 372: The strange panic that seized Mithridates is also described by Appian (_Mithridat. War_, c. 81). He fled to Comana and thence to Tigranes.]

[Footnote 373: _Phernakia_ or Pharnakia, as it is generally read, is a town in Pontus on the coast of the Black Sea. It is generally a.s.sumed that Pharnakia was the same as Kerasus mentioned by Xenophon in the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, and the place being now called Kerasunt seems to establish this. Arrian in his Periplus of the Euxine states that it was originally named Kerasus. A difficulty is raised on this point because Xenophon says that the Greeks reached Kerasus in three days from Trebizond, and the country is difficult. Hamilton observes (i. 250): "Considering the distance and the difficult nature of the ground, over a great part of which the army must have marched in single file, Xenophon and his 10,000 men would hardly have arrived there in ten days." But it is more probable that there is an error in the "three" days, either an error of Xenophon or of the MSS., than that the site of Phernakia should have got the name of Kerasunt though Kerasus was not there. "The town of Kerasunt, which represents the Pharnakia of antiquity, is situated on the extremity of a rocky promontory connected with the main by a low wooded isthmus of a pleasing and picturesque appearance.--The h.e.l.lenic walls are constructed in the best isodomous style. Commencing near the beach on the west, they continue in an easterly direction over the hill, forming the limits of the present town. Near the gateway they are upwards of twenty feet high, and form the foundation of the Agha's konak; a small mosque has also been raised upon the ruins of a square tower; the blocks of stone, a dark green volcanic breccia, are of gigantic size." (Hamilton, _Researches_, &c. i. 262, &c.)]

[Footnote 374: Appian (c. 82) calls him Bacchus; he tells the same story. These Greek women of western Asia were much in request among the Asiatic kings. (Compare Life of Cra.s.sus, c. 32). Cyrus the younger had two Greek women with him when he fell at Cunaxa, and one of them was a Milesian. (Xenophon, _Anab._ i. 10.)]

[Footnote 375: I have kept the Greek word. The description shows what it was. The diadem was a mark of royal rank among the Asiatic nations.

Aurelian is said to have been the first Roman Emperor who adopted the diadem, which appears on some of his coins. (Rasche, _Lex. Rei Numariae_.)]

[Footnote 376: The site of this place is unknown. Mithridates (Appian, _Mithridat. War_, c. 115) kept his valuables here.]

[Footnote 377: See the Life of Sulla, c. 14. L. Mummius after defeating the army of the Achaean confederation totally destroyed Corinth B.C. 146.]

[Footnote 378: Strabo (p. 547) quotes Theopompus, who says that the Milesians were the original founders of Amisus, and that after the Athenian colonization it was called Peiraeus. King Mithridates Eupator (the opponent of Lucullus) added to the city. It was a flourishing place when Strabo was writing his Geography.]

[Footnote 379: See the Life of Sulla, c. 14.]

[Footnote 380: See the Life of Sulla, c. 26. Tyrannio is often mentioned by Cicero. He arranged Cicero's library (_Ad Attic._ iv. 4 and 8), and he was employed as a teacher in Cicero's house (_Ad Quint.

Frat._ ii. 4).

In alluding to Tyrannio being manumitted, Plutarch means to say that by the act of manumission it was declared that Tyrannio had been made a slave, and the act of manumission gave Murena the patronal rights over him. This Murena was the son of the Murena who is mentioned in Plutarch's Life of Sulla (c. 17). Cicero defended him against a charge of Ambitus or bribery at his election for the consulship, and in his oration, which is extant, he speaks highly of him. This Murena was Consul B.C. 62, the year after Cicero was Consul.]

[Footnote 381: This pa.s.sage is very obscure. Some critics think that Plutarch is speaking of torture. But it is more likely that he is speaking of the debtors being in attendance at the courts and waiting under the open sky at all seasons till the suits about the debts were settled.]

[Footnote 382: This is the Centesimae usurae of the Romans, which was at this time the usual rate. It was one per cent. per month, or twelve per cent. per annum. Caesar (Life of Caesar, c. 12) made a like settlement between debtor and creditor in Spain.]

[Footnote 383: P. Appius Clodius or Claudius belonged to the Patrician Gens of the Claudii. He was a clever, unprincipled fellow, and the bitter enemy of Cicero, whom during his tribunate he caused to be banished. There is more about him in the Life of Caesar, c. 10. He was killed by T. Annius Milo.

