Plutarch's Lives Volume III Part 25

LXXVII. Most of the above is copied, word for word, from Alexander's household diary. No one had any suspicion of poison at the time; but it is said that six years after there appeared clear proof that he was poisoned, and that Olympias put many men to death, and caused the ashes of Iolas, who had died in the mean time, to be cast to the winds, as though he had administered the poison to Alexander.

Some writers say that Antipater was advised by Aristotle to poison Alexander, and inform us that one Hagnothemis declared that he had been told as much by Antipater; and that the poison was as cold as ice, and was gathered like dew, from a certain rock near the city of Nonakris, and preserved in the hoof of an a.s.s: for no other vessel could contain it, because it is so exceedingly cold and piercing. Most historians, however, think that the whole story of Alexander's being poisoned was a fiction; and this view is strongly supported by the fact, that as Alexander's generals began to fight one another immediately after his death, his body lay for many days unheeded, in hot and close rooms, and yet showed no signs of decay, but remained sweet and fresh. Roxana, who was pregnant, was regarded with great respect by the Macedonians, and being jealous of Statira, she sent her a forged letter, purporting to come from Alexander and asking her to come to him. When Statira came, Roxana killed both her and her sister, cast their bodies down a well, and filled up the well with earth. Her accomplice in this crime was Perdikkas, who on the death of Alexander at once became a very powerful man. He sheltered his authority under the name of Arrhidaeus, who became the nominal, while Perdikkas was the virtual king of Macedonia. This Arrhidaeus was the son of Philip by a low and disreputable woman named Philinna, and was half-witted in consequence of some bodily disorder with which he was afflicted. This disease was not congenital nor produced by natural causes, for he had been a fine boy and showed considerable ability, but Olympias endeavoured to poison him, and destroyed his intellect by her drugs.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 394: On the subject of serpent worship, see in Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible,' art.: 'Serpent,' and 'Brazen Serpent.']

[Footnote 395: The Greek month Hekatombaeon answers to the last half of our July and the first half of August.]

[Footnote 396: Cf. Horace, _Carm._ iii. 22.]

[Footnote 397: Reciters of epic poems, the cantos of which were called 'rhapsodies.']

[Footnote 398: The same indifference to athletic sports, as practised in Greece, is mentioned in the Life of Philopmen. The pankratium is sometimes called the pentathlum, and consisted of five contests, the foot-race, leaping, throwing the quoit, hurling the javelin, and wrestling. No one received the prize unless he was winner in all. In earlier times boxing was part of the pentathlum, but hurling the javelin was afterwards subst.i.tuted for it.]

[Footnote 399: In Greek, this word is properly applied to the slave whose duty it was to attend a boy to and from school, and generally to keep him out of mischief. He was not supposed to teach him.]

[Footnote 400: The literal meaning of this word is "bull's head." It is conjectured that this refers to the mark with which the horse was branded, not to his appearance.]

[Footnote 401: I believe that the seal here mentioned was Philip's own, and in no sense the "great seal of the kingdom," although Strabo speaks of the public seal of a state.]

[Footnote 402: A tribe in the eastern part of Macedonia.]

[Footnote 403: Near Chaeronea.]

[Footnote 404: It must be remembered that the ancients, although they possessed chairs, always ate and drank reclining upon couches.]

[Footnote 405: The Karians, ever since the siege of Troy, were regarded by the Greeks with the greatest contempt Cf. Il. ix. 378.]

[Footnote 406: Bacchus. Compare the Bacchae of Euripides, pa.s.sim.]

[Footnote 407: For a description of the Macedonian phalanx, see life of t.i.tus Flaminius, ch. viii., note.]

[Footnote 408: This inscription was no doubt written over such spoils as were placed in the Greek temples. Compare Virgil's "aeneas haec de Danais victoribus arma."]

[Footnote 409: When the wind blew from the south, this road was covered by such a depth of water as to be impracticable: for some time before he reached the spot the wind had blown strong from the south--but as he came near, the special providence of the G.o.ds (so he and his friends conceived it) brought on a change of wind to the north, so that the sea receded and left an available pa.s.sage, though his soldiers had the water up to their waists. Grote's History of Greece, Part II. ch. xcii.]

[Footnote 410: See Smith's 'Biographical Dictionary' s.v.]

[Footnote 411: This dye was probably made from the murex or purple fish, caught in the Hermionic gulf, in Argolis, which produced a dye only second to that of Tyre.]

[Footnote 412: "No certainty is attainable about the ancient geography of these regions. Mr. Long's Map of Ancient Persia shows how little can be made out." (Grote's 'History of Greece,' part ii. chap. cxiii., note.)]

[Footnote 413: Lykus in Greek signifies a wolf.]

[Footnote 414: In Persepolis, the capital of the district called Persis.]

[Footnote 415: The ancients, whose bodies were anointed with oil or unguents, used dust when wrestling, to enable them to hold one another.]

[Footnote 416: The Sea of Azof.]

[Footnote 417: Antipater had been left by Alexander as his viceroy in Macedonia.]

[Footnote 418: The word which I have translated 'striped' is mentioned by Xenophon in the _Cyropaedia_ as one of the ensigns of royalty a.s.sumed by Cyrus.]

[Footnote 419: Probably Cabul or Ghuznee. The whole geography of Alexander's Asiatic campaigns will be found most exhaustively discussed in Grote's 'History of Greece,' part ii. ch. xcii., s. 99.]

[Footnote 420: The same name occurs in the Life of Sulla, c. 15, and Life of Lucullus, c. 26.]

[Footnote 421: The river Jhelum in the Punjaub.]

[Footnote 422: A cubit is the s.p.a.ce from the point of the elbow to that of the little finger: a span is the s.p.a.ce one can stretch over with the thumb and the little finger.]

[Footnote 423: As distinguished from the Mediterranean. The ancients gave the name of ocean to the sea by which they believed that their world was surrounded.]

[Footnote 424: [Greek: daktylos] d??t????, the shortest Greek measure, a finger's breadth, about 7/20 of an inch. The modern Greek seamen measure the distance of the sun from the horizon by fingers' breadths.

Newton's 'Halicarna.s.sus.' (Liddell & Scott, s.v.)]

[Footnote 425: So called from their habit of going entirely naked. One of them is said by Arrian to have said to Alexander. "You are a man like all of us, Alexander--except that you abandon your home like a meddlesome destroyer, to invade the most distant regions; enduring hardships yourself, and inflicting hardships on others." (Arrian, vii, 1, 8.)]

[Footnote 426: To recompense his soldiers for their recent distress, the king conducted them for seven days in drunken baccha.n.a.lian procession through Karmania, himself and all his friends taking part in the revelry; an imitation of the jovial festivity and triumph with which the G.o.d Dionysus had marched back from the conquest of India.

(Grote's 'History of Greece,' part ii. ch. xciv.)]

[Footnote 427: The straits of Gibraltar.]

[Footnote 428: Her daughter, Alexander's sister.]

[Footnote 429: The district known to the ancients as Persis or Persia proper, corresponds roughly to the modern province of Fars. Its capital city was Persepolis, near the modern city of Schiraz.]

[Footnote 430: The capital of Macedonia, Alexander's native city.]

[Footnote 431: [Greek: chous] ???? a liquid measure containing 12 [Greek: kotulai] ??t??a? of 5.46 pints apiece.]

[Footnote 432: The Greek word hero means a semi-divine personage, who was worshipped, though with less elaborate ritual than a G.o.d.]

[Footnote 433: 2,300,000. Grote, following Diodorus, raises the total even higher, to twelve thousand talents, or 2,760,000. "History of Greece," part ii. ch. xciv.]

[Footnote 434: The Greek text here is corrupt. I have endeavoured to give what appears to have been Plutarch's meaning.]

LIFE OF C. CaeSAR.

I.[435] When Sulla got possession of the supreme power, he confiscated the marriage portion of Cornelia[436] the daughter of Cinna[437] who had once enjoyed the supremacy in Rome, because he could not either by promises or threats induce Caesar to part with her. The cause of the enmity between Caesar and Sulla was Caesar's relationship to Marius; for the elder Marius was the husband of Julia the sister of Caesar's father, and Julia was the mother of the younger Marius, who was consequently Caesar's cousin. Caesar was not content with being let alone by Sulla, who was at first fully occupied with the proscriptions and other matters, but he presented himself to the people as a candidate for a priesthood,[438] though he had hardly arrived at man's estate. But Sulla by his opposition contrived to exclude him from this office, and even thought of putting him to death; and when some observed that there was no reason in putting to death such a youth, Sulla observed, that they had no sense if they did not see many Marii in this boy. These words were conveyed to Caesar, who thereupon concealed himself by wandering about for some time in the Sabine country. On one occasion when he was changing his place of abode on account of sickness, he fell in by night with the soldiers of Sulla who were scouring those parts and seizing on those who were concealed. But Caesar got away by giving Cornelius,[439] who was in command of the soldiers, two talents, and going straightway down to the coast he took ship and sailed to Bithynia to King Nicomedes,[440]

with whom he stayed no long time. On his voyage from Bithynia, he was captured near the island Pharmacusa[441] by pirates,[442] who at that time were in possession of the seas with a powerful force and numerous ships.

II. The pirates asked Caesar twenty talents for his ransom, on which he laughed at them for not knowing who their prize was, and he promised to give them fifty talents. While he dispatched those about him to various cities to raise the money, he was left with one friend and two attendants among these Cilician pirates, who were notorious for their cruelty, yet he treated them with such contempt that whenever he was lying down to rest, he would send to them and order them to be quiet. He spent eight and thirty days among them, not so much like a prisoner as a prince surrounded by his guards, and he joined in their sports and exercises with perfect unconcern. He also wrote poems and some speeches which he read to them, and those who did not approve of his compositions he would call to their faces illiterate fellows and barbarians, and he would often tell them with a laugh that he would hang them all. The pirates were pleased with his manners, and attributed this freedom of speech to simplicity and a mirthful disposition. As soon as the ransom came from Miletus and Caesar had paid it and was set at liberty, he manned some vessels in the port of Miletus and went after the pirates, whom he found still on the island, and he secured most of them. All their property he made his booty; but the pirates, he lodged in prison at Pergamum, and then went to Junius,[443] who, as governor of the provinces of Asia, was the proper person to punish the captives. But as the governor was casting a longing eye on the booty, which was valuable, and said he would take time to consider about the captives, Caesar without more ado, left him and going straight to Pergamum took all the pirates out of prison and crucified them, as he had often told them he would do in the island when they thought he was merely jesting.