This wife of Lucullus, named Clodia, had several sisters of the same name, as usual among the Romans. (Life of Marius, c. 1.) The sister who married Q. Metellus Celer, is accused of poisoning him.]

[Footnote 384: A name formed like Alexandreia from Antiochus, the name by which most of the Greek kings of Syria were designated. Antiocheia, now Antakia, was on the Orontes, the chief river of Syria, and near the small place Daphne, which was much resorted to as a place of pleasure by the people of Antiocheia. (Strabo, p. 749.)]

[Footnote 385: This was a country on the upper part of the Tigris. It probably contains the same element as the modern Kurdistan.]

[Footnote 386: The Skenite Arabians are the nomadic Arabs who live in tents. Strabo (p. 747) speaks of them thus: "The parts of Mesopotamia which are towards the south and at some distance from the mountains, and are waterless and sterile, are occupied by the Skenite Arabs, who are robbers and shepherds, and readily remove to other parts when the pastures fail and booty is scarce," &c.]

[Footnote 387: The emba.s.sy of Appius to Tigranes was in B.C. 71. See c. 14, notes.]

[Footnote 388: Compare Appian, _Mithridat. War_, c. 82.]

[Footnote 389: He is often mentioned by Cicero, _De Orat._ ii. 88, 90; and elsewhere. He was celebrated for his powerful memory, and he is said to have perfected a certain artificial system which was began by Simonides.]

[Footnote 390: Though Amphikrates intended to say that Seleukeia was small, it was in fact a large city. This Seleukeia on the Tigris was built by Seleukus Nikator. It was about 300 stadia or 36 miles from Babylon, which declined after the foundation of Seleukeia. In Strabo's time, Babylon was nearly deserted and Seleukeia was a large city.]

[Footnote 391: Bacchides, according to Strabo, commanded in the city.

Sinope is described by Strabo (p. 545) as one of the chief towns of Asia in his day. It was a Milesian colony. It was the birth-place of this Mithridates, surnamed Eupator, who made it his capital. It was situated on an isthmus which joined the mainland to the Chersonesus (peninsula) which is mentioned by Plutarch in this chapter. There were harbours and stations for ships on each side of the isthmus. The present condition of the town is described by Hamilton (_Researches_, i. 306, &c.): "The population and prosperity of Sinope are not such as might be expected in a place affording such a safe harbour between Constantinople and Trebizond. I observed also a general appearance of poverty and privation throughout the peninsula."

In Strabo's time Sinope had received a Roman colony, and the colonists had part of the city and of the territory. The word Colonia in Greek ([Greek: koloneia] ?????e?a) appears on a sarcophagus which was seen by Hamilton in a small village near Sinope.]

[Footnote 392: Sthenis was a native of Olynthus and a contemporary of Alexander the Great. He is mentioned by Plinius (34, c. 19) and by Pausanias (vi. 17). Strabo says that Lucullus left everything to the Sinopians except the statue of Autolykus and a sphere, the work of Billarus, which he carried to Rome.]

[Footnote 393: This is the word which the Greeks use for a peninsula.

Plutarch here means the Chersonesus, on the isthmus of which Sinope was built. Hamilton says that "the peninsula extends about five miles from east to west and strictly coincides with the description given of it by Polybius (iv. 50)."]

[Footnote 394: Socius et Amicus: this was the t.i.tle which the Romans condescended to give to a king who behaved towards them with due respect and submission. (Livius, 31, c. 11.)]

[Footnote 395: Lucullus appears to have crossed the Euphrates at a more northern point than Zeugma, where the river was crossed by Cra.s.sus. Sophene is a district on the east side of the river between the mountain range called Masius and the range called Ant.i.taurus: the capital or royal residence was Carcathiocerta. (Strabo, p. 527.)]

[Footnote 396: The great mountain range to which this name was given by the ancient geographers commences according to Strabo (p. 651) on the south-east coast of Lycia. The name Taurus was not very exactly defined, but it comprehended the mountain region which runs eastward from the point above mentioned in a general parallel direction to the south coast of Asia Minor; and the name was extended to the high lands of Armenia east of the Euphrates. Its eastern limit was very vaguely conceived, as we may collect from Strabo (p. 519).]

[Footnote 397: This is the Greek word which I have sometimes kept.